Belarus frees dissident Tsikhanouski and 13 others after rare visit from top US envoy
TALLINN, Estonia, June 22, (AP): Belarus has freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and 13 others following a rare visit by a senior US official, Tsikhanouskaya's team announced on Saturday. Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger and activist who was imprisoned in 2020, arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, alongside 13 other political prisoners, his wife's team said.
The release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko met with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy for Ukraine in Minsk. Keith Kellogg became the highest-ranking US official in years to visit Belarus, Moscow's close and dependent ally. A video published on Tsikhanouskaya's official Telegram account showed Tsikhanouski disembarking from a white minibus, smiling broadly despite his shaved head and emaciated frame.
He pulled his wife into a long embrace as their supporters applauded. "My husband is free. It's difficult to describe the joy in my heart,' Tsikhanouskaya told reporters. But she added her team's work is "not finished' while over 1,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus. Tsikhanouski, known for his anti-Lukashenko slogan "stop the cockroach,' was jailed after announcing plans to challenge the strongman in the 2020 election.
Following his arrest, his wife ran in his stead, rallying large crowds across the country. Official results of the election handed Lukashenko his sixth term in office but were denounced by the opposition and the West as a sham. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in the aftermath of the August 2020 vote, in the largest protests in the country's history. In the ensuing crackdown, more than 35,000 people were detained, with many beaten by police.
Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned. Tsikhanouski was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison on charges of organizing mass riots. Lukashenko has since extended his rule for a seventh term following a January 2025 election that the opposition called a farce. Since July 2024, he has pardoned nearly 300 people, including imprisoned U.S. citizens, seeking to mend ties with the West.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
3 hours ago
- Arab Times
Pentagon says US doesn't want to pursue war with Iran after bombing 3 of its nuclear sites
WASHINGTON, June 22, (AP): Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that America "does not seek war' with Iran in the aftermath of a surprise attack overnight on three of that country's nuclear sites while Vice President JD Vance said the strikes have given Tehran a renewed chance of negotiating with Washington. The mission, called "Operation Midnight Hammer,' involved decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance, Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference. "This mission was not and has not been about regime change,' Hegseth added. Caine said the goal of the operation - destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan - had been achieved. "Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,' Caine said. Vance said in a television interview that while he would not discuss "sensitive intelligence about what we've seen on the ground,' he felt "very confident that we've substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon.' Pressed further, he told NBC's "Meet the Press' that "I think that we have really pushed their program back by a very long time. I think that it's going to be many many years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon.' The vice president said the U.S. had "negotiated aggressively' with Iran to try to find a peaceful settlement and that Trump made his decision after assessing the Iranians were not acting "in good faith.' "I actually think it provides an opportunity to reset this relationship, reset these negotiations and get us in a place where Iran can decide not to be a threat to its neighbors, not to a threat to the United States and if they're willing to do that, the United States is all ears,' Vance said. He said it would make sense for Iran to come to the negotiating table and give up their nuclear weapons program over the long term. "If they're willing to do that, they're going to find a willing partner in the United States of America,' he said, describing a possible chance of a "reset' for Tehran. Much of the world is absorbing the consequences of the strikes and the risk that they could lead to more fighting across the Middle East after the United States inserted itself into the war between Israel and Iran. Airstrikes starting on June 12 by Israel that targeted Iran's nuclear facilities and generals prompted retaliation from Iran. While U.S. officials urged for caution and stressed that only nuclear sites were targeted by Washington, Iran criticized the actions as a violation of its sovereignty and international law. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Sunday that Washington was "fully responsible' for whatever actions Tehran may take in response. "They crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities," he said at a news conference in Turkey. "I don't know how much room is left for diplomacy.' Both Russia and China condemned the U.S. attack. Araghchi said he would travel to Moscow later Sunday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement warned about the risk of the conflict spreading beyond the Middle East to "a global level.' The Pentagon briefing did not provide any new details about Iran's nuclear capabilities. Hegseth said the timeline was the result of a schedule set by President Donald Trump for talks with Iran about its nuclear ambitions. "Iran found out" that when Trump "says 60 days that he seeks peace and negotiation, he means 60 days of peace and negotiation," Hegseth said. "Otherwise, that nuclear program, that new nuclear capability will not exist. He meant it.' That statement was complicated as the White House had suggested last Thursday that Trump could take as much as two weeks to determine whether to strike Iran or continue to pursue negotiations. But the U.S. benefited from Iran's weakened air defenses as it was able to conduct the attacks without resistance from Iran. "Iran's fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran's surface to air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission," Caine said. Hegseth said that a choice to move a number of B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians. He added that the U.S. used other methods of deception as well, deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran's site at Fordo. The strikes occurred Saturday between 6:40 pm and 7:05 pm in Washington, or roughly 2:10 am on Sunday in Iran.
Arab Times
4 hours ago
- Arab Times
Pope Leo XIV flags AI impact on kids' development
ROME, June 22, (AP): Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that artificial intelligence could negatively impact the intellectual, neurological, and spiritual development of young people as he pressed one of the priorities of his young pontificate. History's first American pope sent a message to a conference of AI and ethics, part of which was taking place in the Vatican in a sign of the Holy See's concern for the new technologies and what they mean for humanity. In the message, Leo said any further development of AI must be evaluated according to the "superior ethical criterion' of the need to safeguard the dignity of each human being while respecting the diversity of the world's population. He warned specifically that new generations are most at risk given they have never had such quick access to information. "All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development,' he said in the message. "Society's well-being depends upon their being given the ability to develop their God-given gifts and capabilities,' and not allow them to confuse mere access to data with intelligence. "In the end, authentic wisdom has more to do with recognizing the true meaning of life, than with the availability of data,' he said. Leo, who was elected in May after the death of Pope Francis, has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, saying it poses challenges to defending human dignity, justice, and labor. He has explained his concern for AI by invoking his namesake, Pope Leo XIII. That Leo was pope during the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and made the plight of workers, and the need to guarantee their rights and dignity, a key priority. Toward the end of his pontificate, Francis became increasingly vocal about the threats to humanity posed by AI and called for an international treaty to regulate it. Francis said politicians must take the lead in making sure AI remains human-centric, so that decisions about when to use weapons or even less-lethal tools always remain made by humans and not machines.
Arab Times
8 hours ago
- Arab Times
No increase in radiation off sites that the US hit: UN watchdog
TEL AVIV, Israel, June 22, (AP): The International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday that there has been "no increase in off-site radiation levels' after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites. The U.N. nuclear watchdog sent the message via the social platform X on Sunday. "The IAEA can confirm that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported as of this time,' it said. The "IAEA will provide further assessments on situation in Iran as more information becomes available. The United States struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, inserting itself into Israel's war aimed at destroying the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe despite fears of a wider regional conflict. Addressing the nation from the White House, President Donald Trump asserted that Iran's key nuclear were "completely and fully obliterated.' There was no independent damage assessment. It was not clear whether the U.S. would continue attacking Iran alongside its ally Israel, which has been engaged in a nine-day war with Iran. Trump acted without congressional authorization, and he warned that there would be additional strikes if Tehran retaliated against U.S. forces. "There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,' he said. Iran's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, warned in a post on X that the U.S. attacks "will have everlasting consequences' and that Tehran "reserves all options' to retaliate. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations called for an emergency Security Council meeting to discuss what he described as the U.S.'s "heinous attacks and illegal use of force' against Iran. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said that the U.N.'s most powerful body must "take all necessary measures' to hold the U.S. accountable under international law and the U.N. charter. Early Sunday morning Israel alerted the public of an Iranian missile launch and urged people to take shelter. Sirens sounded in Jerusalem a short while later, and a series of booms were heard. Iranian has been firing missile barrages at Israel since the war began but they have decreased in size as Israel targets Tehran's missile launchers. The Islamic Republic may also be keeping some arms in reserve. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed that attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz sites, but it insisted that its work will not be stopped. Iran said there were no signs of radioactive contamination at the three locations and no danger to nearby residents. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Trump and Israeli leaders have claimed that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon, making it an imminent threat. The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the country's air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities.
