Umar Farooq

"He went to the mountains" On Iran, and the Baloch and Kurdish insurgencies.

I wrote a bit about the two largest ethnic insurgencies in Iran, the Kurdish and Baloch movements sharbat.substack.com/p/he-went-to...

‘I Can’t Breathe.’ Police Use Restraint With Fatal Results A Bloomberg Law exclusive investigation has revealed that 41 people across the country have died after police or jails used a full-body restraint called The Wrap to subdue people.

"You’re suffocating me"..."I’m fucking dying"..."I can’t breathe." We found 41 people who died after officers put them in this mummy-like restraint called The Wrap. Watching body cam videos was heart wrenching. w/ @farooqumar.bsky.social news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Hey, cool. @lastweektonight.com just did a segment using reporting I did w/ @farooqumar.bsky.social

Oliver was talking about body cams--and how law enforcement agencies have often undermined their potential

The same body-cams Dems are centering that ICE reforms on

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP4_...

Falsifying a Tax Return Can Cost Your Citizenship Under Trump The extraordinary step of stripping naturalized Americans of their citizenship used to be reserved for individuals who turned out to be war criminals, genocide perpetrators, threats to national securi...

@farooqumar.bsky.social and Ellen Gilmer report how denaturalization—a top enforcement priority at the Justice Department under Trump—could be a consequence for something as mundane as a falsified tax return.

#immigration #DOJ #denaturalization #citizenship

Review | Shahzia Sikander mesmerizes at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Shahzia Sikander’s “The Last Post,” a video installation at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, mesmerizes as an abstracted examination of colonialism.

For @washingtonpost.com I wrote about Pakistani-born artist Shahzia Sikander's mesmerizing video installation “The Last Post” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, on the legacies of British colonialism in South Asia and China: wapo.st/4eTBMme

What Are Uyghurs Doing in Syria? They helped overthrow Assad, but potential terrorist ties complicate the community's future in the country.

Thousands of Uyghur immigrants are in Syria, some having lived there for more than a decade. Now, they are hoping they can make a home there, but geopolitics and global concern over foreign fighters might make that difficult. foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/04/u...

Syria will hold a national conference starting Jan 4 - basically a grand jirga. Around 1,200 people will attend, and come up with a process for a new constitution. HTS, as a group, will be dissolved at the conference.

Turkey to allow pro-Kurdish party to visit jailed PKK leader, newspaper says Turkey has decided to allow parliament's pro-Kurdish party to hold talks with militant leader Abdullah Ocalan on his island prison, the pro-government Sabah newspaper reported on Thursday, setting up the first such visit in nearly a decade.

Turkey to allow pro-Kurdish party to visit jailed PKK leader, newspaper says
www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Syrian Government Collapse Unlocks Trove of War Crimes Evidence Human rights activists and war crimes lawyers have long been trying to build cases against President Bashar al Assad’s regime. Hundreds of abandoned prisons, police stations and government sites could...

Here's my look at how the fall of Assad offers chance for closure for cases of the missing - including American Majd Kamalmaz - and how former regime officials might now be held accountable for war crimes.

news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...

Syrian Government Collapse Unlocks Trove of War Crimes Evidence Human rights activists and war crimes lawyers have long been trying to build cases against President Bashar al Assad’s regime. Hundreds of abandoned prisons, police stations and government sites could...

Here's my look at how the fall of Assad offers chance for closure for cases of the missing - including American Majd Kamalmaz - and how former regime officials might now be held accountable for war crimes.

news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...

Think of Rojava, or the Syrian National Coalition, or the Manbij Military Council, or HTS and the Syrian Salvation Government — or any groups you havnt heard from that you thought would not be relevant again. Syrians have plenty of experience running things without the regime.

What comes after Assad? In Syria, one positive consequence of a long war is there are actually plenty of groups with some governance experience.

At this point in Syria, I’m not sure it even matters what powers like the US, Russia, Turkey or Iran want. The fact on the ground is Assad is falling. There’s not only unprecedented military losses, but also an organic civil uprising that’s more widespread even than when this all began in 2011.

If current Syrian opposition push continues, pretty soon the regime will just have Latakia left - including key Russian base at Tartus - and Damascus will be pressed from north by HTS and south by Daraa opposition forces.

Syrian Rebels’ Lightning Offensive Zeroes In on Major City Some Arab officials urge Assad to leave the country as battle for Homs looms

Assad sent his immediate family to Russia and the UAE per Syrian and other Arab officials according to the WSJ. Many signs pointing to Assad looking for an off ramp, but what comes after for Syria? www.wsj.com/world/middle...

FBI investigates mysterious drones filling night sky in New Jersey that have 'unnerved' residents “There is no advisable immediate danger to the public at this time,” Morris County Sheriff James Gannon said.

FBI investigates mysterious drones filling night sky in New Jersey that have 'unnerved' residents www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Amnesty Int’l Calls on Biden to Free Leonard Peltier With just weeks left in President Joe Biden’s term, we speak with Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O’Brien, who has written to the outgoing president urging him to “change course on c...

Leonard Peltier: Amnesty Int’l Calls on Biden to Free Indigenous Leader “Before It’s Too Late”

www.democracynow.org/2024/11/26/b...

How Police Have Undermined the Promise of Body Cameras Hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent on what was sold as a revolution in transparency and accountability. Instead, police departments routinely refuse to release footage — even…

As policymakers rushed to equip cops with body cams, they often failed to grapple with a fundamental question: Who controls the footage?

They defaulted to leaving police with the power to decide what is recorded, who can see it and when.

By @ericumansky.bsky.social, w/ @farooqumar.bsky.social

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur who bought banana art for $6.2 million eats the fruit in Hong Kong A cryptocurrency entrepreneur who had bought a piece of conceptual art consisting of a simple banana, duct-taped to a wall, for $6.2 million last week ate the fruit in Hong Kong on Friday.

“It tastes much better than other bananas. Indeed, quite good,” he said.

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur who bought banana art for $6.2 million eats the fruit in Hong Kong

apnews.com/article/hong...

In world's largest refugee camps, Rohingya mobilise to fight in Myanmar Thousands of Rohingya insurgents have emerged from refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox's Bazar, where militant recruitment and violence have surged this year, according to people familiar with the conflict and internal aid agency reports seen by Reuters.

Thousands of Rohingya in refugee camps have joined up to fight alongside Myanmar’s military junta in the civil war, lured by promises of citizenship www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

Thanks Howard!

U.S. House of Representatives Passes Dangerous Legislation That Threatens Civil Society Amnesty International USA criticized the passage of H.R. 9495 in the House of Representatives, which threatens the freedom of speech and work of U.S. civil society organizations that document human ri...

Can't recall a development like this in the US before:

100+ civil society groups are saying they are worried about a proposed law handing the Treasury broad power to target non-profits over vague accusations of being "terrorist supporting organizations" #HR9495

www.amnestyusa.org/press-releas...

NYPD to Pay Largest Protester Settlement Ever For Abuses During George Floyd Uprising The NYPD will pay the largest ever protester settlement, plaintiffs said, for its attacks on demonstrators during the George Floyd uprising.

NYPD to Pay Largest Protester Settlement Ever For Abuses During George Floyd Uprising

@akelalacy.bsky.social reports at @theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2023/07/20/nypd-protester-settlement-george-floyd/