Tag: expels

China expels Canadian consul in diplomat row

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Tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions are normal in international diplomacy, but relations have been rocky between the two countries for years and China has targeted Canadian trade in the past. Canola exports, for instance, were banned for years in the wake of Canadian authorities detaining Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018.
This latest move comes after Canada declared diplomat Zhao Wei persona non grata on Monday over his alleged involvement in an attempt to pressure Conservative MP Michael Chong through his extended family living in Hong Kong.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement Monday Canada has “zero tolerance” for “any form of foreign interference,” and that Canada has warned diplomats in the country that they could be sent packing over such actions.
It followed a story in The Globe and Mail newspaper that described a Canadian intelligence report warning China is targeting Canada to interfere in domestic politics. An anonymous source quoted in the article accused Zhao of working on the influence campaign against Chong, who had sponsored a motion in 2021 decrying China’s abuses of the Uyghur Muslim minority population as a genocide. Following those revelations, the head of Canadian intelligence then informed Chong in person last week that he and his family were being targeted.
Chong and others have accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of taking too long to expel Zhao. But Trudeau maintained he had to weigh the possible repercussions.
Chong’s case is just the latest to rock political circles. Foreign interference has been a wider controversy simmering in Canada for a long time — until March, when it exploded into one scandalous revelation after another, putting the Liberals on the defensive ever since.
Leaked reports from Canadian intelligence have singled out Chinese meddling in Canadian affairs as the greatest threat to national security, and warned that Beijing has tried to influence outcomes of local races in elections in 2019 and 2021. What’s more, China allegedly tried to bolster support for Liberal candidates and defeat Conservatives.
Canadian lawmaker Han Dong resigned from the governing Liberal Party that month and now sits as an independent, following allegations in a Global News report alleging he advised a Chinese diplomat to hold off on releasing two high-profile Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were held captive by China at the time. He is suing the news outlet for defamation for publishing the allegations, which he denies.

The House of Commons has also called on the government to call a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s elections, heaping more pressure onto the beleaguered Liberals over the matter.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 9, 2023
Iran expels four Azerbaijani diplomats in ‘retaliatory’ response

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Tehran: Iran has expelled four Azerbaijani diplomats from Iran after declaring them “persona non grata”, a media report said.
The move was a “retaliatory response” to the expulsion of four Iranian diplomats from Azerbaijan after having been declared “persona non grata” by Baku in April, Iran’s official news agency IRNA said in a report on Friday, without elaborating on the exact timing of the move and its other reasons, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to IRNA, the four Azerbaijani diplomats were working at Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northwestern city of Tabriz.

In early April, Azerbaijan declared four diplomats of the Iranian embassy in Baku as “persona non grata” due to their activities that were “incompatible with diplomatic status”.
On April 6, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Iran’s ambassador Seyed Abbas Mousavi to inform him that the four should leave the country within 48 hours.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 6, 2023
Congress expels woman who levelled harassment charges against Assam leader

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New Delhi: Assam Youth Congress president Angkita Dutta was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress for six years on Saturday for anti-party activities.
Dutta had accused Indian Youth Congress chief Srinivas B V of causing mental agony to her after she levelled sexual harassment charges against former IYC president Keshav Kumar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Congress over the move, saying this is its model of women empowerment and its slogan of “ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon” (I am a woman and I can fight) is hollow.

“Congress president has expelled Dr Angkita Dutta, president, Assam Pradesh Youth Congress, from the primary membership of the party, for six years for her anti-party activities with immediate effect,” Tariq Anwar, member-secretary of the Disciplinary Action Committee of the Congress, said in an order.
Hitting out at the Congress, BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted: “This is Congress’s model of women empowerment!”
“Sack the woman who alleged harassment instead of providing a platform to hear her grievances. The manner in which Angkita Dutta has been removed from the Congress is uninspiring for women,” he said.
Malviya also said, “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon is a hollow slogan.”
The Congress had come up with the slogan in the run-up to last year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Dutta had tweeted: “When previous IYC president Keshav Kumar had sexually harassed and because of #MeToo came out. He was compelled to remove. Now despite being mentally harassed and discriminated by B V Srinivas for 6 months. I have been told to keep mum and no enquiry is initiated.”
“Honestly I am aware this could lead to an end of my political career. If this is the price I have to pay, so be it. About me meeting some BJP leader, one is welcome to check CCTV footage of home and office where you will probably see me reading trolls my colleagues are spreading,” she tweeted on Friday.
Dutta was issued a show-cause notice by the Assam Congress, asking her to explain why action should not be taken against her for her alleged antiparty activities.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 22, 2023
Russia expels at least 20 German diplomats

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The Russian government is kicking several German diplomats out of the country in an alleged tit-for-tat move, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.
“The German authorities have decided on yet another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany. We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations,” the ministry said in a statement, arguing that Germany’s actions were “hostile.”
The foreign affairs ministry did not specify how many diplomats it would expel, although ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state-run television Zvezda that Moscow had decided to expel “more than 20,” according to AFP.
Russia said it took the decision in response to Germany ordering a “mass expulsion” of Russian diplomats, without specifying further details. The German foreign ministry confirmed to German outlet Deutschlandfunk only that it had been in contact with Russian authorities regarding personnel questions.
Germany had been informed of the move at the beginning of the month, the Russian foreign ministry added in the statement.
Since the war in Ukraine began, tensions between Moscow and Berlin have increased. In April last year, the German government expelled some 40 Russian diplomats from the country.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 21, 2023

Tennessee House expels one Dem over gun protest, targets two more

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State Rep. Justin Jones was removed from office in a largely party-line vote, 72-25, that was led by the Republican supermajority. The votes for the other two targeted Democrats are expected to have similar results.

Republicans dominate both chambers in the state Legislature, and the GOP reinforced its supermajority in the midterms by picking up more seats in the House. Democrats hold just 23 seats to Republicans’ 75.

Dubbed “the Tennessee Three” by fellow Democrats, Jones, Johnson and Pearson represent the three largest cities in Tennessee.

Ahead of the vote, Jones, a freshman lawmaker and community organizer, admonished Republicans for not enacting gun reform laws after multiple tragedies — inaction he said has sparked a movement for change.

“Your flexing of false power has awakened a generation of people who will let you know your time is up,” Jones, 27, warned Republicans.

A number of Republicans questioned Jones over the order of events the day of the protests, trying to pin them down on rule violations. Republican Rep. Gino Bulso, a sponsor of the expulsion resolutions, said that Jones “shows no remorse” when addressing the chamber before the vote.

The move by Republicans is remarkable for its naked partisanship and the speed with which it was executed. The process of removing lawmakers is usually a bipartisan undertaking in most states, often involving internal investigations following criminal charges or ethical lapses. In Tennessee, only two other House members have been removed before today’s proceedings, both after criminal violations or sexual misconduct.

Should all three members be expelled, special elections will be held in the three districts encompassing Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis. Nothing would hold those members back from running again in those races. Johnson suggested in an interview with POLITICO that if she’s voted out, she would try to return to the statehouse if her constituents desired it. The state constitution forbids lawmakers from being removed from office twice for the same offense.

GOP leadership could also face a lawsuit from the members, although it’s unclear at this point what grounds they could sue on.

The drama has skyrocketed the three to the national stage as Democrats have rallied around them and tried to steer that attention toward enacting gun reform laws in Tennessee and beyond. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Tennessee Republicans are “shrugging in the face of yet another school shooting.”

The expulsion vote marks “just another anti-democratic effort to silence the American people for speaking out against the devastating consequences of gun violence,” Neha Patel, co-executive director of the State Innovation Exchange, a nonprofit supporting progressive state lawmakers, said in a letter released Thursday that was signed by hundreds of lawmakers from across the country.

Jones, talking with reporters after his expulsion, said the proceedings do “not seem like America.”

“To expel voices of opposition and dissent is a signal of authoritarianism and it is very dangerous,” he said.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 7, 2023

‘Disappointment’ in Brussels after Israel expels MEP on official visit to Palestine

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EU leaders expressed surprise and regret Tuesday after the Israeli government barred a member of the European Parliament from entering the country on an official visit and deported her to Spain.

Ana Miranda, a Galician MEP in the Greens group, landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv Monday evening along with eight other lawmakers from two European Parliament delegations, one for Israel and one for Palestine. On the orders of the Israeli interior ministry, Miranda was put on a flight to Madrid.

“It’s a diplomatic conflict [and] it’s intolerable that Israel exerts control over members of a delegation that’s going to Palestine, not going to Israel,” Miranda told POLITICO.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Mission to the EU said: “The only reason that she was not allowed to enter is the issue that she tried to enter [Israel] illegally.” This referred to Miranda’s participation in a flotilla in 2015 that aimed to break the naval blockade of Gaza by Israel.

Israel has recently elected a far-right coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Miranda said that while being held at the airport for three hours, a female border control guard repeatedly told her to “shut up,” and that when Miranda explained that she was an MEP, the person replied: “What is the European Parliament? It’s nothing here.”

Miranda said she did not hide her participation in the flotilla when questioned.

The four-day visit by MEPs this week will include trips to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where the Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy. The delegation was denied access to Gaza, Miranda said.

Parliament President Roberta Metsola described her “disappointment” on Twitter, saying she will contact the Israeli authorities to demand answers, and also convene the leaders of political groups to discuss the next steps.

Relations between Jerusalem and the Parliament have been cordial as of late, with the institution having hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in January. Metsola, a Maltese MEP from the center-right European People’s Party, visited Israel in May last year.

Miranda was given the go-ahead to enter Israel, according to emails dated February 2 and 14 between the EU’s External Action Service in Israel and the country’s foreign affairs ministry, seen in full by POLITICO. The emails stated that Manu Pineda, a Spanish far-left MEP who chairs the Palestine delegation, was barred entry, but made no mention of banning Miranda from entering. Miranda said it was a “lie” that she was still banned from entering Israel. “Otherwise they would not have authorized me [to travel],” she wrote in a follow-up message.

The spokesperson for the Israeli Mission to the EU said Pineda — who did not travel to Israel with the rest of his delegation — supports Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization in the EU. The EU’s General Court has ruled that Hamas should be removed from this list, a decision that is currently suspended pending an appeal by the Council.

Pineda told POLITICO in a statement: “I am not a Hamas supporter, no matter how much the Israeli regime insists.”

He continued: “The Israeli regime can continue to insist on its alibi of photos and Hamas. But in reality what they are doing today is preventing my work as chair of the Delegation for relations with Palestine and preventing the proper functioning of this delegation, because of my past as a human rights activist in Gaza.

“Israel has a very serious human rights problem and does not want anyone to witness the killings, forced displacements, illegal settlements and systematic arrests,” he added.

Pineda’s Left group has demanded that the Parliament take “reciprocal measures” for Israel. He said this means that no Israeli politician or diplomat should be allowed entry.

“Respect for all elected MEPs and the European Parliament is essential for good EU-Israel relations,” said Nabila Massrali, the European Commission’s spokesperson for foreign affairs. “This decision is deeply disappointing, it is also surprising.”

Gregorio Sorgi contributed reporting.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 21, 2023

Dutch govt expels Russian diplomats for alleged espionage

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The Hague: The Dutch government has announced the expulsion of a number of Russian diplomats for alleged espionage.

The Netherlands will not allow more diplomats to work at the Russian Embassy in the Hague than the number of diplomats who work at the Dutch Embassy in Moscow, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

About 10 employees of the Russian Embassy will have to leave the Netherlands, he said.

The Russian trade office in Amsterdam will be shut down from Feb. 21. In addition, the Dutch consulate-general in St. Petersburg will be closed from February 20.

The Dutch Embassy in Moscow will remain open, Hoekstra said. “It is important to keep the embassies open as a channel of communication, even now that relations with Russia are more difficult than ever.”

Following the Dutch move, the Russian foreign ministry said it will respond to the decision by the Netherlands to limit the number of its diplomats, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported.

In March 2022, the Netherlands expelled 17 Russian diplomats for alleged espionage. In response, Russia then expelled 15 Dutch diplomats.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 19, 2023