De Facto recommends

On July 11, De Facto’s Jorie Horsthuis will interview Dutch-Kurdish film maker Beri Shalmashi about Kurdistan and the developments in the Middle East, after the screening of Half Moon, a film by Bahman Ghobadi.

The secret mission left the smallest number of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay since the day the detention center opened in 2002.

With the lightning success of the 11-day offensive by the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and other rebel groups and the fall of the Assad regime, a new question comes to the fore. Will a Syrian transitional government, backed by Turkey, accept the Kurdish-led autonomous zone in the northeast of the country?

For over a century, Kurds have been trying to fight for their rights and freedom. Sadly, their quest has been largely characterized by human rights abuses and marginalization. Hindered by political persecution, their dream of independence has been gradually fading.

Supporters of the Palestinians’ request for full membership in the United Nations asked the U.N. Security Council to revive their application for admission submitted in 2011. But the United States is again almost certain to block it. The supporters’ letter to the council president included the names of 140 countries that have recognized a Palestinian state.

Israel has recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the Moroccan government and a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office say. Rabat said on Monday that Israel is considering opening a consulate in Dakhla.

Daughters of the Sun, a documentary by Reber Dosky, premiers this week at the Movies that Matter Festival in The Hague. A tender and inspiring film about a group of Yezidi women and girls who were abducted as sex slaves by Islamic State and now have to rebuild their lives. With each other’s love and support, they find the strength to look forward again.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recognized the Kurdistan Region on Thursday, with a top Kurdish official saying this will pave the way for the birth of the Kurdistan flag emoji.

Habib Chaab, founder of the Iranian separatist group ASMLA, was kidnapped in Turkey after a ‘honeytrap’ by Iran. Sky News published a detailed reconstruction of the audacious cross-border kidnap plan carried out in Istanbul. Two days after his abduction the founder of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz appeared on Iranian state television ‘confessing’ to terror acts.