TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Authorities in Kazakhstan have arrested a former interior minister in connection with a deadly police crackdown on unrest that gripped the country in 2022, local media reported Tuesday.
The prosecutor general's office announced on Monday that Erlan Turgumbayev was detained on charges of “abuse of power and official authority resulting in grave consequences” in the crackdown. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is in charge of the police force. Turgumbayev was relieved of duty a month after the unrest.
In Almaty, the country’s largest city, protests turned violent and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued shoot-to-kill orders as demonstrators stormed government buildings. Officials said 238 people were killed.
The unrest started in the city of Zhanaozen on Jan. 2, 2022, when residents protested a sharp increase in the cost of liquefied petroleum gas, commonly used as fuel for vehicles in Kazakhstan.
The protests evolved into criticism of corruption and economic inequality under former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose critics accuse him of profiting off the country's vast energy wealth after taking office in 1991.
Nazarbayev resigned from the presidency in 2019 but still held substantial power at the time of the protests as head of Kazakhstan's security council.
Tokayev has pushed an array of reforms, including limiting the presidency to a single seven-year term. He removed Nazarbayev as head of the security council, and the capital city, which had been named Nur-Sultan in Nazarbayev's honor, reverted to its former name of Astana.
Former Interior Minister Erlan Turgumbayev is seen in Astana, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010. Authorities in Kazakhstan have arrested former interior minister Turgumbayev in connection with deadly unrest that gripped the country in 2022, Kazakh news media reported Tuesday April 30, 2024. (AP Photo)
FILE - A police car on fire as riot police prepare to stop protesters in the center of Almaty, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Authorities in Kazakhstan have arrested a former interior minister in connection with deadly unrest that gripped the country in 2022, Kazakh news media reported Tuesday April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera.
The Qatari satellite channel is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations. The AP denounced the move.
“The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment,” said Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at the news organization. “The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world.”
Officials from the Communications Ministry arrived at the AP location in the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday afternoon and seized the equipment. They handed the AP a piece of paper, signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, alleging it was violating the country’s foreign broadcaster law.
Shortly before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza. The AP complies with Israel’s military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troops movements that could endanger soldiers. The live shot has generally shown smoke rising over the territory.
The seizure followed a verbal order Thursday to cease the live transmission — which the news organization refused to do.
“In accordance with the government decision and the instruction of the communications minister, the communications ministry will continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state,” the ministry said in a statement.
Israeli officials used the law to close down the offices of the Qatar-based broadcaster on May 5 as well as confiscating the channel’s equipment, banning its broadcasts, and blocking its websites.
Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a “terror channel” that spreads incitement.
Al Jazeera is one of the few international news outlets that has remained in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres.
The war in Gaza began with a Hamas attack in Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A screenshot taken from AP video showing a general view of northern Gaza as seen from Southern Israel, before it was seized by Israeli officials on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating the country’s new ban on Al Jazeera. Shortly before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza. (AP Photo)
