Tom Levitt

1 week ago | ca.news.yahoo.com | Tom Levitt |Deepa Parent

A young woman wearing a black abaya is pictured in a city in north-west Saudi Arabia standing precariously on a second-floor window ledge. A second photograph shows a group of men escorting her down with the help of a crane. The woman’s identity is unknown, but she was allegedly being held at one of Saudi Arabia’s notoriously secretive “jails” for women banished by their families or husbands for disobedience, extramarital sexual relations or being absent from home.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Tom Levitt

One of Indonesia’s largest nickel-mining companies, which supplies a mineral critical to the global electric car industry, did not tell the public that local drinking water was polluted, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Indonesia has become the world’s biggest producer of nickel, used in the production of wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicle batteries.

Mar 3, 2025 | theguardian.com | Tom Levitt

The family of one of dozens of Uyghurs feared to have been forcibly deported from Thailand to China have condemned the decision as “shameful”. The deportations came despite a UN statement saying those being sent to China faced a “real risk of torture” on their return. Thailand ignored protests by the UN refugee agency, EU and US in deporting 40 Uyghurs who had been detained in the country for a decade, claiming they had returned voluntarily “to their normal lives” with their families.

Feb 3, 2025 | theguardian.com | Tom Levitt |Zahra Joya

A senior Taliban minister who expressed support for reversing the ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan appears to have been forced to flee the country. Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Khost province, near the Afghan-Pakistani border, on 20 January, Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, criticised the government’s ban on girls attending secondary schools and higher education. “There is no excuse for this – not now and not in the future,” Stanikzai said.

Dec 24, 2024 | theguardian.com | Tom Levitt

A Syrian family say they are “fearing for their future” this Christmas after having an imminent decision on their asylum application stopped by the UK government. Bilal*, 39, worked as a bank manager in Damascus, and has been living in Sheffield with his wife and four children for the past year. He had his second interview about his asylum application in November and had been told by the Home Office that a decision on his case was “very close”.