Showing posts with label Armenia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Armenia. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

ADC 100 Days Town Hall, Simi Valley police brutality lawsuit, "The Teacher," on Easter 2025 in Gaza and Pope Francis, and other news

These statements and more, on the case of Mahmoud Khalil, harassment of lawyers by immigration authorities at entry points, the many Arab-Americans (paradoxically) appointed by the same administration, the 110th anniversary of the genocide against Armenians that began April 24, 1915 in Ottoman Turkey, etc. are posted at:  adc.org/media/press-releases/ 







Sent out the evening of April 23rd:


“I Was Tased and Dragged From My Home” – ADC Lawsuit Alleges Police Brutality


Dear [ ] ,

Simi Valley, CA | The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), alongside HH Law Firm, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Nabil Shukair, a Palestinian American subjected to ongoing harassment, racism, and a recent violent police encounter in Simi Valley, California. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, contends that Mr. Shukair’s constitutional rights were violated when police officers, responding to baseless “terrorist” accusations, arrived at his home with weapons drawn and ultimately tased him unconscious.

 

The lawsuit details how video evidence reveals a neighbor driving by Mr. Shukair’s residence while shouting racial slurs and threats, followed by an unfounded call to the police identifying Mr. Shukair as a “Hamas terrorist.” According to the complaint, rather than verifying these inflammatory claims, Simi Valley police officers arrived at Mr. Shukair’s property on September 11, 2024, and immediately escalated into violent action. Video footage shows officers drawing their firearms and tasing Mr. Shukair within seconds, knocking him unconscious and dragging him out of his garage.

 

“I was tased and dragged from my home,” said Mr. Shukair. “This isn’t just about me—it’s about protecting our communities from being treated like suspects instead of people.”

 

The lawsuit raises critical questions about why specialized law enforcement units were not deployed if officers genuinely suspected terrorist activity, and why a more thorough investigation was not conducted prior to the use of such force. Instead, the complaint asserts, the responding officers relied solely on a racially charged tip—contrary to ordinary standards of investigative diligence.

 

“This case highlights the discrimination Arab Americans face when unverified, racially motivated accusations are immediately accepted,” said ADC National Legal Director Chris Godshall-Bennett. “Mr. Shukair was confronted by officers with guns drawn in his own home, tased unconscious, and subjected to illegal searches. The officers’ actions were motivated by nothing more than anti-Palestinian racism and they must be held accountable.”

 

“Our client has endured months of harassment and racist vitriol. The escalation on September 11 was particularly shocking,” said attorney Hani Habbas of HH Law Firm. “Officers arrived at Mr. Shukair’s house, forcefully entered the property, used a taser on him without warning, and dragged him onto the street while he was incapacitated. These actions directly violated his First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.”

 

Alleged Constitutional Violations and Key Claims

  • Excessive Force & Unlawful Seizure: The complaint states that Simi Valley Police officers violated the Fourth Amendment by tasing and seizing Mr. Shukair without probable cause or any indication of a threat.
  • Equal Protection & Discrimination: Officers purportedly targeted Mr. Shukair based on his Palestinian identity and an unverified tip labeling him a terrorist, in breach of the Fourteenth Amendment.
  • First Amendment Retaliation: Mr. Shukair’s verbal objections to officers drawing weapons in his garage and his attempt to record the encounter allegedly prompted an escalated response, amounting to retaliation for protected speech.
  • Unlawful Searches: The complaint claims that the officers conducted warrantless searches of Mr. Shukair’s home and vehicle after he was rendered unconscious and handcuffed, in further violation of the Fourth Amendment.

In addition, the lawsuit asserts various state law claims, including violations of California’s Bane Act and Ralph Act, as well as common law torts such as assault, battery, false arrest/imprisonment, and the intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

 

Mr. Shukair seeks:

  • Compensatory Damages for physical injuries, emotional distress, and pain and suffering.
  • Punitive Damages against individual officers whose actions are alleged to have been intentional or carried out with reckless disregard for his constitutional rights.
  • Attorneys’ Fees and Costs under federal and state civil rights statutes.
  • Judicial Declarations that the officers’ actions violated the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and parallel rights under California law.

The complaint questions the Simi Valley Police Department’s decision-making and training practices, pointing to a pattern of immediate, aggressive action against Mr. Shukair despite the lack of credible corroboration of the neighbor’s accusations. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Shukair was held in custody without proper explanation or medical care. No formal charges were ever brought.

 

By filing this action, ADC and HH Law Firm aim to hold Simi Valley authorities accountable for what they describe as an egregious violation of constitutional principles, while also ensuring that no one else in the community endures a similar experience rooted in racial animus or inadequate investigative protocols.






Sent out the evening of April 24th:


40 years after Alex Odeh, we're opening new doors






Sent out the evening of April 21st; slightly edited:


To Our Arab Christian Sisters and Brothers


Dear [ ] ,

Washington, D.C. | Yesterday, millions of Arab Christians celebrated Easter with Christians across the world. We offer warm greetings to those who recently celebrated. For centuries, the vital presence of Arab Christians, whose devotion to peace, justice, and compassion has long enriched both the Middle East and the global community. Despite a common misconception, Arab Christians constitute a vibrant and integral part of our shared heritage, underscoring the diversity that has long been a hallmark of the Arab world.

 

Unfortunately, Arab Christians, along with other religious minorities in the Middle East, are targeted for how they worship or who they are. In what should be a time of celebration in Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity, Arab Christians are under constant bombardment from Israel. The historic Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City—one of the world’s oldest Christian churches—was bombed on October 19, 2023, killing 18 displaced civilians sheltering inside. Many Christians have sought refuge in the few remaining churches, relying on them for basic necessities and a measure of safety. Before the genocide, Gaza’s Christian population numbered around 2,000, mostly Greek Orthodox. Sadly, that number continues to dwindle as deaths and displacement mount. 

 

Israel has destroyed over 200 cultural and historical sites, and more than 340 mosques—among them the iconic 700-year-old Great Omari Mosque. At least three churches have also been severely damaged, including St. Porphyrius Church itself. At least 16 cemeteries have been desecrated. And Christians across the Middle East face similar threats, with key sites damaged in attacks that further endanger this small yet longstanding community.

 

While many Christian leaders and groups in the U.S. justify the genocide, Pope Francis, who passed away earlier today, made nightly calls to Gaza’s Christian community from the onset of the genocide, boldly amplifying their voices when much of the world looked away. We mourn his loss, as his  persistent stand against the ongoing oppression of Christians in Palestine—and of all those enduring occupation and violence—remains a testament to moral courage.


ADC calls on all world leaders to protect religious minorities by condemning violence against any faith community and holding perpetrators accountable, ensuring that no one is targeted for how they worship or who they are. 

 

In this spirit, ADC remains devoted to our mission, urging those in power to reject genocide, end cycles of violence, and protect the dispossessed. May hope and resilience guide us forward as we strive for the day when every community—regardless of creed—can celebrate in peace.






Sent out the evening of April 16th:


"The Teacher" Now in Theater — A Palestinian Story You Need to See


[Reposting:


Dear Friends,


We are proud to highlight the opening of The Teacher, a bold and emotional new film centered on the Palestinian experience — now playing in theaters nationwide starting April 11.


Set in the occupied West Bank, The Teacher follows the journey of a Palestinian schoolteacher torn between his underground role in political resistance and his growing emotional bonds — both to a promising student and a new relationship with a foreign aid worker. The film is a haunting and human exploration of love, struggle, and sacrifice under occupation.


🎟️ In theaters across the nation - get your tickets now!

We encourage our community to support Palestinian storytelling and amplify voices from the region that are too often silenced or distorted in mainstream media.


👉 Bring your friends. Share the film. Start the conversation.


Let’s fill theaters with our presence — and ensure stories like this one are seen, heard, and remembered.


In solidarity,

The ADC Team]


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Friday, January 26, 2024

ICSGP statements on the ICJ case accusing Israel of genocide

***** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *****


International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Welcomes Today’s [1/26] ICJ Order; Demands its Implementation 

The ICGSP encourages governments and global social movements to demand that provisional measures are enforced immediately


In its provisional ruling issued today on the South African Genocide Convention case against Israel, the International Court of Justice (ICJ—also known as the World Court) demanded Israel stop killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure and medical facilities; prevent and punish incitement to genocide by its top officials; and permit the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (ICSGP) applauds the Court’s Order as a crucial first step toward forcing Israel and its primary sponsor and strongest political ally—the United States—to end the months-long brutal assault on Gaza, and the decades-long denial to Palestinians of their rights to self-determination and return. 

However, the ICSGP also recognizes that Israeli and U.S. government officials have made repeated official declarations in the past week making clear their plan to ignore the ICJ’s legally binding ruling and rejecting the Court’s process as illegitimate, and that the U.S. has been threatening world governments with sanctions and war—a promise it is making good on already by bombing Yemen—for opposing the ongoing genocide. The ICSGP also recognizes that numerous powerful state allies of the U.S. and Israel, including Germany and Canada, have already made clear their intent to back Israel against an ICJ finding of genocide. The dangerous rejection by the United States, Israel and their allies of this process—which was set up through the United Nations precisely to prevent genocide—undermines the legitimacy of that institution and in particular the U.N. Security Council, where the U.S. has long used its veto power as a tool to promote war and genocide. The ICSGP calls upon social movements to demand that world governments uphold international law and protect the integrity of the United Nations by ensuring that the ICJ’s provisional measures are immediately enforced, and to hold Israeli war criminals and their powerful U.S. accomplices accountable for genocide.

The ICSGP stands in full solidarity with its Palestinian coalition members, who have emphasized in their own statements today the need for governments and social movements around the world to double down in their efforts to bring the ongoing genocide in Gaza to an end. Dr. Luqa AbuFarah, North America Coordinator for the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), an ICSGP member organization, states:

"It's clear we have a moral obligation to take action and end our government's complicity with Israel's Gaza genocide. We must have the courage to speak out and take action to advance the struggle for justice. We must end US military funding to Israel which at $3.8 billion USD a year could instead provide more than 450,000 households with public housing for a year or pay for 41,490 elementary school teachers. I also hope that every person outraged with the blatant disregard for Palestinian life will join and escalate our BDS Campaigns and make sure companies know that complicity with Israeli apartheid and genocide is unacceptable. We must take action now more than ever!"

ICSGP, together with numerous legal and human rights organizations including coalition members The PAL Commission on War Crimes and The Global Legal Alliance for Palestine, held press conferences in New York and Chicago following the Court’s Order on the request for the indication of provisional measures this morning, expressing gratitude to South Africa for its steadfast support, and calling on all organizations and countries to support South Africa's legal actions against the Israeli military campaign.

Lamis Deek, cofounder the PAL Commission on War Crimes and convener of the Global Legal Alliance for Palestine, states:

"This historic decision changes international and domestic approaches—military, legal, and political—to stopping the genocide in Palestine. This verdict profoundly reshapes the geopolitical and legal topography, regardless of whether Israel complies or not. Following the Court's decision we must issue calls on state parties to the ICJ and the Genocide Convention as regards their compliance obligations, and address our legal colleagues and our communities regarding the next steps we think will be most critical on the heels of this decision.

The brutal Israeli genocide and torture in Gaza, alongside the targeted assassinations, destruction of civilian infrastructure including all of Gaza’s hospitals and universities, blocking of aid, and use of starvation and spread of disease as a war tactic, constitute a grotesque series of the highest war crimes. We commend the Court’s positive decision. The question now is how to deal with the anticipated US-Israeli obstruction of that decision."

Monisha Rios, president of SOLI PR, an international network of Puerto Ricans focused on growing solidarity with the Puerto Rican struggle for independence and ICSGP member organization, states: 

As Puerto Ricans directly involved in the struggle against U.S.-led settler colonial violence, land grabs and the ongoing neoliberal assault, we have a special obligation to stand in firm, unwavering solidarity with our Palestinian cousins. Not only does the Zionist entity’s genocidal regime in Palestine owe its existence as such to U.S. financial and political backing since its inception, Israel has also directly contributed with military technologies, weapons and police training to the violent repression of peoples fighting for self-determination against the U.S. and its puppet regimes around the world, and of Indigenous Peoples and descendants of enslaved African Peoples subject to structural apartheid within the continental United States. Israeli Zionists themselves have recognized the parallels between Palestine and Puerto Rico, for example with the Minister of Heritage—who publicly called for using a nuclear bomb in Gaza—recently calling for a “Puerto Rican” solution to Palestine. The South African Case at the World Court, and the Court’s decision this morning provide Puerto Ricans and colonized peoples around the world a unique opportunity—in recognizing our common struggle and joining together to fight against Zionist fascism, we have tremendous power to both stop the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, and to contribute to our own liberation by shifting the balance of global power away from the U.S. and toward the Global South.

The ICSGP calls upon the over 2,000 organizational signatories to its original letter, and to social movements everywhere, to hold the profiteers and promoters of the Zionist genocide to account through concrete actions of boycott, divestment, and sanctions; to mobilize to demand the immediate enforcement of the ICJ’s Order of Provisional Measures and denounce accomplices to the genocide; and to continue to pressure all state parties to the Genocide Convention to issue Declarations of Intervention in support of the South African case at the ICJ.


Previous ICSGP press statements are available from January 17, January 8 and January 3, 2024.

 

###


Link to online version: https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/intcoalitionwelcomesicjorder





***** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***** 


International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Applauds South African Legal Team; Denounces United States, United Kingdom and Germany for Supporting Israel’s Crimes 

The ICGSP calls for three days of action this month: Stop the war on Yemen, support South Africa's case before the ICJ and oppose Germany siding with genocidaires. 


CONTACTS: 

● Netfa Freeman, Black Alliance for Peace [ ]

● Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, Progressive International [ ]

● Azhar Sakoor, Palestine Solidarity Alliance Youth League in South Africa [ ]



Last week, member groups of the International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (ICSGP)  organized activities around the world, including press conferences at The Hague and outside various South African consulates and embassies, to highlight and support the South African legal team as they presented their evidence of the state of Israel’s acts of genocide against Palestinians to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on January 11. 

Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, who was at The Hague representing Progressive International, one of the ICSGP’s founding organizations, stated: 

"Every single person who witnessed the hearing was left in no doubt that we were reading the most frightening document of our time and hearing evidence of the most gruesome, illegal, and genocidal assault. 

In bringing this case to The Hague, South Africa has issued a resounding call to the Global South to break with the Zionist project and its inextricable links to the history of colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. 

This is not only Israel on trial. It is the ICJ on trial. It is a test of the humanity of  the world and whether the institutions we’ve built to protect it — today, this court in The Hague — withstand the test of Western impunity." 

The ICGSP continues to expand with nearly 2,000 signatory organizations from 100 countries on  the initial letter calling for mobilization in defense of South Africa’s strong case for genocide.  Member organizations are working to press their governments to submit Declarations of Intervention to the ICJ in support of emergency provisional measures on Israel to stop the murder, maiming, starvation and displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and Occupied Territories in the West Bank. At present, countries that have publicly supported South Africa’s case include Algeria, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Egypt, Iran,  Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Morocco, Namibia, Nicaragua, St. Vincent & the  Grenadines, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Yemen and  the Organization of Islamic Countries, which represents 57 nations.  

Only three nations have publicly denied that Israel is committing genocide, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, despite the fact that the world is watching events happen in real time on social media and on outlets that have reporters on the ground. The state of Israel has tried to hide their crimes by targeting and murdering over 100 members of the media in Gaza, which is another violation of international law. 

The US, UK and Germany have taken direct actions to stop support for the Palestinian liberation  struggle. On January 11, the same day that South Africa presented its evidence at The Hague, the  US and UK conducted 73 bombing raids on Yemen killing five people and injuring six. President Biden stated that the bombing is in retaliation for Yemen’s blockade of ships traveling through  the Red Sea on their way to Israel. Yemenis view their actions as an obligation as signatories to the Genocide Convention to impose measures to stop Israel’s genocide. The illegal escalation of military aggression in Yemen by the US and UK adds fuel to the fire of a broader regional conflict. 

In November, 2023, Germany started banning most demonstrations in support of Palestine.  Despite that, thousands of people have taken to the streets across the country in defiance of the ban and in solidarity with Palestine. Hage Geingob, the President of Namibia, which was a victim of German genocide between 1904 and 1908, responded to Germany’s decision in a statement, writing, “Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia, whilst supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza.”  

Netfa Freeman, who is the Black Alliance for Peace African Team coordinator, said, “The  position of Germany represents the moral confusion and hypocrisy of the current leadership in that state. But even more ominously, for a state that still has not completely atoned for its genocidal campaign against the people of Namibia, the German position in support of genocide in Palestine reaffirms the white supremacist core of German thought that fed the Nazi war machine. For the Nazis and the current leadership of Germany, African and Palestinian lives still don’t matter! “ 

Attorney Azhar Sakoor, Executive with the Palestine Solidarity Alliance Youth League in South  Africa, a member organization of the ICSGP, states: 

"We support the call for three days of action this month - calling to stop the war on Yemen, support South Africa's case before the ICJ and oppose Germany siding with genocidaires. 

In South Africa, the parallels between the history of South African Apartheid and the current occupation of Palestine by Israel can be clearly seen. 

As South Africans, we felt incredibly proud to see our government hold Israel accountable at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), despite Israel being  supported by world ‘superpowers’. South Africa called out current genocide in  Gaza, acknowledged Israeli attacks in the West Bank, and also recognized the the Nakba. The significance of this cannot be underplayed. 

From the case presented by South Africa at the ICJ, it is clear that not only has Israel ignored international law, they are also committing genocide. 

It is no surprise to see countries like the USA, UK and Germany are openly supporting Israeli genocide, given their history as colonizers and occupiers. They continue to attempt to occupy the world, not by taking land, but by forcing their ideologies onto indigenous people across the world. 

With the USA and UK attacking Yemen (one of the few countries actively trying to fight for Palestinian rights), we see the hypocrisy of the West, caring more for 

shipping lanes than for human life. We call for an end to the barbaric attacks of the USA and UK on Yemen and an end to the Israeli Genocide in Palestine." 

At the request of major Palestinian organizations and coalitions, the ICSGP has issued a call for three days of action, starting with an international day of action opposing the war against Yemen  this Friday, January 19. The following week, on January 24, as we await the decision by the ICJ, there will be a day of action focused on supporting South Africa’s case and taking action to stop the genocide. On January 31, actions are being planned to protest Germany for its role in  enabling the state of Israel to commit acts of genocide with impunity. 

Previous ICSGP press statements are available from January 8 and January 3, 2024.

 

###


Link to online version: https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/3daysofactionstopgenocide [January 18th]


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Monday, October 16, 2023

The ICMLPO stands by the Palestinian Resistance, we support the Resistance

https://cipoml.net/en/cipoml-stands-by-the-palestinian-resistance-we-support-the-resistance/  


CIPOML stands by the Palestinian resistance, we support the Resistance  

October 10, 2023  

The apartheid state of Israel has raised its attacks on the Palestinian people to a new level following the “operation” Al Aqsa Flood against Israel, launched on the morning of October 7 by Hamas and other Palestinian Liberation Organizations.  

The “operation” that involved the firing of rockets from Gaza, several groups of guerrillas entering Israel from different points, capturing a border crossing and a police station, as well as taking some Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage, was responded to by the usual aggression of Israeli Zionism, including mass killings, and the attacks continue.  

Israel, backed by the imperialists, has been constantly attacking the Palestinian people, occupying their land, and denying at gunpoint the Palestinian nation’s right to self-determination.  

The Israeli bourgeoisie and the Zionism it advocates hardly recognize the right to life, let alone equal national rights, for the Palestinians. The racist Israeli government, which is building a reckless lawlessness inside the country, continues its attacks on the Palestinian people without interruption. Israeli artillery and airplanes bombard the Gaza Strip, leaving no stone unturned, without any need for justification. From time to time, it enters Gaza with its tanks and never stops its cruelty.  

In the West Bank, the tyranny against the Palestinian people is limitless. In Jenin, which it attacked in the recent past, it has killed many sons and daughters of the Palestinian people. Zionist Israel, which declared Jerusalem, the holy place where three religions are located, as its capital, did not just ignore the special status of the city, but also targeted Al Aqsa and thus the faith of the Palestinians.  

The Israeli reactionary bourgeoisie has expelled the Palestinian people from their land, shrinking their living space day by day, and has continuously expanded the occupied territories. It constantly opens space for new settlers and increases these settlements to the detriment of the Palestinian people. The number of Palestinians expelled from their country has long exceeded those who continue to live in Palestine. And the latter are struggling to exercise the most basic human rights, the right to life, let alone exercising the right to freely determining their destiny.  

The question “who attacked first?” is meaningless under the conditions of Israel’s continuous aggression and persecution of the Palestinian nation! The main thing is that the resistance of the Palestinian people for their national rights and the resistance against the occupier is justified and legitimate. The aggressor is not the resisting Palestinians, but the unjust Zionist state of Israel.  

Resistance against Israeli apartheid and the aggression against Palestine and the Palestinian people can only be supported. Condemning Israel and its aggression and massacres, CIPOML supports the just resistance of the Palestinian people to the end.  

By condemning Hamas, the US and the European imperialists and their imperialist unions openly supported Israel and its aggression. Supporting aggression against the people, disregarding the principle of equal rights, is the character of the imperialists who themselves attack the peoples. And already in the Middle East, Israel, as an “outpost” of imperialism and relying on the imperialists and getting strength from them and their support, continues its occupation, denial of rights, and attacks against the Palestinian people. Those imperialists have military bases and troops in the region, support their collaborators and fight among themselves for the redivision of the region.  

What seems to be different is the position of the reactionary regional countries, including Turkey and the Arab countries, which call for restraint on all sides. With this position, the reactionary countries of the region, which are in the process of improving their relations with Israel, with the exception of Iran, which has declared that it stands by the Palestinians’ struggle for their rights, are patting the back of Israeli Zionism, which has increased the dose of its aggression since the morning of October 7.  

No! Clarity is essential. Neutrality or a position of “mediation” cannot be developed in the face of Israeli Zionism’s inhumanity. The Palestinian Resistance demanding national political equality of rights and the right to statehood is just and must be supported. Any “solution” that does not recognize the equality of rights of the Palestinians cannot be a solution and cannot put an end to national conflicts.  

The idea that the imperialist confrontation is shifting to regions other than the Middle East and that conflicts in the region are subsiding is wrong. The imperialists and their collaborators are active in the region. In addition to the ongoing Israeli oppression and tyranny, Syria and the renewed Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and Turkey is bombing the Kurdish habitats in Iraq and Syria. The Kurdish question, along with the Palestinian question, is an ancient problem of the region, and the fights of imperialists and the involvement of their collaborators for the redivision of the region and the lack of a solution to these two problems makes the region a bubbling “witches’ cauldron.”  

Israel must stop all attacks immediately!  

The occupation must end and Israel must withdraw from all occupied territories!  

Israel must stop its policy of opening new settlements!  

Jerusalem’s status as capital must end and the city must be restored to its former status!  

Full equality of national rights for the Palestinian nation – the right to self-determination, including the right to statehood!  


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