A regularly updated column of news briefs from around the region
175 charged in Turkey's Kurdish riots
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Prosecutors in Diyarbakir in the restless Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey have charged 175 people with involvement in violent clashes last month, court sources said on April 28. Charges include violation of laws on demonstrations, and one of operating and membership of an armed group - a reference to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), accused of orchestrating the riots. Possible sentences on conviction range from three years to a maximum life imprisonment. The latest charges bring the number indicted so far to 265, including 80 minors who could face up to 24 years imprisonment.
Arabs urged to free Palestinians of shackles of Western aid
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Seventy Arab Islamist academics and activists have urged Arab governments to free the Palestinians of the shackles of Western aid by compensating the funds cut after the Hamas-led government took office. "We call on Arab governments in general, and the oil-rich Gulf governments in particular, to seek to liberate [the Palestinians] from the strings attached to Western aid," the activists, mostly Saudis, said in a statement written in Riyadh on April 27. Arab governments should "cover all the Palestinian people's expenses and meet their needs so that Western aid does not turn into a means of bringing this people to its knees", the statement said.
Teenager shoots boyfriend dead in Turkish school
ANKARA - A 16-year-old girl shot her boyfriend dead in a packed classroom in southern Turkey on April 27, renewing alarm about growing violence in schools, Anatolia news agency reported. During morning class at the school in Kozan, Adana province, the girl asked the teacher permission to enter the 17-year-old victim's classroom. She then took a gun out of her bag and shot him in the chest, Anatolia said. It was not immediately clear why she killed the boy but Anatolia said that the two had recently had a row. Reports of deadly stabbings and shootings in Turkish high schools have recently dominated the press, causing alarm that youth violence has spiraled out of control.
Three killed in Amman flight crash
AMMAN - Two pilots and their flight training instructor were killed on April 27 when their plane crashed while attempting to land at Amman airport, an aviation official said. "Two pilots and an instructor were killed when the plane crashed while trying to land at Amman's civil airport" north of the capital, civil aviation director Suleiman Obeidat told the official Petra news agency. "Shortly after takeoff from Amman's civil airport ... the pilot asked for permission to turn around and was authorized to land, but the plane crashed near the runway and caught fire," he said. Obeidat added that the training plane belonged to a private academy and that an investigation had been launched.
Saudi to create special 'terror' court
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia, which has been battling a wave of Al Qaeda violence for three years, will create a state security court to try terror-related cases, an official said in remarks published on April 27. The special tribunal "will be set up within six months and comprise five to seven judges, nominated by the justice and interior ministers and appointed by King" Abdullah, justice ministry advisor Abdel Mohsen Al Obaikan told the daily Okaz. The court will "look into the cases of those involved in the terrorist bombings in the kingdom ... I think its [verdicts will] not be open to appeal", he added.
Dutch in first firefight in Afghanistan
THE HAGUE - Dutch troops serving with a NATO force in Afghanistan have exchanged fire with assailants for the first time, the defense ministry said here on April 27. There were no Dutch casualties, it said. No details of the engagement were available. Some 400 Dutch military personnel are already deployed in Afghanistan's southeastern Uruzgan province, and an additional 1,400 are expected this summer as part of NATO's 18,500-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The controversial deployment has prompted heated debate in The Netherlands.
Yemen to extradite 16 Saudi terror suspects
SANAA - Yemen plans to extradite 16 Saudi terror suspects to Riyadh and put on trial 60 presumed Al Qaeda members, officials said on April 27. Yemeni authorities "plan to hand over 16 security suspects to Saudi Arabia within the next few days", said an official source who requested anonymity. Riyadh and Sanaa have exchanged dozens of suspects under a June 2003 security agreement that strengthened an extradition treaty signed in 1998. The two neighbors also agreed in 2004 to implement joint security arrangements to block infiltration and smuggling across their 1,800-kilometer (1,100-mile) frontier. In June 2000 they signed an agreement ending a decades-long territorial dispute.
Ahmadinejad says Germans exploited by 'greedy Zionists'
TEHRAN - Hardline Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad took a fresh swipe at Israel on April 27 by complaining that Germany was being exploited by "greedy Zionists" more than 60 years after World War II. "Look at the German people. Three generations ago, there was a war. But today an intelligent people is still a hostage of World War II," he said in a speech carried on state television. Germany, he said, "still doesn't have the right to have independent policies or proper defenses". "Every German born is indebted to the arrogant and greedy Zionists," Ahmadinejad said, referring to German reparations for the Holocaust.
Israeli officer convicted of spying for Hizbullah
JERUSALEM - An Israeli army colonel was on April 27 found guilty of providing Lebanese Shia militia Hizbullah with sensitive information about military deployments along Israel's volatile northern border. Colonel Omar Al Heib, a member of Israel's Druze minority, was found guilty by a military court on charges of aggravated espionage and contact with an enemy agent, a military source said. He was also found guilty of charges of trafficking drugs that he received in exchange for the information. According to his indictment, Heib provided a Hizbullah agent in 2002 with details on tanks and troops deployed along the border, as well as on Israeli air force activity over southern Lebanon.
Brother of Rabin assassin jailed for Sharon threats
JERUSALEM - The brother of the Jewish extremist who murdered Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was on April 27 sentenced to 12 months in prison for threatening the life of former premier Ariel Sharon. "Hagai Amir was sentenced to 12 months in prison at the Netanya magistrate's court over charges of threatening the life of prime minister Ariel Sharon," a court spokeswoman said. Hagai Amir is already serving a 16-year sentence for conspiring with his brother Yigal Amir to assassinate Rabin in November 1995. Hagai was put on a second trial after telling a warden: "I can make one phone call and make sure Sharon is killed and blown up."
Israeli court extends custody of militant leader
JERUSALEM - An Israeli judge on April 27 remanded a Palestinian militant leader in custody for a further 12 days, 24 hours after prosecutors decided not to try him over a cabinet minister's assassination. Ahmed Saadat and two other members of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) had their custody extended during an appearance before a tribunal in Jerusalem where they have been held since their controversial capture from a Palestinian prison in the West Bank last month. Israel's attorney general decided not to prosecute Saadat over the 2001 killing of extreme rightwing Israeli tourism minister Rehavan Zeevi, although four other PFLP members should be tried.
Hizbullah children remember Qana massacre
BEIRUT - About 2,000 children marched through the streets of Beirut on April 27 armed with fake rockets in a rally organized by Hizbullah to mark the anniversary of an Israeli massacre 10 years ago. Rows of boys wearing military fatigues and red berets marched with mock Katyushas resting on their shoulders in memory of an Israeli bombardment on a UN base in Qana in southern Lebanon that killed 105 people. Girls in white head-to-toe chadors carried effigies of white doves bearing bloodstains reading the names of several southern villages where civilians have been killed in Israeli shelling over the past decade.
Israel's Peres faces campaign finance probe
JERUSALEM - Former Israeli premier Shimon Peres is being investigated over allegations that he received illegal contributions for his failed campaign to retain the Labor party leadership, judicial sources said on April 27. Peres is suspected of receiving $320,000 from two overseas-based billionaires to finance his campaign, which he lost in November last year to the trade union chief Amir Peretz. For several months the office of State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has been investigating allegations that Peres broke the legal limit and sources in the justice ministry said that he had now passed on his findings to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.
Israeli army says it foiled suicide attack
JERUSALEM - The Israeli army said on April 27 that it had foiled a suicide attack that had been planned as the country commemorated the Holocaust. "A terrorist carrying six kilos [13 pounds] of explosives with the aim of carrying out a suicide operation was captured with his two accomplices in a wadi west of Nablus" in the northern West Bank, a military spokesman said. He said that the three men were members of an armed group linked to the Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The army said that a military unit had caught the men on April 25 based on information supplied by Israel's Shin Beth intelligence service.
Al Jazeera bureau chief arrested in Egypt
CAIRO - The Egypt bureau chief of Arab satellite television channel Al Jazeera was arrested while covering the aftermath of deadly attacks in the Red Sea resort of Dahab, the station reported on April 27. Hussein Abdel Ghani was accused of broadcasting false information liable to harm Egypt's reputation, it said, as fellow journalists condemned the arrest as an attack on the freedom of the press. On April 26 Al Jazeera reported that an attack had targeted policemen in the town of Belbeis, northeast of Cairo. Other media said that a police station had been fired on, quoting witnesses and security sources, but the interior ministry later issued a denial, which Al Jazeera also carried.
Court frees Syrian accused of seizing Romanian journalists in Iraq
BUCHAREST - A wealthy businessman accused of organizing the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in early 2005 has been freed from jail in Bucharest on health grounds, court sources said on April 26. Omar Hayssam, a Romanian of Syrian origin who has been in provisional detention for a year, was operated on for lung cancer and "his condition has since deteriorated", the Bucharest appeal court said. He is accused by the Romanian authorities of having "premeditated" the kidnapping of Marie-Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci of the Prima TV television station and Ovidiu Ohanesian of the daily Romania Libera and holding them for 55 days.
UN rights commissioner deplores situation in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA - UN human rights commissioner Louise Arbour on April 26 decried the situation in Ethiopia, saying that political and civil liberties were being stifled. "If we consider where we are in Ethiopia, it is worrying that at best we are in state of stagnation, especially regarding political and civil rights which are in decline after months and years of hope," Arbour said. She said that the human rights situation was currently "under a lot of strain, certainly in media and civil society", calling it "a very troubling situation". Ethiopia has increasingly faced criticism from the international community following violent protests over alleged vote-rigging by the ruling party in parliamentary elections last May.
Sweden pulls out of military exercises because of Israel
STOCKHOLM - Sweden has withdrawn from European military exercises due to be held next month in Italy because of Israel's participation, Swedish foreign ministry and military officials said on April 26. The Spring Flag air exercises in Sardinia "have been organized for peacekeeping operations and we don't want to take part because of Israel's participation", foreign ministry spokeswoman Nina Ersman said. The nine countries due to participate - Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden - were to train together for a future collaboration in international peacekeeping operations. But Israel would unlikely be able to be involved in any such operations, the foreign ministry said, calling into question the need for the exercises.
ICRC alarmed by civilian toll in Mideast violence
GENEVA - The international Red Cross on April 26 expressed alarm about the growing civilian toll during recent violence involving Israel and the Palestinians. "The International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] is alarmed by the number of civilians killed or injured during attacks and military operations in Israel and in the occupied and autonomous territories over recent weeks," the ICRC said in a statement. The statement marked an escalation in the ICRC's more usual language of concern following recent Palestinian suicide attacks in Israel and Israeli military operations against Palestinian targets. "International humanitarian law strictly prohibits attacks directed against civilians and civilian objects, and acts of violence intended to spread terror among the civilian population," it added.
Palestinian security prevent attack on Gaza border
GAZA CITY - Three members of the Palestinian security forces were wounded in a gunbattle on April 26 with militants who had planned to ram an explosives-packed vehicle into a Gaza-Israel border crossing, security sources said. The militants, driving in two vehicles, opened fire at members of the preventative security force who were manning a post close to Karni, the main trade crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, Palestinian and Israeli security sources. The security forces ordered the militants to stop but instead they began shooting at the post. It was not immediately known to which faction the gunmen belonged. According to Palestinian security sources, the militants had been planning an anti-Israeli suicide attack on Karni.
Iranian judiciary chief steps into case of detained Frenchman
TEHRAN - The head of the Iranian judiciary has intervened in the case of a Frenchman jailed for illegally entering the Islamic republic's waters, the official news agency IRNA reported on April 26. IRNA said that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi "has issued a special order for an urgent investigation" of the Frenchman's case and "for his fate be decided", without giving further details. Frenchman Stephane L'Herbier, 32, and German national Donald Klein, 52, were sentenced to 18 months in jail on January 24 by a court in Bandar Abbas, in southern Iran. The two were arrested at the end of November near the Gulf island of Abu Moussa, which is Iranian territory but claimed by the UAE.
Accused in Aqaba attack plead not guilty
AMMAN - Six suspected Islamists accused of firing rockets at two US warships in the Gulf of Aqaba for Al Qaeda pleaded not guilty on April 26 in Jordan's state security court. The group's alleged ringleader, 53-year-old Syrian Mohammed Hassan Abdullah Al Sehli, professed his innocence regarding the August 19 Katyusha rocket attack that killed a Jordanian soldier. "We are absolutely not involved in the firing of the rockets. Those responsible fled to Iraq," Sehli told the judge about the attack claimed by Al Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi. Another six suspects - four Iraqis and two Syrians - are currently on the run.
Four Afghan soldiers killed by roadside bomb
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Four Afghan soldiers were killed and three were wounded after their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said on April 26. The soldiers were on a patrol in Daywagal, a village in troubled Kunar province, when the remote-controlled bomb ripped through their vehicle late on April 25, provincial governor Assadullah Wafa said. Kunar shares a long, porous border with neighboring Pakistan and officials regard it as a hotbed for Taliban militants and their Al Qaeda allies.
AFP still has no word on kidnapped Baghdad employee
BAGHDAD - AFP said on April 26 it still has no word on the fate of an employee who was kidnapped three weeks ago near its Baghdad offices, despite intensive efforts to secure his release. AFP accountant Salah Jali Al Gharrawi, 48, has not been heard from since he was snatched on April 4 after he left the company's Baghdad offices. Despite intensive efforts, AFP has received no claim of responsibility or demands and has no information on either Gharrawi's condition or the identity of his abductors. Interior minister Bayan Jabr Solagh has assigned a top aide to take charge of an investigation into Gharrawi's fate.
Guerilla group warns oil firms to stay out of Ethiopia
NICOSIA - Ethiopian-based guerilla group the United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF) in a communiqué warned unspecified foreign oil companies that they would be "fully responsible for the consequences" if they helped the Ethiopian government to develop oil fields in the west part of the country.
The communiqué said that the companies from China, Malaysia, India, Russia and the Middle East should withdraw their bids to develop Calub and Hilala oil fields in the Ogaden region of southeast Ethiopia, which the group calls Western Somalia.
In the communiqué issued on April 25 the UWSLF also claimed to be fighting Ethiopian troops in towns and rural areas throughout Ogaden where it operates for a "greater Somalia".
Rabbis take part in inter-faith dialogue in Qatar
DOHA - The fourth edition of an inter-faith dialogue opened in Qatar on April 25 in the presence of 13 Jewish rabbis and scores of Christian and Muslim clerics. None of the rabbis was listed as coming from Israel. Some came from the United States to attend the annual conference for the second time. Some 140 participants will over two days debate themes revolving around religion, including "freedom of expression and religious sanctities." The latter theme was expected to spark a lively debate in light of the controversy sparked by the publication of cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammed in European papers, which infuriated Muslims around the world.
Kuwait starts easing restrictions on stateless Arabs
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait has begun easing tough restrictions on thousands of stateless Arabs who have been denied most of their basic rights in the oil-rich emirate, a lawmaker said on April 25. The interior ministry has started issuing special identification cards that allow stateless Arabs to work and obtain public services like education and health, the head of parliament's human rights committee, Ali Al Rashed, told reporters. "We have been informed by the interior minister that cards have already been issued to 13,000 stateless persons, which will be renewed annually," Rashed said after a committee meeting attended by the minister.
Choking Moroccan migrants found among Spain-bound melons
RABAT - Sixteen Moroccans seeking to enter Spain illegally almost suffocated in a truckload of melons but were saved in the nick of time by police, the Moroccan news agency MAP reported on April 25. Police discovered the would-be immigrants, including one minor, "while they were suffocating", during a check on a Spanish-registered lorry leaving from the port of Tangiers and headed for Algeciras in Spain. They said the migrants had been "shut among crates in an airtight container" of the lorry that had left Agadair in the south the day before.
Two Britons deny leaking memo charges
LONDON - Two Britons accused of leaking a memo allegedly suggesting US President George W. Bush wanted to bomb an Arab TV station have denied the charges. The secret memo allegedly said British Prime Minister Tony Blair had persuaded Bush not to attack al Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar, Sky News reported on April 25. Former Cabinet communications official David Keogh was accused of passing the memo to Leo O'Connor, a former aide to a Labor parliament member. Keogh pleaded not guilty to two charges of making a damaging disclosure between April 15 and May 29, 2004. O'Connor denied one charge of making a damaging disclosure of the April 16 document, the report said.
US military files sold at Afghan bazaar
BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Tightened security does not seem to have stopped the sale of stolen flash memory drives of US military files in the bazaars of Afghanistan. The black market trade of the flash drives taken from the US base in Bagram continued on April 24 despite earlier efforts to plug a security breach, The Los Angeles Times reported on April 25. The new flash drives at a bazaar across from the base's main gate contained US officers' names and mobile phone numbers and instructions on using pain to control prisoners who put up resistance, the report said.
World Bank loan for Turkey to fight bird flu
ANKARA - The World Bank said on April 25 it had approved a 27.3-million-euro ($34.4-million) loan for Turkey to help it prepare for a possible bird flu epidemic. The loan would sponsor projects aimed at boosting the protection of animal and human health and efforts to raise public awareness about avian influenza, which has claimed four lives in Turkey. The project "will also give assurances to visitors and tourists to Turkey that Turkey has a comprehensive plan to help stop the spread of future bird flu outbreaks", said the World Bank director for Turkey, Andrew Vorkink.
Spain to send more troops to Afghanistan
MADRID - Spanish defense minister Jose Antonio Alonso said on April 25 that Madrid was reinforcing its military contingent in Afghanistan for security reasons. "I have seen for myself the objective need for this increase in personnel," Alonso told Cadena Ser radio during a visit to the western Afghan city of Herat, where Spanish forces have a base. Increasing the Spanish contingent, which currently comprises 540 soldiers, was necessary to "continue improving security and the mission we are fulfilling in Afghanistan", he added. Alonso did not specify how many extra troops were to be deployed but recent media reports have spoken of between 140 and 150.
Canada's 'Armenian genocide' comment sparks row with Turkey
ANKARA - Turkey's foreign ministry said on April 25 that a reference by Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the "Armenian genocide" as fact had hurt bilateral relations. "We are appalled by the prime minister's comments, which give support to Armenia's unfounded allegations of genocide," the ministry said in a statement. The statement said that Harper's reference to the "Armenian allegations" as fact was serious, and that his position on the issue would "negatively affect ties between Turkey and Canada".
Armenians say that up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were slaughtered in an orchestrated genocide in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide.
Thieves target Qatari athletic officials in Kenya highway attack
NAIROBI - Armed thieves attacked a group of Qatari athletics officials in a weekend highway robbery in central Kenya, stealing $120,000 (97,000 euros) in cash, police said on April 25. The unidentified gunmen cut off the officials' vehicle, stormed it and stole the money on the afternoon of April 23 at the Kimende trading post, about 50 kilometers (32 miles) northwest of Nairobi, in Kenya's Rift Valley province, they said. Provincial police chief Jack Njagi said that the group was hit as they headed from the capital to the town of Eldoret, about 320 kilometers from Nairobi, where a number of Kenyan-born Qatari athletes are now in training.
Syria agrees to take group of Palestinian refugees from Iraq: UNHCR
GENEVA - Syria has agreed to take a group of 181 Palestinian refugees currently stranded on the border between Iraq and Jordan, the UN refugee agency said on April 25. The Palestinian refugees fled violence in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, last month and have been camping out on the border since Jordan blocked their entry. "At the end of last week we learned that the government of Syria has agreed to receive the group of 181 Palestinian refugees stranded at the Iraq-Jordanian border," said William Spindler, a spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Former Iran reformist MP gets jail term, fine
TEHRAN - A leading Iranian reformist has been handed a one year jail term and a fine for libel and "spreading lies", the ISNA news agency reported on April 25. Rajabali Mazroui, a former MP and a campaigner for press freedoms, has no right of appeal against the prison sentence or the 1 million Iranian riyal ($110) fine, the report added. It did not say what the charges related to. While a deputy in the Iranian parliament, Mazroui was at the center of an unsuccessful move to lift restrictions on the national media imposed by conservative predecessors. The move was vetoed by regime hardliners.
Donors urge release of jailed Ethiopian opposition figures
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's main donors renewed calls for the release of jailed opposition figures whose trial for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government after disputed elections last year resumes next week. The group of 23 nations and multilateral lenders called on the government and the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) to resolve a post-poll political deadlock that led to deadly violence. "We urge reconciliation and dialogue among all those engaged in the democratic process," the Ambassadors' Donors Group said in a statement released in Addis Ababa on April 24. "We continue to advocate for the release of imprisoned CUD leaders and representatives of the media and civil society," it said.
Israel satellite to up Iran surveillance
JERUSALEM - Israel will put a new spy satellite into service on April 25 that will increase the levels of surveillance of Iran's nuclear program, organizers of the launch said. The Eros B satellite was to go into orbit in an evening launch in eastern Russia, carried on the back of a Russian ballistic missile that has been refitted to serve as a launcher. The satellite is being launched by ImageSat, a company part-owned by state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries. ImageSat said in a statement that the 280 kilogram (616 pound) satellite, which is able to spot objects of no more than 70 centimeters (28 inches) long, would be fired into space from a site in Siberia.
Ethiopian rebels warn Indian firms against exploring oil in restive Ogaden region
NAIROBI - An Ethiopian insurgent group on April 24 warned two Indian oil firms against exploring oil and natural gas in the country's southeastern region, saying they would not allow it. "The ONLF [Ogaden National Liberation Front] wishes to make clear to Gail India Ltd., the Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. Ltd. and the Ethiopian government that so long as the Somali people of Ogaden are denied their basic rights to self-determination, the exploitation of natural resources in Ogaden for the benefit of the Ethiopian regime or any foreign firm will not be tolerated," the group said in a statement.
Two Swedes tried in Iran for spying
TEHRAN - Two Swedish nationals detained in Iran for photographing military installations have been tried for espionage and a verdict is expected in "due course", the ISNA news agency reported on April 24. In the Islamic republic the crime of spying can carry the death penalty. The pair stand accused of taking pictures of military sites, naval facilities and telecommunication posts on the southern island of Qeshm, a local judiciary official in the Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas was quoted as saying. ISNA said that the two men, in the presence of their lawyers and Swedish diplomats, had acknowledged that they were photographing military installations.
Ruling party official arrested in Turkey for chewing gum at ceremony
ANKARA - A provincial official from Turkey's Islamist-rooted governing party was arrested on April 24 for chewing bubble gum while laying a wreath at a monument of the country's secularist founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Anatolia news agency reported. The alleged incident occurred on April 23 in the northern city of Ordu during ceremonies marking National Sovereignty Day. The court ordered the arrest of Veysel Dalci, chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) branch in the nearby town of Fatsa, on charges of insulting Ataturk's legacy, Anatolia said. If convicted, Dalci may face up to three years in jail under a 1951 law that punishes insulting Ataturk.
Turkish teen on trial in May for murder of Catholic priest
ANKARA - The trial of a 16-year-old Turk accused of the February 5 murder of a Catholic Italian priest in Trabzon, northern Turkey, will start on May 15 behind closed doors, officials said on April 24. "The law requires an in camera trial because the accused is a minor," prosecutor Fatih Genc, who is seeking a life sentence in the case, said. Judicial officials told the Anatolia news agency that the court had accepted Genc's indictment and that the trial would open on May 15. The teenager, identified only by his initials, O.A., is charged with willful homicide in the shooting death of Father Andrea Santoro, 61, at the Santa Maria Catholic Church in Trabzon.
Syrian, Lebanese generals behind Hariri murder: whistleblower
KUWAIT CITY - A Syrian who testified before a UN inquiry into the killing of five-time Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri insisted in comments published on April 24 that Syrian commanders and their Lebanese allies were to blame. "Those who assassinated martyr Rafiq Al Hariri are in detention and the rest are in Syria," Mohammed Zuhair Al Siddiq told the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai Al Aam, alluding to four former Lebanese security chiefs in custody in Lebanon. "I take full responsibility for this testimony. I conveyed this to the [UN] commission of inquiry with complete credibility and honesty," he told the daily.
Judge wounded, 15 others detained in Egypt protest
CAIRO - One judge was wounded and 15 activists were detained on April 24 when Egyptian police broke up a protest in support of judges calling for reforms, a security official and witnesses said. "Fifteen people were detained outside the judges syndicate in Cairo," the official said on condition of anonymity. "Plainclothed security tried to remove us by force," said Salma Said, one of the 40 protestors and a member the pro-reform Youth for Change movement. "They beat some of the protestors up and when Judge Mahmoud Hamza came down to defend us, he was beaten up, too," she said. The judge was hospitalized but his condition was not thought to be serious.
Frenchman files suit over Syrian torture claims
PARIS - A 42-year-old French man filed suit in the French courts on April 24 claiming that he was kidnapped and tortured for 11 days last year by the Syrian authorities. Charles Farhat, a shopkeeper of Lebanese origin from the Paris suburb of Gennevilliers, said that he was arrested at the border between Lebanon and Syria in September and taken to a prison in Damascus. "They told me: forget about France. We're taking you to Center 235. It's serious," he said. Farhat said that he was forced to share a cell of a few meters square with around 40 other prisoners, from where he was taken for beatings and interrogations.
One dead, nine hurt as Afghan plane crashes into homes
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A young child was killed and at least nine people injured when a cargo plane skidded off a runway and ploughed into nearby homes in south Afghanistan on April 24, police said. The unidentified aircraft crashed while landing at an airfield in Lashkargah, the capital of restive Helmand province, deputy provincial governor Mullah Amir Akhund said. The cause of the accident was unclear. "The incident caused casualties in the nomad tents and houses it hit, we are now taking out the wounded and possibly dead people out of the rubble," Khan said.
Three Kurds, one soldier killed in southeast Turkey
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Three Kurdish rebels and one Turkish soldier were killed at the weekend in clashes in a mountainous zone of mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, authorities announced on April 24. The fighting on April 23 was near Bestler-Dereler in Sirnak province, close to Turkey's border with Syria and Iraq, a communiqué from the provincial governor said, noting that army operations in the area were continuing. The Turkish media reported last week that thousands of additional troops had been deployed in the southeast and along the borders with Iraq and Iran to intensify operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels, who have stepped up attacks in the region.
US finds abuse at Iraqi detention facilities
WASHINGTON - The US military has discovered evidence of abuse of detainees at least six more Iraqi detention centers run by the Shia-dominated interior ministry, The Washington Post reported on April 24. Last November US soldiers found 173 incarcerated men, some of them showing signs of torture, in a secret bunker in a ministry compound in central Baghdad. Since then, the newspaper said that there have been at least six joint US-Iraqi inspections of detention centers. Two sources involved with the inspections, one Iraqi official and one US official, said that abuse of prisoners was found at all the sites visited through February, the report said.
Two Qaeda escapees captured
SANAA - Two of 23 suspected Al Qaeda members who escaped a prison in February were captured by Yemeni security forces, a security official said on April 23. The number of escapees who have surrendered or been captured by Yemeni police has increased so far to eight, the official said requesting anonymity. He said that the two were captured in the past three days, adding that Yemeni authorities were confident that all escapees were still in Yemen. The February 3 escape from a Sanaa jail was a major embarrassment for the authorities and angered Yemen's US ally.
Syria detainee dies in custody, say activists
DAMASCUS - A suspected militant has died in custody in Syria as a result of "inhumane conditions", rights activists said on April 23, urging the release of all prisoners of conscience in Syria. "The family of detainee Mohammed Shaher Haissa has received his body at Tishrin hospital in Damascus," lawyer and activist Anwar Bunni said. "Inhumane conditions are behind the death of the detainee," he added. Haissa, 36, had been in custody for six months on charges of membership in the militant group Jund Al Sham (Soldiers of the Levant). There was no official confirmation of his death.
Iraq one of 'worst disasters' of US foreign policy, says Albright
WASHINGTON - Invading Iraq is likely to go down as one of the worst US foreign policy blunders ever, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright said in an interview published on April 23. The former top US diplomat told The New York Times that Iraq's deposed leader Saddam Hussein "was horrible. But I did not think he was an imminent threat to the United States. You can't go to war with everybody you dislike," Albright continued. "I think Iraq may end up being one of the worst disasters in American foreign policy." Albright, who served under president Bill Clinton, said that US foreign policy mistakes under President George W. Bush have left her feeling "sick" about America's current status in global affairs.
Two killed in Yemen market grenade explosion
SANAA - Two people were killed and 18 more wounded on April 23 when an attacker hurled a grenade into a crowded market in the Yemeni capital Sanaa where people were buying a popular narcotic plant. "Two men became embroiled in a row in the market. One man hit the other in the chest, who responded by throwing a hand grenade into the air," a police official said. Witnesses said that the grenade fell on to a corrugated roof and exploded in the market, where merchants were selling qat, a highly popular mild narcotic leaf that is legal in Yemen.
Mubarak seeks to reassure Copts
CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sought to allay the fears of the Coptic community after violent communal clashes in Alexandria, in a message published on April 23 to coincide with Orthodox Easter. "Egypt is strong ... and nobody can harm the unity that exists between Muslims and Christians," Mubarak said in the message published in state-owned newspapers. "They [Copts] enjoy all their rights as Egyptian citizens and are convinced that religion is for God and the homeland is for all," he said.
On April 14, 78-year-old Noshi Atta Girgis was killed by a knife-wielding assailant who attacked three churches in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Another person died in ensuing clashes between Muslims and Copts, who account for only around 10 percent of Egypt's population of 73 million.
Sex traffic thrives in lawless Iraq
BAGHDAD - Sex trafficking, almost non-existent under Saddam Hussein, reportedly has resurfaced in Iraq, where an estimated 2,000 women have gone missing since 2003. The collapse of law and order and the absence of a stable government have allowed criminal gangs, alongside terrorists, to run amok, Time magazine reported on April 23. Meanwhile, some aid workers say, bureaucrats in the ministries have either paralyzed with red tape or frozen the assets of charities that might have provided refuge for the girls. The US State Department's June 2005 trafficking report says that the extent of the problem in Iraq is "difficult to appropriately gauge" but cites an unknown number of Iraqi women and girls being sent to Yemen, Syria, Jordan and Persian Gulf countries for sexual exploitation.
Jailed Egypt opposition leader to be moved to public hospital
CAIRO - Egypt's attorney general agreed on April 22 that the jailed leader of the opposition Ghad (Tomorrow) party be transferred to a public hospital as demanded by his family and lawyer, a judicial source said. Maher Abdel Wahid consented that Ayman Nour be moved from the prison hospital where he was being treated for multiple ailments, including diabetes and heart problems, to Kasr Al Aini, the main public hospital in Cairo. The decision came three days after Nour went on hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his detention and after his lawyer filed a petition demanding that he be moved away from the Mazra Tora prison hospital.
Bulgaria: Nurses may go home after retrial
SOFIA - Five Bulgarian nurses, sentenced to death seven years ago for infecting 393 Libyan children with HIV, may get a retrial that would allow them to return to Europe. The five nurses, who have been in a Libya prison for seven years, are to be retried and are likely to be sent to Bulgaria by this fall, Feim Chaushev, Bulgarian deputy foreign minister, told the Sofia News Agency on April 21."I am convinced it would be in August or September when they will come back home. All institutions are doing their best to provide a fair outcome of the trial," Chaushev told Darik Radio.
Israel threatens to kill Hamas ministers
TEL AVIV, Israel - Israeli officials threatened on April 21 to assassinate Hamas ministers and a senior militant appointed as general supervisor of Palestinian security forces. Knesset member Dany Yatom denounced the appointment of Abu Samhadana, commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, to the post of general supervisor. "Hamas ministers are within the killing ground of the Israelis as well as Abu Samhadana," Yatom told Israel's army radio. Palestinian interior minister Said Siyam made the appointment on April 20 triggering sharp condemnations in Israel, which considers Abu Samhadana a most wanted criminal.
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