A regularly updated column of news briefs from around the region
Mubarak reverses exam result of student who criticized US
CAIRO - An Egyptian student who initially failed her secondary school exams for criticizing the United States and her own government was given a helping hand by the president, newspapers reported on June 30. "President Hosni Mubarak yesterday ordered the re-marking of an answer sheet of the 16-year-old student who harshly criticized the US president and the Egyptian government in an Arabic essay," the Egyptian Gazette said. Alaa Megahed failed her exams after blaming Washington and Israel for the state of the environment and criticizing the Cairo government in her final exams, according to another paper, Al-Masri Al-Yom.
On June 29 the education ministry announced that the result was reversed after an intervention by the president and his "encouragement of freedom of speech and expression," it said. But Mubarak also "telephoned Alaa and her father, a factory worker in the Nile Delta governorate of Daqahliya, asking him to encourage his daughter to express her political views more tactfully," the Gazette said. Alaa, whose face appeared on television and in newspapers across the country over the past week, became a symbol of the lack of freedom of expression for the press in Egypt.
Israeli soldiers kill Sudanese illegal immigrant
JERUSALEM - Israeli troops shot dead a detained illegal immigrant from Sudan who crossed from Egypt as he tried to escape on June 30, an army spokesman said. The man was in a group of people that included 13 Sudanese and three Palestinians and was picked up by an Israeli military patrol in the southern Negev Desert. "He jumped out of the van carrying the 16 people and did not stop despite orders from the soldiers, who ended up firing in his direction," an army spokesman said.
Yemen opposition names challenger to veteran president
SANAA - The main Yemeni opposition alliance chose a politician from the former communist south on June 29 to stand in September presidential elections against veteran incumbent Ali Abdullah Saleh. Faisal Shalman, who briefly served as a government minister in the then People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in the late 1960s, was chosen as the common candidate of the main opposition groups represented in parliament, a senior opposition politician said.
He will stand for the Common Forum, an alliance grouping the main Islamist opposition Islah (Reform) party and the former ruling faction in the south, the Yemen Socialist Party, as well as five smaller groups.
Ethiopia approves plan to safeguard against bird flu outbreak
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia has approved a three-year, multimillion-dollar plan to boost the country's preparedness in the event of an outbreak of the deadly bird flu in the impoverished African nation. The plan, which will cost about $123.8 million, includes setting up surveillance systems, boosting national and regional response, increasing public awareness as well supplying drugs and equipment, according to a statement released by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The plan also "aims at providing the necessary guidance for effecting activities that enhance the prevention and control of the influenza in the poultry and human population," the statement added. Ethiopia has not recorded any cases of the virulent H5N1 strain, but it is considered at risk after the virus appeared in neighboring Sudan and a human case was reported in Djibouti, the second country in Africa after Egypt to report human infection.
Thai cop convicted of stealing stolen Saudi gems
BANGKOK - A senior Thai policeman received a 20-year prison sentence on June 29 for stealing lavish jewelry that he was supposed to be recovering after a notorious heist from a Saudi prince's palace. Former police commissioner Chalor Kerdthes, who is already on death row for murders related to the theft, was convicted of stealing some of the $20 million worth of jewelry that he was supposed to recover. The jewelry had been stolen in 1989 from a Saudi prince's palace by a Thai janitor, who then fled to Bangkok. Chalor helped arrest that man, Kraingkrai Tejamonga, who was sentenced to prison.
Police recovered most of the spectacular gems but much of what was returned to the Saudi owner proved to be fake and many pieces are still missing. Chalor was sentenced to death for abducting and murdering the wife and son of a gems merchant who had bought some of the stolen jewelry from Kraingkrai. The prosecution argued that Chalor abducted the pair to pressure the merchant into revealing the whereabouts of the gems. The theft of the jewelry was also linked to the disappearance of Saudi businessman Mohammed Al Ruwaili in 1990 and the unsolved murders of four Saudis, including three diplomats, in 1989 and 1990. Thai police have never tracked down the killers of the Saudi diplomats.
68 Islamist prisoners suspend hunger strike
RABAT - Some 68 Islamic detainees being held on terror charges in Morocco said on June 29 that they had suspended the hunger strike that they had observed since May 29. The detainees in Sale prison near Rabat said that the justice ministry had pledged to "lift the injustice of which we are victims," in a statement issued by Ennassir, the support association for Islamist prisoners. "Our voice has reached the high authorities, achieving part of our objective," the statement added.
The prisoners in Sale have been demanding to be allowed their freedom while awaiting trial and are demanding to know why the dates of their trials have been systematically put back, Ennassir said.
Emirati, Asian arrested with 100 kilos of hashish
ABU DHABI - Emirati police announced on June 28 the arrest of two alleged drug traffickers, an Asian and an Emirati, in possession of 100 kilos (220 pounds) of hashish, the official WAM agency reported. Hamad Al Amimi, police chief for the Al Ain oasis in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, said that the unnamed Emirati had been arrested in the area with 25 kilos of hashish hidden in metal boxes. The unnamed Asian was arrested in neighboring Oman in possession of 75 kilos of hashish, intercepting a boat at sea in a joint operation with Omani police, Amimi said, without elaborating on the man's nationality. Both men's drugs were to be sold in the United Arab Emirates, he said.
Egypt customs lift veil on Kuwaiti transvestites
CAIRO - Puzzled by two veiled Kuwaiti women traveling on men's passports, an Egyptian customs officer resorted to a medical examination to determine their sex, airport sources in Cairo said on June 28. The two passengers, who flew in from Kuwait City, insisted that they were women, so the officer sent them to the airport doctor, Moataz Omran, for inspection. Despite their indignant protests, the two transgender Kuwaitis were registered by immigration as men. In Kuwait, homosexuality is officially punishable by up to several years in prison.
Rights group demands probe into Libya prison killings
CAIRO - Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Libya on June 28 to investigate the suppression of a prison revolt 10 years ago during which hundreds of inmates are believed to have been killed. "Hundreds of prisoners were apparently killed at Abu Salim prison" on June 28 and 29, 1996, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement. The New York-based rights watchdog said that a decade later, Tripoli had failed to release details of the killings, the number of dead and their identities.
HRW said that it had interviewed a former inmate who worked in the prison kitchen at the time, and who estimated that prison security officials gunned down up to 1,200 prisoners and disposed of the bodies. HRW quoted a Switzerland-based Libyan organization as saying that just 112 families have been notified by the authorities of the death of a relative held in Abu Salim at the time. "The families of missing prisoners have the right to know their relatives fate," Whitson said. "The government must cooperate in shedding light on this tragic event."
Swedish journalist released in Syria
STOCKHOLM - A Palestinian-born Swedish journalist has been released from custody in Syria after being arrested for reportedly insulting the Syrian state, Sweden's foreign ministry said on June 27. Swedish media said that the reporter, whom they identified as Rachid Alhajeh, 61, was arrested at Damascus airport earlier this month and had been questioned for allegedly insulting the Syrian state 10 years ago, when he interviewed an asylum-seeking Syrian for Swedish television. "We can confirm that he has been liberated," a ministry spokeswoman said here, adding that no reasons for his detention had been officially provided by the Syrian government.
Syria jails Muslim Brotherhood members for 12 years
DAMASCUS - Three Syrians accused of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood have been condemned to death by the state security court, a sentence later commuted to 12 years in jail, a rights group said on June 27. "Youssef Omar Hussein, 36, Mohammed Thabel Hallali, 38, and Fouad Ali Shagri, 44, were condemned to death on June 25 under Law 49," the National Organization for Human Rights said. "But the court commuted this sentence to 12 years' imprisonment," it added.
Gaza beach blast survivors treated in Egypt
CAIRO - Three surviving members of a Palestinian family decimated by an explosion on a Gaza beach earlier this month have undergone treatment in Cairo, a medical source said on June 27. "Surgeries were performed on the surviving members of the family that was killed in Gaza this month," said Gamal Abel Salam, head of relief committee of the Arab Medical Union, which organized for the victims to come to Cairo for treatment.
Surgery was performed on Hamida Ghalya, 43, Latifa Ghalya, 7, the mother and sister of Huda Ghalya, who became an icon for many Palestinians when footage of her wailing by her dead father minutes after the attack was beamed around the world. Another sister, eight-year-old Hadeel, underwent several X-rays to locate shrapnel.
Egyptian crash case must be heard in France
PARIS - A French court on June 27 rejected an appeal by families of victims of a plane crash at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh for the civil case to be heard under United States jurisdiction. The accident on January 3, 2004, claimed 148 lives, including those of 134 French passengers, when a chartered Boeing 737-300 crashed into the sea near Sharm El Sheikh shortly after takeoff.
"The court, against the opinion of the prosecuting authority [representing the French justice authorities], ruled that the victims could not argue that the tribunal in charge of the case was not competent to hear it," said Gerard Montigny, a spokesman for the victims' lawyers. Thus the entire case would be heard in France unless the parties filed a challenge. Marc Cherney, head of the group defending the interests of the victims' families, had said that the financial compensation that could be awarded by American courts could be as much as 20 to 30 times higher than in France.
Six arrested in France for funding Turkish rebels
PARIS - Six people suspected of raising funds for an underground Turkish rebel group were arrested in France on June 27, sources close to the investigation said. Police detained the suspects - both Turkish nationals and French citizens of Turkish origin - in coordinated raids in Paris and its suburbs and in the northwestern Brittany region. The suspects, who include the head of a Turkish cultural center, are accused of running an extortion racket to raise funds for the Turkish Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist (TKP-ML), a small armed group blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Ankara. They are also accused of recruiting for the group.
Three killed in Egypt raid on Sinai bombing suspects
CAIRO - Two Egyptians suspected of involvement in the April bombings in the Sinai resort of Dahab and the wife of one of them were killed in a police raid on June 27, security sources said. Ibrahim Hamid Frig, his wife Fawziya Muslih and brother Sami were killed during an operation in the mountainous northern Sinai region of Mathni, an official said. He added that the police responded to gunfire and later found automatic weapons near the bodies. Several suspects have been killed or arrested in recent massive sweeps by Egyptian security forces in the peninsula.
Singaporean in court over alleged arms deal to Syria
SINGAPORE - A Singaporean has been charged in a conspiracy to ship 20,000 rifles to Syria, court documents obtained on June 27 say. Colin Mak Yew Loong, 30, appeared in court on June 26 accused of conspiring with B.R. Chaandrran, 45, also of Singapore, to arrange a contract for the weapons worth $3.4 million. The conspiracy occurred between May 11 and September 13 last year. The documents alleged that "the contract was likely to result in the removal of the said 20,000 AKMS rifles from Bulgaria to Syria." According to the charges, Loong was not registered to broker in "strategic goods" as required by Singaporean law.
Three Egyptians killed by Sinai landmines
CAIRO - Three Egyptians were killed and two seriously wounded late on June 27 in two landmine explosions in the Sinai Peninsula, security sources said. The first landmine was set off by a bulldozer digging a trench to lay a gas pipeline near the popular resort of Dahab, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) southeast of Cairo. The driver was wounded. Another landmine exploded when an army unit arrived on the scene to investigate the circumstances of the blast, killing two officers and a worker. An engineer was also wounded in the second explosion.
Egypt is one of the most heavily-mined regions in the world, a legacy of World War II and the Arab-Israeli wars, which left the northwestern desert and the Sinai Peninsula infested with an estimated 22 million mines and other unexploded ordnance.
Saudi king offers Al Qaeda militants amnesty
RIYADH - The Saudi monarch said on June 26 that wanted Islamist militants who surrender will be pardoned, exactly two years after a royal amnesty was issued to lure Al Qaeda followers to turn themselves in. "In continuation of the amnesty" issued in June 2004, King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz has given orders to pardon militants who hand themselves in to the authorities, the SPA official news agency said. "He who turns himself in will be included in the amnesty," he said.
Saudi security forces killed six militants and wounded another on June 23 in a pre-dawn firefight in Riyadh, in which 17 policemen were also wounded. Forty-three suspected Islamist militants were arrested a day after the shootout.
Egypt journalists sentenced for 'insulting president'
CAIRO - Two journalists from an independent Egyptian weekly were each given a year in jail on June 26 for reporting on a complaint accusing President Hosni Mubarak of misusing government money. The Giza criminal court found Ad Dustour chief editor Ibrahim Issa and reporter Sahar Zaki guilty of "insulting and harming the president of the republic and the people of Egypt." They were both given a one-year prison sentence and a fine of £E10,000 ($1,735).
In April Ad Dustour published a story about a complaint filed by an Egyptian citizen, Said Mohammed Abdullah, who accused Mubarak of misusing £E500 million during the privatization of several public companies. Abdullah appeared in the same court as the two journalists on June 26 and was given the same sentence.
New Somalia leader seen as militant
MOGADISHU - The new leader of Somalia's Islamic militia, which controls the capital Mogadishu, reportedly has been linked to terrorism by the United States. Over the weekend, Hassan Dahir Aweys, a Muslim sheikh, was made the leader of the Council of the Islamic Courts, the new governing entity of the militias that captured power from the secular war lords earlier this month after weeks of intense fighting, reports The New York Times. Aweys is a former military colonel and had been the vice-chairman of Itihaad, which the Bush administration had labeled as a terrorist group, the Times said.
Lawyers fear Aziz may be moved to Iraqi custody
AMMAN - Lawyers for former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tarek Aziz, in US custody in Baghdad, said on June 26 that they have petitioned the European Court of Human Rights over fears that he may be handed over to the new government in Iraq. Italian lawyers Giovanni Di Stefano and Domenico Marinelli said that the safety of their client and other detainees from the former Iraqi regime could be at risk if they were transferred to Iraqi custody.
The lawyers said that they had received information that the US and two of its allies in Iraq - Britain and Italy - planned to transfer all their detainees to the custody of the new Shia-led Iraqi government. "Since physical custody is about to be transferred to the Iraqi government of all detainees my concern is that Tarek Aziz will be punished by the Iraqi government well outside any judicial process," Di Stefano wrote in a statement.
Atlanta music ace Auston jailed in Dubai
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The United Arab Emirates has jailed Atlanta entertainment figure Dallas Austin on drug charges, Austin attorney Qays Hatem Al Zu'bi said. The Gulf News daily reported that Austin, 34, was arrested at Dubai International Airport on May 19 on drug possession charges. The arrest reportedly followed a three-day birthday party for Naomi Campbell. A court appearance was set for June 27.
Jordan Islamists stay in jail over Zarqawi sympathy
AMMAN - Jordan has remanded into custody for 15 days four Islamist MPs charged with incitement for offering condolences to the family of Al Qaeda's slain leader Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, a judicial source said on June 26. "The state security court prosecutor has decided to renew the detention of MPs Mohammed Abu Fares, Jaafar Horani, Ibrahim Mashukhi and Ali Abu Sukkar for another 15 days," the source said. The MPs from the key opposition Islamic Action Front party were arrested and charged on June 12 and ordered detained for 15 days at a desert prison, as part of the investigation pending their trial.
The court, a military tribunal, charged them with incitement to violence and sedition after receiving complaints from families of some of the 60 civilians killed in November in hotel suicide bombings claimed by Zarqawi.
At least 22 killed in Iran bus crash
TEHRAN - At least 22 people were killed and 18 injured in eastern Iran on June 26 when a passenger bus collided with a truck, state television reported. The accident occurred in the early hours between the towns of Birjand and Nehbandan in South Khorasan province, which borders Afghanistan.
Four die in southern Turkey explosion
ANKARA - An explosion, most likely accidental, at a tourist site in southern Turkey on June 25, killed four people and injured another 25, a police source said. Killed by the blast were four men of different nationalities, Norwegian, Hungarian, Russian and Turk. "According to a preliminary investigation, the incident is the result of the explosion of a gas canister belonging to a restaurant," the sub-prefect of Manavgat, where the blast occurred, said in a statement.
Turkish Cypriot leader's party loses control of main city
NICOSIA - The pro-reunification party of Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat lost control of his breakaway state's main city in municipal elections on June 25 but held on to the other two main towns, provisional results showed. Talat's center-left Republican Turkish Party, which championed a UN reunification plan for the divided Mediterranean island rejected by Greek Cypriots two years ago, retained control of Famagusta and Kyrenia but lost north Nicosia to its coalition partner, the center-right Democratic Party.
Overall, Talat's party won eight municipalities against seven for the DP and 10 for the nationalist opposition National Unity Party, according to the results from the electoral commission. The other three went to independents. The results would boost Talat's party's representation in parliament to 25 seats out of 50 with the National Unity Party down to 18. The Democratic Party and the dovish Movement for Peace and Democracy would remain unchanged on six seats and one respectively.
Kuwait court acquits four Islamists
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait's appeals court on June 25 acquitted four Islamists of charges of recruiting anti-US fighters for Iraq and referred the cases of 18 others to two other courts, a lawyer said. In May last year the lower court sentenced 18 of them to three years in jail and fined four others. The group included four minors. But the appeals court found four of the group not guilty, returned the cases of four others to the lower court for reconsideration and sent the cases of the remaining 14 to the constitutional court, defense lawyer Osama Al Munawer said.
The constitutional court was asked to review a clause in the penal code that deals with conspiracy charges that is suspected of contravening the constitution. Last month a Kuwaiti judge trying 36 Islamists suspected of fighting gunbattles with the police in January 2005, referred that case to the constitutional court on similar grounds.
Israel issues restricting orders against far-right Jews
JERUSALEM - Israel has issued restricting orders for 13 extreme-right Jewish activists in what is seen as a precursor for the removal of illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank, an army source said on June 24. The activists are suspected of taking part in violent acts against Palestinians and clashes with security forces, the source said. Under the administrative warrants, issued by defense minister Amir Peretz and counter-signed by the head of the army's central command, the 13 activists will not be allowed to approach the area of the evacuated outposts.
Peretz last week ordered police to prepare for the removal of the first group of four outposts in the West Bank.
Bomb found at Hariri-owned TV in Beirut
BEIRUT - A bomb was found on June 24 near the building of Future television, owned by the family of assassinated former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, the channel's editor in chief said. "A small bomb in a plastic bag was found at dawn in front of the main gate of the television building" in central Beirut, Imad Assi said. "Explosives experts from the internal security forces were sent to the site, and later on military experts took the bomb away," he added.
The television's management later issued a statement linking the incident to "the series of explosions that Lebanon has witnessed since the start of the terrorist attacks, with the October 2004 attempt on minister Marwan Hamadeh and the assassination of prime minister Rafiq Hariri" on February 14, 2005.
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