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Photos show prisoner under threat from dogs
Blair apologises for abuse American among 20 lawyers to defend Saddam Slain Chechnya President buried |
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TV channel “pressurised” to cancel Shahbaz’s interview Special article: A people without friends
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Photos show prisoner under threat from dogs New York, May 10 The magazine, which was among the first to publish photos that have caused an international scandal, said yesterday that others existed from the same scene showing the prisoner on the floor with blood pouring from a wound. The new picture accompanied by an article said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military officers sought to keep the prison abuse scandal quiet for several months. The picture shows a naked Iraqi man, leaning against a cell door, with his hands clasped behind his neck, cowering in fear as two German Shepherd dogs bark at him. The article said that other photos show the dogs “straining at their leashes and snarling at the prisoner. “In another take a few minutes later, the Iraqi is lying on the ground, writhing in pain, with a soldier sitting on top of him, knee pressed to his back. Blood is streaming from the inmate’s leg” top investigative reporter Seymour Hersh said in his article. “Another photograph is a close-up of the naked prisoner, from his waist to his ankles, lying on the floor. On his right thigh is what appears to be a bite or a deep scratch. There is another larger wound on his left leg covered in blood. The article quoted an unnamed senior Pentagon official as saying that many senior Generals believe that top civilians officials and General John Abizaid, the head of US Central Command, “had done their best to keep the issue quiet in the first months of the year.”
— AFP |
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Blair apologises for abuse London, May 10 “We apologise deeply to anyone who has been mistreated by our soldiers. This is totally unacceptable,” he said in the first official admission of abuse by British forces since shocking pictures were published 10 days ago. “Those responsible will be punished according to the army disciplinary rules,” Mr Blair, who is on a visit to France, told public France 3 television yesterday. Mr Blair stressed however that the majority of British soldiers did not act like those responsible for the abuses. Ministry of Defence spokeswoman told AFP she could not say whether the statement would also be about a Red Cross report voicing concern over Britons’ treatment of Iraqi prisoners. Late yesterday, Britain’s Ministry of Defence admitted it had known for “several months” of the abuse allegations, saying investigations had been going on since last year. The ministry was responding to the charges by Amnesty that it had first told the government of the allegations a year ago.
— AFP |
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American among 20 lawyers to defend Saddam Amman, May 10 Rachdane, who is included on the defence team, said yesterday that the lawyers had been appointed by Saddam’s wife, Sajida, and his three daughters. They include eight Jordanians, four Egyptians, two Tunisians, an American, a Swiss and a Frenchman. It does not include the name of Frenchman Jacques Verges, who has previously claimed to be Saddam’s lawyer. The American is Curtis
Doebbler, a former professor of human rights law at the American University in Cairo.
— AFP |
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Slain Chechnya President buried Vladikavkaz (Russia), May 10 Thousands of people came to Tsentoroi, the settlement in southeastern Chechnya that is home to Kadyrov’s clan, Russian media reported. Mourning ceremonies were to go on for three days, the reports said. Funerals were to be held elsewhere for other victims, including Khusein Isayev, the head of Chechnya’s State Council, and Reuters photographer Adlan Khasanov. MOSCOW:
The son of slain Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov, Ramzan, was today appointed as the first Deputy Head of the separatist republic’s government, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. He will serve as the right-hand man to Sergei Abramov, who became the republic’s interim leader after Kadyrov. The pro-Moscow head of Chechnya was killed yesterday in a bomb blast in Grozny. Meanwhile, Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov on Monday denied involvement in the assassination of Akhmad Kadyrov.
— AP, AFP |
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Window
on Pakistan It seems the Pakistan Muslim League (N) President and former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has attained larger than life image even before he returns from his exile from Saudi Arabia. Although many in the media and in politics are not sure of Sharif, brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, landing in Lahore, yet the flurry of activity on all fronts is something which has made the administration sit up and worry. Both brothers had agreed to spend some years in exile in lieu of the military rulers not pursuing the cases of corruption against them. But Shahbaz now threatens to resume political activity. Pakistan’s People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto is waiting in the wings to land. President Pervez Musharraf, who has scarcely cobbled some political arrangement, seems to be worried. Daily Nation reported that there is a red alert at all the airports. All public meetings and processions have been banned in Lahore. The plane will first land at the old airport. Shahbaz will be whisked away, charged and arrested and then the plane will go to the new airport. Dozens of party workers and leaders have been arrested to stop any welcome. Newspapers like the Dawn, the News, the Nawa-e-Waqt, the Jang are full of scary stories. The Nation commented: “That Mian Shahbaz’s return remains a puzzle for the government is reflected in the reaction of the ruling party’s leadership. Prime Minister Jamali expressed doubts about Mian Shahbaz’s return, and so did his Party President Shujaat Hussain and Information Minister Rashid Ahmad. Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has stated very bluntly, more than once, that the PML-N President would be deported soon after his arrival. Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi believed that there was no need to be thrilled by this ‘drama’: ‘it’s just a media hype.’ Perhaps such statements by the people in the position of authority indicate weakness of the government rather than its strength. Either they are issuing these statements out of fear or to please someone. But the people indulging in this ‘flattery’ must not forget that Pakistan is not an autocracy. Rather than seeking advice from the powers that be the Jamali Government should assert itself and let Mian Shahbaz come back home and fight the cases pending against him in courts.” At another level, the political elements opposed to PML (N) except the PPP are joining hands and forming one monolithic party. Dawn wrote: “The ruling Muslim League’s bid to revamp the PML-Q by merging all smaller factions of the party — except the PML-N — and other like-minded parties into a single party is a move in that direction. The Nation also added: “There is now talk of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali also assuming the office of the (unified) party’s secretary-general. The suggestion reportedly does not go down well with the PML president Shujaat Hussain and party cadres loyal to him.” The Dawn warned by saying: “Unchanged in this unending game all through our chequered political history is the effort of the ruling establishment to further marginalize whatever little opposition it allows for form’s sake. The system has come to its present sorry pass because of periodic interruptions of the political process and the military’s inability to resist the temptation to rule, directly or indirectly.” Columnist M.H. Aksari in the Dawn called it factionist and not unification. “After weeks of negotiations, five factions of the Muslim League have decided to merge into a single entity to be called the Pakistan Muslim League. It will also carry with it the Sindh Democratic Alliance (SDA), headed by the former civil servant, Imtiaz Shaikh. In view of their respective known ambitions, the heads of the various factions of the League which have agreed to the merger may prefer to have an ‘outsider’ as the leader.” |
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TV channel “pressurised” to cancel Shahbaz’s interview Islamabad, May 10 The interview with
Shahbaz, who planned to return home ending over three-year-long exile abroad, was cancelled yesterday due to government pressure minutes before it was to be telecast by ARY Digital channel, media reports said today. According to the channel’s management, they were “threatened” by the personnel of various security agencies that their Karachi office would be shut down and their staff picked up if they did not cancel the interview. |
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London, May 10
