 |
|
|
Saddam refuses to attend trial
Bin Laden alive and leading jehad: Al-Qaida deputy
Teacher debars student from wearing crucifix
Indian convicted in Afghanistan
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
India-born Islamic scholar dies in Doha
World Technology Award for Guha
|
|
Saddam refuses to attend trial
Baghdad, December 7 Court officials say that in principle the trial, which began on October 19, can go ahead without the defendants present, but the source said the chief judge was eager for Saddam to appear. At the end of yesterday’s hearing, Saddam told the judge to ‘’Go to hell’’, saying he would not attend an illegal court. He has repeatedly said the trial is a US-staged sham and has berated the presiding judge and chief prosecutor. Today’s hearing was due to be the fifth session in the trial of Saddam and seven co-defendents accused of crimes against humanity stemming from the killing of 148 persons in Dujail after a 1982 attempt to assassinate the former president in the Shi’ite Muslim village north of Baghdad. Yesterday, the court heard five witnesses who said they were jailed after the killings. All spoke from behind a curtain and through a voice modifier out of fear for their lives. The court source said the trial judge was communicating with Saddam’s lawyers through clerks. The lawyers were in direct contact with Saddam, whose whereabouts have been kept secret amid tight security at the fortified Baghdad courtroom. The trial has rekindled painful memories for many Iraqis just eight days before they vote for their first full-term parliament since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003. However, after four sessions, some observers have voiced doubts about the strength of the Dujail case and the judge has instructed some witnesses to focus their rambling testimony. The UN’s human rights chief in Iraq says he sees little prospect of the trial meeting international standards. International human rights and legal observers have raised concerns about witness protection, security and the fact that the death penalty cannot be commuted if it is imposed.
— Reuters |
|
Bin Laden alive and leading jehad: Al-Qaida deputy
Dubai, December 7 “Al-Qaida for holy war is still, thanks to God, a base for jihad. Its prince Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, still leads the jihad,” Zawahiri said. US officials believe that bin Laden, the Western world’s most wanted terror mastermind, and other key Qaida militants have been sheltering somewhere along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Laden has not been heard of since a December 27, 2004 audiotape in which he anointed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq’s most wanted man, as Al-Qaida’s leader in the war-torn country. Laden’s last video appearance dates back to December 16 last year, when he also called on his fighters to strike Gulf oil supplies and warned Saudi leaders of a popular uprising. In today’s tape Zawahiri was quoted by Al-Jazeera television as calling for attacks on oil installations in Muslim nations “because most of the revenues of this oil go to the enemies of Islam.”
— AFP |
|
Teacher debars student from wearing crucifix
London, December 7 Sixteen-year-old Sam Morris was told by Howard Jones, deputy head of Sinfin Community School in Derby, that the tiny gold cross she has worn around her neck for three years was not a symbol of her faith, but nothing more than a trinket. Sam who is studying for her GCSE, equivalent to the SSC in India, missed two days’ classes after being sent home when she refused to remove the crucifix and chain she was wearing. The decision was condemned as “crazy” as Sikh students at the school were allowed to carry kirpan and wear traditional metal bracelets and karas because they were classified as religious symbols after relaxing the Offensive Weapons Act. “Most of our students understand allowing Sikhs to wear a bracelet is compulsory part of their religion. Christianity does not require followers to wear a specific symbol,” Jones said. The only non-Sikh items allowed were inexpensive watches and small pairs of stud-style earrings. Meanwhile, the Derby City Council said it was lawful to ban crucifixes. “But whether it is desirable is another matter. For some persons a crucifix could be a deeply religious gesture, which is why personal needs should be taken into account.” Sam’s mother Debra Saunders accused officials of risking creating racial tensions by failing to apply the same ban to all groups. She said her daughter believed in God and should therefore be allowed to wear a symbol of Christianity. “It’s very unfair. It just ends up creating a divide,” Ms Saunders said. She had reluctantly allowed her daughter to return to classes without the necklace after two days although she still plans to complain to the governors. Harmander Singh, a Sikh who helped the Education Department to write guidelines, said the Sikh community would support the right of a child to wear something that reminds him or her of religious values. Terming the order as a “misguided” one, leading faith organisations said this could lead to create new racial tension which the school had avioided so far. A prominent Christian and leading Tory MP Ann Widdecombe described the decision “crazy” and said Jones was “utterly ignorant” if he thinks the cross is just costume jewellery. Noting that teachers have a right to impose their own rules over uniform, John Midgely of ‘Campaign Against Political Correctness’ said they had to be “extremely careful not to give the impression that they are undermining one faith while showing favour to another.”
— PTI |
|
Indian convicted in Afghanistan
Kabul, December 7 Naveen Joshi of India, Sargon Heinrich of California, and the Britons — Peter Eaton and Mike Shaw — have been jailed since their October 13 arrests, during a police raid on a guest house in the capital, Kabul. They had faced prison terms of up to six years. Joshi (33), of Mumbai, told the judge he was tortured. He said the police beat him and threatened him with death. He signed a statement implicating himself and Eaton out fear of further abuse. Prosecutors claimed they were involved in a deal to sell 100 guns to an undercover police officer posing as a buyer. The chief judge said the three-judge panel decided that Eaton, Shaw and Joshi would be given time served and two-year suspended sentences, meaning they can be released after providing guarantees that they will return to court if the case is appealed - as the prosecutor vowed. Heinrich was ordered released subject to the same guarantee.
— AP |
|
9 Taliban guerrillas killed
Spin Boldak (Afghanistan), December 7 |
|
|
India-born Islamic scholar dies in Doha
Dubai, December 7 The 53-year-old Moulana had been ill for some time. The end came on Monday. He is survived by two daughters and a son. He was popular with his weekly Islamic question-answer programme on Qatar Broadcasting Urdu Service. Moulana Shamsy was also much sought-after as a speaker in Urdu in many forums here. A graduate of Jamiatul Falah in Rampur, Moulana Shamsy pursued higher studies at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University where he won a gold medal for his academic record and later studied at the Islamic University in Medina. |
|
World Technology Award for Guha
Houston, December 7 |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
