Tehran, June 14
The Iranian police again clashed today with people protesting in Tehran against the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said the vote had been clean. The unrest that has rocked Tehran and several other cities since official results were declared on Saturday is the sharpest expression of discontent against Iran’s leadership for years.

Tens of thousands of flag-waving Ahmadinejad partisans converged on the capital’s Vali-e Asr square ahead of a victory speech by the man who won Friday’s vote by a surprising margin.

Supporters of defeated moderate Mirhossein Mousavi, who has dismissed Ahmadinejad’s triumph as a “dangerous charade”, earlier gathered in central Tehran, chanted his name and threw stones at police, a Reuters witness said.

The police on motorcycles drove through the crowd to disperse the protesters. At least one person, a woman, was injured. The police briefly detained journalists filming the violence.

Ahmadinejad consigned Iran’s nuclear dispute to the past, signalling no nuclear policy change in his second term, and warned that any country that attacked his own would regret it. “Who dares to attack Iran? Who even dares to think about it?” he said at a news conference.

Meanwhile, France signalled its concern over events in Iran in the strongest public comments yet from a major Western power. “What is happening in Iran is clearly not good news for anyone, neither for the Iranians nor for peace and stability in the world,” Henri Guaino, one of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s closest advisers, told France’s Europe 1 radio. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said repression of opponents was closing off dialogue.

The police have detained more than 100 reformers, including the brother of former President Mohammad Khatami, a leading reformer said on Sunday. A police official confirmed some detentions.

Analysts said the election result would disappoint Western powers trying to convince the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter to halt sensitive nuclear work. 
— Reuters 

London, June 14
A top Pakistani tribal leader has vowed to wipe out the feared warlord, Baitullah Mehsud, who has pushed Pakistan close to collapse.

The 30-year-old Qari Zainuddin, leader of Taliban tribesmen opposed to Baitullah, said he had mobilised 3,000 armed followers and would attempt to wipe out the Pakistani Taliban chief and drive his Al-Qaida supporters from the country.

Baitullah, who has challenged the Pakistan army in the lawless South Waziristan tribal area, is considered a global terrorist threat by Western intelligence agencies.

Zainuddin told The Sunday Telegraph that Baitullah had betrayed both his religion and tribe. “To fight our own country is wrong. Islam doesn’t give permission to fight against a Muslim country. This is where we differ (with Baitullah). What we’re seeing these days, these bombings in mosques, in markets, in hospitals; these are not allowed in Islam. We don’t agree with them,” Zainuddin was quoted as saying by the British daily.

The US has placed a $5 million bounty on his head, describing him as “key Al-Qaida facilitator”.

Mehsud’s grip over his tribe’s area of South Waziristan, which lies on the border with Afghanistan, and where key Al-Qaida commanders have been given sanctuary and support, has been almost absolute for the past three years.

But the challenge from Zainuddin threatens to undermine him for the first time.

Baitullah has sent out hundreds of suicide bombers and staged spectacular attacks across Pakistan. His group claimed to have bombed a luxury hotel in Peshawar and assassinated a prominent anti-Taliban cleric in the eastern city of Lahore, an act that was widely condemned.

According to a report, the mood in the town of Dera Ismail Khan has been transformed by Zainuddin’s emergence.

A year ago, no one dared criticise Baitullauh, even in private. Now some people are willing to vent years of silent anguish, during which time they saw their homeland snatched away by his throat-slitting thugs, the report said. — PTI 

London, June 14
The ill-fated Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic with 228 people on board split in two at high altitude before it plunged into the sea, media reports said today.

Investigators have concluded that the plane split into two parts, after the discovery of two trails of bodies more than 80 km apart, as it lost control in bad weather and turbulence during its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1.

Examination of bodies discovered off the northeastern Brazilian coast indicated that they were dead by the time they hit the water, according to a report in The Sunday Times.

They were stripped of clothes, apparently in the rush of air as they fell from as high as 35,000 ft. Multiple fractures were most likely to have been caused by hitting the water at about 120mph.

The absence of any traces of an explosion, such as burn marks or inhaled smoke, supports the view that the disaster was caused by a combination of factors, possibly beginning with the blockage of speed sensors. The sensors, called pitot tubes, are prone to get clogged with ice and insects.

Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, Air France’s chief executive, acknowledged that malfunctioning speed sensors could have been “a contributing element” in the accident, the newspaper reported.

“We do not deny that there is a problem with the sensors,” he said. — PTI

Lahore, June 14
A total of 25 Indian prisoners are languishing in Pakistani jails despite having completed their sentences, prompting leading human rights activist Ansar Burney to write to President Asif Ali Zardari for their release as their detention was “illegal and unlawful”.

In a letter written to President Asif Ali Zardari, Burney has asked him to release all Indian prisoners and those of other nationalities who have completed their sentences.

“After completion of the sentence, the detention of such Indian prisoners is illegal and unlawful and a clear violation of justice, human dignity and human rights,” said Burney, a former human rights minister.

Among the Indian prisoners is Teena Peka, 38, a resident of Mumbai who was arrested 12 years ago and given a one-year prison term with a fine of Rs 1,000.

Naqaya, 37, was sentenced for four months in prison in 2007, while Ram Parkash was awarded a 10-year jail term in 1997.

Saju Ram, 20, was sentenced for four months in 2007, Ganash Pandi, 29, for two months the same year, Gomagh Singh was sentenced in 2006 for four months, Din Muhammad got a term of three months in June 2007, while Shahabuddin Mir, 63, was sent to jail for illegally entering Pakistan in 1991 and Ilyas was sentenced for two years in 2003.

A mentally deranged Indian woman has also been awaiting release since 2007.

Bola has been waiting for his release since 2007 while Gopal Das, 49, was given a 25-year sentence in 1986.

Muhammad Muslimuddin was sentenced for six months in 1998, Ramu Ram was sentenced for one year in 1999 and Khursheed Ahmad was sentenced for one year in 2002 and Arif Hidayat was sentenced for 45 days. A prisoner named Qasim Muhammad Amin, 66, had no records available in jail.

Among the prisoners are Surjeet Singh, 69, who was sentenced for 25 years in 1985, Kaldeep Singh, 37, who was sentenced in 1996, Kaldeep Kumar, 41, who got a was sentenced in 1996, Manga Singh, 34, was sentenced in 1997 and Birchu, 28, was sentenced in 2006.

Burney has urged Zardari to commute the death sentences of two Indian nationals - Karpal Singh and Sarabjit Singh - into life imprisonment as about 65 per cent prisoners on death row in Pakistani jails are innocent or victims of an inadequate trial process, false witnesses or enmity.

“In the interest of human dignity, justice and human rights, release all such Indian nationals from Pakistani prisons without any further delay,” Burney said.

A senior prisons department officer told PTI that all Indian prisoners who had completed their sentences could only be set free if Indian authorities updated Pakistan on their status.

“India must give the go-ahead by providing us with their travel documents in order to secure their release,” the officer said. — PTI