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Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak gets life imprisonment

CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced former President Hosni Mubarak to life in prison on Saturday after convicting him of involvement in the murder of protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year.

Also given a life term for the killings was Mubarak's former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, while six former police commanders were acquitted.

Corruption charges against Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, were dropped due to the expiry of a statute of limitations.

Mubarak was acquitted in one of the corruption cases.

Scuffles broke out soon after the verdicts were delivered, and chants of "void, void" and "the people want the judiciary purged" could be heard.

Lawyers inside the courtroom were furious over the acquittals, and told AFP they feared that Mubarak and Adly would be found innocent on appeal.

The former strongman, wearing dark classes and a beige tracksuit, showed no emotion as Judge Ahmed Refaat read out the sentence.

His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, looking tired with dark circles under their eyes, appeared close to tears on hearing the verdict.

Clashes erupted out outside the court following the sentencing, as the police used stun grenades to control the crowds.

Mubarak, the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six others were on trial over their involvement in the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people killed during the uprising that toppled the strongman.

Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal and business associate Hussein Salem, who fled to Spain, were also on trial over an alleged bribe. — AFP

NRHM scam: CBI raids premises of former UP Minister

New Delhi: The CBI on Saturday carried out searches at the premises of former Uttar Pradesh Minister Anant Mishra in Lucknow and in Kanpur in connection with its probe in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.

CBI teams seized some “incriminating” documents related to the NRHM from Mr. Mishra’s premises, sources said in New Delhi.

The agency had already questioned Mr. Mishra twice in connection with the death of deputy CMO Y.S. Sachan.

The CBI has registered 13 cases regarding alleged irregularities in the NRHM scam in Uttar Pradesh and is planning to register three new cases soon. — PTI

New Delhi: In a worrisome development, a soldier working as clerk under a powerful Military Intelligence (MI) unit of the Army has been held for allegedly attempting to pass on highly confidential operational information to the ISI.

As reported in a national daily, the soldier - identified as Shivdasan - was employed as a head clerk in the unit and was nabbed in April.

As per reports, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had laid a trap to nab the soldier. The entire operation involved a “double agent” and a relative of the soldier in Dubai.

The DRI recovered a compact disc (CD), pen drive and highly classified documents which the soldier was trying to hand over to the Pakistani spy agency, the ISI.

The Army has been left baffled by the kind of information that the clerk was trying to sell.

Army sources say the data, which is being analysed, likely contains detailed operational plans, information on troop deployments and even conversations between top officers at Army Headquarters.

Shivdasan was employed in the Technical Support Division (TSD), which was constituted in the last two years and functions from within the Army Headquarters. 

New Delhi: Najafgarh Independent MLA Bharat Singh was shot at by unidentified men near his own party office on Saturday.

Singh has been admitted to Chanan Devi Hospital in Janakpuri here. The MLA, who was hit by two bullets, is said to be in a critical condition.

Meanwhile, police have arrived at the crime scene and are questioning the people there.

Confirming the incident, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told Zee News that a meeting will be held with the police commissioner with regard to the unfortunate incident and media will be briefed at 11.00 am.

The incident comes a day after Delhi MLAs asked the Chief Minister to provide them more security.

A passerby Dharampal was also injured in the incident which took place near the MLA's office in Najafgarh's Sarangpur village at around 8:30 am, a senior police official said. 

New Delhi: Tempers are running high. A direct confrontation between IITs and the Centre has shaped on the changed pattern of IIT-JEE. As a first step to register protest, a PIL may be filed in a HC on Monday against the government’s decision.

Representatives of the Alumni Association and the All India IIT Faculty Federation, which met on Friday devised a three-pronged strategy to register protest.

They have decided to lead a delegation to the PM and submit a memorandum raising their concern over the autonomy of the IITs. It was also decided to identify persons who could file petitions in different high courts against the government's decision in the next few days. The All India IIT Faculty Federation will prepare a rebuttal of the government’s decision shortly.

“We will lead a delegation to Prime Minister in the next few days and submit a memorandum. We are also looking for people who could file PIL in different high courts,” Somnath Bharti, president Delhi IIT Alumni Association and Supreme Court advocate said.

The IIT senates are also in a confrontation mood. Raising strong objection against the government's decision, IIT-K Faculty has described  the new exam as counterproductive, unilateral, and arbitrary.