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Friday,
March 15, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Lockerbie convict's plea rejected
Bhutto, Nawaz barred from poll
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End sectarian violence, Sikhs urge PM
Gujarat barred for US diplomats Death for acid attacks in Bangladesh WTC: Detainees’ rights violated Bomb on train
creates panic
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Lockerbie convict's plea rejected
Camp Zeist (Netherlands), March 14 Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi (49) will now serve out the life sentence passed on January 31, 2001, by a special Scottish court sitting on “neutral” territory in the Netherlands. His co-defendant, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah (44) was acquitted. After 13 agonising years, the families of the victims were in the bleak courtroom at the former American airbase — to witness the moment that brought the criminal process to an end. Lord Cullen, the Lord Justice General, made a brief statement to the court, outlining that the five judges unanimously held that none of the grounds of appeal were valid. Al-Megrahi, dressed in traditional Libyan robes, sat impassively with his head bowed as his fate was pronounced. His wife burst into sobs and had to be helped out of the courtroom. According to Scottish law, the judges’ reasons will be delivered in written judgement. The former airbase has been temporarily declared a part of Scotland since the start of the trial. Al-Megrahi’s attorneys had adopted a two-pronged strategy in attempting to overturn the guilty verdict reached after an eight-month trial. They challenged the conclusion that Al-Megrahi bought the clothes that were wrapped around the bomb, citing contradictory and inconsistent testimony by a merchant in
Malta. TRIPOLI: Libya demanded the release of the Libyan intelligence agent convicted of the Lockerbie bombing and called for compensation for its losses under international sanctions. “The verdict confirms once again that the USA and Britain have imposed their sway on the court to enforce a political verdict,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement. “The verdict is a serious affront and a clear condemnation of the Scottish judiciary which we expected to pronounce a fair judegment in favour of the Libyan citizen Abdel Basset al-Megrahi,” the statement said. “The Libyan citizen... was condemned on political grounds and is considered a political hostage if he is not released,” the statement added, calling Megrahi “the Jesus Christ of modern times”. It also said Libya wanted compensation for all losses caused to Libyans by the UN sanctions imposed to force it to hand over Megrahi and another suspect in the Lockerbie attack. Sanctions were suspended after Tripoli in 1999 handed over the two men, one of whom was acquitted at the ensuing trial. The USA opposes totally lifting the sanctions unless the Libyan state takes responsibility for the airliner bombing and compensates relatives of the victims.
AFP, Reuters |
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Palestinians blow up tank; 3 killed
Gaza, March 14 Military sources were able to confirm that a roadside bomb exploded next to a "large vehicle" on a road leading from the Karni crossing to the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in central Gaza, killing at least three Israelis. A statement sent to Reuters said the attack was a joint operation by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is an armed group linked to President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and the Salahudin Brigade which unites militants mainly from Fatah and the Islamic movement Hamas. The statement said the attack caused the "complete destruction of a Zionist tank, a Merkava, killing and wounding all killers, the soldiers, inside". Israel Radio said the bomb set off a fire which hampered efforts to rescue those in the vehicle, which was part of a convoy. The attack took place near a mosque about 300 metres from the settlement, witnesses said. Israelis using that road are predominantly soldiers or Jewish settlers. Shortly after the attack, Israeli troops in tanks and armoured personnel carriers entered Nussairat, the refugee camp closest to Netzarim, as helicopters hovered. The attack occurred just hours before the scheduled arrival in Israel of US envoy Anthony Zinni on a mission to try to secure a ceasefire after 17 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the Israeli army on Thursday to carry out a phased withdrawal from the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank, a senior Israeli diplomatic source said. “It will be a full withdrawal, but a cordon will remain around Ramallah and the withdrawal will be gradual according to operational needs,” the source said. He did not say when the withdrawal would start. The move followed intense U.S. pressure on Israel to exercise restraint in more than 17 months of violence with the Palestinians. U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni was due to arrive in the region later in the day. Israel began the assault on Ramallah — the West Bank power base of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat — on Monday as part of its broadest offensive against the Palestinians in decades.
TULKARM (West Bank): An Israeli helicopter gunship killed a local leader of a militant Palestinian group in a missile strike on Thursday, Palestinian security sources said. Mu’tasen Hammad was killed when his car was hit by at least one missile at a farm in the village of Anabta, near this West Bank town. He was a local leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade which has claimed responsibility for most of the Palestinian attacks on Israelis carried out in the past two months.
Reuters |
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Bhutto, Nawaz barred from poll Karachi, March 14 Addressing a press conference in Tokyo, the President, who is on a four-day visit to Japan, said he would foil any attempt by Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif, who lead Pakistan’s two main political parties, to participate in the October elections. To a question on whether the former Prime Ministers would be allowed to take part in the poll, he said: “The answer is very short: No.” President Musharraf, who began his Japan visit on Tuesday, said he might stay on in some capacity after the elections. “If I have a role to play I will play that role.” The Pakistani Supreme Court had earlier asked President Musharraf to restore democracy in the country by October 2002. Ms Bhutto, who heads the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), lives in self-exile in London and Dubai and faces arrest on charges of corruption if she returns to the country.
IANS |
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Another suspect held in Pearl case Lahore (Pakistan), March 14 Adnan Khan, alias Sami, was arrested after he went to the offices of a newspaper in this eastern city and said he had killed Pearl, a police official told newsmen. “We have detained a man who claims he has killed Daniel Pearl. We are investigating," the official said. Khan also claimed to belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad, a banned militant Islamic group. Pakistan has already arrested four suspects in connection with the case, including British-born militant Ahmed Saeed Omar Sheikh, who is accused of masterminding the kidnap.
Reuters |
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End sectarian violence, Sikhs urge PM Washington, March 14 In their letter to Mr Vajpayee, some 1,000 Sikhs expressed concern that sectarian strife was becoming common in India. They urged the Indian Government to develop new strategies to snuff out communal violence. “Communal violence is increasingly becoming a regular feature of Indian landscape,” the letter said. “Today Gujarat is the cauldron simmering with communal vengeance; in 1993 Mumbai and Ayodhya were aflame; in 1984 open season was declared on Sikhs, and so it goes on all the way back to India’s independence.” In the latest instance of sectarian violence some 700 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Sikh cyber community includes intellectuals, professionals, businessmen and community leaders from the USA, Britain, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. “By not being brought to book, extreme elements from the majority group are increasingly emboldened and at the slightest of reason go all out to wreak vengeance,” the letter said.
IANS |
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Gujarat barred for US diplomats Washington, March 14 “Gujarat has been the scene of violent communal clashes,” the State Department said in a statement yesterday that warned of possible unrest like that which swept the state after the Godhra carnage on February 27 taking 700 lives. “Non-essential US Government-sponsored travel to Gujarat, except to the region of Kutch, is being postponed,” the department said. The department advised that “the risk of violence in Ayodhya and surrounding areas remains high.”
AFP |
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Death for acid attacks in Bangladesh Dhaka, March 14 Parliament has passed a law titled Acid Crimes Control Act, 2002, under which those found guilty of killing a person by splashing acid on the victim will get the death sentence and be fined 100,000 taka. It also authorises the institution of special courts to prosecute all suspected offenders within 90 days of being charged. The law also provides for a seven-year jail term for those found guilty of filing false charges. Proceeds from the fine will go to the victims or their families. Any negligence in investigating an incident of acid attack is also a punishable offence under the new law, which leaves no scope for bail, except in case of an appeal to the high court. A total of 153 cases of acid attacks in which 350 persons, of whom 90 per cent were women, were filed in Bangladesh last year, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said. Figures released by the Acid Survivors’ Foundation reveal 338 acid attacks were carried out across Bangladesh last year, 50 per cent higher than in 2000. Another law passed by Parliament a day earlier aims to restrict production, import, transportation, storing and selling of acid in the country. The law on acid abuse stipulates 1 to 15 years in prison depending on the nature of the crime.
IANS |
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WTC: Detainees’ rights violated New York, March 14 The human rights group condemned the policy under which the US Government has taken some 1,200 non-citizens into custody in a nationwide sweep for possible suspects connected to the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In a report, Amnesty International said the USA had violated the detainees’ rights to humane treatment, to have prompt access to a lawyer, to be able to challenge the lawfulness of their detentions, and to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. The group said reports of cruel treatment had also been received. It cited examples that included prolonged solitary confinement, heavy shackling of detainees and lack of adequate exercise. “The government’s treatment of these individuals is simply unacceptable and is a violation of international law,” Mr William Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International, said. The Justice Department said in its most recent statement on February 15 there were 327 individuals detained on immigration violations or being investigated for “possible terrorist connections.” That figure did not include detainees being held under sealed indictments or as material witnesses — a number the Justice Department will not divulge. Amnesty International said it had gathered information during visits to two jails identified as housing detainees — in New York and New Jersey — and during interviews with attorneys, detainees, relatives and former detainees. The group called for a full inquiry.
Reuters |
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Bomb on train
creates panic Dhaka, March 14 A bomb expert of the police in the southern Khulna city defused two bomb found on a passenger train which arrived at the main station around 10 p.m. on Monday. The bomb was detected by a railway police official. The police official who defused the bomb told mediapersons that it was time device and could have caused huge damage to life and property, according to The Bangladesh Observer which reported the incident. |
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