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Iraqis accuse British troops
of unlawful killings US General admits
25 custodial deaths Israel raids Gaza amid calls to pull out |
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Sudan elected to UN rights group, USA walks out
Pak protests intrusion by coalition troops Pak re-elected to UN panel on Human Rights
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Iraqis accuse British troops
of unlawful killings
London, May 5 The Ministry of Defence refuses to accept the responsibility for the deaths but the families’ lawyer, Phil Shiner, demanded a judicial review to examine whether the killings were a violation of the victims’ right to life under the European law. “The soldiers and Ministry of Defence can’t get away with killings...with impunity,’’ Shiner told BBC radio. “There have to be inquiries.’’ A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, already under intense pressure after photographs showing alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers appeared in newspapers last week — said the government had responded to lawyers’ inquiries. “We do not accept the liability for the deaths they have brought to our attention, and have written to them informing them of our reasons,’’ he said. Shiner said many of the victims were at home, or going about their normal daily lives when soldiers burst in and shot them. He argued that because the Iraq war had officially ended when the victims died, and because Britain was an occupying power, the European Convention on Human Rights should apply. The high court case comes as the British Government has launched an investigation into photographs published by the Daily Mirror newspaper which appear to show British troops kicking and urinating on a hooded Iraqi in Basra, southern Iraq. |
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US General admits
25 custodial deaths Washington, May 5 Two persons were murdered by U.S. soldiers. One homicide case resulted in one soldier being discharged from the army and another involved a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency, Major General Donald Ryder, the army’s top law enforcement officer, said yesterday. It was not clear if the two were killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The investigations since December 2002 into the 25 deaths are among 35 probes into possible abuse or assault by U.S. soldiers on prisoners in the two countries, Ryder said. The army is investigating 10 deaths and 10 assault cases, while 12 previous deaths turned out to be natural or were undetermined, Ryder said. One case, of an Iraqi trying to escape, was ruled a justifiable homicide, he said.
— DPA |
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Israel raids Gaza amid calls to pull out Gaza, May 5 Sharon has begun consultations on how to save his scheme for “disengagement” from conflict with Palestinians, which foreign mediators called a “rare moment of opportunity”, but is opposed by Jewish settlers in Gaza and their rightist backers in Likud. As Sharon brainstormed with aides and allies to redeem his US-backed plan, Israeli forces raided three Palestinian towns in Gaza in response to the killing of five settlers during Sunday’s Likud vote on “disengagement”. Witnesses said Israeli troops, who swept into Deir al-Balah, killed a Palestinian police captain and wounded 15 persons in clashes with stone-throwers, including six schoolchildren. Israeli army bulldozers, flanked by tanks, with helicopters overhead, also demolished 10 houses in Khan Younis inner-city refugee camp and tried to root out more tunnels in Rafah camp used by militants to smuggle in arms from nearby Egypt. All three areas are bastions of Palestinian armed factions.
— PTI |
Israeli jets bomb south Lebanon
Beirut, May 5 “The air force hit two Hizbollah posts in southwest Lebanon after anti-aircraft shells were fired from the general area into northern Israel, hitting a kibbutz (collective farm) and a beach,’’ Israeli military sources said. They said no one was hurt in those strikes. Syrian and Iranian-backed Hizbollah declined to say if it had fired anti-aircraft rounds at the Jewish state. But the Lebanese army said it fired anti-aircraft rounds earlier in the day at Israeli jets that swooped over swathes of the country. No planes were reported hit. |
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Sudan elected to UN rights group, USA walks out
United Nations, May 5 Sudan’s envoy immediately accused the U.S. delegation of “shedding crocodile tears,” and said the USA had turned a blind eye as Iraqi prisoners were mistreated and civilians were harmed in battle. Fourteen seats were filled yesterday for the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission based in Geneva. Many were decided by regional groups before yesterday’s voting in the Economic and Social Council in New York. In the African regional group, Sudan, Guinea, Togo and Kenya, were chosen for three-year terms on the commission, beginning in January. Sichan Siv, U.S. delegate to the council, accused Sudan of having no right to sit on the rights commission because of ethnic cleansing in Darfur where government troops are accused of backing Arab militia which pillage black Africa villages, raping and killing. The Khartoum government denies it is involved in ethnic cleansing. “The USA will not participate in this absurdity,” said Siv before briefly walking out of council chambers. “Our delegation will absent itself from the meeting rather than lend support to Sudan’s candidacy.” He also walked out a year ago when Cuba won a seat on the commission.
— Reuters |
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Pak protests intrusion by coalition troops Islamabad, May 5 Pakistan found that the coalition troops “intruded” into North Waziristan area bordering Afghanistan and searched a number of shops before moving back to Afghanistan on Monday, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said. Earlier, reports here said that some 60 coalition soldiers in four Humvee trucks intruded 2 km inside the Pakistani territory.
— PTI |
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Pak re-elected to UN panel on Human Rights Islamabad, May 5 Pakistan was re-elected for the 2005-2007 term with 43 votes in elections held yesterday during the organisational session of the 54-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, a Foreign Office statement said here today.
— PTI |
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London, May 5
In video: Indians recount
horror stories of abuses by US forces in Iraq. (
Gaza, May 5
The
Pritish Nandy Communication production, ‘Jhankaar Beats’ has
bagged the Special Jury Award for the Best Film at Houston
International Film Festival. The
film directed by debutante director Sujoy Ghosh’s and starring
Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, Rinke Khanna, Rahul Bose, Shayan
Munshi and Riya Sen, is the only Bollywood movie that has won
the Special Jury award this year amongst the independent
theatrical feature films. The festival is dedicated to
independent features and short films. — PTI
