Lahore/Islamabad, June 23
Amid high drama, a Canada-based divisive cleric returned to Pakistan today to lead a “revolution” against the government, but his Islamabad-bound flight was diverted to Lahore amid fears of unrest in the capital as his supporters fought pitched battles with police, leaving over 70 security personnel injured.

Tahir-ul-Qadri, the 63-year-old cleric who drew tens of thousands of supporters for a sit-in protest here in January last year demanding electoral reforms, refused to come out of the plane in Lahore saying the aircraft should be taken to its original destination or the army take him in its protective custody.

But later he came out of the Emirates plane after successful talks with Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar inside the aircraft.

“I am leaving the plane on the assurance of Chaudhry Sarwar who is my friend. He will accompany me to the hospital where my injured workers are being treated and my residence as a guarantee for my protection,” he said.

Qadri along with his supporters then left the airport for Jinnah Hospital where over 50 of them are being treated after clashes with police last week.

The thaw in the standoff came after government refused to involve army for negotiations as Qadri had demanded. Many supporters of Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were present outside the airport in Lahore.

Today, the police sealed off roads to Islamabad airport but some of the cleric’s supporters — chanting “Islamic revolution” and “long live the army” — managed to break through the security cordon.

Television footage showed Qadri followers armed with sticks and stones fighting running battles with police wielding batons.

Over 70 police personnel were injured when PAT workers pelted stones at them near the airport in Islamabad, Radio Pakistan reported.

Many of Qadri’s supporters also sustained injuries in clashes with the police in the capital. Clashes also erupted between the police and Qadri’s supporters in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, leaving scores of policemen and activists injured.

Police had to fire tear gas shells to disperse Qadri’s supporters. Ten supporters of Qadri, including two women, were killed last week during violent clashes with the police.

Last year, Qadri paralysed the capital by rallying thousands of supporters to demand postponement of elections. He had asked for electoral and political reforms before polls. — PTI

Cairo, June 23
An Egyptian court today sentenced three Al-Jazeera journalists, including Australia’s Peter Greste to jail terms from seven to 10 years in a verdict denounced as “unjust” and “appalling”.

Greste and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy each got seven years, while producer Baher Mohamed received two sentences — one for seven years and another for three years.

Eleven defendants who were tried in absentia, including a Dutch woman journalist and two other foreign journalists, were given 10-year sentences.

The trial had provoked an international outcry and raised fears of growing media restrictions in Egypt. “The Australian government is shocked at the verdict,” Canberra’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.

“We are deeply dismayed that a sentence has been imposed and appalled at the severity of it. It is hard to credit that the court in this case could have reached this conclusion,” she added.

“The Australian government simply cannot understand it based on the evidence that was presented in the case.” Al-Jazeera chief Mustafa Sawaq said in Doha: “We condemn... this kind of unjust verdict. ... We are shocked.” Greste’s brother Andrew said he was devastated.”

In The Hague, Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said he had summoned the Egyptian ambassador, “and will raise this matter with my European Union colleagues in Luxembourg.” He said Dutch journalist Rena Netjes, tried in absentia, “did not get a fair trial”.

Of the six defendants in custody along with Greste, Fahmy and Mohamed, four were sentenced to seven years and two were acquitted.

“They will pay for this, they will pay for this. I promise!” shouted Fahmy, wearing white prison uniform, after the verdict was announced.

The defendants can appeal, and a presidency official said that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi “legally can’t (pardon them)... a pardon can be given only after the final court ruling”. — AFP

Kuala Lumpur, June 23
Christians in Malaysia today lost their final bid to use the word “Allah” to refer to God with the highest court ruling that the ban on it was lawful, ending the years-long highly divisive legal case in the Muslim-majority nation.

The case was brought by the Catholic Church, which was seeking to overturn a 2007 government ban on it referring to God by the Arabic word “Allah” in the local Malay-language edition of its Herald newspaper.

The Herald, failed to get leave from the Federal Court to challenge the Home Ministry over the ban.

The seven-judge panel in the administrative capital Putrajaya ruled that a lower court decision siding with the government stood.

Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria, who chaired a seven-man panel today, held this in a majority 4-3 decision. This is the first time that such a large panel has sat to hear and determine the application for leave.

In dismissing the application for leave, Justice Arifin held that the minister’s decision with regard to the ban was lawful and reasonable.

“It (the Court of Appeal) applied the correct test, and it is not open for us to interfere,” Arifin said.

“By a majority of four to three, the leave application is dismissed,” he said.

Justice Arifin said Court of Appeal president Justice Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Federal Court judge Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar had read his judgement and agreed with him.

In a dissenting judgement, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum said leave should be given in consideration of the degree of public importance of the case and the necessity of the Federal Court to resolve questions of law.

The Federal Court’s decision not to grant leave effectively means that the decision of the Court of Appeal stands and there can be no more appeals by the Church. — PTI