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Archives for February 2016

UN panel says Assange ‘arbitrarily detained’ since 2010

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UK and Sweden reject UN panel’s finding, saying WikiLeaks founder can walk out of Ecuador’s embassy whenever he wants.

The ruling will prove a public relations victory for the 44-year-old Australian [AP]

The ruling will prove a public relations victory for the 44-year-old Australian [AP]

by Al Jazeera

A United Nations human rights panel says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” by Britain and Sweden since December 2010, in a ruling that has been outright rejected by both countries.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said on Friday that Assange’s “detention” should end and he should be entitled to compensation.

Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over allegations of rape stemming from a working visit he made to the country in 2010 when WikiLeaks was attracting international attention for its trove of leaked documents.

Assange has consistently denied the allegations but declined to return to Sweden to meet prosecutors and eventually sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has lived since June 2012.

“The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers that the various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention,” said Seong-Phil Hong, who currently heads the UN’s expert panel.

“The Working Group maintains that the arbitrary detention of Mr Assange should be brought to an end, that his physical integrity and freedom of movement be respected, and that he should be entitled to an enforceable right to compensation.”

Both Sweden and the UK dismissed the ruling on Friday, issuing statements saying that Asange is free to leave the embassy whenever he wants.

“Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay there. Mr. Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point,” the Swedish government said.

The UK government said Assange was avoiding “lawful arrest” by choosing to remain at the embassy and that the government had a legal obligation to extradite him to Sweden.

The finding in Assange’s favour is not legally binding, but may represent a public relations victory for the 44-year-old Australian.

It could also increase pressure on Swedish prosecutors to drop their bid to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct, and on British officials to alter plans to arrest Assange for jumping bail.

Assange, in a press conference on Friday via a video link from the Ecuadorian embassy, said he should be able to walk free from the embassy.

“We have today a really significant victory that has brought a smile to my face,” Assange said.

“I’ve been detained without charge in this country, the United Kingdom, for five and a half years… I’ve had great difficulty seeing my family and my children,” he said.

Geoffrey Robertson QC, a former UN appeals judge and international lawyer, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that a UN ruling would be “binding in honour”.

Assange has been in the embassy for more than three years. His organisation WikiLeaks was responsible for publishing millions of documents considered classified by the US government.

Tanzanian assault case: BJP member arrested, two cops suspended

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Image for representation.

Image for representation.

Bengaluru: A total of nine persons have been arrested so far in connection to the alleged assault and stripping of a Tanzanian student here in state capital.

Of the arrested, one has been identified as Chikkabanavara GP BJP Member Lokesh Bangari. Two police officials-Inspector Pravin Babu and Constable Manjunath stand suspended in connection to the case.

It may be recalled that a 21-year-old Tanzanian student was allegedly stripped and paraded naked in Bengaluru on Sunday, after an inebriated Sudanese student mowed down a local woman. It is said that the strong mob mistook the girl to be the drunk Sudanese student’s friend and assaulted her.

“Babu has been suspended for dereliction of duty and Manjunath for not taking action even though he was present at the spot,” Top Cop N S Megharik adding that the four arrested on Thursday night have been booked for assault, unlawful assembly, arson, rioting and outraging a woman’s modesty.

There are possibilities of more arrests.

A team from Delhi comprising the Tanzanian High Commissioner John W H Kijazi and External Affairs Ministry officials will meet the students here and get the assessment of the state government on the incident.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has denied refuted the claims of the attack being racial one.

(Agencies)

Over 40 injured as train derails near Vellore

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train

Chennai: More than 40 passengers of the Bengaluru-bound Kanyakumari-Bangalore City Express were injured after its four coaches derailed in Vellore district, around 170 km from here, according to reports.

The Southern Railway in a statement said the coaches derailed at 4.15 a.m. between Somanayakkanpatti and Patchur of the Bangalore Railway Division.

No lives were lost in the accident.

According to railways, buses were arranged to transport passengers to Bengaluru and senior officials have reached the accident spot.

Owing to the accident the Southern Railway has cancelled 11 trains between Chennai-Bengaluru, Jolarpettai-Bengaluru and Arakonam-Bengaluru.

The Chennai-Mysore Shadabdi Express for Friday has been partially cancelled between Jolarpettai and Mysore.

Similarly, the Mysore-Chennai Shadabdi Express has been partially cancelled between Mysore and Jolarpettai.

Train number 16614 between Coimbatore-Rajkot has been diverted via Tirupattur, Jolarpettai, Katpadi and Renigunta.

(Agencies)

Negi earns surprise call, Pandey ignored for World T20

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Pawan Negi

New Delhi: Young all-rounder Pawan Negi was the surprise pick for the World Twenty20 and Asia Cup while the selectors also reposed faith in veterans such as Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh in the 15-member Indian squad for the two events.

Other young players such as Jasprit Bhumrah and Hardik Pandya, who impressed in the recent series against Australia, also found a place in the squad announced by BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur after a meeting of the selection committee here today.

“This is the best combination of 15 we can think of,” Chairman of the committee, Sandeep Patil, said in a press conference after the meeting.

Interestingly, the pace duo of Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were ignored.

Also, Manish Pandey, who featured in the T20 series against Australia, was left out of the team to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Bangladesh from February 24 to March 6, followed by the World T20 from March 8 to April 3 in India.

Patil expressed his faith in Dhoni’s leadership despite the recent mixed run.

“We have no right to tell people when to retire, we have total faith in Dhoni’s captaincy. He is the right person to lead in Asia Cup and World T20,” Patil said.

The 23-year-old Negi, who bowls left-arm spin and is a decent batsman, was rewarded for his consistent performance in the domestic circuit. That Negi will be a contender for the World Cup team had become obvious when he was selected for the three-match series against Sri Lanka this month.

Ajinkya Rahane also found a place in the squad ahead of Pandey, who hit a match-winning century in the last ODI against Australia. Pandey got his break owing to an injury to Rahane and even though he made it count, the selectors opted to go with the more experienced player.

“Manish Pandey performed exceptionally well in Australia, his name was also discussed,” Patil said.

“When selectors pick a team, we always give importance to domestic performance. It is not that we are only looking at seniors, we have looked at the performance, fitness and record of the domestic players as well. We have taken into account all the performances of not just 15-16 guys but all the domestic players and then picked these 15,” he added.

(PTI)

Jet Airways suspends 5 cabin crew over Sonu Nigam’s ‘concert’ on flight

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Sonu-Nigam-Jet Airways

New Delhi: Jet Airways has suspended five crew members who were part of a chartered flight after aviation watchdog DGCA took serious note of an episode in which singer Sonu Nigam was allowed to belt out Bollywood numbers using the in-flight announcement system.

The incident occurred on a flight from Jodhpur to Mumbai on January 4, when the “errant” crew members allowed Nigam to hold a sort of musical concert on board following a request from fellow passengers, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) sources said.

The matter came to DGCA’s notice after a video of Nigam singing on board the flight went viral on social media.

Action has been initiated against the crew members since allowing a passenger to use the public address system on board a flight amounts to violation of safety norms, the sources said.

“All cabin crew on the flight have been taken off flight duty for inquiry and corrective training to reinforce strict adherence to operating procedures,” Jet Airways said in a statement.

As per a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on training and licensing of cabin crew, issued by DGCA in 2010, “the PA (public address) system and interphone system are tools for relaying safety information”.

(Agencies)

Supreme Court asks BCCI to fall in line with Lodha panel recommendations

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The apex court said the recommendations are “straight, rational and understandable” and “deserve respect”.

bcci

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave a stern message to BCCI asking it to “fall in line” with the recommendations of Justice R M Lodha Committee which has suggested a massive restructuring of the country’s apex cricket body.

The apex court said the recommendations are “straight, rational and understandable” and “deserve respect” and “there is no reason to disagree with the committee” which has the most “illuminated and respected members of the legal community”.

While four weeks time was granted to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to respond on the implementation of the recommendations of the Lodha Committee, the court made it clear that since ample opportunity was given to all stakeholders over a long period and their views were taken into consideration before preparing the final report, there should not be any difficulty in accepting the recommendations.

The remarks by a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur came after senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, representing BCCI, said there was a need to consult the 30-odd members of the Board on the recommendations and in view of its legal committee’s meeting on February 7, four weeks be allowed to respond.

However, the bench said, “They all have been heard and have given their views to the Committee. Ask your client to take a strict view of the recommendations. You can’t jump the gun.

You must see the recommendations. These recommendations deserve respect. They have come from the most illuminated and respected members of the legal community. They had invited people and have done extensive deliberations with all stakeholders. The recommendations are straightforward, understandable and rational.”

“The best thing is to fall in line and follow the suggestions to save the trouble,” the bench, which also comprised Justice F M I Kalifulla, said.

“Ultimately any transition and change has to come with whatever problems it has,” the bench said while accepting the Committee’s report which also exonerated former Chief Operating Officer of IPL Sunder Raman of all charges.

The BCCI had submitted that it should not be seen as “obstructionist” and it would come back with “concrete suggestions” after the meeting of the legal committee.

However, the bench said “decks must be cleared for complete reform”.

When Naphade said several technical problems would arise in implementing the recommendations of the committee as BCCI is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, the bench said it would give the solution for following the suggestions.

“We will find an easy solution. We have simple solutions.

We will accept all recommendations. We will say that since BCCI has difficulties and impediments in respecting and implementing the recommendations, we will direct the same committee to push all recommendations. They will tell you where to get the registration. We will ask the judges (in the committee) to help BCCI in implementing the recommendations.

“We don’t want or intend or dictate a lengthy order. We want and we would end by directing that committee to steer the BCCI in implementation of the recommendations,” the bench said.

Realising the tough stand taken by the bench, Naphade said “I can see the writing on the wall.”

The bench said there was not much complication in the recommendations and if BCCI found any anomaly it can be looked into.

“There is no reason to disagree with the committee,” the bench said while making it clear that some people are going to be affected by the implementation of the Justice Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

The bench, which was hearing the plea filed by Aditya Verma, Secretary of Cricket Association of Bihar, on whose petition N Srinivasan was asked by the apex court to step down as the BCCI President for conflict of interest, posted the matter for further hearing on March 3.

(PTI)

Principal, 4 others of Ryan Intl school arrested

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ryan-international-school

New Delhi: The principal and four other staff of south Delhi’s Ryan International school were arrested today, five days after a six-year-old student was found dead in a water tank on the campus, triggering outrage.

Besides principal Sandhya Sabu (50), those arrested include class teacher Minakshi Kapoor (38) and drinking water system operator Yogesh Kholiya (23). Maintenance in-charge of the tank Puran Singh Bisht (65) and gardener Ram Narayan (44) were also arrested.

All five were arrested under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) of IPC.

On Saturday, Divyansh Kakrora, a class I student, was found dead in the reservoir under the ampitheatre of the school.

School authorities had told the police that the boy was last seen before the seventh period, which was around 12.20 PM. They later found him floating in the reservoir and rushed him to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead.

It was the hospital authorities and not those of school who had informed the police about the incident.

After preliminary investigation, the police had registered a case of negligence causing death at the Vasant Kunj North police station. Later in the day, the Delhi government had also ordered a magisterial probe.

The initial postmortem report of Divyansh suggested he died of drowning and no external injuries were found, police said.

The police had questioned the school authorities, including the principal, for five days.

(PTI)

11 sentenced to death for killing woman in West Bengal

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west-bengal

Kolkata: Eleven people were given the death sentence by a West Bengal court on Thursday for killing a woman to grab land.

Aparna Bag was shot dead when she tried to prevent the attackers from grabbing land in Krishnaganj in Nadia district on November 23, 2015.

Two others were also shot but survived the attack.

A West Bengal court on Thursday awarded the death sentence to 11 people charged with murdering the 38-year-old housewife, the Hindustan Times reported.

According to police, one of the accused is still absconding.

Lankeshwar Ghosh, who claimed to be a local Trinamool leader, is the main accused but local party leaders, however, rejected his claim that he has anything to do with the party.

(Agencies)

Julian Assange: UN ‘rules in favour of WikiLeaks founder over unlawful detention in UK’

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Assange has called for attempts to arrest him to be blocked if the UN rules in his favour

Julian Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than three years [AP]

Julian Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than three years [AP]

by Serina Sandhu, Independent

A UN panel considering the alleged “unlawful detention” of Julian Assange has reportedly ruled in favour of the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange was granted political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. He is wanted there for questioning over allegations of sexual assault but he denies the claims.

In 2014 he filed a complaint against the UK and Sweden and said he was being “arbitrarily detained” in the Embassy as he could not leave without being arrested.

It is believed that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention – which was considering Assange’s request for relief – has ruled in his favour, according to the BBC. The decision is due to be published on Friday.

On Thursday, Assange said he would accept arrest by UK police if the panel ruled against him. The 44-year-old said he would leave the Embassy on Friday.

“Should the UN announce tomorrow that I have lost my case against the United Kingdom and Sweden, I shall exit the Embassy at noon on Friday to accept arrest by British police as there is no meaningful prospect of further appeal,” Assange said in a statement.

However, he added that he expected his passport to be returned and further attempts to arrest him to be blocked if “the state parties [were] found to have acted unlawfully”.

In December 2010, Assange was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault in Sweden and his extradition was ordered.

Failing to surrender for removal to Sweden in 2012 after seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy means he is subject to arrest by the Metropolitan Police.

The Met says it maintains this position.

In October 2015, the Met Police stood down the 24/7 police presence outside the Embassy and said “should [Assange] leave the Embassy the [Metropolitan Police Service] will make every effort to arrest him”.

A spokesman from the government said opinions from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention would not be pre-empted.

“We have been consistently clear that Mr Assange has never been arbitrarily detained by the UK but is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy.

“An allegation of rape is still outstanding and a European Arrest Warrant in place, so the UK continues to have a legal obligation to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden,” he said.

The Australian fears Sweden will extradite him to authorities in the US where he could be put on trial over the activities of the WikiLeaks website, which has published thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents.

In 2010, WikiLeaks published a classified US military video which showed an attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad three years earlier.

It was followed by the release of thousands of documents regarding the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

US drone strike kills senior al-Qaeda leader in Yemen

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Jalal Baleedi, a field commander in the country’s south, was killed with his guards in Shabwa province.

The US has continued a drone campaign in Yemen targeting al-Qaeda figures [EPA]

The US has continued a drone campaign in Yemen targeting al-Qaeda figures [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

One of al-Qaeda’s senior commanders was killed by a US drone strike in southern Yemen, a military source told Al Jazeera.

Fighters belonging to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were preparing to receive the body of Jalal Baleedi, also known as Hamza al-Marqashi, after he was killed overnight with two of his guards near the town of Azzan, the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday.

Reuters news agency also reported another US drone attack that killed six alleged al-Qaeda fighters in their car travelling in Yemen’s southern Shabwa province.

Al-Qaeda fighters took over Azzan on Monday, and it has become the group’s stronghold in Shabwa.

Originally from Yemen’s mountainous Abyan province, Baleedi was identified in 2004 by the Yemen Times as being the field commander of AQAP in the southern governorates of Abyan, Shabwa, Lahj, Hadramout, and al-Beidha.

Recent reports suggested  Baleedi pledged allegiance to and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group with several other AQAP fighters, becoming the leader of ISIL in Yemen.

However, the reports were not confirmed by ISIL nor by AQAP.

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