Relatives of those who died in the bombing of a US plane over Lockerbie voiced anger as the man convicted of the attack was welcomed home in Libya. Crowds in Tripoli greeted Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, after he was freed from prison on compassionate grounds.
Posts Tagged ‘Libya’
Lockerbie bomber home in Libya amid US anger
August 21st, 2009 |
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The terminally ill Libyan convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing flew home from Scotland to a joyous reception on Thursday after being freed on compassionate grounds despite fierce US opposition. Ignoring a US warning against a “hero’s welcome,” hundreds of young people waving Libyan and
Lockerbie bomber ‘to be released’
August 13th, 2009 |
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The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is expected to be released next week, the BBC understands.
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, has been serving his jail sentence at Greenock Prison.
It is believed UK and Lybian officials have held talks this week.
The Libyan had launched an appeal against his conviction for the murder of 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in 1988.
The speed of Megrahi’s transfer is believed to be influenced by consensus among all parties that Megrahi be back on Libyan soil in time for Ramadan next week.
‘Request deadline’
The news came after Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill visited Megrahi in prison, amid speculation he might be moved to Libya.
A prisoner transfer request was made by Libya to the UK government last May, less than a week after a treaty allowing prisoners to be transferred between the two countries was ratified.
Under the agreement, the country holding a prisoner should give its answer within 90 days.
Decisions about prisoners are the responsibility of the Scottish Government, in effect giving Mr MacAskill the final say.
Mr MacAskill said last week he would miss the 90-day deadline, which expired on 3 August, because he was waiting for more information.
No transfer can take place if criminal proceedings are active, meaning Megrahi would have to drop his latest appeal against his conviction in order to be sent home.
He was ordered to remain in prison for a minimum of 27 years, having been found guilty of the bombing – which is still the UK’s worst terrorist atrocity.
Megrahi’s legal team had also made a request for him to released from prison on compassionate grounds.
An earlier request, made in October 2008, was rejected by Appeal Court judges after they heard medical evidence that with adequate palliative care, Megrahi could live for several years.
The court heard that such requests are normally only granted where a prisoner has less than three months to live.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Hyflux gains 2.5% as JPMorgan keeps ‘overweight’ rating
July 29th, 2009 |
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Hyflux (HYF SP), Singapore’s biggest water treatment company, advanced 2.5% to $2.47. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its June 2010 share-price estimate to $3.50 from $2.50 and maintained its “overweight” rating. Hyflux’s growing presence in the Middle East will help boost earnings in the next three years. Hyflux last month won a US$1-billion ($1.44 billion) project to build two water desalination plans in Libya.
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Uninvited guests
July 27th, 2009 |
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Proponents of Italy’s new anti-immigration laws say they are a much-needed response to a serious problem, but critics say they recall the policies of the fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, reports the BBC World Service’s Madeleine Morris in Milan.
"The life that I’m living in Italy is very poor. I don’t have documents. In Europe, if you don’t have documents, you are nothing – you are an empty vessel."
Michael – not his real name – is a 19-year-old Sierra Leonean who came to Italy 15 months ago.
He crossed the sea from Libya in a small boat, along with 65 other people. Once they landed in Italy, he claimed asylum.
"We just want to be sure that the immigrants who arrive on our land want to be here to work "
Paolo Grimaldi, Northern League MP
But Michael’s claim, along with the majority of asylum seekers who land on Italy’s shores, was rejected.
Since then, he has been living illegally in the northern city of Milan, struggling to survive under Italy’s increasingly tough policy on illegal immigrants.
I see that policy in action as we pass an internet cafe near the hostel where he is staying.
Four policemen enter the cafe and single out those of African descent, asking to check their official documents.
"They’re in here three or four times a day looking for people without papers," Michael says.
Under fire
Italy has come under fire from groups as diverse as the Vatican and the European Commission for its strict new anti-immigration laws, which were passed in early July.
"This law really alters the landscape by criminalising the violation"
Saskia Sassen
Columbia University
Under the legislation, illegal immigrants are liable to pay a fine of 10,000 euros (£8,700; $14,200) and can now be detained by the authorities for up to six months.
In addition, people who knowingly house undocumented migrants can now face up to three years in prison.
The new law also permits the formation of unarmed citizen patrol groups to help police keep order.
The European Commission is investigating the new laws to see if they comply with existing EU legislation on immigration.
"Italy is absolutely not a racist country. We just want to be sure that the immigrants who arrive on our land want to be here to work, not to make crimes," says Paolo Grimaldi, an MP for the right-wing Northern League.
Mr Grimaldi, whose party leader, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, ushered the new law through parliament, firmly believes Italy is facing an emergency.
With nearly 37,000 immigrants arriving on their shores last year, mostly via boats from Libya and Tunisia, many Italians agree.
"There are too many people. You see in the city, on the streets in Milan, two million immigrants, I think," says one Milanese man, who did not want to give his name.
"I want to help people who are poorer than me, but I want to know where they come from and what they are going to do," says Martina, a 23-year-old Northern League supporter. "It is better if they come here legally."
Criminalised
According to Saskia Sassen, an expert on European immigration at Columbia University in New York, Italy’s new laws could be the beginning of "a catastrophic phase" for not only migrants but also Italian citizens.
"This law really alters the landscape by criminalising the violation," she says.
"In the past you were in violation of the law. That doesn’t mean you were a criminal. This law means if you break the law, now you are considered a criminal. That’s a big deal."
Mr Grimaldi readily admits that almost no illegal immigrants would be able to pay a 10,000-euro fine. In fact, he says, that is the point.
European Union laws oblige all 25 countries party to the Schengen Agreement, which allows passport-free travel across the area, to allow illegal immigrants to make two "mistakes", and the new Italian law makes such "mistakes" more likely.
"We want to expel these illegal immigrants to their country of provenance," Mr Grimaldi says.
"If they have already been arrested for something before, if they don’t pay the fine, we will have recidivism."
The immigrant will have made two "mistakes", and "so then we can make the expulsion".
Italy issues very few visas to people who are already living in the country, and demand for work permits from potential immigrants greatly outstrips supply.
It quickly becomes a Catch-22 situation – illegal immigrants who have no visa are unable to get a job; those without a job are unable to get a visa.
"If they didn’t want me they shouldn’t have rescued me"
"Michael"
As a result, both illegal and legal migrants have become an increasingly obvious presence on the streets of Italian cities.
At night, groups of men from across Africa, the Arab world and Asia roll out sleeping bags and cardboard boxes in Milan’s numerous historic piazzas.
By day, they get by however they can – some by selling fake designer handbags or toys, some by stealing.
Michael lived on the streets of Milan for eight months before being given a bed at Casa della Carita, one of a number of charity-run hostels in the city which house immigrants.
"I don’t have a job. I can’t go to the hospital if I am sick," he says.
Beside him in the hostel’s courtyard, a disparate group of migrants from as far away as Afghanistan and Bangladesh pass the time playing cards.
"Italian people rescued me from their sea. If they didn’t want me they shouldn’t have rescued me," Michael adds.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Ill Megrahi seeks prison release
July 25th, 2009 |
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The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has asked to be released from jail on compassionate grounds.
Scottish ministers will now consider the application from Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer last year.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will make the final decision.
If the application is successful, Megrahi’s release from Greenock Prison would allow him to return to Libya without dropping his appeal.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman confirmed that ministers will now seek advice on the application.
Three releases
Libya has already submitted a request to have Megrahi returned.
A total of 270 people died when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
According to The Herald newspaper, Mr MacAskill is thought to have released three terminally ill patients on compassionate grounds last year.
Traditionally, only applications from those with three months to live are granted.
Megrahi is currently being held in Greenock prison where he is receiving treatment for advanced stage prostate cancer.
‘Evidence doubts’
South of Scotland MSP Christine Grahame, who has met Megrahi twice in recent months, said Scottish Prison Service officials had already informed her there was nowhere within the prison estate properly suited to managing his condition.
Earlier this month, she said: "This makes the case for compassionate release absolutely imperative.
"That option is not subject to judicial review and is the only sensible compromise position in light of the fresh evidence and Mr Megrahi’s deteriorating health.
"The weight of evidence which has emerged combined with the serious doubts raised over the original evidence that was led at the trial have left me in no doubt of Mr Megrahi’s innocence."
She added that if Megrahi was allowed to die in prison but it was later established he was innocent, people would question why the Scottish justice system "failed so dramatically".</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mali ex-rebels to tackle al-Qaeda
July 20th, 2009 |
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The main group of Tuareg ex-rebels in Mali has agreed to help the army tackle al-Qaeda’s North African branch.
Both groups roam across the Sahara Desert and so correspondents say the deal could prove significant.
The agreement was brokered by Algeria’s ambassador to Mali. Algeria is where al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb stages most of its attacks.
Last month, the group killed a British hostage who was being held in Mali after being seized in Niger.
Two weeks later, the army said it had seized an al-Qaeda base near the border with Algeria.
However, the group remains active in the region and has also staged attacks in Niger and Mauritania.
Military collaboration
The BBC’s Martin Vogl in Mali’s capital Bamako says the Malian and Algerian governments will both be pleased to have Tuareg forces as part of their offensive against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The Tuaregs know how to operate in the desert perhaps better than anyone else, he says.
Under the deal, special units of fighters from the Alliance for Democracy and Change (ADC) are to be sent to the desert to tackle al-Qaeda.
Although the ADC signed a deal to end its rebellion three years ago, one of its factions is still active.
The Tuaregs, a historically nomadic people living in the Sahara and Sahel regions of North Africa, have had militant groups in Mali and Niger engaged in sporadic armed struggles for several decades.
Meanwhile, Mali, Algeria and Libya have reportedly agreed to work more closely against the group.
Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Toure said he had agreed to share information and military resources with his two counterparts.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Charles Taylor: war crimes case built on lies
July 14th, 2009 |
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Former Liberian leader says accusations that he supported rebels in Sierra Leone war are based on lies and rumours
The former Liberian president Charles Taylor has taken the stand in his own defence at his war crimes trial and says the case against him is built on lies.
Taylor, the first African head of state to be tried by an international court, is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, using child soldiers and spreading terror. Prosecutors at the United Nations-backed special court for Sierra Leone say he supported rebels in that country to help gain control of it and strip its vast mineral wealth.
He told the court the allegations against him are based on “disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumours.”
Some of the 91 witnesses called so far have claimed Taylor shipped weapons to rebels in rice sacks in contravention of an arms embargo, and in return received “blood diamonds” mined by slave labour.
Taylor, 61, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths, said the former leader would today begin what is expected to be several weeks of testimony because he wanted to set the record straight.
Griffiths said Taylor would testify about his “strenuous efforts to bring peace in Sierra Leone”.
He urged the judges to give Taylor a fair hearing, and not to be overwhelmed by the parade of misery presented by the prosecution since the trial opened 18 months ago.
One prosecution witness who took the stand had stumps where his hands had been hacked off. A woman testified that she was forced to carry a sack full of severed heads, including those of her children. One of Taylor’s former aides told judges he was with Taylor when the president ate a human liver.
“No one who has seen the procession through this courtroom of hurt human beings reliving the most grotesque trauma would have been unmoved,” Griffiths, who is from Britain, told the three-judge panel. “We are human too, even while we declare this accused man to be not guilty of the charges he faces.”
Taylor’s trial has been hailed as a ground-breaking example of making an autocrat face responsibility for the human rights violations that occurred on his watch.
Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has refused to answer a summons by the international criminal court, which is based in The Hague, to respond to charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur. Most African leaders have supported Bashir in his defiance and refuse to arrest him.
Taylor completed an economics degree in the US and military training in Libya before rising to power as a rebel warlord in Liberia and being elected president in 1997.
He is accused of supporting the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone in its fight to depose President Joseph Momoh and his successors. Prosecutors say Taylor trained in Libya with the front’s leader, Foday Sankoh.
About 500,000 people are estimated to have been victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities in the civil war that lasted from 1991 until 2002. Some of the worst crimes were carried out by gangs of child soldiers, who were given drugs to desensitise them.
In an emotional opening statement, Griffiths cast Taylor as a peacemaker who was too busy defending democracy in Liberia to “micromanage” atrocities committed by rebels in Sierra Leone.
Griffiths said Taylor was not behind the use of children in conflict. “Child soldiers were not a Charles Taylor invention,” he said.
The former president sat impassively in court wearing a brown double-breasted suit, brown tie and dark glasses.
Taylor is being tried in a courtroom rented from the international criminal court because of fears that trying him in Sierra Leone could spark renewed violence.
At the court’s headquarters in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, the public galleries of two courtrooms were packed with survivors, students, police and community leaders who watched a live satellite broadcast of the opening statement.
In Liberia, a civil rights advocate, Boakai Jalieba, said the case was being closely followed there.
“We in Liberia have to take keen interest in the trial because the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone had too many similarities, they had some common identities; Liberians were recruited to go to Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans fought here,” he said.
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Charles Taylor: war crimes case built on lies
July 14th, 2009 |
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Former Liberian leader says accusations that he supported rebels in Sierra Leone war are based on lies and rumours
The former Liberian president Charles Taylor has taken the stand in his own defence at his war crimes trial and says the case against him is built on lies.
Taylor, the first African head of state to be tried by an international court, is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, using child soldiers and spreading terror. Prosecutors at the United Nations-backed special court for Sierra Leone say he supported rebels in that country to help gain control of it and strip its vast mineral wealth.
He told the court the allegations against him are based on “disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumours.”
Some of the 91 witnesses called so far have claimed Taylor shipped weapons to rebels in rice sacks in contravention of an arms embargo, and in return received “blood diamonds” mined by slave labour.
Taylor, 61, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths, said the former leader would today begin what is expected to be several weeks of testimony because he wanted to set the record straight.
Griffiths said Taylor would testify about his “strenuous efforts to bring peace in Sierra Leone”.
He urged the judges to give Taylor a fair hearing, and not to be overwhelmed by the parade of misery presented by the prosecution since the trial opened 18 months ago.
One prosecution witness who took the stand had stumps where his hands had been hacked off. A woman testified that she was forced to carry a sack full of severed heads, including those of her children. One of Taylor’s former aides told judges he was with Taylor when the president ate a human liver.
“No one who has seen the procession through this courtroom of hurt human beings reliving the most grotesque trauma would have been unmoved,” Griffiths, who is from Britain, told the three-judge panel. “We are human too, even while we declare this accused man to be not guilty of the charges he faces.”
Taylor’s trial has been hailed as a ground-breaking example of making an autocrat face responsibility for the human rights violations that occurred on his watch.
Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has refused to answer a summons by the international criminal court, which is based in The Hague, to respond to charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur. Most African leaders have supported Bashir in his defiance and refuse to arrest him.
Taylor completed an economics degree in the US and military training in Libya before rising to power as a rebel warlord in Liberia and being elected president in 1997.
He is accused of supporting the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone in its fight to depose President Joseph Momoh and his successors. Prosecutors say Taylor trained in Libya with the front’s leader, Foday Sankoh.
About 500,000 people are estimated to have been victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities in the civil war that lasted from 1991 until 2002. Some of the worst crimes were carried out by gangs of child soldiers, who were given drugs to desensitise them.
In an emotional opening statement, Griffiths cast Taylor as a peacemaker who was too busy defending democracy in Liberia to “micromanage” atrocities committed by rebels in Sierra Leone.
Griffiths said Taylor was not behind the use of children in conflict. “Child soldiers were not a Charles Taylor invention,” he said.
The former president sat impassively in court wearing a brown double-breasted suit, brown tie and dark glasses.
Taylor is being tried in a courtroom rented from the international criminal court because of fears that trying him in Sierra Leone could spark renewed violence.
At the court’s headquarters in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, the public galleries of two courtrooms were packed with survivors, students, police and community leaders who watched a live satellite broadcast of the opening statement.
In Liberia, a civil rights advocate, Boakai Jalieba, said the case was being closely followed there.
“We in Liberia have to take keen interest in the trial because the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone had too many similarities, they had some common identities; Liberians were recruited to go to Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans fought here,” he said.
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Gaddafi demands Lockerbie bomber’s return
July 10th, 2009 |
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Prime minister tells Libyan leader at G8 summit that Megrahi case is matter for the Scottish courts
In his first face to face meeting with Gordon Brown, Muammar Gaddafi today demanded the return of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.
The Libyan leader was told by the prime minister that it was a matter for the Scottish courts.
Gaddafi, wearing a flowing black and white silken robe and protected by female bodyguards, is at the G8 summit in Italy as the rotating president of the African Union.
He has pitched a bedouin-style tent outside the G8 barracks in which world leaders are staying during the three-day summit.
In a 40-minute meeting between the two leaders, conducted in Arabic and English, Brown insisted he could not intervene in the Megrahi case.
Scottish judges this week delayed completing an appeal into Megrahi’s conviction until at least September, even though he has prostate cancer and faces a risk of dying in prison.
The bombing of flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 killed 270 people on the aircraft and the ground.
Gaddafi’s demand for the return of Megrahi was countered by Brown urging him to do more to cooperate with the Metropolitan police investigation into the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984.
Her murder led to the severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries for a decade, but Gaddafi subsequently worked to improve relations with the west, so much so that Tony Blair went to Tripoli to meet him in 2004.
The Libyans have admitted responsibility for Fletcher’s killing by embassy staff and have paid compensation, but Britain is complaining that Libya is not producing witnesses, meaning the inquiry has stalled for more than a year.
Brown also called on Gaddafi to help bring about the return of six-year-old Nadia Fawzi, who was abducted by her Libyan father in 2007.
Her English mother, Sarah Taylor, wants her daughter returned, and Gaddafi promised Brown that the Libyan courts were on course to reunite the two shortly.
More broadly, Brown – who was accompanied by three UK officials – also urged Gaddafi to use his influence to persuade Middle Eastern countries to renounce nuclear weapons.
It is not clear whether Gaddafi has any influence over the Iranian regime.
The 67-year-old leader, wearing dark glasses for much of the day and sporting long dark hair, resembled an ageing rock legend and was generally seen as the star of today’s meetings.
Brown praised him for abandoning his chemical weapons programme unilaterally in 2003, a move intended to bring about a normalisation of relations with the west.
The two leaders also agreed to work together to bring stability to the oil market, with Brown promising to use his influence to improve African representation on the boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
British officials admitted the meeting had started formally, but gradually warmed up as discussions continued.
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Libya’s struggles
July 9th, 2009 |
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Travelling to the Libyan town of Sirte to report on the African Union summit, Christian Fraser considers whether Libya is ready for an era of mass tourism.
It is midnight at Tripoli airport, across the road from the arrivals hall. Beyond high mesh fences and the white glare of towering floodlights, a Chinese workforce is labouring through the night on a new terminal.
The air is hot and heavy. The face of Muammar Gaddafi stares out from a nearby billboard, as if micromanaging his country’s construction boom.
En route to the African Union summit, I had just emerged from the old arrivals hall – dour, disorganised and full of government spooks. I was delayed for an inordinate amount of time while they checked, then rechecked, that rarest of Libyan commodities, a journalist’s visa.
The two faces of Libya, a perfect illustration of where the country has come from, and where it is going.
Once the international pariah, now a state in full-speed transition.
Embracing capitalism
In the past year, Muammar Gaddafi has travelled the world signing profitable oil and gas deals that will help transform Tripoli into the new Mediterranean destination – or so they hope – for an influx of adventurous tourists.
There is still some way to go, but the beachfront is awash with five-star developments the government is building with its millions of petrodollars. No more sanctions, no more socialism.
"Twenty-five thousand new flats," beamed Ahmed, my government minder, as we sped into town past another busy building site – $200,000 (£125,000) each," he marvelled.
I could tell he was an enthusiastic proponent of the new Libyan capitalism. And a loyal subject – a Gaddafi key-ring was hanging from his trouser pocket.
Tourist restrictions
There is much to see and enjoy in Libya.
Spectacular Greek and Roman remains, the open-air galleries of prehistoric rock art and glorious largely uninhabited sandy beaches.
Plus, of course, that frisson that is always associated with visiting a country previously off-limit to Westerners.
And therein lies the rub. As much as Libya may like the idea of tourists, and the hard currency they bring, it has yet to embrace the reality.
Tourists must still travel in organised groups with a government-approved guide.
There is no opportunity to wander unfettered around the well-preserved Roman city of Leptis Magna or the magnificent theatre at Sabratha.
Accommodation shortage
Pity the poor tourist who runs into the Libyan control freakery I experienced last week on the way to this African Union summit.
It was held in Sirte, an undistinguished coastal town just along the way from Tripoli.
The flight to Sirte is a short one. A journey across a long stretch of barren coastline.
Beneath us those remote beaches from which hundreds of illegal African migrants escape to Europe every year. These are the people currently flooding into Tripoli.
I could see why stopping their advance proves such an enormous challenge. Aside from sporadic roadblocks, there is very little between the vast expanse of Sahara and the shoreline from where they set sail in their makeshift rafts and boats.
The building frenzy of Tripoli is yet to reach the distant outpost of Sirte.
"Mr Gaddafi cruised around his manor in one of those ostentatiously large buses favoured by touring rock stars"
Tourists might find a hotel room, but such was the shortage of accommodation during the summit, that journalists and dignitaries would be sleeping on a clapped-out, Panamanian-registered, car ferry brought in specially for the event.
No five-star facilities, these.
We paid top dollar for a cabin cloaked in the faintest whiff of diesel. Mine was already occupied by a cockroach and each day he raced me for the shower attached to the sink.
When Mr Gaddafi travels abroad he takes a Bedouin tent with him. I should have followed suit.
Closely watched
So why would you drag hundreds of summit delegates, 12 African leaders, diplomats, politicians and journalists to a one-horse town in the middle of nowhere
Simple really. It is the ancestral home of Libya’s egocentric leader, who for 39 years has fostered this one-man personality cult.
Throughout the week, he cruised around his manor in one of those ostentatiously large buses favoured by touring rock stars.
For his opening speech, he wore the golden robes of a king. One invited dignitary was so overcome in his presence, she fell to her knees at his feet.
Not satisfied with this all-encompassing power in Libya, the Colonel is even pushing a bold ambition for a unified continent, a United States of Africa modelled on the European Union.
EU ideals Tell that not just to the journalists, but also the VIPs at this summit who were herded from one location to another, closely observed at all times – and whose contact with the outside world was sorely limited by the electronic equipment used by state security, whenever the Colonel was in town.
Is Mr Gaddafi and his "new Libya" really prepared for all that comes with mass tourism The evidence of this African Union summit suggests not yet.
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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.