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Former UK lawyer sentenced for fraud relating to Iraq abuse claims

Former UK lawyer sentenced for fraud relating to Iraq abuse claims
Former British lawyer Phil Shiner who became known for bringing lawsuits on behalf of Iraqi civilians accusing British soldiers of ill-treatment was on Tuesday given a suspended sentence for fraud. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 1 min 44 sec ago
Reuters
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Former UK lawyer sentenced for fraud relating to Iraq abuse claims

Former UK lawyer sentenced for fraud relating to Iraq abuse claims
  • Phil Shiner pleaded guilty in September to three counts of fraud
  • Britain launched a public inquiry into allegations of atrocities by British troops in 2004, after a battle at the Danny Boy checkpoint in southern Iraq.
Updated 1 min 44 sec ago
Reuters
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LONDON: A former British lawyer who became known for bringing lawsuits on behalf of Iraqi civilians accusing British soldiers of ill-treatment was on Tuesday given a suspended sentence for fraud.
Phil Shiner pleaded guilty in September to three counts of fraud relating to applications made in 2007 for public funding for legal action against the Ministry of Defense.
Following the legal challenge led by Shiner, Britain launched a public inquiry into allegations of atrocities by British troops in 2004, after a battle at the Danny Boy checkpoint in southern Iraq.
Shiner and his firm Public Interest Lawyers, however, were widely criticized and the inquiry ultimately concluded in 2014 that allegations British soldiers executed captured Iraqi prisoners and tortured or seriously abused others were untrue.
Shiner pleaded guilty to failing to disclose, when applying for public funding, that he had asked an intermediary to approach potential claimants and had paid for referrals, which breached his firm’s contract.
He appeared on Tuesday at London’s Southwark Crown Court, where Judge Christopher Hehir imposed a sentence of two years in jail, suspended for two years.
Shiner was struck off as a lawyer in 2017 and Hehir said: “You have already suffered professional and personal ruin and I do not consider it is necessary to add to that by sending you straight to prison.”

Topics: Iraq Phil Shiner UK Southwark Crown Court

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Russia takes step toward recognizing Afghanistan’s Taliban government

Russia takes step toward recognizing Afghanistan’s Taliban government
Updated 10 December 2024
Reuters
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Russia takes step toward recognizing Afghanistan’s Taliban government

Russia takes step toward recognizing Afghanistan’s Taliban government
  • Parliament votes for law to make it possible to remove Taliban from banned terror groups’ list
  • No country currently recognizes the Taliban government which seized power in August 2021
Updated 10 December 2024
Reuters

MOSCOW: Russia moved a step closer toward recognizing the Taliban government of Afghanistan on Tuesday as parliament voted in favor of a law that would make it possible to remove the Taliban from Moscow’s list of banned terrorist organizations.
Parliament’s lower house, the Duma, approved the bill in the first of three required readings, Interfax news agency said.
No country currently recognizes the Taliban government which seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal after 20 years of war. But Russia has been gradually building ties with the movement, which President Vladimir Putin said in July was now an ally in fighting terrorism.
Moscow sees a major security threat from Islamist militant groups based in a string of countries from Afghanistan to the Middle East, where Russia lost a major ally this week with the toppling of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In March, gunmen killed 145 people at a concert hall outside Moscow in an attack claimed by Daesh. US officials said they had intelligence indicating it was the Afghan branch of the group, Daesh, that was responsible.
The Taliban says it is working to wipe out the presence of Daesh in Afghanistan.
Western diplomats say the movement’s path toward wider international recognition is stalled until it changes course on women’s rights. The Taliban has closed high schools and universities to girls and women and placed restrictions on their movement without a male guardian. It says it respects women’s rights in line with its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Russia has its own complex and bloodstained history in Afghanistan. Soviet troops invaded the country in December 1979 to prop up a Communist government, but became bogged down in a long war against mujahideen fighters armed by the United States. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pulled his army out in 1989, by which time some 15,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed.

France begins military withdrawal from Chad, army says

France begins military withdrawal from Chad, army says
Updated 10 December 2024
Reuters
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France begins military withdrawal from Chad, army says

France begins military withdrawal from Chad, army says
  • “It marks the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N’Djamena,” Army spokesperson Col. Guillaume Vernet said
  • France has already pulled its soldiers out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger
Updated 10 December 2024
Reuters

PARIS: France has started the withdrawal of its military from Chad with the departure of two warplanes that were based in the capital N’Djamena, the French army said, two weeks after Chad said it was ending its defense cooperation pact with Paris.
In a surprise move, the government of Chad — an ally of the West in the fight against Islamist militants in the region — ended the defense cooperation pact on Nov. 28.
Terms and conditions of the withdrawal and whether any French troops will remain in the central African country altogether have yet be to be agreed, but on Tuesday the first Mirage warplanes returned to their base in eastern France.
“It marks the beginning of the return of French equipment stationed in N’Djamena,” Army spokesperson Col. Guillaume Vernet said after two Mirage fighter jets left Chad.
France has already pulled its soldiers out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger following military coups in those West African countries and spreading anti-French sentiment.
The departure from Chad will end decades of French military presence in the Sahel region and ends direct French military operations against Islamist militants there.
France still has about 1,000 troops in Chad. Vernet said a calendar to drawdown its operations would still take several weeks for the two countries to finalize.
There were no indications Paris received advance notice of Chad’s decision to end its defense cooperation although a French envoy to President Emmanuel Macron delivered a report last month containing proposals on how France could reduce its military presence in Chad, Gabon and Ivory Coast.

Topics: France chad

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Saudi businesses explore energy, tourism opportunities in Rajasthan

Business people gather at the Invest Saudi pavilion at the Rising Rajasthan summit in Jaipur, India, Dec. 10, 2024. (AN photo)
Business people gather at the Invest Saudi pavilion at the Rising Rajasthan summit in Jaipur, India, Dec. 10, 2024. (AN photo)
Updated 10 December 2024
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Saudi businesses explore energy, tourism opportunities in Rajasthan

Business people gather at the Invest Saudi pavilion at the Rising Rajasthan summit in Jaipur, India, Dec. 10, 2024. (AN photo)
  • Invest Saudi participates in Rising Rajasthan Investment Summit in Jaipur
  • With its vast deserts, Rajasthan ranks first in India for solar energy production
Updated 10 December 2024
Sanjay Kumar

JAIPUR: Saudi Arabia is exploring cooperation with India in solar and wind energy, infrastructure, tourism, and technology-based industries, its Ministry of Investment said on Tuesday, as it participated in the Rising Rajasthan Investment Summit in Jaipur.

The government of India’s largest state by area is hosting the investment event from Dec. 9 to 11, as it seeks to double Rajasthan’s gross domestic product to $350 billion in the next five years.

The summit was opened on Monday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who encouraged foreign delegates — including from Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UK and Japan — to explore the state’s potential as a global business destination.

The Saudi Ministry of Investment’s pavilion in the forum’s exhibition space presented Invest Saudi — the nation-wide investment brand — and promoted opportunities in the Kingdom., while delegation members held talks with Indian companies.

“We are talking about supporting our private sectors: Indians to invest in Saudi Arabia and Saudi companies to invest in Rajasthan and India,” Abdullah Al-Arfaj, director of international relations for South and West Asia at the Saudi Ministry of Investment, told Arab News.

“Through its participation in this summit, the Saudi Ministry of Investment seeks to foster productive dialogue and build actionable partnerships … The summit is an ideal platform to strengthen Saudi-Indian cooperation and establish the foundations for long-term, sustainable partnerships.”

Al-Arfaj, who was meeting with Rajasthan leadership, said they were identifying “shared areas that can contribute to the economic growth of both nations, such as solar and wind energy, infrastructure development, tourism, and technology-based industries, as well as the development of smart cities, green energy initiatives, and advanced technological solutions.”

With vast desert areas hosting photovoltaic plants, Rajasthan ranks first in India for solar energy production. It is also the largest producer of marble, has the nation’s biggest lead mines, and contains confirmed deposits of rare-earth elements.

The state’s capital, Jaipur, is a major tourist attraction. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is known as the “pink city” from the dominant color scheme of its 18th-century structures.

A number of cooperation agreements are expected to be signed during the summit between Saudi and Indian businesses.

Faisal Al-Jurbua, a member of the Saudi delegation, said his company was planning to establish a desert resort in Rajasthan — the first such property in the Indian state.

“Hopefully, in about six months, we’re going to start,” the CEO of Riyadh-based HAP Experience Co. told Arab News.

“It will be the same that we have in Saudi Arabia. It will be an oasis … We’re going to do some mix between the two cultures,” he said.

“We will be having a lot of work here in Rajasthan in the near future.”

Topics: Saudi Arabia Rajasthan Rising Rajasthan Investment Summit jaipur

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Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW

Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW
Updated 10 December 2024
Arab News
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Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW

Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW
  • Somalis, Yemenis describe pattern of abuse including beatings, pepper spray, destruction of personal property
  • ‘A border guard hit me with a baton in places so I couldn’t walk. They beat me and a friend for about an hour’
Updated 10 December 2024
Arab News

LONDON: Law enforcement in Poland is unlawfully and violently forcing asylum seekers back to Belarus, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday, adding that those who are pushed back risk suffering serious abuse at the hands of Belarussian officials.

Others who are not intercepted after being returned to Belarus face injury or even death in harsh winter conditions, said HRW, which conducted in-depth interviews in November with 22 asylum seekers in Poland, including people from Yemen, Somalia and Comoros.

All but five had experienced at least one pushback — in violation of asylum law — from Polish officials on the border. They were subsequently admitted to Poland and allowed to apply for asylum.

A consistent pattern of abuse and violence was described by the interviewees, including beatings with batons, use of pepper spray and destruction of personal property such as mobile phones.

Eli, 25, from Somalia, told HRW that he was summarily pushed back by Polish border forces five times between April and June. His phones were destroyed and he was pepper-sprayed by border guards.

“The first time … we got across the border and walked 1 km into Poland when border guards caught us. They put us in plastic zip ties … They took our phones and smashed them with their batons … They took us by military car to the borderline and opened a gate in the metal fence and told us to go back to Belarus,” he said.

“I kept telling them in English that I wanted protection and asylum in Poland, but they just said go back to Minsk. I was still handcuffed when pushed back.”

Tariq, 24, from Yemen, was pushed back three times between August and October. The first time he was pushed back, border guards intercepted him shortly after crossing the fence and he was pepper-sprayed. The second time he was beaten.

He said: “It was like smoke in my eyes, I was in pain for days. A border guard hit me with a baton in places so I couldn’t walk, on my legs mainly … They beat me and a friend for about an hour … I didn’t ask for asylum because even if I ask they won’t help. I just said: ‘I want Poland.’ The border guards said: ‘You want Germany or France.’ I said: ‘No, I want Poland.’

“Then they just put us in a car and drove us to the border and pushed us across. They took us straight to the border, no station.

“They had zip-tied me when they caught us so when they pushed me through the fence, I still had them on.”

During his third pushback, a Polish police officer stripped him to his underwear and beat him. “Then another officer came, and the beating stopped,” said Tariq.

“They took me to the border. There were others in the car, Africans, Syrians, and we were all pushed back. There were three women in the group and one could barely stand.”

Topics: Poland belarus asylum seekers Human Rights Watch (HRW)

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Japan’s atomic bomb survivors to accept Nobel Prize in Oslo

Japan’s atomic bomb survivors to accept Nobel Prize in Oslo
Updated 10 December 2024
AFP
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Japan’s atomic bomb survivors to accept Nobel Prize in Oslo

Japan’s atomic bomb survivors to accept Nobel Prize in Oslo
  • 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima when the United States detonated an atomic bomb in 1945
  • Another 74,000 were killed by a US nuclear bomb in the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later
Updated 10 December 2024
AFP

OSLO: This year’s Nobel Peace Prize will be presented Tuesday to Japan’s atomic bomb survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyo, which lobbies against the weapons now resurging as a threat 80 years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
The three co-chairs of Nihon Hidankyo will accept the prestigious award during a ceremony starting at 1:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) in Oslo’s City Hall, at a time when states like Russia increasingly threaten to break the international taboo on the use of nuclear arms.
“Nuclear weapons and humanity cannot co-exist,” one of the three co-chairs, Terumi Tanaka, told a press conference on Monday in the Norwegian capital.
“Humanity may come to its end even before climate change brings its devastating impacts,” the 92-year-old said.
Nihon Hidankyo works tirelessly to rid the planet of the weapons of mass destruction, with testimonies from survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as “hibakusha.”
Around 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima when the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city on August 6, 1945.
A further 74,000 were killed by a US nuclear bomb in Nagasaki three days later.
Survivors suffered from radiation sickness and longer-term effects, including elevated risks of cancer.
The bombings, the only times nuclear weapons have been used in history, were the final blow to imperial Japan and its brutal rampage across Asia. It surrendered on August 15, 1945.
Tanaka was 13 when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing five members of his family.
On Monday, he expressed alarm at the resurgence of nuclear threats and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop brandishing the threat to prevail in the war in Ukraine.
“President Putin, I don’t think he truly understands what nuclear weapons are for human beings,” he said.
“I don’t think he has even thought about this.”
Putin began making nuclear threats shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He signed a decree in late November lowering the threshold for using atomic weapons.
Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
On November 21, Moscow fired its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in an escalation of the almost three-year war.
The missile is designed to be equipped with a nuclear warhead, but was not in this case.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Moscow was ready to use “any means” to defend itself.
“It is crucial for humanity to uphold the nuclear taboo, to stigmatize these weapons as morally unacceptable,” the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, said on Monday.
“To threaten with them is one way of reducing the significance of the taboo, and it should not be done,” he added.
“And of course, to use them should never be done ever again by any nation on Earth.”
North Korea, which has increased its ballistic missile tests, and Iran, which is suspected of developing nuclear weapons though it denies this, are also seen as posing a threat to the West.
Nine countries now have nuclear weapons: Britain, China, France, India, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United States, and, unofficially, Israel.
In 2017, 122 governments negotiated and adopted the historic UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), but the text is considered largely symbolic as no nuclear power has signed it.
This year’s Nobel prizes in the other disciplines — medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics — will be awarded at a separate ceremony in Stockholm.

Topics: Japan Oslo Nobel Prize

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