Reporters Without Borders calls on the authorities to explain the detention of freelance journalist Hadis Mohammed Hadis for the past ten days in Hargeisa, the capital of the northern breakaway region of Somaliland. Hadis was arrested while filming at Hargeisa airport on 3 November, five days after 25 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the city.
“It seems that Hadis has been detained on the basis of vague and insubstantial suspicions“, Reporters Without Borders said. “If no serious charge can be brought against him, he should be freed at once.”
Police arrested Hadis while he was at Hargeisa airport to cover the arrival of Suleiman Mohamed Adam, the president of one of the territory’s two legislative chambers. He was taken to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department and has been held there ever since. The authorities have not offered any explanation for his arrest.
Amin Jibril, a journalist with the privately-owned daily Haatuf, told Reporters Without Borders he managed to speak to Hadis at CID headquarters. He said Hadis thought his arrest could be linked to his coverage of the 29 October bombing. A legislator, Matan Hoori, had suggested Hadis must have known in advance it was going to happen. The police had not mistreated him, Hadis added.
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Monday, 3 November 2008
American school in Syria obeys order to close
DAMASCUS, Syria – An American school in Damascus closed its doors and told students to go home Monday after the Syrian government ordered it shut down in response to a deadly U.S. cross-border raid near the Iraqi border.
A voice message on the school's answering machine said the Damascus Community School was closed to comply with the government's decision. Students and teachers were seen leaving the school grounds Monday afternoon.
The closure order came two days after Syria said U.S. troops in four helicopters attacked a building inside Syria near the Iraqi border. Washington hasn't formally acknowledged the raid, but U.S. officials say the target was a top al-Qaida in Iraq figure.
The school and the cultural center, which are linked to the U.S. Embassy, cater to a small American community in the Syrian capital and other foreign residents. The Syrian government had demanded the cultural center close immediately and the school close by Thursday.
The students came to school as usual Monday but said they were told by the school's administration to leave. No reason was immediately given. One student said administrators told him and his classmates to pack up their books leave the building immediately.
Officials at the school declined to speak with The Associated Press.
An official at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus confirmed that the school, which serves elementary through high school students, was closing to comply with the Syrian government's demand it shut its doors after an Oct. 26 U.S. military raid that Damascus says killed eight people. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media.
The embassy also said a cultural center and the American Language Center, both of which are located on the embassy grounds, have been closed until further notice in response to the Syria government's request, according to a statement posted Monday on its Web site.
A foreign teacher who works at the school said Syrian authorities told the school's foreign teachers to leave the country within a week. The teacher spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The school has 42 full-time and five part-time faculty members, and a majority are American and Canadian, according to the school's Web site.
On Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said his country may resort to more "painful" measures if the United States doesn't give an official explanation for the raid. He did not elaborate.
Syria also has threatened to cut off cooperation on Iraqi border security and demanded America apologize and promise not to repeat a deadly cross-border raid into its territory.
Syria has long been viewed by the U.S. as a destabilizing country in the Middle East, but in recent months Damascus had been trying to change its image and end years of global seclusion.
But American accusations that Syria isn't doing enough to prevent foreign fighters from crossing its borders into Iraq is a sore point in relations. Syria has said it is doing all it can to safeguard its long, porous border.
Syria got support Monday from ally Iran, whose foreign minister met with President Bashar Assad.
Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Damascus that the U.S. attack on Syrian territory was meant to "weaken" Syria but achieved the opposite. Syria's state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying Syria will not be frightened by U.S. threats and provocations.
Naked woman tied up near station
Police have started searching for a woman reportedly seen naked and tied up near a Hampshire railway station.
A man in camouflage clothing was standing next to her, said a couple driving past Micheldever station.
They called police who began searching for the pair and a third man seen nearby at 1500 GMT.
Det Insp David Collings said it could have been a prank or "some misdirected leisure activity" and appealed for the woman to contact them.
He added: "It was very much an open site and we need to make sure this woman is safe and there is nothing more sinister behind it."
Mr Collings urged the woman or the men to come forward so they could scale down the search.
A man in camouflage clothing was standing next to her, said a couple driving past Micheldever station.
They called police who began searching for the pair and a third man seen nearby at 1500 GMT.
Det Insp David Collings said it could have been a prank or "some misdirected leisure activity" and appealed for the woman to contact them.
He added: "It was very much an open site and we need to make sure this woman is safe and there is nothing more sinister behind it."
Mr Collings urged the woman or the men to come forward so they could scale down the search.
Saddam's luxury yacht up for sale
The Iraqi government is to sell a luxury yacht which was previously owned by the late leader, Saddam Hussein.
The 82m (270ft) Ocean Breeze is equipped with swimming pools, an operating theatre, a helipad and an escape tunnel leading to a submarine.
Iraq has decided to sell the yacht after winning a legal battle with a Jordanian company over its ownership.
The yacht is expected to sell for millions of dollars, but brokers have said the decor may not suit all tastes.
It has been decorated in what has been described as "Arabesque" style, with mahogany carvings, gold tap fittings and brightly-coloured deep-pile carpets.
The ship, originally called Qadissiyet Saddam after an historic Iraqi military victory, was built in a Danish shipyard in 1981 by workers sworn to secrecy.
But, despite its luxurious facilities, Saddam Hussein is never thought to have stayed on board himself, fearing political instability if he left Iraq.
So for most of its life, Ocean Breeze was moored in Saudi Arabia - until last year, when it arrived in the French port of Nice and remained there while its ownership was determined.
A Cayman Islands firm, part-owned by King Abdullah of Jordan, had claimed that Saddam had given the yacht to them, but a French court ruled last summer that it should be returned to the Iraqi government.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the ministries of finance and foreign affairs would be responsible for the sale.
Brokers have suggested that in the current financial climate, it could be difficult to sell a vessel which is luxurious but not up to the standards of more modern yachts - it does not, for example, have a gym and boasts only one helipad.
However, offers are expected in the region of $35m (£18m), and one broker suggested the yacht's history could be "a good selling point".
The 82m (270ft) Ocean Breeze is equipped with swimming pools, an operating theatre, a helipad and an escape tunnel leading to a submarine.
Iraq has decided to sell the yacht after winning a legal battle with a Jordanian company over its ownership.
The yacht is expected to sell for millions of dollars, but brokers have said the decor may not suit all tastes.
It has been decorated in what has been described as "Arabesque" style, with mahogany carvings, gold tap fittings and brightly-coloured deep-pile carpets.
The ship, originally called Qadissiyet Saddam after an historic Iraqi military victory, was built in a Danish shipyard in 1981 by workers sworn to secrecy.
But, despite its luxurious facilities, Saddam Hussein is never thought to have stayed on board himself, fearing political instability if he left Iraq.
So for most of its life, Ocean Breeze was moored in Saudi Arabia - until last year, when it arrived in the French port of Nice and remained there while its ownership was determined.
A Cayman Islands firm, part-owned by King Abdullah of Jordan, had claimed that Saddam had given the yacht to them, but a French court ruled last summer that it should be returned to the Iraqi government.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the ministries of finance and foreign affairs would be responsible for the sale.
Brokers have suggested that in the current financial climate, it could be difficult to sell a vessel which is luxurious but not up to the standards of more modern yachts - it does not, for example, have a gym and boasts only one helipad.
However, offers are expected in the region of $35m (£18m), and one broker suggested the yacht's history could be "a good selling point".
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