Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned Western nations of an “earthquake” and of “another Afghanistan” if they were to take action against the country. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph , Assad said, "Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake … Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans? "Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region. If the plan is to divide Syria, that is to divide the whole region." Assad went on to say that he believed the West would “definitely” increase...
The tribunal looking into allegations of war crimes committed in the brutal Bangladeshi war of independence has been deferred until the 20th of November. The lawyer for defendant Delwar Hossain Sayyidi, who is charged with crimes against humanity, genocide and rape, has asked for a review of the charges and the withdrawal of the tribunal’s chairman. Tribunal Chairman Nizamul Huq is accused by the lawyer of bias. Bangladesh’s main opposition, led by Khaleda Zia, have called the tribunal a ‘farce’ and claim a political vendetta is being carried out. Stephen Kay, who is an interntional court...
Republican presidential candidates have slammed Obama’s foreign policy moves on Iraq and Libya, as they gave an indication on what grounds next November’s elections will be contested. Herman Cain and Rick Perry criticised the pull-out of US troops from Iraq, although the deadline was first set by George Bush. "For the president to announce that we are going to do a drawdown on the troops by a date certain, that just leaves a power vacuum in Iraq," Cain said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "It was irresponsible for George Bush to set a date certain," Cain added. "The idea that a commander in...
Uruguay’s Congress has voted to scrap an amnesty for military officials who have been charged with allegations of human rights abuses during the military rule crackdown of leftists between 1975 and 1983. After 12 hours of debate, the lower house of parliament voted 50-40 to eliminate the amnesty, which leaves Jose Mujica, the country's president left to approve the change. Luis Puig, a ruling Broad Front coalition legislator, said , "This is a historic night. The culture of impunity imposed during 25 years must be dismantled and turned into a culture of human rights." Mujica is expected to...
Why former Liban leader Muammar Gaddafi was ‘angry and disappointed’ in his final days: "He thought his people should love him until the end. He felt he had done so many good things for them and for Libya. He also felt betrayed by men who had seemed to be his friends, like [former British Prime Minister] Tony Blair and [Italian Premier] Silvio Berlusconi ." - Mansour Dhao Ibrahim , one of Gaddafi’s inner circle and one of the most wanted men in Libya, now in custody. See the BBC’s report here .
Poland has reopened investigations into crimes committed in several concentration camps connected to Auschwitz during the Second World War. It is thought over one million Jews and Poles were killed by the Nazis in Auschwitz alone. Polish authorities hope to track down any surviving members of the Nazis, complicit in the genocide. The original investigation was closed in the 1980s, due to Poland’s status as a Soviet satellite state, which created difficulties in questioning witnesses and hunting down the perpetrators abroad. Read AP report here .
Former Syrian ally Turkey has been housing members of the Free Syrian Army, an anti-Assad group who have attacked Syrian soldiers, at a guarded camp in Turkey according to the New York Times. The news comes as the Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for an attack on Wednesday that killed 9 Syrian soldiers, including one officer. While Turkey insists their support for the group is purely “humanitarian”, Colonel As’aad of the Free Syrian Army was interviewed by the New York Times at a Turkish government official’s office, wearing a suit purchased by the Turkish Foreign Ministry and guarded...
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has reportedly contacted the ICC in order to negotiate his surrender and sought an aircraft to transport him over to the Hague war crimes court in the Netherlands. An NTC official told reporters that, "He believes handing himself over is the best option for him." He also commented that Saif feared for his safety and wanted assurances as he surrenders. he is currently thought to be on the run in the vast desert in Libya, near the border with Algeria and Niger. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters, "Through intermediaries, we have informal contact with Saif...
Former navy captain Alfredo Astiz, Argentina's infamous ‘Blond Angel of Death,’ and 11 other death squad members from the 1970s were jailed for life on Wednesday in one of the country's biggest human rights cases. However the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a French request to extradite Astiz, who was also convicted in absentia in Europe for killing two French nuns during the 1976-1983 ‘Dirty War.’ See Reuters reports here and here . Astiz stood trial with other former officials accused of horrific crimes at the ESMA Naval Mechanics School, where about 5,000 dissidents were held and...
Libya’s interim government has agreed to prosecute the killers of Muammar Gaddafi, after previously claiming he was killed by crossfire. The U-turn is likely to have been caused by increased international pressure after more videos emerged showing Gaddafi being assaulted by Libyan rebel fighters. Gaddafi is thought to have been killed by a gunshot to his head. Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chief of the National Transitional Council, said it would seek to those who are responsible for Gaddafi’s death. "With regards to Gaddafi, we do not wait for anybody to tell us," he told the al-Arabiya...