An Egyptian court has convicted three police officers for torturing and publicly humiliating a suspected thief, according to "judicial sources" cited by Reuters Saturday. The higher-ranking police officer was sentenced to five years in jail, while the two lower-ranking officers were sent to jail for one year each. According to the court, the three officers beat the detainee with batons and forced him to wear women's clothing in public, which violated the prisoner's honor.
The sentencing is part of the country's recent crackdown on police brutality. In November, two police officers were sentenced to three years in prison for sodomizing and beating detainee Emad el-Kabir in 2006 while videoing the incident on a cell phone. Egyptian bloggers posted the video on the Internet later that year. In April, Amnesty International released a report criticizing Egypt for systematic human rights abuses of detainees in its police stations, military camps and centers run by State Security Investigations.
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Asif Ali Zardari , the husband of slain former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , called again Saturday for a UN-led international investigation into the circumstances surrounding his wife's assassination. This is the second time Zardari has called for a UN-led inquiry similar to the ongoing probe into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri Zardari accused members of President Pervez Musharraf's ruling regime of involvement in the assassination and rejected any investigation involving the Pakistani government as illegitimate. Musharraf has acknowledged mistakes in the handling of the case, including hosing down the site hours after the attack, but has insisted that Pakistan can run its own probe with the assistance of Britain's Scotland Yard. The United States has already taken the posiiton that a UN investigation is unnecessary.
Bhutto was assassinated December 27 at a political rally in Rawalpindi. She was campaigning in the lead-up to parliamentary elections then scheduled for January 8, where her Pakistan People's Party was challenging Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid . The elections have since been postponed to February 18. AP has more.
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Italian prosecutor Franco Ionta said Friday that he would "almost certainly" appeal a Rome court's October 2007 dismissal of a criminal case against US Army Spc. Mario Lozano for the murder of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari and the attempted murders of agent Andrea Carpani and Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena . The comment came after the court released a statement of reasons for its ruling stating that it lacked jurisdiction to try the US soldier.
Lozano was tried in absentia beginning in April last year. Lozano's lawyers had argued that the Italian court lacked jurisdiction , as members of multinational forces in Iraq were each under the sole jurisdiction of their home countries. The Italian agent and journalist were shot at while entering a US checkpoint on the way to the Baghdad airport after the agents secured the release of Sgrena from Iraqi kidnappers. US and Italian officials have failed to agree on details surrounding Calipari's death. A US investigation cleared US soldiers of wrongdoing, while an Italian probe [ concluded the killing was accidental but found that there were serious miscommunications and confusion about the rules of engagement for checkpoints. Reuters has more
The sentencing is part of the country's recent crackdown on police brutality. In November, two police officers were sentenced to three years in prison for sodomizing and beating detainee Emad el-Kabir in 2006 while videoing the incident on a cell phone. Egyptian bloggers posted the video on the Internet later that year. In April, Amnesty International released a report criticizing Egypt for systematic human rights abuses of detainees in its police stations, military camps and centers run by State Security Investigations.
...............................................
Asif Ali Zardari , the husband of slain former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , called again Saturday for a UN-led international investigation into the circumstances surrounding his wife's assassination. This is the second time Zardari has called for a UN-led inquiry similar to the ongoing probe into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri Zardari accused members of President Pervez Musharraf's ruling regime of involvement in the assassination and rejected any investigation involving the Pakistani government as illegitimate. Musharraf has acknowledged mistakes in the handling of the case, including hosing down the site hours after the attack, but has insisted that Pakistan can run its own probe with the assistance of Britain's Scotland Yard. The United States has already taken the posiiton that a UN investigation is unnecessary.
Bhutto was assassinated December 27 at a political rally in Rawalpindi. She was campaigning in the lead-up to parliamentary elections then scheduled for January 8, where her Pakistan People's Party was challenging Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid . The elections have since been postponed to February 18. AP has more.
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Italian prosecutor Franco Ionta said Friday that he would "almost certainly" appeal a Rome court's October 2007 dismissal of a criminal case against US Army Spc. Mario Lozano for the murder of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari and the attempted murders of agent Andrea Carpani and Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena . The comment came after the court released a statement of reasons for its ruling stating that it lacked jurisdiction to try the US soldier.
Lozano was tried in absentia beginning in April last year. Lozano's lawyers had argued that the Italian court lacked jurisdiction , as members of multinational forces in Iraq were each under the sole jurisdiction of their home countries. The Italian agent and journalist were shot at while entering a US checkpoint on the way to the Baghdad airport after the agents secured the release of Sgrena from Iraqi kidnappers. US and Italian officials have failed to agree on details surrounding Calipari's death. A US investigation cleared US soldiers of wrongdoing, while an Italian probe [ concluded the killing was accidental but found that there were serious miscommunications and confusion about the rules of engagement for checkpoints. Reuters has more
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