Dubai kissing couple lose appeal

A British couple jailed in Dubai for kissing in public have lost their appeal against their conviction.

Ayman Najafi, 24, and Charlotte Adams, 25, were sentenced to a month in prison with subsequent deportation and fined about £200 for drinking alcohol.

The couple were arrested in November after a local woman accused them of breaking the country's decency laws by kissing on the mouth in a restaurant.

Najafi said he was "very disappointed". The pair plan to make a second appeal.

The initial complaint against them was made by a 38-year-old woman who said she was offended by their behaviour at the Jumeirah Beach Residence, where she was dining with her daughter.

The couple's defence lawyers said the woman - who did not appear in court - had not seen the kiss herself, but had been told by her two-year-old child that the girl had seen the couple kissing.

The defendants also claimed they had merely kissed each other on the cheek, and therefore had not broken any laws.

Quickly dismissed

The BBC's Ben Thompson, at the court, said the judge spoke entirely in Arabic as he quickly dismissed the appeal, saying he upheld the previous sentence.

They were fined 1000 dirhams, which is about £200.

It was left to the defence lawyer to explain the verdict to Najafi and Adams.

I think that the combination of the alleged kissing and the consumption of alcohol in an illegal place, meant that this was a case that the authorities really wanted to pursue

Professor John Strawson
Najafi said after the case: "It's very harsh, based on contradictory evidence. The courts haven't called on any of our witnesses who are prepared to testify that this didn't happen."

The couple decided not to start their sentence immediately, but the Dubai authorities are holding their passports so they are unable to return to Britain.

Professor John Strawson, an expert in Islamic law, told BBC Radio 5 Live he was not surprised by the judge's decision.

He said: "The problem in this particular case is that one of the British citizens is of Muslim origin.

"And I think that the combination of the alleged kissing and the consumption of alcohol in an illegal place, meant that this was a case that the authorities really wanted to pursue, and they are probably sticking to their rigid interpretation of the law."

Professor Strawson said the Dubai authorities often turned a blind eye to foreigners' behaviour, because of the high income that comes from tourists.

But he said Dubai had recently issued new explanations tightening up their laws.

Sexy texts

The Foreign Office advises Britons going to Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, to be wary of breaching local customs.

A statement on the its travel advice website reads: "Britons can find themselves facing charges relating to cultural differences, such as using bad language, rude gestures or public displays of affection."

Najafi, from north London, had been working for marketing firm Hay Group in Dubai for about 18 months.

The case is the latest in a series of incidents over recent years in which foreigners have broken Dubai's strict decency laws.

In March, an Indian couple in their 40s were sentenced to three months in jail in Dubai after sending each other sexually explicit text messages.

In 2008, two Britons accused of having sex on a beach in Dubai were sentenced to three months in jail, though the sentences were later suspended.



- It's really difficult to imagine living in an area with such strict laws. For the couple from Britain, kissing and drinking in public must have been something so normal for them that they didn't think twice about it. It seems a bit too sheltered that this is against the law, and that a woman was "offended" because her daughter saw it, but at the same time, you have to respect the customs of a foreign land. Especially since there is fair warning on travel sites, the couple should have known better. However, if what they're saying is true, and it never happened, then the judge is being extremely unfair in terms of the sentencing. He didn't even bother listening to their appeal or witnesses, which is wrong. I can respect the laws in Dubai, but I cannot respect an unfair justice system. Have your laws, but uphold them correctly.

Japan indicts anti-whaling activist

An anti-whaling activist has been indicted in Tokyo for illegally boarding the Shonan Maru II, a Japanese harpoon boat, as part of a protest against a whale hunting expedition in Antarctic seas.

Peter Bethune, a 44 year old activist from New Zealand, "was indicted on Friday for trespassing, causing injuries, obstructing commercial activities, vandalism and carrying a weapon", a spokeswoman at the Tokyo district court said.

Bethune, from the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, boarded the harpoon boat from a jet ski in Antarctic waters on February 15, allegedly carrying a knife which he used to cut a guard net as he boarded the ship.

He was held on board and arrested when the ship returned to Japan on March 12. He has since been held in custody in Tokyo.

Ady Gil, the Sea Shepherd's powerboat, was sliced in two in a collision with the harpoon boat in January.

'Citizen's arrest'

Bethune had said he boarded the harpoon boat to make a citizen's arrest of the captain, for what he said was the attempted murder of his six crew, and to present him with a $3m bill for the destruction of the powerboat.

"Bethune inflicted a chemical burn on a Japanese whaler's face by hurling a bottle of butyric acid which smashed aboard the Shonan Maru II days before he boarded the ship," the prosecution brief said.

The Sea Shepherds described the bottles as containing "rancid butter stink-bombs".

Bethune faces assault and business obstruction charges, which each carry prison terms of up to 15 years or fines of up to $5,000.

"Our country will deal strictly with such cases under the law," Hirofumi Hirano, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said, denying any plans to hold negotiations with the activist group.

The Sea Shepherds urged Australian police to prosecute the captain and crew of the harpoon boat over the collision and have described Bethune as a "political prisoner".

Confrontation

Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan still hunts whales for what it says are scientific research purposes.

Japan maintains that whaling has been part of its culture for centuries, and does not hide the fact that whale meat ends up in shops and restaurants.

The Sea Shepherd sends vessels to confront the fleet each year, trying to block the whalers from firing harpoons.

The whalers respond by firing water cannons and sonar devices meant to disorient the activists.

Clashes between the anti-whaling protesters and Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters became increasingly confrontational this year, when the Sea Shepherd protest boat was sliced in two by the bow of a whale boat.

Australia has threatened to take Tokyo to the International Court of Justice unless it ceases its annual whale hunts by November. Some legal experts say Japan's hunt breaches international laws such as the Antarctic Treaty System.

A court challenge would lead to provisional orders for Japan to halt whaling immediately ahead of a full hearing.







- Well, this activist sounds a little crazy - I mean, throwing butyric acid in someone's face certainly wasn't the best way to handle the situation - but I absolutely agree with what him and the Sea Shepherds are doing. I am strongly against whaling; I think it's disgusting and unnecessary, especially since whales are now becoming seriously endangered. Plus, it's illegal! The fact that Japan is just choosing to ignore this, and is doing nothing to hide their true uses for the whales, is appalling. There is a huge variety of things for the Japanese to eat, it doesn't have to be whales! I don't really care if it's part of the culture, it's putting an entire ecosystem at great risk. It has to be stopped and I'm glad that Australia is making an effort. While I hope Japan will cease their activities, it doesn't seem likely, so I hope that Australia - and other countries as well - will make sure that there is justice.

Filipinos Nailed To The Cross In Good Friday Rites

SAN FERNANDO, Philippines April 2, 2010, 08:23 am ET Filipino devotees had themselves nailed to crosses Friday to remember Jesus Christ's suffering and death — an annual rite rejected by church leaders in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

At least 23 people were nailed to crosses in three villages in northern Pampanga province's San Fernando city to mark Good Friday, with foreigners banned from taking part this year except as spectators, said Ching Pangilinan, a city tourism officer and one of the organizers.

She said the ban was imposed after some foreigners took part in previous years just to make a film or make fun of the rites.

"We don't want them to just make a mockery out of the tradition of the people here," Pangilinan said.

The event Friday drew more than 10,000 Philippine and foreign spectators, she said.

Many gathered at San Pedro Cutud, a farming village where devotees dressed in robes and tin crowns walked to a dusty mound carrying wooden crosses on their backs. At the mound, men nailed their hands and feet to the crosses.

Among the devotees was Ruben Enaje, a 49-year-old sign painter who was nailed to a cross for the 24th time as his way of thanking God for his survival after falling from a building.

Mary Jane Mamangon, a 34-year-old rice cake vendor, was the lone female devotee to be nailed to a cross this year in San Juan village. It was her 14th time.

She said she started when she was 18 and has taken part in the annual rites on and off to seek God's help in saving her ill grandmother and now her younger sister, who is suffering from cancer.

"I do it because I have seen that it works," she told The Associated Press. "I saw how my grandmother recovered from her illness."

Mamangon said she has faith that God will take care of her and her family.

Similar rites took place in nearby Bulacan province, while in other parts of the country, half-dressed, barefooted flagellants walked the streets, whipping their bloody backs with pieces of wood dangling from ropes as a way to atone for sins.

Church leaders reject such practices. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said the real expression of Christian faith during Lent is through repentance and self-renewal, not flagellation or crucifixion.

Bishop Rolando Tirona of the Prelature of Infanta said flagellation and cross nailings are expressions of superstitious beliefs, and are usually done out of need for money or to encourage tourism, which make them wrong.

About 80 percent of the Philippine population of more than 90 million are Roman Catholic.




- I think I'm going to definitely side with the Church on this one. Call me ignorant, but I'm pretty sure that God isn't going to cure your relative or save your life just because you've crucified yourself. In fact, I think it's an insult to Jesus to volontarily put yourself through what he endured, especially those who have done it many times. Jesus endured pain and suffering so that others did not have to. He didn't allow himself to be crucified to start a trend. And I'm disgusted by those who are doing it for money or tourism, because it makes a mockery of the whole holiday and completely defeats the purpose. I agree with the Church leaders in the sense that having faith in God means asking Him for forgiveness and constantly trying to better yourself, not by sticking nails through your limbs.

Malaysia beer drink woman's caning sentence commuted

A Malaysian woman sentenced to be caned for drinking beer has had her punishment commuted.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor had pleaded guilty to the offence under Malaysia's Islamic law and was to have received six strokes of a rattan cane.

But her family said religious officials had overturned the ruling, ordering her to carry out community service instead.

Ms Kartika's original sentence, which had been delayed several times, had provoked fierce debate.

While drinking alcohol is forbidden for Muslims, prosecutions are rare.

Ms Kartika's family was informed by letter that the sultan of Pahang state, where Ms Kartika was arrested for drinking beer in a beachfront hotel in December 2007, had overturned the ruling.

The religious leader has the power to rule on matters of Islamic law.

Kartika will go on with her life

Shukarno Mutalib
"The sultan has decided that the caning sentence will be substituted with a three-week community service at a children's home in Pahang from 2 April," Ms Kartika's father, Shukarnor Mutalib, told the AFP news agency.

"Kartika was expecting a caning, she is surprised by this development as she will be separated from her children for three weeks, but we respect the sultan's decision," he said.

"We will abide by the order. Kartika will go on with her life," he told the Associated Press news agency.

The commutation was welcomed by Malaysia's Bar Council, which had called caning "anachronistic and inconsistent with a compassionate society".

"Our view is that no one should be caned. We are against any form of corporal punishment," council Ragunath Kesavan told the AFP news agency.

The case had caused controversy in Malaysia, where Muslims are subject to Islamic law in personal matters, and attracted international criticism.

Ms Kartika, a mother of two, had not appealed against her sentence and had asked that her punishment be carried out in public.

When first convicted, she seemed set to become the first woman to be caned in Malaysia.

But in February, three women were caned at a prison near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, for having extra-marital sex, leading to fears Ms Kartika's punishment would also go ahead.




- All I can say is thank God. I understand that Muslims cannot drink alcohol, and I respect that. It's a completely foreign concept to me because Western culture thrives off alcohol, but I still respect it. However, I do not agree with or respect caning. Her initial sentence was six strokes with the cane and a fine. Breaking the law by drinking beer does not make assault okay. And yes, anyway you word it, caning is assault. It is just not an appropriate form of punishment, and I feel that it is outrageous that women who had sex out of wedlock were punished this way just over a month ago. I can respect a different culture, but as soon as you're talking about beating someone with a cane, human rights outweighs religion. I am thrilled by the way this situation panned out though. I'm glad that there were people criticizing the sentence and standing up for this woman. Now, she has the much more appropriate punishment of community service. I hope that in the future with cases like this, people will continue to speak out against abusive sentences and that the government in countries such as Malaysia will continue to make judgements calls consistent with "a compassionate society".

Saudis 'give Lebanese sorcerer stay of execution'

A Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for sorcery has been given a temporary reprieve, his lawyer says.

Ali Sabat's execution was scheduled for Friday but his lawyer, May el-Khansa, told the BBC she had been assured by a Lebanese minister it would not happen.

Mr Sabat, who is in his 40s, was the host of a satellite TV programme in which he predicted the future.

He was arrested by religious police while on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2008 and convicted of sorcery.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri had been urged to intervene on his behalf.

"The minister of justice for Lebanon called me and told me that nothing would happen [on Friday]," Ms Khansa told the BBC.

"But after that I don't have an answer as to if he will be alive or not.

"Time is passing and if they don't kill him this Friday maybe next Friday," Ms Khansa told the World Today programme.

There has been no official confirmation from Saudi Arabia, where executions are often carried out with little warning.

'Witch hunt'

Amnesty International said Mr Sabat seemed to have been convicted for "exercising of his right to freedom of expression".

Malcolm Smart, head of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, said it was "high time the Saudi Arabian government joined the international trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions".

Ms Khansa says her client did make a confession but he only did so because he had been told he could go back to Lebanon if he did.

Human rights groups have accused the Saudis of "sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police".

An Egyptian working as a pharmacist in Saudi Arabia was executed in 2007 after having been found guilty of using sorcery to try to separate a married couple.

There is no legal definition of witchcraft in Saudi Arabia, but horoscopes and fortune telling are condemned as un-Islamic.

Nevertheless, there is still a big thirst for such services in a country where widespread superstition survives under the surface of strict religious orthodoxy, the BBC's Sebastian Usher says.



- A man is sentenced to death for... sorry, what? Sorcery? What century are we in again? It's hard to believe that this is actually happening. First of all, it's hard to believe that there is a country still superstitious enough to believe that such a thing exists. Second, that they would condemn such a thing with death. Death! For telling a fortune or reading a horoscope, simply becomes it's "un-Islamic". Seems like pretty much everything these days is un-Islamic and is costing innocent people their lives. There's not even a definition for what constitues sorcery in Saudi Arabia and they're still putting people to death for it! I'm fine with religion playing a part in the law, but in this case, it seems to be bordering on madness.

Killer of US abortion doctor George Tiller gets life

A US court has sentenced an anti-abortion activist to life in prison for murdering the prominent abortion doctor, George Tiller, last year.

Scott Roeder, 52, said he shot Dr Tiller at a church in Wichita, Kansas, to save the lives of unborn babies.

George Tiller was one of the few doctors to offer late-term abortions. The case highlighted the bitter debate over abortion in the US.

The judge said Roeder would not be eligible for parole for 50 years.

Warren Wilbert, the judge at Sedgwick County court, said he gave Roeder the maximum sentence because he admitted stalking Dr Tiller for months.

A life sentence was mandatory, but the judge had the option of making Roeder ineligible for parole for 25 or 50 years.

Judge Wilbert also sentenced Roeder to serve an additional two years in prison for threatening two ushers at the church last May.

In a statement to the court, Roeder said he did not regret killing Dr Tiller.

"I stopped him so he could not dismember another innocent baby," Roeder said. "Wichita is a far safer place for unborn babies without George Tiller."

The Tiller family's lawyer, Lee Thompson, called the murder an act of "domestic terrorism" against a devoted family man who believed strongly in women's rights.

"He respected and trusted the right of women to make their own decisions," said Thompson. "He gave his life to the rights of women."

Dr Tiller's clinic was one of only three in the US that offered late-term abortions - performed after 21 weeks - which are legal in Kansas.

His clinic was heavily fortified after a bomb attack in 1986. Dr Tiller also survived an attempt on his life in 1993.



- Murder is never acceptable. A man shooting and killing someone in a church should absolutely receive life in prison. However, is an abortion performed on a six-month-old fetus not also murder? I am very strongly pro-choice, and believe in the choice to have an abortion, but to an extent. A woman should have the right to choose what to do with her body, yes. But she shouldn't be loafting around for five months and then decide to get an abortion. I believe in the procedure in the first few weeks of the pregnany, when the fetus is just a mass of cells. But after a month of two, that ball of cells now has a heartbeat. And after twenty-one weeks - the amount of time for it to be called a late-term abortion - it's a baby. You cannot argue with that; there has been enough development in its body and mind that the fetus is a person. So while this man shouldn't have killed the abortion doctor, I can understand his outrage that late-term abortions were taking place in his city, because at that point, the line between a woman's choice and taking a life is significantly blurred.

Moscow subway bomber was 17, alleged rebel widow

By MANSUR MIROVALEV (AP) – 1 hour ago

MOSCOW — A 17-year-old from Dagestan was one of two female suicide bombers who attacked Moscow's subway, Russian investigators said Friday. A leading newspaper called her the widow of a slain Islamist rebel.

President Dmitry Medvedev also urged harsher measures Friday to crack down on terrorism and the death toll from Monday's subway bombings rose to 40 as a man died in the hospital. At least 90 others were injured in the twin subway attacks.

Federal investigators identified one of the attackers as Dzhanet Abdurakhmanova, 17, of Dagestan and said they were still trying to identify the second bomber and track down the organizers of the attack.

Dagestan, one of the predominantly Muslim provinces in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, was the site of two suicide bombings on Wednesday that killed 12 people, mostly police officers. Another explosion there Thursday killed two suspected militants.

The Kommersant newspaper published what it said was a picture of Abdurakhmanova, also known as Abdullayeva, dressed in a black Muslim headscarf and holding a pistol. A man with his arm around her, also holding a gun, is identified as Umalat Magomedov, whom the paper described as an Islamist militant leader killed by government forces in December.

The paper said the second subway bomber has been has been tentatively identified as 20-year-old Markha Ustarkhanova from Chechnya, the widow of a militant leader killed last October while he was preparing to assassinate Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is backed by the Kremlin.

The subway suicide bombings — the first such attacks in Moscow since 2004 — refocused attention on the violence that for years has been confined to the North Caucasus.

A Chechen militant leader on Thursday claimed responsibility for the subway bombings. Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov said some terror suspects in the subway bombings had been detained, but did not elaborate.

Female suicide bombers from the North Caucasus are referred to in Russia as "black widows" because many of them are the wives, or other relatives, of militants killed by security forces.

Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have called for the terrorists to be unceremoniously destroyed. On Friday, Medvedev broadened the targets to include their accomplices, even those who help terrorists in tangential ways.

"In my opinion, we have to create such a model for terrorist crimes that anyone who helps them — no matter what he does, be it cook the soup or wash the clothes — has committed a crime," Medvedev said.

Russian police and security forces have long been accused of seizing people suspected of aiding militants. Some people have been tortured and many disappeared, and rights activists trying to document the abuses have also been slain, kidnapped or threatened.


- To me the conflict between terrorists and governments is never ending. It seems to be a cyclical pattern; there is a terrorist attack, the government hunts down those responsible, and new terrorists respond to the deaths of the initial terrorists. When a rebel is killed, his widow starts a terrorist group. Then suddenly anyone who has come into contact with this widow is a criminal in the eyes of the government. While the government is simply trying to stop terrorist activity in what they view as the most effective way possible, I'm worried that this extreme approach could lead to nothing but more and more bloodshed. The more attacks that take place, the more gruesome the government's strategy becomes ("terrorists to be unceremoniously destroyed"). At this point, it feels like a war without a victory in sight. However, as governments are turning more of their attention to this problem, I'm hoping that together they will have the insight to hinder or hopefully stop these terrorists altogether.

Bodies of babies found dumped in Chinese river

• Tania Branigan in Beijing
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 March 2010 13.21 BST
• Article history

Chinese police and health officials are investigating after the bodies of 21 babies and foetuses were dumped in a river. The bodies apparently originated from local hospitals, state media reported today.

A hospital in Jining, north-eastern Shandong province, has suspended several staff after residents found the bodies beneath a bridge.

The deaths are thought to be the result of abortions, induced labour and natural causes.

About eight of the 21 bodies had tags that gave their mother's names and the date of birth, the Beijing News reported. The state news agency Xinhua said the tags also bore the name of Jining Medical University's hospital.

According to China Radio International, three of the babies had been taken to the paediatrics department after falling seriously ill, but died after their treatment failed.

All were very young and some appeared to be foetuses.

The Beijing News quoted insiders who said contractors hired by the hospital to dispose of corpses had probably dumped them in the river.

"The hospital medical staff involved have been suspended from their work during the investigation," Zhong Haitao, a spokesman at the Jining Health Bureau, told Xinhua.

No one at the hospital or police bureau was available for comment.

Last year a hospital in central Hubei province admitted that mortuary staff dumped the unclaimed bodies of two adults and six aborted foetuses at a building site, where they were unearthed by a construction worker.

Tan Xiaodong, of Wuhan University's school of public health, told China Daily that there were no clear regulations on the disposal of unclaimed bodies and new legislation was needed. But he added that most provinces had established their own procedures.

- I am completely disgusted by this article. I am pro choice and support abortion, so I understand that the result of that is fetuses, and obviously nothing can be done about the babies whose medical treatments failed. However, the fact that those bodies were dumped in a river, as if they weren't people at all, is disgusting. It shows no respect for the lives of the babies who died from illness or natural causes, or for their suffering families. These bodies need to be buried or disposed of in a more appropriate way. Even the babies who were aborted should under no circumstances be dumped in a river. They, again, should be disposed of appropriately or used for medical purposes (ex: stem cell research). I'm glad that the hospital staff was suspended, and hopefully now that there has been some press about it, the Chinese government will come up with a more appropriate solution for dealing with the bodies of babies.

China challenged over executions

Human rights group Amnesty International has called on China to publicly state how many people it puts to death each year.

In its annual report on the use of the death penalty worldwide, published on Tuesday, Amnesty said the number of people executed by Beijing last year was likely "in the thousands" - estimated to be more than the total in the rest of the world.

"Chinese authorities claim that fewer executions are taking place. If this is true, why won't they tell the world how many people the state put to death?" Claudio Cordone, the Amnesty International interim secretary general, said in a statement.

The 41-page Death Sentences and Executions in 2009report refused to even estimate the toll in China, saying that the organisation believed publicly available statistics "grossly underrepresent" the actual figure.

"No one who is sentenced to death in China receives a fair trial in accordance with international human rights standards," the report said.

In 2008, Amnesty put the minimum figure of people put to death across China at 1,718.

There was no immediate comment on the report from authorities in Beijing. However, last month the country's highest court issued new guidelines stating that the death penalty should be limited to a small number of "extremely serious" cases.

'Political message'

Elsewhere, at least 714 people were executed in 18 countries in 2009, while at least 2,001 people were sentenced to death in 56 states, according to the report.

"The death penalty is cruel and degrading, and an affront to human dignity" Amnesty International report

Execution methods used included hanging, shooting, beheading, stoning, electrocution and lethal injection.

Most of the executions happened in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, with Iran and Iraq accounting for the highest number.

Iran carried out at least 388 executions, while Iraq executed 120 and Saudi Arabia at least 69.

Iran and Saudi Arabia were singled out for executing juveniles, which Amnesty says violates international law.

Amnesty said Iran executed 112 people in the eight weeks between the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, in June and his inauguration in August.

"The past year saw capital punishment applied extensively to send political messages, to silence opponents or to promote political agendas in China, Iran and Sudan," Amnesty said.

'No answer'

In Iraq, Amnesty said that the number of death sentences being carried out had spiked as the government attempted to crackdown on biolence in the country.

"It's not an answer to suicide bombing," Cordone said. "As a deterrent it's not going to work."

The US - the only country in the Americas to have used the death sentence - executed 52 people, but the executions were about half the number recorded a decade earlier in 1999, Amnesty said.

The group campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty, saying executions are often passed after unfair trials.

"The death penalty is cruel and degrading, and an affront to human dignity," the report said.

Executions methods used included lethal injection [EPA]

Amnesty says the death sentences are used disproportionately against the poor, minorities and members of racial, ethnic and religious communities.

Burundi and Togo abolished the death penalty in 2009 bringing to 95 the total of the countries that have abolished the penalty.

Roseann Rife, from Amnesty's Asia-Pacific office in Taiwan, said the statistics were encouraging.

"We're carrying that as our main message that the global trend is moving towards abolition," she told Al Jazeera.

"There're countries round the globe that still maintain the death penalty ... but at the same time we are seeing countries around the globe abolishing the death penalty.

"Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Mongolia did not execute anyone [last year] and that's the first time in recent times that that has happened."

Limiting executions

Other countries were limiting use of the practice, the report said.

Kenya, which has not carried out an execution since 1987, commuted the death sentences of 4,000 people to imprisonment, the largest such move the rights organisation has seen.

Europe had no executions last year, a first since the Amnesty began keeping records, but Belarus - the only country that continues to use capital punishment - killed two people in March 2010.

"Fewer countries than ever before are carrying out executions. As it did with slavery and apartheid, the world is rejecting this embarrassment to humanity," Cordone said.

Nine further countries have abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, while 35 others retain the death penalty but are considered abolitionist in practice as they have not executed anyone in the past 10 years.

That leaves 58 countries that retain the sentence for ordinary crimes.

- It's hard for me to even believe that countries such as China and Iraq still use the death sentence so often, and for ordinary crimes. I think that for most crimes, the death sentence is far too barbaric, especially when it's used unjustly without a proper trial, or as discrimination again certain races or religions. I think the countries that still use this form of sentencing need to abolish it for ordinary crimes at the very least. However, I think that there are certain crimes (ex: rape) that merit it. But allowing it for certain crimes and not other may become a slippery slope, so unless a country could find a way of effectively using it only for the worst crimes, I would rather it be abolished altogether.

Somali pirates hijack eight ships in three days

By Taylor Barnes, Correspondent / March 30, 2010

Pirates captured a Panama-flagged cargo ship just 10 miles from its port on Monday. The ship was last reported being sailed through the Gulf of Aden toward Somalia.

The attack comes after seven ships were hijacked in the Indian ocean this weekend and underscores the persistence of pirates even in the face of increased international patrolling and private security measures undertaken by cargo ships.

The ship was carrying mixed mechanical equipment toward the United Arab Emirates when attacked, according to an EU Naval Force release. The 24 members of the crew are from Yemen, India, Ghana, Sudan, Pakistan, and the Philippines, the Associated Press reports.

IN PICTURES: Somali pirates

Pirate attacks have continued to climb despite the presence of three dozen warships off the Somali coast. The area of ocean where ships are vulnerable to pirate attack is too vast to effectively patrol.

Somali pirates have taken in tens of billions in ransom over the past few years through hijackings, and on Sunday demanded $3 million for a North Korea-flagged ship taken last month, Voice of America reports.

Commercial cargo ships are increasingly taking to arming themselves with private security, The Christian Science Monitor reported last week. Private security guards shot a Somali pirate dead last week, which was the first recorded instance of its kind. US and French navies have shot and killed Somali pirates before, but the increasingly violent response to piracy may spiral.

“This could be the beginning of a violent period,” E.J. Hogendoorn, head of the Horn of Africa program at the International Crisis Group’s office in Nairobi, told the Monitor. “If [the pirates] see guys with shiny barrels pointing at them, they might fire first.”

But as the Monitor reported, some innovative firms are developing non-lethal measures to deter pirates, such as a 300-meter rope that tangles propellers and a laser that causes temporary blindness.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when then-President Siad Barre was overthrown. Piracy has been a persistent problem since, given that near-anarchic Somalia, which is also battling an Islamist insurgency, is not able to control its territory and seizing ships is a lucrative venture.

Somali pirates have widened their range to the farthest it has ever been, operating as far down as Mozambique in southern Africa and near the coast of India, Reuters reported. "The entire Indian Ocean is becoming a problem of piracy," Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, who commands the US naval forces in Europe and Africa, said at a London forum last week.

In addition to piracy attacks for ransom, the US last week warned ships traveling off the coast of Yemen of the risk of Al Qaeda attacks, Reuters adds. The instability in Yemen causes US ships to potentially face attacks similar to the suicide bombing that killed 17 soldiers in 2000 on board the USS warship Cole.

- The situation with the Somali pirates seems to be worsening all the time. Seven ships in one weekend? That is completely out of control. Since the patrol ships don't seem to be making any difference, I support the ships that are taking the initiative to arm themselves; sometimes it's necessary to take things into your own hands. However, I agree that this could open the door for a very messy time if armed fights begin taking place between pirates and crewmen more and more often. The measures that are being taken, though (ie. the ropes and the lasers) aren't strong enough in my opinion to keep pirates at bay. I think that more countries need to make an effort to send patrol ships with good weaponry to this area to control the pirate situation. In my opinion, pirates are simply thieves and commercial and patrol ships should be able to use whatever force necessary to protect their property and belongings, as any civilian would do to someone invading their home.

Catholics find ties to the church tested by crisis

By VANESSA GERA (AP)

WARSAW, Poland — An Austrian priest avoids mention of Pope Benedict XVI in his Masses. A Philadelphia woman stops going to confession, saying she now sees priests as more flawed than herself. British protesters call for the pontiff to resign.

As the faithful fill churches this Holy Week, many Roman Catholics around the world are finding their relationship to the church painfully tested by new revelations of clerical abuse and suggestions Benedict himself may have helped cover up cases in Germany and the U.S.

There are fears that for those whose commitment is already wavering, the scandal could be the final blow, and a growing chorus is clamoring for the church to embrace full transparency, take a hard line against pedophiles, and reconsider the rule of priestly celibacy.

"There's too many victims, and too much lying from the church about what really happened," said Martin Sherlock, a Catholic newspaper vendor in Dublin, Ireland.

Experts say the church is facing a crisis of historic proportions.

"This is the type of problem that arises really once in a century, I think, and it might even be more significant," said Paul Collins, an Australian church historian and former priest.

Collins, 69, said the abuse controversy was not mentioned by the priest in his own church near Canberra on Palm Sunday, but that the congregation discussed it afterward outside.

"People are outraged really, they're furious with the complete failure of the church's leadership and their view would be that we are led by incompetent people," Collins said.

That view was echoed by many Catholics interviewed around the world by The Associated Press in recent days, although the pope also had defenders.

One of them was John Ryan, a retired glue factory worker, who said he was impressed by the letter Benedict wrote to the Irish faithful last week in which he chastised Irish bishops.

"I was talking to my parish priest last weekend, and we were reading the pope's letter, and he told me: This pope is the most intelligent pope we've had in the last thousand years," said Ryan, 66, after a Mass in Dublin. "I couldn't disagree with that. I don't really think we could do better than with Benedict. I know they're supposed to be infallible, but I'd say most Catholics today would accept that nobody's perfect — not even the pope."

In staunchly Catholic Poland, the homeland of the late Pope John Paul II and a place where churches are packed even on work days, the top church authority called the pope the target of an "unprecedented media attack."

Allegations that Benedict concealed abuse "are totally groundless and it is hard to understand them in any other way than as a direct attack on the person and dignity of the pope," Henryk Muszynski, the Primate of Poland and Archbishop of Gniezno, said Sunday.

But across the Atlantic, Jasmine Co said her faith in the church was badly shaken.

The 56-year-old nurse, who recently moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, said she has stopped confessing her sins to priests, and is turning to God directly.

"I don't believe in confession to the priest because I don't know if that priest is more of a sinner than I am," Co said after attending a Palm Sunday service in central Philadelphia.

On Sunday in London, about 50 protesters staged a demonstration calling on the pope to resign — something that hasn't happened in 700 years.

The criticism is also coming from pulpits.

Udo Fischer, an Austrian priest known for his liberal views, avoids mentioning Benedict and other church leaders by name during his Masses — at least until he sees stronger signals of remorse from the Holy See.

"We always stress that this is the church of Jesus Christ — that of the Lord Jesus and not that of the Lord Pope," Fischer said after a Palm Sunday service in his parish in Paudorf, a village near Vienna.

Parishioners young and old squeezed into pews in Fischer's modern and airy church clutching bunches of pussy willows blessed by the priest.

Traditionally Catholic Austria, shaken by clergy abuse claims in past years and again in recent weeks, risks a drop in already dwindling support for the church if no concrete action is taken to prevent further abuse and cover-ups, says Regina Polak of the University of Vienna's Institute for Practical Theology.

"The situation is very fragile right now," Polak said. "The potential for frustration is high."

In Spain, a heavily Catholic country where secular lifestyles are eroding church attendance, a coalition of more than 100 liberal-minded lay and clergy-based groups called the Vatican's handling of the scandal "irresponsible and insufficient," saying it failed to "put itself firmly on the side of the victims."

In Norway, Oslo's Bishop Bernt Eidsvig told Catholics in a letter last week that "the culture of silence that certain bishops advised is a betrayal."

Perhaps most ominous is the threat to the pope's own authority.

David Gibson, author of "The Rule of Benedict," a biography of the pope, said the criticism focusing on Benedict puts the "the mystique of the papal office" in peril.

"And above all, it diminishes his credibility, his ability to convince people of his message, to have people listen to him. It distances many Catholics, I think, even further from the institutional hierarchical church," said Gibson.

Even as Easter Week began, anxiety was heard in many places, with people struggling to draw a line between the crimes of some priests and their own deep attachment to communities and the beliefs that sustain them.

"At this point in my life I wouldn't leave the church for somebody else's sins," said Linda Faust, 56, after a Mass in Greendale, Wisconsin — the state where the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy was accused of molesting some 200 boys at a school for the deaf. Benedict, at the time Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is linked to a decision in the 1990s not to defrock Murphy.

Instead, Faust said that she and her husband pray for the child victims, the abusive priests and the archbishops who let them transfer to other parishes.

A key focus for those seeking church reform is celibacy — a tradition dating to Christianity's early days but only made mandatory in the 11th century. Both Collins in Australia and Bishop Geoffrey Siundu, a former Catholic priest in Kenya, said the rule should go.

Siundu now heads the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ in Kenya, said the celibacy rule has driven 30 other ex-priests to join his church.

Kathrin Radelmayer, 24, attended Mass in Munich, where Ratzinger's handling of a case when he was archbishop there has been questioned. She said she was sticking with the church even though many of her friends and relatives are distancing themselves now.

"It is such a shock for the church, but the church has withstood a lot in its 2,000 years and I think that it will survive this as well," Radelmayer said.

Marina Buendia, a 22-year-old nurse from Madrid, went to St. Peter's Square in Rome with a friend for the Pope's Palm Sunday Mass. She defended the church.

"The news of these cases has come to the Vatican far too late for the Vatican to be held responsible," she said. "I think that the Vatican has accepted the problem, which is a step in the right direction. We are both very religious and feel a very strong personal bond with the pope, which would never be affected by such scandals. As young Catholics, we feel welcome and included by the church."

At a Mass in Minneapolis, Teresa Schweitzer, a 45-year-old English teacher, said the handling of abuse cases compounds her disenchantment over other matters, including women denied leadership roles. But she drew comfort from the many Catholic priests and activists she has seen helping the poor and pursuing social justice.

"I've had a lot of disappointments over the years, and I'm hanging by a thread," Schweitzer said. "I keep coming back for the community — the way we support each other in so many ways. Do you give up on that? Or do you stay in it and fight for justice? I think that's where a lot of us are at now."

- I have mixed opinions about this issue. On one hand, the priest who molested those boys is absolutely disgusting and should have faced much harsher consequences than a transfer; the decision to stop him from being defrocked was a huge mistake. He is an embarrassment to the Catholic church and should no longer have anything to do with it. However, I feel that the Pope is facing injustice in this situation. I don't think that he helped to cover up the scheme; on the contrary, I think he's moving to help fix the problem and I admire the strength of his faith, allowing him to ignore these allegations. However, I think the church needs to take action very quickly to make it clear that they do not think this behaviour is tolerable, and to prevent future scandals like this from happening.

UK publishes new rules for assisted suicide

By GREGORY KATZ
The Associated Press
Thursday, February 25, 2010; 10:50 AM

LONDON -- New guidelines published Thursday offer people in England and Wales broad hints about how to help a gravely ill loved one end their life with minimal fear of prosecution.

Assisted suicide remains illegal, but Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said six factors would make it less likely that prosecutors would bring criminal charges in individual cases.

Starmer said prosecutors will still evaluate each case for possible prosecution. One key indicator: Whether the suspect was acting wholly out of compassion, or had a darker motive.

"The policy is now more focused on the motivation of the suspect rather than the characteristics of the victim," he said. "The policy does not change the law on assisted suicide. It does not open the door for euthanasia."

He said prosecutors will examine each case on its merits.

"In cases where there is enough evidence to justify a prosecution, we have to decide whether it is in the public interest to prosecute," he said. "That involves an exercise of discretion."

Starmer was forced to clarify the assisted suicide guidelines by the House of Lords, acting on behalf of multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy, who wants her husband to be able to help her end her life at a time of her choosing without facing potential prosecution.

She said the new guidelines, which take effect immediately, would help her end her life when that time comes. Still, Purdy said an entirely new law governing assisted suicide is needed to replace the existing law written nearly 50 years ago.
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"He has been able to differentiate clearly between malicious intent and compassionate support," she said of the chief prosecutor. "But I think we need a new law because interpretation and tweaking of the 1961 suicide act will never be enough."

She said tribunals should be established to study individual cases before a person commits suicide so family members and close friends can know where they stand legally before they take any action to assist in the suicide.

This is the view of Terry Pratchett, a well-loved British author suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease.

"I would like to see death as a medical procedure - in very carefully chosen cases," said Pratchett, 61, who believes he should be able to legally end his life before the ravages of the disease leaves him helpless.

Starmer stressed that he was not decriminalizing assisted suicide or modifying the law on mercy killings, which have been the focus of intense media attention with the claim last week by a BBC television personality that he had killed his partner, who was gravely ill with AIDS.

But he said prosecution would be less likely in cases where the suspect was acting out of compassion.

He said other factors would also make criminal charges less likely, including victims who had made a voluntary and informed decision to end their lives, suspects who reported the suicide to police and admitted their role, and cases where a suspect tried in vain to convince the victim not to choose suicide.

Other mitigating factors that might make prosecution less likely include instances where the suspect provided only minor help in the suicide or was reluctant to provide assistance but did so in the face of persistent demands.

Still, Starmer stressed that prosecution is possible even if all of these factors apply.

He also listed 16 factors that would make criminal action more probable, including cases where the victim was under 18, did not have the capacity to make an informed decision to end their life or had been pressured by the suspect to commit suicide.

Prosecution would also be more likely in cases where the suspect had been guilty of violence or abuse toward the victim or when the victim did not seek the help of the suspect in the suicide.

In addition, earlier guidance that prosecution was less likely if a suspect was a family member or close friend of the victim was eliminated from Thursday's rules.
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Richard Hawkes, the chief executive of Scope, a charity that works with the disabled, said the new guidelines threaten society's most vulnerable people.

"We do not support any weakening of the protection offered under the law on assisted suicide, which is exactly what these new guidelines do," Hawkes said.

"Many disabled people are frightened by the consequences of these new guidelines and with good reason. There is a real danger these changes will result in disabled people being pressured to end their lives," he added.


- I am very happy about these new rules because I personally believe that the laws preventing assisted suicide are ridiculous. Everyone has the right to end their own life, right? So in the case of a person with a terminal or extremely painful disease - who has the most valid reason of all to end their life but who is physically unable to - they cannot ask for the aid of a loved one? They should instead be forced to endure terrible pain until their natural death? Their loved ones should be forced to watch them waste away? Everywhere on Earth, people are taking life by force and no one seems to be doing much about that, and yet there's a strongly enforced law in existence that prevents a person from voluntarily ending their own life. It's unbelievably cruel to not even give these people the freedom to choose for themselves. So I think these rules will help to give people in unbearably difficult situations a little relief, knowing that their loved ones will be safe from prosecution as long as the court sees the motive as compassionate, which obviously it would be, unless the assisted suicide is done by a person who's merely seeking money or some other personal gain; in which case, they should be charged. I don't think this will put pressure on disabled people to end their lives, I think it will just give them options. If they want to continue living, that's awesome, but if their disease is too much to bear, they should be able to end their lives on their own terms, without enduring needless months or years of pain and misery.

Iran 'to build two new nuclear sites this year'

The head of Iran's nuclear programme has said the country will build two new uranium enrichment facilities within the next year.

Ali Akbar Salehi, who is also Iran's vice-president, said the new facilities would be built in the mountains to protect them from attack.

The UN nuclear watchdog last week said it was concerned Iran might currently be trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran's supreme leader denied the enrichment of uranium was for weapons.

Tehran has always maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

But the US and other nations, which fear Iran is seeking nuclear arms, have been pressing for the UN to impose further sanctions over the issue.

Baseless' fears

Mr Salehi said the facilities would use new and more advanced centrifuges, according to the semi-official Iranian news agency Isna.

The two sites are reportedly the first of 10 to be built in a plan announced by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last November.

The centrifuges might allow the Iranians to speed up the development of nuclear material.

Tehran has said it wants to enrich uranium to 20%, more than it has previously done.

The country says it is doing this to produce isotopes for medical use and to generate electricity.

But according to an unusually forthright report by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released last week, Iran's level of co-operation with the agency is decreasing, adding to concerns about "possible military dimensions" to its nuclear programme.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said any fears were "baseless", as Iranians' beliefs "bar us from using such weapons".

Last year Iran revealed a previously unknown nuclear facility in the mountains near the city of Qom.

Previously it was believed that the only type of centrifuge Iran possessed were decades-old and in the the country's main enrichment facility at Natanz, which is monitored by the IAEA.

The facility near Qom had not become operational before its existence was announced.




- While I'd really like to give Iran the benefit of the doubt and believe that their nuclear activities are purely peaceful, it seems a little hard to believe. The fact that there will be so many sites scattered around Iran is a little unsettling in itself, but based on Iran's history with nuclear weapons, I think that the concern being demonstrated by other countries is understandable. However, the fact that they only want to enrich uranium to 20%, significantly less than the approximately 85% normally seen in nuclear weapons, helps to put my mind at ease somewhat. For the moment at least, I think Iran should be able to continue what they're doing because they haven't come close to doing anything wrong as of right now. I think it's important to keep an eye on this sort of nuclear activity, though, and monitor it to make sure it doesn't escalate into something far from peaceful.

US refuses to cancel Obama's Dalai Lama meeting

By Stephen Collinson (AFP) – 6 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The United States on Friday escalated a mounting row on multiple fronts with China, refusing Beijing's demand to cancel President Barack Obama's meeting next week with the Dalai Lama.

The deepening public spat over Tibet, a row over US arms sales to Taiwan, China's dispute with Google and trade and currency disagreements, come at a key diplomatic moment, as Obama seeks Chinese help to toughen sanctions on Iran.

The White House announced Thursday that Obama would hold his long-awaited meeting with the revered Dalai Lama at the White House next week, drawing an angry reaction from China and a demand for the invitation to be rescinded.

But Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs signalled the White House would defy China's warning that the encounter would damage already strained Sino-US relations.

"I do not know if their specific reaction was to cancel it," Gibbs said.

"If that was their specific reaction, the meeting will take place as planned next Thursday."

Obama avoided the Dalai Lama when he was in Washington in 2009, in an apparent bid to set relations with Beijing off on a good foot in the first year of a presidency which included several meetings with President Hu Jintao.

But he warned Chinese leaders on an inaugural visit to Beijing in November that he intended to meet the Buddhist monk.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said earlier that Beijing firmly opposed "the Dalai Lama visiting the United States and US leaders having contact with him."

"China urges the US... to immediately call off the wrong decision of arranging for President Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama... to avoid any more damage to Sino-US relations."

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He denies he wants independence for Tibet, insisting he is looking only for "meaningful autonomy."

Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama will take place in the White House Map Room and not, in an apparent effort to mollify China, in the Oval Office, where US presidents normally meet VIPs and visiting government chiefs.

The Obama administration has insisted disputes over Tibet, Taiwan, currency and Google will not hamper efforts to win the support of China, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, on toughened nuclear sanctions against Iran.

China has yet to agree to the concept of toughened sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, calling for more negotiations, even as Russia appears closer to backing the move to punish Tehran.

US officials say that the Sino-US relationship is mature enough to override disagreements on key issues but the temperature of public disagreements has risen sharply in recent days.

The powers have clashed over a 6.4-billion-dollar US arms deal for Taiwan, with China accusing the United States of violating the "code of conduct between nations" with the sale to what it sees as a Chinese territory.

Beijing also has been angered by Washington's support for Google after the web giant announced it would no longer abide by China's strict Internet censorship rules and could quit the country over cyberattacks.

The foreign ministry denied involvement in the hacking of Gmail accounts and accused Washington of "double standards" after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lamented the restrictions on China's 384 million Internet users.

Earlier this month, Obama said he planned to be "much tougher" about enforcing trade rules with China, and favoured constant pressure on Beijing over opening markets and on currency rates.

China responded by dismissing US "wrongful accusations and pressure."



- To me it seems like lately there's always another issue causing tension between the U.S. and China, whether it be this one or the Google incident or whatever else. In this case, I can understand why China is upset, but also why Obama is standing his ground. To China it's like the U.S. is joining forces with one of its enemies, but why would Obama avoid the Dalai Lama when his country has no issue with the man? It makes sense that the U.S. president would want to keep his meeting with the Dalai Lama, but if he's requesting China's help, he should perhaps avoid doing things that cause even more tension between the two countries.