Nov. 12
UNITED KINGDOM/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
Protests in UK Supporting Indian Death Row Convict in UAE
A protest demonstration was held in front of the UAE embassy here in support of
an Indian man allegedly wrongly imprisoned and sentenced to death for rape in
Abu Dhabi.
The demonstrators also presented a petition in support of E K Gangadharan
yesterday addressed to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown
Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the UAE
Ambassadors to India and the UK.
The campaign to save Gangadharan is gathering momentum, particularly across
India.
The petition said Gangadharan had worked in the UAE "loyally and blamelessly"
for 32 years in Al Rabeeh School in Abu Dhabi.
He has been sentenced to death on charge of rape.
It states that Gangadharan was beaten and degraded in prison, including being
denied food and water for 3 days.
Gangadharan pleaded innocent at his trial in the First Court and will do so at
his appeal hearing.
It is alleged that he was denied a fair trial as his court-appointed
interpreter spoke Hindi and not his native language of Malayalam.
The petition claims DNA evidence showing that Gangadharan did not commit the
crime, was not given in court.
Human Rights Watch representative Nick McGeehan said, "The silence surrounding
this case is concerning. It is imperative that the UAE authorities conduct an
immediate investigation into allegations that Gangadharan endured torture and
didn't receive proper legal assistance either before or during his trial. And
the Indian authorities should be lobbying hard for this investigation."
Director of the Emirates Centre for Human Rights, Rori Donaghy said, "This case
bears the hallmark of one where the defendant has been convicted without being
given a fair hearing. It is of grave concern that a man is facing the death
penalty when there are allegations of torture that have not been investigated."
He said, over the past year there have been numerous allegations that prisoners
in the UAE have been tortured in order to extract confessions and that 75 % of
prisoners at Dubai Central Prison claim to have been physically abused.
(source: oulookindia.com)
MALAYSIA:
Nabbed - Viet woman found with over 3kg of syabu
The Terengganu police narcotics department has detained a Vietnamese woman
after finding 3.134kg of syabu (methamphetamine) hidden in her bag at the
Sultan Mahmud Airport here.
The haul, estimated to be worth RM600,000, is the state's biggest seizure so
far this year.
State police chief Datuk Jamshah Mustapa said the 31-year-old woman was
arrested at the airport's arrival hall at 9.30am on Saturday after the
narcotics squad found her behaving suspiciously while holding on to her
luggage.
After searching the bag, police found a crystal, believed to be syabu, hidden
in a modified compartment.
"We conducted a body search on the suspect at first but we did not find
anything, until we searched the bag," said Jamshah.
Jamshah said the woman, who was with a child, flew in to Kuala Lumpur
International Airport (KLIA) from India, before making a domestic transfer to
Kuala Terengganu.
He added that police believe the woman, who could only speak Vietnamese, is a
drug mule of a syndicate whose modus operandi is flying into smaller airports
via domestic flights in order to avoid the tighter security checks conducted at
KLIA's international exit.
Jamshah said the state police will work with other state contingents as well as
Bukit Aman to ascertain if the suspect is part of the same syndicate whose
agents were also arrested in several other airports previously.
Besides RM600, the woman was also carrying 3,250 Indian rupees, 200 Thai baht,
290 Vietnamese dong and US$400.
The suspect is remanded for 7 days under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act
1952, which carries the death penalty upon conviction.
(source: The Star)
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