Jan. 19
NORWAY/CONGO:
The government spends millions on Congo-case
The Department of Foreign Affairs (UD) has already spent millions of Kroners on
Joshua French and Tjolstov Moland's case in Congo. UD says that they have never
spent more money on a Consular matter.
"I don't have a specific number, but there is no doubt that this is the
Consular case that we have spent the most money on," says Communications
Advisor at UD, Svein Michelsen, to NRK.
NRK has previously tried to get UD to release exact numbers for how much the
Congo-case has caused Norwegian authorities. Since Joshua French and Tjolstolv
Moland were imprisoned in Congo in 2009, UD's representatives have traveled to
Congo to assist the 2 Norwegians more than 50 times.
Some of the trips may also have been used for other causes in addition to
helping French and Moland.
The travel bills that NRK has been give access to include flights, hotel and
meals for the representatives that have traveled to Congo to work on the case.
The total amount is close to NOK 1,8 million.
That amount does not include trips taken by Minister of Foreign Affairs, or the
expenses of UD's representative who lives in Kinshasa. Many of the other trips
that have been completed the past year are also not included, such as those
completed by special representative Kai Eide.
UD explains that the Congo-case has been given high priority both by the former
and current government. "This case is very special, if not unique, when it
comes to the UD's involvement in consular cases," Michelsen says.
That 2 Norwegians were sentenced to death triggers several resources from UD's
side because Norwegian authorities are against the death penalty, he explains.
(source: The Norway Post)
IRAN:
Supreme Court Upheld Death Sentence For Political Prisoner Saman Nasim
The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of political prisoner Saman
Nasim, currently imprisoned in Orumieh prison.
Nasim's defense attorney had objected to the sentence issued by the Appeals
Court for his client but the Supreme Court upheld the Appeals Court ruling.
According to Nasim's defense attorney, Saman Nasim born on September 20, 1994
was not of legal age at the time of crime committed on July 17, 2011,
therefore, Mahabad Revolutionary Court did not have jurisdiction over his case
to issue a verdict.
Despite the objection of the defense attorney, after the case was reviewed by
the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court ruling was upheld and Nasim was notified
in prison of the court's ruling.
Saman Nasim was sentenced to death on April 27, 2013 by East Azarbaijan
province Appeals Court on charges of membership in the banned Kurdish group
PJAK.
(source: Persian Banoo)
***************
Serious health problems for Kurds on hunger strike
Hunger striking Sunni men from Iran's Kurdish minority are in grave danger as
their health deteriorates after over 70 days on hunger strike. They have been
on hunger strike in protest at their death sentences and the conditions in
which they are held. Reports by HRANA say the prison authorities have ordered
to impose serum injections on the prisoners.
Jamshid Dehghani, his younger brother Jahangir Dehghani, Hamed Ahmadi and Kamal
Molayee, who have been on a "wet" hunger strike (taking water but not food)
since 4 November, are now in critical condition. All 4 men have repeatedly lost
consciousness since 30 December. Because of this, they have been given
intravenous fluids in the clinic in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, north-west
Tehran. They have apparently refused to receive the intravenous fluids each
time they have regained consciousness.
Sedigh Mohammadi and Hadi Hosseini, who had started a hunger strike along with
the other 4 men, ended their hunger strike on 28 December, after their
state-appointed lawyers told them their death sentences had been overturned.
Amnesty International understands that the Supreme Court has overturned the
sentences due to the mental health concerns of both men and has ordered a
retrial by a lower court.
The four hunger strikers, Jamshid Dehghani, Jahangir Dehghani, Hamed Ahmadi and
Kamal Molayee, were sentenced to death by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court
of Tehran on 14 November 2010 after being convicted of vaguely-worded offences
such as "enmity against God" (moharebeh) and "corruption on earth" (ifsad
fil-arz). They were denied the assistance of a lawyer during their trial.
Amnesty International has launched a campaign for the prisoners.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA),
following a request made by persecutor of Tehran's prisons, Mr. Nasirpoor, the
4 prisoners were transferred to prison clinic and prison physician stated that
they are in critical condition in a comprehensive report.
The families of the prisoners are on their 20th day of hunger strike. They have
started their hunger strike in solidarity with their loved ones after visiting
them in prison. The father and Mother of Jamshid and Jahangir Dehghani are 76
and 70 years old and Kamal Moulayi's mother is 70 years old and they are in bad
physical condition.
(source: Firat News)
JAPAN:
Tokyo sarin attack widow says she wants cult members executed
On Thursday, Shizue Takahashi was in court for the 430th time to see a member
of the apocalyptic Aum Shinri Kyo cult questioned and cross-examined over his
role in a series of murders, abductions and bombings almost 19 years ago that
shook Japan to its core.
She has seen Shoko Asahara, the founder of the cult, roll his eyes during
hearings. She has seen his senior lieutenants cry and plead for mercy from the
court. She has seen others defiant in the face of the law and profess their
adulation for a nearly-blind guru who dreamed of overthrowing the Japanese
government through an armed uprising.
Incredible as it seems today, it still took the deaths of 13 people in March
1995, when Asahara's followers released sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway
system, for Japan to wake up to the threat that the cult posed. And as his
church collapsed around him, the police quickly learned of the reach of an
organisation that killed, abducted and maimed in order to get its own way.
It bought a Russian military helicopter to better release sarin over a wide
area and was manufacturing its own assault rifles. Its chemists were concocting
"truth serums" and nerve gas. It had even put into motion a plan to develop a
nuclear device.
Outside court, Takahashi is warm and has a ready smile. She looks younger than
her 66 years. Once inside the chamber where Makoto Hirata is being tried, she
is a different person. The smile is replaced by a look of fierce determination
edging towards anger.
The anger is not only because cult members killed her husband, Kazumasa, when
they leaked sarin in five subway cars. It is also on behalf of the 6,000
commuters injured in that attack - many of whom still suffer debilitating
illnesses - as well as hundreds of others personally targeted in other attacks
by the cult or who lost family members or friends to its violence.
"All I really want to know is why my husband had to die ... and even after all
this time, I don't have that answer," she says. "They say Asahara had charisma
and people fell for his charm, but I've seen him and I just cannot understand
why." Recalling the hearings of other cult members, Takahashi says Yoshihiro
Inoue had cried in court but she believes it was a self-serving plea for
clemency and certainly not an apology. It did not work in any case, and Inoue
is on death row.
Toru Toyoda's face was "a mask" when he was given the death penalty, she says,
and he apologised in a letter to her during the case. She would like the
executions to be carried out just as soon as the last hearing in the final case
against a cult member is carried out. It may bring her some closure, she feels.
"They deserve the death penalty because their victims lost their lives, their
jobs, their families, everything," she says. "And it is continuing today for
many people who are still ill, while they have an easy life in prison."
A man and a woman who were arrested in 2012, the final 2 fugitive members of
the cult, are still awaiting trial.
Asahara was sentenced to death by hanging in 2004, and remains on death row.
Being back in court brought back memories of the day that changed Takahashi's
life forever. "I was at work at the bank when I got a phone call from my
husband's younger sister to say that he had been taken to hospital," she
recalls. "But by the time I got there, he was already cold."
The senior station master at Kasumigaseki station, he had been summoned to a
train on the Hibiya Line that was being evacuated.
Unaware of the danger he was in, Takahashi picked up a plastic bag wrapped in a
newspaper that was leaking liquid sarin. He collapsed and died within minutes.
"I saw my husband off to work that morning and he was dead in the evening,"
Takahashi says. "Part of me still can't believe it."
On March 20, the 19th anniversary of the attack, Takahashi plans to visit her
husband's grave and attend a meeting of the Tokyo Subway Sarin Incident
Victims' Association. She says it is important that she continues to remind
people of what happened, "because otherwise the case will be forgotten, and I
can't let that happen".
(source: South China Morning Post)
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