Syria's al-Assad: Iraqi polls 'key' to bettering Iraqi-Syrian ties

Damascus - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday said Iraq's parliamentary elections were "key" to restoring "harmony" in ties between the neighbors. He made the comments after meeting Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al- Hashimi. The comments also come as Iraqi relations with its neighbors become a campaign issue ahead of the March 7 parliamentary vote.

The Syrian president said he hoped "that the upcoming elections would be key to a thorough restoration of Iraq's security and the return of harmony between its peoples."

Syria wants "the best relations with Iraq," al-Assad said in a statement released by his office. "(Syria) supports Iraq's people, its security, stability, and territorial integrity."

The Iraqi vice-president is scheduled to meet representatives of Syria's 800,000-strong Iraqi population later on Tuesday.

Al-Hashimi, a Sunni Muslim, last year threatened to boycott the law covering the polls if expatriate Iraqis, most of whom are thought to be Sunnis, were not guaranteed a larger share of seats in the new parliament.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's political rival, former prime minister Ayad Allawi, is expected in Syria on Thursday, according to Syrian media reports.

The former prime minister last week defended his recent tour of Arab states against criticism from members of al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, who accused Allawi of seeking funds for his election campaign.

"Some of those in power wanted to make a fuss over my trip to Arab countries," Allawi said, calling suggestions the trip was related to the elections the product of "deluded minds."

"These deluded (people) want to isolate Iraq from its Arab surroundings," Allawi said.

Al-Hashimi, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and Shiite Iraqi Vice- President Adil Abdel-Mahdi all publicly rebuked al-Maliki after the prime minister accused Syria of not doing enough to stop Iraqi Baathists in Syria from plotting August bombings in central Baghdad that killed more some 100 people and injured more than 500.

Syria and Iraq each withdrew their ambassadors to the other as al- Maliki's government called for a UN investigation into Syrian links to the explosions.

By contrast, al-Maliki on Sunday said Iraq's relationship with Syria was "heading for the better."

"As the atmosphere improves, there is less need to talk about international courts. There are more shared interests to bring the two countries closer than there are reasons for souring the relationship," he said.

"We welcome a return of good relations between all Arab and Islamic countries and the efforts in that direction since stability has been achieved," al-Maliki said Sunday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312060,syrias-al-assad-iraqi-polls-key-to-bettering-iraqi-syrian-ties.html.

Turkish general and prosecutor charged in anti-government plot

Istanbul - A four-star Turkish general and a prosecutor have been charged with involvement in an alleged plot to discredit the Turkish government and a powerful Islamic movement considered close to it, local media reported Tuesday. The indictment, submitted to a court in the eastern city of Erzincan, charges a dozen others, including military and intelligence personnel, with being part of the plan.

The investigation is connected with an ongoing trial into another alleged coup plot, known as "Ergenekon."

The indictment comes in the wake of last week's arrest of nearly 50 active and retired military officers in connection with a separate alleged effort - codenamed Sledgehammer - to undermine Turkey's liberal Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2003.

The indictment claims General Saldiray Berk and Erzincan's chief prosecutor Ilhan Cihaner are linked to the Ergenekon plot and charges them with being members of a "terrorist organization," according to the state-run Anatolia Agency.

The indictment claims Berk and Cihaner were part of a group that planned to plant weapons and other incriminating evidence in student houses run by the Fethullah Gulen movement, a Turkish Islamic group considered to have close ties to the AKP.

A document leaked last June, allegedly written by a Turkish naval officer, suggested targeting the Gulen movement as one of the ways of discrediting the AKP. The military initially denied the document originated from within its ranks, but recently said it may in fact be genuine.

The arrest of Cihaner has led to increased tension between Turkey's judiciary and the government and to charges that the AKP is interfering with the judiciary's independence.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312064,turkish-general-and-prosecutor-charged-in-anti-government-plot.html.

Venezuela rejects accusations of Spanish judge as 'unacceptable'

Caracas - Venezuela rejected as "unacceptable" the accusations of a Spanish judge who said there was evidence of Venezuela cooperating with an alliance of the militant Basque separatist group ETA and leftist Colombian rebels. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Monday in which it denounced that the charges formulated by National Court judge Eloy Velasco had "a political nature and motivation" to target the government of left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The judge had said there was evidence of "Venezuelan government cooperation with the illicit collaboration between FARC and ETA."

The statement from Venezuelan authorities slammed the judge for his references to a Spanish citizen who has lived in Venezuela since May 1989, as part of a deal between Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez (1974-79, 1989-93) and Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez (1982-96).

"It is surprising that nowhere is the name of the authors of this deal mentioned, while the judge takes the trouble to refer time and again and in a disrespectful way to the president of Venezuelans, Hugo Chavez, making references that are as partial as they are unfounded about the (Venezuelan) government," the text complained.

The statement said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro had spoken to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to discuss the issue.

Speaking in Hanover, Germany, earlier on Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had said that Moratinos had requested an "explanation" from the Venezuelan government.

National Court judge Velasco charged seven suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and six ETA suspects with planning to stage attacks against high-ranking Colombian politicians, including President Alvaro Uribe and his predecessor Andres Pastrana, while they were in Spain.

In his document, however, the judge did not link Caracas directly with the plot to kill Uribe.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312066,venezuela-rejects-accusations-of-spanish-judge-as-unacceptable.html.

Indonesian police arrest 25 Afghan migrants

Jakarta - Police on Indonesia's Sumatra island have arrested 25 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, an immigration official said Tuesday. The migrants were arrested on Saturday at the Bakauheni port in Lampung province, local immigration official Eddy Haryadi said.

"They are seeking refugee status with the UNHCR," he said, referring to the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees.

Undocumented migrants mostly from the Middle East, South and Central Asia seeking better lives in Australia have for years used Indonesia as a transit country.

About 1,500 foreign asylum seekers are being held in Indonesian immigration detention centers pending the verification of their refugee status and placement in third countries.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312068,indonesian-police-arrest-25-afghan-migrants.html.

ElBaradei's coalition outlines seven demands for Egyptian reform

Cairo (Earth Times) - A coalition of Egyptian opposition groups formed around ex-UN nuclear agency head Mohammed ElBaradei has laid out seven demands for political reform, widely published in independent Egyptian newspapers Tuesday. The statement was the former International Atomic Energy Agency head's first on behalf of the opposition coalition since his dramatic return to Egypt late last month.

"The coalition's main goal is to work towards a political system built on democracy and social justice," ElBaradei said in the statement.

"The first step towards this goal is to provide basic assurance for free and fair elections for all Egyptians," he said.

Some 30 leading opposition figures met last week at ElBaradei's house on the outskirts of Cairo to form a group called the National Association for Change.

In the coalition's first formal statement, it called for the imposition of a two-term limit for presidents, and provision of "the right to nomination with no obstacles, in accordance with the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights."

Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak has been in power for nearly 30 years, and has vowed to continue serving until his "last breath."

Amendments to Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution passed in 2007 require presidential candidates to have been a member of a legal party's senior leadership for at least a year, or to secure the nomination of 250 local and national elected officials.

ElBaradei has held no senior position in a party. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has an overwhelming majority in Egypt's elected institutions, making it difficult for an independent to stand for the presidency without the NDP's blessing.

The coalition further called for an end to Egypt's Emergency Law, which has been in place without interruption since 1981. The law allows for indefinite detention and for the trial of civilians before military courts.

It also called for full judicial supervision of elections, in concert with Egyptian and international monitors.

Amendments to Article 88 of the constitution passed in 2007 removed judicial supervision of elections in favor of supervision by "an independent electoral commission" that would include some judges.

Senior Egyptian judges initially refused to certify the 2005 presidential elections, Egypt's first with more than one candidate, citing reports of irregularities.

The coalition further called for all candidates to have sufficient access to the media in the presidential election campaign, for Egyptians abroad to be allowed to vote through consulates, and the use of identification-card numbers in balloting to discourage fraud.

ElBaradei said that he recognized that the demands would require amendments to the constitution, and called for the changes to be made "as soon as possible."

Arrest of former Bosnia president causes uproar

Sarajevo/Belgrade - The arrest of former president of Bosnia-Herzegovina Ejup Ganic for alleged war crimes has caused an uproar in Bosnia, with one party describing it as an attack on the country and calling for legal action against top Serbian leaders. Ganic was arrested on Monday evening at London's Heathrow airport for alleged war crimes on an extradition warrant issued by the Serbian government.

Serbia is accusing him of the murder of 42 soldiers during an attack on a Yugoslav Army convoy in Sarajevo at the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

While Ganic denies all allegations, politicians in Bosnia say Serbia is retaliating for the war crimes prosecution of Serbs, and they have called for arrest warrants to be issued for all Serb leaders from the 1992-95 period.

The arrest of Ganic came the same day as the resumption in The Hague of the war crimes trial of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who faces 11 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The founding member of the Serbian Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina is alleged to have orchestrated the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb forces are thought to have killed close to 8,000 unarmed Muslim men and boys.

"This arrest is an attack on Bosnia and every man living in it," the Social Democratic Party, Bosnia's biggest opposition party, said in a statement on Ganic's arrest.

"It is time for Bosnian institutions to stand up and defend its citizens ... We are asking Bosnian prosecutors to launch investigations against Serbia's top political and army officials in the period 1992-95," the party said.

While Serbia says Ganic ordered an attack at the retreating Yugoslav Army convoy in May 1992 which led to the death of 42 people and the wounding of 70, Muslims say Serbs were the aggressors and they were acting in self-defense.

The Bosnian war, in which Serbs, Muslims and Croats fought among themselves, ended with the partition of Bosnia two two entities - the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic told local media that Belgrade will provide the additional documents needed for Ganic's extradition on Tuesday.

While Ganic's son said that his family would seek the former president's release on bail, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told local media that the motion for bail had been dismissed and that Ganic would remain in custody until March 29.

This is not the first arrest of Ganic. He was arrested at Heathrow airport in 2006 but was released shortly afterward.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312072,arrest-of-former-bosnia-president-causes-uproar.html.

China defends ban of author's trip to German literature festival

Beijing - China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday defended its refusal to allow author Liao Yiwu to travel to German for the Cologne literature festival, saying it was only applying national law. Asked why the ministry rejected Liao's application, spokesman Qin Gang said, "Chinese relevant departments censor the Chinese citizens' applications of entering and leaving the territory according to the exit and entry laws of the People's Republic of China."

The comments came one day after German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle criticized the refusal to let Liao travel. Chinese authorities gave no further explanation for the decision.

Qin stressed that Chinese citizens enjoyed freedom to travel.

"We hope that relevant countries respect China's acting according to its laws," he said.

Liao was on his way to the festival, set to run from March 10 to 20, when he was removed from the plane before takeoff in the south-western town of Chengdu on Monday. He is reportedly under house arrest.

Last autumn, he was refused permission to travel to the Frankfurt book fair, at which China was guest of honor.

His book The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up was published in the West last year after being banned in China. He wrote it from interviews with toilet cleaners, prostitutes, older monks, political prisoners and street artists.

The writer was imprisoned for four years beginning in 1990 after he published the poem Massacre in 1989 about the bloody crackdown that year on pro-democracy demonstrations, which were centered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Since then, Liao has been on a blacklist and not allowed to publish in China.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312074,china-defends-ban-of-authors-trip-to-german-literature-festival.html.