Renewed Protests in Amman Blast Corruption

2011-05-20

By Banan Malkawi

AMMONNEWS - Hundreds of Jordanians on Friday protested in central Amman against government corruption and called for genuine political and economic reforms.

The demonstration, organized by political opposition parties, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Jordanian Professional Associations, marched from King Abdullah I Mosque to the Interior Ministry Circle, chanting anti-corruption slogans and accusing the government of "slacking" in implementing reform measures.

Over 1,500 protestors marched amidst heavy security presence, and were blocked from reaching the Interior Ministry Circle, where major clashes had taken place on March 24th during a youth sit-in, leaving over 100 injured and one protestor dead.

Friday witnessed several major protests throughout Jordan, calling for reforms and blasting government and security forces' violent handling of pro-reform demonstrations last week.

Other protests also took place near the Israeli Embassy in Amman calling for annulling the Jordanian-Israeli peace process, and others in Karak, Tafileh, and Zarqa governorates.

Muslim Brotherhood leader Zaki Bani Ersheid blasted that the widespread economic corruption in the country is caused by political corruption, leading to the loss of trust and confidence in the government.

He stressed that tangible reform cannot materialize unless powers are given to the people.

Bani Ersheid criticized US President Barack Obama's speech delivered on Thursday, blasting that the American administration is the "power that gives international legitimacy, enables corruption, and creates corrupt governments in the region."

In referring to the "Arab Spring," the Islamist leader applauded the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and addressed Arab leaders warning "you either implement reform, or be ousted."

On his part, Head of the Jordanian Engineers' Professional Associations Abdullah Obeidat noted that the demands of the Jordanian people are legitimate and that what "we ask for here is much less than what peoples of other countries are demanding."

He stressed that the regime and the government ought to respect the people, blasting that "we were surprised that the government did indeed implement reforms; however they were security reforms."

"An opposition activist used to be taken to a jail cell and beaten there, now, activists are being beaten by security forces publicly in the streets," he added.

Obeidat charged that the widespread corruption in the country has transformed Jordanians in both the public and private sectors into a deprived and poor society that is facing grave economic conditions.

An activist in the March 24th Youth Movement, Abdul Rahman Hassanain, said that the movement is preparing for a major demonstration that would surpass the sit-in two months ago at Gamal Abdul Nasser Square (Interior Ministry Circle).

Senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Hammam Saeed told Ammon News during the protest that the movement is part of the Jordanian society and that their protest today is part of the popular demands all Jordanians are demanding.

"We do not act individually, our activism is part and parcel of the demands of the Jordanian street," he added.

The protestors chanted slogans against corruption, and calling for freedom, reform, and change.

Chants included:

"Change and reform are the demands of the people,"

"Freedom where are you, the government stands between us and you,"

"The people demand saving the economy."

* Additional reporting by Shaheera Khatatbeh and Heba Malkawi

Source: Ammon News.
Link: http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=11999.

Sikorsky supplying Sweden with Black Hawks

STRATFORD, Conn., May 20 (UPI) -- Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. reports the U.S. government has agreed to sell 15 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Sweden.

The Swedish armed forces will use the aircraft for medical evacuation, utility, and search-and-rescue missions.

Sikorsky is slated to deliver six of the helicopters in 2011 and the remaining nine in 2012 under an accelerated production schedule.

"We're honored to support the Swedish Armed Forces, and we congratulate them for being the first European Union nation to choose this highly evolved UH-60M aircraft, which is part of a lineage of aircraft that have proven themselves countless times under the most extreme conditions all over the world," said Mick Maurer, president of Sikorsky Military Systems.

The UH-60M helicopter is the latest version of the Black Hawk, providing additional payload and range, advanced digital avionics, improved handling qualities and situational awareness, active vibration control, and improved survivability compared with the predecessor UH-60L model.

The company said about 2,700 Black Hawks are in operation today. Sweden will become the 26th nation to operate the aircraft and only the second in Europe, where Austria operates UH-60L models.

U.S. forces have flown various Black Hawk models for 1.2 million flight hours to date in Afghanistan and Iraq without a single material failure.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/05/20/Sikorsky-supplying-Sweden-with-Black-Hawks/UPI-20701305898626/.

Brazilian forests cleared

BRASILIA, Brazil, May 20 (UPI) -- The Brazilian space research institute said deforestation in the country increased 400 percent over the course of a year, causing a political stir.

Satellite images depicted deforestation increased from 25,451 acres in March and April in 2010 to 146,533 acres during the same period in 2011, the BBC reports.

Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said the revelation was troubling and announced the government was establishing a special panel to address the findings.

"Our objective is to reduce deforestation by July," she was quoted as saying.

Environmental protectionists argue increased demand for soy and cattle is behind the decision made by farmers to clear more forests from their land. Most of the declines came from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a key soybean-producing region.

Others blame the government for dragging its feet on laws regulating deforestation. Advocates of change said more clearing is needed to stimulate the country's agriculture sector, however.

A forest code in place since 1934 spells out how much land a farmer can clear. Currently, 80 percent of the land in the Amazon region must remain forested.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/05/20/Brazilian-forests-cleared/UPI-89311305898428/.

Libyan rebels not extremist, EU says

BRUSSELS, May 20 (UPI) -- Rebels fighting to overthrow Libya's Moammar Gadhafi are not Islamic fanatics, a European diplomat said as the EU prepares to open a liaison office in Benghazi.

The diplomat, interviewed on condition of anonymity by the EU Observer Wednesday, said the rebels "are not a bunch of al-Qaida fanatics."

"There is an Islamic element in the politics of Libyan opposition at the moment, but it is a mild Islamic political trend, which is welcome and will have a role in the national dialogue which they envisage. Their focus is national. It's a liberation struggle," the diplomat said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced last week that a liaison office would be opened in Benghazi to support the Transitional National Council. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the move.

"Our vision is that the U.N. and the EU will play a leading role in the post-Gadhafi period" that will include organizing elections and drafting a new constitution, the diplomat said.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski visited Benghazi last week for talks with the rebel council.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/05/20/Libyan-rebels-not-extremist-EU-says/UPI-74721305901585/.

Rich tributes paid to Kashmiri martyrs

'Pakistan Times' Jammu & Kashmir Desk

SRINAGAR (IHK): In occupied Kashmir, senior APHC leader Shabbir Ahmed Shah and the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Muhammad Yasin Malik have paid glowing tributes to the Kashmiri martyrs including liberation leaders, Mirwaiz Moulvi Muhammad Farooq and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone, reports KMS.

Shabbir Ahmed Shah addressing a function held in Srinagar, today, in connection with the Martyrdom Week reiterated the pledge to continue the mission of Kashmiri martyrs till its logical end.

Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued in Srinagar eulogized the services of Mirwaiz Moulvi Muhammad Farooq and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone for the liberation movement. He urged to the JKLF activists to massively participate in the programs announced by the APHC in connection with the Martyrdom Week.

APHC leader, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, addressing a separate function said that people of Kashmir had nourished the ongoing movement with their blood and due to their sacrifices the world had acknowledged Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory.

The General Secretary of Rashtriya Lok Dal and the former member of Indian Parliament, Shahid Siddiqui, in a media interview in Srinagar said, the Kashmiris have offered lots of sacrifices, which should not go waste.

On the other hand, the occupation authorities have placed veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, under house arrest to prevent him from addressing a public meeting in Islamabad town, tomorrow, in connection with the campaign initiated by his forum for securing release of illegally detained Kashmiris.

Source: Pakistan Times.
Link: http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=21744.

Kashmir's 'missing girls'

By Arsalan Tariq (AFP) – May 19, 2011

SRINAGAR, India — India's only Muslim-majority state is seizing ultrasound scanners and enlisting religious leaders in an effort to save unborn baby girls from a shocking rise in female foeticide.

The issue has united politicians, clerics and social activists in Jammu and Kashmir, a state best known for the deep, blood-stained divides caused by a 20-year-old Muslim separatist insurgency against Indian rule.

Provisional 2011 census data released at the end of March painted a bleak picture of India's gender imbalance, with a national child sex ratio of just 914 females to 1,000 males, the lowest figure since independence in 1947.

By far the most dramatic decline was in Jammu and Kashmir, where the ratio plunged to 859 girls for every 1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group, down by 82 points from 10 years ago.

"We never expected such a drop," admitted Yashpal Sharma, the Kashmir head of the National Rural Health Mission.

The global sex ratio is 984 girls to every 1,000 boys, according to United Nations population data.

But married women in India face huge pressure to produce male children, who are seen as breadwinners while girls are often viewed as a financial burden as they require hefty dowries to be married off.

The sharpest declines in the ratio were in the towns of the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, heartland of the armed insurgency against Indian rule that began in 1989.

"It is a matter of shame that Kashmiri Muslims are aborting their girl children," said Kashmir's top cleric, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who heads an alliance of moderate political separatists.

Stressing that the practice was profoundly "un-Islamic" Farooq said everyone in the valley had to be conscripted in the battle against this "moral corruption."

Yasin Malik, head of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, was equally forceful in denouncing an "undesirable and unethical trend" which he said was dragging the region back into the Stone Age.

"According to the Koran and traditions of Islam, foeticide is a grave unpardonable sin equivalent to murder. We cannot claim to be Muslims while indulging in this heinous crime," he said.

The first reaction of the Kashmir authorities to the census figures was a crackdown on the unlicensed use of ultrasound scanners.

Determining the sex of a fetus is illegal in India, but many clinics offer the service for a small fee, fueling the demand for sex-selective abortions.

Lightweight, portable ultrasound machines mean tests can be carried out even in the most remote villages.

Sharma said close to 100 scanners had been seized in the initial crackdown, but added that long-term solutions were also needed.

"We are roping in religious and community leaders in our campaign. We have already sent 700 letters to various leaders -- both Muslims and Hindus," Sharma said.

Kashmir's chief minister, Omar Abdullah, promised harsher penalties for anyone aiding or abetting female foeticide.

"It is civil society as a whole, and religious, political and social activists in particular, who have to play their part and make the people aware of this crime," he said.

But Nusrat Nazir, a college lecturer, said efforts to empower women and overcome the social bias towards sons were often undermined by the dowry system, which brought a stark financial factor into the equation.

"These are not issues of governance but ethos, culture and values that our society holds. We have to make efforts to change society, for the better," Nusrat said. "Dowry is a resident evil."

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Arab League deems Israel retaining the bodies of 'martyrs' a racial crime

Ahmed Eleiba, Thursday 19 May 2011

A seminar was held Thursday in the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on the legal dimensions of Israel retaining the bodies of Arab and Palestinian martyrs and on the fate of missing persons. Palestinian Minister of Justice Ali Khashan took part in the seminar along with Ambassador Mohamed Sabeeh, assistant secretary general for Palestine affairs.

Participants underlined the importance of exerting pressure on Israel to meet its obligations regarding the bodies of martyrs, including facilitating dignified burials in accordance with international humanitarian law, including the First Additional Protocol of the Geneva Conventions which mentions the recovery of the dead and their humane treatment, a protocol Israel has not signed.

Khashan talked in detail about the national campaign on the return the remains of martyrs, reviewing Palestinian efforts on the subject since 2008, while Sabeeh called for an international conference on the legal aspects of dead and missing persons in situations of conflict.

Sabeeh also called for the forming of national committees to follow up on the subject, saying he would meet Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi to discuss the issue.

Khashan said that a committee already following the subject was able to document 317 cases of the retention of the dead bodies of persons killed by the Israeli occupation forces, adding that the issue is not a solely political and legal, but relates to human dignity and must be addressed internationally.

Sabeeh described Israeli practice as a racial crime, and that there exists evidence that Israel intentionally tampers with the bodies, including organ theft. The ambassador called for delegations from regional and international human rights organizations and institutions to visit the occupied Palestinian territories and work towards knowing the fate of scores of missing persons.

For his part, the legal consultant to the secretary general of the Arab League, Mohamed bin Khadraa, voiced his appreciation for the Palestinian justice minister as well as a number of civil institutions in their efforts on the issue, which he considers a war crime and crime against humanity.

Bin Khadraa said that not only did Israel kill people unjustly, but it prevents their kin from burying them according to their religion and in respect of human dignity, calling Israel to immediately stop its practices in this regard.

Included in the seminar was a series of lectures about the legal implications of retaining dead bodies in a situation of conflict, how to legally pursue Israel on the matter, and what the role of the Arab League and other organizations can be.

The seminar ended with the screening of a documentary on the subject in the presence of a large number of legal experts.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/12503.aspx.