Iraq protesters rail against lawmaker pensions

August 31, 2013

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Iraqi cities on Saturday to protest lawmakers' perks despite an intense security crackdown, while bombing and shootings in and west of the capital killed 13 people in the latest bout of sectarian unrest rocking the country.

Protest organizers demanded an end to what they claim are generous pension benefits granted to members of parliament. Demonstrators also aired long-standing grievances about widespread corruption and the poor state of public services.

Iraqi lawmakers are entitled to monthly pension payments of several thousand dollars per month regardless of how long they serve— far more than the amounts government employees and private sector workers typically get after decades of work. Many Iraqis suspect the country's 325 lawmakers in Parliament are in politics only for the money, and they accuse them of being ineffective and slow to address the country's myriad problems.

"We want to tell the officials that they should stop stealing. Enough is enough!" said demonstrator Ammar Abdul-Aziz, a 35-year-old engineer in Baghdad. Authorities did not grant permission for the demonstrations in the capital, drawing criticism from rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Security forces blocked bridges and deployed large numbers of rifle-toting soldiers and police in major squares — an extraordinary show of force that protesters said was mainly taken to prevent demonstrators from congregating in larger numbers.

Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim defended the security operation, saying authorities were concerned suicide bombers might try to attack the rallies. He insisted authorities had no problem with the demonstrations and that his forces were present only to protect protesters.

If someone tried to kill protesters with a "bomb, all the people will say 'why didn't you protect us?'" he told The Associated Press at a Baghdad square protest site. Security forces backed by Humvees and armored personnel carriers there outnumbered the flag-waving protesters, who were surrounded by police preventing journalists from getting near them.

One of the Baghdad protest organizers, Mohammed Abbas, said he was beaten by security forces as he and his colleagues were trying to reach the central Tahrir Square. He declared the day's protests a success despite the low turnout and pledged to mount more demonstrations.

Outside the capital, hundreds of people demonstrated in the southern city of Basra, where one banner declared: "The resources of Iraq are for Iraqis, not the lawmakers." Protests were also reported in Nasiriyah and Hillah, also in the country's mainly Shiite south.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement on his website voicing "support for the protesters' demands" and said he would work to reform lawmakers' compensation. Iraqi authorities cracked down firmly against anti-government protests the erupted at the start of the Arab Spring in early 2011. A new wave of ongoing protests erupted in Sunni Muslim areas in December, the most serious political challenge to the Shiite-led government since U.S. troops left in late 2011.

Hours before Saturday's protests, gunmen using weapons fitted with silencers stormed a Sunni mosque in the capital's southeastern New Baghdad neighborhood and shot at Sunni worshipers praying at dawn, police said. Five worshipers were killed and two were wounded, medical officials at a nearby hospital said.

That night, a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt at a security checkpoint in the city of Ramadi, killing six policemen and wounding five others, police and hospital officials said. Ramadi, a former al-Qaida stronghold, is 175 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad.

In a second attack of such kind on Saturday, two Sunni worshipers were killed and eight others were wounded when gunmen sprayed them with bullets as they were leaving a mosque in western Baghdad after finishing night prayers.

Most attacks on civilians and security forces in recent years have been the work of Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida. But attacks on Sunni mosques have been on the rise in recent months, raising fears that armed Shiite groups are starting to retaliate.

The police and medical officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Violence in Iraq has intensified since April to levels not seen since 2008. More than 4,000 people have been killed over the past five months alone, including more than 590 in August.

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed reporting.

'Without delay': Iraq expels Iran exiles from their camp

2013-09-07

BAGHDAD - Iraq has ordered Iranian exiles to move from a camp where 52 of their members were killed a week ago "without delay", a government official and the UN said Saturday.

Baghdad opened a probe into the events surrounding the deaths of the members of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, which occurred on Sunday at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province, but accounts of the unrest still differ markedly.

The United Nations and Western governments have condemned the bloodshed, but have been careful not to assign blame.

"The state has the right to order them to leave," Ali Mussawi, spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said.

"There is an order for them to leave."

The UN's mission to Baghdad said in a statement that it believed the Iraqi government "will move to enforce this order without delay".

That would require the 42 remaining residents of Camp Ashraf to be moved to Camp Liberty, a former US military base on the outskirts of Baghdad, while PMOI members await relocation outside of Iraq.

Iraqi officials and the PMOI have offered conflicting narratives of how the 52 died.

The authorities blame infighting within the PMOI for the deaths, and insist no soldiers entered Ashraf.

Those accounts are sharply contested by the PMOI, which charges that Iraqi forces entered the camp, killed 52 of its members and set fire to the group's property and goods.

Last weekend's deaths follow two mortar attacks earlier this year on Camp Liberty in which at least eight people were killed.

Around 3,000 members of the group, which is also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), were moved from Ashraf last year to Liberty, but about 100 stayed on at the old camp to deal with remaining property and goods.

Saddam Hussein allowed the rebel MEK to set up the camp during his war with Iran in the 1980s.

The group was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him it took up arms against Iran's clerical rulers.

It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Iran by peaceful means.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=61186.

Indonesia says it's 'downgraded' Aussie relations

November 20, 2013

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has "downgraded" its relations with Australia and suspended cooperation on people smuggling following outrage over reported eavesdropping on senior Indonesian leaders' phones, officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Australia's Parliament that he would do everything he "reasonably can" to repair relations with Indonesia. Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Guardian reported Monday that they had documents from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showing that the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate targeted Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's cellphone and the phones of first lady Kristiani Herawati and eight other government ministers and officials.

Indonesia's intelligence agency chief, Norman Marciano, told reporters Wednesday that he had been assured by Australian intelligence officials that the wiretapping has stopped and will not resume. A spokesman for Australia's top spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, declined to comment on Marciano's claim of such an assurance. The spokesman refused to be named, citing ASIO policy.

Marciano spoke before attending a meeting called by Yudhoyono to discuss the issue with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Indonesia's recalled ambassador to Australia. Natalegawa said that Indonesia was reviewing bilateral cooperation on issues with its neighbor.

"We have downgraded the level of relations between Indonesia and Australia," he said. "Like a faucet, it is turned down one by one." Yudhoyono told a news conference after the meeting that he expected a formal explanation if Australia wants to maintain good bilateral relations.

"Clearly, I asked for temporary termination of cooperation on intelligence exchanges and information sharing," he said. "I also asked for the termination of joint exercises between Indonesia and Australia, either for army, navy, air force or a combination," he said, adding that the snooping reminded him of the Cold War era.

The termination affects cooperation on the thorny issue of people smuggling between the two countries. Indonesia is a transit country for thousands of asylum seekers hoping to reach Australia's Christmas Island by boat. Many people have died while attempting the dangerous journey, and the immigration issue remains a political hot potato in Australia.

Abbott won elections in September on a promise to stop the asylum seeker boats and is relying on Indonesia's cooperation to achieve this goal. He has also ruled out an apology or explanation on the spying allegations.

On Tuesday, Yudhoyono criticized Abbott for not expressing regret over the spying, which reportedly took place in 2009 under a previous Australian government. In the Australian capital of Canberra on Wednesday, Abbott told Parliament that while he would try to repair relations with Indonesia, he did not "propose to overreact now" to anger over the issue.

"I deeply and sincerely regret the embarrassment that media reports have caused President Yudhoyono, who is a very good friend of Australia, perhaps one of the very best friends that Australia has anywhere in the world," Abbott said. "I do understand how personally hurtful these allegations have been, these reports have been, for him and his family."

"My intention, notwithstanding the difficulties of these days, is to do everything I reasonably can to help to build and strengthen the relationship with Indonesia, which is so important to both our countries," he said.

But Abbott failed to directly answer a question asked by opposition leader Bill Shorten: What progress had been made to restore Australia's relationship with Indonesia? Abbott, however, said he would respond quickly and fully to a letter Yudhoyono told reporters he was writing to the prime minister.

Analysts describe the furor as the lowest point in an often volatile bilateral relationship since 1999, when Australia led a U.N. military force into the former Indonesian province of East Timor following a bloody independence ballot. At that time, Indonesia ripped up a 4-year-old security treaty with Australia. A new treaty has since been signed.

McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia.

Indonesia recalls ambassador from Australia

November 18, 2013

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recalled his ambassador from Australia on Monday and ordered a review of bilateral cooperation following reports that an Australian security agency attempted to listen to his cellphone in 2009.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Guardian reported Monday that they had documents from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showing that the Australian agency also targeted the phones of Indonesian first lady Kristiani Herawati and another eight government ministers and officials.

The documents reportedly showed that the Australian Defence Signals Directorate, now the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate, attempted to listen to the president's phone conversations on at least one occasion and tracked activity on the phone for 15 days in August 2009.

The diplomatic spat is the second in less than a month between Indonesia and Australia stemming from Snowden's revelations linking Australia with U.S. espionage. It's an early test for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's new government, which was elected in September and is anxious to cement ties with it populous near-neighbor before the uncertainty of Indonesian presidential elections next year.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters in Jakarta on Monday afternoon that Yudhoyono had "directly ordered" the ambassador, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, to be recalled. Natalegawa said Indonesia "is very disturbed by this matter."

"This is not a clever thing to do, it's not a smart thing to do," Natalegawa said of the reported spying. "It violates every single decent and legal instrument that I can think of." He said the onus was now on Australia to explain what happened and to make a commitment that it would never happen again.

"In short, it has not been a good day in the Indonesia-Australia relationship," Natalegawa said. He said Kesoema would soon leave the Australian capital of Canberra and fly home. No time frame was given for his return to Australia.

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs Joko Suyanto said in a statement that all cooperative relationships between the two countries were also under review, as were the postings of Australian officials in Jakarta.

Abbott, who was not in government in 2009, declined to comment on the reports in Parliament. "All governments gather information, and all governments know that every other government gathers information," Abbott said.

"The Australian government uses all the resources at its disposal — including information — to help our friends and our allies, not to harm them," he added. But Bob Carr, Australia's foreign minister until Abbott's coalition won September elections, advised Abbott to assure Yudhoyono that if his phone had been tapped, it wouldn't happen again.

"If the American president can give a guarantee to Angela Merkel of Germany that America won't be overhearing what she says on the phone, then we ought to be able to do it without any trouble to the president of Indonesia," Carr told Nine Network television news.

Second on the target list after the president was his wife, also known as Ani Yudhoyono. Vice President Boediono, who visited Australia last week, was third, and his predecessor, Jusuf Kalla, was fourth. Like many Indonesians, Boediono uses one name.

Also listed was the government's then-foreign spokesman, Dino Patti Djalal, who later became Indonesia's ambassador to Washington. Former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, now a managing director at the World Bank, was also on the list.

Earlier this month, the Indonesian government called in the Australian ambassador for an explanation following reports that the Australian Embassy in Jakarta was a hub for Washington's secret electronic data collection program.

A document from Snowden published last month by the German magazine Der Spiegel describes a signals intelligence program called "Stateroom" in which U.S., British, Australian and Canadian embassies house surveillance equipment to collect electronic communications. Those countries, along with New Zealand, have an intelligence-sharing agreement known as "Five Eyes."

The Australian Embassy in Jakarta was listed as one of the embassies involved in a report from Australia's Fairfax media, along with Australian embassies in Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East Timor; and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia. Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Indonesia eyes more jet fighters

Jakarta (UPI)
Oct 4, 2013

Indonesia is aiming to create eight new squadrons of fighter aircraft by 2024 as part of military upgrade programs, the head of the air force said.

The Indonesian Defense Force also is set to train more pilots to cope with what could be more than 100 new jet fighters if each squadron has around 16 aircraft, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported.

"We hope that by 2024 we will have eight squadrons of fighter aircraft," Air Chief Marshal Ida Bagus Putu Dunia said.

He was speaking during a ceremony at the Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force Base in Makassar on Sulawesi Island in which the air force officially received six Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30MK2 fighter aircraft -- the last of a contract for 16 Sukhoi aircraft signed in 2007.

The Jakarta Globe report said each squadron is expected to consist of 16 Sukhoi jets, although the newspaper didn't quote Dunia specifying what the aircraft might be.

Ida said the Sukhoi jets were sophisticated fighter aircraft that offer a high deterrence and will strengthen the Indonesian air force.

The deal on the Sukhois that includes pilot training is for the air force's Squadron 11 at Hasanuddin Air Base in Makassar.

"[We] have a sufficient number of pilots to operate them, but we also are preparing pilots for new fighter aircraft," he said.

In early September the Jakarta Post newspaper reported that the last two Sukhoi fighters had arrived from Russia at the Hasanuddin base in an Antanov An-124 transport aircraft.

The Sukhoi aircraft were in completely knocked-down condition.

"The manufacturer also sent 13 technicians to assemble the aircraft [and] perform a series of tests before handing them over to the government," Hasanuddin base spokesman Maj. Muliadi said at the time.

He said usually it would take a week for the technicians to assemble the aircraft and perform the tests.

Weapons for the aircraft are being procured under separate contracts, he said.

The air force also is looking to replace its old Northrop F-5 Tiger fighter aircraft, Ida said.

"We are looking at our options as it is important to find a more sophisticated replacement," he said.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro confirmed the government's plan to replace its F-5 Tigers, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Yusgiantoro said the military had received a squadron of 16 supersonic advanced trainer T-50 Golden Eagle T-50s -- so-called baby F-16s -- from South Korea at the Iswahyudi Military Air Base in Madiun, on Java Island.

The T-50, which also can be used as a light fighter, was developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin and is South Korea's first indigenous supersonic aircraft.

Its maiden flight was in 2002 and it entered service with the Republic of Korea Air Force in 2005.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Indonesia_eyes_more_jet_fighters_999.html.

Egypt prosecutors interrogate Jazeera team

December 30, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state security prosecutors interrogated a team of journalists working for Al-Jazeera's English channel Monday a day after they were arrested in Cairo, a security official said Monday.

State security prosecutors usually investigate cases involving national security or terrorism. The official said the journalists from the Qatar-based network were being questioned for broadcasting without permission from a five-star hotel, the Cairo Marriott. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

It was not immediately clear if the team was facing other charges. Egypt has long accused Al-Jazeera of bias in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. But so far its crackdown on the network has mostly targeted its Arabic service and a local branch focusing on Egypt coverage.

The Interior Ministry had said its arrest of the journalists was part of its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood group, which the government branded as a "terrorist" organization last week. The ministry accused one of those arrested, without naming him, of using the hotel suite as a media center for the group from which it broadcast "rumors and false news" and to hold organizational meetings for members of the Brotherhood.

The arrests came as authorities widen its crackdown on the movement. A Cairo court on Monday also sentenced 138 pro-Morsi protesters to two years in prison with labor on charges of rioting and vandalism.

In Washington, Marie Harf, the deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the United States remains concerned about the interim Egyptian government's Dec. 25 terrorist designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as ongoing detentions and arrests, including for peaceful demonstrators, civil society and political activists.

"We remain deeply concerned about all of the politically motivated arrests, detentions and charges in Egypt," she said Monday. "These actions raise questions about the rule of law being applied impartially and equitably and do not move Egypt's transition forward."

Al-Jazeera network said in a statement that four of its journalists based in Cairo were detained late Sunday, including Australian award-winning correspondent Peter Greste; Al-Jazeera English Bureau Chief Mohammed Fahmy, a producer and a cameraman. The network called their detention "arbitrary", and called for their immediate release.

Al-Jazeera's offices have been stormed several times before. State pressure on the channel has intensified since Egypt's July 3 coup, which followed demonstrations by millions calling for Morsi's ouster.

Al-Jazeera journalists and cameramen have been detained and a court order has barred its local affiliate from broadcasting in Egypt since September, accusing it of endangering national security. The affiliate, Al-Jazeera Mubasher Egypt, has continued to broadcast using its studios in Doha, Qatar, collaborating with freelancers and using amateur videos.

The Al-Jazeera English team kept an office in the hotel for months. The channel's offices were raided this summer and equipment confiscated in late summer as part of a broad state crackdown. In its statement, the network said it was not officially banned in Egypt. "We condemn the arbitrary arrest of Al Jazeera English journalists working in Cairo and demand their immediate and unconditional release," the statement said.

Egypt's military-backed government has accused Al-Jazeera network of bias because its patron, Qatar, is perceived to have supported the Brotherhood, and was one of Morsi's biggest financial backers, injecting billions into the battered economy during his time in office.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Interior Ministry said that the journalists had with them footage and protest materials from university students who staged a demonstration in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, riot police clashed with students of the Islamic Al-Azhar University in Cairo, who rallied against the military and in support of Morsi. The government accuses the protesting students of seeking to derail midterm exams. Volleys of tear gas fell inside the campus for the third straight day.

In a new move that appears designed to limit student action, a Cairo court Monday barred university students from protesting without a prior permission from their deans.

Mubarak's sons, PM Ahmed Shafiq acquitted in corruption trial

Dec. 19, 2013

CAIRO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A criminal court in Cairo Thursday acquitted former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and toppled President Hosni Mubarak's sons of embezzling public funds.

Shafiq and Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were accused of misappropriating funds in the Pilots' Association for Land Development in the 1990s, with Shafiq accused of seizing land belonging to fishing farms and allocating it to the association then selling the land to Mubarak's sons at below-market prices.

Also acquitted were former Air Force Gens. Nabil Shoukry and Mohamed Reda, both former association officials who were defendants with the Mubaraks and Shafiq, Ahram Online reported.

Shafiq, who was tried in absentia, lives in Dubai where he fled after losing the presidential election runoff to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in 2012. Morsi was ousted this summer by the military.

A verdict in a separate corruption trial against Shafiq was expected to be announced soon.

Alaa and Gamal Mubarak also face separate trials on other corruption-related charges.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/12/19/Mubaraks-sons-PM-Ahmed-Shafiq-acquitted-in-corruption-trial/UPI-14441387460792/.