Stockholm: A Stockholm court on Thursday acquitted one of the highest-ranking Syrian military officials to be tried in Europe on war crimes charges, saying in a statement the prosecution did not prove his alleged involvement.
Former brigadier general Mohammed Hamo, 65, was declared innocent of the charges of “aiding and abetting” war crimes in 2012, the court said. While the Syrian military had used “indiscriminate attacks” at that time, the prosecution did not prove that Hamo’s division was involved in those attacks, nor that he had a role in providing arms for the attacks, the statement said.
The war between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and armed opposition groups, including Islamic State, erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.
It has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged Syria's economy and infrastructure.
According to the charges, Hamo contributed -- through "advice and action" -- to the Syrian army's warfare, which "systematically included attacks carried out in violation of the principles of distinction, caution and proportionality".
"The warfare was thus indiscriminate," prosecutor Karolina Wieslander told the court when the trial opened in April.
Wieslander said the Syrian army's "widespread air and ground attacks" caused damage "at a scale that was disproportionate in view of the concrete and immediate general military advantages that could be expected to be achieved".
In his role as brigadier general and head of an armament division, Hamo allegedly helped coordinate the supply of arms and ammunition to units.
Hamo's lawyer, Mari Kilman, told the court her client denied criminal responsibility and had not shown "intent" to contribute to "indiscriminate warfare" by others.
Kilman said the officer could not be held liable for the actions "as he had acted in a military context and had to follow orders."
Aida Samani, senior legal advisor at rights group Civil Rights Defenders -- which has been monitoring the trial -- told AFP that "strong evidence" had been presented at the trial.
"We will now see what the court makes of that information and evidence," Samani said.
"What is noteworthy about this case is that this is the first trial concerning the Syrian military's warfare. That is, how the warfare was carried out," she said.
No European court has previously dealt with this issue and the impact on civilian lives and infrastructure, she added.
Hamo is the highest-ranking military official to go on trial in Europe in person, though other countries have tried to bring charges against more senior members.
In March, Swiss prosecutors charged Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad, with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, it remains unlikely Rifaat al-Assad -- who recently returned to Syria after 37 years in exile -- will show up for the trial, for which a date has yet to be set.
Swiss law allows for trials in absentia under certain conditions.
In November, France issued an international arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad, accusing him of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes over chemical attacks in 2013.
Three other international warrants were also issued for the arrests of Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher, the de-facto chief of the army's elite Fourth Division, and two generals.
In May, a Paris court also ordered life prison sentences for three top Syrian security officials for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The accused -- Ali Mamlouk, former head of the National Security Bureau; Jamil Hassan, former director of the Air Force intelligence service; and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, former head of investigations -- were all absent, but there are international warrants for their arrest.
In January 2022, a German court sentenced former colonel Anwar Raslan to life in jail for crimes against humanity. That was the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria and was hailed by victims as a victory for justice.
Swedish court acquits former Syrian general of war crimes charges: statement
https://arab.news/gbp3q
Swedish court acquits former Syrian general of war crimes charges: statement
- The trial is against one of the highest-ranking Syrian military officials to be tried in Europe,
Support for Farage’s Reform UK party drops after Ukraine comments
Prime Minster Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives were on 20 percent, up from 19 percent previously
LONDON: Support for Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party has fallen ahead of a July 4 election, a poll showed on Thursday, after he said the West had provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The BMG Research opinion poll for the i newspaper, carried out June 24-26, put support for Reform on 16 percent, down from a record high of 19 percent last week. Prime Minster Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives were on 20 percent, up from 19 percent previously.
Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour Party remained far ahead on 42 percent.
In an interview with the BBC aired last Friday, Farage said he stood by previous comments that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a consequence of the eastward expansion of the European Union and NATO.
The remarks by Farage, one of the country’s most recognizable and divisive politicians, drew strong criticism across the British political spectrum, but he went on to repeat them again during campaigning this week.
Britain has been a vocal backer of Ukraine since the February 2022 invasion and polls taken earlier this year showed British public support also remained solid.
The dip in support for Reform could ease some of the pressure on the Conservatives after Farage’s surprise entry into the election race threatened to divert right-of-center votes away from Sunak’s party.
“This is a glimmer of hope for the Conservatives as the Reform surge appears to have stalled,” Rob Struthers, BMG Research Director said.
“However, the overall picture for Rishi Sunak remains extremely bleak ... Labour’s lead over the Conservatives remains above 20 points. This leaves little doubt that the Conservatives are fighting to avoid a near wipeout next week.”
Any hope that the Conservatives could narrow the gap on Labour in the final weeks has been tested after five Conservative Party officials, including two candidates, were investigated over bets on the timing of the election.
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Thursday it was investigating “a small number of bets” made on the timing of the election, with possible offenses including Misconduct in a Public Office.
Lawyer for British tabloid accuses Prince Harry of destroying documents sought in litigation
- A lawyer for Harry said News Group Newspapers was engaging in a “classic fishing expedition”
- The hearing is the latest in Harry’s battles against Britain’s biggest tabloids
LONDON: An attorney for the publisher of The Sun tabloid Thursday accused Prince Harry of engaging in “shocking” and “extraordinary” obfuscation by destroying evidence it was seeking in his lawsuit claiming that the newspaper violated his privacy by unlawfully snooping on him.
Attorney Anthony Hudson said at High Court that the Duke of Sussex had deliberately destroyed text messages with the ghostwriter who penned his bestselling memoir, “Spare.”
A lawyer for Harry said News Group Newspapers was engaging in a “classic fishing expedition” by seeking documents they should have sought much sooner for a trial scheduled in January.
“NGN’s tactical and sluggish approach to disclosure wholly undermines the deliberately sensational assertion that the claimant (Harry) has not properly carried out the disclosure exercise,” his attorney, David Sherborne, said in court papers. “This is untrue. In fact, the claimant has already made clear that he has conducted extensive searches, going above and beyond his obligations.”
Hudson said Harry had created an “obstacle course” to getting documents it was seeking from his former lawyer and staff when Harry was a working member of the royal family.
“If the claimant wanted his documents from his former solicitors’ or from the royal household ... he would have got them,” Hudson said.
The hearing is the latest in Harry’s battles against Britain’s biggest tabloids over alleged phone hacking and hiring private investigators to use unlawful measures to dig up dirt on him.
Harry is one of dozens of claimants, which had included actor Hugh Grant, alleging that between 1994 and 2016, News Group journalists violated their privacy through widespread unlawful activity that included intercepting voicemails, tapping phones, bugging cars and using deception to access confidential information.
The litigation grew out of a phone hacking scandal that erupted at NGN’s News of the World in 2011.
The judge in the case recently ruled that Harry couldn’t expand his lawsuit to add allegations that Rupert Murdoch, who was executive of the company that included NGN, was part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful activity.
NGN issued an unreserved apology in 2011 to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World, which closed its doors after the scandal. NGN said it has settled 1,300 claims for its newspapers, though The Sun has never accepted liability.
Ukraine’s president urges EU leaders to make good on their arms promises
- “We have to work on next steps,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Brussels
- He thanked countries that have promised equipment, weapons and ammunition, but underlined that “we need them urgently on the battlefield”
BRUSSELS: Ukraine’s president called on European Union leaders on Thursday to make good on their pledges to provide military equipment to his war-ravaged country, just days after the bloc launched membership talks with his government.
“We have to work on next steps,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Brussels as he arrived to attend a summit of EU leaders. He said he and the leaders would discuss “the urgent things -– air defense, that is one.”
Zelensky thanked countries that have promised equipment, weapons and ammunition, but underlined that “we need them urgently on the battlefield.”
Russian forces are seeking to press their advantage in troop numbers and weaponry before Ukraine’s armed forces are bulked up by promised new Western military aid, some of which is trickling to the front line, analysts say.
The EU launched membership talks with Ukraine on Tuesday, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West, part of a chain of events that set the two neighbors on the path to war.
“We waited for this, a long period of time,” Zelensky said, thanking the EU for its approval.
The leaders are expected to sign a document of security commitments to Ukraine, which in essence encapsulates what the 27-nation bloc has been doing for the country in terms of financial, military and other assistance since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.
Several countries already have similar agreements with Ukraine, offering a long-term commitment to help Kyiv, including once its war with Russia is over. Zelensky and US President Joe Biden signed one such pact earlier this month which will run for the next decade.
Philippines hosts Asia-Pacific’s first UN forum on gastronomy tourism
- Event co-organized by Spain-based Basque Culinary Center, one of the world’s top gastronomy schools
- UN Tourism chief announces plan to establish an educational gastronomy center in the Philippines
Manila: The Philippines is hosting the UN’s first regional forum on gastronomy in Cebu, in conjunction with UN Tourism’s annual joint meeting of the Commission for East Asia and the Pacific and the Commission for South Asia.
Organized by the government of the Philippines, UN Tourism and its Spain-based affiliate Basque Culinary Center — one of the world’s top gastronomy and nutrition schools — the event on June 26-27 is focused on policies to advance culinary tourism in the region, preserving local traditions and protecting the land and products for the sector’s sustainability, and initiatives to help address climate change.
“Food tourism is of course a growing and dynamic sector, offering enormous potential for economic growth and advancement and cultural exchange among nations,” Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said as she welcomed the forum’s participants in the Cebu province’s Lapu-Lapu city.
“We join you in our shared aspirations to advance tourism and gastronomy in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.”
The UN Tourism Regional Forum on Gastronomy Tourism for Asia and the Pacific started with the ceremonial pouring of rice into a giant puso — a Filipino cake made by boiling rice in a rectangular woven pouch of palm leaves, which is a culinary pride of the Cebu province.
“By showcasing our local flavors and culinary traditions, we invite the rest of the world to experience the heart and soul of the Filipino, the heart of the Philippines,” Frasco said, narrating the country’s culinary history, where indigenous and Malay heritage meets Spanish, Chinese, and American influences.
“Filipino cuisine is a diverse tapestry of flavors, reflecting regional characteristics from across our beautiful archipelago of 7,641 islands, from the globally renowned Cebu lechon and the comforting tastes of adobo and sinigang to Mindanao’s distinctive dishes like curacha, pastil, our culinary heritage is rich and varied ... Through our food, we tell the story of the Filipino. We narrate the victories of our people, our homeland, our history.”
Since Asia and the Pacific’s status as a gastronomy tourism destination has been growing, UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili announced he wanted to establish an educational gastronomy center in the Philippines.
“We know that education is the top priority for your tourists, and we will support this initiative to help the progress of UN Tourism,” Pololikashvili said.
“Food is at the heart of every tourist experience, and gastronomy tourism delivers many social and economic benefits.”
The event produced the Cebu Call to Action on Gastronomy Tourism for public and private sector leaders to integrate gastronomy tourism into policy and practice.
“It urges the creation of governance mechanisms uniting stakeholders under a shared vision, fostering cooperation across sectors such as agriculture and culture, and supporting small businesses to enhance their market position,” UN Tourism said in a statement.
“Emphasis was placed on empowering local communities through training and financing, promoting unique culinary experiences, and advocating for sustainable practices that protect local cultures and the environment.”
Thousands of doctors go on strike in England a week before the UK general election
- The five-day strike by junior doctors in the early years of their careers comes just a week before the UK general election
- Junior doctors have been locked in the pay dispute with the government since late 2022
LONDON: Thousands of doctors in England are staging their 11th walkout on Thursday in a long-running dispute with the government over pay and working conditions, disrupting hospital services just days before the UK general election.
The five-day strike by junior doctors — those in the early years of their careers — shines a spotlight on the troubles besetting the chronically underfunded National Health Service, Britain’s state-funded public health system, a topic that is a a top concern for voters going to the polls on July 4.
Junior doctors, who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care, have been locked in the pay dispute with the government since late 2022. They went on strike for six days in January — the longest in NHS history — and hospitals had to cancel tens of thousands of appointments and operations.
The latest strike begins Thursday and ends on Tuesday, just two days before voters cast their ballots to choose a new House of Commons.
The British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, say their pay has dropped by a quarter over the last 15 years and have called for a 35 percent pay uplift. The union says newly qualified doctors earn about 15 pounds ($19) an hour — the UK minimum wage is just over 10 pounds an hour — though salaries rise rapidly after the first year.
Dr. Sumi Manirajan, deputy chair of the junior doctors committee at the union, said that years of underinvestment has resulted in young doctors leaving in droves to countries that offer better pay, with those left behind seriously overworked and underpaid.
“Doctors that I trained with in London, some of the best in the country, have left to go to New Zealand. And actually what it makes me think of is why am I not doing the same? I want to be valued for the work that I do,” she said.
Manirajan, who recently graduated and works in obstetrics and gynecology, added that she sees many women waiting for more than a year for routine procedures.
“These patients are in pain, and it hurts us to see us see these patients come in again and again with the same problem that we know we could treat if we had enough doctors,” she said.
The Conservative government says it gave the doctors pay raises of between 8.1 percent to 10.3 percent last year and said that it was a generous settlement. It maintained that authorities can’t make a pay offer during the preelection period but the union refused to call off the strikes.
Manirajan said that it was unfortunate that the government chose to call an election while knowing that the dispute was unresolved.
The medics’ union said it was ready to talk, and it has already had some discussions with the opposition Labour Party, which has a considerable lead in polls.
“It is difficult to comprehend how either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party can deliver on their manifesto commitment to recover NHS performance over the next Parliament without first ending the dispute,” said Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund think tank.
