NEW DELHI: New Delhi is in touch with the family of an Indian man who is accused of plotting with an Indian government official to kill a Sikh separatist in the United States, the foreign ministry said on Friday in reaction to a Reuters report.
Nikhil Gupta, extradited to the United States this month after his arrest in Prague last year, has been accused by US federal prosecutors of unsuccessfully plotting with an Indian official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US citizen.
Gupta, 52, pleaded not guilty on Monday to murder-for-hire conspiracy charges in a court in Manhattan and a source close to his family told Reuters on Thursday that it wanted New Delhi’s help to “get justice.”
“We have so far not received any request for consular access from Gupta, but his family has got in touch with us,” Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters. “We are in touch with the family members and we are looking at the matter as to what can be done on their request.”
The US government has said it thwarted the alleged plot to kill Pannun and warned India about concerns of its involvement.
India has designated Pannun an “individual terrorist” but has dissociated itself from the plot, saying it goes against government policy. Pannun advocates for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.
The source, who declined to be named given the sensitive nature of a case that has diplomatic implications, had said Gupta’s family has not been able to establish direct contact with him since his extradition.
“Regardless of the allegations raised against him, he is an Indian citizen and a patriot who deserves the rights and protections granted by the government to its citizens.”
The source said the family believed Gupta “is a victim in this series of events” but that “he will get justice.”
New Delhi in touch with family of Indian suspect in Sikh murder plot in US
https://arab.news/whf8n
New Delhi in touch with family of Indian suspect in Sikh murder plot in US
- Nikhil Gupta was extradited to United States this month after his arrest in Prague last year
- Gupta is accused by US of unsuccessfully plotting with Indian official to kill a US citizen
Dutch woman accused of enslaving Yazidi women while part of Daesh goes on trial
- It viewed the Yazidis as devil worshippers and killed more than 3,000 of them, as well as enslaving 7,000 Yazidi women and girls and displaced most of the 550,000-strong community from its ancestral home in northern Iraq
THE HAGUE: A Dutch woman who joined Daesh in 2015 went on trial in the Netherlands on Monday for crimes against humanity for allegedly enslaving two Yazidi women in Syria.
Hasna Aarab, 33, faces charges of taking part in slavery as a crime against humanity for keeping two Yazidi women as domestic slaves, between 2015 and 2016, while she lived in Raqqa with her small son and her Daesh fighter husband.
The Netherlands is only the second country to put an alleged Daesh member on trial for crimes against humanity against Yazidis, an ancient religious minority who combine Zoroastrian, Christian, Manichean, Jewish and Muslim beliefs.
Daesh controlled swathes of Iraq and Syria from 2014-2017, before being defeated in its last bastions in Syria in 2019.
It viewed the Yazidis as devil worshippers and killed more than 3,000 of them, as well as enslaving 7,000 Yazidi women and girls and displaced most of the 550,000-strong community from its ancestral home in northern Iraq.
In previous cases Germany convicted two members for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against Yazidis.
Aarab is also charged with membership of a terrorist organization from 2015 to 2022 and endangering her then 4-year old son by taking him to a war zone.
She told the court Monday that she felt alienated and depressed in the Netherlands and left Syria for a new life in 2015 but not to join Daesh.
“I heard some stuff (but) I did not think I would have to deal with IS atrocities,” she told judges.
In earlier procedural hearings Aarab’s lawyers said she was young and naive and was left in the house with the Yazidi by her then-husband, but did not command the women. The defense will present its full case later this week.
Under Dutch universal jurisdiction laws, national courts can try suspects for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on foreign soil as long as the accused have a link to the Netherlands.
UK orders sanctions against top Iranian military figures
- Lammy, in Luxembourg at a meeting with EU foreign ministers, said in a statement that the sanctions were a way to hold Iran to account and expose those behind the attacks
LONDON: Britain on Monday ordered sanctions against top Iranian military figures after Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Iran had ignored repeated warnings that its “dangerous actions” — and those of its proxies — were fueling conflict in the Middle East.
Among the individuals subject to a travel ban and assets freeze are the commander-in-chief of the Iranian army, Abdolrahim Mousavi, and the air force, Hamid Vahedi.
Iran said it launched the missile attack in response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon and the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing widely blamed on Israel.
It was Iran’s second direct attack on Israel after a missile and drone attack in April in response to an airstrike on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus that it blamed on Israel.
Lammy, in Luxembourg at a meeting with EU foreign ministers, said in a statement that the sanctions were a way to hold Iran to account and expose those behind the attacks.
“Alongside allies and partners, we will continue to take necessary measures to challenge Iran’s unacceptable threats and press for de-escalation across the region,” he added.
The British list also features the Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence chief Mohammad Kazemi.
Two companies, including Iran’s space agency, whose technology can be used in cruise and ballistic missiles, were hit with an assets freeze.
Last week, the US government imposed restrictions on dozens of companies in Iran’s oil and petrochemicals sectors to cut off funding for what it said was the country’s “destabilizing activity.”
Also on Monday, the EU imposed sanctions on prominent Iranian officials and entities, including airlines, accused of taking part in the transfer of missiles and drones for Russia to use against Ukraine.
The bloc said that EU foreign ministers approved the sanctions on seven entities, including Iran Air, and seven individuals, including Deputy Defense Minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari and the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force senior officials.
Leading European powers Britain, France, and Germany adopted similar sanctions last month over Iranian missile transfers to Russia, as did the US.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the adoption of the sanctions by the entire bloc, adding: “More is needed.”
“The Iranian regime’s support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is unacceptable and must stop,” she posted on X.
Two other Iranian airlines, Saha Airlines and Mahan Air, were hit under the EU measures, along with two procurement firms blamed for the “transfer and supply, through transnational procurement networks, of Iran-made UAVs and related components and technologies to Russia.”
The sanctions also target two companies producing propellants to launch rockets and missiles.
Those targeted are subject to an asset freeze and banned from traveling to the EU.
Iran rejects Western accusations it has transferred missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine.
According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, dozens of Russian military personnel have received training in Iran on using the Fath-360 missile, which has a range of 120 km.
Canada, India expel each other’s diplomats in escalating row over Sikh activist’s assassination
- Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the Surrey city
- Nijjar owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland
NEW DELHI: Canada and India each expelled six diplomats Monday in tit-for-tat moves as part of an escalating dispute over the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.
A senior Canadian government official said that Canada was expelling six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, after police uncovered evidence of ongoing violent criminal activity linked to the Indian government.
Shortly afterward, the Indian foreign ministry said it was expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner and the deputy high commissioner. It said in a statement that the diplomats were told to leave India by the end of Saturday.
The ministry had said earlier Monday that India was withdrawing its diplomats, after rejecting Canada’s diplomatic communication on Sunday that said the Indian ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination.
A second senior Canadian official said that Canada expelled the Indian diplomats first before they withdrew. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year that there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the June 2023 assassination in Canada of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme said that police have evidence allegedly tying Indian government agents to homicides and other violent acts in Canada. He declined to provide specifics.
“The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” Duheme said.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin called it extremely concerning.
“Indian diplomats and consular officials are to protect the interests of their nationals based in Canada and their national interest and not to be part of criminal activity or intimidation, so we take that very seriously. That is without a doubt a contravention of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Gauvin said.
India has rejected the accusation as absurd.
Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.
India designated him a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death had been seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest.
In response to the allegations, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Ever since, the relations between the two countries have been frosty.
The pro-Khalistan, or Sikh independence, movement is a thorny issue between India and Canada. New Delhi has repeatedly criticized Trudeau’s government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement who reside in Canada. The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.
India has been asking countries like Canada, Australia and the UK to take legal action against Sikh activists. India has particularly raised these concerns with Canada, where Sikhs make up nearly 2 percent of the country’s population.
The Indian foreign ministry said Monday that “India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”
The ministry also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable.”
“We have no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said.
Stewart Wheeler, the Canadian diplomat who was directed to leave India, told reporters after being summoned that his government has shared “incredible and irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
Wheeler said India must investigate the allegations and that Canada “stands ready to cooperate with India.”
Meanwhile, the US State Department said in a statement Monday that an Indian enquiry committee set up to investigate a plot to assassinate another prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York would be traveling to Washington on Tuesday as part of their ongoing investigations to discuss the case.
“Additionally, India has informed the United States they are continuing their efforts to investigate other linkages of the former government employee and will determine follow-up steps, as necessary,” it said.
Last year, U,S, prosecutors said that an Indian government official directed the plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and announced charges against a man they said was part of the thwarted conspiracy.
The Indian government official was niether charged nor identified by name, but was described as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in security management and intelligence, said to have previously served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force.
New Delhi at that time had expressed concern after the US raised the issue, and said India takes it seriously.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested outside New York Stock Exchange
- The protesters chanted “Let Gaza live!” and “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” in front of the stock exchange’s landmark building in lower Manhattan
NEW YORK: About 200 demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza were arrested in a sit-in outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, police said.
The protesters chanted “Let Gaza live!” and “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” in front of the stock exchange’s landmark building in lower Manhattan.
“The reason we’re here is to demand that the US government stop sending bombs to Israel and stop profiting off of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” said Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, the group that organized the demonstration. “Because what’s been happening for the last year is that Israel is using US bombs to massacre communities in Gaza while simultaneously weapons manufacturers on Wall Street are seeing their stock prices skyrocket.”
A handful of counterprotesters waved Israeli flags and tried to shout down the pro-Palestinian chants.
None of the pro-Palestinian protesters got inside the exchange, but at least 200 made it inside a security fence on Broad Street, where they sat down and waited to be taken into custody.
A spokesperson for the exchange declined to comment on the protest.
Police arrested the protesters one by one, cuffing their hands behind their backs with plastic ties and leading them to vans. Some demonstrators went limp and were carried by three or four officers.
A police spokesperson said there were about 200 arrests. She did not have details on the charges they faced.
The protest happened a week after the world marked the anniversary of Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the start of Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza, which has since spread to Lebanon and beyond.
The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 21 people.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and it was not clear what the target was.
India and Canada expel top envoys in Sikh separatist killing row
- Murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar crashed country’s diplomatic relations with India
- Trudeau previously said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence services to the crime
NEW DELHI: India and Canada each expelled the other’s ambassador and five other top diplomats, after New Delhi said its envoy had been named among “persons of interest” following the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.
New Delhi said it was withdrawing its six diplomats from Canada, but an Ottawa government source told AFP they had been expelled, not withdrawn.
The 2023 murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar crashed the country’s diplomatic relations with India after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence services to the crime.
The expulsion of the diplomats — the most senior envoys on both sides — is a major escalation in the row.
India “decided to expel” Ottawa’s acting High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler, his deputy and four first secretaries, ordering they leave before midnight on Sunday.
Ottawa announced similar measures in return, with Canadian police saying they had “evidence pertaining to agents of the government of India’s involvement in serious criminal activity” in Canada.
Nijjar — who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 — had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India.
He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder, which took place in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023.
New Delhi had earlier said it had “received a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are persons of interest” in the ongoing investigation.
It said their envoy, Sanjay Kumar Verma, a former ambassador to Japan and Sudan, was a respected career diplomat and that the accusations were “ludicrous.”
New Delhi’s foreign ministry said it had told Verma to return home.
“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said in a statement.
India on Monday called allegations it was connected to the killing “preposterous” and a “strategy of smearing India for political gains.”
Last year, the Indian government briefly curbed visas for Canadians and forced Ottawa to withdraw diplomats, and on Monday threatened further action.
“India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau Government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India,” the foreign ministry said.
The foreign ministry also summoned Canadian envoy Wheeler, who said that Ottawa had given India the evidence it had demanded.
“Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil,” Wheeler told reporters after leaving the ministry.
“Now, it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into all those allegations. It is in the interest of both our countries and the peoples of our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to cooperate with India.”
India then announced his expulsion.
Canada is home to around 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two percent of the country’s population, with a vocal minority calling for an independent state of Khalistan.
In November 2023, the US Justice Department also charged an Indian citizen living in the Czech Republic with allegedly plotting a similar assassination attempt on US soil.
Prosecutors said in unsealed court documents that an Indian government official was also involved in the planning of that attempt.
