Excerpts: Egypt's NGO's facing trial. China's advice to Syria. Iran's
biggest bank fraud. Egypt sets Feb.26 for NGO trial. Iranian exiles in Iraq
to be relocated, February 19, 2012
+++SOURCE Egyptian Gazette 19 Feb.’12: “Dempsey wanted to fly US suspects
out of Egypt�, Agence France Presse.AFP
SUBJECT: Egypt’s NGOs facing trial
QUOTE: ‘only a court could lift the travel ban�
FULL TEXT: CAIRO - The top US military general asked Egyptian authorities
during a visit to Cairo this month to allow American democracy activists
facing trial to fly home with him, an Egyptian state newspaper reported on
Saturday [18 Ffeb).
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, met
Egypt's military rulers amid an acrid row between the allies over Egypt's
plans to try American and other activists for illicit foreign funding.
A number of the Americans charged have sought refuge in the US embassy in
Cairo. Dozens of activists of various nationalities also face trial.
"It appears that General Dempsey urged Egyptian officials he met to release
the accused Americans and allow them to leave the country, so they may be
tried in absentia," the Al-Ahram report said.
"The next day, the American request was even more persistent, with Dempsey
saying he wanted to accompany the Americans on his private plane," said the
report by a senior editor of the government's flagship newspaper.
Al-Ahram reported that the officials who met Dempsey told him the case was a
judicial matter and only a court could lift the travel ban on the suspects.
After the meetings, Dempsey's spokesman had said the general brought up the
charges against the 19 Americans, workers with NGOs accused of receiving
illicit foreign funding, but refused to elaborate on the discussions.
The prime suspect in the case is Sam LaHood, the son of US Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood. He heads the Egyptian chapter of the International
Republican Institute, one of the American NGOs implicated in the case.
Ray LaHood told US broadcaster CBS on Friday that "there are a lot of people
in our government, really top officials in our government, working night and
day to resolve this issue," according to CBS's website.
US lawmakers from both parties have stepped up their warnings that Egypt's
crackdown will force a review of the $1.3 billion in US military aid to the
longtime Middle Eastern ally if the crisis is not quickly resolved.
+++SOURCE: Egyptian Gazette 10 Feb.’12:�China envoy meets Assad, backs Syria
plan‎", Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: China’a advice to Syria
QUOTE:�Chinese’s Zhai Jun called on all sides in Syria to stop the violence�’
“Zhai said Beijing opposed armed intervention and forced ‘regme change’ in
Syria�
FULL TEXT:DAMASCUS — Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun called on all
sides in Syria to stop the violence and elections to go ahead peacefully
after Damascus talks with President Bashar Al Assad on Saturday[18 Feb..],
state media said.
“The position of China is to call on the government, the opposition and the
rebels to halt acts of violence immediately,� Zhai said, adding that it was
vital that “calm be restored as quickly as possibly as that serves the
interests of the Syrian people.�
“We hope that the referendum on a new constitution as well as the
forthcoming parliamentary elections pass off calmly,� state television
quoted him as saying.
On Thursday[16 Feb.], Syrian opposition groups rejected a newly drafted
constitution that could end nearly five decades of single-party rule, and
urged voters to boycott a February 26 referendum on the charter.
One of them, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, told
AFP “it is impossible for us to take part in this referendum before a stop
to the violence and killings.�
Zhai’s meeting with Assad followed talks with his counterpart, Faisal
Meqdad, late on Friday[17 Feb.] after which he said the international
community must respect Syria’s sovereignty.
“We exchanged views on ways to strengthen our cooperation in the face of
this difficult period in Syria,� said Zhai, whose government has twice
joined Moscow in blocking UN Security Council condemnation of the Damascus
regime’s deadly crackdown on an 11-month uprising.
“The sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria
must be respected by all sides and by the international community,� the
official Syrian Arab News Agency quoted him as saying.
“China hopes that national dialogue and reforms will move forward in Syria,�
he added. On Thursday[16 Feb.], before heading to Damascus, Zhai said
Beijing opposed armed intervention and forced “regime change� in Syria.
China and Russia have faced a barrage of criticism for blocking action by
the UN Security Council, including from Arab nations with which Beijing
normally has good ties.
“We urge the Syrian government and all of its political parties to
immediately and fully end all acts of violence and quickly restore stability
and normal social order,� said Zhai.
“China condemns all acts of violence against innocent civilians� and “does
not approve of armed intervention or forcing so-called ‘regime change,’� he
was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times `9 Feb,’12:�32 stand trial over Iran’s biggest bank
fraud “, Associated Press
SUBJECT: ‘Iran’s biggest bank fraud’
QUOTE:�undermined the country’s economic security through engaging in
organized fraud�:
TEHRAN — A Tehran court began hearing the trial of 32 defendants Saturday[18
Feb.] in a $2.6-billion bank fraud described as the biggest financial scam
in the country's history, state TV reported.
The city's chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi read the text of the
indictment against the 32 accused, who wore prison uniform as they attended
the Saturday[18 Feb.] session of the revolutionary court charged with
hearing cases involving security and organised crimes.
The charges involve the use of forged documents to get credit at one of
Iran's top financial institutions to purchase assets including major
state-owned companies.
Iran's judiciary has banned media from identifying the defendants by their
full names. The primary defendant is referred to in reports by his nickname,
"Amir Mansour Aria", and he is described in the Iranian media as the head of
a sprawling business empire.
"Owners of the Aria Investment Development Company ... took the first step
towards gaining wealth through using incorrect connections with executive
and political elements and paying bribes ... Dozens of instances of bribe
payments to staff and managers of banks have taken place under various
titles," state TV's website quoted the indictment as saying.
The indictment said company managers undermined the country's economic
security through engaging in organised fraud and paying large amounts of
bribes to illegally accumulate several billion dollars.
"Not only did they prevent the progress and the increase of production and
national wealth, they inflicted damage to people's trust and healthy
economic activity," state TV's website quoted the indictment as saying.
State TV said the top defendant has been charged with being "corrupt on
earth", an Iranian legal term meaning that the defendant is an enemy of God,
and which carries the death penalty.
Former head of Iran's Bank Melli Mahmoud Reza Khavari, one of the suspects
in the case, has left Iran and now reportedly lives in Canada.
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 19 Feb.’12:�Cairo sets February 26 for NGO trial�,
Associated Press
SUBJECT: Egypt sets Feb.26 for NGO trial
QUOTE:�the deepest crisis in US-Egyptian relations in decades�
FULL TEXT:CAIRO — Egypt will begin hearing the criminal trial of 19
Americans and 24 others on February 26 in a politically charged case against
foreign-funded pro-democracy groups, the country's state news agency said
Saturday[18 Feb.]
The trial represents an escalation in what has become the deepest crisis in
US-Egyptian relations in decades. American officials have said the
investigation could hinder the more than $1 billion in US aid that Cairo
receives. Egyptian authorities have blasted what they call US interference
in legal affairs.
Egypt's state news agency reported that the trial would open before a Cairo
court on February 26. It said 19 of the 43 defendants are Americans and 16
are Egyptians. The rest are Germans, Palestinians and Jordanians.
The Americans work for four US-based groups: the International Republican
Institute, the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House and a group that
trains journalists.
Only seven of the Americans are in Egypt, and all have been barred from
travel. Some have sought refuge at the American embassy in Cairo, including
Sam LaHood, who heads IRI's Egypt office and is the son of US Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood.
It remains unclear if they will attend the trial. US embassy officials were
not immediately available for comment.
The report said all the defendants had been charged with founding and
managing offices of international organisations without licences from the
Egyptian government, and with receiving foreign funding. The groups'
operations "infringe on Egyptian sovereignty", it said.
The setting of a trial date by Egypt, in addition to a campaign against NGOs
in the state media, are likely to inflame a crisis that US officials have
tried to solve through diplomacy.
President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta have personally met with top officials in
Egypt's military-led government, and urged them to end the investigations
and allow the US citizens under investigation to leave the country. Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey visited Cairo last week in
another unsuccessful bid for a solution.
Cairo's failure to respond has prompted Washington lawmakers to advocate
withholding the United States' annual aid package to Egypt. US Senator John
McCain, (R-Arizona), will lead a congressional delegation on yet another
mission to Egypt in the coming days.
But administration officials are hesitant to push too hard. The US is eager
to preserve an alliance with Egypt that has been a foundation of stability
in the Middle East since the late 1970s, ensuring peace between the Arab
world's most populous country and Israel.
Ending US assistance programmes only a year after Egyptians braved the
repression in Cairo's Tahrir Square to call for the overthrow of President
Hosni Mubarak would hardly be a vote of confidence in Arab democracy.
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 19 Feb.’12:�Iranian exiles move to new Iraq camp�,
Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Iranian exiles iin Iraq to be relocated
QUOTE:�3,499 Iranians opposed to the Tehran regime . . .(to) eventually
being resettled in other countries�
EXCERPTS: BAGHDAD — Several hundred Iranian exiles arrived at a UN-approved
site near Baghdad on Saturday[18 Feb.], a first step in a process that aims
to see them resettled outside Iraq where they have been based for decades.
The move is part of a December 25 deal between the United Nations and Iraq,
reached after extensive talks.
Under the deal, around 3,400 Iranians opposed to the Tehran regime are to
move from their long-time base, Camp Ashraf, to a new location called Camp
Liberty, with the aim of eventually being resettled in other countries.
"We are arriving at the gate to [Camp] Liberty," Behzad Saffari, the legal
adviser for residents of Camp Ashraf, told AFP by telephone at around 6:00am
(0300 GMT).
The 397 exiles had departed Camp Ashraf in 18 buses from about 1:30am on
Saturday[18 Feb.], escorted by Iraqi security forces, Saffari said.
Their arrival at Camp Liberty was not without problems, with Saffari saying
the exiles objected to additional searches of their belongings, which had
already been searched in a nearly 12-hour process before leaving Ashraf,
though they eventually conceded.
Saffari also said Iraqi security forces wanted to assign the exiles housing
within the camp, a move they also opposed, leading to more delays.
"We want to determine who goes where; it's not a prison here," he said.
It was not possible to independently verify the account, as journalists were
not allowed to go to the camp.
. . .
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
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