A court in Alexandria has jailed a police officer for five years and two policemen for a year each for humiliating a detainee by forcing him to wear a woman's nightdress, a judicial source said on Sunday. The court on Saturday sentenced Yusri Ahmed Eissa to five years and two of his deputies to a year each for "degrading" local car park attendant Ibrahim Abbas in April 2006, the source said. Abbas, who had been detained for alleged theft, was beaten with batons in the police station and then forced to wear a woman's nightdress and walk down a street, the source said.
■ IRAN
Criminals lose hands, feet
Five criminals convicted of armed robbery and hostage-taking had their right hands and left feet amputated, the student ISNA news agency reported on Sunday. The amputations, a legally permissible but rarely used punishment in Iran, was carried out in the presence of doctors in the southeastern city of Zahedan. The men were found guilty of "acting against God" and "corruption upon this Earth" for taking part in the robberies and taking hostages. The report did not say whether the punishment was carried out in prison or in public.
■ UNITED STATES
`Ninja Bandit' strikes again?
The costumed crook known as the "Ninja Bandit" may have struck again in New York City, police said. A home burglary this week seems to fit the pattern of 18 previous heists attributed to the black-clad, masked thief since May, police saud. The "Ninja Bandit" was so named after an intruder wielded a set of nunchucks when he scuffled with a homeowner in his kitchen in September. Other residents have said they, too, have encountered the burglar, but the suspect has managed to escape each time. The latest incident happened between Wednesday and Friday at a home in the Castleton Corners neighborhood of Staten Island. News reports said the thief entered the home through a sliding door and left with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry.
■ AUSTRIA
Avalanches leave five dead
Avalanches killed five people over the weekend, with the latest victim buried on Sunday by a thick mass of snow while skiing in the northern Pongau region. The 33-year-old Italian woman, who was not identified by name, was dug out by her skiing partner within minutes of the avalanche, but she was already dead, the Austria Press Agency said, citing Alpine rescue officials. The two had been skiing in the northern Alps, in the Pongau region of Salzburg Province. The other four victims were killed on Saturday in other skiing regions in Austria.
■ FRANCE
Driving on the wrong side
A "visibly drunk" motorist was caught driving for up to 30km on the wrong side of the Paris ring-road, police said on Sunday. In a "manifestly inebriated state," a 21-year-old male spent the early hours of Sunday in a cell after a preliminary hearing set a court date for May, police said. The driver's Peugot 206 was spotted by police at near Porte de Clichy, one of dozens of gateways into the city served by the ring-road. The police car was on the inner ring-road and noticed the driver traveling at roughly the same speed on the outer portion, and thus in the wrong direction. The man turned on to the A1 motorway, heading north, again on the wrong side of the road. He was finally stopped by traffic cops near the Stade de France stadium.
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