The transfer of sovereignty to Iraq's interim government on June 30 will include control of prisons and could lead to the handover of former president Saddam Hussein for trial by Iraqis, Britain's UN ambassador said. \nThe control of prisons has become a highly sensitive issue following revelations of physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi detainees by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. \nBritish ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said on Thursday: "It's totally consistent with the transfer of all sovereignty to this government that actually they will control the prisons." \nAsked whether that meant custody of Saddam would then be turned over to the interim government, the ambassador indicated it did. \n"I think we've always said that at some stage, and as soon as possible, Saddam Hussein should be handed over to the Iraqis for trial by Iraqis. And the sooner we can do that the better," Jones Parry said. \nSome UN Security Council members have expressed concern that prisoners aren't mentioned in the US-British draft resolution on the transfer of sovereignty currently being debated. China said it wanted the transfer of control spelled out in the draft because of the Abu Ghraib scandal. \nLast month, Iraqi war-crimes tribunal head Salem Chalabi said that Saddam would not be handed over to Iraqi authorities before June 30 and no trial would start before next year. \nChalabi said the US "has indicated that it is willing to hand over individuals in custody -- when indicted -- to the special Iraqi court dealing with those cases, if that court is ready to take them." \nChalabi said that it was "unlikely" that the tribunal would be ready to assume custody of the defendants before June 30. \nSaddam has been held in an undisclosed location since his capture by US forces and is being interrogated by the CIA and the FBI. The US has said it intends to hand him over to Iraqis for trial.
Sitting in a lotus position, four men weave glittering beads through gold thread on an organza sheet, carefully constructing a wedding dress that would soon wow crowds at Paris Fashion Week. For once, the French couturier behind the design, Julien Fournie, is determined to put these craftsmen in the spotlight. His new collection, which showed in Paris on Tuesday, was entirely made with fabrics from Mumbai. He said that a sort of “design imperialism” means that French fashion houses often play down that their fabrics are made outside France. “The houses which don’t admit it are perhaps afraid of losing their clientele,” Fournie
A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club following a Lunar New Year celebration, setting off a manhunt for the suspect in the latest mass shooting tragedy in an American community. Captain Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the wounded were taken to hospitals and their conditions range from stable to critical. He said the 10 people died at the scene in the city of Monterey Park. Meyer said people were “pouring out of the location screaming” when officers arrived at around 10:30 pm Saturday. He said officers then
INSTABILITY: The country has seen a 33 percent increase in land that cultivates poppies since the military took over the government in 2021, a UN report said The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military’s seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by one-third in the past year, as eradication efforts have dropped and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, a UN report released yesterday showed. Last year, the first full growing season since the military wrested control of the country from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, saw a 33 percent increase in Myanmar’s cultivation area to 40,100 hectares, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime report said. “Economic, security and governance disruptions
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