Israel court acquits man 13 years after murder conviction

Israel court acquits man 13 years after murder conviction
Roman Zdorov (C) and his wife Olga sit at the District Court in Nazareth, on March 30, 2023. (Gil Eliyahu-JINIPIX/AFP))
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Updated 30 March 2023

Israel court acquits man 13 years after murder conviction

Israel court acquits man 13 years after murder conviction

JERUSALEM: An Israeli court on Thursday acquitted a man convicted of murdering a schoolgirl in 2006, with her mother vowing to find the real killer in the case that gripped the country. The verdict reignited the mystery around the case that inspired conspiracy theories, books and movies, including a documentary that aired on Netflix.

“The Nazareth district court today acquitted ... defendant Roman Zdorov of the murder of Tair Rada,” the court said in a statement.

Rada, 13, was found with a slit throat and in a pool of blood in a bathroom stall of her high school in Katzrin, a town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in December 2006.

Zdorov, a Ukrainian resident of Israel, was arrested days after, and charged at the same Nazareth court based on evidence and a confession he later retracted. He was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison.

Expert opinion on the knife used saw the supreme court order a retrial, and in 2014 the Nazareth district court once again found him guilty, a ruling the supreme court upheld.

In 2021 a supreme court judge granted Zdorov the right to another retrial at the Nazareth district court, releasing him to house arrest for the duration of the process that ended Thursday with two of three judges ruling him innocent of Rada’s murder.


Lebanese opposition parties ‘reach consensus’ on presidential candidate

Lebanese opposition parties ‘reach consensus’ on presidential candidate
Updated 10 sec ago

Lebanese opposition parties ‘reach consensus’ on presidential candidate

Lebanese opposition parties ‘reach consensus’ on presidential candidate
  • Lebanon has been in constitutional crisis since Michel Aoun left the presidential palace seven months ago

BEIRUT: A Lebanese MP has said opposition parties have reached consensus on a presidential candidate, in an apparent breakthrough that could end a seven-month power vacuum.

Fadi Karam, of Lebanese Forces, told Arab News that “all signs were positive” that the Free Patriotic Movement, a one-time ally of Hezbollah, had agreed to endorse the nomination of Jihad Azour, currently the director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund.

“We reached an agreement with the FPM and we are looking for the right time to announce it officially,” he said after opposition parties met on Friday. “Each party might announce its stance, but what’s certain is that the FPM endorses Azour and will announce its stance individually.”

He said announcements could be made before Monday.

Karam added that Azour’s backers were “communicating with other parties, including the Progressive Socialist Party, the Moderation Bloc, and independents,” to secure more votes to secure the necessary 68 votes for Azour’s election. “Signs are positive,” he added.

Lebanon has been in constitutional crisis since Michel Aoun left the presidential palace seven months ago. There have been 11 failed election sessions by MPs since then, prompting the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, to say that he would refuse another unless “at least two serious presidential candidates are presented”. He warned that “disruption and intimidation would be of no use or benefit.”

Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and their allies support the candidacy of former minister and head of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Frangieh. The FPM was Hezbollah’s ally before turning against it after it endorsed Frangieh’s candidacy.

Azour was first put forward by Christian parties and their efforts are now mainly focused on getting the FPM to approve his nomination.

Some other opposition parties meanwhile have supported Michel Mouawad.

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi is among the opposition forces pressing speaker Berri to schedule an electoral session.

“Berri should have called a meeting two months before the end of former president Michel Aoun’s term, but some people violate the constitution,” Al-Rahi said after returning from a trip to the Vatican.

He said the Vatican and France had asked him to “work internally with other components, so Christian parties would agree on a presidential candidate” and that he would speak to anyone, “including Berri and Hezbollah.”

Barbara Leaf, US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said that the US administration was considering sanctions on Lebanese officials for their continued obstruction in the election of a new president.

She added in a statement: “The administration is very disappointed in the current situation in Lebanon, and is cooperating with its local and European partners to push the Lebanese parliament to carry out its duties.

“The Lebanese people’s representatives failed at doing their job, and the parliament speaker failed at holding parliamentary sessions since last January to allow deputies to nominate presidential candidates and vote for them to elect a president.”

In a visit to Lebanon in March, Leaf had warned against “the collapse of Lebanon as a state” and said that time had “started to run out.” She was surprised that there wasn’t “any sense of urgency on the part of many political leaders and deputies.”

Reformist MP Waddah Sadek said he was confident that two “serious candidates” would be officially nominated by the end of this week.

“The first serious candidate is Frangieh. Before next Monday, the second serious candidate will be announced, after receiving the approval of many parliamentary blocs and deputies,” he said.

“We will be looking forward to a speedy parliamentary session next week. If anything happens and the quorum is lost, we will consider this a new obstruction and a blow to what’s left of the country’s democracy, if any.”

Independent MP Bilal Houshaymi affirmed his support for “the Christian parties’ agreement to nominate Azour, whose professional position at the World Bank allows him to lead Lebanon’s recovery out of the abyss.”

Houshaymi said Frangieh “isn’t accepted by most Christian parties at a time when he calls for consensus.”

He said Hezbollah wanted to carry on with its statelet within the Lebanese state, even if at the expense of other components.

Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said: “The presidential election isn’t about the people, but rather about who wishes the resistance well and who stabs the resistance in the back.”

Raad said Hezbollah "supports Frangieh because we are confident that he will not stab the resistance in the back and he is capable of being a bridge of communication between us and the others, including our political adversaries. He is also capable of communicating with our Arab surroundings, as well as with countries concerned with Lebanese affairs.”

Those opposing Frangieh’s nomination “are prolonging the presidential vacuum period and they want to dominate the country at the service of its enemies,” he added.

 

 


Iran releases 1 Danish, 2 Austrian citizens in operation involving Oman, Belgium

Iran releases 1 Danish, 2 Austrian citizens in operation involving Oman, Belgium
Updated 02 June 2023

Iran releases 1 Danish, 2 Austrian citizens in operation involving Oman, Belgium

Iran releases 1 Danish, 2 Austrian citizens in operation involving Oman, Belgium
  • Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said he was “very relieved” that Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb were being brought home
  • Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg thanked the foreign ministers of Belgium and Oman for providing “valuable support”

BERLIN: Iran has released one Danish and two Austrian citizens, the European countries said Friday, thanking Oman and Belgium for their help in getting the trio freed.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said he was “very relieved” that Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb were being brought home after “years of arduous imprisonment in Iran.”
Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said that he was “happy and relieved that a Danish citizen is on his way home to his family in Denmark after imprisonment in Iran.” He didn’t name the person, saying their identity was “a personal matter” and he couldn’t go into details.
Schallenberg thanked the foreign ministers of Belgium and Oman for providing “valuable support,” without elaborating on what form it took. Løkke Rasmussen also thanked Belgium and said that “Oman played an important role.”
Last week, a prisoner exchange between Belgium and Iran returned to Tehran an Iranian diplomat convicted of attempting to bomb exiles in France, Assadollah Assadi. Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, looking visibly gaunt, headed back to Brussels as part of the swap.
There was no immediate word on what, if anything, Iran obtained in return for the latest releases.
On Friday, Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib tweeted that her country was “unwavering in our dedication to advocating for other Europeans who are being arbitrarily detained” and had “successfully secured the release of two Austrians and one Dane who were unjustly held in detention in Iran.”
Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, said he had briefed his Austrian and Danish counterparts at a Thursday meeting in Moldova on the “imminent release” of the three prisoners “heading to Belgium via Oman.”
Iranian state media and officials did not immediately acknowledge a release on Friday, which is part of the weekend in the Islamic Republic.
Oman often serves an interlocutor between Iran and the West and brings released captives out of the Islamic Republic. An Oman Royal Air Force Gulfstream IV, which had been on the ground in Tehran for several days, took off shortly before news of the European trio’s releases came out. It landed later Friday in Oman’s capital, Muscat.
The releases also come after Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq visited Iran on his first trip there since becoming the Arab nation’s ruler in 2020.
Ghaderi is an Iranian-Austrian businessman who was arrested in 2016 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly spying for the US, charges strongly rejected by his supporters. His family had criticized Austria for being silent on his case in recent years.
Mossaheb, also an Iranian-Austrian businessman, was arrested in 2019 and received a 10-year prison sentence after what Amnesty International called “a grossly unfair trial for vague national security offenses.” Amnesty had said Mossaheb suffered from heart failure and diabetes, making his imprisonment that much more dangerous for him.
Iran has detained a number of foreigners and dual nationals over the years, accusing them of espionage or other state security offenses and sentencing them following secretive trials in which rights groups say they have been denied due process.
Critics have repeatedly accused Iran of using such prisoners as bargaining chips with the West.
Schallenberg said his ministry would spare no effort to secure the release of a third Austrian national who remains in detention in Iran and whose case is currently on appeal.
Iran, facing Western sanctions over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, has experienced protests in recent months and economic strain. However, it also reached a detente with Saudi Arabia through Chinese mediation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency dropped two inquiries into the country’s nuclear program.


NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration

NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration
Updated 02 June 2023

NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration

NATO chief to visit Turkiye for Erdogan inauguration
  • Trip comes as pressure builds on Recep Tayyip Erdogan to drop his opposition to Sweden joining NATO
  • Turkiye and Hungary are the only two member countries yet to ratify Sweden’s membership bid

BRUSSELS: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will visit Turkiye at the weekend to attend the inauguration of re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and hold talks with him, the alliance said Friday.
The trip comes as pressure builds on Erdogan to drop his opposition to Sweden joining NATO.
Stoltenberg on Thursday said during a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Norway that he would soon visit Ankara to work toward Sweden joining “as early as possible,” after speaking with Erdogan by phone earlier this week.
The NATO statement said Stoltenberg would attend Erdogan’s inauguration on Saturday. The Turkish president was last week re-elected to serve another five-year term.
The statement said the visit would extend into Sunday and Stoltenberg would “have bilateral meetings with President Erdogan and with senior Turkish officials.”
NATO member Turkiye has dragged its feet over admitting Sweden to the military alliance. It and Hungary are the only two member countries yet to ratify Sweden’s membership bid.
Finland formally joined the alliance in April.
Erdogan has accused Sweden of being a haven for “terrorists,” especially members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom on Thursday said his country has fulfilled all its commitments to join, and “it is time for Turkiye and Hungary to start the ratification of the Swedish membership to NATO.”
Many of the ministers who attended the Oslo meeting said they wanted to see Sweden join before a NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius on July 11-12.
Stoltenberg has said that goal is “absolutely possible.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose country is the dominant member of NATO, also said on Thursday that “we fully anticipate” Sweden joining by the Vilnius summit.


From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth

From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth
Updated 02 June 2023

From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth

From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth
  • The tour marks Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as first lady
  • Her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe seeks to empower women and promote education for young people

CAIRO: Jill Biden arrived in Cairo on Friday, on the second leg of her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe that seeks to empower women and promote education for young people.
The first lady arrived in the Egyptian capital from Amman, Jordan, where she attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi architect Rajwa Alsei f on Thursday. She is traveling to Morocco on Saturday before heading to Portugal, the final stop of her tour, on Monday.
The nuptials in Jordan drew a star-studded list — headlined by Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate — but also held deep significance for the region, emphasizing continuity in an Arab state prized for its long standing stability.
Egypt is one of the largest recipients in the Mideast of American economic and military aid and a longstanding US ally. However, in recent years, US lawmakers have sought to condition that aid on human rights improvements and reforms.
Biden was greeted on the tarmac by Entissar Amer, Egypt’s first lady, and was later to meet with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi before visiting a technical school in the capital.
Biden’s spokesperson, Vanessa Valdivia, told The Associated Press last week that the first lady’s visit to Egypt will also focus on US investments that support education programs.
Since coming to power in 2013, El-Sisi’s government has overseen a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands. The government have targeted not only Islamist political opponents but also pro-democracy activists, journalists and online critics.
The tour marks Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as first lady. She traveled to Namibia and Kenya in February.


Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing
Updated 02 June 2023

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Friday denied that five men accused by a military tribunal of killing an Irish UN peacekeeper in 2022 were linked to the armed Shiite group.
A court document filed on Thursday had identified some of the five as members of Hezbollah and allied movement Amal, according to a senior Lebanese judicial source.
Hezbollah media official Mohammad Afif said the five accused were not members of the group, which controls the part of southern Lebanon where last year’s attack took place, and also denied that the indictment had described them as Hezbollah members.
Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed on Dec. 15 in the first fatal attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon since 2015.
Afif said Hezbollah had played a big role after the killing in reducing tensions and in local people’s cooperation with the army and judicial investigation.
His comments are the first by a Hezbollah official since Thursday’s reported indictment. The Amal Movement, which is headed by Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, has so far declined to comment.
The judicial source had said evidence was drawn from camera recordings in which the accused refer to themselves as members of Hezbollah. A second judicial source confirmed that camera evidence was mentioned in the 30-page court document.
Hezbollah has previously denied involvement in the killing, calling it an “unintentional incident” that took place solely between the town’s residents and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force.