CHINA DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012 world 23

Sri Lanka releases 37 Chinese fi shermen

By ZHOU WA [email protected]

Thirty-seven Chinese fishermen detained by the Sri Lankan navy on Sunday night were not involved in illegal fi shing, and the detention was a misunderstanding, Yuan Baisheng, a consul of the Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka, told China Daily on Monday. According to the embassy, the fi shermen are employed by two trawlers owned by a Sri Lankan shipping com- pany. The fishermen have been released, the Chinese embassy confirmed on Monday. “Th e fi shermen were held on board and free to move around during the ‘detain- ment,’” said Yuan. According to Yuan, the Sri Lankan company bought the two vessels from China, and locals might confuse SANA VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS the Sri Lankan vessels as A Syrian security force inspects the scene after a bomb ripped through the third fl oor of the state TV building in Damascus, Syria, on Monday. The bomb shattered several offi ces and wounded several Chinese ones, due to the old employees, Syrian TV said. Chinese logo on the body of the ship. The details about the reason the fi shermen were Syrian PM defects to opposition detained need to be further confi rmed, Yuan said. Sri Lankan navy spokes- man Commander Kosala By AGENCIES ister denies that the Syrian “We are currently coordinat- Aft er Monday’s blast, the TV TIMELINE Warnakulasuriya was quot- in Beirut and Dubai prime minister has defected to ing to facilitate the departure of remained on air despite what ed by Xinhua News Agency • April 2011 the neighboring kingdom and Hijab to Doha in the coming was another severe breach of on Monday as saying that Syrian Prime Minister Riad another government official few hours. Seven of his brothers a state institution and a heav- Two members of parliament representing the city of Daraa the Chinese were arrested resign over the repression there. Hijab has defected from Presi- says the premier will be leav- will stay in Jordan,” he said, say- ily guarded area in the Syrian for illegally fishing in Sri dent Bashar al-Assad’s govern- ing Amman soon for another ing he had helped Hijab defect. capital. A bomb that exploded in • July 30, 2011 Lankan waters and would ment and joined the opposi- country. “We understand the sensi- the state security headquarters in Colonel Riad al-Asaad, an army offi cer, says he has defected be handed over to police for tion, his spokesman said on The second official, who tivity of this issue for Jordan. Damascus on July 18 killed four and gone to neighboring Turkey to form the Free Syrian further investigation. Army. Monday. requested anonymity because We do not want to create prob- of Syria’s top security leaders. “I announce today my defec- he was not authorized to speak lems for the kingdom, which A pro-government private • January tion from the killing and ter- to the media, said Monday the already has tense relations with Syrian TV station, Al-Ikhbariya, MP Imad Ghalioun announces in Egypt he has resigned to rorist regime and I announce defector Riad Hijab would be the Syrian regime,” he said, on broadcast images of the dam- oppose the regime. that I have joined the ranks heading out of the Jordanian condition of anonymity. age at the state TV building. Th e • March 8 of the freedom and dignity capital to Qatar or Turkey. Ear- footage showed destroyed walls, Abdo Hussameddin, Assad’s deputy oil minister, says he is revolution. I announce that lier, the same offi cial confi rmed TV station bombing overturned desks, blown-out defecting and joining the rebellion. The fi shermen I am from today a soldier in Hijab had defected from Syria In a separate development, a cabinet doors, broken glass and • June 22 were held on board this blessed revolution,” Hijab and was in Jordan along with bomb ripped through the third dangling electricity cables. A few A fi ghter pilot defects with his aircraft to Jordan, where he and free to move said in a statement read in his his family. fl oor of the state TV building in TV workers were shown tending asks for and receives political asylum. ‘‘ name by the spokesman on Al Hijab is to leave Jordan for Damascus on Monday, shatter- to a wounded colleague. • July 6 around during the Jazeera television. Qatar within days, following ing several offi ces and wounding Information Minister Omran General Manaf Tlass is reported to have defected. ‘detainment.’” Syrian state TV said Hijab the example of other high-pro- at least three employees, Syrian al-Zoubi said the bomb blast • July 11 YUAN BAISHENG had been fi red, but an offi cial file defectors, his spokesman TV said. caused heavy material damage Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, becomes the fi rst CONSUL OF THE CHINESE source in Amman said he had Mohammad Otri told AFP. The explosion was the latest and light injuries among the senior diplomat to defect. EMBASSY IN SRI LANKA defected to neighboring Jor- “Hijab will go to Doha, in the Syrian capital, which has employees. • July 30 dan. where international media are seen a string of suicide attacks He blamed Qatar, Saudi Ara- Syria’s top diplomat in London, charge d’aff aires Khaled al- Th e spokesman, Mohamed based. He will leave for Qatar and other bombings in the past bia and Israel for the attack. Syr- Ayoubi, resigns. The fishermen were Atari, said Hijab was in a safe tomorrow, the day aft er or aft er few months as the country’s civil ian authorities accuse the Gulf • Aug 5 aboard the two trawlers off place with his extended fam- a few days,” Otri told AFP in war has escalated and the rebels countries and Israel of support- the eastern coast of Batti- Three intelligence offi cers defect and seek refuge in neigh- ily. His defection had been the Jordanian capital. grow bolder in their tactics. Th e ing the rebels fighting against boring Jordan. caloa, he said, adding that organized with the Free Syrian A member of the Syr- TV building, which also houses Assad’s troops and fueling the two Sri Lankan crewmen • Aug 6 Army, the rebel force fi ghting ian opposition in Jordan said state-run radio, is located at the insurgency in Syria. were also arrested. against Assad’s rule. Hijab will travel to Qatar “in Umawiyyeen roundabout in Prime Minister Riad Hijab defects to the opposition. Th e two trawlers — one Jordan’s information min- the coming few hours”. central Damascus. REUTERS—AFP—AP AFP with a crew of 19 Chinese and one Sri Lankan and the other with 18 Chinese and one Sri Lankan — were escorted to Sri Lan- ka’s Trincomalee Harbor, Egypt vows crackdown on ‘infi del’ after border killings the Sri Lankan navy said. The trawlers, YU 6177 By AGENCIES in Cairo hood whose leaders oft en voiced to take matters in hand on their and YU 6178, are registered hostility toward the Jewish state. side in a fi rmer way,” he said. with Sri Lanka’s Department Egypt branded Islamist gun- Egypt’s military, which still of Fisheries and Aquatic men who killed 16 police near holds many levers of power in ‘Swear to avenge’ Resources and have per- the Israeli border as “infi del” and the most populous Arab nation, “We swear in the name of God mission to engage in fi shing promised on Monday to launch called the attackers “infi dels” and to avenge them,” the Egyptian beyond the Exclusive Eco- a crackdown following the mas- said it had been patient until now army said in its statement on nomic Zone of Sri Lanka, sacre that strained Cairo’s ties in the face of the instability in Monday. the navy said on its website. with both Israel and Palestin- Sinai. “Anyone liaising with these When news of the sei- ians. “But there is a red line and groups that have attacked our zure emerged, the Chi- An Egyptian offi cial has said passing it is not acceptable. troops in the Sinai in recent nese embassy immediately “jihadist elements” crossed Egyptians will not wait for long months will pay dearly, be it began to coordinating with from the Gaza Strip into Egypt to see a reaction to this event,” it inside Egypt or abroad,” the Sri Lankan authorities, it before leading the assault on a said in a statement on its Face- Egyptian army said. said. border station. Th ey then stole book page. “Th e bodies of the fi ve gun- According to the web- two armored vehicles and tried A demilitarized Sinai is the men have been found by the site of illegal-fishing.info, to smash their way into Israel, keystone of the historic 1979 Israeli army,” an Israeli military marine fi sheries are of con- but were killed by Israeli fi re. peace deal between the two spokesman said, but did not siderable importance in Sri Israeli Defense Minister countries. give details. Lanka. Fishing contributes Ehud Barak said on Monday But for the past year there has The Israeli military’s top 2 percent to the nation’s that eight assailants died in the been growing lawlessness in the spokesman, Yoav Mordechai, GDP, and approximately attack, adding that he hoped the vast desert expanse, as Bedouin told army radio: “We were ready 1 million people are sus- incident would serve as a “wake- bandits, jihadists and Palestin- because we had previous infor- tained by the fi shing indus- up call” to Egypt, which he has ian militants from next-door mation from Shin Bet (security try. long accused of losing its grip in Gaza fi ll the vacuum, tearing at service) and from military intel- In recent years, the fi sh- the desert Sinai Peninsula. already frayed relations between ligence services, which allowed SAID KHATIB / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ing industry has emerged Th e bloodshed represented an Egypt and Israel. us to thwart a bloody attack.” Palestinian Hamas security offi cers patrol an area in the southern border town of Rafah on Monday. as an important source of early diplomatic test for Egyptian Addressing a parliamentary The armored vehicle that Five gunmen who shot dead 16 Egyptian guards near the border with Israel before crossing into the foreign exchange through President Mohammed Morsi, an committee in Jerusalem, Barak crossed the border “fi red in every Jewish state in an armored vehicle have been killed, according to an Israeli army spokesman. the export of high-value Islamist who took offi ce at the praised the work of Israeli forces direction after entering Israeli products, such as frozen end of June aft er staunch US ally in blunting Sunday’s attack, with territory before being attacked terrorism because of the weak gate the attack, the ministry said. arrested,” he said. tuna, as well as shrimp, Hosni Mubarak was overthrown the Israeli airforce swift ly swing- by tanks and from the air”, Mor- control exercised” by Egypt. Morsi said those who committed “Everybody will see that the lobsters, shark fi ns and sea last year in a popular uprising. ing into action and destroying dechai added. Morsi said he had given “clear the “cowardly” attack and those Egyptian military and police cucumber. Mubarak cooperated closely one of the vehicles as it tried to He said the gunmen were instructions” that Egypt must who worked with them would forces can get these criminals Th e key markets for Sri with Israel on security and sup- breach the border. “members of the global jihad take “full control of the Sinai”. pay dearly. wherever they are,” he said. Lankan seafood exports pressed Islamist movements “Perhaps it will also be a prop- based in Sinai, which has An interior ministry team has “Those responsible for this are the EU, China, Japan, such as Morsi’s Muslim Brother- er wake-up call to the Egyptians become a hothouse for world been sent to the site to investi- crime will be hunted down and REUTERS—AFP Singapore and the US.