Established 1961 11 News Thursday, November 30, 2017

Prince Miteb is the first senior figure known to be to be applauded for trying something different - they Saudi prince freed in released among those detained. Around 200 people in Militants go to were one of the first to try a ‘talking cure’ for terrorists,” total have been questioned in the crackdown, authori- John Horgan, another expert at Georgia State ties said earlier this month. The allegations, which University, told AFP. “(But) without greater transparency $1bn settlement include kickbacks, inflating government contracts, rehab at ‘5-star’... about its participants... it’s impossible to know what val- extortion and bribery, could not be independently veri- ue added, if any, this program brings in reducing the agreement fied. Saudi authorities, who estimate they could eventu- Continued from Page 1 threat of re-engagement in terrorism.” ally recover around $100 billion of illicit funds, have AFP was given a chance to interview “beneficiaries” RIYADH: Senior Saudi Arabian prince Miteb bin been working on reaching agreements with suspects king-size beds, all framed by manicured lawns. Many if they agreed, but when two bearded, gym-buffed men Abdullah, once seen as a leading contender to the detained at Riyadh’s luxurious Ritz Carlton hotel, asking linked to groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Taleban walk were approached in their living quarters, they declined throne, was freed after agreeing to pay over $1 billion them to hand over assets and cash in return for their around freely in flowing white robes, and have access to to talk. Critics say there is a moral hazard of treating to settle corruption allegations against him, a Saudi freedom. a spacious gym, a banquet hall and furnished apart- militants, many with blood on their hands, with lavish official said yesterday. Miteb, 65, son of the late King Apart from Miteb, the Saudi official said that at least ments reserved for visits from spouses. “We make the facilities and financial incentives. But Saudi officials say Abdullah and former head of the elite National Guard, three other suspects had finalized settlement agree- ‘beneficiaries’ feel they are normal people and still have the threat of sanction is always hanging over them. was among dozens of royal family members, high offi- ments and that the public prosecutor had decided to a chance - a chance to return to society,” Abu Those who refuse to reform after a minimum stay of cials and senior businessmen rounded up this month in release several individuals. The prosecutor has decided Maghayed said, insisting the center refrained from call- three months at the center are returned to “the judicial a crackdown on graft that has strengthened the power to put at least five people on trial, the official said with- ing them prisoners or inmates. process”, Abu Maghayed said. of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. out disclosing their identities. The fate of billionaire Saudi Arabia, long accused of exporting its ultracon- But more than coercion, the center pushes for The official, who is involved in the crackdown and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of investment firm servative Wahhabist Sunni doctrine around the world, is increasing familial bonds, encouraging marriage and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Miteb was Kingdom Holding and one of Saudi Arabia’s most itself a victim of domestic terror attacks. Crown Prince children, a psychological tether meant to make it harder released on Tuesday after reaching “an acceptable set- prominent international businessmen, was not known. Mohammed bin Salman, who has sought to roll back the to return to violent ways. “You cannot counter terrorism tlement agreement”. The official said he believed the Kingdom issued a statement earlier this month say- influence of the ultra-conservative religious establish- by force,” said Ali Al-Afnan, an educational psychology agreed sum to be the equivalent of over $1 billion. “It is ing it was continuing to operate normally but has not ment, this week jump-started a 41-nation military coali- specialist at the center. “Only ideas can fight ideas.” The understood that the settlement included admitting cor- responded to queries about his status since he was tion to combat Islamist extremism, vowing to wipe ter- center uses art therapy as one of its tools. Comparisons detained early this month. Two Saudi sources told ruption involving known cases,” the official said, with- rorism from the face of the Earth. between portraits in the early days of incarceration and Reuters that Prince Alwaleed has so far refused to out giving details. According to the official, Prince But the rehab facility, founded in 2004, is one of the those at later stages are used as a metric to study reach a settlement and had asked for access to his Miteb was accused of embezzlement, hiring ghost centerpieces of Saudi Arabia’s strategy to expunge vio- inmates’ frame of mind. lawyer in order to fight allegations against him. employees and awarding contracts to his own firms, lent extremism at home. It claims to have treated more Abu Maghayed showed AFP one early painting, Relatives, his lawyer and officials in his office could not including a deal for walkie-talkies and bulletproof mili- than 3,300 men convicted of terrorism-related crimes, which he said depicted a gloomy “Guantanamo mentali- be contacted to comment. — Reuters tary gear. including repatriated Guantanamo Bay detainees. The ty” - with splashes of orange, the color of jumpsuits at center boasts of a “success rate of 86 percent”, Abu the infamous prison. Another canvas painted weeks later Maghayed said, measured by those men who did not showed bold brushstrokes and sparks of color, depicting leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no ally return to jihad for at least a decade after graduating hope. As Afnan spoke to AFP, he fielded an abrupt tele- Trump pilloried or friend of ours.” Stephen Doughty, another Labour from the center. Of the remainder, he said, most only phone call from a former “beneficiary” who once trav- MP, called the videos “highly inflammatory” and his col- showed signs of “deviant behavior” and only a minus- elled to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taleban. Now for retweeting... league Yvette Cooper said Trump had given Fransen a cule number relapsed into violent jihad. married and with children, he was seeking advice from “huge platform”. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said An American terrorism expert who has closely stud- Afnan over returning to university for a graduate pro- the retweets were “abhorrent, dangerous and a threat.” ied the Saudi program said the recidivism rate was high- gram. “This man is our role model,” Afnan said after Continued from Page 1 Fransen and Britain First leader Paul Golding were er, pointing out media reports of graduates from the hanging up. “A shining example of how people deserve a due to appear in court on Wednesday for a pre-trial center who have showed up on battlefronts. “Saudis are second chance.” — AFP Fransen was found guilty last year of a hate crime review on charges of “threatening, abusive or insulting after hurling abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. words or behavior” over a speech she made in Belfast. Britain First, which was formed in 2011 and is known for Trump’s interventions in British politics and controver- Washington Post reported. Trump denied the accusa- picketing outside mosques, has run and lost in several sial foreign policy have strained the so-called “special NBC fires star tions, accused rival Democrats and the media of a British and European parliament elections. Brendan relationship”. He has infuriated British authorities with smear campaign, and went on to win the election. Cox, widower of MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a his tweets on terrorism in Britain, including highly publi- Trump was also famously embarrassed in the final rightwing extremist last year, said: “Trump has legit- cized run-ins with London’s Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan. anchor Lauer... stretch of last year’s presidential campaign by the imized the far right in his own country, now he’s trying Yesterday’s retweets were part of an early morning release of audio in which he is heard boasting that his to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & burst in which Trump again dismissed CNN as “Fake Continued from Page 1 fame allows him to grab women’s genitals and get away the president should be ashamed of himself.” News” and insisted the US economy was in “record with it. At the time he acknowledged the veracity of the David Lammy, an MP for the opposition Labour territory” by many measures. Trump also said consumer “My client and I met with representatives from so-called “Access Hollywood” tape and apologized Party, said: “The president of the United States is pro- confidence was at an all-time high. “I guess somebody NBC’s Human Resources and Legal Departments at 6 publicly. It was initially thought the revelation could moting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose likes me (my policies)!” the president wrote. — AFP pm on Monday for an interview that lasted several derail his bid for the White House. Trump has since hours. Our impression at this point is that NBC acted changed his tone, and told a Republican senator shortly quickly, as all companies should, when confronted after his election victory that “we don’t think it was my Muslims and Bosnian Croats after an initial alliance fell with credible allegations of sexual misconduct in the voice”, the New York Times reported yesterday, quot- Bosnian war apart. The appeal judges said all six men, who had been workplace,” Wilkenfeld said in a story published by ing a person familiar with that conversation. And Trump found guilty of taking part in a scheme to remove the Times yesterday. The law firm representing has continued to suggest that the voice on the tape was Bosnian Muslims from the territory, “remained convict- Lauer’s accuser did not immediately respond to a not his, the Times said, quoting three people close to criminal dies after... ed of numerous and very serious crimes.” request for comment. the president. In statements sure to anger Zagreb, the judges The complaint said the sexual misconduct occurred Just last week, Lauer co-hosted with Guthrie NBC’s Continued from Page 1 upheld the original trial finding that the men had been while Lauer and the female colleague were covering the Thanksgiving Day coverage of the Macy’s parade in part of a joint criminal enterprise whose “ultimate pur- 2014 Sochi winter Olympics in Russia, NBC News Manhattan. Since Lauer took over the anchor chair in It is not the first time that defendants have taken pose was shared” by late Croatian president Franjo reporter Stephanie Gosk said on-air. The misconduct 1997, “Today” has dominated morning show ratings. It their own lives at the ICTY. Former Croatian Serb Tudjman, and other leaders. The aim of the scheme was continued after the Games, Gosk said. An NBC repre- earned $509 million in advertising revenue last year, more leader Milan Babic killed himself at the UN detention to set up “a Croatian entity that reconstituted area bor- sentative did not respond to a request for more details. than any other morning show, New York-based analysts center in 2006, after another Croatian Serb, Slavko ders and that facilitated the reunification of the Fellow NBC News anchor Willie Geist, who hosts the Kantar Media said. Lauer signed a two-year deal in 2016 Dokmanovic, in 1998. Croatian people”. “Today” show’s Sunday program, told MSNBC’s that would pay him $20 million per year, according to In the complex ruling, the judges upheld the jail Following the verdict, Croatian President Kolinda “Morning Joe” that he was stunned, especially given Fortune Magazine. He joined “Today” in Jan 1994 and has terms against all six defendants, including a 25-year Grabar-Kotarovic interrupted an official visit to Iceland Lauer’s role. “Matt Lauer is the most powerful person interviewed presidents George Bush and Barack Obama sentence imposed on Jadranko Prlic, the former prime to return for talks. A 20-year term was upheld against at NBC News, arguably,” Geist said, referring to Lauer and broadcast from seven Olympic games. minister of the breakaway Bosnian Croat statelet, former military leader Milivoj Petkovic, 68, while a 16- as a friend and mentor who he said had always led by There were reports that journalists from multiple known as Herzog-Bosna. Praljak was specifically year sentence was confirmed against ex-military police example on the show’s set. outlets had been investigating complaints against charged with ordering the destruction of Mostar’s 16th- chief Valentin Coric, 61, and 10 years for former police US President Donald Trump responded with mes- Lauer. Elizabeth Wagmeister and Ramin Setoodeh, two century bridge in November 1993, which judges in the official Berislav Pusic, 65. sages on Twitter calling for some of Lauer’s colleagues Variety reporters, said they had been working for first trial had said “caused disproportionate damage to Yesterday’s verdict comes a week after the judges to be fired too, and adding to his recent attacks against months on a story about sexual harassment allegations the Muslim civilian population”. A symbol of Bosnia’s imposed a life sentence on former Bosnian Serb military multiple US news outlets for their reporting on his by multiple women against Lauer. “NBC was aware that devastation in the war, the Ottoman-era bridge was lat- commander Ratko Mladic, whose ruthlessness in the administration. “Wow,” Trump wrote about the Lauer Variety was working on a bombshell story about sexual er rebuilt. But in their ruling, the judges in fact allowed conflict earned him the title the “Butcher of Bosnia”. His announcement. “But when will the top executives at harassment allegations against Matt Lauer,” Setoodeh part of Praljak’s appeal, saying the bridge had been “a judgement had also descended into confusion when he NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake wrote on Twitter. military target at the time of the attack”. They also accused the judges of lying and had to be dragged News. Check out Andy Lack’s past!” he added, without “This is not a Hollywood media problem, this is a overturned some of his convictions, but refused to away into a nearby room to watch the end of the pro- further explanation. An NBC spokeswoman did not problem across all industries including the US gov- reduce his overall sentence. ceedings. The ICTY charged Prlic and his co-defen- respond to questions about Trump’s comments. ernment,” said Bob Bakish, CEO of Viacom Inc, when The bloody 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, in which dants in 2004. The six surrendered with Croatia under During the 2016 presidential campaign, then- asked about the Matt Lauer firing, at the Business 100,000 people died and 2.2 million were displaced, pressure to comply with the court in return for joining Republican candidate Trump was accused by 13 women Insider IGNITION Conference in New York yester- mainly pitted Bosnian Muslims against Bosnian Serbs, the European Union. The ICTY closes its doors on Dec who publicly said that in the past he had physically day. “Secondly, this is not a US problem, it is a global but also saw some brutal fighting between Bosnian 31, having indicted and dealt with 161 people. — AFP touched them inappropriately in some way, the problem.” — Agencies