Gulf Arabs to Create Regional Police Force
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SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2014 SAFAR 18, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Microsoft Lumia Cheerful Pele 535 Dual SIM leaves hospital now available after health in27 Kuwait scare20 Gulf Arabs to create Min 10º Max 27º regional police force High Tide 00:52 & 15.16 Low Tide Oil price fall hitting GCC revenues: Amir 08:38 & 20:25 40 PAGES NO: 16368 150 FILS DOHA: The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council says it will create a regional police force that will be based out of the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi. The creation of the police force, known as GCC-POL, was announced yesterday at the conclusion of the Gulf bloc’s annual summit in Qatar. Local media have dubbed it the “Gulf Interpol” and say its aim is to improve cooperation against drug trafficking, money laundering and cyber-crime. The GCC is comprised of the energy-rich nations of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Supporting Sisi’s Egypt Meanwhile, Qatar joined its neighbors at a summit yesterday in supporting Egypt under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, whose crackdown on the Doha-backed Muslim Brotherhood had divided the Gulf monarchies for months. In their final statement, leaders of the six- nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states announced their “full support to Egypt” and the “politi- cal program of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi”. Convening the Doha summit, which had been short- ened to one day, was made possible only by last-minute Kuwaiti mediation that succeeded in resolving a dispute between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with Qatar over the Brotherhood. In an unprecedented development, the three nations had recalled their ambassadors from Doha in protest against Qatar’s support for the Islamist movement, branded as a terrorist organization by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, and outlawed in Egypt. Qatar had repeatedly denounced Sisi’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, and still provides shelter for many Brotherhood leaders, especially those who have been forced to flee a crackdown in Egypt. Diplomatic staff returned to Qatar last month, paving the way for yesterday’s summit. Qatari Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said he hoped the summit would “signal a new beginning for Gulf relations”. He said that “differences in viewpoints” between GCC states should DOHA: (From left) GCC Secretary General Dr Abdullatif Bin Rashid Al-Zayani; Bahrain King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa; Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al not extend to their populations and even called for tak- Saud; Kuwait Amir Al-Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah; Omani Deputy Premier Fahd Bin Mahmoud Al-Saeed; Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Vice President ing practical steps to transform the GCC from a loose and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum pose for a group photo after Kuwait Amir was honored as bloc into a union. Humanitarian Leader during the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Doha yesterday. — AP (See Page 2) Continued on Page 13 News in brief Scotland Yard HQ sold to UAE group LONDON: New Scotland Yard, the head- gle sign, seen in news reports and photo- UAE jails Islamists quarters of London’s Metropolitan Police, graphs, will move to the new address, ABU DHABI: A top Emirati court yesterday sentenced has been sold to investors from the United which will take on the Scotland Yard 11 Islamists to up to life imprisonment for links to Al- Arab Emirates, London Mayor Boris Johnson moniker. Johnson said: “The Met Police has Qaeda-affiliated militants as well as rebels in Syria, offi- announced yesterday. The central London a unique place in history and they need a cial media reported. The Federal Supreme Court con- site has been sold to the Abu Dhabi home fit for the future, but police budgets victed them of bomb-making and of joining and financ- Financial Group investment company for are under real pressure. “The sale of this ing Al-Qaeda franchise Al-Nusra Front and Islamist rebel £370 million ($580 million, 470 million under-used and outdated building means group Ahrar Al-Sham, both in Syria. Four defendants, euros). ADFG beat off 10 other bidders, pay- we can now not only protect that rich her- who were tried in their absence, were handed life sen- ing £120 million more than the guide price. itage, but also fund the new HQ and kit out tences while seven others were jailed for between three The total sum is three times what was origi- ‘bobbies’ with the latest mobile technolo- and 15 years, the WAM news agency said. They include nally paid for the freehold in 2008. gy.” six foreigners-four with Comoros Islands passports and The money from the sale of the 1.7-acre ADFG chief executive Jassim Alseddiqi two Syrians-who will be deported after serving their jail (0.7-hectare) site will be used to provide said: “10 Broadway will be one of the most terms. Four other defendants were acquitted. The UAE police officers with tablets, smartphones important redevelopment projects under- in November released a long list of what it branded “ter- and body cameras. A small amount will also taken in central London this decade, replac- rorist organizations”, topped by the Muslim be used to put the Met Police’s collection of ing a world-famous headquarters with a Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda. rare crime artefacts on public display in a world-class development. “We look forward new museum. Taking the name of its 10 to creating an exceptional new landmark Broadway address, the old site will become for London.” Johnson said it made no differ- Blasts kill 2 in Bahrain residential and probably also feature offices ence that yet another chunk of central DUBAI: Two people, including a Jordanian police- and a hotel, Johnson said. The Met has been London had been bought up by foreign man, were killed in bomb blasts in Shiite villages in the now out-dated concrete office block investors-and anyone who thought it did LANGLEY: A workman slides a dustmop over the floor at the Central of Bahrain, the scene of simmering unrest since since 1967 and will move half a mile (800 was “completely economically illiterate”. The Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va. Senate investigators have anti-government protests were crushed in 2011, metres) to the smaller Curtis Green building original Met headquarters had its public delivered a damning indictment of CIA interrogation practices after the officials said yesterday. An explosion in Karzakan they own next to the River Thames. entrance on Great Scotland Yard and when 9/11 attacks, accusing the agency of inflicting pain and suffering on prison- yesterday killed a Bahraini and slightly wounded It is undergoing a £58 million refit and it moved away in 1890, the name Scotland ers with tactics that went well beyond legal limits. — AP an Asian national, the Interior Ministry said, the relocation will save the Met more than Yard was adopted for subsequent head- describing it as a “terrorist” attack. Witnesses said £6 million a year in running costs. The quarters, and remained a metonym for the CIA report details ‘brutal’ the bomb was planted on a corner of the road famous New Scotland Yard revolving trian- London police. — AFP under a tree. Late on Monday, a separate attack in Damistan, a nearby Shiite village, killed a police- post-9/11 interrogations man, the authorities said. Police chief Major Fears of backlash General Tariq Al-Hassan named the victim as Ali Mohamed Ali, a Jordanian, saying the “homemade WASHINGTON: In a damning indict- to our values.” He pledged, “I will contin- device was detonated remotely.” ment of CIA practices, Senate investiga- ue to use my authority as president to tors yesterday accused the spy agency of make sure we never resort to those inflicting pain and suffering on Al-Qaeda methods again.” The report doesn’t call Saudi beheads convict prisoners far beyond its legal boundaries the tactics torture. But committee chair- RIYADH: Saudi Arabia beheaded yesterday a convicted and then deceiving the nation with nar- man Dianne Feinstein, commanding the drug trafficker, the 77th state execution in the oil-rich ratives of useful interrogations unsub- Senate floor for an extended address, kingdom this year despite international concerns. stantiated by its own records. The Senate declared that “under any common mean- Nasser bin Amiq Ali Al-Inzi was convicted of trying to Intelligence Committee released a ing of the term, CIA detainees were tor- smuggle “a large amount” of amphetamines into the mountain of evidence from CIA files sug- tured.” country, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried gesting the treatment of detainees in by the official Saudi Press Agency. He was beheaded in secret prisons a decade ago was worse Waterboarding the northern Jawf region. Last Friday authorities carried than the government described to Besides the now-well-known practice out the death sentence on another Saudi, also found Congress or the public. of waterboarding, tactics included weeks guilty of amphetamine smuggling. The Interior Ministry It was the first official public account- of sleep deprivation, slapping and slam- said last week that authorities had seized more than 41 ing after years of debate about the CIA’s ming of detainees against walls, confin- million amphetamine tablets during the Islamic calen- LONDON: Photo shows Britain’s Metropolitan police headquarters, also known brutal handling of prisoners. At the White ing them to small boxes, keeping them dar year that ended in October. Rape, murder, apostasy as Scotland Yard, in central London. New Scotland Yard has been sold to the Abu House, President Barack Obama declared isolated for prolonged periods and and armed robbery are also punishable by death under Dhabi Financial Group investment company for £370 million ($580 million, 470 the practices, used on detainees after threatening them with death.