Rights Society Blasts Deportation of Expats
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SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 RAJJAB 10, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Gulf Bank Nepal PM Entrepreneurs Messi, Suarez, chairman says quake hatch hen-rental Neymar hit speaks at toll could idea for fans century mark Harvard5 be 10,0007 of14 fresh eggs in20 Barca rout Rights society blasts Min 23º Max 37º deportation of expats High Tide 09:25 & 21:05 MP accuses maid offices of inflating price Low Tide 02:05 & 15:10 40 PAGES NO: 16505 150 FILS By B Izzak Indonesia executes 8, spares Filipina KUWAIT: The head of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights Khaled Al-Ajmi yesterday strongly criticized the deportation of expatriates, days after the traffic depart- Indonesia today executed seven CILACAP, Indonesia: ment said it has started deporting foreigners caught foreign drug convicts including two Australians by firing driving without a license. Ajmi described the deporta- squad despite a storm of international anger, reports tions as a “flagrant violation of human rights” that will said, but a Filipina was spared at the 11th hour. tarnish the country’s image, especially since Kuwait has Authorities put the seven plus a local man to death after become a humanitarian center. midnight on a high-security prison island in central The traffic department announced last week that it Indonesia. Eight convicts - two Australians, one from will deport expatriates driving without a license, adding Brazil and four from Africa, as well as the Indonesian - it has resumed deporting foreign drivers repeating seri- were put to death on Nusakambangan Island, MetroTV ous traffic offenses. The department said a few days ago and the Jakarta Post reported. that it actually deported three expatriates who were However the Filipina, Mary Jane Veloso, was spared caught driving without a license. However, Assistant after someone suspected of recruiting her and tricking Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs Maj Gen Abdullah Al- her into carrying drugs to Indonesia turned herself in to Muhanna said no one has been deported for driving authorities in the Philippines. “Miracles do come true,” without a valid license, adding two expatriates are cur- her mother Celia told a Philippine radio station, adding rently being held at the deportation center for driving that her daughter’s two young boys were awake and offenses. He also added that controversial reports about yelling “Yes, yes mama will live”. a major hike in fees for driving licenses is still in the pro- The Philippine government also expressed delight posal phase. “Regarding increasing the fees for issuing a at the reprieve for Veloso, whose case attracted emotive driving license up to KD 500 that was published in appeals for mercy from boxing superstar Manny media, it’s still just a proposal and hasn’t been Pacquiao among others. “The Lord has answered our approved,” he said during a ceremony late on Monday. prayers,” Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Charles Authorities have made requirements for expatriates Jose said, as activists holding a vigil in front of the to obtain a driving license extremely difficult, making Indonesian embassy in Manila broke into cheers and already tough conditions even tougher. They have hugged each other. raised the salary requirement from KD 400 to 600 with In contrast, there was shock and anger in Australia the addition of a university degree. It has eased the con- over the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran dition for certain jobs, but has threatened to withdraw Sukumaran, ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” hero- the license if professions are changed. Muhanna was in-trafficking gang, whose case has severely strained yesterday quoted as saying that 9,000 driving licenses ties between their government and Indonesia’s. JAKARTA: An Indonesian activist holds candles near the portraits of nine inmates, all convicted on drug of expats who changed their profession have been can- Continued on Page 13 charges, during a demonstration to demand the government to stop their execution yesterday. — AP celled. Continued on Page 13 News in brief Iran seizes ship after firing shots Gulf leaders to meet DUBAI: Iranian forces fired warning shots across the waters not protected by that agreement. The master Organisation was quoted as saying by the Tasnim bridge of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel as it of the cargo ship MV Maersk Tigris had initially refused news agency. “Generally speaking, if a shipping com- KUWAIT: Gulf leaders will meet in Saudi Arabia next week to prepare for a May summit with US President was traversing the Strait of Hormuz, boarded the ship an Iranian order to move further into Iranian waters, pany has debts and does not pay, the owners of the Barack Obama, Kuwait’s foreign minister was quoted as and directed it toward the Iranian mainland, a but after the warning shots were fired the vessel com- goods turn to the competent authorities,” he said. The saying, with the summit expected to touch on Iran’s Pentagon official said yesterday. The incident, which plied, Warren said. Fars news agency, citing “an informed source”, report- nuclear program and developments in Yemen. The prompted the US Navy to dispatch a destroyer and a The cargo ship was directed to waters near Larak ed that the ship “had a dispute with the Iranian port White House said earlier this month that Obama will plane in response, comes as Iran and the US along Island, he said. The island sits off the major Iranian administration, which obtained a court order to meet leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with other world powers try to hammer out a final port of Bandar Abbas and is one of several in the Strait impound” it. group of countries at the White House on May 13 and at deal over Tehran’s nuclear program. of Hormuz. Iranian state television reported that only Bandar Abbas is the main port for Iran’s Navy and the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, the The ship was traveling through the narrow strait, 24 crew were onboard the vessel, and hailed from separate naval forces operated by the elite following day. KUNA said Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah which is technically Iranian and Omani territorial Britain, Bulgaria, Romania and Myanmar. It said the Revolutionary Guard, as well as the country’s primary Al-Khaled Al-Sabah told journalists that GCC heads of water, but under international agreement is open to ship was seized based on a court order due to unspec- commercial port. It overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, the state would meet in the Saudi capital Riyadh on May 5. foreign ships making an innocent passage, said Col ified violations. “The ship confiscation order was highly strategic waterway at the mouth of the Arabian Sheikh Sabah said the Middle East had been rattled by Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. It wasn’t clear issued by a court and is linked to the Maersk compa- Gulf. the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program before a frame- whether the ship had strayed off course into coastal ny,” Hadi Haghshenas of the Iran Ports and Maritime Continued on Page 13 work agreement was reached last month. Activist handed jail Baltimore smolders after riots Saudis arrest 93 KUWAIT: A court yesterday sentenced an opposition activist to 10 years in jail for publishing a diagram on Twitter showing how a petrol bomb is made, the court Kuwaitis urged to avoid protest areas suspects, foil US ruling said. The court convicted Sager Al-Hashash of National Guard troops deployed to head off unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri -was worrying. inciting attacks on policemen, providing training on BALTIMORE: embassy attack further rioting in Baltimore yesterday as President Barack “Since Ferguson... we have seen too many instances of the manufacture of Molotov cocktails, taking part in Obama warned that recent incidents “raise troubling ques- what appears to be police officers interacting with individ- RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has arrested nearly 100 an unlicensed protest, and disobeying police orders. tions” about the policing of black communities. Violence uals - primarily African American, often poor - in ways that jihadists, mostly linked to the Islamic State group, The charges were based on a tweet Hashash sent in and looting erupted in Baltimore on Monday after the raise troubling questions,” he said. Obama expressed sym- and foiled several plots to carry out attacks includ- July showing a diagram on Molotov cocktails which funeral of 25-year-old African American man Freddie Gray, pathy for civil rights leaders and protesters - as well as for ing on the American embassy, authorities said yes- explained how they are made. The ruling, which can who died after suffering severe spinal injuries during a police on the front line of demonstrations - and said terday. The arrests have taken place since December still be appealed, was issued in absentia because he is police arrest. Speaking in Washington, Obama condemned America needed to address the strained ties between offi- and most of those detained were Saudis, the interior not currently in Kuwait. Hashash, a young activist, was the rioting, but also said that a series of recent incidents - cers and blacks. ministry said in a statement published by the official handed a 20-month jail term in January for allegedly beginning last year with the police shooting of an Continued on Page 13 news agency SPA. It said two Syrians and a Saudi insulting HH the Amir. who had threatened to launch a suicide car attack against the American embassy in Riyadh last month Jets bomb Sanaa airport were among those held. The statement did not clari- CAIRO/ADEN: Jets from a Saudi-led alliance bombed fy if this group was linked to IS. the runway of Yemen’s Sanaa airport yesterday to pre- US consular services in Saudi Arabia were sus- vent an Iranian plane from landing there, Saudi Arabia pended for a week in March over what was reported said, as fighting across the country killed at least 30 at the time as “heightened security concerns”.