Tag: prison

Punjab on alert: 34 more Amritpal supporters held, key aides shifted to Assam prison

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Chandigarh/Dibrugarh: Police on Sunday conducted flag marches and searches across Punjab in their manhunt for radical preacher Amritpal Singh, arresting 34 more supporters and shifting four men in custody to a jail in far-off Assam.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has, however, asked the state government to respond on Tuesday to a habeas corpus petition, claiming that the preacher is already in illegal police custody and should be released.
Justice N S Shekhawat held the hearing at his home-office as the courts were closed.
Police stuck to their version that the “Waris Punjab De” chief gave them the slip during a car chase in Jalandhar district on Saturday, when the crackdown against the group began. They have slapped fresh FIRs against the Khalistan sympathiser and his supporters.
Section 144 of the CrPc, which prohibits congregations, was imposed in the union territory of Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. Prohibitory orders were already in force in some parts of Punjab.
Police recovered a second vehicle in the case, an abandoned pick-up with a gun, a sword and several cartridges in Jalandhar district’s Salema village and said it appeared to be a part of Amritpal Singh’s cavalcade.
The crackdown has come weeks after Singh and his supporters barged into the Ajnala police station near Amritsar, extracting an assurance that an arrested man would be released.
Twenty-one Amritpal supporters were taken into custody near Boparai Kalan in Jalandhar district when they tried to stage a ‘dharna’ over the previous days’ action.

These detentions are apparently not part of the arrests’ tally given by police 78 on Saturday and 34 more on Sunday. Earlier, police said nine firearms have also been seized.
The state remained on high alert. Security forces took out flag marches at several places including Ferozepur, Bathinda, Rupnagar, Faridkot, Batala, Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Moga and Jalandhar in a show of strength.
The Punjab government also extended the suspension of mobile internet and SMS services till Monday noon. The official order, which exempted banking services, said this was to “prevent any incitement to violence and any disturbance of peace and public order”.
Four of the arrested men were brought to BJP-ruled Assam’s Dibrugarh by a 27-member Punjab Police team accompanying them, according to an Assam Police officer.
The men, now lodged in Dibrugarh Central Jail, were identified as alleged fund raiser Daljit Singh Kalsi, Bhagwant Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Pradhanmantri’ Bajeka.
“Sometimes persons arrested in one state are sent to another state’s jail,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters. “We will provide them all security in the jail,” he said.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, soon after the Ajnala episode. Days earlier, Amritpal Singh had also made a veiled threat to Shah.
Security has also been tightened at Amritpal’s native village Jallupur Khera in Amritsar, where his father Tarsem Singh said his son may have already been detained by police.
“He faces a threat to life,” the fugitive’s father said. “There is no information since yesterday. We feel he has already been detained.”
Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill said Amritpal Singh is still absconding.
“Whatever the Punjab Police does in this case will be within the ambit of law. Everybody has a legal right and can avail whatever remedies are available under the law.”
He said police have acted in a transparent manner and Amritpal Singh was seen escaping at the “naka” laid for him in Mehatpur.
Jalandhar Police Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal called it a game of “chor-sipahi” (robbers and cops).
“Sometimes, they manage to escape. But we will soon arrest him,” he said, maintaining that there was no lapse on Saturday.
The officer said Singh’s vehicle was chased for 20 to 25 kilometres. There were narrow streets and “somehow he managed to escape by changing his vehicle”.
Police have now registered an FIR against Amritpal Singh and his supporters for breaking through a police checkpoint and another related to the recovery of a firearm in the vehicle found in a Jalandhar village.
Amritsar Rural Senior Superintendent of Police Satinder Singh said another FIR was registered Saturday night under the Arms Act after the arrest of seven of the preacher’s associates in that district.
Police warned that strict action will be taken against anyone spreading rumours, saying it was monitoring fake news and hate speeches from different countries, states and cities.
The crackdown follows the FIR registered a day after the storming of the Ajnala police station on February 23.
The preacher and his supporters were accused of spreading disharmony, attempt to murder, attacking police personnel and obstructing public servants in discharge of their duties.
Six police personnel, including a superintendent of police, were injured in Ajnala.
Opposition parties had flagged the incident as a sign of the Aadm Aadmi Party government’s failure to maintain law and order and expressed fears that Punjab could slide back to the days of Khalistan militancy.
Dubai-returned Amritpal became the head of ‘Waris Punjab De’, which was founded by actor and activist Deep Sidhu who died in a road accident in February last year.
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#Punjab #alert #Amritpal #supporters #held #key #aides #shifted #Assam #prison
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
After 21 years, US releases Saudi engineer from Guantanamo military prison

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The United States authorities released a Saudi Arabian engineer who was imprisoned for 21 years at Guantanamo Bay military prison, the Department of Defence announced.
Forty-eight-year-old Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi was returned to Saudi Arabia after he no longer posed a threat to the national security of the United States.
“On September 21, 2022, Secretary of Defence Austin notified Congress of his intent to repatriate Ghassan Al Sharbi to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and, in consultation with our partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we completed the requirements for responsible transfer”, the US Department of Defence said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Ghassan Abdullah Al-Sharbi was arrested in March 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan, along with another member of Al-Qaida.
He was a suspect in the September 9/11 World Trade attacks but was never charged.
Al-Sharbi was studying engineering at the University of Aeronautics in the state of Arizona. He attended aviation classes with two Al-Qaeda operatives who were later identified as 9/11 hijackers.
The United States had previously claimed that Al-Sharbi fled to Pakistan for bomb-making training after the 9/11 attacks, Associated Press reported.
However, charges were dropped in 2013 but Al-Sharbi remained imprisoned in the facility.

The transfer was recommended on February 4, 2022, by a review panel, which stipulated that Al-Sharbi would be subject to a “comprehensive set of security measures, including surveillance, travel restrictions, and continued information sharing”.
Al-Sharbi’s release from the Guantanamo military prison is part of ongoing efforts to free detainees who are no longer facing trial.
With the transfer of Al-Sharbi, the number of detainees drops to 31, 17 of whom were considered eligible for transfer if a stable country was found to accept them.
It is noteworthy that the US Department of Defense announced at the beginning of February the transfer of Pakistani detainee Majid Khan from Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba to Belize.
In September 2021, it was reported that US President Joe Biden’s administration was intensifying its efforts to close Guantanamo prison as it appointed a diplomat to supervise the transfer of detainees.
The Guantanamo prison was established at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2002 and holds 800 detainees accused of terrorism cases.
During previous US administrations, hundreds of detainees were returned to their countries while some remained for two decades.
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#years #releases #Saudi #engineer #Guantanamo #military #prison
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 11, 2023
Counter | Julius Kivimäki, who is suspected of data breach, is awaiting a detention trial in Vantaa prison

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On Friday afternoon, Julius Kivimäki, the suspect in the data breach of Psychotherapy Center Vastaamo, was handed over from France to Finland.
Psychotherapy Center Suspect of a data breach targeting the reception desk Julius Kivimäki is waiting for Tuesday’s custody trial in Vantaa prison, says the head of the investigation, the crime commissioner Marko Leponen from the Central Criminal Police (krp).
Kivimäki was handed over to Finland on Friday afternoon from France, where he was arrested at the beginning of February.
KRP demands that Kivimäki be imprisoned in the district court of Länsi-Uusimaa on Tuesday, February 28.
The police demand that 25-year-old Kivimäki be arrested on probable cause on suspicion of aggravated blackmail, aggravated data breach and aggravated dissemination of information that violates private life.
According to Leponen, there is one copy of each suspected crime and all of them target the psychotherapy center Vastaamo.
KRP has not questioned Kivimäki so far.
“We will start the interrogations as quickly as possible this week,” says Leponen.

Stone Hill was arrested in France at the beginning of February. The man was arrested on the basis of a European arrest warrant. The police announced a search for the suspect in October 2022.
Kivimäki has been convicted before, for example, of a hacking network that targeted 50,700 computers. He was about 15 years old when he committed the crimes. Last November, the Helsinki Court of Appeal sentenced Kivimäki to conditional imprisonment.
The data breach at the reception desk was revealed when customers’ sensitive information began to appear on the dark web piece by piece. The information of thousands of customers ended up online.
Vastaamo was declared bankrupt in February 2021.
In their announcement, the police remind that victims of a data breach can still file a criminal complaint and fill out an electronic statement form. Instructions can be found on the websites of the police and the Crime Victims Emergency Service.
#Counter #Julius #Kivimäki #suspected #data #breach #awaiting #detention #trial #Vantaa #prison
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 27, 2023
Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred sentenced to 6 years in prison

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Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred was sentenced by a Paris court to six years in prison for allegedly raping and assaulting a young French woman, Laura Priolle, in a hotel room in 2016, local media reported.
37-year-old Lamjarred, was on trial on charges of aggravated rape and assault on Monday, February 20, 2023.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Laura Priolle, who was 20 at the time, said she met Lamjarred at a nightclub in Paris and escorted him to his hotel.
He hit her several times as she tried to push him back before he raped her. She was able to leave the room, and hotel staff reported seeing her crying and in pain.
Lamjarred, was arrested on October 26, 2016, following a police complaint of physical assault and rape.
In April 2017, he was released with an electronic bracelet around his leg to track his movements, by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Paris.
Lamjarred was arrested again in August 2018 in Saint-Tropez in southeastern France after another French woman filed a new rape complaint against him.
However, he was released again in December 2018.

Lamjarred is considered one of the most popular pop stars in the Arab world with his music video “Lm3allem” gaining over 1 billion views on YouTube.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 25, 2023
Iran sentences prominent sociologist to 8 years in prison

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Prominent Iranian sociologist and former political prisoner Saeed Madani Ghaffrokhi, who has been arrested since May 2022 in Tehran, has been sentenced to eight years in prison, local media reported.
“My client was sentenced to eight years in prison for forming a hostile group and one year for propaganda against the regime,” lawyer Mahmoud Behzad Rad told AFP.
Madani was arrested in May 2022 accused of “formation and management of anti-government groups”, “holding gatherings and conspiring to commit crimes against the country’s security” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
62-year-old Madani, a professor of sociology at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, has published several books on social issues in Iran, including prostitution, violence against women, child abuse, poverty, and drug addiction.
The 62-year-old Madani, a sociology professor at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, has published several books on social issues in Iran, including prostitution, violence against women, child abuse, poverty and drug addiction.
Madani has been arrested several times in the past, most notably in 2012 when he was sentenced to six years in prison.
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#Iran #sentences #prominent #sociologist #years #prison

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 18, 2023
White supremacist gets life in prison for Buffalo massacre

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Their remarks ranged from sorrow to outrage, shouts to tears. Some vehemently condemned him; others quoted from the Bible or said they were praying for him. Several pointed out that he deliberately attacked a Black community a three-hour drive from his home in overwhelmingly white Conklin, New York.
“You’ve been brainwashed,” Wayne Jones Sr., the only child of victim Celestine Chaney, said as sobs rose from the audience. “You don’t even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet.”
“I hope you find it in your heart to apologize to these people, man. You did wrong for no reason,” Jones said.
Gendron’s victims at the Tops Friendly Market — the only supermarket and a neighborhood hub on Buffalo’s largely Black East Side — included a church deacon, the grocery store’s guard, a man shopping for a birthday cake, a grandmother of nine and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner. The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86.
Gendron pleaded guilty in November to crimes including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, a charge that carried an automatic life sentence.
“There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances,” Judge Susan Eagan said as she sentenced him. She called his rampage “a reckoning” for a nation “founded and built, in part, on white supremacy.”
Gendron, 19, is due in a federal court Thursday for a status update in a separate case that could carry a death sentence if prosecutors seek it. His attorney said in December that Gendron is prepared to plead guilty in federal court to avoid execution. New York state does not have the death penalty.
The gunman wore bullet-resistant armor and a helmet equipped with a livestreaming camera as he carried out the May 14 attack with a semiautomatic rifle he purchased legally but then modified so he could load it with illegal high-capacity ammunition magazines.

“Do I hate you? No. Do I want you to die? No. I want you to stay alive. I want you to think about this every day of your life,” Tamika Harper, a niece of victim Geraldine Talley, told Gendron. “Think about my family and the other nine families that you’ve destroyed forever.”
Gendron locked eyes with Harper as she gently spoke. Then he lowered his head and wept.
Minutes later, Barbara Massey Mapps excoriated him for killing her 72-year-old sister, Katherine Massey, a neighborhood activist. As Mapps shouted and pointed at Gendron, a person in the audience took a few steps toward him before getting held back.
“You don’t know what we’re going through,” a man shouted as he was led away by court officers. For several minutes thereafter, family members hugged and calmed each other.
Eagan then ordered Gendron back in after admonishing everyone to behave appropriately.
In his short statement, Gendron acknowledged he “shot and killed people because they were Black.”
“I believed what I read online and acted out of hate, and now I can’t take it back, but I wish I could, and I don’t want anyone to be inspired by me,” he told the victims and their relatives. His own parents didn’t attend.
One woman in the audience stood up, screamed “we don’t need” his remarks and stormed out of the courtroom.
There were only three survivors among the 13 people he shot while specifically seeking out Black shoppers and workers.
Deja Brown said her father, Andre Mackniel, was blindsided “at the hands of a selfish boy who’s obviously not educated on the history of African Americans.”
Mackniel’s young son still calls for a father who was gunned down while shopping for a birthday cake for him, said his brother, Vyonne Elliott.
Christopher Braden, a Tops employee who was shot in the leg, said he was haunted by seeing the victims where they lay as he was carried out of the store.
“The visions haunt me in my sleep and every day,” he said.
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#White #supremacist #life #prison #Buffalo #massacre
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 16, 2023
Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah released from Iran’s prison

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Tehran: The French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah has been released from the women’s ward of Iran’s Evin prison on Friday, after spending more than three years in prison.
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the release of Fariba Adelkhah and announced in a tweet that she was unjustly imprisoned in Iran.
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs further emphasized that it is essential that Fariba Adelkhah be able to obtain all her freedoms, including returning to France if she wishes.
#Iran | La 🇫🇷 se réjouit de la libération de Fariba Adelkhah, qui était injustement détenue en Iran. Il est essentiel que Fariba Adelkhah puisse recouvrer l’ensemble de ses libertés, y compris celle de retourner en France si elle le souhaite.
➡️ https://t.co/m6R9Zw3e9V pic.twitter.com/tISbYhuvye
— France Diplomatie🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo) February 10, 2023
63-year-old Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher at the Institute of Political Studies (Science Po) in Paris, had been arrested by the Revolutionary Guards at Tehran airport, during a visit in June 2019.
She was sentenced to a total of five years in prison on charges of “gathering and colluding to act against security” and “propaganda against the regime”.
Sciences Po also tweeted, “We are happy to announce the release of our dear colleague Fariba Adelkhah, who has been arbitrarily detained in Iran for more than three years.”
Before the release of Fariba Adelkhah, the French Foreign Ministry had announced that seven French citizens were under arrest in Iran.
C’est avec bonheur et soulagement que nous annonçons la libération de notre chère collègue Fariba Adelkhah, détenue arbitrairement en Iran depuis plus de 3 ans. Otage des autorités locales, elle était une prisonnière scientifique. Merci à tous ceux qui ont permis sa libération.
— Sciences Po (@sciencespo) February 10, 2023
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#IranianFrench #academic #Fariba #Adelkhah #released #Irans #prison
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 12, 2023
Saudi increases prison sentence of US citizen to 19 years for tweets

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Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia court has increased the sentenced of Saad Ibrahim Almadi, who holds both Saudi and American nationalities, to 19 years in prison, local media reported.
72-year-old Saad Ibrahim Almadi, retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested in November 2021, while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced in October 2022 to 16 years.
Saudi court convicted him of attempting to destabilize the kingdom and supporting terrorism.
As per media reports, Saad Almadi had been detained over 14 tweets posted on Twitter over the past seven years, mostly criticizing government policies and accusing them of corruption. He was also banned from traveling for 16 years.
As per New York Post, the US State Department informed Ibrahim Almadi of the new Saudi punishment, on Wednesday, February 8, months after the White House publicly condemned the mistreatment of his father, Saad Almadi.
Ibrahim, criticized the handling of his father’s case after the US State Department told him that his father would spend a longer period in prison.
He told The New York Post, ‘It’s not a slap in the face, it’s a middle finger. When the US asked for an appeal, they said: “Here you go, 19 years!”‘
This appears to be the latest in a series of recent cases in which Saudis have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for social media posts critical of the government.

Wave of arrests
Since Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, became the Saudi crown prince in June 2017, dozens of imams, women’s rights activists and members of the ruling royal family have been detained.
In August 2022, Saudi court sentenced a woman Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani to 45 years in prison for using Twitter to express her opinions.
This conviction of Nourah Al-Qahtani comes less than a month after another Saudi woman, Salma al-Shehab, was sentenced to 34 years in prison and given a further 34-year travel ban for following and retweeting activists on Twitter.
Similarly, in August 2022, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Courts of Appeal sentenced a prominent former imam and preacher at the Grand Mosque in Makkah Sheikh Saleh Al Talib to ten years in prison.
Among those arrested are prominent Islamic preachers Salman al-Awdah, Awad al-Qarni, Farhan al-Malki, Mostafa Hassan and Safar al-Hawali.
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#Saudi #increases #prison #sentence #citizen #years #tweets
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 11, 2023
Iranian director Jafar Panahi starts hunger strike in prison

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Tehran: Iranian award-winning director, Jafar Panahi, who has been imprisoned in Tehran for six months, announced that he has begun a hunger strike to protest the authorities’ refusal to release him on bail pending a retrial.
The note from Jafar Panahi, starting of his hunger strike, was published on the Instagram page of his wife, Tahereh Saeedi.
In the note, prominent Iranian director emphasized, “I categorically declare in protest against the extra-legal and inhuman behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostage-taking, I have started hunger strike from the morning of the February 1, 2023. I refused to eat and drink any food and medicine until I was released.”
“I will remain in this situation until maybe my lifeless body is released from prison,” he added.
Panahi also wrote in his note, “According to the law, I should have been released on bail after accepting my request for a retrial, but my case has been adjourned for more than 100 days.”
“While we have seen that it takes less than 30 days from the time of arrest to the hanging of the innocent youth of our country, it took more than 100 days to transfer my case to the branch with the intervention of security forces.”
“What is certain is that the violent and illegal behaviour of the security institution and the reckless surrender of the judiciary once again shows the implementation of selective and tasteful laws.”
“It is only an excuse for repression. I knew that the judicial system and the security institutions have no will to implement the law (which they brag about), but out of respect for my lawyers and friends, I went through all the legal channels to fight for my rights.”

“Today, like many people trapped in Iran, I have no choice but to protest against these inhumane behaviours with my dearest possession, that is, my life.”
62-year-old Jafar Panahi, Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, was arrested on July 11, 2022, when he went to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on the situation of another filmmaker, Mohammad Rasoulof.
Panahi was also arrested in 2010, after his support for anti-government protests. He was later convicted of “propaganda against the regime”, sentenced to six years of imprisonment and banned from directing or writing films, Mehr News Agency reported.
Panahi’s arrest was met with a wave of domestic and international condemnation, but the Islamic Republic has not responded to requests for his release.
Thousands of film personalities have been arrested in Iran as part of the crackdown on protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested on suspicion of violating the country’s strict dress code.
The protests involved people from all walks of life and different sects in Iran after Amini’s killing.
Iranian women are at the fore in the demonstrations, in which many young people participate, to chants of “Woman life freedom” and “Death to the dictator.”
The protests represent one of the country’s boldest challenges since the 1979 revolution.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 3, 2023
Iran sentences couple for over 10 years in prison after dancing in public

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Tehran: An Iranian couple was sentenced to 10 and a half years in jail on Tuesday for dancing in Azadi Square in Iran’s capital Tehran.
The Instagram influencers— 21-year-old Astiyazh Haghigi and her fiancee 22-year-old Amir-Mohammad Ahmadi, shared a video of themselves dancing in the streets.
Astiyazh Haghigi (right) with her fiance, Amir Mohammad Ahmadi. Photo: Instagram
The 16-second video clip, posted on Instagram, showed the couple dancing romantically without the fiancee wearing a headscarf, which activists considered a symbol of defiance of the regime.
Haghigi did not wear a headscarf in defiance of the strict dress code imposed on women in Iran, where women are not allowed to dance in public or mix with men.
Watch the video below
Haghigi and Ahmadi were reportedly arrested on November 10 in 2022, after their video went viral.
Tehran court sentenced each of them to ten years and six months in prison, a two-year ban from using the internet, and a two-year ban from leaving the country, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Protests in Iran continues
Iran has been witnessing protests since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, on September 16, after she was arrested in Tehran by the morality police on suspicion of not respecting the country’s dress code.
The demonstrations involved people from all walks of life and different sects in Iran after Amini’s killing.

Iranian women are at the fore in the demonstrations, in which many young people participate, to chants of “Woman life freedom” and “Death to the dictator.”
The protests represent one of the country’s boldest challenges since the 1979 revolution.
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#Iran #sentences #couple #years #prison #dancing #public
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 1, 2023