IO N IPT SC R SU B
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011
Mystery surrounds Libya general’s murder
No: 15165
SHAABAN 29, 1432 AH
Egypt Islamists rally in show of strength
England collapse against India in second Test
150 Fils
44 7Qaeda chief 8 wants Saudi leaders dead Saudi rulers slammed as ‘apostates’
DUBAI: Al-Qaeda’s military leader in Yemen called for Saudi rulers to be killed as “apostates,” in an audio tape released yesterday, SITE Intelligence Group reported. “To the scholars ... of the family of Saud ... I say to you, your King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and his crown prince, his interior minister and his son Mohammed, are considered by us to be apostates and must be killed,” said Qassim Al-Rimi. In the almost seven-minute tape, the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander said Saudi authorities had arrested a group of women who had protested outside the interior ministry on February 5 to call for the release of relatives. “In the north of the country and its south there are wounded women who are requesting the release of their sons and daughters from the prisons of oppression,” said Rimi, according to the English translation provided by SITE. Saudi authorities “tricked them by putting them into buses in order to meet the criminal (Deputy Interior Minister Prince) Mohammed bin Nayef in order to release their captives, then they dragged them to prisons to remain there for more than 10 days,” he said. Witnesses said in February that women, men and children asked to meet with ministry officials to call for the release of family members. Those detained were arrested in 2003-2004 at the height of a security sweep against Al-Qaeda suspects during a wave of attacks on oil installations and foreign targets in the Gulf kingdom. “Here we say to our sisters and mothers, we promise you that we will achieve victory for your chastity and purity, and that any hand that was extended at you should be cut off,” said Rimi.— AFP
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SAAR: Bahraini women shout anti-government slogans during a protest march that drew tens of thousands of opposition supporters yesterday in Saar, Bahrain, passing in front of a billboard for a summer cultural festival. — AP
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Bahrain’s opposition slams dialogue report DUBAI: Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition formation slammed the national dialogue’s recommendations submitted to King Hamad, saying they do not represent its demands or the will of the people. The conclusions of the dialogue carried “none of our demands” and “the dialogue does not represent the will of the people,” the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wefaq) said in a statement posted on its page on social networking website Facebook. Al-Wefaq reiterated its demands for an “elected government,” an “elected parliament which has full legislative powers,” and a “fair and independent judicial system” in the Shiite-majority Gulf nation. The national dialogue, which began early this month, was aimed at discussing reforms in the Sunni-ruled kingdom which was rocked by Shiite-led protests from mid-February to mid-March. But the dialogue “might contribute in complicating the political crisis,” Al-Wefaq said.
50 dead in shipwreck KINSHASA: At least 50 people drowned and some 35 are reported missing after a boat accident on a river in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Equateur province government said yesterday. The vessel, which was wrecked late Tuesday, was carrying at least 200 passengers and “up to yesterday (Thursday) we counted 115 survivors and 50 bodies fished from the water with difficulty,” the government spokeswoman said. “The others are certainly lost or were dragged down by the water.” The large motorized barge, which was also carrying goods, collided during the night with another boat, which was empty, on the Tshuapa River, 115 kilometers east of the provincial capital Mbandaka, spokeswoman Rebecca Ebale Nguma said. “The boat’s manifesto indicated that 200 people were on board, but some of the survivors say there were about 350 people,” Nguma added.
Syria forces kill four protesters DAMASCUS: Security forces shot dead at least four civilians and wounded dozens more as thousands of Syrians gathered yesterday to call for regime change and to chide world powers for inaction in the face of a brutal crackdown. Responding to a call under the slogan “Your silence is killing us,” the protesters emerged from mosques in cities around the country, rights activists said. At least 50,000 people turned out in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor to honor four people killed there on Thursday, and an estimated 300,000 attended the funerals of three of them, said Sami Abdel Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Security forces shot dead one young man as protesters there were returning to their homes, Abdel Rahman said. In Latakia, he said “a young man was killed and several others injured by gunfire from security forces who tried to disperse hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a square.”