Qatari arrest of Swiss TV journalists sparks concern about World Cup press freedom

The recent arrest in Qatar of a Swiss television crew has sparked concern about freedom of the press when the Gulf state hosts the World Cup, the world’s biggest sporting event, in 2022. The arrests have revived criticism of world soccer body FIFA’s controversial decision to award Qatar the hosting of the tournament.

The arrests are also likely to become an issue in the FIFA presidential election campaign of Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), who is challenging long-standing FIFA president Sepp Blatter in elections scheduled for June 1.

Swiss public broadcaster Radio Television Suisse (RTS) said it would complain to FIFA about the 13-day detention of its reporter, Christophe Cerf, and cameraman, Yvan Thorimbert. The two journalists were arrested on April 1 as they were filming a program about Qatar’s preparations for the World Cup. FIFA has so far declined to comment on the incident.
RTS said in a statement that its journalists “were grounded on Qatari soil for two weeks without receiving a clear explanation of what they were accused of.” RTS said it had been assured by the Qatari diplomatic mission in Geneva prior to the crew’s departure that the journalists would be allowed to film freely during their reporting assignment in the country.

The journalists were handcuffed and interrogated for 10 hours at police stations in Mesaieed and Wakra. A Qatari judge fined them, confiscated their equipment and prevented them from leaving the country. He also refused to issue a receipt for the payment of the fine, RTS said.

The journalists said after their release that they had been filming landscape shots in an area where filming was authorized. They said they had been two kilometres away from a sign saying “No Pictures.”
The two journalists were released as a result of the intervention of the Swiss ambassador in Qatar.

RTS head of sports Massimo Lorenzi charged, “The arbitrary conduct of the Qatari police constitutes a serious violation of press liberty.”

The incident comes at an awkward moment in Mr. Bin Hammam’s campaign to unseat Mr. Blatter, who has headed FIFA for the past 12 years. Mr. Bin Hammam’s commitment to transparency has been called into question by his failure to criticize the dismissal of scores of sportspeople in AFC member Bahrain—including four members of the island’s national soccer team—for their participation in anti-government protests.

Critics charge that Mr. Bin Hammam’s failure to comment on the dismissals as well as the detention of the Swiss journalists contrasts an April 4 entry on his blog in which he says “we need to create an environment where individuals are not reluctant to stand up for what they believe in.”

 

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A Nigerian footballer was arrested in Delhi allegedly with 25 grams of cocaine, police said today.

Kingsley Izuchukwu (34) was apprehended from Kotla Mubarakpur on Sunday allegedly with 25 grams of cocaine, Arun Kampani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said.

The arrest came after police received an input about fine quality drugs being supplied from neighbouring countries through different borders which are brought to Delhi for further sale.

It was also learnt that this drugs syndicate was being run by some Nigerian nationals based in Delhi. These consumers mainly use these drugs at select parties at night at various private places, bars and night clubs here, Kampani said.


Izuchukwu told police that he was a leading national level football player of Nigeria. "He used to play regularly for Pepsi football club Aba Estate of Nigeria. He came to India for the first time in 2009 and got connected with international drugs peddlers of Nigerian origin operating in Delhi.

"The lure of making easy money brought him back to India in December last year and started working for the drug suppliers. These drug suppliers basically cater to high society clients and these drugs are consumed at select parties at private places and bars in Delhi," Kampani said.

On April five, a Nigerian Emeka Paul and an Afghan Mohd Sarwar were apprehended with 1.660 kg of fine quality heroin from their possession. Two Nigerian nationals Mohemmed Owolabi Adigun and Akanbi Olamilekan Mohemmed were apprehended with 120 grams of cocaine on March 30.

During their interrogation, it was revealed that these Nigerian nationals supply drugs through their own network of select conduits belonging to Nigerian nationality.

Prior to that on February 24, Ekene Okeke, another Nigerian, was arrested with three gms of cocaine, who was also a national level football player.

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A former top Wellington public servant arrested on a cocaine charge in Argentina while en route to meet a man she met on online may have fallen prey to a 'scammer farm'

A former top Wellington public servant arrested on a cocaine charge in Argentina while en route to meet a man she met on online may have fallen prey to a 'scammer farm', an expert says.

Sharon Armstrong, aged in her early 50s and a former deputy chief executive of the Maori Language Commission, is being detained in Buenos Aires after being arrested on April 13, accused of trying to leave the country with five kilograms of cocaine in a false-bottomed suitcase. It is unclear whether she has been charged.

It is understood she was on her way to London to meet a man she had been dating online.

The man had paid for Armstrong to divert to Buenos Aires and pick-up some ''paper work'' for him there, her cousin Kapoi Mathieson told Radio New Zealand.

His facebook page has since disappeared.

Mathieson said Interpol was searching for the man, and the family had forwarded all the details they had about the contact between the pair.

"There is no way that Sharon would do something like that knowingly," Mathieson said.

"There is no way. My whole family, all my cousins, are ringing each other crazy quite distraught about it that she's been duped like this."

Mike O'Donnell, head of operations at Trade Me, who run online dating website FindSomeone, said the case was "pretty sad" and it sounded like Armstrong was "emotionally vulnerable" and may have been preyed on by an online scammer.

"What this person will have likely fallen for was a scammer farm... a whole range of people who are applying their skills to infiltrate relationships with a whole bunch of vulnerable people."

Rather than just being scammed by one person, O'Donnell said 'scammer farms' were usually a group of people who worked from an organised spreadsheet with background information on the target which included details like the tone of previous conversations.

He said scammer farms had a "whole number of people on their hooks at different stages".

It is believed Armstrong had been communicating online with someone for more than six months. They did not meet via FindSomeone.

She was due to travel to London to meet him but, at the last minute, her flights were changed to go via Argentina so she could attend to some documents the man said he needed for a new job.



O'Donnell said FindSomeone noticed a spike in international scammers approaching members around a year ago.

Since then measures had been put in place to prevent people located overseas, including some regular visitors from Australia, signing up, he said.

FindSomeone in the United Kingdom and Canada were also shutdown.

FindSomeone has more than 100,000 active members and on a typical day more than 15,000 messages were sent between members.

Each time a message was sent, members see a warning which reads "Never send money or financial details to people who send you a message through FindSomeone".

Members were also encouraged to report anyone acting suspiciously.  

"Safety is critical. FindSomeone has pretty extensive safety information on how to identify scammers in advance including elaborate advice on when you go from online to offline," O'Donnell said.

He said people should follow their instincts: "If it's too good to be true, it probably is."

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Michael Sacatides, Australian jailed at Kerobokan says 'sorry' to Bali for drugs

AN AUSTRALIAN man facing 16 years jail in Bali has personally apologised for the distress and negative impact of his drugs arrest and told of his efforts to keep fit while behind bars.

Appearing in Denpasar District Court yesterday Michael Sacatides, 43, chose to make his own personal plea to the judges who will decide his fate.

Reading from a two-page document, Sacatides, formerly from Sydney's west, told the three judges: "I would like to apologise for the distress that my arrest has caused to Indonesia and in particular Bali.

"I realise that your country does not deserve this type of negative attention."

Sacatides said that he intended to make amends, during his imprisonment, and do everything he can to repair the damage.

"I have already started a Thai boxing program and a health and fitness class.

"I am currently 43-years-old and have never committed a crime."

Interpol and the Australian Federal Police have confirmed this as fact.

Sacatides also thanked the officials and law enforcement for treating me with the utmost respect and dignity.

He told of his commitment to rehabilitate himself in the jail. However, he has from day one maintained his innocence and denied any knowledge of the drugs found in the suitcase he was carrying. He did not explain why he would therefore need to rehabilitate himself.

"I come from an honest and religious family who has never been in any trouble with the law and I have already learned a lot in prison and I am committed to rehabilitate myself," Sacatides said.

Sacatides, a kickboxing instructor living in Bangkok, was arrested on Ocotber 1 last year shortly after arriving in Bali on a flight from Thailand. Customs officials found the 1.7kg of methamphetamine or ice secreted in the side panels of the suitcase he was carrying.

The charge of importing the drug carries the maximum death penalty however prosecutors recently made a sentence request suggesting that he was worthy of a 16-year jail term.

The sentence request is just a guide however and the panel of three judges can give a sentence higher or lower than this.

From day one Sacatides, who has the same lawyer as Schapelle Corby originally employed, has employed the same defence that he had no idea the drugs, worth up to $A400,000, were inside the bag.

He has said he borrowed the bag from an Indian friend in Bangkok.

Sacatides has supplied the name of the Indian man to authorities but there is no evidence he has been tracked down or located or questioned about the bag or its contents.

His lawyer, Erwin Siregar, who also represented Corby after her 2004 arrest, told the court as part of the 26-page defence response to the sentence demand that his client was a victim of a drug syndicate.

Mr Siregar submitted that when approached by Customs and asked to unlock his bag that he did so quickly and smoothly, he did not exhibit nervousness and looked calm and relaxed. And he said that the code of the lock on his suitcase was the standard 000, meaning that anyone could have opened it.

Further, the authorities had failed to take any fingerprints of the surface containing the drugs, Mr Siregar said.

"Based on the facts during the trial, the element of evil intention could not be proven at all in this case ... and the legal consequence is the defendant must be declared innocent of committing the crime of importing narcotic," Mr Siregar submitted.

He called for Sacatides to be found not guilty and freed when his verdict is handed down on April 25.

The prosecution had earlier submitted that Sacatides crime was contrary to Government programs to combat narcotic abuse and could tarnish Bali's image as a tourist destination and damage the young generation when the drugs got onto the street.

Sacatides is in Bali's Kerobokan jail along with 11 other Australians - including the Bali Nine and Schapelle Corby. Three of the Bali Nine are on death row and awaiting the outcome of their final appeals, while Corby is waiting for the result of a presidential clemency plea against her 20-year sentence.

There is no date or time limit for any of the appeals or clemency plea.

Another man, Angus McCaskill, was recently sentenced to seven years in jail after being found guilty of possession of 3.58 grams of cocaine and fined $A89,000. He is appealing his sentence.

 

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BRITISH fugitive wanted by police for massive benefit fraud and forgery is living large in Mijas Costa

A BRITISH fugitive wanted by police for massive benefit fraud and forgery is living large in Mijas Costa.
A number of concerned readers have been in touch after the authorities failed to pick him up. The Olive Press is now working with Scotland Yard in a new bid to have Robert Brennan, 67, arrested.


The Scouser was also being sought for sex offences, although one case involving a juvenile has recently been dropped.
A spokesman for the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said last night, it would “still be great to track down Brennan who is awaiting sentencing for fraud.”
Brennan fled to Spain in late 2008 after being convicted of a 130,000 euro benefit fraud.
He pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to seven charges of council tax, housing benefit and jobseeker’s allowance fraud.
He had cleverly forged the signature of his brother, who had, in fact, lived in Germany for over 30 years.
But his subsequent disappearance prompted police to seek an international arrest warrant in April 2009.
The following month, it was reported that Brennan was also facing a string of sex offences dating back to the 1990s.
The Liverpool Echo said he was charged with 20 allegations of child sex abuse. However, Merseyside Police confirmed this week that the sex abuse charges have since been dropped.
A spokesman confirmed: “Following a three-year investigation into allegations of sex offences, the Force has been advised the case should be discontinued.”
The spokesman was unable to confirm the reasons why the case had collapsed.
However, she added: “We still want him for benefit fraud and forgery.”

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