36

Gulf Times Thursday, January 23, 2014

COMMENT
Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah Editor-in-Chief : Darwish S Ahmed Production Editor: C P Ravindran

P.O.Box 2888 Doha, Qatar editor@gulf-times.com Telephone 44350478 (news), 44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery) Fax 44350474

GULF TIMES Photos show evidence of Syria regimes crimes

Syrian regime officials should face war crimes charges as there is now evidence of systematic torture and killing of detainees by them. Some 55,000 photographs smuggled by a former member of Syrias military police prove the industrial-scale torture and killing of thousands of detainees by the regime. Three former prosecutors at the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone have written a report after examining the pictures and les provided by the Syrian defector. The report provides clear evidence of the starvation, strangulation and beating of detainees in President Bashar al-Assads prisons. The report was written by Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the special court for Sierra Leone; Geoffrey Nice, the former lead prosecutor in the trial of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic; and David Crane, who indicted Liberian president Charles Taylor. It also features testimony from a forensic pathologist, an anthropologist who investigated mass graves in Kosovo and an expert in digital images. They are all convinced the pictures show evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes by the regime. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 130,000 people have been killed in the civil war. The UN put the toll at 100,000 in July, and has stopped counting. The graphic images in the latest report show men with strangulation marks, brutal beatings, signs of electrocution as well as starvation. They show that a numbering system was used by the regime to identify both the detainees and the branch of the security service responsible for their detention and death. The documentation, which the lawyers say was evidence of organised killing, was used to keep track of those killed in order to inform their families, who would be told that they died either of a heart attack or respiratory problems. The need to photograph those who were killed is a strong pointer to the fact that the killings were systematic, ordered, and directed from above, according to the inquiry team. Throughout the civil war in Syria, which started with anti-government protests in March 2011, Assads regime has denied accusations of human rights violations. But the photographs reveal the truth. The Syrian opposition has rightly called for an international inquiry. We do call for an international inspection to visit places of detention and see the facts of torture that our citizens face every day, Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba told the end of the rst day of a peace conference in Switzerland. We have suffered enough from the murders, the bombardments and this bloodshed has continued for far too long, Jarba told world leaders gathered in the Swiss city of Montreux.

The DiCaprio-Winslet starrer was one of the first Western films to be authorised for general release in China and it remains one of the top three most popular movies.

China gives Titanic tourism another twist

A Chinese energy company has unveiled plans for a multimillion dollar theme park that surely brings a whole new twist to Titanic tourism and tourism in general
Titanic has been visited by numerous explorers, scientists and salvage experts eager to capture data and a glimpse of the ship for the history books. There was also a desire to preserve a physical memory of the ship and those who perished. Recovering the ship was never on the radar due to the sheer weight, enormous size and colossal depth of its resting place. Thousands of artefacts from furniture and dinnerware to personal items have been recovered from the debris site over the years for preservation and public display in museums and touring exhibitions. These offer visitors an educational, emotional and poignant look at the ship and its passengers. Compelling human stories are told through authentic artefacts and extensive recreations made of state and dining rooms to bring to light the golden era of early 20th century sea travel. Over the years tourists have been shipped to the vessels resting site. We are not talking about hovering on the surface of the Atlantic to pay their respects to the deceased, but diving deep down to see rsthand the wreckage. There have been many takers over the years, paying anything up to $60,000 for a submersible trip to the infamous ship. Two hours to dive to the ghostly wreck, six hours exploring it and two hours to return to the surface. It gives a whole new meaning to a trip of a lifetime! The glitzy Egyptian-themed Luxor Hotel and Casino Las Vegas in the worlds entertainment capital attracts high rollers on gambling tables but is also home to a permanent xture dedicated to the Titanic a 15 ton portion of the ships hull. In March 2012, the most expensive tourism project in Northern Ireland opened in Belfast. The $100mn Titanic Belfast maritime exhibition is dedicated to the ships history with educational fact-nding tours of shipbuilding and the underwater world. On display is plenty of Titanic history including the last lunch menu rst class passengers enjoyed before tragedy struck. The menu, loaned to Titanic Belfast, is reported to have been bought for $122,000 by a collector from a Titanic passenger and is one of endless artefacts retrieved and turned into money-spinning items. Titanic tourism, however, seems to have stepped up a gear following a rather surreal announcement in China last week. A Chinese energy company unveiled plans for a multimillion dollar theme park that surely brings a whole new twist to Titanic tourism and tourism in general. Theme parks around the world have gone all out to give visitors the experience of thrills and spills of attractions. Whether it is experiencing Universal Studios earthquake in an underground subway station; being attacked by Jaws; and even feeling the effects of a massive warehouse re recreating scenes from the lm Backdraft, Chinas offering is bizarre to say the least. A shake and tumble experience to recreate Titanic going down. Odd for sure, but you heard it correct. The Chinese have apparently done their homework to even suggest the plan. A full-sized replica of the Titanic measuring 269 metres will be the highlight attraction of a theme park in Sichuan Province, western China. It will include a shipwreck simulation of an iceberg collision to give the mainly domestic visitors a harrowing sense of the disaster. The ship will be moored at a port on the River Qi. The $165mn Titanic replica, being built as part of the Romandisea Seven Star International Cultural Tourism Resort, is due to open in 2016. The theme park will also have a museum dedicated to the maritime tragedy. Su Shaojun, chairman of developers Seven Star Energy Investment Group, said in an interview with Chinas Xinhau News Agency: There are museums dedicated to Titanic in the US and Europe. Its time for China to honour the spirit of human responsibility how passengers tried to save one another as the ship sank. He went on: The universal love and sense of responsibility shown during the Titanic shipwreck represent the spiritual richness of human civilisation. When the ship hits the iceberg, it will shake, it will tumble. We will let people experience water coming in by using sound and light effects. They will think the water will drown me, I must escape . Dubbed disgraceful and shameful for making money out of a tragedy, the whole project has also been described as insensitive by families of those who worked on the Titanic and those who died in the disaster. The Chinese love of the Titanic is not short-lived. Last year, a Chinese shipyard announced the construction of a working replica of the Titanic, to be funded by Australian billionaire and mining tycoon Clive Palmer. The ship is set to sail in the same year as the theme park opening. Titanic II will reportedly sail to the UK in preparation for a maiden passenger crossing from Southampton to New York in a repeat of the 1912 voyage. More than 50,000 people are already said to have signed up to be on the rst trip, willing to pay up to $1mn for the privilege. The DiCaprio-Winslet starrer was one of the rst Western lms to be authorised for general release in China and it remains one of the top three most popular movies. Its ctional love story involving the lead actors is still a big attraction for the Chinese. Perhaps this explains the reason for the two mega China Titanic projects in the pipeline. The death of the Titanic remains one of the most documented disasters of all time. Today, its heritage and memory remain intact with a constructive approach to promoting its legacy. But I end with a talking point. Shouldnt Titanics legacy be remembered with dignity? Tourism helps generate revenue for economies and is a driver for visitor spend, but companies and governments must take a more concerted approach and not promote poor taste nor be insensitive. Disaster tourism. Think again. Updesh Kapur is a PR & communications professional, columnist, aviation, hospitality and travel analyst. He can be contacted at updeshkapur@gmail.com / twitter:updeshkapur)

We have suffered enough from the murders, the bombardments

By Updesh Kapur Doha ention the word Titanic and the conversation inevitably centres on the award-winning lm that chronicled the events surrounding the tragic sinking of the worlds largest luxury cruise liner over 100 years ago. James Camerons epic three-hour movie recreated the story of the ships ill-fated maiden voyage across the Atlantic. Hollywood ction, not surprisingly, was thrown into the script that gave as much focus on the romantic leads of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet than on the ship itself. With the lm earning rave reviews, being a commercial success unheard of for a disaster movie and its leading stars and production team picking up Oscars for their stellar work, it also propelled mass interest in the ship and its history. What was the worlds most celebrated ship of its time remains rmly in the public spotlight 104 years after it sank en route to the Big Apple. There remains ongoing fascination among young and old about the Titanic, its background and the circumstances of the liners tragic demise. On 10 April 1912, RMS Titanic set sail on its inaugural journey from the British port city of Southampton. Destination: New York. There were 2,200 people onboard. Luxury was the essence with the elite from both sides of the Atlantic wanting to be part of its rst ever crossing. Five days later, the unthinkable happened. An unimaginable disaster for a ship deemed unsinkable. Approaching midnight on April 15, the ship struck an iceberg and began listing before nally submerging within hours. More than 1,500 people died, most lost at sea in the freezing waters. 700 survived and be rescued by rescue vessels. The ship sank in the cold night to its nal resting place 12,000 feet below the ocean surface. Numerous attempts were made over the years to locate the wreckage but to no avail until 74 years after its passing. In September 1985, the wreckage was nally located over 1,000 miles east of New York by a team of international explorers. Titanic was thought to have sunk in one piece based on stories from survivors but the reality following the discovery was two distinct sections sprawled over a large area on the oor of the Atlantic. The bow and sterns lie a third of a mile apart in a deep sea canyon off the Newfoundland coastline. Since the discovery, the wreck of the

The universal love and sense of responsibility shown during the Titanic shipwreck represent the spiritual richness of human civilisation
Luxury china etched with the logo of the elite White Star line of the Titanic and other salvaged objects have been preserved. Visitors are truly provided with a haunting and emotional experience with walks through the ships construction to life as it was onboard. Life-size replicas and moving three dimensional objects showing the structural and human dimensions of the tragedy have provided an eerie insight into what happened on that fateful night over a century ago. Such is the global fascination of the iconic ship that all things associated with the Titanic have turned it into a compelling tourism industry, supported by hundreds of websites devoted to historical data and stories of the cruise liner. In 2012, numerous events and exhibitions were held in many places across America and the UK to commemorate the disasters 100th anniversary.

To Advertise advr@gulf-times.com Display Telephone 44466621 Fax 44418811 Classified Telephone 44466609 Fax 44418811 Subscription circulation@gulf-times.com

Since the discovery, the wreck of the Titanic has been visited by numerous explorers, scientists and salvage experts eager to capture data.