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Court orders release
of Zimbabwe activists
HARARE: Zimbabwe’s high
court on Wednesday ordered
that a top rights activist, who
was seized weeks ago, be
released to hospital after facing
accusations in a lower court
of recruiting anti-government
plotters.
The move came with
pressure mounting on President
Robert Mugabe over a deadly
cholera epidemic and ruinous
political crisis, and earlier in the
day Nobel laureate Archbishop
Desmond Tutu accused South
Africa of failing to stand up to
the veteran leader.
Judge Yunus Omarjee
ordered late Wednesday night
that Jestina Mukoko and eight
other activists be released to
the custody of a Harare hospital
under police guard until their
next court date on Monday.
The judge offered no
Winter storms strand
thousands in US
WASHINGTON: Heavy snow and
freezing temperatures left thou-
sands of passengers stranded at air-
ports in the northern United States
ahead of the Christmas holidays.
Several airports were forced
to cancel flights and delay others
on Wednesday, one of the busiest
travel days of the year.
54
scholar-
ships
from
explanation for ordering them
to hospital, but one of their
lawyers said they may have
been tortured.
“There are allegations that
they have been tortured,” said
Maybank
pg 12
Beatrice Mtetwa, who was part
of the defence team that filed
an urgent application for the
release of the detainees.
Omarjee also ordered the
immediate release of 23 others,
including a mother with a
two-year-old baby in custody,
declaring their detention
“unlawful.”
Mukoko and eight
activists appeared earlier in a
magistrate’s court in Harare
where they were accused of
plotting against the government
of Mugabe. Specific charges
against Mukoko, taken from her
home on Dec 3, were not listed.
– AFP
Chicago’s O’Hare International
Airport was one of the worst hit,
with more than 100 flights can-
celled, along with Washington state
in the north-west of the country.
Heavy snowfall was also reported
in the north-east. Flights out of John
F Kennedy Airport were delayed by
two to three hours. – dpa
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Pope issues Xmas plea
for end to child abuse
VATICAN CITY: Pope
Benedict led the world’s 1.1
billion Roman Catholics into
briefs
Wolf captured
near tourist area
BEIJING: A wolf has been
captured by forestry workers
near a part of China’s Great
Wall close to Beijing which is
popular with tourists, state
media said on Thursday.
The wolf is being kept
at a nature park and will be
released in uninhabited moun-
tains far from the Wall, Xinhua
news agency said.
It was captured close to
the Badaling section, it said, a
restored part of the Wall many
tour groups visit.
Sightings of the wolf prior to
its capture had caused “wide-
spread fear”, the report said.
“We were certain the wolf
was alone. Probably it left its
theSun
?30SEN for delivery to your doorstep
Christmas at a midnight
mass yesterday in which he
appealed for an end to child
abuse in all its forms.
He also called for peace in
the Middle East, ahead of a
possible trip to the region next
year.
Benedict, celebrating
the fourth Christmas of his
pontificate, spoke out against
the abuse of minors -- ranging
from parents who abandon
their children to armed groups
that recruit child soldiers.
“Let us think of those street
children who do not have the
blessing of a family home,” he
said during the solemn mass at
St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Let us think of those
children who are victims of
the industry of pornography
and every other appalling
form of abuse, and thus are
traumatised to the depths of
their soul.”
Benedict said Catholics had
to “do everything in our power
to put an end to the suffering of
these children”.
In the past year the Pope
has repeatedly addressed the
issue of sexual abuse of minors
by Catholic clergy, but did
Children bring offerings as Pope Benedict
XVI leads the Christmas Mass in Saint
Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican yesterday.
companions to search for
food,” Xinhua quoted a forestry
worker as saying. – Reuters
18 Tamil Tigers
killed in clashes
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s army
beat back a Tamil Tiger coun-
ter-offensive in the island’s
north, killing at least 18 gueril-
las, the defence ministry said
yesterday. The Liberation Ti-
gers of Tamil Eelam mounted
the offensive outside their
besieged political capital of
Kilinochchi on Wednesday.
“Well prepared troops
engaged the advancing ter-
rorists with armour, tanks,
artillery and infantry causing
heavy damage,” the ministry
said in a statement.
It said 18 rebels were
killed and another 34
wounded, but did not give
details of casualties on the
government side.
| FRIDAY DECEMBER 26 2008
not raise it in his Christmas
homily.
Benedict apologised for
sexual abuse of minors by
clergy and met victims during
a July trip to Australia. He
also met victims in the United
States in April.
Humanity needed a
“conversion of hearts” to rid
the world of evil, said the Pope.
“Only if people change will
the world change and in order
to change, people need the
light that comes from God,” he
said.
Benedict called for an end
to “hatred and violence” in
the Middle East, which he is
expected to visit in 2009.
No official announcement
has been made yet but the
trip is expected to include
stops in Israel, the Palestinian
territories and Jordan. It will
be his first visit to the region
since his election in 2005.
“Let us think also of the
place named Bethlehem, of the
land in which Jesus lived and
which he loved so deeply. And
let us pray that peace will be
established there, that hatred
and violence will cease,” said
the Pope. – Reuters
REUTERSPIX
The Tigers on Monday said
they killed more than 100
soldiers and had taken back
territory lost to advancing
government forces. – AFP
Guinea PM turns
himself in at base
CONAKRY: Guinea’s prime min-
ister turned himself in yesterday
along with his government after
an order to so from a military
junta that has seized control of
the west African nation.
Junta leader Capt Moussa
Dadis Camara received them
at an army camp outside the
capital, telling them in front of
journalists, “Yesterday, you were
in power, today it’s our turn.”
“We helped you, you must
help us,” he added to Ahmed
Tidiane Souare and some 30
ministers, who deferred to
him, rising as he walked in and
sitting down when he invited
them to do so. – AFP