LCC NEWS BULLETIN
APRIL 3/2006
Below news from the Daily Star for
3/04/06
UN's Gambari: Hizbullah is an obstacle to 1559
Berri insists public scuffles will not disrupt dialogue
Aoun, Jumblatt put differences aside
Environmental study approved for Sidon dump
Aoun attacks politicians 'used to tutelage'
Jibril tells Hariri he had no role in father's assassination
No mention of Hariri murder in extradition request for Qoleilat
Adwan: Economic crisis demands action
Experts: Iran will use Hizbullah to respond to U.S. strike
Come what may, Lebanon thrives on chaos
March 14 candidates on top in Engineers and Architects poll
Official: Lebanese banks profiting from debt
Shock weather conditions cause chaos across country
Young Lebanese have their say
Zarqawi 'replaced' as political head of rebels in Iraq
Hamas vows crackdown on 'armed chaos' after three die in clashes
Below
news from miscellaneous sources
U.S. Experts Say Iran Could Ask Hizbullah to Use Military Action Over
Nuclear Program-Nahernet
Jibreel Discusses With Lebanese Top Officials the Issue of Palestinian
Disarmament-Naharnet
Bumpy Restart Expected for National Dialogue Talks After Latest Crisis-Naharnet
Fatfat's Lawsuit Against Lahoud Turned Down-Naharnet
Russia Says it Does Not in Principle Oppose International Hariri
Tribunal-Naharnet
PLO officer went to the military court by appointment-CGGL.org
Arab League, UN discuss regional, international issues-Xinhua
Gul: Iran and Syria to confront PKK forces-IranMania News
No rush to mending relations with Syria-Ya Libnan
U.S. attack on Iran may prompt
terror-© 2006 The Washington Post Company
Rights activist sentenced to five years prison in Syria-Khaleej
Times
Lebanese Muslims join jobless queues-Australian - Sydney,Australia
U.S. Experts Say Iran Could Ask Hizbullah to Use
Military Action Over Nuclear Program
As tensions increase between the United States and Iran, U.S. intelligence
experts say they believe Iran would respond to U.S. military strikes on its
nuclear sites by deploying its intelligence operatives and Hizbullah teams to
carry out military attacks worldwide, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
Iran would mount attacks against U.S. targets inside Iraq, where Iranian
intelligence agents are already plentiful, predicted these experts. There is
also a growing consensus that Iran's agents would target civilians in the United
States, Europe and elsewhere, they said.
U.S. officials would not discuss what evidence they have indicating Iran would
undertake such action, but the matter "is consuming a lot of time" throughout
the U.S. intelligence apparatus, one senior official told the newspaper.
Intelligence experts considered Iranian-backed or controlled groups -- namely
the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security operatives, its
Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanon-based Hizbullah -- to be better organized,
trained and equipped than the al-Qaida network that carried out the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks.
The Iranian government views Hizbullah, "as an extension of their state. . . .
operational teams could be deployed without a long period of preparation,"
Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, the State Department's coordinator for
counterterrorism, was quoted as saying. The possibility of a military
confrontation has been raised only obliquely in recent months by U.S. President
George Bush and Iran's government. Bush says he is pursuing a diplomatic
solution to the crisis, but he has added that all options are on the table for
stopping Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Speaking in Vienna last month, Javad Vaeedi, a senior Iranian nuclear
negotiator, warned the United States that "it may have the power to cause harm
and pain, but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States
wants to pursue that path, let the ball roll," although he did not specify what
type of harm he was talking about.
Government officials said their interest in Iran's intelligence services is not
an indication that a military confrontation is imminent or likely, but rather a
reflection of a decades-long adversarial relationship.
U.N. Security Council members continue to debate how best to pressure Iran to
prove that its nuclear program is not meant for weapons. The United States,
Britain and France want the Security Council to threaten Iran with economic
sanctions if it does not end its uranium enrichment activities. Russia and
China, however, have declined to endorse such action and insist on continued
negotiations. Iran says it seeks nuclear power but not nuclear weapons.
Former CIA terrorism analyst Paul R. Pillar said that any U.S. or Israeli
air-strike on Iranian territory "would be regarded as an act of war" by Tehran,
and that Iran would strike back with what he called "terrorist" groups. "There's
no doubt in my mind about that. . . . Whether it's overseas at the hands of
Hizbullah, in Iraq or possibly Europe, within the regime there would be pressure
to take violent action."(Photo shows Hizbullah soldiers parading) Beirut,
Updated 02 Apr 06, 09:18
Bumpy Restart Expected for National Dialogue Talks After
Latest Crisis
The latest row between Lebanon's top government leaders has led to a crisis that
may threaten national dialogue talks scheduled to resume next week to continue
discussing the most contentious political issues currently facing the country.
However, political leaders are exerting efforts to restore calm after days of
accusations and insults between pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and the
anti-Syria parliamentary majority that is seeking to oust him from power.
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, who is at the center of the dispute that started
between him and the president at the Arab summit in Khartoum, was quoted on
Saturday by As Safir newspaper as saying that the dialogue would resume on
Monday.
The paper also quoted sources close to the premier as saying that he would
pursue all efforts to reopen the channels of communication with Damascus to
restore relations between the two countries, despite the Syrian snub he received
in Khartoum. It said he may take such a step as early as next week.
An Nahar newspaper quoted diplomatic sources as saying that a new Arab
initiative is expected to be launched soon to mend ties between the two
neighbors. It would focus on the decisions taken at the dialogue talks to
establish diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Syria, delineate the border,
define the Lebanese identity of the Shabaa Farms and disarm Palestinian factions
outside the refugee camps.
Syria's cooperation in implementing these decisions is crucial, the paper said
adding that "without Arab pressure on Syria, these decisions will remain ink on
paper."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who along with the Saudi leadership has been
closely monitoring the Beirut dialogue, is expected to visit Damascus as part of
an upcoming Middle East tour aimed at launching the Arab initiative, the paper
said.
The latest political crisis began with a public dispute between Lahoud and
Saniora before Arab leaders at the Khartoum summit over a draft resolution
pledging to support the resistance or Hizbullah.
While Lahoud backed a clause that outright supports the group, Saniora agued
that it should be replaced with one that expresses the "Lebanese people's right
to liberate their land."
The row was carried back to Beirut where the premier was admonished by Speaker
Nabih Berri, a Hizbullah ally, during a televised parliamentary session for his
position in Khartoum. Berri then abruptly ended the meeting stripping Saniora of
his chance to respond. In the cabinet session that followed anti-Syria
ministers, rallying behind the premier, attacked Lahoud on camera angering the
president who lashed back. The quarrel poured out into the street where the two
camps separately briefed reporters about what happened. The president's fate is
scheduled to be the focus of the discussions between the 14 top rival leaders
when they resume their talks next week. The majority is seeking to remove Lahoud
whose term was extended under Syrian pressure in 2004 for three more years.
However, it does not command the necessary two thirds votes in parliament to
oust the incumbent leader. The group needs to win over the support of other
parties such as Hizbullah and Gen Michel Aoun.
However, since the Khartoum episode, Hizbullah has renewed its support of the
president whom it has always viewed as a political ally. It has sent its cabinet
ministers Energy Minister Mohamed Fneish and Labor Minister Trad Hamadeh to meet
Lahoud to show appreciation for his position. Beirut, Updated 02 Apr 06, 09:19
Fatfat's Lawsuit Against Lahoud Turned Down
A lawsuit filed by Minister Ahmed Fatfat against the president for threatening
his life at a cabinet session was turned down by the court for lack of
jurisdiction. An Nahar newspaper reported Saturday that Fatfat, who is acting
interior minister as well as minister of youth and sports, filed a suit against
President Emile Lahoud the day after the latter allegedly threatened him.
However, Chief Investigative Judge Abdel Rahim Hammoud dismissed the case on the
basis that civil judiciary has no jurisdiction over the president who enjoys
immunity under article 60 of the constitution. Fatfat says Lahoud threatened to
"crush" him during a stormy cabinet session Thursday that started with an
on-camera row between Lahoud and Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh. The
president was making a pun on Fatfat's last name which in Arabic means "break
into pieces." The minister's lawyers argue in their dismissed lawsuit that
presidential immunity should not apply in this case as Lahoud's term was
extended illegally in 2004 when Syria forced parliamentarians to extend the
constitution to keep him in power for three more years. "The immunity that he
enjoys is therefore considered invalid and non-existent," the text said.
It also said since the threat constitutes a "witnessed crime," immunity does not
apply.
The lawsuit asked the judiciary to hold the case until parliament decides on the
legitimacy of Lahoud's extended term.
Under article 60, the president can only be held responsible for violating the
Constitution or in the case of high treason. However, when it comes to ordinary
crimes, he is subject to ordinary laws. In both cases, the accusations are only
valid when endorsed by two thirds votes in parliament. The president would then
be tried by the Supreme Council, the only legitimate body to conduct such a
trial. Fatfat had said on a television program that he took the president's
comment as a threat against his life and informed the U.N. commission
investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"The defendant holds the claimant responsible for any harm which he may be
subjected to and asks for a written pledge that he will not harm his life in any
way," the lawsuit text said. Beirut, Updated 01 Apr 06, 11:18
PLO officer went to the military court "by appointment", says a Lebanese
newspaper
CGGL Staff-Local News-04/02/2006
Beirut, March 31: Sultan Abul Aynain, a "brigadier general" in PLO who was
speedily tried and acquitted by Lebanon's military court on Thursday, received
well-wishers at his base in the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiah in South
Lebanon then gave a press conference in which he thanked the Lebanese Government
for his exonerartion and praised the late Rafik Hariri. The Beirut English
language daily, the Daily Star, cited unnamed "sources" in reporting that Abul
Aynain went to the military court "by appointment" and that two earlier
appointments had been set and aborted.
Arab League, UN discuss regional, international
issues
www.chinaview.cn 2006-04-02 03:39:39
CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Saturday
discussed with visiting UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs
Ibrahim Jambari key regional and international issues of common concern.
The Egyptian official MENA news agency reported that talks between the two sides
focused on the current situation on the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Sudan's
Darfur region, Syria and Lebanon.
Jambari, who represented UN chief Kofi Annan at an Arab League summit which just
ended in Sudan's capital Khartoum on March 29, said that the meeting with Moussa
was a continuation of consultations they had started in Khartoum.
The two sides exchanged views about issues of mutual concern given that the Arab
League and the United Nations are partners in efforts for enhancing
international peace and security, he said.AL Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Ambassador Ahmed bin Helli,
who also attended Saturday's meeting, said that Moussa expressed hope during the
meeting that the UN would play its role in helping to achieve stability in Syria
and Lebanon. Helli pointed out that a plenary meeting of AL and UN organizations
would be held in Vienna on April 10-12 for talks on means of boosting joint
cooperation. The meeting will include 14 AL organizations and 24 UN agencies, he
added. Enditem Editor: Luan Shanglin
No rush to mending relations with Syria
Sunday, 2 April, 2006 @ 10:10 AM
Beirut- Naturally Lebanon and Syria should have good relationship , but there
should be no rush to mend the relationship with the current Syrian regime as
long as it is a suspect in the murder of former prime Minister Rafik el Hariri.
The Arab countries that are pushing for this reconciliation should instead
concentrate on getting Syria to cooperate with the UN investigation team that is
charged with finding out the killers of Hariri
Lebanon is a victim of Syria's criminal acts in Lebanon. Siniora should
therefore ignore the request of the Arab countries to mend the relationship as
long as Lebanon remains the victim of unresolved crimes and Syria remains the
mystery murderer that refuses to cooperate with the investigators.It has been over a year since Hariri was murdered and so far Syria has only
cooperated in form but not substance...Syria has been playing two types of games
at the same time to get itself off the hook
- The waiting game...
- The divide and rule game
The waiting game gives Syria breathing space and marginalizes the importance of
the crime... Syria is counting on the fact that as time passes the importance of
the crime will slowly diminish and regardless of the outcome of the
investigation, its impact on Syria will then be minimal.
At the same Syria is doing what it does best...divide and rule the Lebanese
community… using its allies such as Hezbollah and Lahoud to sabotage any plans
to bring about the required changes in Lebanon in order for the country to get
back on its feet to tackle the mountains of problems that have plagued the
country for the past 30 years.
Lebanon cannot depend on the Arab countries to solve its problems…
The Arab countries at the Khartoum summit were only interested in getting Syria
off the hook . The communiqué that followed the summit and which sided with the
most unpopular president (Lahoud ) was another proof that the Arab leaders are
more interested in words than action and don’t really care about Lebanon and its
future. They are only interested in supporting and preserving antiquated regimes
like theirs …to keep Lebanon under Syria’s thumbs by making sure Lebanon never
lives in peace .
The Arab league seems to be completely impotent in solving problems of the Arab
countries. The war in Iraq is a very good example of the impotence of the league
, under the leadership of Amr Mousa . The league had a golden opportunity after
the fall of Saddam Hussein to step in and play a constructive role in shaping
the new Iraq….but instead they waited until it was too little too late…
The opposing of the UN security council resolutions (with regards to Lebanon) by
the Arab countries is another clear indication of the impotence of the Arab
league. These were extremely important resolutions not only for Lebanon but for
the Arab countries as well , since any of their leaders could be assassinated
like Hariri was and surely they would want to know who the assassins were…
If heads of state like Moammar Qaddafi of Libya who lied to his people and to
the international community for several years and finally admitted that he was
behind the Lockerbie crime and ended up footing billions of dollars is expected
to support a democratic , sovereign and free Lebanon, then we should be
dreaming…leaders like him are the reason why the Arab nations are so far behind
the rest of the developed world.
It is not the first time the Arabs let Lebanon down…in 1968 the Arab league
supported the Palestinian revolution against Israel…and turned a blind eye on
calls by the Lebanese to preserve the security of their land. Yasser Arafat then
acted as if he was the president of the country …the war was in the streets of
Beirut and not in Israel…. hell followed and led to the civil war…and the rest
is a shameful history for Arabs and Lebanese alike…
Every time the Arab league committed a mistake in Lebanon, it held the Lebanese
responsible and pressured it to accept solutions that were against the interest
of the country.
The Lebanese leaders should have learned the lessons long time ago…that they
cannot depend on the Arab league to solve their problems.
We need to start thinking independently in order for us to solve our own
problems.
Lebanese people are capable of solving their own problems if they really care
about the country and its future. The Lebanese people are some of the best
problem shooters in the world and are leaders in any community they are
found…why can’t we act as leaders in our own community.
To lead , the Lebanese leadership should start thinking like Gibran Khalil
Gibran said” ask not what the country can do for me …ask what I can do for my
country”.
The Lebanese should therefore start thinking Lebanon …and what is good for
Lebanon is good for each and every Lebanese…
The Lebanese should start thinking what is good for the Christians should be
good for the Sunnites , the Shiites and the Druze… and visa versa …regardless of
what religion we have it shouldn’t really matter, since our allegiance should be
first and foremost to the country… since this is what really binds us all
together…
The Lebanese should start thinking what is good for the north should be good for
the south , east and west of Lebanon…otherwise it is not good enough .
Lebanon should be a melting pot for all the Lebanese regardless of religion,
origin, gender, age etc…etc…
The dialogue therefore that was started by speaker Nabih Berri not only should
continue but should be accelerated so that solutions are found and implemented
as soon as possible. Lebanon has missed the boat during the past 30 years and
has a lot of catch up to do….
Time is of the essence… it s time to start and now!
Each leader at the dialogue meeting should ask himself or herself: Can we do it
?
If you can Remember what Gibran said… then you can do it !
Once an agreement is reached then the Lebanese will be talking as a united front
from a position of strength.
Only a united Lebanon can be strong enough to tackle the mountains of problems
lying ahead…
To achieve unity, the Parliament majority should stop thinking that they alone
should dictate the future of the country…specially since this has become a
divisive issue… no one can ignore the fact that they are the majority but a
united Lebanon is so much more important…
To achieve unity, General Aoun should stop thinking he is the only viable
candidate to replace Lahoud…specially since his candidacy has become a
polarizing factor in Lebanon . General Aoun has great ideas about a future
Lebanon and most of the constructive ideas should be adopted by the new
leadership.
To achieve unity, Hezbollah should stop thinking that arms in their own hands
only will ensure the protection of Lebanon… specially since these arms seem to
scare the Lebanese more than the Israelis. The best place for these arms is a
strong Lebanese army, regardless what the Syrians think and say…
Lahoud should think Lebanon too … it is disgraceful for any politician to be
more popular outside the country than inside and specially if his main support
comes from a country whose leadership is a suspect in the murder of the most
important prime minister in the history of Lebanon. The most honorable action
for Lahoud to take for the sake of the country is to step down… and now!
The big question remains : Is the Lebanese leadership up to the challenge ???
Only time will tell…but the alternative is hell…
Source: Ya Libnan
U.S. attack on Iran may prompt terror
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
2/4/06: Experts say strikes on nuclear facilities could spark worldwide
retaliation
Technicians inspect a reactor at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant near Tehran.
U.S. intelligence experts say the sheer number of nuclear facilities in Iran and
their distance from one another make them difficult targets for a military
strike.
As tensions increase between the United States and Iran, U.S. intelligence and
terrorism experts say they believe Iran would respond to U.S. military strikes
on its nuclear sites by deploying its intelligence operatives and Hezbollah
teams to carry out terrorist attacks worldwide.
Iran would mount attacks against U.S. targets inside Iraq, where Iranian
intelligence agents are already plentiful, predicted these experts. There is
also a growing consensus that Iran's agents would target civilians in the United
States, Europe and elsewhere, they said.
U.S. officials would not discuss what evidence they have indicating Iran would
undertake terrorist action, but the matter "is consuming a lot of time"
throughout the U.S. intelligence apparatus, one senior official said. "It's a
huge issue," another said.
Citing prohibitions against discussing classified information, U.S. intelligence
officials declined to say whether they have detected preparatory measures, such
as increased surveillance, counter-surveillance or message traffic, on the part
of Iran's foreign-based intelligence operatives.
Bigger threat than al-Qaeda?
But terrorism experts considered Iranian-backed or controlled groups -- namely
the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security operatives, its
Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah -- to be better organized,
trained and equipped than the al-Qaeda network that carried out the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks.
The Iranian government views the Islamic Jihad, the name of Hezbollah's
terrorist organization, "as an extension of their state. . . . operational teams
could be deployed without a long period of preparation," said Ambassador Henry
A. Crumpton, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism.
The possibility of a military confrontation has been raised only obliquely in
recent months by President Bush and Iran's government. Bush says he is pursuing
a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but he has added that all options are on
the table for stopping Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Speaking in Vienna last month, Javad Vaeedi, a senior Iranian nuclear
negotiator, warned the United States that "it may have the power to cause harm
and pain, but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States
wants to pursue that path, let the ball roll," although he did not specify what
type of harm he was talking about.
Rise in tension raises stakes
Government officials said their interest in Iran's intelligence services is not
an indication that a military confrontation is imminent or likely, but rather a
reflection of a decades-long adversarial relationship in which Iran's agents
have worked secretly against U.S. interests, most recently in Iraq and Pakistan.
As confrontation over Iran's nuclear program has escalated, so has the effort to
assess the threat from Iran's covert operatives.
U.N. Security Council members continue to debate how best to pressure Iran to
prove that its nuclear program is not meant for weapons. The United States,
Britain and France want the Security Council to threaten Iran with economic
sanctions if it does not end its uranium enrichment activities. Russia and
China, however, have declined to endorse such action and insist on continued
negotiations. Security Council diplomats are meeting this weekend to try to
break the impasse. Iran says it seeks nuclear power but not nuclear weapons.
Former CIA terrorism analyst Paul R. Pillar said that any U.S. or Israeli
airstrike on Iranian territory "would be regarded as an act of war" by Tehran,
and that Iran would strike back with its terrorist groups. "There's no doubt in
my mind about that. . . . Whether it's overseas at the hands of Hezbollah, in
Iraq or possibly Europe, within the regime there would be pressure to take
violent action."
History of reprisals
Before Sept. 11, the armed wing of Hezbollah, often working on behalf of Iran,
was responsible for more American deaths than in any other terrorist attacks. In
1983 Hezbollah truck-bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241, and
in 1996 truck-bombed Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. service
members.
Iran's intelligence service, operating out of its embassies around the world,
assassinated dozens of monarchists and political dissidents in Europe, Pakistan,
Turkey and the Middle East in the two decades after the 1979 Iranian revolution,
which brought to power a religious Shiite government. Argentine officials also
believe Iranian agents bombed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994,
killing 86 people. Iran has denied involvement in that attack.
Iran's intelligence services "are well trained, fairly sophisticated and have
been doing this for decades," said Crumpton, a former deputy of operations at
the CIA's Counterterrorist Center. "They are still very capable. I don't see
their capabilities as having diminished."
Both sides have increased their activities against the other. The Bush
administration is spending $75 million to step up pressure on the Iranian
government, including funding non-governmental organizations and alternative
media broadcasts. Iran's parliament then approved $13.6 million to counter what
it calls "plots and acts of meddling" by the United States.
"Given the uptick in interest in Iran" on the part of the United States, "it
would be a very logical assumption that we have both ratcheted up [intelligence]
collection, absolutely," said Fred Barton, a former counterterrorism official
who is now vice president of counterterrorism for Stratfor, a security
consulting and forecasting firm. "It would be a more fevered pitch on the
Iranian side because they have fewer options."
Agencies mum on true threat
The office of the director of national intelligence, which recently began to
manage the U.S. intelligence agencies, declined to allow its analysts to discuss
their assessment of Iran's intelligence services and Hezbollah and their
capabilities to retaliate against U.S. interests.
"We are unable to address your questions in an unclassified manner," a spokesman
for the office, Carl Kropf, wrote in response to a Washington Post query.
The current state of Iran's intelligence apparatus is the subject of debate
among experts. Some experts who spent their careers tracking the intelligence
ministry's operatives describe them as deployed worldwide and easier to monitor
than Hezbollah cells because they operate out of embassies and behave more like
a traditional spy service such as the Soviet KGB.
Other experts believe the Iranian service has become bogged down in intense,
regional concerns: attacks on Shiites in Pakistan, the Iraq war and efforts to
combat drug trafficking in Iran.
As a result, said Bahman Baktiari, an Iran expert at the University of Maine,
the intelligence service has downsized its operations in Europe and the United
States. But, said Baktiari, "I think the U.S. government doesn't have a handle
on this."
Facilities make difficult targets
Because Iran's nuclear facilities are scattered around the country, some
military specialists doubt a strike could effectively end the program and would
require hundreds of strikes beforehand to disable Iran's vast air defenses. They
say airstrikes would most likely inflame the Muslim world, alienate reformers
within Iran and could serve to unite Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, which have only
limited contact currently.
A report by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks cited
al-Qaeda's long-standing cooperation with the Iranian-back Hezbollah on certain
operations and said Osama bin Laden may have had a previously undisclosed role
in the Khobar attack. Several al-Qaeda figures are reportedly under house arrest
in Iran.
Others in the law enforcement and intelligence circles have been more dubious
about cooperation between al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, largely because of the
rivalries between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Al-Qaeda adherents are Sunni
Muslims; Hezbollah's are Shiites.
Iran "certainly wants to remind governments that they can create a lot of
difficulty if strikes were to occur," said a senior European counterterrorism
official interviewed recently. "That they might react with all means, Hezbollah
inside Lebanon and outside Lebanon, this is certain. Al-Qaeda could become a
tactical alliance."
Researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
Rights activist sentenced to five years prison in
Syria
(DPA)-2 April 2006
DAMASCUS - Islamic researcher and a human rights activist was sentenced on
Sunday by Syria’s State Security Court to five years in prison on charges of
disseminating false information, inciting sectarian riots and forming a secret
organization, a human rights activist said.
Riyadh Darar, a human rights activist, was arrested last June after delivering a
speech during the funeral of a Kurdish Sheikh, Ammar Qurabi, a member of the
National Organization for Human Rights, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
Darar was a member of the Committees for Reviving the Civil Society.
No comment was available from Syrian officials, who routinely decline to comment
on such reports.
Since taking office in July 2000, President Bashar Assad has released hundreds
of political prisoners, but also clamped down on pro-democracy activists.
Lebanese Muslims join jobless queues
Dennis Shanahan, Political editor
April 03, 2006
The Australian/AUSTRALIAN-BORN Lebanese Muslims experience higher unemployment
and lower educational achievements than second-generation Lebanese Christians or
Muslims from other countries.
A Monash University study carried out in the wake of Sydney's Cronulla beach
riots considered whether there was a difference in disadvantage between
Christian and Muslim Lebanese."Lebanese Muslims are disadvantaged compared to
Lebanese Christians (and compared to all Australians, both migrant and
native-born)," the report says. "Thirty-nine per cent of first-generation
Lebanese Muslim men aged 25 to 44 in Sydney are unemployed or not in the labour
force, as are 26per cent of the second generation of the same age (compared with
16 per cent of all Australian men in this age group)." Social alienation and
unemployment among Muslim youths has been blamed for rioting in Paris and
contributing to terrorist sympathies and actions in London.
The same factors were cited as the underlying reasons behind the tensions
between beachside Sydney's youths with an Anglo-Celtic background and
southwestern Sydney's young people of Lebanese heritage. Most of Australia's
Muslims live in Sydney and are concentrated in the Bankstown and Rockdale areas,
in Sydney's southwest and on Botany Bay, in the city's south.
Melbourne academics Katherine Betts and Ernest Healy, in the paper to be
published in the Monash population study, People and Place, used the 2001 census
and Centrelink reports to detect levels of disadvantage among Lebanese Muslims
and Christians. The study found that the highest levels of disadvantage,
measured by unemployment, reliance on welfare payments and education
qualifications, were among older Lebanese Muslim men concentrated in Bankstown.
The study also found that while other migrant groups, such as Vietnamese
Buddhists or Bosnian Muslims, had high unemployment and poor education
qualifications, Lebanese Muslims were worse off and second-generation Lebanese
Muslims were not improving at the rates of other migrant groups.
The study suggests the Rockdale concentration of Muslims tend to have higher
employment and educational levels and that the Muslims with the highest incomes
and qualifications tend to live outside the heaviest concentrations of Muslims.
"Lebanese Muslim households are large and much more likely to be poor than all
households, or than Lebanese Christian households," it concludes. "Lebanese
Muslim men have low levels of education, relatively high levels of unemployment,
and a very high tendency not to be in paid work." People born in Lebanon or who
identify themselves as Lebanese account for a third of all Muslims in Australia
and also account for most of the increase between 1971, when 22,000 Muslims were
in Australia, and 2001, when there were 282,000, an annual growth rate of 8.8per
cent.