Bahrain medics freed on bail

A special Bahraini court has released on bail 20 Shia Muslim medics being tried for their role in a month-long pro-democracy protest, including many who had gone on hunger strike, according to the state news agency, BNA.
The national safety court said late on Wednesday that the verdict for medics would be issued on September 29.
The court was set up under a three-month quasi-emergency law declared by King Hamad ahead of the mid-March crackdown on the protest led by the Shia majority in the Gulf island state.
More than 100 detainees are on hunger strike, 17 of whom were hospitalised by the interior ministry after their health deteriorated, according to the Bahrain Commission of Inquiry.
Bahraini authorities had charged 24 doctors and 23 nurses - including several women, who had worked at Manama's central Salmaniya hospital, of incitement to overthrow the regime.
In addition, they were accused of "incitement to hatred of a regime, incitement to hatred of a segment of society, dissemination of false news and malicious rumours that could harm public interest and participation in unauthorised rallies and meetings."
They were rounded up in the wake of the heavy-handed security clampdown which forcefully drove protesters out of Manama's central Pearl Square that became the focal point of anti-government protests for a month, before being razed.
Many claim to have been tortured in custody.
Reforms promised
The national safety court has a mixed military and civil panel. But King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa last month promised that all Bahrainis on trials related to protests will see their verdicts issued by a civil court.
Authorities said in May that 405 detainees have been referred to courts, while 312 were released.
Bahrain's interior ministry says 24 people, including four policemen, were killed in the month-long protests that erupted in mid-February.

Security forces backed by troops from Bahrain's Gulf neighbours crushed the protest movement.

The opposition says that scores of people were arrested, and many of them tortured. Hundreds more were dismissed from their jobs.

Four people have been sentenced to death and three to life imprisonment after being convicted of the killing of two policemen during the protests.

Nine others were jailed for 20 years after being found guilty of abducting a policeman.

Yemen ruling party offers power transfer plan

Yemen's ruling party has proposed changes to a power transfer deal that would give President Ali Abdullah Saleh more time to leave office, in the hope of ending a stalemate that has paralysed the country.
An official from an opposition coalition told Reuters news agency that the parties would meet on Thursday to give their view of the proposed changes, which would give Saleh 90 days instead of 30 to leave power once he signed the deal.
Amendments approved by Saleh's party would have him transfer his powers to his vice president, Abbd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, after signing the deal.
After Saleh leaves, elections would be held and the opposition would form an interim unity government for a two-year transition period, retaining Hadi as interim president.
The government would use the time to draft a new constitution and hold a dialogue with armed groups.
The new plan also requires a restructuring of the military within three months of Saleh signing the deal. Saleh's family dominates the armed forces' high command. His son, Ahmed Ali Saleh, who the opposition worries is being groomed to succeed him, heads the elite Republican Guard.
Saleh, who is in Saudi Arabia recovering from a June assassination attempt, has defied months of mass protests against his 33-year rule.

Gaddafi denies reports he fled to Niger

Muammar Gaddafi has issued an audio message encouraging Libyans to take up arms against the fighters battling his loyalists and accusing the National Transitional Council (NTC), currently running the country, of being a front for Western powers.
The message from the deposed Libyan leader was broadcast early on Thursday on Syria-based Al-Rai TV.
"To all my beloved Libyans, the Libyan land is yours and you need to defend it against all those traitors, the dogs, those that have been in Libya and are trying to take over the land," Gaddafi said.
"They were spies for the Italians and now they are spies for France. All those germs and rats ... capture all those who are working with NATO and the UK to bomb our country and kill Libyans and our children."
Gaddafi also dismissed reports that he had fled to neighbouring Niger as "psychological warfare and lies".
He said there was nothing unusual about a convoy of cars going to Niger.
"How many times do convoys transporting smugglers, traders and people cross the border every day for Sudan, Chad, Mali and Algeria," Gaddafi said. "As if this was the first time a convoy was headed towards Niger."
The president of Burkina Faso has also deined that Gaddafi is in his country.
"We don't have any information on the presence of Libyans on our territory since these events started," he said.
On the ground, Libyan fighters claimed on Wednesday to have got Gaddafi surrounded within a 60km radius.
Anis Sharif, a spokesman for Tripoli's new military council, however, would not say where exactly Gaddafi had been found.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/20119813848107476.html

Prosecution witness arrested at Mubarak trial

A prosecution witness has been detained on charges of perjury while he was testifying in the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
The dramatic move Wednesday came after Capt. Mohammed Abdel-Hakim, in charge of ammunition for a Cairo security regiment, denied he had any knowledge that police were armed or given orders to shoot protesters in the anti-Mubarak uprising.
Lawyers for the families of slain protesters accused him of changing his earlier statements to prosecutors, and the judge ordered him arrested. Abdel-Hakim had told investigators he issued hundreds of bullets to each of his soldiers.
Prosecutors say four earlier witnesses also changed their stories, though none has been charged.
Mubarak is on trial for complicity in protester deaths.

Turkey to take Israel to ICJ

Turkey has said it will apply next week for an investigation by the International Court of Justice into the legality of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza.
Speaking to Turkish state-run television during a gathering on Saturday of European foreign ministers in Poland, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also reiterated Turkey's support for efforts to win recognition for a Palestinian state through the UN.
On Friday, Turkey downgraded ties by expelling Israel's ambassador and freezing military agreements with Israel after a UN report on the killing of nine people - eight Turks and an American man of Turkish descent - during an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship a year ago failed to trigger an apology from Israel.
The UN secretary-general has said Turkey and Israel should improve their diplomatic ties and accept the recommendations of the report.
Aside from demanding an apology - and compensation for families - Turkey also insists Israel ends the blockade of Palestinians living in Gaza.
Israel says the blockade is needed to stop arms from reaching fighters affiliated with the Hamas movement that controls Gaza.
The UN report concluded that the blockade was "a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons entering Gaza by sea".
Davutoglu said Turkey did not accept that conclusion, noting that it contradicted the UN Human Rights Council's findings.
"We will start the application process to International Court of Justice within the next week, for an investigation into what the Gaza blockade really is," Davutoglu told TRT news channel.
Turkey has also said it will pursue criminal cases against Israeli officials responsible for the killings.
Political shift
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, feted in much of the Muslim world for championing the Palestinian cause, is expected to go to Egypt later this month for a visit that could deepen the rift with Israel.

There is speculation that Erdogan might go to Gaza through Egypt's Rafah border crossing to show solidarity with the Palestinians.
While both Turkey and Israel are allies of the West, the two have become estranged in recent years, largely because of the Palestinian issue.
A Turkish official said there were tentative plans for Erdogan to visit Egypt on September 12, and, without specifying where, the official said Erdogan might go to another location during the trip.
Davutoglu warned that the democratic forces unleashed by popular unrest in the Middle East would stoke animosity toward Israel unless it changed its policies.
"Israel has to make a choice; the Arab Spring will bring about a significant enmity against Israel if it fails to change its attitude regarding regional issues," Davutoglu said.

Saudi Airlines to be fined over treatment of Egyptian pilgrims

CAIRO: Many of the Egyptian pilgrims who were stuck for nearly four days at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia finally received their lost or missing luggage today.

The airport authority with the help of the security forces carried the pilgrims’ bags to terminals one and three at Cairo International Airport. Owners of the luggage were contacted, security sources reported.

Sources also reported that Saudi Arabian Airline officials helped retrieve baggage for Egyptian customers to help quell the wave of anger over the delays and cancellations of flights.

About 17 Egyptian passengers, upon reaching Cairo International Airport, staged a sit-in on the plane, protesting the unfair treatment at Jeddah airport.

Egypt’s Tourism Police intervened and persuaded the demonstrators to disembark the plane. The police later filed a case against Saudi Arabian Airlines.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation agreed to impose financial sanctions on Saudi Arabian Airlines over the violations Egyptian passengers suffered.

The specific sanctions will be detailed in a report to be drafter by a committee appointed by the Saudi Civil Aviation and Mecca authority.

According to executives, the fines could reach 50,000 SAR (U.S. $13,331).

Turkey puts squeeze on Egypt over Israel: analysts

CAIRO - Turkey's expulsion of the Israeli ambassador puts pressure on Egypt to downgrade ties following outrage over the border killings of Egyptian policemen, analysts said.

But they said post-Mubarak Egypt's military rulers are unlikely to expel the Jewish state's envoy despite widespread calls for his expulsion and for Cairo to revise its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Turkey's decision to expel the ambassador over the deaths of Turkish activists when Israeli commandos raided an aid shipment to Gaza comes at a time of growing debate in post-revolutionary Egypt on ties with Israel.

Ankara, positioning itself as a regional leader, has in the past embarrassed Egypt with its outspoken condemnation of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, in contrast to the restraint of now ousted president Hosni Mubarak's regime.

"Turkey teaches Egypt a lesson and expels the Israeli ambassador," screamed a headline splashed in red across the front page of Saturday's Al-Masry Al-Youm, the country's largest independent newspaper.
http://english.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=344461&SecID=12