Al-Jazeera reporter convicted of terrorism. ITM: 'Al-Jazeera's reporter in Spain, Tayseer Alluni has just been sentenced to seven years in jail after a Madrid court found him guilty of joining a terror cell and facilitating money laundry. This is bad news for Al-jazeera who's been defending and campaigning to protect their reporter and they obviously failed in eluding justice but the question that we must think about is; was Alluni working on his own using his media credentials as a cover or could it be that Al-jazeera itself is involved?' The sentence came as part of Spain's largest terrorism trial, which featured the conviction of a cell leader. CNN: ' A suspected al Qaeda cell leader has been convicted in a Madrid court in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Two other suspected al Qaeda members were acquitted of charges they helped plot the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the accused cell leader, was sentenced to 15 years on charges of conspiracy in the attacks and 12 years for being a leader of a terrorist group. The court cleared him of being an accomplice to murder in connection with the attacks. Yarkas, 42, faced nearly 75,000 years in prison if convicted on those charges -- 25 years for each of the nearly 3,000 fatalities in the 9/11 attacks.' (ITM, CNN)
Canada: Iran regime violates human rights. Perhaps recalling the brutal murder of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi at the hands of IRI thugs, Canada's foreign minister said he had prepared a resolution to condemn Iran for human rights violations. Rooz: 'While the pro hardline government media in Iran called the meeting between the Iranian and Canadian foreign ministers successful, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, after meeting with his Iranian counterpart that his country had prepared a new resolution to condemn human rights violations in Iran and would propose it to the United Nations General Assembly. The new resolution condemning Iran's human rights record followed by IAEA resolution last week, which paves the way for referring Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council, has already created new challenges for Iran's foreign policy makers.' (Rooz)
IRA puts weapons "beyond use". Another brave Canadian official, retired general John de Chastelain, played a key role in the negotiations which have resulted in the Irish Republican Army's formal surrender of all its weapons. CBC: 'The Irish Republican Army has completely disposed of the weapons it used during its armed campaign against British Rule in Northern Ireland. According to international monitors, "We have now reported to the British and Irish governments that we have observed and verified events to put beyond use very large quantities of arms which we believe are all the arms in the IRA's possession." "We are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal," said John de Chastelain on Monday. De Chastelain is the retired Canadian general who since 1997 has led efforts to disarm the outlawed IRA on Monday.' (CBC)
