Foreign News
Thai court drops case against former PM Yingluck Shinawatra
Thailand’s top court has acquitted former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a corruption case during her time in office more than a decade ago.
The ruling on Monday is the latest legal success for the influential Shinawatra family. In February, Yingluck’s brother Thaksin – a two-time prime minister and figurehead of the Pheu Thai Party – was released on parole after serving six months into a commuted prison sentence for abuse of power and conflicts of interest.
Yingluck and five others were accused of mishandling 240 billion baht ($6.7bn) and not running a proper bidding process for a 2013 campaign set to promote Yingluck’s government’s infrastructure projects.
All nine judges in Thailand’s Supreme Court acquitted all defendants, saying in a statement they found “no intention” to benefit two major media outlets that won the contract at the time. “The project was done according to the regulations,” the court statement added.
Yingluck, who has lived abroad since 2017 to avoid jail over a subsidy scheme that caused billions of dollars in state losses, was not present at the court but was represented by her lawyer.
Thailand’s anti-corruption commission, which had filed the original complaint, has 30 days to appeal.
One of the defendants, Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan, who served as a deputy prime minister, told reporters they all “received the mercy from the court to dismiss the case”. Yingluck, 56, served as Thailand’s first female prime minister from 2011 until 2014 when her government was toppled in a coup. In 2017, Thailand’s Supreme Court sentenced Yingluck in absentia to five years in jail over a separate case of negligence in a rice subsidy promise to farmers during the 2011 election.
Thaksin had spent 15 years abroad after fleeing in the wake of his 2006 overthrow but made a dramatic return in August to face justice. He was transferred to hospital on his first night in jail and soon after, his eight-year term was commuted to one year by the king. His return and early release have fuelled persistent rumours that the tycoon made a behind-the-scenes deal with his powerful enemies, claims his allies and rivals have denied.
The clearance to Yingluck in the last remaining case against her could add to media speculation that she too will seek to return to Thailand. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, a close ally of the Shinawatras, has said the issue has not been raised.
Coverage of Thaksin’s release has been dominated by expectations he will seek to exert influence on Srettha’s government, or through his daughter Paetongtarn, who is Pheu Thai Party leader and eligible to become prime minister.
Srettha has repeatedly been asked by media if he would remain in charge with Thaksin now freed, questions he has rebuffed, insisting that he is still calling the shots in government. Thaksin has insisted he is retired and has been suffering from various health problems.
(Aljazeera)
Authorities in the Dominican Republican say cocaine discovered in the country’s largest-ever seizure was headed to Europe.
Hidden in a banana shipment, officials found 9,500kg of the drug at a port in the capital, Santo Domingo.
The cocaine was hidden in 320 bags with an estimated street value of $250 million (£196 million).
At least 10 people linked to the port are under investigation with early investigations showing the bananas had arrived from Guatemala, according to the National Drug Control Directorate.
Communications chief Carlos Denvers said: “Many unknown individuals tried to transfer the drugs to another container that would be shipped on a vessel to Belgium.”
The haul far exceeds the 2,580kg seizure made by Dominican authorities at the same port in 2006.
Monitoring agencies have reported that the Caribbean is resurfacing as a major drug trafficking route from Colombia to Europe.
A report last year found the use of cocaine is increasing in several western European countries including the UK, Belgium, France and Spain.
Europe accounted for 21% of the world’s cocaine users in 2020, according to a United Nations report
Evidence suggests use of the drug is bringing dire health consequences, with recent data showing drug-poisoning deaths in England and Wales hit the highest level in 30 years, fuelled by a 30% rise in fatalities involving cocaine.
[BBC]
Afghanistan’s top cricket stars Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi have urged the Taliban to reconsider their ban on women’s access to medical education and training, terming the move “deeply unjust”.
“Education holds a central place in Islamic teachings, emphasising the pursuit of knowledge for both men and women,” Afghanistan’s T20 captain Rashid wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.
“The Quran highlights the importance of learning and acknowledges the equal spiritual worth of both genders,” he added.
Earlier this week the Taliban announced their decision to forbid older girls and women from receiving medical education and training, closing all avenues for them to become doctors, nurses or midwives.
Rashid, who said he was speaking out in support of his Afghan “sisters and mothers”, believes the decision will profoundly affect Afghan women’s future as well as “the broader fabric of society”.
The 26-year-old global icon of the sport said the country “desperately needs professionals in every field, especially the medical sector”
(Aljazeera).
A Kenyan court has convicted a photographer for the murder of LGBT activist Edwin Kiprotich Kipruto, popularly known as Edwin Chiloba, whose body was found dumped in a metal box nearly two years ago.
The court in the western city of Eldoret ruled that the prosecution had proved that Jacktone Odhiambo, who was living with Chiloba, had killed him. Chiloba’s body had been found dumped on the roadside in Eldoret, where he was a university student.
The murder sparked global condemnation, with human rights groups saying it was because of his sexuality.
Kenya is a relatively conservative society and gay sex is illegal, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, although it is not clear whether there has been any convictions.
However the Supreme Court last year affirmed a ruling allowing LGBT people the right to associate and register a rights organisation.
Judge Reuben Nyakundi ruled that the evidence, which included DNA tests, had linked the accused to the murder. The evidence also indicated that the suspect had sexually assaulted Chiloba before killing him.
The judge said the prosecution had proved the suspect’s deliberate intention and deep hatred against the deceased.
“He was a young man whom you strangled until he lost his life at the peak of his life. You were close friends, and you should have protected his life,” said the judge.
The court did not make any finding about the motive for the killing.
Chiloba’s body was found in early January last year with socks stuffed into his mouth and a piece of denim from jeans tied around his face. A post-mortem indicated that he had died from lack of oxygen, caused by smothering.
Odhiambo, who was believed to have been in a relationship with the deceased, was accused of killing Chiloba between 31 December 2022 and 3 January 2023. He had denied the charges.
On Wednesday, the prosecution said in a post on X that it had presented evidence from 23 witnesses “detailing the events leading to Chiloba’s death and proving beyond reasonable doubt that Odhiambo intentionally caused the unlawful death”.
The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said the “landmark ruling” was a “significant step toward justice for Edwin and all LGBTQ residents of Kenya, Africa and beyond”.
Odhiambo is due to be sentenced on 16 December.
[BBC]
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