Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 14 sepTember 2017

Moody’s: Egypt official acknowledges

Qatar crisis is a negative for all involved secret arrest of rights lawyer

By BRIAN ROHAN
Associated Press
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Wednesday acknowledged
the detention of a human rights lawyer who went
missing on his way to a U.N. conference on forced
disappearances, accusing him of disseminating fake
news.
Ibrahim Metwally, who was arrested at Cairo Inter-
national Airport three days ago and initially held in-
communicado, may have been targeted because
he provided legal aid to the family of Giulio Regeni,
an Italian graduate student who was abducted and
tortured to death in 2016 during a police crackdown
in Cairo.
Regeni’s killing sparked a major diplomatic row with
Italy, which said Egyptian authorities had not fully
cooperated with investigators and withdrew its am-
bassador in protest last year. On Wednesday a new
ambassador arrived, signaling an improvement in re-
lations.
Egyptian authorities have denied any involvement in
Regeni’s killing, but activists say it bore the hallmarks
of police brutality. Regeni went missing in Cairo on
Jan. 25, 2016, when police were out in force to pre-
In this June 7, 2017 photo, released by Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al vent protests, and his body was found days later,
Ahmad Al Sabah, left, holds the hand of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha,
Qatar. Rating agency Moody’s said that the dispute between Qatar and other Arab states has bearing the signs of intense torture.
created uncertainty across the Gulf region. The Supreme State Security Prosecution on Wednes-
(KUNA via AP) day acknowledged Metwally had been detained,
and ordered him held for 15 days in Cairo’s sprawling
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- nation of Bahrain, which of turmoil there have made Tora Prison complex pending investigations. It said he
ates (AP) — Rating agency has been roiled by low-lev- it the most exposed if ten- was interrogated Tuesday night.
Moody’s said in a report re- el unrest since 2011. sions persist. The likelihood Egypt has severely limited the work of the country’s
leased Wednesday that the The rating agency esti- of the dispute dragging human rights community amid a wider crackdown
three-month-old diplomat- mates Qatar has injected out for months to come on dissent since the military overthrew an elected
ic dispute between Qatar close to $40 billion, or close prompted Moody’s to Islamist president in 2013. Authorities have imposed
and other Arab states has to 12 percent of its finan- downgrade Qatar’s sover- travel bans and frozen the assets of several promi-
created uncertainty across cial reserves, to support the eign rating from stable to nent human rights advocates in recent years, and
the Gulf region and could economy in the first two negative in early July. parliament has passed legislation banning most for-
negatively affect the credit months of the standoff. It The dispute erupted in ear- eign funding for rights organizations. In recent months
outlook of all the countries said that $30 billion flowed ly June when Saudi Arabia, Egypt has also blocked hundreds of websites, includ-
involved. out of Qatar’s banking the United Arab Emirates, ing many run by rights groups.
The report by Moody’s In- system in those months of Bahrain and Egypt severed The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
vestors Service said per- June and July, with further all diplomatic and trans- said authorities should immediately release Metwally,
sistent tensions between declines expected. port links with Qatar, accus- drop all criminal charges against him, and report on
Qatar and its neighbors will Moody’s said Bahrain’s ing it of fomenting unrest in steps taken to investigate and ensure accountability
have the biggest impact climbing debt and the im- the region and backing ex- in the case.
on Qatar and the island- pact of the past five years tremist groups. q
“He was charged with managing a group created
against the law, spreading false news, and coopera-
tion with foreign organizations,” it said in a statement,
Alleging IS links: adding that family members and lawyers only dis-

Iraq sentences Russian national to death covered Metwally’s whereabouts Tuesday evening,
while his home was raided.
Metwally co-founded Egypt’s Association of the
By QASSIM ZAHRA largest city from IS that was camp for displaced people Families of the Disappeared after his own son van-
Associated Press launched in October of last in northern Iraq. The individ- ished in July 2013 during clashes at an Islamist protest.
BAGHDAD (AP) — Bagh- year and declared com- uals from 14 countries sur- An expert on the matter who has been lobbying
dad’s central criminal plete in July. rendered to Kurdish forces Egyptian authorities on the issue since 2014, Metwally
court sentenced a Russian The individual was tried un- at the end of August after had been invited to speak to the U.N. Working Group
national to death by hang- der Iraq’s anti-terrorism law an Iraqi offensive drove the on Enforced Disappearances.
ing for his membership in and confessed to carrying extremist group from the Egyptian authorities have taken similar measures
the Islamic State group, the out “terrorist operations” northern town of Tal Afar, against other rights advocates who have tried to
court said in a statement. against Iraqi security forces near Mosul, Iraqi security travel abroad to take part in international forums, in
The man was arrested as since 2015, said Abdul-Sat- officials said. what critics say is an effort to conceal its poor human
Iraqi forces pushed the ex- tar Bayrkdar, spokesman The women and children rights record.
tremist group out of Mosul’s for Iraq’s supreme judicial will not be charged with Egypt acknowledged Metwally’s detention hours be-
western half, according council. crimes and will likely be fore the new Italian ambassador, Giampaolo Cantini,
to the statement released Earlier this week, Iraqi forc- repatriated to their home arrived in Cairo. The new envoy has been tasked with
late Tuesday. The fight for es announced they were countries, the officials said, pursuing the Regeni case, which outraged many in
Mosul’s west was the sec- holding more than 1,300 speaking on condition of Italy and sparked a popular campaign to pressure
ond phase of the opera- foreign women and chil- anonymity in line with regu- officials to uncover the truth.q
tion to retake Iraq’s second dren from 14 countries at a lations. q