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A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 22 January 2020
China sentences ex-boss of Interpol to 13 years for bribes

in The Hague, Netherlands. Meng has already been
In a statement sent to The fired from his positions and
Associated Press, she said expelled from the Commu-
Interpol "breached its ob- nist Party. The relatively light
ligations owed to my fam- sentence was likely a result
ily" and "is complicit in the of what the court called his
internationally wrongful cooperative attitude and
acts of its member country, willingness to admit to and
China." shore remorse for his crimes.
A statement Tuesday from While serving at Interpol,
the No. 1 Intermediary Meng retained his title as
Court in the northern city China's vice minister of
of Tianjin said Meng ac- public security. It wasn't
cepted the verdict and clear when or how he had
would not appeal. In addi- crossed Xi, who has lever-
tion to his prison sentence, aged a wide-ranging cam-
he was fined 2 million yuan paign against corruption at
($290.000) . It said Meng, all levels to eliminate or in-
66, admitted he abused timidate political rivals.
his position to accept 14.4 As a long-serving vice minis-
million yuan ($2.1 million) in ter of public security, Meng
bribes while serving in vari- served for a time under
In this July 4, 2017, file photo, Interpol President Meng Hongwei delivers his opening address at the
Interpol World Congress, in Singapore. ous offices, including as a Zhou Yongkang, the former
Associated Press vice minister of public se- security chief who was sen-
curity and maritime police tenced to life in prison, be-
BEIJING (AP) — China has after traveling to China dren, has accused Chinese chief, often in exchange coming the most powerful
sentenced the former presi- from France in late 2018. authorities of lying and for favors and using his in- figure to fall in Xi's anti-graft
dent of Interpol, Meng Hon- Interpol was not informed questioned whether her fluence with other officials. campaign.q
gwei, to 13 years and six and was forced to make a husband was still alive.
months in prison on charg- formal request to China for Grace Meng is now suing
ing to protect him from ar- UN rights panel finds
es of accepting more than information about Meng's Interpol, accusing it of fail-
$2 million in bribes. whereabouts amid suspi-
Meng was elected presi- cion he had fallen out of rest in China and failing to
dent of the international political favor with Chinese look after his family. Meng's climate change can
police organization in 2016, President Xi Jinping. lawyers last year filed a le-
manent Court of Arbitration be cause for asylum
but his four-year term was Meng's wife, who remains gal complaint in the Per-
cut short when he vanished in France with their two chil-

BERLIN (AP) — A U.N. hu- level rise.
man rights panel has ruled The plaintiff in the case, Io-
for the first time that people ane Teitiota, had argued
fleeing the effects of cli- that he and his family were
mate change may be en- threatened by the lack
titled to claim asylum, even of fresh water and violent
as it dismissed an individual land disputes as the ocean
plaintiff's case against his encroaches on Kiribati.
deportation from New Zea- The panel concluded that
land. he had failed to provide
The U.N. Human Rights sufficient evidence for his
Committee published its claims and that while Kiri-
ruling Tuesday in the case bati is likely to become
of a man from Kiribati who uninhabitable, there is still
was sent back to the Pa- a chance the island's gov-
cific island nation after be- ernment might avert this.
ing denied asylum by New Still, the committee's 18
Zealand in 2015. independent experts ac-
The Geneva-based pan- knowledged that "envi-
el, which monitors states' ronmental degradation,
compliance with the 1966 climate change and un-
International Covenant on sustainable development
Civil and Political Rights, constitute some of the most
concluded that although pressing and serious threats
the deportation was legal, to the ability of present and
similar cases might in future future generations to enjoy
justify asylum claims. the right to life."
The ruling has no immedi- "This ruling sets forth new
ate legal impact, but it is standards that could facili-
likely to be cited by people tate the success of future
who say their rights are en- climate change-related
dangered by the impacts asylum claims," commit-
of climate change — such tee member Yuval Shany
as violent storms and sea said.q