Qatari doctor held and 'beaten' in unknown UAE jail

 


Dr Mahmoud al-Jaidah was detained at Dubai Airport on 26 February.
International human rights groups have consistently criticised the UAE for detaining critics of the government.
The UAE government has said that all prisoners are treated according to the law and that any allegations of mistreatment are investigated. Dr Jaidah has not been charged with any offence. His case bears a striking resemblance to that of Salah Yafai who was arrested at Dubai airport on 26 April 2013.

The Bahraini citizen was held for almost seven weeks in an unknown location without charge.
Mr Yafai was released on 15 June after the Bahrain government intervened on his behalf.
Mr Yafai, a fitness trainer and educator, is a member of the Bahrain al-Islah society, a conservative religious organisation with links to the Muslim Brotherhood. Last year 94 people, most of them members of the al-Islah society in the UAE, were arrested and are on trial charged with plotting to overthrow the government. The detainees include two prominent human rights lawyers, as well as judges, teachers, and student leaders. If convicted, the activists, including 13 women, each face up to 15 years in jail, with no right of appeal.

A family member said that he thought authorities in the UAE were trying to link Dr Jaidah to the 94 and to the Muslim Brotherhood.
"He is not a member of the brotherhood, a supporter maybe but not a member".
The relative said that Dr Jaidah was deprived of sleep for three days: "They beat him and made him say things he didn't do". He added that the family did not know where Dr Jaidah was being held.
Qatar has long supported the Muslim Brotherhood, while the UAE view the brotherhood as a serious threat.
Both countries are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Dr Jaidah's family told the BBC that the Qatari government had facilitated three visits, the most recent on 23 June. On each occasion, according to the relative, the doctor was driven blindfolded to a government building in Abu Dhabi from wherever he was being held.
The family member said that Dr Jaidah told them that he was not being beaten any longer but that he was still in solitary confinement and had lost nearly two stone (10 kgs) whilst in detention.
A lawyer hired by the family had met with his client only once for 10 minutes and in the presence of an official. The family member said "our government has told us they are trying but are getting no response. They need to try more". No-one from the Qatari government was available for comment.

CC: BBC

South Africans have been holding an all-night prayer vigil for former President Nelson Mandela.

 

South Africans have been holding an all-night prayer vigil for former President Nelson Mandela, outside his former home in Soweto.

The crowd have been singing and saying prayers for Mr Mandela's health, on what is now his 20th night in hospital.
South Africa's first black president - an icon of the anti-apartheid struggle - is suffering from a lung infection.
President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday that the 94-year-old's condition had improved, but still remained critical.
"He is much better today than he was when I saw him last night," President Zuma said after speaking to Mr Mandela's medical team.
Mr Zuma cancelled a visit to Mozambique to visit Mr Mandela in hospital.
Meanwhile Mr Mandela's daughter Makaziwe said he was "still there" and responding to touch.

Nelson Mandela's eldest daughter Makiziwe's criticism has echoed the sentiments of many South Africans who have baulked at the "intrusive" nature of some of the media coverage around the former president's state of health.
One such report suggested that Mr Mandela had suffered cardiac arrest on 8 June when he was rushed to hospital, and more recently some unconfirmed media reports said the national icon was now on life support. Some have described such details as "too much information", others as "insensitive".
Meanwhile the media continues to camp outside the heart hospital in Pretoria where he is being treated, as well as outside his home in Johannesburg, waiting for any news.
This is particularly uncomfortable for traditional South Africans, who see all the media attention as not only distasteful but also going against African culture.
There is a huge respect for death here and it is never mentioned before the event.
Even in this dark hour, very few speak frankly about the 94-year-old's passing - instead many are still praying for his recovery.

But she accused some journalists of being like vultures, waiting for her father to die.

Emotional crowds gathered outside the hospital, adding messages of support for Mr Mandela, known by his clan name Madiba.
Children released 94 balloons - one for every year of the ex-president's life - into the air in his honour.
Correspondents say South Africans now seem resigned to the prospect of his death.
"We don't like seeing Mandela going through so much pain, he has had a tough time in his life and he's gone through a lot of struggle. I think this struggle should get over sooner," Khulile Mlondleni told Reuters news agency.
"We are all going to feel bad when he passes [away], but at the same time we will be celebrating his life. He has done so many great things for this country," said 25-year-old John Ndlovu, quoted by the agency.
As crowds prayed in Soweto on Thursday evening, South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) said it would hold vigils each day that the former leader remained in hospital.
US President Barack Obama, who is in Senegal, described Mr Mandela as "a hero for the world".
"His legacy will linger on through the ages," he said.After visiting her grandfather in hospital on Wednesday, Ndileka Mandela said it was an anxious time for the family.
"He's stable and we'd like to say that we thank everybody for giving their support and praying with us... we are anxious as you know that he is critical but he's in a stable condition right now," she said.

"It's been hard, especially because of all of this - that we have to do everything in the public eye."

Later Mr Mandela's daughter Makaziwe said that while the situation was serious he was still responsive.
"He doesn't look good, I'm not going to lie," she said, after seeing him on Wednesday night.
"But as I say, if we speak to him, he responds and tries to open his eyes. He's still there. He might be waning off, but he's still there," she told public broadcaster SABC.
She was also highly critical of the behaviour of the international media.
"There is sort of a racist element with many of the foreign national media where they cross boundaries - it's like truly vultures waiting [for] when the lion has devoured the buffalo… we don't mind the interest but I just think that it has gone overboard," Ms Mandela said.
Mr Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj also criticised some media outlets for broadcasting unverified information, as rumours spread on social media sites.
Meanwhile media reports say the bodies of three of Mr Mandela's children are to be moved from his birthplace to his home in Qunu, where he himself has said he wants to be buried.
They include his son Makgatho, who died of an Aids-related illness in 2005.

Speaking on SABC Makaziwe, Nelson Mandela's daughter accused some journalists of racism, describing them as "vultures"

Mr Mandela is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was elected president the following year. He left office in 1999 after a single term.
Mr Mandela retired from public life in 2004 and has rarely been seen at official events since.
He has a long history of lung problems, and was diagnosed with tuberculosis in the 1980s while he was a prisoner on Robben Island, off Cape Town.
After his release, Mr Mandela said that the tuberculosis was probably caused by dampness in his prison cell.


cc: BBC

L'Oréal reviews £135m UK and Ireland media

It is thought that the review is motivated by a desire to ensure L’Oréal is working with the best media partners as it looks to integrate its marketing communications further and improve its social media presence.
The business includes media planning and buying for all of the company’s brands, which include L’Oréal, Garnier, Maybelline, Lancôme, YSL Beauty and Kérastase. The account was worth £135 million in 2012, according to Nielsen.
ID Comms is assisting with the process and is approaching all major marketing and communications holding companies.
L’Oréal said in its results for 2012 that the company performed particularly well in the UK last year.
ZenithOptimedia has held the UK and Ireland business since 2005, when it won the consolidated account in a pitch against UM, which was the incumbent on the majority of the business and had worked with L’Oréal for more than 15 years.
The review does not affect L’Oréal’s other relationships, such as with Publicis and Interpublic’s McCann Worldgroup, which handle the creative account. However, it is thought that the brand wants its agencies to work better together.
Gayle Noah, the media manager at L’Oréal UK and Ireland, said: "L’Oréal is a hugely successful, dynamic business and we are always looking for ways to improve our marketing performance.
"As one of the UK’s leading advertisers, we want to ensure we are working with the UK’s best media agency to help us connect with our current and potential consumers to drive our business even further.
"We look forward to seeing how participating agencies respond to the strategic, operational and commercial challenges we are preparing as part of this review."

Yahoo partners Sky News to create Sunrise service

The Yahoo/Sky News partnership will also include three original co-commissioned series covering Politics, Tech and Business and a window to the Sky News live feed during breaking news events.
The three original shows are: Thinking Aloud, a Current Affairs Debate hosted by Joey Jones; Loose Change, a Personal Finance programme presented by Poppy Trowbridge and Ursula Errington; and The Lab, series of short films on UK's brightest young inventors.
It promises to extend Sky News video content, currently reaching more than 107 million homes across 117 countries, to Yahoo! News’ 6.5 million online users in the UK, and potentially millions more worldwide.
In addition, Sunrise will be made available on demand across devices.
Jean-Christophe Conti, vice president and head of partnerships EMEA, Yahoo, said: "In an intricate ecosystem, Yahoo works with partners to create mutual success.
"As a leading news provider, Sky News is the perfect partner to deliver and co-create content on news, politics and business that we know our users want."

-POPE BENEDICT XVI RESIGNATION LETTER.

"Dear Brothers,



I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.  I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.
Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects.  And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer."

CCK PRESS STATEMENT ON THE SHUT DOWN OF ROYAL MEDIA SERVICES BROADCAST TRANSMITERS

 

The Commission has in the last two days shut down 17 Royal Media Services’ broadcast transmitters in 11 different sites or locations of the country that were being operated using unauthorized frequencies and without the required licences in blatant breach of the law. 

Section 35 of the Kenya Information and Communications Act, 1998, outlaws the setting up and operation of communications apparatus without authorization from CCK.
 

The 17 transmitter stations were located in Narok, Menengai Hill (Nakuru), Mukuyuni (Makueni), Nanyuki, Karue Hill (Embu), Vuria Hill (Taveta), Gatare (Murang’a), Migori, Enchoro Hill (Sotik), Mwingi, and Mabrui (Malindi). 

The Commission issued a 30 - day notice to Royal Media Services to cease operating the unauthorized stations on 3rd December 2012, which this broadcaster ignored and continued to transmit broadcast signals from the 17 transmitter stations in total disregard of the law.

The 17 transmitters in question were being operated using self-assigned or ‘grabbed’ frequencies. Indeed, some of the transmitters were located in non-designated broadcasting sites, and were causing harmful interferences to other duly licensed and compliant broadcasters. 

In some instances, these interferences were so intense that the services of the affected broadcasters were rendered completely inoperable.
 

More disturbing, the safety of our airspace has in recent times come under threat as these illegal transmitter stations have on a number of occasions caused interferences to radio communication between pilots and the control tower. 

In this regard, the Commission has received numerous complaints from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority as well as from our national carrier, Kenya Airways, about threats to the safety of our airspace due to interferences emanating from these illegal transmitters. 

The erection of transmitters, particularly on high-altitude areas without the required authority also puts the safety of helicopters and small aircraft which usually fly at low altitude at the risk of crashing into the masts. 

The National Environment Management Agency has raised concerns that the towers have been erected without carrying out environmental impact assessment as required by the law.
 

It is important to note that the Commission is the only state organ charged by law with the responsibility of managing the country’s frequency spectrum resources. 

Management of the frequency spectrum is critical in ensuring orderly exploitation of this scarce and limited resource. All spectrum users, therefore, are required to operate under a licence issued by CCK and which must be kept in force through adherence to the operational parameters stipulated in the licence. 

Frequency spectrum is a national resource belonging to the people of Kenya, which must be managed centrally to ensure optimal and orderly use as well as to avoid interferences among various spectrum users.
 

The 17 illegal transmitter stations that were shut down over the weekend are not the only ones that Royal Media Services has allocated itself. 

Indeed, there other 22 FM and 2 TV frequencies that the said broadcaster assigned himself between 2008 and 2012, and which the Commission has been injuncted by the courts from taking any action pending the hearing of the appeal arising from our notice to the said broadcaster on 17th May 2012.
 

The Commission has attempted to engage Royal Media Services to cease self-appropriation of spectrum without success. 

In 2006, the Commission, after consultations with the relevant government organs, regularized a total of 67 FM and 10 TV frequencies that Royal Media Services had acquired in the same manner between 2002 and 2006 on the understanding that the broadcaster would henceforth cease using unauthorized frequencies and deploying transmitters in non-designated broadcasting sites. 

Contrary to this agreement, Royal Media Services has continued allocating itself frequencies and erecting masts in non-designated broadcasting sites in total disregard of the law and our regulatory notices. 

We cannot sit by as the ICT sector law is being derogated with reckless abandon at the risk of compromising on the safe operation of aviation services, and jeopardizing investments in the ICT sector. 

We have a mandate to execute, and execute we shall without fear or favour.
 

The implications of unauthorized use of spectrum are quite adverse and include the following:

• It increases incidences of harmful interferences to other spectrum users including aviation, thus presenting a threat to safety of life. This may result in Kenya being boycotted/blacklisted by airlines leading to extensive losses in tourism and other economic activities including investment;
• It amounts to an act of impunity and flies in the face of the regulatory requirement to provide an equal platform for all players;
• It denies the Commission the spectrum resources to address plurality and diversity and to cater for devolution requirements as envisaged in the constitution.

For purpose of clarity, I wish to note that the Commission has not switched off any frequencies that have been assigned legally to Royal Media Services or to any other licensee nor those that are subject to court cases. 

We only focused on frequencies that Royal Media Services had assigned itself in total disregard of the law. 

I also wish to note that this matter has been a subject of debate in parliament in light of the grave implications of use of unauthorized spectrum to the safety and integrity of  our airspace, and protection of investments in the ICT sector.
 

Francis W. Wangusi
DIRECTOR GENERAL
Communications Commission of Kenya

WHATS SO SPECIAL ABOUT THESE SIX RUNNING MATES????

Kalonzo Musyoka

The Vice-President has been in politics for close to three decades.

He is the Wiper Democratic Party leader which has partnered with Mr Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Party to form Cord, which made him the running mate.

Mr Musyoka, 60**, first became MP when he won the Kitui North by-election in 1985 and was appointed an assistant minister for Works, Housing and Physical Planning.

He was re-elected MP in 1988 and elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. In 1992, he was re-elected MP and appointed Foreign Affairs minister.

He was won the sear again in 1997 and headed the ministries of Education and Human Resources Development and Tourism and Information.Does he really provide a bloc in the vote for the CORD basket?? What will his expertise add to the CORD coalition to assume a first round win?? well, lets await the 4th of March.

William Ruto

Born on December 21, 1966, the URP leader holds a Bachelor of Science and master’s degree in botany from the University of Nairobi.

Mr Ruto was first a political operative in Kanu, then ODM, and now the URP. He is the party leader of URP, which partnered with Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA to form the Jubilee Coalition. Mr Ruto served the coalition government as the Agriculture minister before he was moved to Higher Education. He has been the MP for Eldoret North for the past 15 years.

He has considerable business interests in the agriculture and service industries. He is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his alleged role in the 2008 post-election violence. No doubt of his outspoken nature. He adds credible ideologies to the Uhuru ticket. But the ICC on his shoulders, Land matters in court, will he jump the steeple to rally for a jubilee win. Will he prove critics wrong towards the ICC cases?? Kenyans are watching.

Jeremiah Kioni

Mr Kioni is the outgoing MP for Ndaragwa and was elected to Parliament in the 2007 General election.

He is Amani Coalition leader Musalia Mudavadi’s running mate.

Before his entry into politics, Mr Kioni ran Ngayu and Associates, a property valuation firm based in Nairobi.

He is one of the MPs who came up with the idea of the United Democratic Forum.

He holds a degree in Lands Economics and a Master of Arts in Housing Administration from the University of Nairobi.

He also has a law degree from the University of Nairobi.

Mr Kioni has also been a member of the Land Arbitration Board. Quite reserved but a backbone in the UDF party, being a running mate of mudavadi, his name was unanimously included in the list of parliamentary nominees be it they lose. after much complains from the public, they ended up pulling down their names from the list..Doe he add taste to the Mudavadi bid??? Can he command the central bloc to rally behind Mudavadi?? 

Winnie Kaburu

Ms Winnie Kaburu, 53, is the presidential running mate of Prof James ole Kiyiapi.

The former English teacher is a businesswoman and has been active in Kenya’s private sector for the past 10 years.

The last time she taught English was 25 years ago at Uasin Gishu High School.

She also worked in the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunication Corporation for six years before moving into the private sector.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a master’s in Gender and Development from the University of Nairobi.

She’s the chairperson of the Private Sector Forum and the chief executive officer of Envirowaste Management Limited

Ronald Osumba

Mr Osumba is the running mate of Mr Peter Kenneth in the March 4 General Election.

The 33-year-old is a former senior manager at mobile phone company Safaricom.

He holds a degree in Business Management (Marketing) from Moi University, Eldoret.

He is also a chartered accountant. He chairs the board of Youth Employment Systems - a nonprofit organisation.

Born in Kibera in a family of six, Mr Osumba won a scholarship to study at Starehe Boys Centre. He once worked at Co-operative Bank as the sales team leader.

He is the chairman of the Old Stareheian Society, a club of the alumni from Starehe Boys Centre. His goal, he says, is to ensure continuity of the Starehe heritage. Critics argue he doesn't have the charisma to drive this nation forward though he be a youth.Rallying behind Peter Keneth can "Ronny" pull a surprise???

Augustine Lotodo

Mr Augustine Loile Chemonges Lotodo, 42, is the running mate of Ms Martha Karua.

The son of former Kanu MP Francis Lotodo, the younger Lotodo has served in the East Africa Legislative Assembly, having been picked to the regional assembly by Ms Karua’s Narc Kenya.

He brings to Mr Karua’s campaign the regional experience that will be key for any President keen on the East Africa Community.

His stint in EALA gave him huge experience in negotiating with lawmakers from different backgrounds and cultures.

He is a former board member of the Lake Victoria North Water Services Board. Not so very known, the son of a former Minister to rally behing the fierce Martha Karua...will he command a following??? Lets waitn in utmost patience 35 days to the polls.

 

Ref::::: Kenyapolitical.blogspot.com