South Africa bolsters security to keep hooligans out of FIFA World Cup

Johannesburg, May 10 (ANI): South African authorities have set up various �special cells� and accelerated judicial processes in order to keep European hooligans at bay during the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be hosted by the country.

South Africa which itself has one of the worst rates of violent crime is beefing up security arrangements keeping in mind the track record of over-zealous English fans who have been known to go on a rampage when their team loses.

South African National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele said his country was hoping to stop troublemakers before they got to the World Cup, but was concerned that many were already on the move, the Herald Sun reports.

�We have met the intelligence chiefs of Britain � I didn�t know that there were countries that had a football police, but we have met the football police � and they are giving us information on those fans they won�t let leave their countries (due to prior convictions),� the paper quoted Cele as saying.

The police have also set up special remand and court systems to cope with any arrests during the tournament.

�For those fans that are here, we will have special courts, we will have special cells � if they do anything out of hand, we will put them in the special cells and try them and give them a life sentence if it is serious and let them go home if they are innocent,� he said.

Cele has been a controversial figure in South Africa due to his claims a FIFA official told him that the World Cup is going to be taken away from South Africa due to safety concerns, and for saying that he is praying USA doesn�t make it to the second round so that he could avoid having to host President Obama, the paper reports. (ANI)

Science used in attempted jail break

A Queensland prisoner has apparently used a science trick in an attempt to escape from his cell at the Lotus Glen prison, west of Cairns.

The 29-year-old inmate, serving a life sentence for murder, successfully breached the bars of his cell window about 1.30 am (AEST) yesterday.

But the man, who has been in jail for seven years, was caught attempting to escape a second meshed cage.

It is understood he corroded his cell bars over several months by putting salt water on them and conducting an electric current to them by inserting a one-metre length of wire into a power point and attaching it to the bars with electrical tape.

He was caught after a guard saw a light coming from the cell and went to check on him.

A Corrective Services spokesman said an investigation has been launched into how the man breached the bars.

The prisoner has been charged with attempting to escape custody and will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 10.

Jessica murder case: Family hails Supreme Court verdict

New Delhi, Apr 19 (ANI): Sabrina Lall, the sister of murdered model Jessica Lall, on Monday expressed satisfaction and happiness over the Supreme Court upholding Delhi High Court’s verdict in convicting all accused.

Lall was shot dead by Manu Sharma on April 29, 1999, at the Tamarind Court Cafe restaurant, which was owned by socialite Bina Ramani in South Delhi.

Interacting with media after the Supreme Court order, Sabrina said: “After 11 years…I am glad that the final door has been closed on this case. It has given us a lot of relief and satisfaction that the Supreme Court has upheld the verdict of the high court. I am happy.”

An apex court bench consisting Justices P. Sathasivam and Swatanter Kumar upheld the Delhi High Court judgment on Monday.

On December 18, 2006, reversing the order of acquittal recorded by the trial court, the Delhi High Court had convicted Sharma and awarded him a life sentence.

The High Court also declared two other accused in the case — Vikas Yadav and Amarjeet Singh Gill — guilty for destruction of evidence.

They have also challenged their conviction and four-year jail sentence.

Sharma is the son of senior Haryana Congress leader Vinod Sharma while Yadav is the son of Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav.

Sharma who is serving a life sentence in Tihar jail challenged his conviction and life sentence given by the Delhi High Court.

Sabrina described the apex court”s decision as a triumph for a common family.

“When the accused were acquitted by the lower court, that was a time that I had lost hope…In these cases where high profile and powerful people are involved, the important message is that it is not an impossible fight. If society works together and we continue to fight and don”t lose hope, it is not impossible to get the conviction…There is justice in the world and it”s possible not only for me, but for all those families fighting for it,” Sabrina said.

“In this case, middle-class people came out together in peaceful support. They created a movement for justice for Jessica. There are people I don”t even recognise who came out in open support,” she added.

Sabrina also demanded that witnesses be permitted who had turned hostile.

“Punishment to hostile witness should work as a deterrent in society. They will keep lying unless somebody is held accountable for the same,” she said. (ANI)

Supreme Court verdict in Jessica Lall murder case today

New Delhi, Apr 19 (ANI): The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Monday in Jessica Lall murder case in which prime accused Manu Sharma has challenged his life sentence awarded by the Delhi High Court.

A Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and Swantanter Kumar had reserved their verdict on February 18.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani had assailed the High Court verdict which had set aside the trial court judgment acquitting the accused.

He had alleged that the High Court Bench had made up its mind to hold Sharma guilty.

Jessica Lall was shot at point blank range on the night of April 29, 1999 while she was working as a barmaid at the Tamarind Court Bar owned by socialite Bina Ramani.

It was alleged that Jessica was murdered by Manu Sharma, alias Siddharth Vashist, son of Congress politician and former Union Minister Vinod Sharma, after she refused him a drink since the bar had closed for the day.

The trial court verdict acquitting Sharma on February 21, 2006, was set aside by the High Court on December 18, 2006.

The High Court had held guilty two other accused in the case Vikas Yadav and Amarjeet Singh Gill for destruction of evidence.

They have also challenged their conviction and four years” jail sentence. (ANI)

Jessica murder case: Family hails Supreme Court verdict

New Delhi, Apr 19 (ANI): Sabrina Lall, the sister of murdered model Jessica Lall, on Monday expressed satisfaction and happiness over the Supreme Court upholding Delhi High Court’s verdict in convicting all accused.

Lall was shot dead by Manu Sharma on April 29, 1999, at the Tamarind Court Cafe restaurant, which was owned by socialite Bina Ramani in South Delhi.

Interacting with media after the Supreme Court order, Sabrina said: “After 11 years…I am glad that the final door has been closed on this case. It has given us a lot of relief and satisfaction that the Supreme Court has upheld the verdict of the high court. I am happy.”

An apex court bench consisting Justices P. Sathasivam and Swatanter Kumar upheld the Delhi High Court judgment on Monday.

On December 18, 2006, reversing the order of acquittal recorded by the trial court, the Delhi High Court had convicted Sharma and awarded him a life sentence.

The High Court also declared two other accused in the case — Vikas Yadav and Amarjeet Singh Gill — guilty for destruction of evidence.

They have also challenged their conviction and four-year jail sentence.

Sharma is the son of senior Haryana Congress leader Vinod Sharma while Yadav is the son of Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav.

Sharma who is serving a life sentence in Tihar jail challenged his conviction and life sentence given by the Delhi High Court.

Sabrina described the apex court”s decision as a triumph for a common family.

“When the accused were acquitted by the lower court, that was a time that I had lost hope…In these cases where high profile and powerful people are involved, the important message is that it is not an impossible fight. If society works together and we continue to fight and don”t lose hope, it is not impossible to get the conviction…There is justice in the world and it”s possible not only for me, but for all those families fighting for it,” Sabrina said.

“In this case, middle-class people came out together in peaceful support. They created a movement for justice for Jessica. There are people I don”t even recognise who came out in open support,” she added.

Sabrina also demanded that witnesses be permitted who had turned hostile.

“Punishment to hostile witness should work as a deterrent in society. They will keep lying unless somebody is held accountable for the same,” she said. (ANI)

Supreme Court verdict in Jessica Lall murder case today

New Delhi, Apr 19 (ANI): The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Monday in Jessica Lall murder case in which prime accused Manu Sharma has challenged his life sentence awarded by the Delhi High Court.

A Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and Swantanter Kumar had reserved their verdict on February 18.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani had assailed the High Court verdict which had set aside the trial court judgment acquitting the accused.

He had alleged that the High Court Bench had made up its mind to hold Sharma guilty.

Jessica Lall was shot at point blank range on the night of April 29, 1999 while she was working as a barmaid at the Tamarind Court Bar owned by socialite Bina Ramani.

It was alleged that Jessica was murdered by Manu Sharma, alias Siddharth Vashist, son of Congress politician and former Union Minister Vinod Sharma, after she refused him a drink since the bar had closed for the day.

The trial court verdict acquitting Sharma on February 21, 2006, was set aside by the High Court on December 18, 2006.

The High Court had held guilty two other accused in the case Vikas Yadav and Amarjeet Singh Gill for destruction of evidence.

They have also challenged their conviction and four years” jail sentence. (ANI)

U.S. judge denies bail for militia group members

(Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered eight members of an extremist militia group held in custody until they could be tried on accusations of plotting to kill police officers and wage a war on the U.S. government.

U.S.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Scheer said each defendant posed a flight risk and “would constitute an unacceptable risk of danger to the community at large, and to the law enforcement community in particular” if released on bail.

An indictment unsealed on Monday accused the defendants, members of a Midwestern militia group called the Hutaree, of planning to kill a police officer in Michigan and then ambush the funeral procession using improvised explosives.

In his detention orders, Scheer wrote that the seven men and one woman had significant motivation to avoid the potential jail sentences in the case and noted that authorities said they had planned and trained for “protracted resistance to federal authority.”

“In addition, they have hidden caches of supplies intended for their use in evading capture,” Scheer wrote.

Each defendant was charged with a firearms offense that carries a mandatory five-year minimum prison sentence, and with attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, which carries a potential life sentence, Scheer wrote.

Defense lawyers had asserted that their clients should be granted bail, arguing that possessing weapons and voicing opposition to the government was not illegal.

Authorities said, however, that the group had hoped the attacks would spark a wider uprising against the government and the defendants were preparing to fight from fortified and booby-trapped positions after the initial strikes.

Raids on the suspects’ homes last weekend uncovered dozens of handguns and rifles along with ammunition, explosives and bomb components, authorities said.

Scheer ordered Michigan residents David Brian Stone, David Brian Stone Jr., Joshua Matthew Stone, Tina Mae Stone, Joshua John Clough and Michael David Meeks as well as Ohio residents Kristopher T. Sickles and Jacob J. Ward held to trial.

A ninth defendant, Thomas William Piatek, was arraigned and pleaded not guilty in Indiana on Wednesday. A judge ordered him held without bail and transferred to Michigan.

The group’s website says the term Hutaree means “Christian warrior” and says the group was “preparing for the end time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive.” However, prosecutors downplayed the religious element of the group.

The federal grand jury indictment charged the defendants with seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

(Reporting by David Bailey; editing by Paul Simao)

SS hitman jailed for life

A German court has sentenced a former Nazi assassin to life in jail for murdering three Dutch citizens during World War II.

Heinrich Boere, 88, killed three men who he suspected of being resistance members in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands in 1944.

He has previously defended his actions, saying he was simply following orders and feared being shot if he failed to do so.

But prosecutors say Boere was a willing member of an SS hit squad and that he killed the men in cold blood.

The 88-year-old, whose father was Dutch and who grew up in the Netherlands, spent six decades one step ahead of the law after escaping from a prisoner of war camp in 1947 and returning to his birthplace in Germany.

He was sentenced to death in Amsterdam in absentia in 1949. That sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

Boere worked as a coal miner in Germany until 1976.

The Netherlands attempted to have him extradited in the 1980s, but failed after a German court ruled that there was a possibility he may have German citizenship.

Germany as a rule does not extradite its citizens.

Boere’s Dutch citizenship was revoked after the war and his application for German nationality, which he claims he was promised when he joined the Waffen SS in 1940, was refused.

A fresh attempt was made to bring him to justice in 2003 when Dutch authorities made a successful application for Boere to serve out his life sentence in Germany, but the ruling was overturned.

German prosecutors then charged him, only for a court to declare him unfit for trial.

But this ruling too was overturned by a higher court, allowing a trial to proceed in Aachen, Germany.

‘I got rid of them’

On several occasions, Boere, now wheelchair-bound and living in a nursing home in Germany, has admitted to shooting in cold blood pharmacist Fritz Bicknese, bicycle shop owner Teunis de Groot and Frans-Willem Kusters.

“Yes, I got rid of them,” he told Focus magazine in 2008.

“It was not difficult. You just had to bend a finger … Bang! Dead!”

But Boere says that as a member of an SS commando unit tasked with killing suspected resistance members or supporters, he risked being sent to a concentration camp if he refused.

Boere’s defence lawyers had argued that as a result of his 1949 conviction, even though he escaped all punishment, the current trial was null and void because of double jeopardy.

Since the Nuremberg trials after the war, where several top Nazi henchmen were sentenced to death, German authorities have examined more than 25,000 cases but the vast majority never came to court.

But now, as the suspected war criminals approach their nineties, there has been a minor flurry of arrests and court cases.

In the most high-profile, 89-year-old John Demjanjuk went on trial in Munich last November on charges of assisting in the murder of 27,900 people at the Sobibor death camp.

- AFP

India will be satisfied if Headley gets lifer: Home Secretary

New Delhi, Mar 19 (ANI): Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said here on Friday that India would be “satisfied” if alleged Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley is awarded a life sentence by the US court.

On Thursday (US time), Headley pleaded guilty in a Chicago court admitting he had scouted targets ahead of a brazen terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26 November 2008.

As a result, as per law, Headley will not face any trial or won’t be given the death penalty.

“The US Attorney General has advised a sentence of life imprisonment. If he gets a sentence of life imprisonment, I don”t think the Government of India will be unsatisfied,” Pillai said.

“The good thing is that he will get life imprisonment,” he added.

Pillai further said the details of Headley’s accessibility for questioning by India, interrogation or on giving testimony have to be worked out in the coming weeks.

“There will be no extradition. As far as interrogation is concerned, we will have to work out the details and accordingly see. It looks like the Indian security agencies will be able to question him, we have to work out the details,” he said.

Under the plea bargain, Headley has escaped the death penalty. He also cannot be extradited from the US to India, Pakistan or Denmark.

Headley can now be directly questioned by Indian investigators after his confession in a court in US to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, although he will not be extradited to India.

The US, so far denied India the right to question Headley, arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in October 2009.

It was reported that Headley has agreed to “fully and truthfully” participate in the process of investigation, which has to be undertaken only on US soil.

Headley, accused of plotting the 26/11 Mumbai attacks at the behest of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba and conspiring to target a Danish newspaper, pleaded guilty to all terror charges before a US court. (ANI)

Life sentence for wife murderer

A 39-year-old Perth man has been sentenced to life with a 12 year minimum for fatally stabbing his wife at their Booragoon home two years ago.

Dimitrios Tsakiris was found guilty of murdering his 24-year-old wife in what a judge today described as a brutal and sustained attack.

Tsakiris stabbed his wife about 20 times as well as punched her, while their 16-month-old daughter slept in another room.

He was suffering severe depression at the time which the judge took into account in determining his sentence.

Father made daughters pregnant 18 times

British child protection agencies have formally apologised to two women who were repeatedly raped and violently abused by their father, bearing him seven children over 25 years.

The admission was made during the publication of an executive summary into a review of the case, which acknowledged the family had had contact with 28 different public agencies and 100 members of staff over 35 years.

No-one has been sacked or disciplined for the catalogue of errors, the multiple agencies involved said at a joint press conference in Derby.

The 56-year-old father, from Sheffield, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is serving a life sentence for repeatedly raping his daughters, whom he made pregnant a total of 18 times. He was jailed in 2008.

The man, whose crimes have been likened to those of the Austrian rapist Josef Fritzl, fathered seven children with the women. Two of the children are severely disabled.

The review heard how he moved his family 67 times to keep his crimes secret.

In November, Sheffield Crown Court heard the abuse started when the daughters were aged between eight and 10.

If they refused their father’s advances, they were badly beaten and sometimes held to the flames of a gas fire.

Sheffield and Lincolnshire’s safeguarding children boards apologised unreservedly for failing to help the two women, insisting lessons had been learned and systems changed.

“We want to apologise to the family at the heart of this case. It will be clear that we failed this family,” said Sue Fiennes, independent chair of Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board.

“This report will not make comfortable reading for any of the organisations concerned with the family. We are all committed to working relentlessly to do all we can to minimise the risk of this happening again and indeed we have taken action.”

The numerous agencies involved said they were all to blame.

“No individual has been dismissed, or disciplined, or sacked. We failed this family because of an accumulation of acts that lead to a collective failure,” said Chris Cook, the independent chair of Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board.

“We are genuinely sorry. We should have protected you.”

UK: Indian-origin woman gets life for killing lover with poison

LONDON: Lakhvir Singh, the Southhall-based Indian-origin woman who killed her lover out of jealousy by poisoning his curry with Indian herb Aconite, was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment.

Singh poisoned the curry that was later consumed by Lakhvinder Cheema, 39, who died hours after eating the meal in January 2009.

Her life sentence was pronounced at the Old Bailey and she must serve a minimum of 23 years.

Sentencing her, Judge Paul Worsley said: “You set about a cold and calculating revenge. You were not just a spurned lover, you did not simply explode in anger at your rejection”.

Singh, however, was cleared of attempting to murder Gurjeet Choongh, Cheema’s fiancee.

Cheema and Choongh were due to be married on Valentine’s Day in 2009.

The jury was told that Singh could not bear the thought of her lover’s marriage to 22-year-oold Choongh and laced the food with Indian aconite, known as the Queen of Poisons.

After the engagement of Cheema and Choongh became final in November 2008, Singh went to India and returned three weeks later.

Another week later, Cheema was taken to hospital. Choongh gave evidence during the trial detailing how the couple fell ill while discussing their wedding plans.

Choongh survived because she had consumed less of the poisoned curry. She said in a victim impact statement she still suffers the stress of having been close to death. “I still do not feel fully recovered and I believe it will affect me for the rest of my life,” she said.

Edward Brown, prosecuting lawyer, said, “Perhaps jealousy, anger and revenge all playing their part, Lakhvir Singh decided to poison them using an extremely toxic and deadly poison, possibly brought especially from India.

Indian-origin woman convicted of killing lover with poison

LONDON: An Indian-origin woman faced life sentence after being found guilty of poisoning her former lover to death, using an ancient Indian herb in the first such case in Britain in 128 years. ( Watch Video )

Lakhvir Kaur Singh, a 40-year-old mother of three was convicted of killing her ex-lover Lakhvinder Cheema, 39, and leaving his fiancé seriously ill after lacing their curry with Aconite – a poison that finds a mention in ancient Indian texts.

Indian Aconite, known as the ‘queen of poisons’, is found in the Himalayan foothills and known in India as Halahal – the poison that mythology holds turned Shiva’s neck blue.

The last time an English court convicted anyone of using the poison was in an infamous case surrounding the murder of an 18-year-old man by his brother-in-law, a doctor named George Henry Lamson, who was hanged in April 1882.

Cheema, known as Lucky, was blinded and paralysed while his fiancé, Gurjeet Choough, now 22, fell into a coma after eating the poisoned curry in January last year.

A London court heard on Wednesday how Lakhvir, consumed with jealousy, procured the herb from India and then gained access to Lucky’s house, where she put the poison into their curry.

Lakhvir and Lucky had been lovers for about 15 years prior to his engagement to Gurjeet – an arranged match – whom Lakhvir accused of seeking to marry Lucky only to obtain residence in Britain.

The court was told Gurjeet and Lucky fell violently sick after eating the curry, with paralysis taking hold very quickly. They had both lost their sight and were losing the use of their limbs – by the time they reached the hospital Lucky was completely paralysed. He died within an hour of being admitted. Gurjeet was put into a medical coma and recovered two days later.

Lakhvir was arrested Jan 28, 2009, and a small packet of the poison was found in her coat pocket and another in her handbag. Expert forensic analysis identified that Aconite was present in both of the victims and the remains of the curry they ate.

Lakhvir claimed she used it for a herbal remedy for a skin complaint by mixing it with cow’s urine.

Detective Inspector Tony Bishop of Scotland Yard said: “This was a premeditated murder by a woman who could not accept that her lover had found happiness with someone else and planned to get married.”

“Singh planned this murder, we believe bringing the poison from India, and added it to the food that she knew would be eaten by Lucky and Gurjeet. The poison that Singh used caused appalling symptoms meaning that the last hours of Lucky’s life were extremely traumatic and must have been terrifying.”

UK cop claims low police salary forced her into prostitution!

London, Sep 10 (ANI): A UK cop, who was exposed for moonlighting as a hooker, has claimed that she was forced into prostitution because of the low police salary.

WPC Ruth Carter, 27, had taken paid maternity leave, but she was instead caught working as a 150 pound-an-hour escort.

Carter quit Thames Valley Police hours after she was revealed by a reporter of the British tabloid the Sun of offering full sex on an appointment, and of promising to wear a police uniform if he booked a second session.

The mum of one, from Warfield, Berks, is estimated to have been earning 25,000 pounds a year on the force.

“Not long after my child’s birth I realised I would not be able to pay the mortgage, the bills and all I could have wanted for my daughter on the income that I had,” the Sun quoted her as saying.

“So I decided to get involved in escorting.

“My plan was to return to work after a year’s maternity leave, only part of which would be paid,” she said.

The website for her agency, Top Hat Escorts in nearby Bracknell, showed her in provocative poses.

Carter apologised on September 9 for the scandal she had caused, saying she should have resigned from the force as soon as she joined the agency.

“I signed up to the agency and in hindsight I should have resigned there and then from Thames Valley,” she said.

“It was not my intention to mislead the force.

“I have not claimed anything from my daughter’s father or claimed child benefits.

“I want to do the best for my child and myself without having to burden family and friends with financial issues,” she explained.

Carter, who served as a cop for three years, and could still face a criminal charge of misconduct in public office, which carries a maximum life sentence, was asked if she had spoken to Thames Valley Police.

“My contact has been minimal,” she stated.

Detectives are studying evidence and have not ruled out further action, but the force has refused to comment on Carter’s claims. (ANI)

Syringe attacks continue in Urumqi despite death penalty warning

Urumqi (China), Sep. 9 (ANI): Despite a death penalty warning, 77 cases of needle attack were reported between Sunday and Monday evenings in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, police say.

So far, police have caught 45 suspects during the syringe scare, of whom 12 remain in police custody.

The procuratorate has approved the arrests of four. Eight people have been sent to drug rehab, according to Urumqi police authorities.

Despite signs of recovery in the city after assaults caused fear among residents and triggered mass protests, the Urumqi municipal government implemented traffic control Monday night on the city’s main streets.

Shops and businesses in the city center were ordered to close early. The control lasted from 9 pm Monday to 9 am Tuesday.

The Public Security Department of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region reiterated syringe attackers must be given punishment in order to protect residents and maintain social order.

The pledge followed a joint notice on Sunday of the court, the prosecutor’s office and the police bureau of Urumqi, which said an attacker may face a life sentence or even the death penalty.he department emphasized that those who stab others, no matter what means they use, are considered to have committed crimes and must be punished according to law.

Those who pretend to suffer syringe attacks and cause fear among the public will also face punishment, according to the public notice. (ANI)

Transsexual killer wins right to be in women’s prison

London, September 5 (ANI): A transsexual killer, who attempted to rape a female shop assistant, is moving to a women’s prison after getting the green light from a judge.

The 27-year-old won an argument in the court when it was ruled that keeping her in a men’s prison breached her human rights.

The murderer, named only as ‘A’, was given a life sentence for crimes committed while a man, reports the Sun.

She was sentenced to five years in jail for manslaughter after strangling a boyfriend with a pair of tights. Some time later her release, she tried to rape a woman shop assistant after tying her with a suspender belt.

‘A’, who grew breasts after undergoing hormone treatment and wears skirts and make-up in her cell, has also been allowed to have full sex-change surgery, from which she was previously banned while in a male prison.

Deputy Judge David Elvin QC said ‘A’ had endured gender dysphoria from an early age, and Justice Secretary Jack Straw’s decision to keep her in a male prison breached the European Convention on Human Rights.

Attorneys said ‘A’ was “a woman trapped in a man’s body” and the ruling “gave her hope”. (ANI)

Jon’s family expresses dismay over verdict, say he has been victimised

New York, Sep.1 (ANI): The family of Indian-born fashion designer Anand Jon has reacted with dismay to the 59-year sentence handed over to him by a US court for sexually assaulting aspiring models. They claimed that Jon has been “victimised” and that facts have been overlooked in the case.

The designer’s mother Shashi Jon said, “He is not capable of doing anything like this.This was beyond my belief that Anand has been taken in and arrested on charges of molestation”.

Defending 35-year-old Anand, his sister Sanjana said, “The fact that Anand is an Indian citizen and that he is being victimised is completely overlooked. So there is nobody questioning anything that we are facing there”.

“Every piece of evidence that is medical shows that nothing ever happened. There is no medical evidence that showed that anything ever happened,” she told TV channels.

Their family’s lawyer Majid Memon said, “It is very sad that this young boy, a celebrity from India, has to be left like this and being now convicted and sentenced to suffer for the whole of his life.”

Times Now quoted Memon as saying that all the girls alleging rape or molestation don’t have a “scratch on their body to suggest that there was any resistance or any violence by the accused.

Moreover, the complaints have been lodged weeks and even months after the incidents. So definitely this is a very dubious kind of a charge and unfortunately Anand was left alone and there was hardly any help.

Jon’s mother and sister will now move for an appeal,” Memon said.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley today announced that Jon must serve 14 years in state prison-before he begins to serve a 45-year-to-life sentence.

The designer has been featured on the television show “America’s Next Top Model” and worked with such celebrities as Paris Hilton and Mary J Blige. (ANI)

Prostate cancer suffering Lockerbie bomber may be freed next week

London, Aug.13 (ANI): The Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, which killed 270 people when PanAm flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town in 1988, is expected to be released from prison on compassionate grounds next week.

Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, who is suffering from prostate cancer, is just eight years into a life sentence – with an original minimum term of 27 years – for his part in the attack, reports The Independent.

Last night, reports suggested that he could be released on grounds of compassion as early as next week.he news comes in the aftermath of two formal requests by the Libyan government for his early release.

Last week Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, met Megrahi in Greenock prison and said he had been shown “compelling” new medical evidence that suggested the Libyan’s prostate cancer had significantly worsened over the past few weeks and that he was in the final stages of life.

Another prisoner transfer request was made by Libya to the UK last May, less than a week after a treaty allowing prisoners to be transferred between the two countries was ratified.

In considering his decision it is understood that that the Scottish minister has consulted the views of others, including relatives of some of the 270 victims.

News of Megrahi’s release is unlikely to be greeted with compassion by all victims relatives, particularly in the US, where it is still considered one of the most deadly attacks on America since 11 September 2001. (ANI)

US prosecutors propose 150-year-jail term for Ponzi king Madoff

New York, June 27 (ANI): Federal prosecutors in the United States recommended Friday that Ponzi king Bernard L. Madoff be sentenced to 150 years in prison for defrauding the public of 65 billion dollars.

According to the New York Times, this term is the maximum established for his crime under non-binding federal sentencing guidelines.

Although it would be a purely symbolic sentence even for a young prisoner, prosecutors said that 71-year-old Madoff’s case; the “extraordinary dimensions” of his crimes warranted it.

“He engaged in wholesale fraud for more than a generation,” said Marc Litt, an assistant United States attorney, in a memo sent to Federal District Judge Denny Chin, who will sentence Madoff on Monday.

Although Madoff testified in March that his Ponzi scheme began about 1991, Litt said in his brief that a confidential pre-sentencing report shows it began at least a decade earlier.

“The sheer scale of the Madoff fraud calls for severe punishment,” Litt said while comparing his crime with others that have come before the federal courts in New York.

Also Friday, prosecutors announced that Judge Chin has entered a preliminary order directing Madoff to pay just over 170 million dollars in forfeited assets.

The order strips Madoff of all his property and leaves 2.5 million dollars in assets for his wife, Ruth Madoff.

Earlier, Ira Lee Sorkin, a lawyer for Madoff, suggested in a letter to Judge Chin on Tuesday that a prison term of 12 years would effectively be a life sentence because Madoff’s remaining life expectancy is roughly 13 years.

Sorkin and his defense team referred in the letter to an atmosphere of “mob vengeance” surrounding Madoff. They urged the court to consider that he essentially turned himself in.

More than 100 victims of Madoff’s scheme have filed emotional letters with the court, nearly all asking Judge Chin to give him the harshest sentence that the law allows. A handful of them have requested to speak at his sentencing on Monday. (ANI)

Ansar Burney to file fresh mercy petition for Sarabjit

New Delhi, June 24(ANI): Ansar Burney, the leading Pakistani Human Rights activist on Wednesday said that he would file a fresh mercy petition to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on behalf of Sarabjit Singh on Thursday.

“Now, I am going to file a fresh Mercy petition before the President of Pakistan tomorrow, June 25, and from my side I am confident that I will not allow Pakistan Government to hang an innocent person only on the basis that he is Non-Muslim or Indian national,” Ansar Burney said.

“How a court, if there is any justice in that court, can punish a person to hang without providing him any lawyer and in a case where the prisoner already spent 18 long years in a death cell that is more than a life sentence?” Burney added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sarabjit Singh ‘s petition to review his death sentence was rejected by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

Sarabjit has been on death row in Pakistan since he was convicted for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in 1990 in different cities of Pakistan’s Punjab that killed 14 people, but Sarabjit’s family insists that he was wrongly convicted.

The civil rights activist condemned the decision of the Supreme Court on the review petition. (ANI)