Somalia Peace Makers: April 2011

U.S. says Syria releases two detained Americans

Reuters

WASHINGTON | Fri Apr 1, 2011 1:52pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two American citizens who were detained in Syria have been released, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.
"We can confirm that the two American citizens who were detained in Syria for the past several days have been released. Due to privacy considerations I can't provide any further information," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing.
(reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by Jackie Frank)

Analysis & Opinion

Men jailed for 'sadistic' two-day attack in Inverness

1 April 2011 Last updated at 17:41 GMT

(From left to right) Robert MacNeil, Gordon McInnes and Robert Stewart

The court heard all three attackers had alcohol problems and previous convictions

Three Inverness men have been jailed for carrying out a "sadistic" attack on a man wrongly accused of child abuse.

Robert MacNeil, 46, Robert Stewart, 45, and Gordon McInnes, 42, admitted assault at a house in the city in 2010.
The 39-year-old victim was hit by a baseball bat and knife, choked with a dog chain and sexually assaulted.
MacNeil was jailed for three years and seven months, Stewart for three years and eight months and McInnes was sentenced to three years and 10 months.
A fourth man, David Webb, 40, also from Inverness, was previously sentenced to five years in jail for his part in the attack, which was carried out over two days in February last year.

David Webb, right, was jailed for five years in November

The court heard the victim - a 39-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons - had gone to the home of one of the men to collect a bag he had left there a few weeks earlier.
During the trial involving Webb, he said: "I was a little bit uncomfortable because they had been drinking and were being quite loud.
"Then Webb started saying stuff about me to the others. He told them that I interfered with children.
"I have no idea why he said it. I think it was to provoke some kind of violence."
The four men began punching and kicking the victim, with two of the attackers having a competition to see who could hit him the hardest.
The victim was also sexually assaulted with a bottle by Webb and urinated on by some of the attackers.

“Start Quote

It is difficult to imagine the terror and pain felt by the victim”

End Quote Sheriff Margaret Neilson

The court heard the attack lasted for several hours before the victim passed out on the couch. When he woke up the following morning, the attacks resumed.

The victim said: "Webb said to them that I had told him I would look after his daughter.
"He seem to be insinuating some kind of child abuse. Once he said that, the violence started again."
The man was repeatedly punched and kicked, beaten with a baseball bat and strangled with a dog chain.
When he was eventually told to leave, he went to a nearby house and the owner phoned an ambulance.
The victim said it took him nearly seven months to recover from his injuries.
'Multiple injuries' He added that he suffered panic attacks and nightmares and did not leave his home for nearly two months.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson told the three men at Inverness Sheriff Court: "You have pled guilty to a disgusting, depraved and sadistic attack over two separate days.
"It is clear from the photos that the victims injuries were multiple and severe.
"It is clear the victim has been seriously traumatised by the assault and given the prolonged and sadistic nature it is not surprising."
The court was told all three attackers had alcohol problems and previous convictions.
Jailing them, Sheriff Neilson said: "It is difficult to imagine the terror and pain felt by the victim."

Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has signalled he has no plans to step down as huge rival demonstrations swept through the capital, Sana'a. Saleh's display of defiance, in which he said he would sacrifice everything for his country, followed weeks of youth-led anti-government protests, as well as a string of defections by generals last week that analysts say had him on the brink of resignation. But on Friday Saleh appeared newly emboldened, telling supporters he would "guard their country" and they had "nothing to fear". "Rule in Yemen cannot be changed by force. Yemen is a democratic nation and means for change are available through elections only," Saleh told a crowd of half a million government loyalists, many of them tribesmen from the surrounding countryside, assembled outside the president's mosque. "I pledge to sacrifice my blood and everything I hold valuable for the sake of my great people," he said, to massive applause from the men who waved guns and jambiyas – Yemeni daggers – in the air as a soviet-era government helicopter swept over the crowd. Chants of "People want Ali Abdullah Saleh" and "With our soul and blood, we support you, Saleh," rang out from the crowds. Sana'a remains a tense and divided capital. Two miles north of the mosque, anti-government protesters at Sana'a University were staging their biggest pro-democracy rally since unrest broke out five weeks ago in what they called the Friday of frustration. "This regime must understand that our protests will continue to be peaceful and we will not be tricked to use force," Mohammed Qahtan, an opposition spokesman, told the young protesters. They filled a two-mile stretch of road with tents, banners and makeshift restaurants under the watchful eyes of soldiers and tanks sent by the defected general, Ali Mohsin, to protect them. Security forces had to point their guns at a mob of pro-government supporters wielding iron crowbars, to prevent them from marching towards the university. The group backed off but smashed the windows of a nearby house they claimed was owned by prominent opposition figure Hamid Al-Ahmar. The city is now roughly divided into a northern half held by the opposition camp and Saleh's supporters packing the southern sector. Western nations fear further turmoil in an impoverished nation already facing an intermittent rebel war in the north and a secessionist movement in the south, and which is an active al-Qaida affiliate. Saleh has held such a tight grip on power that there is no obvious replacement. Saleh has reeled off concessions, including an offer last Tuesday to hold elections and step down by the end of 2011. But they have been snubbed by a dogged opposition coalition maintaining it will accept nothing short of his immediate resignation. Meanwhile, the central government continues to lose control of territory. There are reports of local officials deserting their posts or of being driven out, especially in al Jawf, Sa'ada, and a few of the southern governorates. Yemen's military is now divided between defectors and loyalists, with troops staking out strategic positions in Sana'a.