Iran judge sentences American to death for spying

TEHRAN: An American ex-Marine, who also holds Iranian citizenship, has been sentenced to death by an Iran judge for spying for the CIA, the Fars news agency reported on Monday. Amir Mirzai Hekmati, 28, was “sentenced to death for cooperating with a hostile nation, membership of the CIA and trying to implicate Iran in terrorism,” the verdict said, according to Fars. Hekmati, who was born in the United States to an Iranian immigrant family, was shown on Iranian state television in mid-December saying in fluent Farsi and English that he was a Central Intelligence Agency operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry. He had been arrested months earlier. Iranian officials said his cover was blown by agents...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Lull in drone strikes has emboldened militants: NYT

NEW YORK: A nearly two-month lull in American drone strikes in Pakistan has helped embolden Al Qaeda and several Pakistani militant factions to regroup, increase attacks on Pakistani security forces and threaten intensified strikes against allied forces in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported on Sunday citing US and Pakistani officials. The insurgents are increasingly taking advantage of tensions raised by an American air strike in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in two border outposts, plunging relations between the two countries to new depths. The Central Intelligence Agency, hoping to avoid making matters worse while Pakistan completes a wide-ranging review of its security relationship with the United States,...

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Yemen Cabinet approves immunity law for president

SANAA: Yemen’s Cabinet approved a law granting President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and anyone who has worked under him, immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed during his 33-year rule. Sunday’s decision came as a surprise to many in Yemen, who believed that a power transfer deal he signed in November granted him and his family immunity from prosecution for the killings of protesters, but would not extend to cover his 33-year rule and anyone who worked in government. The Cabinet approved the law despite nationwide daily protests demanding the longtime leader be put on trial for the killing of hundreds of people in raids on protest camps, the use of snipers and armed attacks on marches during the country’s 11-month...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL