Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Algeria
Newsline: Canadian diplomat seeks Algerian aid in potato farmer’s release
A veteran Canadian diplomat says the best chance of getting New Brunswick farmer Henk Tepper out of a Lebanon prison is to deal directly with Algeria, the country that issued the arrest warrant in the first place. Gar Pardy, a now retired ambassador and longtime director of consular services, told the Toronto Star that if Algeria’s grievances over a bad shipment of potatoes are satisfied then his detention in Lebanon is unnecessary. The office of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy confirmed there has been contact with Algeria with respect to Tepper but no further details were available. Tepper was on a trade mission to Lebanon last March with Potatoes Canada, an industry organization, when he was arrested on an Interpol warrant alleging he tampered with federal documents to sell potatoes to Algeria in 2007 that were unfit for human consumption. His more than nine months of being held in a Lebanon jail has caused a storm of controversy in Ottawa with critics calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to personally intervene. However, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has insisted that all diplomatic efforts are being made to bring Tepper back to Canada. Toronto lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo, who is now advising Tepper’s New Brunswick lawyer James Mockler, said he fears the Teppers’ criticism of the government is in part responsible for the lack of movement in the case. Richard Belliveau, the retired Canadian ambassador to Algeria, shared Pardy’s take on things, adding that “it seems preposterous” that Tepper is being held in jail for months at a time on a questionable commercial transaction. Belliveau offered that “we’ve had very good relations in the area of food inspection with Algeria.” Questions to the Algerian Embassy in Ottawa went unanswered.
http://mobile.thestar.com/mobile/NEWS/article/1111402
Newsline: Ex-CIA station chief gets 5 years for sex assault despite diplomatic immunity
A former CIA station chief is being sent to prison for 5 1/2 years for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at the mansion the U.S. government provided for him in Algeria. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle went nearly two years beyond what prosecutors had recommended in sentencing former spy Andrew Warren. She said it seemed he thought he could get away with the crime because he had diplomatic immunity and his victim was a married Muslim who would be unlikely to report the crime for fear she’d become an outcast. But the woman told U.S. Embassy officials that Warren prepared two drinks for her that made her fall in and out of consciousness and rendered her unable to stop a non-consensual sexual encounter.
http://us.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=25949&external=771623.proteus.fma
Newsline: Ex-CIA agent guilty of sex assault on U.S. Embassy property
A former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency agent has been convicted of drugging and raping a woman in Algeria where he was stationed. Andrew Warren, 42, who was the CIA station chief at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington and will be sentenced Sept. 9. Warren, who is to remain in custody until sentencing, could receive up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Warren was recalled from Algeria in October 2008 and then fired after two women accused him of rape. His plea involved admitting to engaging in sexual contact with a woman after rendering her unconscious on U.S. Embassy property on Feb. 17, 2008.
http://m.globe-democrat.com/news/2010/jun/08/ex-cia-agent-guilty-of-sex-assault/
