Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Belgium
Newsline: Belgium thinks Gaddafi laundered cash through embassy
Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s family members may have used the Libyan embassy in Belgium to launder government funds before the country slid into civil war last year, a Belgian financial fraud watchdog said. “It’s more than a suspicion,” the watchdog’s president Jean-Claude Delepiere told Reuters. The Libyan treasury transferred about 1.5 million euros ($1.97 million) to its embassy in Brussels, which was then mostly withdrawn in cash, Belgium’s money-laundering watchdog said in its annual report. The Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit searched the financial accounts of the embassy in Brussels at the start of 2011 after getting a tip-off from banks. The agency believes the money may have originated from Libyan organizations controlled by Gaddafi’s family. Following the start of fighting in Libya in 2011, the United Nations and its member countries located and froze about $19 billion in assets believed to have been under the control of Gaddafi or his associates, U.S. officials said at the time. In March this year, the Libyan government reclaimed a London mansion worth 10 million pounds ($16 million) from Gaddafi’s son Saadi, after a British court ruled it had been bought using stolen Libyan state funds.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-libya-gaddafi-launderingbre8430pp-20120504,0,821975.story
Newsline: Allegations of spying by Syrian diplomats in EU cause alarm
The Belgian foreign ministry is to investigate allegations that Syrian intelligence services are terrorising Syrian opposition expats in the EU capital. Foreign minister Didier Reynders told Belgian Liberal MEP Louis Michel on Friday (30 March) that he will personally look into claims that Syrian diplomats in Brussels have threatened people who take part in anti-regime rallies that their families in Syria will be harmed unless they stop. The allegations center around Wael Saker – a diplomatic “attache” at the Syrian embassy. Saker is said to be a senior officer in the Syrian “mukhabarat” (intelligence services) and that he operates a network of Syrian and Lebanese-origin “shabiha” (agents/militia) who infiltrate anti-regime groups to collect names, make threatening phonecalls and go to some anti-regime rallies to try to provoke violence. The Syrian embassy said in a written statement: “Those old accusations are unfounded. Some people are trying to market them in order to harm the national role of Syrian embassies … but we challenge anyone to come even with one proof.” On the shabiha allegation, it said: “Syrian expatriates in their vast majority have expressed their fabulous feelings and stands [sic] in solidarity with their country in these difficult circumstances.” It added there is “no institutional link with the embassy” and pro-regime NGOs in Belgium, such as the Association of Syrian Expatriates.
http://euobserver.com/22/115775
Newsline: Belgium closes embassy in Syria
Belgium decided Thursday to close its embassy in Damascus due to security concerns and in protest at the Syrian regime’s violent repression of dissent. The mission will close Saturday when the ambassador leaves Syria while the first secretary will move into an office in the European Union delegation, the Belgian foreign ministry said. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders also decided to downgrade diplomatic relations to the level of charge d’affaire. Belgium follows the lead of other EU nations including Britain, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, which closed their embassies along with the United States, Turkey, Japan and Gulf states.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Mar-29/168405-belgium-closes-embassy-in-syria-over-bloodshed.ashx
Newsline: Belgian Embassy in Kenya Protests Arrest of Its National
The Belgian Embassy in Nairobi has sent a protest letter to the Kenyan government, demanding an investigation into circumstances that led to the arrest of one of its nationals Fabian Thierry Ghislain Philippart who works in Nairobi. Philippart who is the General Manager of Kofinaf Company Limited was arrested on Saturday and arraigned in a Thika court on Monday where he was charged with wrongfully confining a director of the firm, Stephen Mbugua Mwagiru. “Ordinarily, the embassy will not interfere with the country’s judicial processes but we strongly feel that this particular incident raises serious concerns on the fair administration of justice and the blatant violation of Mr Philippart’s rights,” a letter sent by the embassy to Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula said. The letter dated March 12, 2012 signed by the embassy’s head of consular section Jan Desmadril was also copied to Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo, Attorney General Githu Muigai and Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko. “We therefore, write to request your urgent intervention in this matter and in particular an inquiry as to the circumstances that led to Mr Philippart’s tragic arrest and arraignment in court,” the letter states in part. The embassy said it was surprised to learn that Philippart had been arrested and prosecuted yet he was the one who had initially lodged a complaint at the Ruiru police station against Mwagiru. In his statement at the police station, Philippart had complained that Mwagiru had stormed his residence within the company premises on February 12 and banged the door several times while hurling insults at him. “Mr Philippart refused to open for him and he left after 30 minutes having broken a window pane in the kitchen. The police were alerted immediately and they carried investigations,” the letter from the embassy said. A week later on February 18, Mwagiru was arrested and released on bail and was scheduled to appear in court on February 23 to face charges of malicious damage to property and creating disturbance, according to the Embassy’s protest letter. When police failed to arraign him in court, Philippart took it upon himself and wrote to Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, complaining of the apparent failure to bring Mwagiru to justice. As he waited for a reply from the police boss, Philippart was arrested by a contingent of police officers who picked him up from his residence within Kofinaf premises. The embassy said it does not understand why the Provincial State Counsel at Nyeri decided to exonerate Mwagiru of the unlawful offences and instead recommended the prosecution of Philippart who has since faced charges of wrongful confinement of the Kofinaf director.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201203140077.html
Newsline: Suicidal driver crashes into Qatari ambassador’s police escort
Eight Belgian police motorcycle escorts have been injured, five seriously, after a car ploughed into them outside the royal palace in what officials have described as an attempted suicide. The policemen were waiting to escort the Qatari ambassador back from the palace when a car with Belgian tags drove into them, said a palace official who could not be identified under standing rules. She added that the envoy was presenting his credentials to King Albert II at the time. Police spokesman Christian De Coninck said the unidentified driver told officials he wanted to commit suicide. Brussels Mayor Freddy Thielemans said the incident was not terrorism-related. Officials said eight officers were injured, five of them seriously. One was reported in critical condition.
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2012/03/14/Belgian_police_injured_in_suicide_crash_728679.html
Newsline: U.S. Envoy to Belgium Faces Criticism
Remarks by the U.S. ambassador to Belgium about anti-Semitism among Muslims living in Europe have spurred furious calls for his resignation, but some reports about the speech cited by critics didn’t state Ambassador Howard Gutman’s actual words. The Weekly Standard quoted the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth’s summary of Gutman’s remarks to European Jewish groups in Brussels last week. “A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned, and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” reads the quoted material in the magazine. The statement, however, is the Israeli newspaper’s depiction of the content of the speech, not the actual words Gutman spoke to the crowd. Nonetheless, it spurred angry reaction and calls for Gutman’s resignation. Referring to the characterization with the quote marks around it, the Republican Jewish Coalition called the remarks “outrageous.” Also citing the quoted portion of the Israeli newspaper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center called Gutman’s comments “beyond shocking,” and said they would “only serve to further embolden hate from Islamist extremists in Europe and beyond.” The group called on Secretary of State Clinton to “immediately clarify” whether Gutman’s remarks are in direct contradiction of “U..S policy vis–vis anti-Semitism.” Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, without mentioning the quoted material, said the “ambassador’s comments demonstrate the Obama administration’s failure to understand the worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel and its appalling penchant for undermining our close ally.” Gingrich, who linked back to the original Israeli news report, tweeted on Saturday: “Pres Obama should fire his ambassador to Brussels for being so wrong about anti-Semitism.”
http://www.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=38321&content=61864209
Newsline: Belgian Embassy issues visa to Rwandan general charged with genocide
Belgium has given a visa to the head of the Rwandan special services General Karenzi Karake who was found guilty of genocide by a Spanish judge in 2008. According to reports fromBrussels, the general accompanied Rwandan President Paul Kagame during his visit to France. France has no embassy in Rwanda, so the Belgian Embassy issued a visa for the internationally wanted general at the request of Paris. In 1994 the Rwandan provisional government organized the massacre of 800,000 people from the Tutsi minority. People of the large Hutu nationality who had moderate political views were also killed.
Newsline: WikiLeaks confirms US nuclear arms in The Netherlands and Belgium
Leaked secret messages on the Wikileaks website between the US State Department and its diplomatic missions abroad have confirmed the presence of US-owned tactical nuclear arms in the Netherlands and Belgium. A secret message sent by the US embassy in Germany to the State Department in Washington mentions the presence of US tactical weapons in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey, the daily Algemeen Dagblad and Radio Nederland reported. Wikileaks also revealed the presence of US nuclear weapons in Belgium. “The presence of US tactical nuclear arms in Kleine Brogel (a Belgian military basis in Flanders) was an open secret” for the local population”, the daily reports. Successive Dutch and Belgian cabinets have refused to confirm or deny the presence of US nuclear weapons on their territories.
Newsline: Iranian Diplomats Defect in Finland, Belgium
Iranian opposition members say another Iranian diplomat has defected in Europe – this time in Belgium, Iranian opposition members said Monday, just hours after the No. 2 man at the Iran mission in Helsinki said he would seek asylum in Finland. The Europe-based Green Wave opposition movement said Farzad Farhangian, press attache at the Iranian Embassy in Brussels, walked out Friday and flew to Oslo. The group’s founder, Amir Hossein Jahanchahi, said in a statement that “other defections from diplomats abroad will follow.” It was the third known defection of an Iranian diplomat in Europe this year to protest Tehran’s crackdown on dissent following the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year. Mohammed Reza Heydari, who was granted asylum in Norway after leaving his post as an Iranian consular official there in January, confirmed that Farhangian had defected in Brussels. “He left the embassy after informing the ambassador that he was leaving and he came here without anyone (else) knowing about this,” Heydari said by telephone from Oslo. “Then he contacted me.” No one at the Iranian Embassy in Brussels could be reached for comment after office hours Monday. Heydari said Farhangian was a member of the Green Wave movement, which grew out of unrest that followed the June 2009 disputed presidential election, in which the opposition says Ahmadinejad was re-elected through fraud. Street protests led to massive arrests and a continuing crackdown. Earlier Monday, Iranian diplomat Hossein Alizadeh, who resigned last week from the embassy in Finland, said he will apply for political asylum in the Nordic country. “I cannot accept, tolerate this fraud election. The situation got worse because … my people are being killed still,” Alizadeh told reporters in Helsinki. He said he was no longer a diplomat but “a political dissident.” The Iranian Embassy in Helsinki said in a statement that Alizadeh’s term of office had been terminated on Aug. 20. Alizadeh said he has no political ambitions except to be a member of Green Wave, “just to be a member standing beside the others.” The Finnish Foreign Ministry said that Alizadeh had worked at the embassy in Helsinki since October 2007 and still had diplomatic status. It declined further comment. “Ahmadinejad is not any more the Iranian leader and he doesn’t represent Iran,” the 45-year-old Alizadeh said. “Do not take him seriously. He (does) not have any popularity among the Iranians.” He said that since the Green Wave movement was formed after the 2009 election, he “felt confident” that he has “been followed and bugged.” He said his criticism of the regime also gave him cause to worry about the safety of his wife and family who live with him in Finland, including two sons and an eight-year-old daughter. “Using this language puts me in a situation to look for shelter for myself. I am going to request political asylum from the Finnish government, and here are my passports,” he said throwing four of them on a table. “I am going to leave these passports to whoever lets me stay here.” About 2,500 Iranian immigrants live in the Nordic country. About 300 were granted political asylum in 2008 and 2009, according to official immigration statistics.
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?t=Ty7A1aQKQxU0ub9UkJQ53Q&sid=cbsnews
Newsline: Cops tell embassy victim killed with suitcase strings
In its email to the Belgian Embassy, to inform the officials there about the arrest of their countryman, the Amritsar police have said that 17-year-old Amritpal Kaur was strangled with suitcase strings by her stepfather Mehtab Singh. Mehtab, an NRI from Belgium, was arrested on Tuesday night, soon after an email from Amritpal’s boyfriend Lakhwinder Singh arrived from Belgium, telling cops about the murder. The victim was allegedly killed on the intervening night of June 25 and 26 and quietly cremated in the Shivpuri cremation grounds the next morning, sources said. The suspected honour killing of a middle-school student, who fell in love with a boy of a different caste has shocked everyone. The victim’s boyfriend, Lakwinder Singh, who apprehended murder and sent an email to the Amritsar police, said he met Amritpal on the net, when they were barely into their teens.
