Sabtu, 07 Desember 2019

American graduate student held in Iran on spy charges since 2016 released - Fox News

An American graduate student held in Iran has been released in exchange for an Iranian scientist held by the U.S., officials confirmed.

Iran’s foreign minister and the White House both announced that Princeton University graduate student Xiyue Wang was exchanged for scientist Massoud Soleimani.

Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, accompanied the Iranian scientist to Switzerland to make the exchange and will return with Wang, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The swap took place in Zurich and Hook and Wang are now en route to Landstuhl in Germany where Wang will be examined by doctors, the official said. Hook is expected to return to the U.S. from Germany alone, as Wang is expected to be evaluated for several days.

“After more than three years of being held prisoner in Iran, Xiyue Wang is returning to the United States,” President Trump said in a statement released by the White House on Saturday. “The highest priority of the United States is the safety and well-being of its citizens.  Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my Administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas.”

In this Wednesday, May 9, 2018 file photo, Hua Qu, the wife of detained Chinese-American Xiyue Wang, poses for a photograph with a portrait of her family in Princeton, N.J. Iran's foreign minister says a detained Princeton graduate student will be exchanged for an Iranian scientist held by the U.S. Mohammed Javad Zarif made the announcement on Twitter on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. The trade involves graduate student Xiyue Wang and scientist Massoud Soleimani. Wang was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran for allegedly “infiltrating” the country and sending confidential material abroad. His family and Princeton strongly denied the claims. 

In this Wednesday, May 9, 2018 file photo, Hua Qu, the wife of detained Chinese-American Xiyue Wang, poses for a photograph with a portrait of her family in Princeton, N.J. Iran's foreign minister says a detained Princeton graduate student will be exchanged for an Iranian scientist held by the U.S. Mohammed Javad Zarif made the announcement on Twitter on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. The trade involves graduate student Xiyue Wang and scientist Massoud Soleimani. Wang was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran for allegedly “infiltrating” the country and sending confidential material abroad. His family and Princeton strongly denied the claims.  (AP)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that Wang was on his way back to the United States, where he will soon be reunited with his wife and son.

"The United States will not rest until we bring every American detained in Iran and around the world back home to their loved ones," he said in a statement.

WIFE OF US SCHOLAR IMPRISONED IN IRAN SPEAKS OUT: 'HIS ONLY CRIME IS HE'S AMERICAN'

Wang was sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly “infiltrating” the country and sending confidential material abroad. His family and Princeton University strongly denied the claims.

According to the university, Wang was arrested while conducting research on the Qajar dynasty that once ruled Iran for his doctorate in late 19th and early 20th century Eurasian history.

His wife, Gua Qu, rejoiced over the news of his release in a statement on Twitter.

“Our family is complete once again. Our son Shaofan and I have waited three long years for this day and it’s hard to express in words how excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue,” the statement said. “We are thankful to everyone who helped make this happen.”

Wang’s release was negotiated with the assistance of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, who looks out for America’s interests in the country as the U.S. Embassy there has been closed since the 1979 student takeover and 444-day hostage crisis.

Xiyue Wang with son Shaofan

Xiyue Wang with son Shaofan (Courtesy of Hua Qu)

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Soleimani was with Iranian officials in Switzerland.

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Soleimani — who works in stem cell research, hematology and regenerative medicine - was arrested by U.S. authorities on charges he had violated trade sanctions by trying to have biological material brought to Iran.

He and his lawyers maintain his innocence, saying he seized on a former student’s plans to travel from the U.S. to Iran in September 2016 as a chance to get recombinant proteins used in his research for a fraction of the price he’d pay at home.

"Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly. Many thanks to all engaged, particularly the Swiss government," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet.

US WANTS INFO ON IRANIAN PLANNER OF 2007 ATTACK THAT KILLED 5 US TROOPS, OFFERS $15M

Wang is one of at least four known Americans being held prisoner in Iran, all accused of spying.

Xiyue Wang and Hua Qu in an undated photo.

Xiyue Wang and Hua Qu in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Hua Qu)

Hua Qu told Fox News in January that her husband was not a spy, but instead a "history nerd."

"All he wanted to do is to do good research and then teach for the rest of his life," she said at the time.

Iran has detained dual Iranian nationals and those with Western ties in the past to be used as bargaining chips in negotiations.

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Tensions have been high between Iran and the U.S. since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018. In the time since, the U.S. has imposed harsh sanctions on Iran's economy. There also have been a series of attacks across the Mideast that the U.S. blames on Iran.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-12-07 11:31:17Z
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UK's Johnson, Corbyn clash in final debate before election - Fox News

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn clashed Friday night in the last head-to-head debate before a general election in six days — an underpowered showdown that saw both men stick to well-worn phrases and promises about their plans for Brexit and Britain’s future.

Johnson, a Conservative who supports Britain’s exit from the European Union, tried to portray Corbyn as a waffler with no firm Brexit stance who would plunge the United Kingdom into more uncertainty. Corbyn reminded viewers about the Conservative government’s spending cuts, and claimed Johnson was bent on striking a trade deal with the United States that might harm Britain’s interests.

TRUMP BOOSTS BORIS JOHNSON AS HE SHOOTS DOWN CORBYN'S NHS CLAIM

Each questioned the other’s character. Johnson accused Corbyn of a “failure of leadership” for failing to stamp out anti-Semitism in his party. Corbyn retorted that “a failure of leadership is when you use racist remarks,” as Johnson has done with glibly offensive language. In a magazine article last year he called Muslim women who wear face-covering veils “letter boxes.”

BBC moderator Nick Robinson suggested voters faced an “impossible choice” between two unpopular and untrustworthy leaders. That impression was reinforced Friday when two former prime ministers criticized their own party’s contenders. Former Conservative premier John Major called Brexit the "worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime," while ex-Labour leader Tony Blair urged voters to make the best of a “horrible” choice.”

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, left, and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during a head to head live Election Debate at the BBC TV studios in Maidstone, England, Friday Dec. 6, 2019. (Associated Press)

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, left, and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during a head to head live Election Debate at the BBC TV studios in Maidstone, England, Friday Dec. 6, 2019. (Associated Press)

Opinion polls put Johnson’s Conservatives ahead of the Labour opposition before the election next Thursday, in which all 650 House of Commons seats are up for grabs.

The Conservatives had a minority government before the election, and Johnson pushed for the Dec. 12 vote, which is taking place more than two years early, in hopes of winning a majority and breaking Britain's political impasse over Brexit. He says that if the Conservatives win a majority, he will get Parliament to ratify his Brexit divorce deal and take the U.K. out of the EU by the current Jan. 31 deadline.

In the debate, Johnson contrasted that promise with Corbyn’s refusal to say whether he favored leaving the bloc or remaining. Labour has promised to negotiate a new Brexit deal, then give voters a choice between leaving on those terms and remaining in the bloc. Corbyn says he would be neutral in that referendum.

“You cannot end the uncertainty on Brexit if you do not know what the deal is that you want to do,” Johnson said. “You cannot negotiate a deal if you are neutral on it.”

“You cannot end the uncertainty on Brexit if you do not know what the deal is that you want to do. You cannot negotiate a deal if you are neutral on it.”

— Boris Johnson, British prime minister

Johnson's opponents say his promise to “get Brexit done” rings hollow, because leaving the bloc will be the prelude to months or years of complex trade negotiations.

Corbyn claimed that under a Johnson government, Britain would “walk out of the EU into a relationship with nobody” and spend years trying to strike a new trade deal with the United States. He said that would bring “seven years of complete uncertainty and continued job losses in manufacturing and industry.”

The two men also tussled over security in the wake of last week’s deadly attack in London by a knife-wielding man who had served a prison sentence for terrorist crimes. Johnson tried to portray Corbyn — a longtime anti-war and anti-nuclear campaigner — as soft on security. Corbyn highlighted cuts to police and prison services under the Conservatives.

Johnson’s party is promising to increase public spending if it wins the election, and Corbyn tackled Johnson on inflated promises, such as a claim his government will build 40 news hospitals. In fact that number includes many existing facilities that will be renovated.

Labour also took aim Friday at Johnson’s insistence that there will be no new checks on trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. after Brexit. The divorce deal Johnson has negotiated with the bloc agrees to keep Northern Ireland aligned to EU customs rules and some goods standards to avoid checks along the currently invisible border with EU member Ireland.

Trade experts say that means some checks will have to be conducted on goods moving across the Irish Sea between Britain and Northern Ireland.

Labour said it had obtained a leaked Treasury document that says “there will be customs declarations and security checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain,” and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has previously said there will have to be some checks.

Corbyn said the document “drives a coach and horses through Boris Johnson's claim that there will be no border in the Irish Sea."

But Johnson claimed it was “nonsense” to suggest there would be any new checks. The Conservative Party said the leaked document was an "immediate assessment” rather than a detailed analysis.

Labour has a radical domestic agenda, promising to nationalize key industries and utilities, hike the minimum wage and give free internet access to all.

The party has struggled to persuade voters that its lavish spending promises are deliverable without big tax hikes. Labour's campaign also has been dogged by allegations that Corbyn — a long-time champion of the Palestinians — has allowed anti-Jewish prejudice to fester in the left-of-center party.

Corbyn has called anti-Semitism "a poison and an evil in our society" and says he is working to root it out of the party.

This election is especially unpredictable because the question of Brexit cuts across traditional party loyalties. For many voters, their identities as "leavers" or "remainers" are more important than party affiliations.

The Conservative lead suggests the party has managed to win over many Brexit-backing voters, while Labour faces competition for pro-EU electors from the centrist Liberal Democrats and several smaller parties.

But the Conservatives have also lost support from some pro-EU voters by taking a strongly pro-Brexit stance. Several ex-Conservative lawmakers who were expelled for rebelling over Brexit are running against their old party as independents.

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The independent former Tories were endorsed Friday by former Conservative Prime Minister John Major, who called Brexit the "worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime."

"It will make our country poorer and weaker,” he said. “It will hurt most those who have least.”

In another blow to Johnson's claims that Britain will be better off outside the EU, Britain’s Brexit envoy in Washington quitthis week, saying she no longer wants to “peddle half-truths on behalf of a government I do not trust."

Alexandra Hall Hall resigned as the embassy’s Brexit counselor with a letter slamming the British government’s use of “misleading” arguments and reluctance “to address honestly” the challenges and trade-offs involved in leaving the EU.

Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed to this report.

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2019-12-07 10:03:55Z
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Unnao rape case: Indian woman set on fire on way to hearing dies - BBC News

An Indian woman who was set on fire on her way to testify against her alleged rapists has died of her injuries.

The 23-year-old died late on Friday after suffering cardiac arrest at a Delhi hospital. She had 90% burns.

She was attacked on Thursday as she was walking to a hearing in the rape case she filed against two men in March in Unnao, in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

Five men, including the alleged rapists, have been arrested, Indian police say.

The sister of the victim, whose name has not been released, told the BBC that she wanted the death penalty for the pair.

She said the family would continue to fight the case against them in court.

Rape and sexual violence against women have been in focus in India since the December 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in the capital, Delhi.

But there has been no sign that crimes against women are abating.

According to government figures, police registered 33,658 cases of rape in India in 2017, an average of 92 rapes every day.

Unnao district has itself been in the news over another rape case.

Police opened a murder investigation against a ruling party lawmaker in July after a woman who accused him of rape was seriously injured in a car crash. Two of her aunts were killed and her lawyer was injured.

Separately, on Friday, Indian police shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a young female vet in the southern city of Hyderabad last week.

That case sparked widespread outrage, and the killing of the suspects, in what rights activists believe may have been an extra-judicial killing, sparked jubilation among local residents.

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2019-12-07 06:59:11Z
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Unnao rape case: Indian woman set on fire on way to hearing dies - BBC News

An Indian woman who was set on fire on her way to testify against her alleged rapists has died of her injuries.

The 23-year-old died late on Friday after suffering cardiac arrest at a Delhi hospital. She had 90% burns.

She was attacked on Thursday as she was walking to a hearing in the rape case she filed against two men in March in Unnao, in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

Five men, including the alleged rapists, have been arrested, Indian police say.

The sister of the victim, whose name has not been released, told the BBC that she wanted the death penalty for the pair.

She said the family would continue to fight the case against them in court.

Rape and sexual violence against women have been in focus in India since the December 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in the capital, Delhi.

But there has been no sign that crimes against women are abating.

According to government figures, police registered 33,658 cases of rape in India in 2017, an average of 92 rapes every day.

Unnao district has itself been in the news over another rape case.

Police opened a murder investigation against a ruling party lawmaker in July after a woman who accused him of rape was seriously injured in a car crash. Two of her aunts were killed and her lawyer was injured.

Separately, on Friday, Indian police shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a young female vet in the southern city of Hyderabad last week.

That case sparked widespread outrage, and the killing of the suspects, in what rights activists believe may have been an extra-judicial killing, sparked jubilation among local residents.

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2019-12-07 06:56:44Z
52780461785224

Jumat, 06 Desember 2019

Paris travel nightmare enters second day as hundreds of miles of traffic jams reported around French capital - Fox News

More than 200 miles of roads in and around Paris were reported to be clogged with traffic jams Friday as a general strike aimed at President Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the country’s pension system continues to wreak havoc on commuters and tourists.

For a second straight day, subway stations surrounding the Eiffel Tower and other attractions remained shut down, leaving visitors scrambling for ways to get around one of the world’s most popular travel destinations.

“I arrived in Paris today, but I have been stuck for around two hours just trying to find a bus or a train," Zaeen Shoii, a tourist from Pakistan, told the Associated Press. "But everything has been delayed, so I'm just waiting for the next bus now.”

And the travel disruptions aren’t expected to go away anytime soon as unions on strike are standing firm in their opposition to Macron.

“We’re going to protest for a week at least, and at the end of that week it’s the government that’s going to back down,” Patrick Dos Santos, a transportation employee, told Reuters.

FIRES ERUPT IN PARIS AS GENERAL STRIKE CREATES TRAVEL NIGHTMARE, SHUTS DOWN EIFFEL TOWER

A man stands on a traffic light during a demonstration in Paris on Thursday. (AP)

A man stands on a traffic light during a demonstration in Paris on Thursday. (AP)

Macron's idea is to unify France's 42 different pension schemes into a single one, giving all workers the same general rights. So-called special regimes, linked to certain professions like train drivers, allow workers to get early retirement or other benefits.

But the reform also is aimed at saving money, and teachers are among many who worry it will leave them with less money at the end of their careers.

At least 800,000 people marched across France on Thursday in opposition to the reforms, as the strike shuttered schools and some public services and disrupted hospitals and refineries.

A massive march that was held in Paris started peacefully before some protesters engaged in clashes with police, who responded by firing volleys of tear gas. Other demonstrators were spotted hurling flares, smashing store windows and setting fires in eastern Paris.

Riot police officers secure an area as some demonstrators were seen smashing store windows, setting fires and hurling flares in eastern Paris Thursday. (AP)

Riot police officers secure an area as some demonstrators were seen smashing store windows, setting fires and hurling flares in eastern Paris Thursday. (AP)

Police arrested 71 people in the French capital Thursday and clashes were also reported in the cities of Nantes, Bordeaux, and Rennes, according to the BBC.

MACRON VOWS TO FIGHT HATE 'UNTIL OUR DEAD CAN SLEEP IN PEACE' AFTER JEWISH GRAVES APPEAR DEFACED WITH SWASTIKAS

As of Friday morning, more than 217 miles of roads in and around Paris were snarled with traffic jams, the station adds. More than half of the city’s 16 subway lines remain shut down and dozens of flights from the city’s major airports have been canceled or delayed.

Macron's government has been negotiating with unions and others for months about the reforms but won't release the details of the proposed changes until next week. The government says it will keep the official retirement age at 62, but the plan is expected to encourage people to work longer.

People fill the streets during a demonstration in Paris on Thursday.

People fill the streets during a demonstration in Paris on Thursday. (AP)

The uncertainty about what the plan will entail is feeding public worry. Polls suggest most French people support the strike and protest movement, at least for now, in hopes it pushes the government to pay more heed to workers' worries.

Some seven in 10 French employees work in the private sector, and the strikes are primarily in the public sector. But the retirement changes will affect everyone, and the demonstrations have included private-sector workers, too.

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Commuters and parents struggling to get to work and school Friday had mixed feelings about the strikes and the reform.

"I understand, striking is a constitutional right but there should at least be a partial (subway) service," Mira Ghaleni told the Associated Press as she tried to get her son to school in eastern Paris. "It’s really a disaster for the people, and the politicians should do something because we really had enough. One day, it’s OK, but I think it will last longer.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-12-06 13:20:54Z
52780459614953

France Braces for Second Day of Pension Strikes as Unions Dig In - The New York Times

PARIS — Angry railway employees, teachers and other workers in France showed no signs of backing down from a nationwide strike on Friday, having brought public transportation to a standstill in a protest over President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul the nation’s pension system.

Travel was expected to be severely limited between French cities on Friday, with nine out of 10 high-speed trains and seven out of 10 regional express trains likely to be canceled. Stations around the country were almost empty, and some schools remained closed.

In Paris, most metro lines were shut down and bus services were heavily disrupted. The streets were filled with more bicycles and electric scooters than usual, as Parisians used alternative measures to zip around stalled traffic in parts of the capital.

Transportation disruptions were expected to continue into the weekend and early next week, and labor unions announced on Friday that they were planning for new demonstrations on Tuesday, including a march in southern Paris.

Bernadette Groison, the head of one of France’s largest teachers union, told reporters after a meeting with other labor groups that they were “determined” to make the strikes last.

“This is not a mood swing lasting a couple days,” she said.

The government was faced with huge protests in Paris and other cities on Thursday, some of the biggest in recent years. The authorities estimated that at least 800,000 people demonstrated across the country, with labor unions putting the figure at 1.5 million.

France’s health minister, Agnès Buzyn, said that the government had “heard” the protesters’ message. “We know the anger” of the French people, Ms. Buzyn told Europe 1 radio.

The government said it was open to discussions about the details of Mr. Macron’s plan, but it showed no signs of retreating from its broad outlines. Seeking to streamline France’s generous pension system by combining a complex web of 42 pension schemes, it would create a points-based system for every worker, regardless of status or sector.

The lack of specifics has left many French residents, many of whom distrust Mr. Macron, believing that their pensions will decrease.

It is not clear, for instance, when the pension changes would go into effect and for which generation, or how workers currently in a special pension scheme, like railway workers, would make the transition to a unified scheme. It is also unclear how difficult working conditions would be taken into account.

Jean-Paul Delevoye, a French politician whom Mr. Macron has put in charge of a report on pension changes, acknowledged on Thursday that some workers felt they would be cheated out of benefits that had been promised to them years ago.

But he said that a universal points-based system would be “more understandable” and fairer. “We will bring answers to the worries that are being expressed,” he said.

Mr. Delevoye’s comments on Friday came a day after transportation workers, hospitals employees, refinery staff, garbage collectors, teachers, police officers and firefighters took to the streets to express their discontent over Mr. Macron’s plans.

Sporadic violence peppered the protests in Paris, Rennes, Bordeaux and other cities. The police fired tear gas as they faced off with some protesters.

Édouard Philippe, France’s prime minister, told reporters on Thursday evening that despite the scattered clashes between the police and violent groups called “breakers,” the “demonstrations went fine pretty much everywhere in France.”

Labor union leaders are scheduled to meet with the government on Monday, and Mr. Philippe is expected to give the “general architecture” of the pension plans next week. But it is unclear whether that will placate the striking workers, some of whom have vowed to continue until the plans are scrapped altogether.

Philippe Martinez, the head of the General Confederation of Labor, one of the largest unions opposed to the pension overhaul, called for renewed pressure on the government.

“Strikes need to spread to all companies,” Mr. Martinez said on LCI, a television news channel.

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2019-12-06 11:18:00Z
52780459614953

India Police Kill 4 Rape Suspects Already In Custody - NPR

Students at Delhi University Thursday demanding that the suspects in a rape case in southern India be hanged within six months of conviction. The march was also in support of a women's rights activist on indefinite hunger strike seeking swift justice for rape victims. The four rape suspects were killed Friday while in police custody. NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption

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NurPhoto via Getty Images

Before dawn Friday, police transported four suspects to the scene of a crime that has outraged their nation: A roadside in southern India, where the men are accused of gang-raping a woman, suffocating her and setting her body on fire.

The woman's Nov. 27 murder sparked protests and candlelight vigils across India. Within 48 hours, police had arrested the four, their brutality allegedly caught on CCTV cameras.

Police said they needed to question the suspects at the crime scene — before daybreak — to have them retrace their steps and collect more evidence.

But by sunrise, all four suspects had been shot dead by police. They had yet to be charged.

"Law has done its duty," the top police official on the case, V.C. Sajjanar, told reporters at a news conference.

Hundreds of revelers gathered where the rape had occurred — on the outskirts of the southern city of Hyderabad — hoisting police officers on their shoulders above the crowd and showering them with rose petals.

"Long live police!" they chanted. The victim's father was quoted as saying his daughter's soul is now at peace.

But human rights activists and some politicians decried Friday's killings as an extrajudicial execution that amounts to mob justice.

"If you're going to kill the accused before any due process of law has been followed, then what's the point of having courts, law and police?" Maneka Gandhi, a lawmaker from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) told reporters outside parliament in New Delhi.

The local branch of the BJP in Telangana, where Hyderabad is the state capital, issued a statement saying: "India is not a banana republic and is bound by legal and constitutional framework."

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both called for an investigation.

"We still don't know whether the actual perpetrators have been caught, because we do not know whether police that are incompetent enough to let suspects escape should be trusted to have solved the case," Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told NPR.

A police claim of self-defense

Sajjanar said the suspects were taken back to the crime scene so that they could lead police to where they had buried the victim's cell phone and other personal items. He said the alleged rapists had not been handcuffed, and managed to overpower ten police officers.

The suspects threw stones at police, injuring two officers, Sajjanar said. After two of the suspects snatched officers' firearms, all four were shot dead in self-defense, he said.

Sajjanar was involved in a similar case in Dec. 2008, Indian media reported, in which three suspects were killed by police after being arrested for allegedly throwing acid on two female engineering students in another town near Hyderabad.

After that incident, he reportedly earned the nickname "the encounter cop." (In India, the word "encounter" connotes any suspicious killing of a suspect in police custody.)

Security forces across India have been accused over the years of carrying out extrajudicial killings. In 2017, India's Supreme Court ordered an inquiry into more than 1,500 deaths in the country's northeast, where police officers had allegedly staged fake attacks in order to kill criminals in their custody.

Police attribute most deaths while in custody to suicide or natural causes but, as Human Rights Watch noted in a 2016 report, family members in many cases allege torture by the police.

Demands for swift justice

The name of the 27-year-old rape victim in Hyderabad is not being reported, in accordance with Indian law to protect the identity of those believed to be victims of sexual violence.

Police say she phoned her sister on the day of her death to say her motor scooter had a flat tire, but that a friendly truck driver was helping her. Authorities allege four men stealthily deflated her tire, then posed as good Samaritans before raping and murdering her. It's unclear whether she was still alive when they doused her body with fuel and set it aflame.

In 2012, a physiotherapy student was gang-raped on a New Delhi bus, garnering widespread protests and prompting authorities to increase prison terms for convicted rapists. Four men have been convicted in that case, and sentenced to death. One has since died by suicide in prison.

Swati Maliwal, chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, says she's frustrated that the Delhi convicts have not yet been executed. In other cases, trials are often delayed for years and justice is difficult to attain.

She said that while she did not condone extrajudicial killings, she understood why police in Hyderabad might have taken matters into their own hands.

"There is a huge possibility that the police felt that if they let these people just go through the court process, they will never get the punishment that they deserve," Maliwal told NPR by phone from a protest camp in New Delhi, where she was on the fourth day of a hunger strike to raise awareness of sexual violence.

Last year, a survey by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the most dangerous country in the world for women, because of sexual violence. In 2017, the most recent year for which data were available, there were more than 33,000 cases of rape reported in India, according to national crime statistics. By comparison, the FBI says about 100,000 rapes were reported that year in the United States, which has about a quarter of India's population.

But many cases of sexual violence in India are believed to go unreported. Unlike the Hyderabad victim, who was an urban professional attacked by strangers, most victims are poor rural women and their attackers are often people they know.

Maliwal appealed to the Indian government to fast-track trials for rapists — and devote greater police resources to fighting sexual violence — in order to avoid mob justice.

"What kind of a country do we want? Do we want to go through proper processes and systems?" she asks. "Or do we want results like this?"

NPR producer Sushmita Pathak contributed to this report

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5wci5vcmcvMjAxOS8xMi8wNi83ODU0NTIzMzEvaW5kaWEtcG9saWNlLWtpbGwtNC1yYXBlLXN1c3BlY3RzLWFscmVhZHktaW4tY3VzdG9kedIBAA?oc=5

2019-12-06 13:11:00Z
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