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Publicerad den 17 dec 2013
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Publicerad den 12 dec 2013
India's Deputy Consul general in New
York Devyani Khobragade who was arrested for allegedly presenting
fraudulent documents in support of a visa application for an Indian
national employed by her, has been released today from custody on a
$25,000 bond. She pleaded not guilty in federal court in New York to
charges of visa fraud. Ms Khobragade was arrested yesterday morning by
law enforcement authorities after Manhattan's top federal prosecutor
Preet Bharara announced the charges against her.***----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Folk i Indien har blivit oerhört upprörda över den barbariska behandlingen av sin diplomat och demonstrationer har förekommit bl.a. utanför USA:s konsulat...
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US agent goofed in Indian diplomat arrest – lawyer
RT December 26
The controversial arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York came after the blatant mistake of a US agent, her lawyer says. The agent allegedly mistook the diplomat’s salary with her housekeeper's wages, triggering the “disastrous” row.
Attorney Daniel Arshack - who represents Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York - on Tuesday accused US authorities of bungling the investigation leading to his client’s arrest, AP reported.
According to Arshack, the US agent who drew up charges against the diplomat “erroneously and disastrously” mistook Khobragade’s listed base salary of $4,500 per month for what she intended to pay her housekeeper. The mistake was allegedly made while reading a form submitted on behalf of the domestic worker.
The diplomat’s salary was listed on the form for the purpose of providing proof that she earned enough money to pay her housekeeper $1,560 per month, or $9.75 per hour, for a 40-hour work-week, the lawyer said.
According to AP, the mistake “became apparent” to Arshack after he and others closely reviewed the forms that Khobragade was required to submit. [...]
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- Nearly one week after her arrest, Khobragade said in an emailed statement to media she was subject to “repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches,” despite asserting that she had diplomatic immunity.
The US State Department then said in a statement that Khobragade only had consular immunity - which is separate from diplomatic immunity and does not prevent career officers or employees from being arrested.
Khobragade has since been released on $250,000 bail and was transferred to India’s United Nations mission in New York after the UN approved a request from India to accredit the diplomat.
However, Khobragade still needs the approval of the US State Department in order to receive a UN post granting her broader immunity. US officials have warned that the newly acquired diplomatic immunity will not exempt the Indian diplomat from the ongoing investigation – something that her lawyer stoutly denies.
If convicted, Khobragade - who says she has already suffered from such “indignities” as strip-searching and spending time in a cell with “drug addicts” - could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail for visa fraud and five years for making a false declaration.
The incident has triggered outrage in India and sparked a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Washington. [...]
http://rt.com/news/us-indian-diplomat-error-825/
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http://rt.com/op-edge/india-us-diplomatic-row-806/
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Arrestering, nakenundersökningar, anal & vagina-visiteringar för indisk diplomat i USA
-Online privacy demands global action, just as with apartheid - UN human rights chief-
SvaraRaderaDecember 27, 2013
United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has associated the global response to government mass surveillance with the collective uproar that eventually helped cripple South Africa’s apartheid regime.
Pillay, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights and a South Africa native, said in an interview aired on Thursday that just as international pressure helped end apartheid in her home country, so must widespread condemnation of intrusive spying help boost online privacy rights. Pillay was the first non-white woman to serve as a High Court judge in South Africa.
"Combined and collective action by everybody can end serious violations of human rights,” she said in an interview with BBC Radio 4. “That experience inspires me to go on and address the issue of internet [privacy], which right now is extremely troubling because the revelations of surveillance have implications for human rights...People are really afraid that all their personal details are being used in violation of traditional national protections."
Pillay is tasked with preparing a report for the UN on digital privacy protections following the cascade of revelations supplied by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden regarding the American spy agency’s global surveillance apparatus.
The South Africa native has defended electronic freedoms in the past, both before and after Snowden’s leaks were unveiled in June. [...]
http://rt.com/news/online-privacy-protection-pillay-849/
-India-US relations sink to new low over diplomat arrest and strip search-
SvaraRaderaRT January 09, 2014
Washington has put on hold an official visit to New Delhi, as India orders the closure of the US Embassy club. The world’s two most populous democracies with bilateral trade of $100 billion a year are witnessing an escalation of their worst row in years.
Amid rising diplomatic tensions, it was announced on Wednesday that US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz would not go on an official visit to India, which had been scheduled for next week and had been considered a high priority event.
"In view of the importance of these matters to the overall bilateral relationship, we look forward to holding the Energy Dialogue at a mutually convenient date in the near future that will permit both sides to deliver concrete outcomes for both governments and our two peoples," Reuters cited an Energy Department official as saying.
India meanwhile ordered the cessation of any commercial activities on the territory of the US Embassy compound in New Delhi by January 16. That would erase from the city map the club that for decades has served as a mecca for Americans working in India.
These have been the latest episodes in the diplomatic stand-off the Indian media described as the worst since New Delhi’s 1998 nuclear tests. The crisis in Indian-US relations was sparked by last month’s arrest, handcuffing and strip-search of India’s deputy consul in New York, Devyani Khobragade. She is accused by prosecutors of paying her housekeeper less than the US federal minimum wage, and of lying about the fee in her visa application. Khobragade allegedly paid her maid three times less then was stated in the documents she filed to the US State Department.
The arrest and the strip search part of it in particular caused outrage among Indian politicians, who believe that a woman representing their country was insulted by law enforcers. [...]
http://rt.com/news/us-india-diplomatic-row-366/