thisday0520

F
INTERNATIONAL
WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2015 • THISDAY
email: foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com
Egypt’s Death Sentences Worry UN,
Turkey
United Nations and
Turkey have expressed
deep concern about the
death sentences handed
down in Egypt to former
President Mohamed Mursi
and other Islamists, while
Turkey warned of Middle
East turmoil if they are
carried out.
The United Nations
Secretary-General, Ban Kimoon,
said he would closely
monitor the appeals process
for the death sentences and
urged actions that would
promote the rule of law.
The U.S. State Department
said Egypt’s practice of
mass trials and sentences
was unjust and often used
against members of the
opposition or non-violent
activists.
“We are deeply concerned
by yet another mass death
sentence handed down by an
Egyptian court to more than
100 defendants, including
former President Mursi,”
State Department spokesman
Jeff Rathke told reporters in
Washington.
An Egyptian court on Sunday
sought the death penalty for
Mursi and 106 supporters of
his Muslim Brotherhood, in
connection with a mass jailbreak
in 2011. A final ruling
is expected on June.
In Ankara, Turkey’s
presidential spokesman warned
the Middle East would be
thrown into turmoil if Egypt
carried out its death sentences.
Ibrahim Kalin said the
sentences were a “breach of
justice” and called on the
international community
to speak out more strongly
against them.
“The subject demands
universal attention. The
execution orders and carrying
them out will push the Middle
East into turmoil,” he told
reporters.
Turkey would work with
the U.N. Human Rights
Commission after the sentences,
and take “all necessary steps”,
he added.
Turkish President, Tayyip
Erdogan, is a supporter
of Mursi, Egypt’s first
democratically elected president,
and relations with Egypt have
soured since the army forced
Mursi from power in 2013.
Diplomatic ties between
the former regional allies
were broken off after Erdogan
repeatedly accused the new
Egyptian government of
carrying out a coup.
Speaking to Egypt’s state
news agency, an unidentified
Egyptian official said Cairo
was not surprised by Turkey’s
comments.
“The current regime in
Turkey is a reflection of the
ideas of the terrorist Muslim
Brotherhood,” the official added.
The Turkish government’s
backing for the Muslim
US: Passengers Sue Amtrak over
Philadelphia Derailment
Four passengers on the Amtrak
commuter train that derailed in
Philadelphia last week have filed
a federal lawsuit against the
U.S. rail service, as operations
resumed on the heavily travelled
Northeast Corridor.
The lawsuit, filed in
Philadelphia, cited “serious and
disabling” injuries from the May
12 derailment that killed eight
people and injured more than
200 others.
Nearly a week after the derailment,
it remains a mystery what
caused the train to accelerate
from 70 miles per hour (113 km
per hour) to 106 mph (171 kph)
in the minute before the crash.
Authorities have not yet ruled
out equipment malfunction,
human error or other possible
reasons for the train gaining
speed so rapidly.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation
examination of a
circular pattern of damage to
the windshield of the derailed
Amtrak train found no evidence
it was caused by a firearm, the
National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB) said on Monday.
The NTSB, however, said it has
not ruled out the possibility that
another object may have struck
the windshield.
Train engineer Brian Bostian,
32, who suffered a concussion,
told investigators he has no
memory of what occurred after
the train pulled out of the North
Philadelphia station, just before
the crash.
The lawsuit appeared to be the
first filed by a non-employee of
the U.S. passenger rail service.
Last week, an Amtrak worker
who was riding the train as a
passenger, filed the first lawsuit,
citing a brain injury he said he
suffered in the crash.
The latest passengers’ lawsuit,
seeking unspecified damages,
accused Amtrak and Bostian
of negligence and recklessness.
Filing the suit were two Spanish
citizens, Felicidad Redondo
Iban and Maria Jesus Redondo
Iban, as well as Daniel Armyn
of New York and Amy Miller
Brotherhood and Islamist groups
across the Middle East has harmed
Ankara’s relations with other
regional partners, including Saudi
Arabia and Libya, since the Arab
Spring erupted four years ago.
of New Jersey.
Felicidad Redondo Iban has
required several surgeries to
avoid amputation of her right
arm, according to the complaint.
An Amtrak representative
could not be reached immediately
for comment.
The train, headed from Washington
to New York with 243
people on board, was traveling
at twice the 50 mile-per-hour
speed limit when it entered a
sharp curve and derailed just
north of Philadelphia.
Amtrak commuter service,
suspended since the derailment,
resumed early on Monday on
the Northeast Corridor, the nation’s
busiest passenger rail line.