Two Iraqi soldiers who helped rescue a kidnapped Australian in 2005 have been granted asylum in Australia because their lives were at risk at home, officials said yesterday.
Douglas Wood was working as a privately contracted engineer in Baghdad when he was seized and held for 47 days before US and Iraqi troops freed him in a gun battle with his captors.
Last month, Wood wrote an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, claiming that seven of the 10 Iraqi soldiers who helped free him have been murdered by terrorists as retribution for the rescue and for court testimony against some of the kidnappers.
A refugee lawyer and the government said yesterday that two of the soldiers and two siblings of one of them have been resettled in Australia.
“There were genuine fears for the safety of these two soldiers because of the role they played in Mr Wood’s rescue,” Immigration Minister Chris Evans said in a statement.
The soldiers’ names have not been released for fear they could also face persecution in Australia.
The third survivor, Brigadier General Mohammed al-Samarae, resettled in the US after being refused a visa to come to Australia six times, Wood said in his letter.
David Mann, a lawyer for the two men, said they had been in danger because they testified against Wood’s kidnappers.
“The evidence powerfully indicates that there had been a calculated and concerted campaign of terror against those who rescued Douglas Wood by al-Qaeda extremists,” Mann said.
Evans said government officials met with Wood on Feb. 24 and decided to fast-track the men’s applications.
Wood did not return a telephone call yesterday.
Last year, Australia resettled about 400 Iraqis and their relatives who were at risk for helping Australian troops and diplomats in their troubled homeland.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
‘KAMPAI’: It is said that people in Japan began brewing rice about 2,000 years ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol Traditional Japanese knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and shochu distilled spirits were approved on Wednesday for addition to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a committee of the UN cultural body said It is believed people in the archipelago began brewing rice in a simple way about two millennia ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol. By about 1000 AD, the imperial palace had a department to supervise the manufacturing of sake and its use in rituals, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association said. The multi-staged brewing techniques still used today are
RSS