The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
COMMERCE TOWNSHIP, Mich.
Detroit-area
woman stalked by
Iranian Supreme
Court orders re-
aggressive turkey trial for ex-iviarine
An Oakland County woman
says she's become a prisoner on
her own property, stalked and
harassed by a 25-pound turkey.
Edna Geisler calls the foul bird
"Godzilla." The 69-year-old told
the Detroit Free Press thatcthe tur-
key wanders near her Commerce
Township property each day
from nearby woods. She recently
couldn't get to her front door after
atrip to the grocery store.
"I have to go to the post office
atf6 o'clock in the morning to avoid
him," said Geisler, who has been
bumped and clawed.
She has tried changing her
schedule but this turkey is no
dummy. A friend, Rick Reid, said
* the turkey went after him, too,
when he opened the door on his
minivan.
LANSING
State debuts toll-
free abuse hotline
A new call-in system for report-
ingabuse and neglect debutedyes-
terday in Michigan, another step
toward compliance with a court-
ordered mandate for the state to
improve conditions for children
needing protective services.
The new system establishes a
single phone number statewide for
reporting abuse or neglect related
to children and adults. The num-
ber will be staffed around-the-
clock, including weekends and
holidays. Decisions on whether
to investigate a child abuse case
are expected to be made on the
spot, no matter what time of day
or night, before being directly
referred to county-level child pro-
tective services staff.
The statewide complaint intake
system will be based in Kent
County, where a six-county pilot
program testing the system has
run since September. The state-
wide system replaces one where
calls were made to individual
Department of Human Services
county-level offices, which some-
times led to inconsistent results.
MANILA, Philippines
Philippine quake
cracks buildings,
sparks panic
Amoderatelystrongearthquake
cracked buildings and knocked
televisions and glassware from
tables today in a central Philip-
pine province, injuring at least five
people and sending others rushing
outside in panic, officials said.
Renato Solidum of the Philip-
pine Institute of Volcanology and
Seismology said the quake with
a preliminary magnitude of 5.2
struck this morning and was cen-
tered just two miles (three kilo-
meters) north of Masbate City on
the island province of Masbate.
The quake, which was caused
bytmovement in a local fault, was
felt in nearby provinces.
Masbate City Mayor Socrates
Tuason told The Associated
Press by telephone that there
were no immediate reports of
major damage, and power and
' communications were unaffect-
ed by the temblor in his hillside
city of 90,000 people.
UNITED NATIONS
U.N. says disasters
last year were most
* costly on record
The economic cost of disasters
in 2011 was the highest in history
- with a pricetag of at least $380
billion, mainly due to earthquakes
in Japan and New Zealand, a U.N.
envoy said yesterday.
Margareta Wahlstrom, the sec-
retary-general's special represen-
tative for disaster risk reduction,
said the figure was two-thirds
higher than the previous record
in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina
struck the southern United States.
In addition to the earthquakes,
Wahlstrom said major floods in
Thailand and other countries
caused extensive damage.
"The main message is that this
is an increasing - very rapidly
increasing trend with increasing
economic losses," Wahlstrom said.
"But the economics of disasters
is becoming a major threat to a
number of countries," Wahlstrom
said.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Amir Hekmati, 28,
was sentenced to
death in January
TEHRAN, Iran- Iran's
Supreme Court has ordered
the retrial of an ex-U.S. Marine
who was sentenced to death
on charges of working for the
CIA, a news agency reported
yesterday.
The case has added even more
tension to U.S.-Iran relations,
as Washington and its allies
press ahead with sanctions
over Iran's contentious nuclear
development program, and Iran
threatens punishing retaliation
if it is attacked.
Amir Hekmati, 28, was
sentenced to death in January,
the first American to receive
a death penalty since the 1979
Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Hekmati was born in Arizona.
His parents are of Iranian origin.
Iran accuses Hekmati of
receiving special training
while serving at U.S. military
bases in Iraq and Afghanistan
before heading to Iran for an
intelligence mission.
In December, Iran broadcast
a video on state television in
which Hekmati was shown
delivering a purported
confession and said he was
part of a plot to infiltrate Iran's
intelligence agency.
The U.S. government and his
family have denied the charges
against Hekmati.
Yesterday, the semiofficial
Isna news agency said the case
would be retried.
The report quoted state
prosecutor Gholam Hossein
Mohseni Ejehei as saying,
"There was an appeal on his
verdict. The Supreme Court
found shortcomings in the case
and sent it for review by an
equivalent branch" in the court
system.
The report did not elaborate.
Hekmati was born in Arizona
and grew up in Michigan, where
his father Ali Hekmati teaches
at Mott Community College in
Flint. Last month Hekmati's
mother Benhaz Hekmati visited
him in prison and met with
Iranian officials. Some saw this
as a sign that Iran might show
moderation in the case.
A lawyer for the family,
Pierre Prosper, welcomed
word of the retrial. Prosper
said he is "waiting for official
confirmation, but we are
pleased with reports coming out
of Tehran."
Prosper said the family is
looking forward to working
with the Iranian government.
The lawyer said an appeal has
been in the works and progress
in the case may be unrelated to
the escalating pressure on Iran
over its nuclear program.
Dawud Walid, executive
director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations'
Michigan chapter, described
the news of the new trial "as
a positive development." His
organization sent a letter in
January appealing for clemency
to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
Iran's supreme leader.
"We're hopeful that Mr.
Hekmati will get a fair trial with
transparency," Walid said.
A previous incident involving
Americans in Iran was resolved,
but only after two years.
In 2009, three U.S. citizens
were detained along the
Iraq border. The three said
they crossed the border
unintentionally during a hike.
They, too, were charged with
espionage, but there were no
specific allegations of CIA ties
and training as in the case of
Hekmati.
HADI MIZBAN/AP
Mourners pray over the coffins of security forces killed in attack in Haditha, Iraq, at their funeral in Falluah, 40 miles west
of Baghdad.
25 Iraqi police killed in
insurgent shooting spree
Attack seen as
attempt to reassert
al-Qaida power in
region
BAGHDAD - Assailants wav-
ing the battle flag of al-Qaida
gunned down 25 policemen
yesterday in a brazen and well-
orchestrated challenge to gov-
ernment control over a strategic
town fraught with Iraq war sym-
bolism.
The attack replicated tactics
used by Sunni insurgents during
the war and appeared aimed at
reasserting al-Qaida's grip now
that the Iraqis can no longer rely
on American help.
The attackers drove through
the town of Haditha claiming
to be government officials and
methodically executed guards
and commanders. After half an
hour they escaped into the des-
ert, leaving a terrified populace
demanding protection. Local
authorities imposed a curfew and
deployed troops.
Mohammed Owda al-Kubai-
si, a relative of one of the slain
policemen, spoke of his four chil-
dren, "now orphans because their
father was assassinated by the
cold blood of insurgency while
our government keeps watching
and denouncing."
The choice of target was sig-
nificant in several ways.
Haditha is just 65 miles (105
kilometers) from the border with
Syria, where rebels fighting the
regime are allegedly gaining
recruits from Iraq. During the
Iraq war the town of 85,000 was
a critical pawn in the battle, and
was overrun and held by al-Qaida
insurgents for months until U.S.
forces ousted them. It was also
the home of Abu Musab al-Zarqa-
wi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, as
well as the scene of a U.S. massa-
cre of civilians.
Iraqi officials described yes-
terday's attack as a system-
atic plot to kill policemen. The
attackers came at 2 a.m. in cars
painted as Iraqi Interior Minis-
tryvehicles and brandished false
arrest warrants for city police
officials. At the first checkpoint
they confiscated cell phones and
shot nine guards, said Moham-
med Fathi, spokesman for the
governor of Iraq's western
Anbar province, where Haditha
is located.
The convoy then stopped at
the homes of two Haditha police
commanders, including the
colonel who served as the city's
SWAT team leader. They were
killed less than a quarter of a mile
(400 meters) away, Fathi said.
He said the attackers had false
arrest warrants for 15 police
officials. At a checkpoint near
the main market a gun battle
broke out, with the gang raising
the al-Qaida flag, according to a
police lieutenant in Haditha who
spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to
release the information.
Six policemen were killed in
that skirmish, and another eight
were killed as security forces
chased the gang through the city,
Fathi said.
The police lieutenant said
most of the gang escaped north,
but one of the insurgents' cars
was shot up and found to con-
tain an al-Qaida flag, black with
a Quranic inscription, and al-
Qaida propaganda. Fathi said at
least one of the insurgents was
killed. Local police said three
were killed.
Egyptian lawmaker ousted
after lying about his nose job
Ultra-religious
political party
forces member to
issue apology
CAIRO (AP) - A lawmaker
from Egypt's most conservative
Islamist party resigned from
parliament after he was caught
lying to cover up a nose job,
claiming the injuries to his
heavily bandaged face were
from a carjackingand beating.
Parliament member Anwar
al-Balkimy represented the
Al-Nour party, whose members
known as Salafis follow a strict
interpretation of Islam that
forbids cosmetic surgery as
meddling in God's work.
The party said yesterday
that he had resigned and
Al-Nour was forced to issue an
embarrassing and apologetic
statement.
"In light of the regretful
incident involving Al-Nour
party lawmaker Anwar
al-Balkimy, the head of the
party, Emad Abdel-Ghafour,
wentto the hospital with a team
of party members to question
the lawmaker," itsaid. The party
added that it found his claims of
an attack were not true.
Al-Nur spokesman Nader
Bakar was quoted on the group's
official Facebook page as saying
al-Balkimy was expelled from
the party.
"Based on what the hospital
officials said, we decided to
expel him from the party, and so
he submitted his resignation,"
Bakar said, adding that
al-Balkimy apologized. "We are
tryingto bring forth a new set of
social values in politics based on
Islamic principles," he added.
"He may be suffering from an
emotional disorder."
Local media have been
awash over the past few days
with pictures of al-Balkimy's
face swathed in such heavy
bandages that only his eyes,
mouth and black-bearded chin
could be seen.
According to Egyptian
media reports, al-Balkimy
checked into a Cairo hospital
on Feb. 28 for plastic surgery
on his nose and the next day
checked into a second hospital,
where doctors said he tried to
claim he had been beaten and
mugged.
He also reported to police
that he was attacked during an
attempt to steal his car while
he was driving on the outskirts
of Cairo. He also claimed his
attackers robbed him of more
than $16,000.
His false claims led to an
outcry against the government
for failing to address a crime
wave that has been plaguing
Egypt since last year's uprising
ousted authoritarian leader
Hosni Mubarak. Just days
before the false report, an
Islamist presidential hopeful
was beaten in a carjacking, and
another Islamistlawmgaker was
injured in a hit-and-run.
While al-Balkimy was in the
second hospital, a stream of
visitors came to see him, among
them the head of parliament
who hails from the rival
Islamist party of the Muslim
Brotherhood.
The episode was a major
embarrassment for Al-Nour,
fresh off its strong showing in
parliamentary elections, which
turned out to be the biggest
surprise of the first free and
fair democratic vote in Egypt in
decades.
Al-Nour championseone
of the most conservative
interpretations of Islam, partly
inspired by Saudi Arabia's
Wahhabism, and wants Islamic
law strictly applied in Egypt.
It captured a quarter of seats
in both houses of parliament,
making it the second largest
party. The Brotherhood's party
won nearly half the seats in
parliament. Together the rival
religious parties control about
three-quarters of parliament.
The statement apologizing
for the lie was posted Al-Nour's
official Facebook page, where
there were thousands of shares
and "likes" on the post.
Hundredssresponded with
commenuts such as "you all
look really bad" and "how
embarrassing." One person
wrote: "Liars," using the
common refrain employed by
liberal activists against the
country's military rulers.
The state prosecutor is
waiting for al-Balkimy's
diplomatic immunity to be
lifted before interrogating
him.
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