DUBAI: Bahraini authorities yesterday announced the escape of three inmates from a prison on an island east of Manama, in the second such incident in a fortnight.
Activists said the three were being held for their alleged involvement in Shia-led protests in the kingdom, where the Sunni monarchy crushed a February 2011 uprising backed by the Shia majority.
“Security procedures are being taken to arrest three detainees who escaped from the Dry Dock Detention Centre”, the ministry announced in a statement on Twitter.
Witnesses said several police patrols had been deployed along roads leading to the detention centre, located on Muharraq, the second largest island in the archipelago kingdom after Manama.
Two inmates escaped last month from Jau in southwestern Bahrain, the kingdom’s main jail, and were later recaptured at a house in the Shia village of Saar with others “wanted in security cases”, according to the ministry. The incident prompted the dismissal of the kingdom’s prison chief. Scores of Shias have been arrested, tried and jailed since the monarchy put down the 2011 revolt, which was inspired by Arab Spring protests. Protesters are frequently detained for taking part in unauthorised demonstrations and clashing with security forces in Shia villages.
Bouteflika names cabinet
ALGIERS: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika yesterday named the first cabinet of his fourth term in office, without managing to win over opposition figures as his reappointed prime minister had hoped.
The announcement of Algeria’s new government comes a week after the 77-year-old Bouteflika was sworn in after his landslide re-election in April despite his poor health preventing him from campaigning and with five opposition parties urging a boycott.
The 34-member cabinet, dominated by technocrats, sees most key senior ministers holding onto their posts, including Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, who had stepped down in February to run Bouteflika’s election campaign.
The key portfolios being retained are Ramtane Lamamra (foreign affairs), Yayeb Belaiz (interior), Tayb Louh (justice), Youcef Yousfi (energy) and General Ahmed Gaid-Salah as deputy defence minister. “The key positions are still held by the presidential clan,” said political analyst Rachid Tlemcani.
Frenchman shot dead in Sana’a
SANA’A: A Frenchman was killed yesterday and another was wounded when gunmen fired on their car in a diplomatic district in Sana’a, a security official said.
The official identified the two men as guards at the French embassy, but a diplomatic source was unable to confirm this.
Their Yemeni driver was also wounded in the attack, the security official said, adding that the assailants fled.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the attack, which took place a few hundred metres from the embassy, said the official, who could not immediately provide details on possible motives. Foreign diplomats, mainly Europeans, have increasingly come under attack in Sana’a. A German diplomat was wounded in the Yemeni capital on April 28 as he evaded an attempt by gunmen to kidnap him in the same district.AFP
