BRUSSELS: The European Union imposed sanctions yesterday on 12 Syrian government ministers, two senior military figures and a United Arab Emirates company it accused of helping supply oil to Syria.
The moves were part of a gradual tightening of EU sanctions against the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, who has clung to power despite a three-year-old civil war in which close to 200,000 people have been killed.
The EU said the 12 ministers, appointed by Assad in a cabinet reshuffle in August, shared “responsibility for the regime’s violent repression against the civilian population”, and would be subjected to asset freezes and travel bans. They included the minister of economy and foreign trade, Humam Al Jazaeri, and the minister of communications and technology, Mohammad Ghazi Al Jalali.
Twitter source of all evil: Saudi cleric
RIYADH: The microblogging site Twitter popular among both men and women in Saudi Arabia is nothing more than “a source of lies” and evil, the kingdom’s top Muslim cleric said.
“If it were used correctly, it could be of real benefit, but unfortunately it’s exploited for trivial matters,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh said on his “Fatwa” television show broadcast late on Monday. Twitter is “the source of all evil and devastation”, the mufti said. “People are rushing to it thinking it’s a source of credible information but it’s a source of lies and falsehood.”
Pakistani beheaded for drug trafficking
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia yesterday beheaded a Pakistani convicted of drug smuggling, the interior ministry announced, bringing to 58 the number of executions in the kingdom this year.
Baz Mohammed Ghul Mohammed was found guilty of attempting to smuggle a “large amount of heroin” by hiding it in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement.
Agencies
