|
|
|
| NEWS > 08 February 2007 |
Other related articles:
LAPD may rehire celeb-obsessed
What: A former Los Angeles Police Department officer who liked to look up celebrities' personal information in confidential police databases says he was unjustly fired.
When: The California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 8, rules on Wednesday.
Outcome: Ex-LAPD cop wins case and may get his job back.
What happened, according to court records and other documents:
Kelly Chrisman once was a Los Angeles police officer with a penchant for looking up celebrities in the department's confidential databases. Then he got fired. Now he may get rehired w... Read more
|
 Article sourced from
|
|
France24 - Paris,France
08 February 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
|
British Prime Minister Tony Bl
|
Blair rejects 'Muslim police s
Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed a claim that Britain is a "police state" for Muslims, made by a man released without charge after anti-terror raids last week.
Abu Bakr, one of nine men arrested last Wednesday, alleged "draconian" treatment and claimed the swoop aimed to divert attention from the "cash-for-honours" investigation overshadowing Blair's final months in office.
But Blair's official spokesman criticised his comments, labelling claims of a police state a "gross caricature", while a senior Cabinet minister said they were "utter nonsense".
Bakr, who is working for a doctorate in Political Islam and was one of two men released without charge this week, first voiced his anger in a BBC television interview Wednesday evening.
"It's a police state for Muslims," said Bakr, who did not show his face for fear of attracting attention to him and his family. "It's not a police state for anybody else ... These terror laws are designed specifically for Muslims."
"We are feeling the brunt of it all."
In a second interview with ITV on Thursday, he added: "It's just so draconian that somebody can be picked up, not told why they are being arrested, then detained for seven days."
Police who detained the men, all Britons of Pakistani origin, under anti-terrorism laws in Birmingham, west central England, have not detailed the allegations against them.
But security sources said the raids were over an alleged "Iraq-style" plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier, and show the execution on the Internet.
Blair's official spokesman said claims of a police state were a "gross caricature" adding that, if they had been true, Bakr "would not have been able to go on national radio and be interviewed".
Meanwhile, Jack Straw, who, as leader of the house is a senior Cabinet minister, told lawmakers in the House of Commons that it was "absolute, utter nonsense" to say that British Muslims were living in a police state.
He argued that it was a "fact of life" that some people caught up in criminal investigations would be questioned and released without charge.
In Thursday's interview, Bakr linked his detention to a police inquiry into claims that political parties, including Blair's Labour, offered seats in Britain's unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, in return for financial support.
He was detained the day after it emerged that Lord Michael Levy, Labour's chief fundraiser, had been arrested for a second time, and the day before officials said Blair was questioned, also for the second time.
"With Lord Levy being arrested, and Tony Blair being questioned, to take attention away from that, away from Blair, this was leaked to the press, that there's some big plot," he said.
Seven men are still being questioned by police.
According to Bakr, police burst into his house at 4:00 am (0400 GMT) and handcuffed him, not revealing what the allegations against him were.
"Only when the solicitor (lawyer) came did they inform me that there was some crazy plot about someone trying to behead people of the British army or what not," he told the BBC.
He also criticised the authorities for thinking he could just get back to his life as usual, saying: "This is going to affect me for the rest of my life."
He added that his parents had "aged 10 years in one week" because of his arrest.
|
| |
 EiP Comments:
|
|---|
|
| |
* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications |
|
| |
|
