Nov 27 Others

Five UAE activists get jail terms
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212380.html
Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:13AM

Five pro-democracy activists in the United Arab Emirates have been sentenced to prison terms of up to three years for insulting the country's US-backed authoritarian leaders.

Blogger Ahmed Mansoor, who was detained in April, was handed down a three-year jail term by a court on Sunday, AFP reported.

Four other activists, Nasser bin Gaith, Fahid Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq were each sentenced to two-year prison terms.

All activists were accused of using the Internet to insult UAE leaders, call for a boycott of September's Federal National Council elections and for anti-government protests.

Their detention came after a petition calling for constitutional reforms and political freedoms was signed by over 100 people and circulated on the Internet.

Earlier this month, a number of rights groups, including the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, criticized their trial as "grossly unfair."

The rights groups in a joint statement had called for "all five to be released immediately and unconditionally."

The UAE Federal Supreme Court, however, said it would announce its verdict, which they cannot appeal.

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Pakistan to review US, NATO relations
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212366.html
Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:6AM

Pakistan has ordered a review of all collaborations with the US and NATO, including diplomatic, political, military and intelligence activities, following US-led NATO strikes on two Pakistani military checkpoints.

The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting of senior cabinet ministers and military service chiefs, chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who strongly condemned the strikes, AFP reported.

In the meeting, the Pakistani government also decided to cut supply lines to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Early Saturday, the US-led NATO helicopters targeted two military checkpoints in the Mohmand Agency in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 28 Pakistani soldiers and wounding 15 others.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry also announced on Saturday that it lodged a complaint in the strongest terms with the NATO and the US over the attack.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ordered that the Pakistani forces make necessary arrangements for retaliatory measures, should the Western military alliance repeat such offensives.

Islamabad also summoned US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter to lodge a strong complaint regarding the unprovoked attacks.

The Obama administration has ordered an investigation into the NATO's deadly attacks on the Pakistani checkpoints.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a joint statement late Saturday claiming that they did offer their “deepest condolences for the loss of life and support fully NATO's intention to investigate immediately.”

Activists with Islami Jamiat Tulba, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami party, staged a protest in the northwestern city of Lahore to denounce the killing of Pakistani soldiers.

Moreover, the Pakistani government ordered the US to vacate Shamsi airbase within 15 days.

The airbase, which is a remote desert outpost in southwest Pakistan, was reportedly used as a hub for covert CIA assassination drone strikes. Pakistan had previously asked the United States to leave the site in June.