Rafha prisoners: 220 Iraqis remains in Saudi mass graves

Rafha and Artawiyah prisoners and detainee’s Association in Basra revealed on Wednesday, the presence of more than 220 bodies remains in Saudi Arabia mass graves, while confirming that most of the dead were from the southern provinces.

The head of the Association, Ali Mohsen Mijbil said in an interview with "Shafaq News", that "we have a big problem in Saudi Arabia, as during one of the battles in 9/3 /1992 that occurred between the residents of Rafha Camp and the Saudi side, more than forty martyrs from camp were killed.”

Mijbil called "the Iraqi government, parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring the remains of the dead Iraqis in Saudi Arabia," noting that "the burying places of the Iraqis are different and many, which is in the form of mass graves as most of the dead are from the southern provinces."

He pointed out that "the number of prisoners in Rafha camp of the people of Basra is up to 13 thousand people," and expressed "his sadness from the lack of serious move by the Iraqi government on the subject."

thousands of southern provinces were transferred mid of 1990, to Saudi Arabia after the uprising that swept most of the provinces failed and after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, that was occupied in August 1990, and has managed then from controlling some provinces for days except Baghdad as security forces were able to suppress the uprising immediately .

Republican Guard forces moved and were able to eliminate the uprising in the rest of the provinces, where hundreds of participants were executed and arrested in the uprising, while others fled out of the country.

The Saudi government has opened Rafha camp in the desert area border to shelter the displaced, who left to the camp during the nineties for obtaining political asylum in the United States and European countries, while the others stayed in the camp until the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, as most of them returned to Iraq.

It is noteworthy that Rafha camp was a shelter for about 38 thousand Iraqi refugees, and they used to get care under the supervision of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), it contained a supplying center, a medical center as well as elementary schools, middle and junior high schools for girls and boys, the camp was closed in 2008 after the departure of the last batch composed of 77 Iraqi refugees.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

http://www.shafaaq.com/en/news/5426-rafha-prisoners-220-iraqis-remains-in-saudi-mass-graves.html

5 Bodies Recovered From Tuva Avalanche Site

Five bodies have been recovered from the avalanche site on the Ak-Bashtyg mountain in the Mongun-Taiga district of the Tuva republic where six teenagers went missing, a news report said Wednesday.

The press service for the Tuva administration confirmed the discovery of three bodies at 11:20 a.m. Moscow time, and the other two shortly afterward, Interfax reported.

The seven teenagers were buried by snow after an avalanche occurred while they were skiing in the area on March 3rd. One managed to escape and alert rescue workers of the situation.

The bodies of the deceased — all teenagers who were actively involved in sports — will be delivered to the search-and-rescue operation headquarters, where relatives of the missing teenagers are waiting to identify them.

Doctors and psychologists are also at hand to assist.

The grim discovery comes after search efforts by nearly 300 people saw teams of rescuers and volunteers scour 1,000 square meters of land with snow 5-6 meters deep, Itar-Tass reported. The search was suspended at 1 p.m. Moscow time on Tuesday due to hazardous weather conditions but resumed again Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, President of the Tuva Republic Solban Kara-ool signed an order to issue 100,000 rubles ($3,300) to the victim's families for the time they took off work to search for the missing teens.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/5-bodies-recovered-from-tuva-avalanche-site/476584.html

10 unidentified bodies found at a burrow pit in Imo State

Sources in the village disclosed to Channels Television that two women on their way to farm early in the morning raised the alarm when they saw two of the bodies lying lifeless in the bush.

On getting to the scene of the incident with some other villagers, they found out that there were other corpses in the area which were already decomposed.

When Channels Television visited the community, the town union’s President, Mr. Mike Osigwe, who pleaded to speak off camera confirmed that some dead bodies were discovered at a burrow pit near the village.

According to Mr. Osiwge, after they reported the matter to the DPO of the area, they thereafter, proceeded to bury the corpses because they couldn’t identify any of them, adding that the burials were carried out with the approval of the traditional rulers and town union leaders.

Meanwhile, the Imo State Police Commissioner, speaking through his Public Relations Officer, Mrs Joy Elemoko, said the Imo Police Command is not aware of such incident as no information has gotten to the command, dismissing it as mere rumour.

She, however, added that investigations will kick off immediately to ascertain the true story.

She further declared that it is against the law for anybody or group of persons to go ahead and bury unidentified bodies without any form of investigation.

This is coming just as over 15 dead bodies, all male, were earlier in the year found floating on Ezu river at the boundary between Anambra and Enugu States. The mystery behind that case has yet to be resolved.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/03/05/10-unidentified-bodies-found-at-mgbirichi-in-imo-state/

Santa Muerte, symbol of vengeance prayed to by cartels

Popular in Mexico, and sometimes linked to the illicit drug trade, the skeleton saint known as La Santa Muerte in recent years has found a robust and diverse following north of the border: immigrant small business owners, artists, gay activists and the poor, among others — many of them non-Latinos and not all involved with organized religion.

Clad in a black nun’s robe and holding a scythe in one hand, Santa Muerte appeals to people seeking all manner of otherworldly help: from fending off wrongdoing and carrying out vengeance to stopping lovers from cheating and landing better jobs. And others seek her protection for their drug shipments and to ward off law enforcement.

“Her growth in the United States has been extraordinary,” said Andrew Chesnut, author of “Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint” and the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Because you can ask her for anything, she has mass appeal and is now gaining a diverse group of followers throughout the country. She’s the ultimate multi-tasker.”

Exact numbers of her followers are impossible to determine, but they are clearly growing, Chesnut said.

The saint is especially popular among Mexican-American Catholics, rivaling that of St. Jude and La Virgen de Guadalupe as a favourite for miracle requests, even as the Catholic Church in Mexico denounces Santa Muerte as satanic, experts say.

Her image has been used on prayers cards citing vengeance and protection, which are sometimes found at scenes of massacred bodies and on shipments of drugs.

U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte in West Texas said he has testified about La Santa Muerte in at least five drug trafficking cases where her image aided prosecutors with convictions. Last year, Almonte testified that a Santa Muerte statue prayer card, found with a kilogram of methamphetamine in a couple’s car in New Mexico, were “tools of the trade” for drug traffickers to protect them from law enforcement. The testimony was used to help convict the couple of drug trafficking.

Almonte has visited shrines throughout Mexico, and given workshops to law enforcement agencies on the cult of the saint.

“Criminals pray to La Santa Muerte to protect them from law enforcement,” Almonte said. “But there are good people who pray to her who aren’t involved in any criminal activity, so we have to be careful.”

Small statues of La Santa Muerte have been spotted in religious stores as far as Minneapolis, and an art show in Tucson, Arizona features all La Santa Muerte images.

Devotees said La Santa Muerte has helped them find love, find better jobs and launch careers.

Gregory Beasley Jr., 35, believes he landed acting roles on “Breaking Bad” and the 2008 movie “Linewatch” after a traditional Mexican-American healer introduced him to La Santa Muerte.

“All my success … I owe to her,” he said. “She cleansed me and showed me the way.”

Some devotees pray to the saint by building altars and offering votive candles, fruits, tequila, cigarettes — even lines of cocaine in some cases — in exchange for wishes, Chesnut said. A red La Santa Muerte, her bestselling image, helps in matters of love. Gold ones aid with employment and white ones give protection. Meanwhile, a black Santa Muerte can provide vengeance.

“She’s my queen,” said Arely Vazquez Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant and transgender woman who oversees a large altar inside her Queens, New York apartment. Against one wall of her bedroom altar is a tall, sitting Santa Muerte statue in a black dress surrounded by offerings of tequila.

Gonzalez, who sports a tattoo of La Santa Muerte on her back, holds an annual event in August in the saint’s honour, with mariachis and a feast.

“All I have to do I ask for her guidance and she provides me with what I need,” she said.

The origins of La Santa Muerte are unclear. Some followers say she is an incarnation of an Aztec goddess of death who ruled the underworld. Some scholars say she originated in medieval Spain through the image of La Parca, a female Grim Reaper, who was used by friars for the later evangelization of indigenous populations in the Americas.

For decades, though, La Santa Muerte remained an underground figure in isolated regions of Mexico and served largely as an unofficial Catholic saint that women called upon to help with cheating spouses, Chesnut said.

It wasn’t until 2001 when a devotee unveiled a public La Santa Muerte shrine in Mexico City that followers in greater numbers began to display their devotion for helping them with relationships and loved ones in prison. Economic uncertainty and a violent drug war against cartels that has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives also are credited for La Santa Muerte’s growth.

Oscar Hagelsieb, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said agents have found that most members of the Gulf and Zeta Cartels mainly pray to Santa Muerte while those from the Sinaloa and Sonora Cartels honour folk saint Jesus Malverde.

“Altars are very intricate. We have found some with food and others with blood from animals,” Hagelsieb said.

The association with cartels and denunciations by some priests has resulted in some non-devotees destroying makeshift roadside altars. Recently, assailants smashed a life-size statue of La Santa Muerte in a South Texas cemetery. Police in Pasadena, California recently found human bones at a home with a Santa Muerte altar outside. The owners say they bought the bones online.

But the vast majority of devotees aren’t crooks.

Kiko Torres, owner of the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, said sales of La Santa Muerte statues, incense, and oils have skyrocketed in recent months.



“Most people who buy the stuff are regular people who just recently found out about her,” he said. “Some probably have no idea about her connection to that other world.”

One such devotee is Steven Bragg, 36, who said he was introduced to La Santa Muerte in 2009 and began praying to her for a variety of different reasons, including a plea for a life companion. Recently, the New Orleans man built a public chapel to her and holds rosary services that attract around a dozen people.

He also just formed a non-profit to support the “New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte,” the official name of his public altar.

“It’s something I decided to do after all that La Santa Muerte has provided,” Bragg said. “She has never failed me.”
Wednesday 6 March 2013

http://www.drugwar101.com/blog/archives/6139

Missing persons: DNA sample of unidentified victims sent to Islamabad

DNA samples from the body of an unidentified Abbas Town blast victim were dispatched to Islamabad on Tuesday so that it could be matched to that of the relatives.

There are 12 other bodies which have yet to be identified. When asked why samples from only one unidentified body were sent for testing, Dr Aslam Pechuho, the police surgeon, said, “It is a very complex test and can only be conducted when there are samples from people who might be related to the victim.”

Samples from the other victims will be sent as soon as their family members approach the Sindh police and make a claim.

He did not divulge how long it would take for the results of the test to arrive.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

http://tribune.com.pk/story/516324/missing-persons-dna-sample-of-unidentified-victims-sent-to-islamabad/

Two children still missing from Budhni bus crash

While the government has abandoned its mission to find bodies missing from the Budhni bus crash, locals of Budhu Samrbagh village continue to search for the remaining two children.

On Friday, February 22 a bus carrying around 48 passengers en route to a wedding plunged into Budhni canal. Soon afterward, the district government along with Rescue 1122 initiated a search operation to look for survivors and bodies.

However, after six days a total of 34 bodies were recovered and the operation was abandoned leaving two children still missing.

“Locals have aided authorities throughout the search operation,” said Additional Assistant Commissioner Habibullah Arif, who was supervising the rescue mission. When asked about the mission being abandoned before finding the two children, Arif maintained navy divers had searched the entire canal all the way to Shalam River but were unable to recover the minors.

However, Mastan Shah and Mustaqeem Khan, both villagers who had voluntarily participated in the mission, said there was still a possibility the children lay under the bridge’s debris. Shah and Khan have been leading other volunteers in the search operation from dawn till dusk since the incident took place.

Muhammad Asif, whose six-month-old daughter Rimsha is still missing, told The Express Tribune that volunteers were faced with extreme difficulties in recovering the children because the district government had removed the machinery that had been deployed for the rescue operation. Bodies of three of his children have already been recovered.

The district government and Rescue 1122 officials acknowledged they did not have the proper equipment to conduct the search and called in navy divers to assist in the operation.

Adnan Khan, a spokesperson for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said the PDMA had nothing to do with the search effort. “It is the domain of other government organisations,” he added.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

http://tribune.com.pk/story/516282/perseverance-two-children-still-missing-from-budhni-bus-crash/