US offers new $5 million reward for Mumbai attackers

In this file photo, Indian firefighters attempt to put out a fire as smoke billows from the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai on Nov. 27, 2008. (AFP)
Updated 26 November 2018
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US offers new $5 million reward for Mumbai attackers

  • The announcement came on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the assault, which left 166 people dead and hundreds injured
  • The US State Department had earlier announced bounties of $10 million and $2 million for two others

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday urged Pakistan to take action against those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks as Washington offered a new reward of $5 million for helping secure their capture.

The announcement came on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the assault, which left 166 people dead and hundreds injured after Islamist militants from Pakistan unleashed a wave of violence across India's financial capital lasting three days.

"It is an affront to the families of the victims that, after ten years, those who planned the Mumbai attack have still not been convicted for their involvement," Pompeo said in a statement.

"We call upon all countries, particularly Pakistan, to uphold their UN Security Council obligations to implement sanctions against the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and its affiliates."

"We stand with the families and friends of the victims, whose loved ones were lost in this act of barbarism, including six American citizens," he added.

The Department of State's Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program meanwhile said it was offering up to $5 million "for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual who committed, conspired to commit, or aided or abetted" the execution of the attack.

It is the third such reward offered by the US after the State Department announced bounties of $10 million for Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and $2 million for Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, another senior leader of the group.

Saeed, who is also designated a terrorist by the United Nations, has denied involvement in terrorism and the Mumbai attacks.

A party linked to the charitable wing of the LeT contested Pakistan's national elections in July, failing to win any seats but winning more than 435,000 national and regional votes.

 


Mediterranean search-and-rescue NGOs refuse to cooperate with Libyan coast guard

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Mediterranean search-and-rescue NGOs refuse to cooperate with Libyan coast guard

  • Group of 13 organizations announce they will no longer share information over allegations of violent conduct
  • Migrants and asylum-seekers allegedly attacked, taken to camps notorious for slavery, torture and rape in North African country

LONDON: A group of NGOs operating rescue missions in the Mediterranean have ceased cooperating with the Libyan coast guard over the latter’s alleged violent treatment of asylum-seekers.

Thirteen groups running boats across the sea say it is a rejection of pressure from the EU to share information with Libya in a bid to stem the flow of migrants, particularly to Italy.

The EU funds and trains Libya’s coast guard, but the groups say that it has been involved in violently preventing people crossing to Europe, and has taken migrants to camps where rape, torture and slavery are common.

A 2021 UN report found asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya faced a “litany of abuses” in camps across the country that were “suggestive of crimes against humanity.”

Another report published last month by Berlin-based NGO Sea-Watch said that the Libyan coast guard had engaged in 54 acts of violence in the Mediterranean since 2016.

It highlighted ramming, shootings and assaults, while in August the Libyan coast guard was accused of opening fire on a ship belonging to the NGO SOS Mediterranee.

Ina Friebe, a member of the German activist group CompassCollective, said in a joint statement on behalf of the 13 NGOs: “We have never recognized these actors (Libya’s coast guard) as a legitimate rescue authority — they are part of a violent regime enabled by the EU.”

She added: “Now we are increasingly being pressured to communicate with exactly these actors. This must stop. Ending all operational communication with the so-called Libyan Rescue Coordination Center is both a legal and moral necessity — a clear line against European complicity in crimes against humanity.”

The group of 13 NGOs added that they know their stance could result in fines, detention and loss of their vessels.

“It is not only our right but our duty to treat armed militias as such in our operational communication — not as legitimate actors in search-and-rescue operations,” said Giulia Messmer of Sea-Watch.

Rescue organizations operating in the Mediterranean have saved more than 155,000 people over the past decade, but that has led to backlashes, including in Italy where the law was changed to prevent them operating freely out of ports.

The 13 NGOs said this week that they had launched the Justice Fleet initiative to track incidents involving the Libyan coast guard, as well as compile information on legal action taken by the groups.

“For 10 years, civil sea rescue has been providing first aid in the Mediterranean. For that, we have been blocked, criminalized, slandered,” the Justice Fleet website said.

“That’s why we are joining forces now, stronger than ever — to defend human rights and international maritime law together.”