Netanyahu Questioned Over Three Corruption Cases

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters
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Netanyahu Questioned Over Three Corruption Cases

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interrogated by the Israeli police in corruption-related matters -- investigations majorly focused on cases known as 1000 and 2000.

The police waited for the return of Netanyahu from London in order to investigate him.

In case 1000, police suspect that Netanyahu and his wife received bribes including a cigar and champagne worth ten thousand dollars from businessmen to facilitate their commercial activities.

As for case 2000, it is related to a barter between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth on ceasing the work of a competitor newspaper, and Yedioth Ahronoth would in return provide a better coverage.

The case of submarines holds the name of “case 3000” – a corruption deal to purchase navy vehicles from Germany and it is expected to lead to a list of hight-rank suspects.

The police will refer investigation results to the Israeli government Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit who recommended investigating Netanyahu for the fifth time. They announced in a document presented to the court last August that Netanyahu is a suspect of receiving bribes and betraying trust.

However, Netanyahu's office denied this and accused opposing parties of attempts to put him out for political motives.

In a step that seems a retaliation, Israeli legislators close to Netanyahu caused chaos as they announced their will to demand a salary raise for Netanyahu and a salary drop for head of Israeli police Roni Alsheikh who insists on interrogating Netanyahu.

Analysts and politicians interpreted the step as another initiative to raise a debate with Alsheikh, in light of the probe with Netanyahu. Likud deputies criticized the initiative, describing it as unacceptable.



Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."