UK Student Jailed for Importing Explosive to Kill his Father

A man in handcuffs. Reuters file photo
A man in handcuffs. Reuters file photo
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UK Student Jailed for Importing Explosive to Kill his Father

A man in handcuffs. Reuters file photo
A man in handcuffs. Reuters file photo

A 19-year old student has been given an eight-year custodial sentence for trying to buy explosives on a web in an attempt to kill his father.

Gurtej Singh Randhawa was arrested by the National Crime Agency's armed operations unit in May 2017 after taking delivery of a package he thought was containing explosives.

lOfficers from the NCA had replaced the package with a fake device before arresting.

The police told the court that Mr. Randhawa ordered the device after his mother discovered he was having a relationship with a girl she disapproved of. The jailed teenager had accepted an offer to study medicine at Liverpool University.

Randhawa who lived in Wolverhampton, was arrested after testing the device and pleaded guilty to attempting to import explosives.

Passing sentence, the judge told Randhawa: "You are plainly highly intelligent and capable of determined manipulation. You told sustained lies to your girlfriend and her family about your own parents, particularly your father. I have no doubt that this offence was motivated by your desire to live with your girlfriend and attend university together.”



Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iran's police force has dismissed the commander of a city in the northern province of Gilan after the death in custody of a detainee, state media said on Saturday.

Mohammad Mir Mousavi, 36, was arrested on July 22 after being involved in a fight in Lahijan, police said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

"The police commander... was dismissed due to insufficient oversight of the conduct and behaviour of staff," the police said, AFP reported.

"Due to the complexity of the matter, the final conclusion on the cause of Mohammad Mir Mousavi's death depends on the medical examiner's final report.

The police said the station commander and several officers involved in the incident had been suspended.

"The behaviour of some law enforcement officers was against the professional policy of the police and that is not acceptable in any way, so they were referred to the judicial authority," the statement added.

The Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization, Hengaw, on Wednesday said Mir Mousavi "was killed under torture in the detention center".

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into the case.

Dismissals of members of the security forces are rare in Iran.

In 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women, sparked months of deadly nationwide protests.