32 Tuesday May 24 2022 | the times
Wo r l d
Juan Carlos spent the weekend at
Sanxenxo, where he had hoped to
take part in a sailing competition,
though it was cancelled because of
the weather. He is the defending
world champion in the 6m class. He
was, however, able to sail his yacht,
Bribon, which means scoundrel.
He also watched his grandson
Pablo Urdangarin, 21, play handball
in nearby Pontevedra.
The royal family had hoped that
Juan Carlos would choose a more
seemly reason to visit, such as a medi-
cal appointment , according to El Pais.Rape accusations by two women
against a new minister have cast a
shadow over the first session of Presi-
dent Macron’s reshuffled cabinet.
His team claimed to have been un-
aware of the allegations against
Damien Abad, 42, a prize political
catch for the president when he was
poached last week from the conserv-
ative Republicans party, of which he
was parliamentary leader.
Abad attended the meeting in the
Élysée Palace as minister for social
welfare and the disabled after deny-
ing the claims that he had raped the
women in 2010 and 2012. As a dis-Macron cabinet rocked by rape claims
abled person with a congenital condi-
tion affecting his arms, he was inca-
pable of assault, he said. “These accu-
sations relate to acts... which are
quite simply impossible for me
because of my handicap,” he said.
He said he could only have sex
“with the assistance and help of my
partner”. A claim by one woman “that
I could drug, carry, undress and rape
an unconscious woman are simply
inconceivable and abject,” he added.
Police investigated one of the
claims and dropped the case for lack
of evidence in 2017. The second
woman told her story last month to
the Observatory of Sexist and Sexual
Violence in Politics. The group said it
notified the government and the Re-publicans party of the accusations
last week but its emails apparently
went unread.
Macron has stood by Gérald Dar-
manin, who has been interior minis-
ter since 2020 and who has been in-
vestigated and cleared three times
over a claim by a former escort girl
that he had raped her in 2009.
Feminists and left-wing politicians
called for Abad to go. Sandrine Rous-
seau, a Greens party figure, said: “We
need to send a strong signal to
women that their word counts.”
Former party colleagues have said
that Abad had long been known for
“heavy handed” behaviour with fe-
male staff and had been warned
about his conduct by party officials.France
Charles Bremner ParisKing Felipe of Spain has met his
father, Juan Carlos, for the first time
in nearly two years to repair a rela-
tionship strained to its limit by
scandal.
Juan Carlos, who moved to Abu
Dhabi in 2020 amid a corruption in-
quiry and revelations about his pri-
vate life, flew from Galicia to Madrid
yesterday morning for lunch with his
successor at the Zarzuela Palace.
Juan Carlos’s estranged wife Sofia,
who had flown back from an event in
Miami, and his younger sister Marga-
rita, were expected to join them.
It is the first time he has set foot in
Spain since August 2020, when he
went into exile as Spanish prosecu-
tors opened an investigation into
alleged money laundering and tax
evasion. The investigations were
shelved this year for lack of evidence,
paving the way for Juan Carlos’s
return, but Felipe and the govern-
ment are wary of a public backlash
and the risk of a constitutional crisis.Juan Carlos and son meet to
heal rift after two-year exile
Instead his return has been fol-
lowed by a media circus. Ministers
want the former king, 84, to explain
some of the irregular payments he
received, including a $100 million
deposit from the Saudi government
into his Swiss bank account. Juan
Carlos abdicated in 2014.
Isabel Rodríguez, a spokeswoman
for the government, said on radio
that the former king had “missed an
opportunity that Spaniards were
waiting for — to give explanations, to
ask for forgiveness”. She added:
“Today King Felipe VI is doing a
formidable job to recover that es-
sence that should take precedence in
a state institution, which is transpar-
ency and setting an example.”
Asked by a journalist from the La
SextaTV channel if he would provide
his son with any explanations, Juan
Carlos said: “Explanations for what?”
He is complying with one request
from his son by not staying overnight
at the palace. He is due to fly back to
Abu Dhabi today and may return to
Sanxenxo on June 10 to defend his
sailing title.Spain
Charlie Devereux MadridJuan Carlos has been asked to detail
irregular payments to his accountsIran’s leadership has vowed to avenge
the death a senior officer of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
who it says was shot dead by Israeli
assassins on Sunday.
President Ebrahim Raisi said that
Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodai was a
“great martyr” killed by the forces of
“global arrogance”, usually a refer-
ence to the US or Israel.
“I have agreed for our security
forces to seriously follow up on this
matter and I have no doubt that
revenge for the pure blood of our
martyr will be taken,” he said.
Israel’s government declined to
comment on the killing, but the
attack is similar to previous shootings
attributed to Mossad, the spy agency.
Yesterday Ramezan Sharif, the
Revolutionary Guard spokesman,
blamed the spies of the “global domi-
nation system and Zionism” for Kho-
dai’s death. “The thugs and terrorist
groups affiliated with global oppres-
sion and Zionism will face conse-
quences for their actions,” he said.
Khodai was shot five times by two
MARK KOSTER/SWNSIran vows revenge on Israel
for assassination of colonel
Iran
Anshel Pfeffer Jerusalem
men on motorbikes as he sat in his car
outside his house in central Tehran.
Yesterday it was claimed that he
had joined the corps in 1987 and rose
to command Unit 840, a covert oper-
ations group within the Quds Force.
Israeli intelligence believes he was
involved in planning attacks in Israel
and elsewhere and said he had previ-
ously worked with Qasem Soleimani,
the head of the Quds Force, who was
killed by an American drone strike in
Baghdad in January 2020.
Khodai is also said to have helped
set up Iranian bases in Syria, near
Israel’s northern border, and to have
channelled weapons to Hezbollah.
The brazen nature of his murder
echoes at least six assassinations of
Iranian nuclear scientists, all consid-
ered the work of Mossad.
Ram Ben-Barak, a former deputy
Mossad chief who now heads the
Israeli parliament’s foreign affairs
and defence committee, told Kan, a
radio station: “Yes, we know [his
name]. I don’t want to get into the
details of what happened or who did
what. An assassination happened.
Should I say I’m sorry he’s no longer
with us? I’m not sorry.”Wise guy This burrowing
owl, a species that
sprints after prey on the
ground, found the ideal
spot to seek a meal at
Scottsdale Community
College in Arizona