The Washigtnon Post - 03.04.2020

friday, april 3 , 2020. the washington post ez re A

The World

eUROPeAN UNiON

Court: 3 bloc members

broke law over refugees

The European Union’s t op court
ruled Thursday that the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Poland
broke E.U. l aw b y refusing to
comply with a refugee quota
program launched after well over
a million migrants entered the
bloc, most fleeing war in Syria and
Iraq.
In a n emergency move in 2015,
E.U. n ations agreed to relocate up
to 160,000 refugees from Italy and
Greece as those two countries
buckled under the number of
migrant arrivals. Five years on,
Greece is still struggling to
manage the burden, with
thousands of people held in
deplorable conditions on the
Greek islands.
That “ temporary relocation
mechanism” decision was made in
a vote requiring about a two-
thirds majority among the E.U.
countries. The Czech Republic,
Hungary and Poland were among
a small group of nations that voted

against the move.

In t he end, only about 40,

refugees were relocated. The

Czech Republic, Hungary and

Poland took in almost none over

the two years that the scheme was

in operation.

In i ts ruling, the European

Court of Justice said that “by

refusing to comply with the

temporary mechanism for the

relocation of applicants for

international protection, Poland,

Hungary and the Czech Republic

have failed to fulfill their

obligations under European

Union law.”

The three had argued that E.U.

countries alone are responsible f or

ensuring public safety a nd not the

European Commission, the E.U

executive arm, which drew up the

quota scheme and took the

countries to court.

But the top E .U. court s aid the

three nations “can rely neither on

their responsibilities concerning

the maintenance of law and order

and the safeguarding of internal

security, n or on the alleged

malfunctioning of the relocation

mechanism to avoid

implementing t hat mechanism.”

The failure of nations to take

part in a burden-sharing measure

meant to help E.U. p artners in

distress was at t he heart of one of

the bloc’s b iggest p olitical crises.

The issue of immigration then

became a major vote-winner for

far-right parties.

— Associated Press

eNViRONMeNt

Study links climate ills,

conflict in large nations

C ountries with large

populations and low levels of

development are most likely to see

a rise in the risk of armed conflict

after extreme weather events,

according to a new study that

researchers said underscored the

need to boost these nations’

resilience.

Almost one in three conflicts in

large countries with ethnic

tensions and low levels of

development over the past 25

years broke out within seven days

of such a disaster, said scientists

from Germany, S weden and

Australia.

Even small-scale disasters can

increase the risk of conflict in

vulnerable places, according to

the research paper, published this

week in the journal Global

Environmental Change.

The researchers cited Mali,

where the militant group

a l-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

exploited a weak state and

people’s d esperation after a severe

drought in 2009 to recruit fighters

to expand its area of operation.

Co-author Jonathan Donges

said it was the first time scientists

had conducted such a broad study

of conflicts preceded by climate

disaster, combining statistical

analysis, observation data and

regional case study assessments.

Donges, a researcher with the

Potsdam Institute for Climate

Impact Research in Germany, s aid

the research showed the link was

much stronger in countries with

large populations, ethnic

exclusion and low levels of

development.

Researchers have long warned

that climate change is likely to

increase the frequency and

intensity of disasters, with some

fearing a vicious cycle — disasters

fueling conflicts that, in turn,

make populations more

vulnerable to disasters.

A 2019 study led by Stanford

University said a 4-degree Celsius

(7.2-degree Fahrenheit) increase

in global temperatures — a

possible scenario as greenhouse

gas emissions continue to rise —

could dramatically increase the

risk of armed conflict.

— Reuters

sOUtH AFRiCA

Police raid Cape Town

church, expel migrants

South African police wearing

riot gear forced their way into a

church in central Cape To wn on

Thursday to remove h undreds o f

migrants who had been

sheltering t here for m onths.

The operation at C entral

Methodist Church was a imed at

ending a long standoff between

the g roup of foreign nationals and

city authorities. The migrants

refused t o leave t he church and

had p reviously demanded that

the S outh African government

relocate them t o other countries,

including t he United S tates a nd

Canada, b ecause t hey had b een

victims o f xenophobic threats in

South Africa last year.

Local media reported t hat

officers broke down the f ront and

rear doors of the c hurch in the

historic Greenmarket S quare t o

remove t he m igrants. The

migrants were l ed o nto buses and

driven away, r eportedly t o a

temporary camp outside t he city.

South Africa is in the m idst of a

21-day lockdown b ecause of t he

coronavirus pandemic, and

people are allowed t o leave their

homes only t o buy food, medical

supplies a nd o ther essential

items, or to perform essential

work.

The migrants will h ave to

remain a t the t emporary camp for

at l east t he remaining two weeks

of the lockdown. S outh African

authorities h ave said t hey will

verify the identities of the

migrants and properly process

those seeking a sylum.

— A ssociated Press

Digest

In Hungary, Orban scrambles as emergency rule sparks backlash

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Hungarian Prime Minister Vik-
tor Orban is backpedaling to stem
the sell-off of his virus-battered
currency and respond to a rare
rebuke from the European Union’s
most powerful members.
Orban is facing a backlash
against what is perceived as a pow-
er grab made under the cover of the
novel coronavirus crisis. Half of the
E.U. governments have urged Or-
ban to respect the rule of law, w hile
the E.U.’s largest political group
revived calls to expel his party.
In l ess than 24 h ours, Hungary’s
central bank swung from mone-
tary easing to tightening to arrest
the forint’s free fall. The govern-
ment rescinded a plan to strip pow-
er from mayors during the pan-
demic. And the cabinet postponed
a weekly briefing Thursday with-
out explanation.
The moves come as some inves-
tors believe that Orban is laying the
groundwork for a dictatorial re-
gime.
Vera Jourova, vice president of
the European Commission, the ex-
ecutive branch of the E.U., said it
will analyze the new Hungarian
measures as well as other member
states’ emergency laws.
Orban won parliamentary ap-
proval Monday to rule by decree
for as long as he sees fit. His gov-
ernment has since filed a raft of
legislation that, aside from target-
ing mayors, moved to expand con-
trol over theaters, unblock a large
construction project he backs and
classify contracts tied to a $2 bil-
lion, Chinese-funded rail invest-
ment for a decade.
That appeared to vindicate
those who have long warned that
fecklessness from E.U. leaders
would embolden Orban and give
other nationalist governments,
such as Poland’s, a model in rebel-
ling against the bloc’s v alues.
Hungary is already in the midst
of an Article 7 probe, which techni-
cally can lead to the suspension of
E.U. voting rights for the country
but can be vetoed by any bloc mem-
ber. Cutting the billions of euros
that Budapest receives under the
E.U.’s b udget a lso requires a unani-
mous vote.

Financial, political

fallout after leader’s

perceived power grab

Orban has said he won’t threat-

en democracy and that he would

hand his indefinite lock on deci-

sion-making back to lawmakers

when the pandemic passes.

Donald Tusk, president of the

European People’s Party, Europe’s

biggest umbrella political group,

called for it to reassess whether to

expel Orban’s Fidesz party, calling

his indefinite decree-rule “politi-

cally dangerous and morally unac-

ceptable.” The EPP, which includes

German Chancellor Angela

Merkel’s Christian Democratic

Union, suspended Fidesz last year.

On Thursday, 13 EPP member

parties called for the expulsion of

Fidesz in an open letter.

akos stiller/bloomberg news

michal cizek/agence France-Presse/getty images

ABOVE: A pedestrian on the stairs of the deserted Citadella in

Budapest this week. LEFT: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor

Orban, shown last month, won parliamentary approval Monday to

rule by decree for as long as he sees fit.

BY SHAIQ HUSSAIN

AND SUSANNAH GEORGE

ISLAMABAD, PAkIStAn — A re-
gional Pakistani court on Thurs-
day overturned the murder con-
viction and death sentence of
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the
man convicted in the 2002 killing
of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl.
The court also overturned the
convictions of three other men
connected to Pearl’s death.
Prosecutor Faiz Shah said he
would appeal the decision in
Pakistan’s Supreme Court. All
four men will remain in custody
for at least 90 days on the

grounds of “public safety,” ac-

cording to a ruling issued by the

Home Department of Sindh prov-

ince.

Pearl, a Wall Street Journal

reporter, was kidnapped in Janu-

ary 2002 in Pakistan, where he

was researching the connection

between a radical Islamic preach-

er and Richard Reid, who at-

tempted to blow up an airliner

with explosives in his shoes.

Saeed, a British-born Pakistani

who was implicated in other kid-

nappings, had been sentenced to

death for Pearl’s murder and kid-

napping. The High Court of

Sindh on Thursday overturned

the murder conviction and down-

graded the kidnapping charge,

which carries a seven-year sen-

tence.

Because Saeed has served

18 years, he is eligible for release,

as are the other three men whose

convictions were overturned: Fa-

had Naseem, a computer expert;

Salman Saqib, a religious activist;

and Sheikh Adil, a police officer.

The defendants’ lawyer, Kha-

waja Naveed, said the evidence

against Saeed “was very weak”

and could prove only kidnapping,

not murder.

In a statement Thursday, the

Wall Street Journal said: “We

continue to seek justice for the

murder of Daniel Pearl. Danny

was a cherished colleague and we

will always honor his memory

and service.”

Pearl was told he was meeting

with a radical cleric when instead

he was kidnapped, held for days

and beheaded. When Saeed was

convicted months later, he was

sentenced for planning Pearl’s

kidnapping and murder.

But a 2011 investigation by the

Center for Public Integrity’s Pearl

Project found that Khalid Sheikh

Mohammed, the self-proclaimed

mastermind of the 9/11 attacks,

killed Pearl. Mohammed was cap-

tured in Pakistan in 2003 and is

being held at the U.S. military

prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

He is not charged in the journal-

ist’s killing.

Pakistan was under immense

pressure in 2002 to find the

people responsible for Pearl’s k ill-

ing. At the time of Saeed’s convic-

tion, defense attorneys raised

questions about the weight of

evidence against him.

The murder has been seen as

marking the beginning of a trend

of militant groups targeting jour-

nalists in conflict zones. In 2014,

the Islamic State filmed the be-

headings of several its hostages,

including journalist James Foley.

[email protected]

george reported from london. Paul

schemm in Dubai contributed to this

report.

Pakistani court overturns convictions in killing of journalist Daniel Pearl

aamir Qureshi/agence France-Presse/getty images

Pakistani police escort Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in 2002 as he

exits a court in Karachi. Saeed was given a death sentence in the

killing that year of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, but a

regional court has now overturned that and other convictions.

Decision t o be appealed,

and the four men will

remain in custody