Saudi embassy man quizzed over UK child sex attack

[emad]

BBC News snip

A Saudi man who was questioned in Britain about a sexual assault on an 11-year-old girl has been released after claiming diplomatic immunity. Scotland Yard said police took "no further action", but it had reported the matter to the Foreign Office (FO).

The man, 41, was arrested on suspicion of indecently assaulting the girl in west London on 26 July.

An FO spokesman said it was usual in such cases for there to be a request to waive diplomatic immunity.

He added: "I can confirm we are aware of this case. We are in contact with the Saudi Embassy."

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3527084.stm

[emad]

1. aDDENDUM FROM tHE tIMES:

Envoy claims immunity after accusation by girl
By Thair Shaikh

snip

A SAUDI Arabian diplomat accused of molesting an 11-year-old girl has escaped prosecution by claiming diplomatic immunity, it emerged last night.

The envoy, 41, was arrested by Metropolitan Police after being accused of assaulting the child at a party held at the home of another diplomat.

The girl is said to have been taken into a bedroom of the house in Holland Park, West London, last Sunday, where she was allegedly molested. The diplomat who has not been named, was arrested and questioned last Monday.

Police stopped questioning him when he claimed diplomatic immunity under the 1961 Vienna Convention which states that diplomats do not fall under the criminal jurisdiction of the country in which they are serving. The Met said last night: “The man has diplomatic immunity. Consequently he was released.”

From:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-1199637,00.html



WON'T BE THE FIRST TIME a Saudi embassy employee in London has tried this on. While Ghazi al-Ghosaibi was Ambassador in London a number of similar incidents were swept under the carpet. Al-Ghosaibi eventually made to leave and was relegated to Minister for Water and Sewerage in Riyadh.

The current incumbent Prince Turki is no better than his predecessor. Hope they have a nice al-Qaeda-style pension lined up for him back home...

[seemslikeadream]

2. Diplomatic Immunity under Fire as Sex Attack Suspect Freed

2:15pm (UK)
By Anna Farley, PA News

Two child protection charities today branded the diplomatic immunity system “ludicrous” after a Saudi man was released despite allegedly carrying out a sex attack on an 11-year-old girl.

The 41-year-old allegedly indecently assaulted the youngster last week in west London. He was arrested and taken to a local police station but claimed diplomatic immunity.


Megan Bruns, project manager for Kidscape, said: “I cannot comment on individual cases but diplomatic immunity is ludicrous. It would be a miscarriage of justice to give someone special privileges. Crimes are committed by people of all statuses.

“Justice should be carried out in all cases. Diplomats, citizens and asylum seekers should be treated the same. The law is the law.”

Donald Findlater, deputy director of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said: “It seems appalling that someone who may have committed a crime against a child will not have to face the appropriate consequences.”

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3285757

I wonder how Don feels about "Iraq's Child Prisoners"

[Minstrel Boy]

3. From Australia: References that landed pedophile diplomat a job

References that landed pedophile diplomat a job

March 23, 2004

Alleged pedophile and ex-diplomat Robert Scoble, arrested last week in Bangkok on child sex charges, was given a positive job reference by the former ambassador to Vietnam, Richard Broinowski. This was despite an internal investigation of claims that Mr Scoble had sent and received child pornography.

...

Mr Broinowski said the photos "were not pedophilia but "funny stuff, not involving young people".

Mr Broinowski, now retired from the diplomatic service, is only one of the referees Mr Scoble used to exit the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1985 and secure a job with Telstra in Vietnam.

The other referees remain a mystery, but several high-profile names have been mentioned. In Parliament in 1996, the name of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, was raised. Mr Downer joined DFAT in 1976 in the same intake as Mr Scoble.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/22/1079939584486.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true

[seemslikeadream]

7. Reminds me of the

http://www.dw-world.de/dwelle/allgemein/bilder_show/0,3772,93867_6,00.jpg
"Vatican's "Sexorcist" Gags Scandal Bishop" story

Seminary bishop Kurt Krenn has incensed critics with his dismissal of some of the material as "childish pranks at a Christmas celebration" and his steadfast refusal to resign.


Prosecutors have been investigating alleged child abuse at the seminary for several months, but the issue came to a head when Profil published the photographs, and alleged that police had found up to 40,000 pornographic photographs,
http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_1282357_1_A,00.html?mpb=en


Pope 'to run' church sex probe
From Daniel Aronssohn in Vienna
July 19, 2004
including scenes of sex with children and animals.


more
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,1017930 ...


Sex scandal draws intense interest in Austria
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=694019

[emad]

4. "21 UK SERIOUS CRIMINAL OFFENCES IN 12 MONTHS UNPUNISHED"

Immunity for 'sex assault' envoy
By Justin Davenport, Evening Standard Crime Correspondent
2 August 2004
says London Evening Standard:


snip:

A police source said: "It is very frustrating. It was a very serious allegation but there is nothing we can do."

It is believed the man claimed immunity under the 1961 Vienna Convention which states that diplomats do not fall under the criminal jurisdiction of the country in which they are serving. It is not yet known if the suspect will leave Britain.

The case is the latest in a series of alleged crimes which have seen envoys and foreign royalty escape prosecution. According to figures from 2002, 21 serious criminal offences went unpunished in 12 months.

There was no one available for comment at the Saudi embassy in Mayfair.

More:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/12298795?source=Evening%20Standard

[tlcandie]

5. What purpose does diplomatic immunity serve anyway?

Regular citizens when visiting or staying in other countries are held to THAT countries laws and standards. WHY on earth do diplomats and such get special treatment with such an arcaic law?

Shouldn't this be changed? It allows criminals to go to other countries under the auspices of diplomatic immunity and do whatever the hell they want?!

It makes about as much sense as this administrations reasons why torture does NOT apply to them!

[emad]

6. Useful gagging tool and cheaper than lawyers...

?????????

[DulceDecorum]

8. Does that apply to US soldiers?

US soldiers are NOTORIOUS the world over for assaulting -sexually and otherwise- the civilians of whatever nation they happen to visting.

The USMC even has a special fund set aside to pay the relatives for any woman killed during sex by a Marine. It is just routine for them.

US soldiers are protected from prosecution under that nation's laws.
Just like US diplomats and other US citizens.
Remember Singapore and the American teenager, Michael Peter Fay, who vandalized some cars and got his butt beat?
That was a VERY rare case case in which the US miscreant was punished and even then the US president intervened.

[emad]

12. Re US soldiers/sex attacks on children:

I'm trying to find a microfiche entry from the UK's Catholic Herald and Observer/Times circa 1967-69 re a paedophile attack by US airmen stationed at USAForce Daws Hill, High Wycombe (now RAF Strike Command, High Wycombe)in association with UK felons/parolees. I know it's not archived on the internet because I've checked.

Basics of the story as I remember them was that a group of UK sex offenders whose fathers were US GIs married to English women in the 1940s were caught in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in a vicious sex attack on 8 and 9 year old girls who they lured to a summer party held by members of the Hell Fire Club, in nearby West Wycombe.

Two of the victims subsequently testified which resulted in the jailing of one EDWARD CREASEY, son of a GI/English woman who claimed to have been subjected to sexual and physical abuse when growing up in the States by his father, and who fled back to UK to live with maternal family.

Also from memory the defence team tried its hardest to stop the trial ever happening because Creasey Junior claimed his father was involved in sex romps with minors in a US abuse club whose members included George Bush Junior, movie actor David Niven and Ronald Reagan.

Also from memory, remember that some very senior top brass from the US Defense Department were involved in providing testimony for the defence team, which lost because Creasey's DNA profile also matched evidence samples of unsolved rapes of minors in the US.

The USAF base was eventually closed down as was the one in nearby Naphill, Bucks.

Creasey was released after serving only part of a 14 year sentence. He then vanished into thin air until about 1984 when he resurfaced as a re-invented UK Ministry of Defence specialist in Middle East Affairs and was one of the lynchpins in the Al-Yamamah oil for arms £20 billion UK/Saudi deal. His brief was to provide smooth passage for UK Minister for Defence Procurement Jonathan Aitken, who eventually resigned after challenging the UK's Guardian newspaper about libelling him...and ended up with an 18 month jail sentence for perjury.

The interesting bit about this is that Aitken was also busted in a London paedophile brothel entertaining a Saudi military attache. When arrested he claimed Creasey had provided the introduction to the club......

More when I can find it...

[bobthedrummer]

9. 10% of US schoolkids get used sexually at school too-this is cross-

cultural crime.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1263844,00.html

[tlcandie]

10. I'm upset that kids are abused/misused.. exploited PERIOD!

I don't care who does it, but those with diplomatic immunity aren't even able to be prosecuted!!!! At least with regular, everyday people there is a chance to get them prosecuted.

[Gyre]

11. If the government won't protect it 's citizens, a bullet in the brain

would've be a good move for the parents of the child. Before that sack of shit can slither back to Bin Laden's home town or Crawford.

Gyre

[Minstrel Boy]

13. "Michael Jackson and Saudi Prince create magic Kingdom"

Michael Jackson and Saudi Prince create magic Kingdom
March 20, 1996
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS -- The king of pop and a prince of Saudi Arabia are setting up their own realm.

Michael Jackson and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said Tuesday they're forming a venture called Kingdom Entertainment to develop a variety of entertainment activities.

Financial details weren't released.

The name comes from a worldwide string of Kingdom entities through which Prince Alwaleed has invested in banks, theme parks and other ventures.
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicMichaelJackson/mike3.html

Jacko hopes Saudi still has his backo
November 25, 2003
New York Daily News

Is Michael Jackson turning to an old billionaire buddy to help him fend off child abuse charges?

Seven years ago, The King of Pop and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal announced they were setting up a joint venture called Kingdom Entertainment that would build "family values" theme parks around the world. Their plans never came to pass. But insiders say Jackson hopes that the prince still believes the Gloved One embodies "family values." That's why Jackson's asked the royal to help underwrite his legal defense, sources tell us.

Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, is worth an estimated $20 billion. The prince couldn't be reached for comment yesterday. And Jacko's rep didn't return a call.

Jackson has denied he is feeling the pinch. But he is reported to have taken out $200 million in loans, using his half-ownership of the Elvis and Beatles song catalogues as collateral.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/139956p-124219c.html

KING FAHD'S NEPHEW CAUGHT IN A PARIS PROSTITUTION RING
London Times reports: "Jean-Pierre Bourgeois, 51-year-old photographer who is suspected of recruiting young women to the prostitution network, was charged with 'aggravated pimping'. ... The investigators allegedly found a list of 89 young women, including 14 minors ... M Bourgeois is suspected of luring young women into the call-girl-network, allegedly by claiming that he was taking publicity photographs for a cosmetics company and with the promise of minor film roles. A dozen of the women, many of whom were penniless aspiring models or actresses from Northern and Eastern Europe ... M Bourgeois had the women pose for obscene photographs. The resulting 'album' was allegedly shown to wealthy clients, and meetings were then arranged in Paris or on the Cote d'Azure. ... some of the women were recruited by being persuaded that prostitution was the quickest route to a glamorous job in films or modeling, but others were allegedly blackmailed with the threat that the photographs taken by M Bourgeois would be sent to their families if they did not co-operate. ... (It) may well have operated with the covert blessing of the French secret services. ... Also on trial is Hazih al Ladki, a Lebanese businessman who worked as a secretary to the nephew of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and is suspected of acting as a go-between in negotiations. ... The alleged involvement of Gulf princes has made the case politically sensitive because the Gulf oil states are important purchasers of French military hardware." We have seen this pattern of behavior by Saudi princes in our prior issues. If their pattern follows the Saud family princes involved wanted the youngest girls, the minors. Some of the prior girls could have been abducted as sex slaves in the princely palaces. We do not know if US Government secret services are involved in the US child abductions by Saudis. There have been rumors. We have mentioned in prior issues that it is believed part of the vital interest status package confidentially negotiated between Ambassador Prince Bandar by President Bush.
http://www.sauduction.com/16issue.html

HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Current Holdings
Azizia Commercial Investment Company, 20%
Amazon.com, less than 1%
AOL Time/Warner, approximately 1%
Arab Palestinian Investment Company Ltd. (APIC), 4%
Arab Radio and Television (ART), 5%
Apple Computers Inc., 5%
Ballast Nedam Group, 3%
Cal Merchant Bank, Ghana, 14%
Canary Wharf, London, approximately 2%
Citigroup, 4%
Disneyland Resort and Theme Park, Paris, 17.3%
eBay.com, less than 1%
EcoBank, 10%
The Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, 4.9%
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, 22%
Four Seasons, London, 100%
Ford Motor Company, less than 1%
George V Hotel, Paris, 100%
Hewlett-Packard (HP), approximately 1%
Jerusalem Dev. & Investment Co. (JEDICO), 5%
Kingdom Agriculture & Development Co. (KADCO), 50%
The Kingdom Centre, 32.5%
Kingdom City, 38.9%
Kingdom Holding Company, 100%
Kingdom Hospital, 65%
Kingdom Hotel Investment Group, 46.9%
Kingdom Schools, 47%
Kodak Corporation, 1%
Lebanese Broadcasting Center (LBC), 49%
Motorola, approximately 1%
Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts, 33.3%
National Industrialization Company, 15%
News Corporation, 3.75%
Nigeria United Bank, 13.7%
Nile Plaza Complex, Cairo, Egypt, 50%
Palestine Development & Investment Company (PADICO), 5%
Pepsi Co., less than 1%
Plaza Hotel, 50%
priceline.com, 5.4%
Procter & Gamble, less than 1%
Rotana Video & Audio Visual Co., 100%
Saks Fifth Avenue, more than 2.3%
Saudi American Bank, 5%
Savola Group Company, 17.9%
Senegalese Telecom. Co. (SONATEL), 10%
The Walt Disney Company, less than 1%
http://www.libanmall.com/hrhcurrentholdings.htm

[phasev]

14. no wonder! n/t

[newyawker99]

15. Hi phasev!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: