Moroccans flock to short films

A variety of Emirati short films have been screened in Morocco as part of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage participation at 32nd Assilah Festival.

The films are part of the large Emirati artistic presence at the festival which the UAE is the Guest of Honour The screenings were held at the Adellah Guennon Square in Assilah’s medina with the films being projected onto one of the old medina walls. A total of nine short films were shown, dealing with subjects such as loss, hope and modernity.

Algeria denies detaining Guantanamo returnee

An Algerian man sent home from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay has not been detained on his return, an Algerian official said Thursday, rejecting rights groups allegations he was being mistreated.

Abdul Aziz Naji was transferred from the military prison in Cuba to Algeria against his will, having said he feared persecution. A U.S. based rights group said Wednesday he had gone missing and could be in secret detention.

Maltese men found in Tunisia jail

Two Maltese men, initially reported missing in Tunisia by their families, were discovered in a Sousse jail after they were caught attempting to smuggle 70 kilograms of cannabis into Malta.

Thomas Camilleri and Glenn Paul Xuereb, both 22, were arrested on July 14 after the two Libyan men they were in cahoots with were apprehended and chose to cooperate with police, Tunisian sources told The Sunday Times.

Camilleri and Xuereb, who were last Wednesday charged in a Tunisian court with attempting to traffic the drug, could face lengthy prison sentences. The men denied the charges in court.

Palestinian tycoons with Libya links behind Tory donations

The business figures, who were well-known in the Middle East, built the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and reportedly had close links with the Palestine Liberation Organisation. They previously hired senior Labour figures as “consultants” but began donating money to the Conservatives shortly before the election.

The money was donated by a small British firm owned by one of their Middle Eastern holding companies.

Chad doesn’t arrest Sudan president

Chad’s ambassador to the US says that his country will ignore calls by the International Criminal Court to arrest Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir. The ICC has charged him with genocide and crimes against humanity in his role as commander-in-chief during the guerrilla war in Darfur, which began in 2003.

Sudan’s head of state is in N’jamena this week attending a regional conference of Sahelian nations.

BM

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