14/06/2025

SATURDAY | JUNE 14, 2025 9 Duterte seeks interim release from ICC MANILA: Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s defence team at the International Criminal Court has filed a motion for his interim release to an unnamed country, stating the prosecution would not object. The 80-year-old stands accused of crimes against humanity over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers. In a filing posted to the court’s website on Thursday, defence lawyers said the involved country, the name of which was redacted, had expressed its “principled agreement to receive Mr Duterte onto its territory”. ICC prosecutors have agreed not to oppose the request, according to the filing, which said discussions about an interim release had been under way since Duterte’s first court appearance at The Hague on March 14. “The prosecution has confirmed its non-opposition to interim release to (redacted) State Party” as long as certain conditions were met, the filing reads. An annex spelling out the conditions for Duterte’s release was not publicly available, but the defence team’s filing noted that the octogenarian posed no flight risk and cited humanitarian concerns around his age. Lawyers representing relatives of those killed in Duterte’s drug war condemned the application for release, citing threats made against victims’ families, and saying they had legal avenues to oppose it. “There is still a procedure within the ICC that requires the prosecution to comment and the ICC Pre Trial Chamber to decide on the application for provisional release,” lawyer Neri Colmenares said in a statement. In an interview with local radio, lawyer Kristina Conti said she believed it was “50-50” the former president would be released. – AFP BANGKOK: Thailand’s Supreme Court will hold hearings next month over the legitimacy of the prolonged hospital stay of influential former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in lieu of prison, and it could potentially send him back to jail. Yesterday’s hearing came a day after Thailand’s medical council upheld its decision to punish three doctors who allowed the 75-year-old tycoon to avoid jail, with the court requesting the medical council’s resolution to be submitted to its hearing. Although Thaksin does not hold a formal role in government, he remains highly influential and is seen as the power behind the ruling Pheu Thai party, which is led by his daughter, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. The mounting challenges against the ex-premier, who is also on bail for a separate case of insulting the monarchy, have put more uncertainty around a government already besieged by a faltering economy and a border crisis with Cambodia. – Reuters CAMBODIAN TROOPS ON ‘FULL ALERT’ PHNOM PENH: Cambodia ordered its troops to stay on “full alert” yesterday in its border spat with Thailand, as it ordered television stations and cinemas to stop showing Thai dramas. On the eve of a meeting between the two sides aimed at defusing tensions following deadly clashes last month, Cambodia shut off internet connections routed through Thailand, leaving some users complaining of slow speeds. Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Facebook post that Cambodia was disconnecting all internet bandwidth from Thailand. The ministries of information and cultures also ordered television stations and cinemas to stop airing Thai TV series. Influential former leader Hun Sen, Hun Manet’s father, yesterday urged the government to halt “imports of Thai goods into the Cambodian market” in the event that Thailand refused to lift restrictions imposed on border checkpoints in recent days, and told troops to be on alert. – AFP THAI COURT COULD RE-SENTENCE THAKSIN

Modi visits crash site

o Rescuers scour buildings

AHMEDABAD: Rescue workers searched for missing people and aircraft parts in the charred buildings of a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad yesterday after an Air India plane crash killed more than 240 people in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for Gatwick Airport south of London took off over a residential area and then disappeared from view before a huge fireball was seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses, CCTV footage showed. Only one passenger survived after it crashed onto the hostel during lunch hour, causing deaths on the ground as well, which local media has put as high as 24. Rescue workers had completed combing the crash site and were now searching for missing people and bodies in the buildings as well as for aircraft parts that could help explain why the plane crashed soon after taking off. Hindustan Times reported that one of two black boxes from the plane had been found. The paper did not say whether the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder had been recovered. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by officials on the progress of rescue operations when he visited the crash site in his home state of Gujarat yesterday. Modi also met some of the injured in hospital. “The scene of devastation is saddening,” he said on X. Residents living in the vicinity said

Women mourn as the bodies of relatives killed in the crash are taken out of a mortuary. – AFPPIC

said on Thursday the death toll was more than 240, revising down a previous toll of 294 as it included body parts that had been double counted. The dead included Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat state. “Almost 70% of the passengers were found in their seats, most of them had their seatbelts on,” a first responder told Indian Express . Air India has said the investigation would take time. Boeing has said a team of experts is ready to go to India to help the investigation. It was the first crash for the Dreamliner, a wide-body airliner that began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014. – Reuters

construction of the hostel for resident doctors was completed only a year ago and the buildings were not fully occupied. “We were at home and heard a massive sound, like a big blast. We then saw very dark smoke, which engulfed the entire area,” said 63-year-old Nitin Joshi, who has been living in the area for more than 50 years. Parts of the plane’s fuselage were scattered around the smouldering building into which it crashed. The tail of the plane was stuck on top of the building. The Wall Street Journal reported that an investigation into the crash was focusing on “whether the aircraft had a loss or reduction in engine thrust”, citing unnamed sources. Air India chief executive officer Campbell Wilson also arrived in Ahmedabad early yesterday. Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer,

BR I E F S

Modi listens to Viswashkumar’s account. – AFPPIC

Crash survivor walked out through emergency exit NEW DELHI: The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash that killed more than 240 people said he walked out of a broken emergency exit after the aircraft hit a medical college hostel in the city of Ahmedabad. “I don’t believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die,” 40-year old Viswashkumar told Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed yesterday. speed into the hostel”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Viswashkumar in the hospital. Doctors told local media that he did not sustain any major injuries.

“The side of the plane I was in landed on the ground, and I could see that there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke I tried to escape through it and I did,” Viswashkumar said. “The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there.” Viswashkumar said he walked out of the crash site with only burn injuries on his left arm. – Reuters

“But when I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive and I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where I could. It was in front of my eyes that the air hostess and others (died).” Viswashkumar said the plane appeared to come to a standstill in midair for a few seconds shortly after take-off and the green and white cabin lights were turned on. He said he could feel the engine thrust increasing but then the plane “crashed with

Ramesh Viswashkumar, who police said was on seat 11A near the emergency exit and managed to escape through the broken hatch, was filmed after Thursday’s crash limping on the street in a blood-stained T-shirt with bruises on his face. That social media footage of the British national of Indian origin was broadcast on nearly all of India’s news channels after the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plummeted soon after take-off and erupted in a ball of fire.