Spain calls Iraqis on camp deaths

14 July 2011 Last updated at 18:11 GMT Relatives of the camp's 3,500 residents are pressing for an investigation A Spanish judge has summoned three Iraqi officers over a raid by Iraqi security forces on a camp housing an Iranian exile group.

The UN says 34 people were killed in the raid at Camp Ashraf, in Diyala province, in April 2011.

Judge Fernando Andreu has summoned Gen Ali Ghaidan Majid, the head of army, and two other officers to appear.

He is investigating allegations that crimes against humanity were committed during the raid on the camp.

The investigation is an enlargement of an existing probe on a separate raid which took place at the camp in July 2009, in which 11 people were killed.

Universal justice

Under Spain's universal justice doctrine, grave crimes committed in other countries can be prosecuted.

Judge Andreu said that the Geneva Convention applied to the case, as it addresses the protection of civilians in wartime and all those killed and injured in the attack were considered "protected persons" under the terms of the Convention.

According to documents released by Madrid's investigative court, a total of 377 "protected persons" were injured in the 8 April 2011 raid, 154 with bullet wounds.

More than 3,000 members of the banned opposition group, the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), have been confined by the US military at the camp since the invasion in 2003.

The group, considered a terrorist group by the US and Iran, were given permission to shelter in Iraq by former President Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 war between the two countries and they have lived at the camp ever since.

In January, the judge had said he would close the dossier into the July 2009 attack if the Iraqi authorities opened their own investigation.

Iraq responded by saying it had carried out its own legal inquiry but this was not judged sufficient by Spanish authorities.

The three Iraqi officers have been summoned to appear before the Madrid court on 3 October 2011.

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Spain sets huge bail for Egyptian

17 June 2011 Last updated at 23:43 GMT Hussein Salem was charged in Egypt with fraud and financial speculation Spain's National Court has set a record bail figure following the detention of a close associate of the former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak.

Hussein Salem appeared in court twice on Friday - once in connection with a warrant issued from Egypt, and then on suspicion of money laundering in Spain.

Bail set in the separate hearings reached 27m euros ($39m; ?24m).

Spanish police also froze more than 32.5m euros in cash, properties worth 10m euros and five luxury cars.

The money was obtained illegally in Egypt and sent to bank accounts in Spain held by Mr Salem through a series of companies created by a "frontman", identified as a Turkish man named Ali Evsen, the police alleged.

Spanish citizenship

Mr Salem was charged in Egypt with fraud and financial speculation last month along with Mr Mubarak and the ex-president's two sons, Alaa and Gamal. Their trial is scheduled to start on 3 August.

The 77-year-old is alleged to have won lucrative land and other deals, including exporting gas, because of his connections to the president and his family. The gas deal came under severe public criticism because the resource was sold at preferential prices to Israel, costing Egypt millions of dollars.

Mr Salem is reported to have left Egypt on 3 February, eight days before the president was forced to resign by anti-government protesters.

Mr Mubarak has been held in custody at a hospital in Sharm al-Sheikh since April, but it was not until Thursday night that Mr Salem was detained along with his son, Khaled, and Mr Evsen in a wealthy Madrid suburb.

Egypt's military rulers have vowed to bring to justice all those guilty of abuse

On Friday, Mr Salem appeared before two magistrates at the National Court in the Spanish capital, one handling the Spanish money-laundering investigation and the other dealing with the international arrest warrant.

The judges set bail for Salem at a total of 27m euros - 12m in the Spanish case and 15m in the Egyptian extradition case.

For now, the two proceedings will go ahead simultaneously. At some point, a decision will be made as to which takes precedence.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid says it is not clear how the charges brought against Mr Salem in Spain will affect Egypt's wish to try him this summer, or the fact that he holds both Spanish and Egyptian passports.

After his court appearance, Mr Salem was reportedly treated in hospital for neurological problems. A court physician told the Associated Press that he was not in good health, but that the problem was not life-threatening.

Bail for Khaled Salem, who also has Spanish citizenship, was set at 6m euros and for Mr Evsen at 18m euros.

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