Tag: immunity

  • Zardari wants to use presidential protection in NAB cases

    Zardari wants to use presidential protection in NAB cases

    President Asif Ali Zardari has filed for Presidential immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution in two National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases. The clause provides protection to high-ranking state officials from all legal proceedings in court for any action taken by them during their terms in office.

    In the Park Lane Case, Mr Zardari is accused of allegedly using his influence to extract loans from the state exchequer for dummy corporations during his term as the President from 2008 to 2013. It is important to note that Mr Zardari, along with his sister and several other business associates, are accused in this case as well. However, the Presidential immunity only protects Mr Zardari.

    The other NAB case is known as the Thatta Water Supply reference in which Asif Ali Zardari and others are accused of illegally awarding different contracts to private contractors. Zardari’s counsel emphasized that President Zardari’s status as the country’s elected head granted him immunity from legal action, thus rendering the continuation of the case against him untenable.

    The accountability court has since issued a notice to the NAB, seeking a response to Mr Zardari’s application for immunity by April 22.

    President Asif Ali Zardari has filed for Presidential immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution in two National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases. The clause provides protection to high-ranking state officials from all legal proceedings in court for any action taken by them during their terms in office.

    In the Park Lane Case, Mr Zardari is accused of allegedly using his influence to extract loans from the state exchequer for dummy corporations during his term as the President from 2008 to 2013. It is important to note that Mr Zardari, along with his sister and several other business associates, are accused in this case as well. However, the Presidential immunity only protects Mr Zardari.

    The other NAB case is known as the Thatta Water Supply reference in which Asif Ali Zardari and others are accused of illegally awarding different contracts to private contractors. Zardari’s counsel emphasized that President Zardari’s status as the country’s elected head granted him immunity from legal action, thus rendering the continuation of the case against him untenable.

    The accountability court has since issued a notice to the NAB, seeking a response to Mr Zardari’s application for immunity by April 22.

  • Saudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi murder lawsuit: Biden administration

    Saudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi murder lawsuit: Biden administration

    The Biden administration has said that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has immunity from a lawsuit over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — a Saudi-born US resident who wrote critical articles about Saudi rulers in The Washington Post.

    A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said, “This is a legal determination made by the State Department under longstanding and well-established principles of customary international law. It has nothing to do with the merits of the case.”

    Moreover, the Justice Department of the country had “determined that defendant bin Salman, as the sitting head of a foreign government, enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts as a result of that office.”

    After the news, Khashoggi’s ex-fiancée Hatice Cengiz tweeted: “Jamal died again today”.

    Earlier, lawyers for the prince asked in a petition requesting a federal district court in Washington to dismiss the case, citing other cases where the United States has recognised immunity for a foreign head of state

    In 2018, Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, an operation that US intelligence believed was allegedly ordered by the crown prince who has repeatedly denied involvement in the past.

    When the incumbent US President Joe Biden took charge of the presidency, his administration made clear the president would avoid direct engagement with the crown prince and instead focus on his engagements with King Salman.

  • Study suggests dengue may provide immunity against COVID-19

    Study suggests dengue may provide immunity against COVID-19

    A new study that analysed the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil has found a link between the spread of the virus and past outbreaks of dengue fever that suggests exposure to the mosquito-transmitted illness may provide some level of immunity against COVID-19.

    The study, which has not yet been published was led by Miguel Nicolelis, a professor at Duke University, compared the geographic distribution of coronavirus cases with the spread of dengue in 2019 and 2020.

    Places with lower coronavirus infection rates and slower case growth were locations that had suffered intense dengue outbreaks this year or last, Nicolelis found.

    “If proven correct, this hypothesis could mean that dengue infection or immunization with an efficacious and safe dengue vaccine could produce some level of immunological protection” against the coronavirus, it added.

    Nicolelis told Reuters that the reveal was interesting because previous studies have shown that people with dengue antibodies in their blood can falsely test positive for COVID-19 antibodies even if they have never been infected by the coronavirus.

     “This indicates that there is an immunological interaction between two viruses that nobody could have expected because the two viruses are from completely different families,” Nicolelis said, adding that further studies are needed to prove the connection.

    Brazil has the third-highest total of COVID-19 infections in the world with more than 4.4 million cases – behind only the United States and India. In states such as Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul and Minas Gerais, with a high incidence of dengue last year and early this year, COVID-19 took much longer to reach a level of high community transmission compared to states such as Amapá, Maranhão and Pará that had fewer dengue cases.

    The team found a similar relationship between dengue outbreaks and a slower spread of COVID-19 in other parts of Latin America, as well as Asia and islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.