In Brief
MIGRANT PROTECTION
Rights groups protest plans to deport 41 Iraqis, some ‘beaten’ Twenty-six human rights groups have signed a petition to prevent the deportation of 41 illegal immigrants from Iraq alleged to have been beaten by Greek police. The groups are protesting plans to send the migrants back to Turkey, whence they were brought to Chios 40 days ago, claiming that police beat some of them when they refused to board buses to be deported. The Greek Helsinki Monitor rights group said police finally agreed to listen to the migrants’ calls for asylum on Saturday but they were allegedly refused a medical examination to determine whether they had been abused. MENINGITIS DEATH Family on Crete loses daughter, 5; schoolmates undergo medical tests A 5-year-old girl from Crete has died of meningitis, authorities on the island said yesterday as the child’s nursery school classmates underwent tests to make sure that they have not contracted the disease as well. The parents of the unnamed girl took the child to the hospital in Hania on Sunday morning because she had not been feeling well. Doctors conducted tests and told the parents to come back in three hours, when the results would be available. But the child’s condition deteriorated and she was admitted to the hospital suffering from hemorrhaging and died soon afterward. The nursery school she attended has been closed until tests on the other children are concluded. DOCTORS PROTEST ‘Overworked’ medics lodge appeal A group of 200 university doctors have appealed to the Council of State complaining about the alleged non-enforcement of a new law that sets a limit of 48 hours of work per week. The protesters are blaming the Health Ministry for «imposing excessively intense duty roster programs» on doctors and allegedly violating their labor rights and the Constitution. Lambs in disguise Inspectors from the Piraeus Prefecture seized almost 6.5 tons of lamb meat from three companies in the area due to inadequate labeling. The prefecture said that 600 kilos of the confiscated meat was from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) but the import stamps on the carcasses were too faint. The stamps on the remaining meat, showing that the animals had been slaughtered at an approved abattoir, were also faint, inspectors said. Also, some 600 lamb carcasses from Romania that had not been stamped properly were seized near Thessaloniki. Teen dealer Police in Thessaloniki yesterday charged a 13-year-old girl with dealing drugs after arresting on her Sunday night following an alleged transaction with a drug addict. The 13-year-old, who faces charges of buying, possessing and selling drugs, is to defend herself before an investigating magistrate today. Police believe the girl, who claims both her parents are in prison, is employed as a mediator by elder traders. Monk arrested A 48-year-old monk is to face a prosecutor in Veria on charges of possessing illegally acquired artifacts, police said yesterday. The monk was arrested after a police search of his monastery cell unearthed five religious icons and four military knives. Gun backfires A 45-year-old man was in critical condition in a hospital in Rethymnon, Crete, yesterday after his hunting rifle backfired as he was handling the firearm. Police said the man was hit in the leg in the accident and that doctors were forced to amputate part of the injured leg. Speedy driver Police have arrested a driver who was traveling at 194 kilometers an hour down a highway outside Thessaloniki, as part of a crackdown on locals organizing high-speed races. A police operation involving patrol cars, motorcycles and roadblocks was used to stop the speedy driver, who was traveling in a 90-kilometer-per-hour zone. Another 22 drivers had their licenses confiscated for having committed 82 traffic violations, police added.
