Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan arrived at his Lahore home on Saturday after being released on bail following days of legal drama and nationwide riots over his arrest on corruption charges.
Mr Khan was swooped on by dozens of paramilitary troops and arrested during a routine court appearance on Tuesday, triggering violent clashes in several cities between his supporters and security forces.
Mobile data services and access to social media platforms including Facebook and YouTube, which were cut shortly after his arrest, were gradually being restored around the country from Friday night.
Mr Khan was arrested just hours after he was rebuked by the powerful military, whom he once again accused of being involved in an assassination attempt against him last year.
The arrest on court premises as he prepared to file a bail application was declared unlawful on Thursday by the Supreme Court. Mr Khan was in custody until Friday, when he was granted two weeks' bail in the corruption case by the Islamabad High Court.
The High Court also ordered that Mr Khan could not be arrested before Monday.
Mr Khan has become entangled in a slew of legal allegations, a frequent hazard for opposition figures in Pakistan, since he was removed from office in a confidence vote in April last year.
“The head of the country's largest party was abducted, kidnapped from the High Court, and in front of the entire nation,” Mr Khan told AFP from the court building.
“They treated me like a terrorist, this had to have a reaction,” he added, referring to the protests that followed his arrest.
Mr Khan eventually left the heavily guarded court late on Friday, hours after his hearings had ended and as protesters a few kilometres away clashed with police, who responded with tear gas. Shots were also fired towards officers, police said.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the former cricket superstar reached his Lahore residence, where videos posted by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party showed more than 100 supporters celebrating his release and throwing rose petals over his car.
“They keep trying to silence Khan and keep trying to put him behind bars. But Khan has proven that the one who stands with the truth always wins,” supporter Waqar Ahsan, 21, said after Mr Khan was granted bail.
Zuneira Shah, 40, a mother of three, said that “the establishment would keep coming for him”.
Khan is threatening their decades of corruption so of course they will not sit still. It's a long fight ahead, but today is a victory
Zuneira Shah,
Imran Khan supporter
“Khan is threatening their decades of corruption so of course they will not sit still. It's a long fight ahead, but today is a victory,” she said.
Several thousand of his supporters have rampaged through cities in protest against Mr Khan's detention, setting fire to buildings, blocking roads and clashing with police outside military installations.
At least nine people died in the unrest, police and hospitals said.
Hundreds of police officers were injured and more than 4,000 people detained, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to authorities.
Faisal Hussain Chaudhry, a lawyer for Mr Khan, said on Friday that 10 senior PTI leaders had been arrested.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has vowed to re-arrest Mr Khan, who remains wildly popular ahead of elections due in October.
“There should not be any violation of a court order. But if there is a way to arrest Imran Khan [within the bounds of] the court order, then it will definitely be done,” Mr Sanaullah told private television channel Geo News on Friday.
Mr Khan has launched an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the military, which independent analysts say helped him rise and fall from power.
He has accused the shaky coalition government of supplanting him in cahoots with top generals, and made explosive claims that they were involved in an attempt on his life in November that saw him shot in the leg as he campaigned for snap polls.
Pakistani politicians have frequently been arrested and jailed since the country's founding in 1947.
But few have so directly challenged a military that holds influence over domestic politics and foreign policy and has staged at least three coups and ruled for more than three decades.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
THREE POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS
Khalfan Mubarak
The Al Jazira playmaker has for some time been tipped for stardom within UAE football, with Quique Sanchez Flores, his former manager at Al Ahli, once labelling him a “genius”. He was only 17. Now 23, Mubarak has developed into a crafty supplier of chances, evidenced by his seven assists in six league matches this season. Still to display his class at international level, though.
Rayan Yaslam
The Al Ain attacking midfielder has become a regular starter for his club in the past 15 months. Yaslam, 23, is a tidy and intelligent player, technically proficient with an eye for opening up defences. Developed while alongside Abdulrahman in the Al Ain first-team and has progressed well since manager Zoran Mamic’s arrival. However, made his UAE debut only last December.
Ismail Matar
The Al Wahda forward is revered by teammates and a key contributor to the squad. At 35, his best days are behind him, but Matar is incredibly experienced and an example to his colleagues. His ability to cope with tournament football is a concern, though, despite Matar beginning the season well. Not a like-for-like replacement, although the system could be adjusted to suit.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
