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A truly shameful response from Jordan! -Rania Jordan Won't Let Italian Plane Land By Waiel Faleh Associated Press Writer Wednesday, April 5, 2000; 9:08 a.m. EDT BAGHDAD, Iraq € '¶'¶ A small plane carrying European activists took off from Baghdad on Wednesday destined for Italy, a violation of U.N. sanctions that prompted Jordanian officials to refuse the plane stopover permission in the kingdom. Iraqi officials saw off the Italian-made P68 at Rasheed air base, where the plane landed Monday in violation of the sanctions, the official Iraqi News Agency reported. Four passengers were aboard. In Jordan, Information Minister Saleh Qallab said the plane had entered Jordanian airspace, but "we will not allow it to land in any of our airports." If it was to land anyway, Qallab told The Associated Press that Jordan would ground the plane, arrest crew members and deport passengers from Jordan in line with international law. International flights to and from Iraq were banned under U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to the Gulf War. After the war, allied forces began patrols over northern and southern Iraq. While in the capital, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and other officials received the visitors, who said their journey was a symbolic move meant to highlight Iraqi suffering caused by the sanctions. Sanctions can be lifted only once U.N. inspectors verify Iraq no longer has weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles or the ability to produce them. € © Copyright 2000 The Associated Press -------------- > > http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000403_2664.html > > 04/03/2000 14:41:00 ET > Rights campaigners break Iraq flight embargo > > BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A direct flight from the Jordanian capital Amman to> Iraq landed at Baghdad airport Monday, breaking the 10-year-old U.N.> embargo on flights to Iraq, witnesses said.> The small plane, an Italian-made B-86, landed at 7:45 p.m. local time,> carrying three Italians and a Frenchman. > Aboard the aircraft were European Parliament member Vittorio Sgardi, French> Catholic priest and filmmaker Jean-Marie Benjamin, who is also secretary> general of Deato Angelico Foundation, Italian Nicola Grauso and Massimo> Santo Paolo, an Italian journalist. > > They said in a statement they did not ask the United Nations for > authorization. Their aim was to defy the stringent sanctions imposed on> Baghdad by the U.N. in 1990, when Iraq invaded its neighbor Kuwait. The> sanctions ban international flights from and into Iraq. > > "We request ... the secretary-general of the U.N., the member states of the> Security Council and the (U.N. human rights commissioner) to intervene as> soon as possible for the immediate and total lifting of the embargo ... and> to implement rapid and effective aid for the country's reconstruction," the> statement said. > > International human rights organizations have increasingly criticized the> impact of the sanctions on the Iraqi people. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://welcome.to/casi