Asia Briefs: US sailor jailed for rape on Okinawa

US sailor jailed for rape on Okinawa

TOKYO • A US sailor who raped a Japanese woman on Okinawa Island was yesterday sentenced to 30 months in prison, a court said.

Crimes by American military and civilian personnel have sparked protests on Okinawa for decades. The base is home to about 75 per cent of the space allotted for United States bases in Japan.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


120,000 nabbed in China's crackdown

BEIJING • Chinese police have arrested more than 120,000 suspects in a campaign against theft, robbery and fraud since April, the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday.

They have uncovered more than 333,000 such cases, busting more than 9,800 criminal gangs and confiscating about 640 million yuan (S$129 million), it said.

XINHUA


Ex-spymaster shows Taleban-Pakistan link

KABUL • The former head of Afghanistan's main intelligence agency has released documents which he said showed that Pakistani intelligence services helped Taleban leaders and the feared Haqqani network in 2014 and last year.

Mr Rahmatullah Nabil stepped down from the National Directorate of Security in December after opposing President Ashraf Ghani's efforts to improve ties with Pakistan and include Islamabad in talks with the Taleban.

REUTERS


Caught: Killer dressed as woman in jailbreak

JAKARTA • Indonesian police have caught a 25-year-old convicted rapist and murderer who escaped from a Central Jakarta prison last week by posing as a woman in a Muslim veil.

The wife of Anwar bin Kim An and five prison officers have been questioned for possible involvement in the escape. Anwar was caught on Thursday while hiding in Bogor, West Java, the Jakarta Globe said yesterday.


North Korea accuses defector of kidnap plot

PYONGYANG • North Korea yesterday paraded a defector accused of involvement in a child abduction plot it says was masterminded by South Korean agents, as Seoul demanded the man's release.

In a press conference in Pyongyang, Ko Hyon-Chol, 53, who fled the North in 2013 and was granted South Korean citizenship, "confessed" to attempting to kidnap two orphans and take them to the South.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 16, 2016, with the headline Asia Briefs: US sailor jailed for rape on Okinawa. Subscribe