US imposes sanctions on Iranian officials over abuses

BBC News, 29 September 2010 Last updated at 21:04 GMT

US President Barack Obama has ordered unprecedented sanctions against senior Iranian officials for "sustained and severe violations of human rights".

Hillary Clinton: "We speak out for those unable
to speak out for themselves"

The eight men include the head of the Revolutionary Guards, a former interior minister and the prosecutor general.

The treasury department said they would face a travel ban and asset freeze.

The alleged abuses include the killings and beatings of anti-government protesters after the disputed presidential election in June 2009.

Following the poll, millions of Iranians defied official warnings and participated in mass rallies that drew the largest crowds since 1979's Islamic Revolution.

The authorities launched a brutal crackdown, during which opposition and human rights groups accused the security forces of extra-judicial killings, rapes and torture. Thousands were held without charge.

Over the subsequent six months, at least 40 protesters were killed; the opposition says more than 70 died. At least two people have been executed for related offences, and dozens imprisoned.

'New tool'

In a statement, the White House said: "As the president noted in his recent address to the United Nations General Assembly, human rights are a matter of moral and pragmatic necessity for the United States."

"The United States will always stand with those in Iran who aspire to have their voices heard. We will be a voice for those aspirations that are universal, and we continue to call upon the Iranian government to respect the rights of its people."

All of those named in the US sanctions list served in Iran's military, law enforcement and justice system around the time of the 2009 protests:

• Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC)
• Sadeq Mahsouli, the current minister of welfare and security, and former minister of the interior
• Qolam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the current prosecutor general of Iran and former intelligence minister
• Saeed Mortazavi, the former prosecutor general of Tehran
• Heydar Moslehi, the minister of Intelligence
• Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, the current interior minister and former deputy commander of the armed forces for law enforcement
• Ahmad-Reza Radan, deputy chief of Iran's National Police
• Hossein Taeb, current deputy commander for Intelligence for the IRGC and former commander of the IRGC's Basij militia

Any assets in the US held by the eight Iranians will be frozen, and US citizens and companies will be prohibited from doing business with them.

"On these officials' watch, or under their command, Iranian citizens have been arbitrarily arrested, beaten, tortured, raped, blackmailed and killed," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference in Washington.

"Yet the Iranian government has ignored repeated calls from the international community to end these abuses."

Mrs Clinton said it was the first time the US had imposed sanctions against Iran for human rights abuses.

"We would like to be able to tell you that it might be the last but we fear not," she said.

The Iranian authorities launched a brutal
crackdown against the mass opposition protests

"We now have at our disposal a new tool that allows us to designate individual Iranians officials responsible for or complicit in serious human rights violations and do so in a way that does not in any way impact on the well-being of the Iranian people themselves."

The US has banned most trade with Iran since 1979, when Iranian students stormed its embassy in Tehran and took diplomats hostage.

The Islamic Republic has also been subjected to four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to suspend the enrichment of uranium, as well as unilateral US and EU measures. The US and its allies suspect Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge it denies.

Mr Jafari is already subject to US sanctions over the nuclear programme.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says it is unclear what impact the move will have, as the men are unlikely to have any assets in the US.

But the Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, said that when the US targeted specific individuals or entities, other countries often responded by cutting off their economic and financial dealings with them. European nations are reportedly working on similar sanctions.

US diplomats say they decided to focus more on human rights abuses in Iran because the emphasis on the country's controversial nuclear programme alone was not enough to isolate its leadership or change its behaviour, our correspondent adds.

Irish Nobel laureate denied entry into Israel

CNN News, From Kareem Khadder, September 28, 2010

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Israeli authorities cite her participation in an aid flotilla to Gaza for refusing her entry
• Mairead Maguire was in Israel as part of a women's peace delegation
• She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976

Jerusalem (CNN) -- An Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate was refused entry into Israel on Tuesday because of her participation in an aid flotilla to Gaza in June, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

Mairead Maguire was awared the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.

Mairead Maguire was detained at Ben Gurion Airport as she arrived with a delegation of other high-level women's rights activists from around the world.

"Mairead was refused to enter Israel this morning and was supposed to be deported this afternoon," said Fatmeh El-Ajou, an attorney with Adalah, the legal center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which is representing Maguire. "She was told the reason to refuse her entry was her participation in the flotilla to Gaza in June."

Maguire, along with fellow Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams and founders of the Nobel Women's Initiative, was set to lead a delegation to Israel and the Palestinian territory over the next seven days. The delegation planned to travel to Jerusalem, Haifa, Nazareth, Ramallah, Hebron and Bil'in to learn from and highlight the work of female peace builders.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor confirmed Maguire had been denied entry.

"She had been on two or three flotillas to Gaza and, as is the case with participants in flotillas, she had been deported with all the other participants, and the law is that once you are deported you are denied an entry visa," Palmor said.

Maguire was on the MV Rachel Corrie, an Irish cargo ship that set sail for Gaza in early June loaded with humanitarian supplies in spite of an Israeli naval blockade. It was seized by the Israeli navy before it reached Palestinian-controlled Gaza, and its passengers were deported. The Rachel Corrie's mission came just five days after Israeli commandos raided a similar flotilla in an incident that left nine passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara dead.

"I don't know what she was thinking when she took that plane to Israel but I can guarantee you that she knew very well that she does not have an entry visa and her entry will be denied after having provoked Israeli authorities time and again," Palmor said. "I believe it was a deliberate action of confrontation."

But Maguire's attorney challenged Palmor's statements, saying no charges were filed against her when she was last deported in June.

El-Ajou said that Israeli authorities told Maguire at the time that the Rachel Corrie incident would "not prevent her from coming back to Israel."

"What the Israeli authorities told her today is that she won't be allowed to enter Israel for 10 years from now," El-Ajou said.

Asked about the status of Maguire, El-Ajou said, "She is in a good situation. She is a peaceful, brilliant, interesting person, and she is very keen on challenging the decision."

El-Ajou was working to get a judicial order to prevent Maguire's deportation, she said.

"(Maguire) believes that there is no reason for preventing her entry to Israel due to the fact that all her activities are peaceful and non-violent and are human-rights oriented," El-Ajou said.

Rachel Vincent, a spokeswoman for the Nobel Women's Initiative, said the rest of the delegation will continue on with the planned trip at Maguire's request.

Maguire was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her efforts to end sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

Related Articles:

Energy firms to quit Iran to comply with US sanctions

US, UN join condemnation of renewed building

UN "disappointed" at Israeli settlement activity

Moscow concerned over renewed Israeli settlement construction

Israel navy halts Gaza-bound boat without violence

Arabs face discrimination in Israel

Indonesia signs UN convention on enforced disappearance

Antara News, Tuesday, September 28, 2010 17:40 WIB

New York (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa signed the Convention for The Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances here on Monday (Sept. 27).

The Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted on 20 December 2006 by the UN General Assembly, has been signed by a total of 84 nations so far.

Minister Marty Natalegawa signed the Convention on the sidelines of the 65th General Assembly at the UN Headquarters.

The Convention has not been effective officially because 20 more countries are still expected to ratify it.

"It has been signed, and we have to wait for the ratification (by the Parliament)," Minister Marty said.

Signing the Convention on Enforced Disappearance would strengthen the role and position of Indonesia as a democratic nation, he said.

The Convention is line with Indonesia`s Human Rights Plan 2010-2014, and advocacy promoted by human right activists who have actively urged the government to sign the Convention since 1988.

Other signatories of the Convention are France, Germany, Japan, Cuba, Spain, Argentine, Uruguay, Paraguay, Mexico, Honduras, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Albania, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali.

The Convention on Enforced Disappearance among other things states that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance.

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.

Egyptian tycoon jailed for murdering Lebanese singer

BBC News, 28 September 2010 Last updated at 11:05 GMT

An Egyptian tycoon sentenced to death last year for killing a popular Lebanese singer has had his sentence reduced to 15 years in jail.

Hisham Talaat Moustafa is a senior member of
the ruling party in Egypt

Hisham Talaat Moustafa is a senior member of the ruling party in Egypt.

His co-defendant Mohsen al-Sukkari has had his sentence reduced to life in prison.

They were convicted of killing Suzanne Tamim in Dubai in 2008.

Earlier this year, they were granted a re-trial on a technicality.

The case has received huge attention, as it involves a member of an Egyptian elite often seen as being above the law.

Mr Moustafa had been having a relationship with Ms Tamim before her death.

He is believed to have paid Mr Sukkari $2m (£1.3m) to kill Ms Tamim at one of Mr Moustfa's hotels in an act of revenge after she spurned an offer of marriage.

Both men denied carrying out or ordering the murder.

Ms Tamim was a singer as well known for her troubled private life as her talent.

She became a celebrity as the winner of an Arabic TV talent show.

Ms Tamim was found with her throat slit in a Dubai hotel in July 2008.

Related Article:

Egyptian paper doctors photo of Mubarak and Obama

UN to appoint Earth contact for aliens

News.co.au, From: NewsCore, September 26, 2010 10:19AM

THE United Nations was set today to appoint an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist to act as Earth’s first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.

Professor Mazlan Othman is in charge of conducting
negotiations with the first extraterrestrials that might
come to this planet. Photo: V. Martin/ITU

Mazlan Othman, the head of the UN's little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa), is to describe her potential new role next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire.

She is scheduled to tell delegates that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made the detection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before - and that means the UN must be ready to coordinate humanity’s response to any “first contact”.

During a talk Othman gave recently to fellow scientists, she said: “The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials.

"When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.”

Professor Richard Crowther, an expert in space law and governance at the UK Space Agency and who leads British delegations to the UN on such matters, said: “Othman is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a ‘take me to your leader’ person.”

However, he thinks humanity’s first encounter with any intelligent aliens is more likely to be via radio or light signals from a distant planet than by beings arriving on Earth. And, he suggests, even if we do encounter aliens in the flesh, they are more likely to be microbes than anything intelligent.

Take us to your leader: Mazlan Othman is expected to be tasked
with coordinating humanity's response to an extraterrestrial visit

Related Articles:

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs: a guide

United Nations to appoint space ambassador to act as first contact for aliens visiting Earth

We saw a bright glowing object like an eye': U.S. airman's startling testimony about UFO encounter near UK nuclear base

Former Air Force captain to expose UFO threat

Vatican and ET Disclosure

Blossom Goodchild channels White Cloud. Sep 21, 2010 - "People of Earth, Brothers and Sisters … our Family of ONE IN LIGHT … WE ARE COMING"

• 
  
  "Is it not easy for those who know not of us to ridicule and maim Truthful words? Yet their souls struggle with their destiny. They resist their Truth for they are afraid of what may be. Teach them …. Teach them … teach them that in Light there is only Love. In Love there is only Truth. In Truth there is only … themself. And that which they are can only be Love … what is there possibly to be afraid of in that?"
  
  

Mike Quinsey channels The Galactic Federation (SaLuSa) Messages. Sep 27, 2010

"Our allies are spread all over the world, but the main focus is still upon America. It is where it is expected that the long awaited announcement about us will come from
Very Soon.

Yes, you have heard this many times but it does draw nearer and with a number of options in mind, we know it cannot be delayed much longer."

Arabs face discrimination in Israel

Discrimination faced by Palestinians living within Israel's borders remains one of the key sticking points in Middle East peace talks.

Umm al-Fahm is a town made up almost entirely of Palestinian Israelis - those who found themselves within the new border when Israel was created in 1948.

Israel's declaration of independence, the equivalent of a constitution, states that all citizens are equal but the one-fifth of the population who are Palestinian, believe they are less equal than others.

Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan reports from Umm al-Fahm, Israel.

Related Article:

Netanyahu urges settler restraint as moratorium ends

Basque guerrillas say ready to prove truce real

Reuters, MADRID | Sat Sep 25, 2010 4:01pm EDT

(Reuters) - Basque separatists ETA said on Saturday they were prepared to make "permanent and verifiable" a truce called earlier this month, even though the gesture was dismissed at the time by the Spanish government.

The group also was willing to take further steps toward a negotiated end to its violent campaign for independence, two members of the group told the Basque newspaper Gara in an interview to be published on Sunday, according to its website.

"The objective is a democratic resolution of the conflict and to close the wound forever, and that means that everyone must act responsibly," the two ETA members said in the interview.

The truce offer has been widely dismissed by the government and other political parties because the rebel band gave no further substantiation and has broken such ceasefires without warning in the past.

ETA, which has waged a four-decade campaign of bombings and shootings claiming more than 850 lives, last week called for international mediation for a peaceful solution.

"ETA is willing to make the ceasefire permanent and verifiable, and to go further, if there are conditions to do so," according to the interview.

International mediators helped end another protracted European guerrilla campaign -- by the Provisional IRA group in Northern Ireland. A 1998 agreement provided for disarming by guerrillas and power sharing between rival republican and pro-British forces after 30 years of bloodshed.

ETA, whose acronym stands for "Basque Homeland and Freedom" in the Basque language, has been severely debilitated by the relentless arrests of key members and by the concerted action by Spanish, French and Portuguese police to search out arms caches.

The most recent ceasefire that ETA separatists broke was in 2006 with a deadly bomb attack at Madrid's Barajas airport. Their last killing was that of a French policeman, who was trying to arrest ETA members as they tried to steal a car on the outskirts of Paris in March.

(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Former Air Force captain to expose UFO threat

News.com.au, By staff writers, September 23, 2010 4:02PM

UFO believers are in for a treat next week when members of the military meet to discuss their unexplained encounters.

The group will meet at the National Press Club in Washington to report on the strange things they've seen and demand to know why they have been told to keep quiet.

UFOs sighted over Yunnan province, China in 1981.
Picture: Supplied

The incidents that will be discussed will all relate to what the men say is a singular focus by UFOs on weapons storage facilities.

One of them, ICBM launch officer Captain Robert Salas, was on duty during a "missile disruption" incident at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and was ordered to never discuss it.

Another participant, retired Colonel Charles Halt, observed a disc-shaped object directing beams of light into the RAF Bentwaters airbase in England and heard on the radio that they landed in the nuclear weapons storage area.

Both men claim they will provide stunning details about these events, and reveal how the US military responded.

Captain Salas said: "The US Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it."

In one case, the men say several nuclear missiles malfunctioned while a disc-shaped object hovered nearby.

Attendees at the conference will be given declassified military documents that date back as far as 1948.

The group of six former US Air Force officers and one former enlisted man say they are holding the press conference because they believe it is a "public awareness issue".

Colonel Halt said he believed the security services of both the US and the UK had "attempted — both then and now — to subvert the significance of what occurred at RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practiced methods of disinformation".

Captain Salas has previously spoken about his experience at Malmstrom Air Force base. In 2008 he recounted the story to US TV host Larry King.

"The UFO was reported by my top-side guard. A bright red oval object hovering outside the front gate," he said.

"He was very agitated, frightened, when he told me this over the phone.

"The reason I believe that what he told me is true is because they had no access to our missile system. They had no way to control it. And while this object was up there, my missiles shut down."

Related Articles:

Aliens Are Monitoring Our Nukes, Worry Ex-Air Force Officers (Fox News)

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Have Been Compromised by Unidentified Aerial Objects (Reuters)

'After Disclosure' book on UFOs, ET contact due out October 2010

NBC's The Event Dramatizes UFO Disclosure

Retired NORAD Officer's New Book Predicts a Tentative Worldwide UFO Display on October 13, 2010

Blossom Goodchild channels White Cloud. Sep 21, 2010 - "People of Earth, Brothers and Sisters … our Family of ONE IN LIGHT … WE ARE COMING"

• "Is it not easy for those who know not of us to ridicule and maim Truthful words? Yet their souls struggle with their destiny. They resist their Truth for they are afraid of what may be. Teach them …. Teach them … teach them that in Light there is only Love. In Love there is only Truth. In Truth there is only … themself. And that which they are can only be Love … what is there possibly to be afraid of in that?"
  
  

JFK ASSASSINATION: E. Howard Hunt's Confession

UFO Digest, By Larry Chin, Submitted by dirk on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 15:42

JFK Murder Plot "Deathbed Confession" Aired On National Radio Former CIA agent, Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt names the men who killed Kennedy.

The "deathbed confession" audio tape in which former CIA agent and Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt admits he was approached to be part of a CIA assassination team to kill JFK was aired this weekend - an astounding development that has gone completely ignored by the establishment media.

Watch video: http://www.ufodigest.com/video/jfk-assassination-e-howard-hunts-confession-video

Saint John Hunt, son of E. Howard Hunt, appeared on the nationally syndicated coast to coast live radio show on Saturday night to discuss the revelations contained in the tape.

Hunt said that his father had mailed cassette the tape to him alone in January 2004 and asked that it be released after his death. The tape was originally 20 minutes long but was edited down to four and a half minutes for the Coast to Coast broadcast.

E. Howard Hunt names numerous individuals with both direct and indirect CIA connections as having played a role in the assassination of Kennedy, while describing himself as a "bench warmer" in the plot. Saint John Hunt agreed that the use of this term indicates that Hunt was willing to play a larger role in the murder conspiracy had he been required.

Hunt alleges on the tape that then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the planning of the assassination and in the cover-up, stating that LBJ, "Had an almost maniacal urge to become president, he regarded JFK as an obstacle to achieving that."

READ MORE AT RENSE LINK > >

Related Article:

Secret Kennedy ET briefing strengthens UFO assassination theories

E Howard Hunt Hidden Messages: JFK Assassination Confession

Russian military confirm Iran S-300 missile sale is off

BBC News, 22 September 2010 Last updated at 10:59 GMT

A top Russian general has confirmed that a sale of S-300 air defence missiles to Iran will not go ahead because of UN sanctions.

The S-300 would have boosted Iran's air defences

Gen Nikolai Makarov, head of the general staff, told reporters the missiles were "definitely" subject to new sanctions introduced in June.

At the time, Russia's foreign minister said the S-300 deal was not affected.

Possession of S-300 systems would enhance Iran's defence of its nuclear facilities against attack from the air.

"The decision has been taken not to supply S-300 [systems] to Iran," Gen Makarov said at Ramenskoye airport outside Moscow.

"They are definitely subject to sanctions."

Asked if Russia had torn up its contract with Iran, he replied: "We'll see. That will depend on how Iran behaves."

Back in June Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that a fourth round of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on Iran over its nuclear programme would not affect the S-300 contract.

However, shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was quoted by French media as saying the sale had been suspended.

There has long been speculation that Israel may attempt to bomb Iranian facilities to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, insisting that its programme is purely civilian.

Related Articles:

Iran ready for 'fair' talks on its nuclear programme

Big powers seek early nuclear talks with Iran

Ten killed in Iran in bomb attack on military parade

UFOs Visited Nuclear Weapons Sites, Former Air Force Officers Say

Vatican Bank 'investigated over money-laundering'

BBC News, 21 September 2010 Last updated at 12:24 GMT

Two officials at the Vatican Bank are being investigated as part of a money-laundering inquiry, reports say.

Rome prosecutors are investigating allegations that money-laundering laws have been broken, judicial sources are quoted as saying by news agencies.

The Vatican Bank, known officially as the Institute for Religious Works, manages accounts for Roman Catholic orders.

There has been no comment from the Vatican on the reports.

The Vatican Bank was last mired in scandal in 1982 when its governor Archbishop Paul Marcinkus was indicted over his involvement with the $3.5bn (£2.25bn) collapse of what was then Italy's largest private bank, Banco Ambrosiano.

The fallout from that scandal took a darker turn when two of its top executives, including its chairman, Roberto Calvi, were murdered.

Calvi, known as God's Banker because of his close ties to the Vatican, was found hanged beneath Blackfriars' Bridge in London. The murder bore the hallmarks of a ritual killing.

Related Articles:

Vatican Bank probe marks first time its accounts blocked

Police seize $30M from Vatican bank, investigate officials

Mexican newspaper to cartels: 'We do not want more deaths'

CNN News, By Nick Valencia, CNN, September 20, 2010

The killing of Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco is the latest death to stun Mexico. Family members attended his funeral Friday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• A 21-year-old newspaper photographer was shot and killed in Juarez
• Authorities have not speculated on who might have shot him, or why
• His newspaper published an editorial Sunday directed at drug cartels in Juarez
• "It is impossible to exercise our role in these conditions," the editorial said

(CNN) -- On the same day friends and family buried slain photographer Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco, the newspaper he worked for, El Diario, in an unprecedented move published an open letter to the drug cartels operating in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

No newspaper in Juarez has ever published an editorial directly addressed to the cartels that are battling for the trafficking corridor in the city. The letter, written by the editorial staff of the newspaper and published, pleaded with the drug gangs to end violence against journalists.

"You are, at present, the de facto authorities in this city," the newspaper's letter to the cartels said, "because the legal institutions have not been able to keep our colleagues from dying."

Santiago, 21, was killed last week while sitting in a parked car outside a shopping mall in Juarez. He is the second journalist from the paper to be killed in the last two years.

He was shot multiple times from close range, and a colleague with him was wounded. Authorities have not linked the death to the cartels, nor have authorities offered any speculation on who might have committed the killing.

"We do not want more deaths," the newspaper's letter to the cartels said Sunday. "We do not want more injuries or even more intimidation. It is impossible to exercise our role in these conditions. Tell us, then, what do you expect of us as a medium?"

The letter continued: "This is not a surrender. Nor does it mean that we've given up the work we have been developing. Instead it is a respite to those who have imposed the force of its law in this city, provided they respect the lives of those who are dedicated to the craft of reporting."

A "narcopinta," or graffiti-written message left by cartels, was found later in the city denying responsibility for Santiago's shooting, local reports said. The message was reportedly written by La Linea, the armed branch of the Juarez Cartel.

El Diario is the most popular paper in Juarez and has made a reputation for aggressively covering the drug violence

Earlier Sunday, at Santiago's funeral the climate was grim. Colleagues of the young intern spoke about a life ended too soon. For safety reasons, they asked not to be named.

"He was a youth with a lot of enthusiasm and desire to learn," a colleague of Santiago said. "It's very sad. He wanted to learn quick and to be recognized as a photographer."

Santiago's relatives remained incredulous about the entire turn of events. The youth, they said, had problems with no one.

"I wish I got to have known more about Carlos because he was a good person. He was very talented and very attentive. In a short time, he won the affection of all of us around here in El Diario," a reporter with the paper said.

Santiago died of at least seven gunshot wounds from a 9mm gun fired at short range. A second photographer from El Diario who was also in the car at the time of the shooting was injured during the cross-fire. He remains hospitalized, state authorities said.

According to local reports, preliminary versions of what transpired before the shooting indicated that on their way to the shopping mall it was possible the two photographers could have taken a photo that bothered someone.

State authorities have said they are investigating any connection between the shooting and Gustavo de la Rosa, a prominent human rights attorney and activist in Juarez. It was de La Rosa's car that Santiago was in when he was killed. The state attorney general's office had been investigating whether de La Rosa may have been the intended target.

A phone call Sunday by CNN to the Mexican state attorney general's spokesperson was not immediately returned.

De la Rosa's son, an editor at the newspaper, had loaned the car to the two photojournalists to use to drive to the mall, where they were planning to attend a photography class taught by a newspaper staff member, El Diario reported.

De la Rosa has been threatened from time to time in recent years. The attorney recently launched an investigation into the abuses by soldiers and federal police officers during detentions and military checkpoints, local reports said.

Journalist Arturo Chacon in Juarez contributed to this report.

Is there a place for home-grown biofuels in Afghanistan?

Related Articles:

Can biofuels beat drugs crops and save lives in Afghanistan?

Latin American nations demand global push on drugs