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From the pages of Gulf News dated August 9 to 15, 1979

From the pages of Gulf News dated August 9 to 15, 1979.

  • Gulf News Archives
  • Published: 23:01 August 14, 2008
  • Gulf News

August 9

Five top Ba'athists executed
Iraq executed 21 senior officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Adnan Hussain, for conspiring against the iron rule of the Ba'ath Party. The executions by firing squad followed an announcement from a special seven-man tribunal that it had passed death sentences on 22 alleged conspirators.

Extradition for Eschel Rhoodie
A French court ruled in favour of extraditing former South African government official Eschel Rhoodie to Pretoria to face charges growing out of the so-called Muldergate scandal.

August 11

India's giant rocket aborted
India's space programme suffered a setback when the launching of its first giant space rocket failed and the fourth stage plunged into the Bay of Bengal instead of going into orbit. The 17-tonne SLV-3 rocket, which could give India intermediate range ballistic missile capability, aborted due to the failure of its second stage.

August 12

Khomeini supporters win majority of seats in Council
Supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution, have won the capital's ten seats on the council, which will write a new constitution for the country. The announcement of the Tehran seats completed the election of the 73-member council, which will be dominated by the Ayatollah's Islamic Republican Party.

August 13

Pitched battle before Tehran University
Thousands of rival demonstrators fought a pitched battle at the gates of Tehran University and eyewitnesses said several dozen people were hit by flying rocks and bottles. The violence erupted when militants attacked demonstrators assembling to protest against last week's closure of opposition newspapers.

Strikes topple Sudan's No. 2
Sudan's first Vice-President was relieved of all his posts in the wake of student riots and trade union strikes over food shortages and price rises. Vice-President Abu Al Gasim Mohammad Ebrahim, who is also secretary-general of the ruling Socialist Union, was relieved of all his duties by President Ja'afar Nimeiri.

August 14

Life attempt on Iraqi envoy
The Iraqi ambassador to Lebanon escaped an assassination attempt in Beirut, provoking fears of renewed underground warfare between rival Arab groups. At the same time, three people were reported killed and five wounded in two separate gun battles between right-wing gunmen and Lebanese troops.

Iran's major riot
Over 1,000 fighters sacked the headquarters of the People's Fedayeen Organisation in Tehran and injured four members of the Marxist group.

August 15

Flash flood deaths may rise to 15,000
The death toll in flash floods caused by a burst dam in the western Indian industrial town of Morvi could reach 10,000 to 15,000, a state political leader said. Though the official death roll has been 1,000 since the disaster occurred, the vice-president of the state-ruling Janata Party in Gujarat, Vallabhai Patel, said it could go as high as 15,000.

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