Azra Bašić, left, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. AFP / STR
Azra Bašić, left, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. AFP / STR

‘Mistress of life and death’ gets 14 years for Balkan war crimes



In the most severe sentence to be handed to a woman for atrocities committed during the Bosnian conflict, Azra Bašić has been sentenced to 14 years.

A court in Bosnia has sentenced Bašić, known as "the mistress of life and death", for war crimes committed in the 1990s during the Balkan war.

Bašić is said to have participated in the torture of ethnic-Serb civilians, with the judge commenting that she was responsible for "particular cruelty" towards those detained by Bosnian-Croat forces.

Witnesses said she carved crosses into prisoners' foreheads and forced one man to drink petrol before setting fire to his hands and face. She also forced others to crawl naked across broken glass, to eat money, to walk barefoot on glass and to lick blood off a man's dead body, the court found.

Speaking at the trial, witness Dusan Nedic said he recalled when he saw Bašić enter the detention facility he was being held at he felt hopeful as he believed a woman would not be as aggressive as a man. However her actions proved him wrong.

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"She started to beat the detainees, she was jumping on them while they were on the floor,"  Mr Nedic said.

The most serious of her offences was the murder of a restrained prisoner who she stabbed in the neck, the judge at the Bosnian court said.

The 58-year-old had been living in Kentucky in the US under an alias for almost 20 years before her arrest in 2011.

Friends described her as "big-hearted" and "a very nice lady".

She waged a long battle against deportation, arguing that she did not commit any war crimes and that she had been badly mistreated in a Serbian prison camp.
At least 100,000 people in total died during fighting in the Bosnian war. The conflict lasted nearly four years a peace deal brought it to an end in 1995.

Biljana Plavšić, 87, the former Bosnian president, is the most high profile female war criminal of the former Yugoslavia.She was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2003 after pleading guilty at The Hague.

In November, Slobodan Praljak, 72, drank what he said was poison upon hearing the verdict to his appeal at The Hague. The Croat war criminal died after deliberately drinking a liquid seconds after a judge confirmed his 20-year sentence for involvement in crimes during the Bosnian war of the 1990s.

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Qualifier A, Muscat

(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv) 

Fixtures

Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain 

Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain 

Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines 

Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals 

Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final 

UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia

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Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home. 

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UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

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The biog

Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives. 

The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast. 

As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau

He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker. 

If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah

 

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