Pakistan's Musharraf flees court after judge orders his ... - World News

AFP - Getty Images

Pakistani special security commandos escort a vehicle carrying former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as he leaves an Islamabad court Thursday despite a judge ordering his arrest.

By Waj S. Khan and Fakhar Rehman, NBC News

ISLAMABAD -- Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was arrested early Friday after he fled a court on Thursday when a judge ordered him detained on treason charges.

Musharraf's lawyer Qamar Afzal told NBC News, "Musharraf has surrendered himself before the law, and now he is in judicial custody."

Television footage showed Musharraf being escorted by uniformed police officers to an Islamabad court.

Earlier, Musharraf? had said he was being "punished for making Pakistan prosper and for making the country economically sound."

In a brief televised address that was distributed to different Pakistani channels, Musharraf claimed credit for bringing an "information revolution to Pakistan, breaking the shackles of IMF, building roads and protecting women and minorities. That's why I'm being punished."

It was a moment out of an international suspense novel when former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf dashed out of a courtroom after a judge revoked his bail and ordered his arrest. Musharraf is now back at his heavily fortified compound on the outskirts of Islamabad - surrounded by military commandos and police. Lindsey Hilsum, Channel Four's International editor, reports.???

Musharraf, a retired general, took power in Pakistan in a coup in 1999 and was an ally of the West until he resigned in 2008.

After nearly four years of self-imposed exile in England and despite Taliban death threats, he returned to Pakistan last month hoping to win a seat in the country?s National Assembly in elections in May.

But Musharraf was then accused of treason over events in 2007, when he declared emergency rule during a power struggle with judges. He had been on bail.

During a High Court hearing on Thursday, however, a judge ordered that his bail be canceled and that he be detained.

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Then, in dramatic scenes caught on television, Musharraf dashed from the court and left in a black SUV, Reuters reported. The images showed several lawyers making half-hearted attempts to pursue his vehicle.

When he returned to Pakistan, Musharraf was given a security detail -- including special forces units, police and helicopters -- and they helped him get back to his home on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Rashid Qureshi, an adviser to Musharraf and also a former general, said that Musharraf was ?safe? in the house.

?Roadblocks have been planted outside his house by the police to protect him, not to cut off his exit. The general is here to stay. He knew of these challenges when he decided to return boldly to Pakistan,? Qureshi said.

?He is still being protected by the police, and did not escape anything or anyone,? he said.

Former President Pervez Musharraf returned to Pakistan Sunday hoping to return to mainstream politics. NBC's Waj Khan reports.

Musharraf's lawyer Afzal said later that the former president had filed petitions in the Supreme Court, hoping it would overturn the High Court's ruling.

Afzal had insisted Musharraf "did not flee" the court. "He came and left with the same security detail attached to him by the government, which is his right as a former president."?

Musharraf's hopes of standing in the elections were dashed earlier this week when election officers barred him from standing, in part due to the various legal challenges he faces, Reuters reported.

Str / AFP - Getty Images

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

Pakistan's military has ruled the nation for more than half of its 66-year history, through coups or from behind the scenes. It sets foreign and security policy even when civilian administrations are in power.

The arrest pushes Pakistan's increasingly audacious judiciary into uncharted territory, challenging a long-standing, unwritten rule that the top ranks of the army, which ruled Pakistan for decades, are untouchable.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, is seen as the front-runner to win the premiership.

Musharraf also faces charges of failing to provide adequate security for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto before she was assassinated in late 2007.?

Reuters and NBC News' Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

Related:

Taliban threat forces Pakistan's Musharraf to cancel welcome rally

Analysis from 2007: Should the US support Musharraf?

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 18, 2013 6:55 AM EDT

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/18/17807384-pakistans-musharraf-flees-court-after-judge-orders-his-arrest-for-treason?lite

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Are human genes patentable?

Apr. 12, 2013 ? On April 15, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral argument in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, a case that could answer the question, "Under what conditions, if any, are isolated human genes patentable?" Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, believes that layered uncertainties make this case an unusually difficult case in which to predict the outcome.

During the early 1990s, Myriad Genetics made important scientific discoveries related to mutations in the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes, which are biomarkers for increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Based on this work, Myriad sought, and obtained, patent protection for "isolated" DNA molecules that embody these sequences.

The Supreme Court's opinion in Myriad will determine whether Myriad's gene patents are valid or, alternatively, whether they were improperly issued from the beginning.

"The legal controversy centers on patent law's 'products of nature' doctrine -- a doctrine that prevents the patenting of newly made products that do not display a 'marked difference' from naturally occurring products," Collins says.

"A perfectly circular section cut out of a leaf of a newly discovered plant may be technically new at the time that it is first made -- and it may be socially useful if the leaf contains chemicals that are natural wound healers, but it's likely an unpatentable product of nature because there is no marked difference between the newly created product and the naturally occurring product.

"Importantly, the Myriad gene patents only encompass DNA molecules in an 'isolated' state, separate from the remainder of the chromosome in which they exist in a human body, and they thus describe molecules that were technically new when Myriad first made them."

The question before the Court is whether the structural and functional differences between naturally occurring DNA molecules and DNA molecules in an isolated state is sufficiently significant to constitute a "marked difference" and to sanction the patenting of the isolated DNAs.

Behind the legal controversy is an economic controversy that may (or may not) influence the Supreme Court's pronouncement on the products of nature doctrine. "The social costs of the exclusive rights to inventions granted by patents are normally justified by the incentives that patents provide for self-interested entities to invest in research and development and generate the socially valuable inventions," Collins says.

However, under some circumstances, there are legitimate concerns that the incentive-based benefits of patents may not outweigh these costs.

"One function of the products of nature doctrine is to ensure that the basic tools of scientific and technological work are not constrained by claims of patent rights and remain free for all to use as inputs into future research," says Collins.

"To the extent that isolated genes are essential technological and scientific building blocks, the costs of Myriad's gene patents in the form of slower innovation in the future may be so great that they will outweigh the benefits of the patent-induced incentives that speed up the creation of the isolated genes themselves."

The verdict

Collins says it is difficult to predict how the Supreme Court will decide this case because of three compounded uncertainties.

First, the Supreme Court has to date not offered a clear legal framework for identifying products of nature, so it is unclear how high a hurdle the markedly different standard will prove to be.

Second, it is unclear how strongly the Court's legal determination will be influenced by the underlying economic concerns about the privatization of the building blocks of technological progress.

Third, the relationship between the Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals -- the court that authored the opinion below in Myriad -- is not likely to lead to much of any deference.

"Recent Federal Circuit patent decisions have been poorly received by the Supreme Court," Collins says. "The Federal Circuit upheld the patentablity of these genes, but, given recent history, this is not much of an indicator as to Supreme Court will handle this case."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. The original article was written by Jessica Martin.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/u6tBHbmvrbM/130412084225.htm

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