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John Bain "<mask>" <mask> (March 21, 1889 – April 11, 1948) was an American football player and coach. He coached college football at Lafayette College (1919–1923) and the University of Pittsburgh (1924–1938) and professional football for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1940–1941) and Pittsburgh Steelers (1946–1947). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. Biography

A native of Coupar Angus in Scotland, <mask> got his start in football by playing end at the University of Pittsburgh, commonly known as Pitt, under legendary coach Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner. <mask> was named an All-American and played on Pitt's national championship teams in 1915 and 1916. <mask> also played on Pitt's undefeated 1917 team. The 1917 team was known as "The Fighting Dentists" because on occasion every position was filled by dental students.The dental students on the 1917 team included <mask>, Katy Easterday, Skip Gougler, "Tank" McLaren and "Jake" Stahl. <mask> also lettered in wrestling and captained the track and field team at Pitt for which he specialized in the hammer throw, discus, and shot put. He was also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, Psi Omega national dental fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Druids Society, a secret society at the university. <mask> graduated from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Dentistry, where he also held a professorship in the instruction of bridge and crown. Coaching
In 1919, <mask> played in a few games with the Massillon Tigers of the Ohio League, which was the direct predecessor to the modern National Football League. However, he soon left the team and began his head coaching career at Lafayette College from 1919 to 1923, leading the Leopards to the 1921 Eastern Collegiate Championship. University of Pittsburgh

In 1924, <mask> replaced "Pop" Warner, his former coach and mentor, as head coach at Pitt.<mask>, who was described as "a national hero" in a Saturday Evening Post article, became a highly admired and influential coach at the University while compiling a record of 111–20–12. On offense, he ran a double-wing formation known as the "Sutherland Scythe". He was known for his calm and direct demeanor, never shouting or ranting to motivate his team. During his tenure, <mask>'s teams were named Eastern football champions seven times including 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, and 1937. During this time, Pitt appeared in four Rose Bowl games (1928, 1930, 1933, and 1937) and turned down a bid for the 1938 Rose Bowl. <mask>'s teams were named "National Champions" by various selectors for nine different seasons including 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, and 1938. Of these, the University of Pittsburgh officially recognizes five of those years as national championship seasons (1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, and 1937), while one of them, 1937, includes the Associated Press national championship designation which, at the time, was only the second instance in which the AP poll had been published.<mask> coached the famed "Dream Backfield" of John Chickerneo, Dick Cassiano, Harold Stebbins, and Marshall Goldberg, which at the time was considered to be the best backfield in history by some, including Don Miller, a member of The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame. After years of struggling with the University for sustained financial support, <mask> resigned in 1938 because the school's Chancellor, John Gabbert Bowman, instituted a policy of de-emphasis for the football program, eliminating athletic scholarships, student athlete stipends, and the recruiting funds. Bowman's moves, which resulted in <mask>'s departure, were controversial among students and supporters of the football program. As of 2009, his career coaching record of 144–28–14 in 20 seasons at the collegiate level, an .812 winning percentage, is the 25th best winning percentage in all divisions of college football and 11th best among coaches from the top division, currently known as the Division I FBS. His .812 winning percentage is also the 5th best such mark during the first 20 years of any coaches' career. He is also tied for the 23rd fewest games to reach 100 victories, accomplished in his 132nd game as coach. Professional football and military service
<mask> later coached in the National Football League with the Brooklyn Dodgers for two seasons, 1940–41, before leaving the team to serve the United States during World War II.During the war, <mask> served in the United States Navy and achieved the rank of Lieutenant commander. Upon returning to the United States, <mask> landed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he was head coach and team vice president. He led the Steelers to their first playoff appearance in 1947. Sudden illness and death
While on a scouting trip for the Steelers in April 1948, <mask> was found in his car in Bandana, Kentucky, where he was experiencing confusion and was then taken to a hospital in Cairo, Illinois, where he was initially diagnosed with "nervous exhaustion". He was flown back to Pittsburgh for further treatment. An exploratory surgery was required to determine whether he was suffering from a hemorrhage or a tumor. <mask> died in Pittsburgh on April 11, 1948, following surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor.He is interred in Pittsburgh's Homewood Cemetery. Honors

<mask> was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as a coach. He is memorialized on the Pitt campus with a street, Sutherland Drive, and the student residence Sutherland Hall. Head coaching record

College

*The Pittsburgh Panthers claim a share of the 1934 national championship per a 1970 Sports Illustrated study on national championships that the school has used since its publication as the basis of its claims. However, this championship is not included in the Official NCAA Records Book's list of national champions. References

Bibliography

 <mask> <mask>: Architect of Men. Harry G. Scott.New York, NY: Exposition Press, 1954. Citations

External links

1889 births
1948 deaths
American football ends
Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) coaches
Lafayette Leopards football coaches
Massillon Tigers players
Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches
Pittsburgh Panthers football players
Pittsburgh Panthers men's track and field athletes
Pittsburgh Panthers wrestlers
Pittsburgh Steelers coaches
Pittsburgh Steelers executives
All-American college football players
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
United States Navy officers
United States Navy personnel of World War II
People from Perth and Kinross
British emigrants to the United States
Scottish players of American football
Deaths from brain tumor
Burials at Homewood Cemetery

masks: Jock Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland Jock Sutherland


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<mask>  (30 June 1916 – 31 March 1944) was an Australian Supermarine Spitfire pilot who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He is notable for the part he took in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944 and as one of the men recaptured and subsequently shot by the Gestapo. Pre-war life
<mask> was born on 30 June 1916 close to Sydney's Parramatta River and with his brother Les spent much of his time on the water on homemade rafts and boats including a night adrift in Sydney Harbour with the authorities searching for them. He was recognized at school for his talent in technical drawing and metal working, this gained entry to Sydney Technical High School for him. He was a serious student and moved directly from school into a good position with an air conditioning company, his ambition at that time was to own his own "air con" company. War service
Following the outbreak of war in Europe Hake joined the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve in July 1940 and answered immediately to call-up on 4 January 1941. He wished to fly and his instructors recommended that had the aptitude to train for aircrew so after basic training he was posted to Wagga Wagga where all Australian aircrew candidates were screened for aptitude.While here he married his girlfriend Noela Horsfall. He learned to fly and attained the required grade and graduated on 20 August 1941. On 7 September 1941 he joined a group of airmen embarking aboard the ocean liner "Athlone Castle" for England to continue his training with No, 53 Operational Training Unit at Llandow in Wales flying Supermarine Spitfire aircraft. He completed training on 14 January 1942 amongst the top 3 pilots on the source. In January 1942 he joined No. 72 Squadron RAF flying Supermarine Spitfire's from RAF Biggin Hill carrying out operational fighter sweeps and bomber escort missions over the English Channel occupied France and the Netherlands. Prisoner of war

In major fighter action code named "Circus 119" on 4 April 1942 ten Supermarine Spitfires were shot down in combat with a large group of Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 190s, Hake's own aircraft Supermarine Spitfire Mark Vb (serial number "AB258") was shot up badly by enemy fighters before anti-aircraft fire damaged his propeller also setting his aircraft on fire.He baled out and landed by parachute slightly wounded and burned beside a unit of the German Army. Sergeant <mask> noted the respect shown by the Germans to a Spitfire pilot and their assumption that he was an officer so he played along and throughout his imprisonment was believed by the Germans to be an officer. He became prisoner of war No. 6 held at Stalag Luft III in the province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan (now Żagań in Poland). Hake occupied himself with a vegetable patch during the early stages of his captivity but soon his talents at making and fixing things brought him into the escapers group where he developed a production line system to hand make compass equipment for escapers. He became a forger of Nazi travel documents and recovering from a mild bout of diphtheria in mid-September 1942 he set up the compass factory in his room in the northern end of Block 103 melting pieces of broken Bakelite phonograph record to be fixed to pieces of razor blade which was duly magnetized. Over 200 were produced.'Great Escape'
He was one of the 76 men who escaped the prison camp on the night of 24–25 March 1944, in the escape now famous as "the Great Escape". When the Germans discovered the escape they began extensive well planned manhunts. <mask> was one of the prisoners recaptured relatively quickly - on the afternoon of 27 March 1944 he and his escape partner Johnny Pohe were brought into the cells at Görlitz suffering the effects of a tough journey in the freezing cold weather, both were frostbitten, Hake the worst of the two. Nineteen recaptured officers were loaded into a lorry the following day and moved to Görlitz prison under Gestapo control. Here the numbers of recaptured officers grew until thirty-five were held there. The prisoners were threatened with death and interrogated harshly but not physically. On 30 March 1944 two of the survivors saw three large sedans with ten Gestapo agents collect six officers, Ian Cross, Michael James Casey, George Wiley, Tom Leigh, John Pohe and <mask> struggling to walk on his frostbitten feet.they were not seen again, their cremation urn labels stated that they died on 31 March 1944 and had been cremated at Görlitz. He was one of the 50 escapers executed and murdered by the Gestapo. Originally cremated and buried at Sagan, he is now buried in part of the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery. Post-war investigation found that a Gestapo agent named Lux led the squad who shot the group of six recaptured airmen beside the autobahn near Halbau on the instructions of a senior officer named Scharpwinkel. He was amongst the 47 murdered officers named in the British and Commonwealth press when the story became public knowledge on or about 19–20 May 1944
The Glasgow Herald of 19 May 1944 published an early list naming several officers including Hake He and the other Australians were named in an article in the Canberra Times newspaper on 28 February 1946. <mask> was promoted to warrant officer either in captivity or more likely posthumously. Awards
Mentioned in despatches for conspicuous gallantry as a prisoner of war (none of the other relevant decorations then available could be awarded posthumously).It was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 8 June 1944. Other victims

The Gestapo executed a group of 50 of the recaptured prisoners representing almost all of the nationalities involved in the escape. Post-war investigations saw a number of those guilty of the murders tracked down, arrested and tried for their crimes. References
Notes

Bibliography

External links
 Project Lessons from the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III), by Mark Kozak-Holland. The prisoners formally structured their work as a project. This book analyses their efforts using modern project management methods. 1916 births
1944 deaths
Royal Australian Air Force airmen
Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II
Australian World War II pilots
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Australian military personnel killed in World War II
Participants in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III
Australian escapees
Extrajudicial killings in World War II
Australian prisoners of war
Executed military personnel
Australian people executed abroad
People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm
Shot-down aviators

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Albert Horace Hake
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<mask>  (9 January 1937 – 11 December 2016) was an English journalist, specializing in war reporting, and a newscaster. He was ITN's Senior Foreign Correspondent. Early life
<mask> was born in Romford, Essex, on 9 January 1937, the son of a Royal Engineers officer. He spent part of his childhood in West Germany. He received his formal education at Leicester University. Career
<mask> joined ITV in 1964 and over the next forty years he reported from 18 war zones: Biafra, Israel, Vietnam, Cambodia, Congo, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Indo-Pakistan, Northern Ireland, Falklands, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, the Gulf Wars, 'Desert Storm' 1991 and 'Shock and Awe,' Baghdad 2003. During the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974, <mask>'s car broke down just as Turkish paratroopers were landing over his head onto the island.<mask> walked up to the first of them and greeted them with 'I'm <mask>. Welcome to Cyprus'. His film was flown back to London on an RAF plane and made the evening news the following day. In 1975, <mask> went to South Vietnam, and reported several events followed by the Fall of Saigon, including the battle of Newport Bridge (), a key passway where ARVN soldiers fighting the last stand against PAVN troops and Vietcong heading for the capital, and the US Embassy gathered around by thousands of panic Vietnamese citizens trying to leave the country by American helicopters. <mask>  got into the embassy compound in the afternoon on April 29, and took one helicopter to  waiting in the South China Sea. <mask> was ITN's first bureau chief in South Africa, based in Johannesburg from 1976 to 1981 and the first television correspondent to be allowed to live in apartheid South Africa, a brief covering Africa from Cape Town to the Sahara. During this time <mask> covered the Soweto riots, spent much time in UDI Rhodesia covering the war of independence and was the first foreign journalist to interview Robert Mugabe on his release from prison.In 1978 he and his cameraman Tom Phillips and sound recordist Micky Doyle, were in Angola to interview the UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi. Pursued by Cuban mercenaries working for the communist MPLA government, they were trapped and spent four and a half months in the bush, walking a total of 1,500 miles, trying to escape. They were eventually airlifted out in a dramatic escape. In 1981 he returned to Britain, motoring overland through Africa and Europe with his wife Diana and two small sons, Tom and William, a six-month journey of some twelve thousand miles, recorded in the book Across the Limpopo. <mask> was on holiday in the Lake District when the Falklands War broke out. Flown by a chartered aircraft to Southampton he boarded the aircraft carrier  for the six-week journey to the South Atlantic. He commented about the experience: "this was the first war, other than Northern Ireland, where I was among my own people.It made it a very special war and the Falklands a very special place." <mask> and BBC journalist Brian Hanrahan (on his first major foreign story) were regularly flown over to the Royal Fleet auxiliary ships to broadcast their phoned reports, as broadcasting from Royal Navy ships was forbidden. After the conflict, <mask> was awarded the South Atlantic Medal. <mask> also had a sporadic decade-long stint as a television newscaster, becoming known as a presenter on ITN's early evening News at 545. Initially hosting the bulletin on Fridays from its introduction in September 1976 (due to the inclusion of a World News segment on that day), and as a relief newscaster, he began alternating with Leonard Parkin as the regular host of the 545 from 1980 until 1982, when as aforementioned he was recalled as a war reporter to cover the Falklands War, providing a memorable report from Argentina about the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano during the conflict. In January 1983, he returned to the News At 545, this time as the sole regular host, also making occasional appearances on ITN's weekend news bulletins over the next three years. He would continue this role until March 1986, when he decided to resign from studio newscasting to go back 'on the road'.He became Channel 4's Washington Correspondent for 'Breakfast News' in 1989 and ITN's Chief Foreign Correspondent 1989–1999. Resuming his career as a war reporter, <mask> joined the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Gloucester sending dispatches from the Gulf War in 1991. In 1992 he reported from the Yugoslav Wars, based mainly in Sarajevo. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1991, when he was surprised by <mask> at the London offices of ITN. From 1999-2009 he was a presenter/reporter with ITV's current affair programme 'Tonight', and was employed by BBC Radio 2 and 4. He was also employed by a variety of British national newspapers. Awards
 International Film & Television Monte Carlo 'Silver Nymph Award' (1976), for war reporting from the Vietnam War.South Atlantic Medal (1982). Royal Television Society's 'Journalist of the Year' (1991) (later winning the award three times). 'Richard Dimbleby Award' for Services to Television (1992). Order of the British Empire (1992). 'Specialist Reporter of the Year' (1998), Royal Television Society. <mask> was also an EMMY Honours finalist in 1969 for 'Christmas in Biafra' and for 'Shooting the Messenger' in 2009, a Sony Broadcasting Awards finalist (2007), and three times Gold Medalist in New York's Broadcasting Guilds Award. Publications
Fiction:
 The Partridge Kite
 Red Joker,
 December Ultimatum
 Pilgrim's Rest.Non Fiction:
 A Measure of Danger
 Across the Limpopo
 Natasha's Story
 A State of War Exists – Reporters in the Line of Fire. Natasha
While reporting from Sarajevo in 1992 <mask> found 200 orphans living in a mortared and shelled building – four had already been killed. <mask> pleaded with the authorities to evacuate them, including Natasha, a nine-year-old who had been abandoned by her mother. He smuggled her out of the country, claiming her as his daughter, and handing her to the immigration authorities at London Heathrow airport. Despite protests from the Bosnian authorities and journalistic critics, <mask> succeeded in adopting her. Natasha attended local state primary and secondary schools near her home in Surrey and later gained an HND in sports science from the University of Bath. <mask> published his experiences in his book, Natasha's Story on which the 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo is based.Personal life
<mask> lived with his wife Diana, two sons Thomas and William, and adopted daughter Natasha in Grayswood, Haslemere, Surrey. He also had a daughter named Ana, whom he adopted from Brazil. Death
<mask> died at the age of 79 whilst on a holiday cruise ship in the Persian Gulf with his wife. References

External links

 Imperial War Museum Interview from 2003

1937 births
2016 deaths
Alumni of the University of Leicester
ITN newsreaders and journalists
British people of the Falklands War
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
British war correspondents
People of the Vietnam War
War correspondents of the Nigerian Civil War

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Michael Nicholson
Nicholson
Nicholson
Nicholson
Nicholson
Michael Nicholson
Nicholson
Nicholson
Nicholson
Nicholson
Nicholson
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Nicholson
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Michael Aspel
Nicholson
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German <mask> (;  – 19 October 1944) was a Red Army major general during World War II. An officer in the NKVD Border Troops before World War II, Tarasov was given command of the 249th Rifle Division after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began in June 1941. He led the division during the Battle of Moscow and the Toropets–Kholm Offensive, and was decorated for his leadership of the 249th, which was converted into the 16th Guards Rifle Division. Tarasov was appointed commander of the 41st Army in May 1942, but was relieved of command for his performance during Operation Mars in November and December. He was given command of the 70th Army, formed from NKVD personnel, and led the army during the failed Dmitriyev-Sevsk Offensive in February and March 1943. He was relieved of command again and transferred to command the 24th Army (converted into the 4th Guards Army in April), then in reserve. However, Tarasov was swiftly demoted to army deputy commander, and successively held that position in the 4th Guards Army and the 7th Guards Army during the rest of the year.After the 53rd Army's commander was wounded in December, he briefly took command of the army but was demoted again to deputy commander in January 1944. Tarasov was killed in action during the Battle of Debrecen in October of that year. Early life and interwar period
Tarasov was born on 29 March 1906 in the village of Mokrousovo in Tobolsk Governorate. From the fall of 1923 he studied at the Tyumen Road Construction Institute, but did not graduate due to its closure, after which he worked as a teacher at the first-stage (primary) school in the village of Poloy. In August 1925, Tarasov joined the Red Army and entered the Ulyanovsk Military School, graduating with honors in September 1927. After graduation, he became a platoon commander in the 71st Separate Battalion of the Urals OGPU Troops at Sverdlovsk. In November he transferred to the 113th Separate Battalion of the OGPU Troops there, serving as a platoon commander and battalion adjutant.In March 1932, Tarasov became chief of the school of junior commanders of the 29th Regiment of the OGPU Troops in Magnitogorsk. He studied at the Frunze Military Academy from April 1934 to October 1937, graduating with honors and a 1st degree diploma. After his graduation, Tarasov was sent to the 14th Pleshchenitsy Border Detachment of the NKVD Troops to serve as its chief of staff. From August 1938, he served in the Headquarters of the Border Troops of the Belorussian District in Minsk as chief of the 1st Section of the 3rd Department. In March 1939, he became chief of the 2nd Department, and in September was involved in the Soviet invasion of Poland in this post. In 1940 he became chief of staff of the Transbaikal border detachment. World War II
Following the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, Tarasov was given command of the 249th Rifle Division, forming in the Moscow Military District at Zagorsk.After completing its formation, the 249th was transferred to the Reserve Front's 31st Army, and defended positions around Ostashkov until 7 October, when it was transferred to the Western Front's 22nd Army. On 19 October the army became part of the Kalinin Front. During October and November, the 249th fought in the Vyazma Defensive and the Kalinin Defensive Operations, part of the Battle of Moscow. In December, with the 4th Shock Army, it participated in the Toropets–Kholm Offensive, capturing Andreapol and Toropets. For its "courage and heroism", the division was converted into the 16th Guards Rifle Division and awarded the Order of Lenin on 16 February 1942. Tarasov was also awarded the Order of Lenin. In February, the division fought in the Demyansk Offensive, capturing the settlements of Nizhny Sekachi, Verkhne Sekachi, and Kamenka in fierce fighting.In April, <mask> became acting commander of an Operational Group of the Kalinin Front's 39th Army. He took command of the 41st Army on 16 May. After completing its formation, the army joined the Kalinin Front, defending positions on a line southwest of Bely. In November and December, Tarasov led the army in Operation Mars, an attempt to encircle and destroy the German 9th Army in the Rzhev Salient. The army's attacks failed, and <mask> was relieved of command late on 14 December by Georgy Zhukov, who personally took temporary command of the 41st Army. Around late December, Tarasov took command of the Army of NKVD Troops (redesignated 70th Army in early February), formed from NKVD Border and Internal Troops personnel in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK). On 15 February, the army joined the Central Front, holding positions on the line of Samolurovka and Maloarkhangelsk.In late February and March, it fought in the Dmitriyev-Sevsk Offensive. The offensive bogged down against German resistance and he was dismissed at Konstantin Rokossovsky's request. In March, <mask> was appointed commander of the 24th Army in the RVGK, but in April he was demoted to deputy commander for "inconsistent performance". On 16 April it was redesignated the 4th Guards Army. As part of the Voronezh Front, the 4th Guards Army fought in the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation and the Battle of the Dnieper from the summer through the early fall of 1943. In November he briefly transferred to become deputy commander of the 7th Guards Army, and took temporary command of the 53rd Army in December when army commander Ivan Managarov was wounded. Due to "command failures" he was demoted to deputy commander of the army on 5 January 1944.While the army was part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Tarasov served in that position during the Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, the Uman–Botoșani Offensive, the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, and the Battle of Debrecen. During the latter operation, he was killed in fighting on the outskirts of Kisújszállás on 19 October. Tarasov was buried in Kotovsk, Odessa Oblast. Awards
Tarasov received the following awards and decorations:
 Order of Lenin
 Order of the Red Banner
 Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 1st class
 Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class
 Order of the Red Star (2)

References

Citations

Bibliography

1906 births
1944 deaths
People from Mokrousovsky District
People from Yalutorovsky Uyezd
Soviet major generals
NKVD officers
Frunze Military Academy alumni
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Soviet military personnel killed in World War II
Recipients of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class

masks:
Fyodorovich Tarasov
Tarasov
Tarasov
Tarasov


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<mask> (born 29 April 1971) is a Venezuelan opposition leader. He co-founded the political party Primero Justicia in 2000 with Henrique Capriles and Julio Borges and was elected mayor of the Chacao Municipality of Caracas in the regional elections held in July 2000. He is the National Coordinator of another political party, Voluntad Popular, which he founded in 2009. Administrative sanctions were imposed on <mask> by Venezuela's Comptroller's Office in 2004, disqualifying him from holding public office for six years (beginning in 2008, at the completion of his term as mayor, until 2014), following allegations of nepotism and misappropriation of funds. Opposition groups in Venezuela criticized these charges as fabricated. <mask> supporters say he was never charged with a crime, tried, or allowed to rebut the allegations; he sued Venezuela and his case was reviewed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which issued a unanimous ruling in his favor. The ruling was ignored by Venezuelan officials.During the crisis in Venezuela, he called for protests in February 2014. He was arrested on 18 February 2014 and charged with arson and conspiracy; murder and terrorism charges were dropped. Human rights groups expressed concern that the charges were politically motivated. His imprisonment in Ramo Verde was controversial; the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for the release of those arrested in connection with the protests. Opinion polls in late 2014 showed that <mask> had become one of the most popular politicians in Venezuela following his arrest. In September 2015, he was found guilty of public incitement to violence through supposed subliminal messages, being involved with criminal association, and was sentenced to 13 years and 9 months in prison. The European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and several human rights organizations have condemned the arrest and defined it as politically motivated.Several figures involved with his trial later declared that they were pressured by the Venezuelan government to detain <mask>. , the prosecutor that accused him, called the judicial process a "farce" and said that Nicolás Maduro pressured him and Public Ministry superiors to defend "false evidence" against <mask>. Ralenis Tovar, the judge that signed the arrest warrant against <mask>, declared that she signed the warrant because she felt scared after being threatened with becoming a "second Lourdes Afiuni judge". Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Díaz said that she was pressured by Diosdado Cabello to accuse <mask> of the deaths of Bassil Da Costa and Juan Montoya. He was later transferred to house arrest on 8 July 2017 after being imprisoned for over three years. On 1 August 2017 he was taken from his home by SEBIN agents and was briefly imprisoned once again in Ramo Verde. Since then, <mask> returned home and remained under house arrest from 5 August 2017 until it was reported that <mask> had been released on 30 April 2019, in the wake of the 2019 Venezuelan uprising.As the former attempt to overthrow Maduro's government fell apart, <mask> took refuge as a guest in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas. He fled Venezuela in October 2020. Personal life and early career
<mask> was born on 29 April 1971 in Caracas, into a prominent family; his mother Antonieta Mendoza de <mask> was vice president of corporate affairs at the media conglomerate, Cisneros Group, while his father, <mask> <mask>, held an executive editorial position at El Nacional and became a Member of the European Parliament in 2019. He has two sisters, Diana and Adriana <mask>. <mask> is descended from prominent Venezuelans, including a former president. His mother is the daughter of Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa, who was Secretary of Agriculture for two years during the Rómulo Betancourt years (1945 to 1948). Through her, <mask> is the great-great-great-grandson of the country's first president, Cristóbal Mendoza.He is also the great-great-grand nephew of Simón Bolívar. Bolivar's sister, Juana Bolivar, is <mask>'s great-great-great-great-grandmother, making him one of Bolívar's few living relatives. His great-uncle Rafael Ernesto <mask> was Minister of Education during the presidency of <mask>. His grandfather <mask> <mask> and great-uncle Rafael Ernesto <mask> were both doctors, founders of the Centro Medico of San Bernardino in Caracas. <mask>'s cousin is Thor Halvorssen, president of the Human Rights Foundation. <mask> studied at Colegio Los Arcos and Colegio Santiago de León de Caracas and graduated from boarding school in the US at the Hun School of Princeton, where he was captain of the crew and swim teams, and vice president of the student council. In 1989, <mask> told the student newspaper at the Hun School, The Mall, that "Being away from home created an awakening of the responsibility I have towards the people of my country.I belong to one percent of the privileged people, and achieving a good education will hopefully enable me to do something to help my country." A fellow student described him as being "very good at getting people psyched" on the swimming and crew teams, and added: "I am sure these qualities will help him lead Venezuela out of the third world some day." The article noted that <mask>, after graduating from Kenyon, hoped to attend graduate school, and then return to his country "where he hopes to go into politics and improve Venezuela". In 1993, <mask> graduated from Kenyon College where he received degrees in Economics and Sociology. A college friend said in 2014 that during their student days <mask> had founded a student group called Active Students Helping the Earth Survive. He attended Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government where he obtained a Master of Public Policy in 1996. In 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Kenyon.On 19 April 2007 he married Lilian Tintori. They have three children: Manuela Rafaela, born in 2009; <mask> Santiago, born in 2013; and Federica Antonieta, born in 2018. <mask> worked as an analyst and consultant for the chief economist to the Planning Vice-President of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) between 1996 and 1999; he was a professor of Institutional Economy in the Economics Department at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. Political life
<mask> cofounded the political party Primero Justicia (Justice First) with Julio Borges in 1992. He later moved away from Justice First, having a more leftist-leaning political philosophy and created the Voluntad Popular party, a member of Socialist International. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Venezuelan government seemed to have "a full-out campaign" against <mask> throughout his political career in the country. Described by Kenyon College as "hardworking and unpretentious", with "movie-star good looks and a gentle way with people that has made him extremely popular in Chacao, the most affluent of Caracas's five municipalities", he said, "I was born with a lot of privilege in a country with a lot of inequality."Mayor of Chacao (2000–2008)
<mask> was elected mayor of Chacao Municipality in 2000 with 51% of the vote and re-elected in 2004 with 81%. He was praised by constituents "for revamping the public health system and building new public spaces". His term of office saw the opening of the Juan de Dios Guanche school and the Centro Deportivo Eugenio Mendoza, a sports center. Under <mask>, work began on several major construction projects, including the Palos Grandes plaza, the new seat of the Mercado Libre, a new headquarters for the Andrés Bello Education Unit, and a massive underground parking facility. According to a 2010 article in Businessweek magazine, Lopez tried to reorganize the Chacao police force around a new CompStat policing model, implemented with apparent success in a neighboring city of Catia, Caracas, but says that, although "we could do the police management [and] get accurate measurements" in his district, he lacked the support of the attorney general to implement these reforms. The Atlantic described him as having "earned a reputation among local voters and Venezuelans ... for transparent, effective governance". As mayor, <mask> won first-prize awards from Transparency International in 2007 and 2008 for running the country's most honest and efficient municipal administration.In 2008, he won third place in the World Mayors contest which nominates the "world's most outstanding mayors". The City Mayors Foundation, which sponsors the contest, wrote that "It would be easy to caricature him as the scion of the country’s wealthy elite, standing in the way of Chávez' social justice crusade. But <mask>' record on activism has shown a commitment to promoting legal equality and his constituents speak passionately about a mayor who has delivered on public services and funding new infrastructure." During events surrounding the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, NPR said Lopez "orchestrated the public protests against President Hugo Chávez and played a central role in the citizen's arrest of Chavez's interior minister", Ramón Rodríguez Chacín. Lopez later tried to distance himself from that event, maintaining his actions were meant to protect Chacín from an angry mob. <mask> did not sign the Carmona Decree, drawn up on the day after the 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt. Political platform

<mask> stated in August 2009: "We here do not talk about infrastructure, quality of training, staffing of schools; we Venezuelans want to send our children to quality schools, where they can not only learn Spanish or math, but also acquire values and be formed as wholly complete beings."He called for the creation of grassroots groups, similar to a PTA, in every school to ensure the quality of schools and the education received by children and youth – "A people's network in every school." <mask> said, "... part of the solution is to have community organization and we can fix the situation of Venezuela only by promoting culture, sport and employment". Target of violence
<mask> was affected by violent confrontations multiple times in his political career, including incidents involving gunfire targeting him. In one attack, <mask>'s car was fired upon and was left full of bullet holes. In February 2006, a group of armed individuals stormed a university that <mask> was speaking at and created a hostage situation for about six hours. A month later in March 2006, <mask>'s bodyguard who was sitting in <mask>'s regular seat was shot several times and was killed. In June 2008, after <mask> returned from a visit to Washington, D.C., he was allegedly detained and assaulted by the state intelligence service; the Venezuelan government disputed this account, stating that a member of the Venezuelan National Guard reported <mask> as being responsible for the aggression and presented a video as evidence.2008 election controversy
In an April 2008 ruling announced by Venezuela's chief prosecutor and then upheld by court decision, <mask> and several hundred other Venezuelans were barred from running in the November 2008 elections, for reasons of alleged corruption. Eighty percent of those barred belonged to the opposition. The Venezuelan government's ruling found that in 1998, <mask>, while working for Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) and his mother, who was the company's manager of public affairs, awarded a grant to the Primero Justicia Civil Association, an organization of which <mask> was a member. As the best-known banned politician, <mask> contested the sanction, arguing that the right to hold elected office could only be rescinded in the wake of a civil or criminal trial. He said the government had banned opposition candidates ahead of the November 2008 regional elections because it knew they could win. In June 2008, <mask> brought his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C., challenging the claims by stating that none of those punished had been charged, prosecuted and found guilty through due process of law, in direct violation of treatises signed by the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan constitution. In July, the Commission agreed to hear his case and commented that the two years that had elapsed since <mask> had filed a motion asking the Court to annul the ban constituted an "undue delay".The IACHR ruled unanimously that Lopez "should be allowed to run for office". Venezuela's Supreme Court (TSJ) declared the ruling "unenforceable", stating that the disqualification from holding public office was a legal sanction, not a political one, and that Lopez was still able to register as a candidate for office and participate in elections. This ruling barred <mask> from running against Chavez for the following election, which polls indicated <mask> would have won. Although <mask> and others accused of corruption were never tried or convicted, the Venezuelan government maintained that the administrative disqualification from holding public office was grounded in Article 289 of the Venezuelan Constitution—which grants the comptroller general authority to oversee and regulate public offices, investigate irregularities and apply administrative penalties to persons holding those offices—and Article 105 of the Organic Law of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal ruled in August 2008 that the sanction against <mask> and others was constitutional. Following the decision by the Venezuelan government, multiple organizations criticized the government's ruling as a symptom of its judicial system's lack of independence. The Wall Street Journal stated that six of the seven Supreme Court justices were "sympathetic to the president".The Wall Street Journal also said that the ban "has elicited comparisons to moves by Iran's government preventing opposition politicians from

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 running in elections in that country" and singled <mask> out as "a popular opposition politician who polls say would have a good chance at becoming the mayor of Caracas, one of the most important posts in the country". BBC News called the list of individuals barred from office a "blacklist," noting that there was "little that Mr <mask> and others" could do to participate in the November 2008 elections. The Economist stated that <mask> was the "main apparent target" of the "decision by the auditor-general to ban hundreds of candidates from standing in the state and municipal elections for alleged corruption, even though none has been convicted by the courts". The Carter Center expressed regret that the Venezuelan Supreme Court did not find it feasible to comply with the IACHR's decision. The Human Rights Watch "described political discrimination as a defining feature of Mr. Chávez's presidency," singling out <mask> and the "measure that disqualifies candidates from running for public office because of legal claims against them". The Organization of American States cited the case against <mask> as one of the "factors that contribute to the weakening of the rule of law and democracy in Venezuela." The Associated Press reported that the use of the charges to disqualify <mask> "is a tactic critics say Chavez uses to put his opponents' political ambitions on indefinite hold".The next day, <mask> and others protested the ruling in a demonstration, until they were blocked in front of a government building. <mask> again filed a complaint, this time with the Human Rights Commission of the international Mercosur Parliament, on which Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are represented, and on which Venezuela has observer status. Two members of the commission traveled to Caracas to investigate, but were unable to come to any conclusion because Venezuelan officials refused to meet with them. Three years after the controversy began, <mask> was cleared of all of the charges of corruption. Voluntad Popular

On 5 December 2009, <mask> launched the political party Voluntad Popular, saying "What we want is to build a new majority from the bottom up - not just through negotiations and agreements between elites. It's a longer road, but for us, it's the only road that gives us possibilities of winning." <mask> described Voluntad Popular as "a social and political, pluralistic and democratic movement" that stood for "the rights of all Venezuelans."According to WikiLeaks, US diplomatic cables (one titled "The <mask> Problem") revealed criticism of <mask> by members of the opposition. 2014 protests in Venezuela

The Economist reported in February 2014 that while Henrique Capriles headed the moderate wing of Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) – the alliance of Venezuelan opposition parties – <mask> headed "the more confrontational wing". Both advocated nonviolence, while <mask>, unlike Capriles, "believe[d] that demonstrations can prompt a change of government". On 12 February 2014, <mask> called on Venezuelans to peacefully protest against the Venezuelan government. The same day, Venezuelan prosecutors, after likening <mask> and protesters to "Nazis", issued an arrest warrant for <mask> on charges including instigation of delinquency, public intimidation, arson of a public building, damage to public property, severe injury, "incitement to riot", homicide, and terrorism. The day after the warrant was issued, <mask> used Twitter to address Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro: "Don't you have the guts to arrest me? Or are you waiting for orders from Havana?I tell you, the truth is on our side." In a late-night nationally televised broadcast on 16 February, according to Reuters, "Maduro told <mask> to hand himself in 'without a show,' and said he had rejected pressure from Washington to drop the case against him." Maduro "said he had ordered three U.S. consular officials to leave the country for conspiring against his government", and declared: "Venezuela doesn't take orders from anyone!" On 18 February, <mask> turned himself in to the Guardia Nacional (National Guard) in the presence of thousands of cheering supporters, who, like him, wore white as a symbol of nonviolence. He gave a short speech in which he said that he hoped his arrest would awaken Venezuela to the corruption and economic disaster caused by socialist rule. The only alternative to accepting arrest, he said, standing on a statue of Jose Marti, was to "leave the country, and I will never leave Venezuela!" Hours after the arrest, Maduro addressed a cheering crowd of supporters in red, saying that he would not tolerate "psychological warfare" by his opponents and that <mask> must be held responsible for his "treasonous acts".<mask>'s wife told CNN that night "that <mask> was in good spirits behind bars" and added: "The last thing he told me was don't forget why this is happening, don't forget why he's going to jail. He's asking for the liberation of political prisoners and students and an end to repression and violence." On 20 February, Supervisory Judge Ralenis Tovar Guillén issued a pre-trial detention order against <mask> in response to formal charges of conspiracy, incitement to commit crimes, arson, and damage to public property with the charges ordered by public prosecutor Franklin Nieves. <mask> was formally charged at an arraignment that took place inside a military bus parked outside the prison, a process described by Gutierrez as "very unorthodox". Imprisonment
<mask> was serving a 13-year sentence for crimes including instigation of delinquency, arson, damage to public property, "incitement to riot", and terrorism. The charges have been labeled by organizations or legislative bodies outside of Venezuela as politically motivated. Human rights groups around the globe have called for <mask>' release due to the government's negligent handling of the trial.Since out of nearly 700 total hours of court testimonies the defense spoke for less than three, the trial has been called a farce. Initial detention

<mask> was denied bail and imprisoned at the Ramo Verde military prison outside of Caracas. While in prison, his family visited him every week, only being allowed to stay for a few hours and deliver lunch. They had to undergo strict searches by guards. <mask> grew a beard and began learning how to play the cuatro. <mask>, a devout Catholic, was not allowed to attend mass or have a priest visit but has been allowed to have an hour of exercise outside each day. In July 2014, his wife stated that his visitation rights had been revoked and that he was subjected to psychological torture including isolation.It was also reported that prison guards would throw feces against <mask>'s jail cell. Chilean lawyer and secretary of a mission of Socialist International, José Antonio Viera-Gallo, stated that in the case of <mask>, Socialist International "confirmed human rights violations against a political leader" giving examples of when <mask> and others trying to communicate with their families, authorities sound loud sirens preventing communication. On 13 February 2015, armed masked men believed to be military used blowtorches to cut through the bars of Lopez and former mayor Daniel Ceballos' prison cells. In May 2015 <mask> announced he was beginning a hunger strike to protest his detention and the mismanagement of the Maduro government. He has urged other jailed opposition to join, with Daniel Ceballos also participating in the hunger strike. Both <mask> and Ceballos ceased the hunger strike after one of their demands, a date set for the 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary elections, were set to take place on 6 December 2015. Trial

<mask> was set to be tried alongside four students, Marco Coello, Christian Holdack, Ángel González, and Demian Martin.He petitioned the court to release these students, who had been arrested in February. Judge Susana Barreiros ordered the release of all but Christian Holdack. At the beginning of his trial, Lopez's defence was barred from entering the court to present evidence and witnesses. For <mask>'s defense, only 1 of 63 witnesses were allowed to be presented in court while over 100 witnesses were allowed to presented for the prosecution. Since <mask> was detained on 18 February 2014, he was held in Ramo Verde Prison while he was tried. <mask>'s court dates were on 23 July, 6 August, 13 August and 28 August. At each of those trials, the prosecution presented evidence against <mask>, yet his defense was allegedly not able to present any information or evidence supporting him.After the court session of 28 August, the case was deferred for a third time to 10 September. The 28 August court session was also under the presence of a delegate of the European Union, allegedly due to concerns about the trial's process. In November 2014, the Venezuelan court rejected the United Nations' request to release <mask> from prison. The United Nations, along with several other organizations and institutions, have criticized the trial due to a lack of due process in the court's handling of the case, as well as a lack of fair hearing for the defense, who had under three hours to defend themselves to the government's 600 hours. The government's use of delays to silence witnesses for the defense, as well as their direct barring of 58 of 60 witnesses, was also condemned. On 4 January 2015, in response to US requests to free <mask>, Maduro offered to exchange <mask> "man to man" for <mask> Rivera, the Puerto Rican independence activist imprisoned in the U.S. The Obama administration commuted <mask>'s sentence, with his release in May 2017.In March 2015, former socialist Prime Minister of Spain Felipe González agreed to take over the defense of <mask> in his trial after his family requested his assistance. In the roughly 700 hours of court testimonies, <mask>'s defense was given less than three hours and was not allotted many resources or due process. Sentence

On 10 September 2015, after spending over a year and a half imprisoned in Ramo Verde, <mask>'s trial was set to conclude. According to <mask>'s lawyers, Judge Susana Barreiros suddenly finished proceedings the preceding week, with <mask> only permitted to use a few witnesses while the prosecution was granted the use of hundreds of witnesses. At the courthouse, about 200 supporters of <mask> gathered while government supporters grouped together with a band singing folk songs supporting a guilty verdict against <mask>. The gatherings grew violent after government supporters attacked <mask> supporters and left them with multiple injuries and one death. Before the conclusion of the trial, <mask> addressed the courtroom with a three-hour speech.Judge Susana Barreiros found <mask> guilty and gave him the maximum sentence of 13 years, 9 months, 7 days, and 12 hours in Ramo Verde military prison for public incitement of violence; student movement co-defendants received sentences ranging from 4 and 10 years. <mask> was then allowed to spend moments with his family before he was sent back to his isolation cell in Ramo Verde. <mask>'s supporters then moved to another part of the city to demonstrate while the banging of pots by other Venezuelans could be heard from their homes. Controversy and international reaction

The European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and several human rights organizations have condemned the arrest and defined it as politically motivated. Several figures involved with his trial later declared that they were pressured by the Venezuelan government to detain <mask>..

On 23 October 2015, Franklin Nieves, a prosecutor in <mask>'s trial who fled to the United States, stated that the trial was a "farce" and that he was pressured by high officials in the Venezuelan government. Nieves said that Brigadier General Manuel Gregorio Bernal Martinez, then head of SEBIN, was directly ordered by President Maduro to arrest <mask> and others. When Nieves asked for documentation of any crimes, Bernal did not have any but a SEBIN officer created the documents needed to persecute <mask>, with Nieves stating, "They made up those facts in the moment."Nieves also accused Diosdado Cabello, leader of the National Assembly, of directing the <mask> trial as well. Luisa Ortega Díaz, the Chief Prosecutor of Venezuela who reportedly asked prosecutors to build evidence against <mask>, denied Nieves' allegations, saying that "If he was pressured, it was undoubtedly by foreign elements." Luisa Ortega would later say that she was pressured by Diosdado Cabello to accuse <mask> of the deaths of Bassil Da Costa and Juan Montoya. Ralenis Tovar, the judge that signed the arrest warrant against <mask>, declared that she signed the warrant because she felt scared after being threatened with becoming a "second Lourdes Afiuni judge". Human rights groups consider <mask> as "Latin America's most prominent political prisoner". Multiple organizations denounced <mask>'s detention and published discussions about it in order to bring attention to his arrest. Human Rights Watch said: "The Venezuelan government has openly embraced the classic tactics of an authoritarian regime, jailing its opponents, muzzling the media, and intimidating civil society."HRW further accused the Maduro government of blaming opposition leaders, including <mask>, for violence. The Human Rights Foundation, founded and run by <mask>'s first cousin, Thor Halvorssen Mendoza, declared <mask> a prisoner of conscience and joined other international organizations in calling for his immediate release. "With <mask>’s imprisonment and the brutally repressive tactics that police, armed forces, and paramilitary groups are using against his supporters, the Venezuelan state has lost any democratic façade it may have had", said HRF chairman Garry Kasparov. Former students from Kenyon College put forth an

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 effort to support <mask> since he was detained and helped create freeleopoldo.com. Editorial columns from The New York Times and The Washington Post have also called for his release. At the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama called for the release of <mask> saying, "We stand in solidarity with those who are detained at this very moment." The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled in 2014 that <mask> was detained arbitrarily and that the Venezuelan government "violated several of their civil, political and constitutional rights" while demanding his immediate release.The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called for the immediate release of <mask> and all Venezuelans arrested during the 2014 protests. In November 2014, Socialist International agreed with the UN's ruling, calling <mask>'s arrest arbitrary. On 19 December 2014, the chief diplomat of the European Union, Federica Mogherini, said that she was "seriously concerned" about "continuous arbitrary arrests" in Venezuela, with the EU resolution noting that <mask> Lopez "suffered physical and psychological torture" and also denounced the situations of opposition mayors Daniel Ceballos and Vicencio Scarano. The Venezuelan government condemned the statements by the United States and the United Nations demanding them to not interfere in Venezuelan affairs. The Venezuelan government replied to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with a letter directed to him stating that it was "senseless" to release <mask> and claimed that Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad's statements were "undoubtedly part of the international media manipulation that has been denounced by the top leadership of the Bolivarian Government". In 2016, the Dalai Lama supported <mask>, with human rights attorney Tamara Sujú sharing a picture on Twitter of the Dalai Lama stating that he continued to pray for <mask>. Amnesty International said, "The charges brought against Venezuelan opposition leader <mask> <mask> smack of a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent in the country."Guadalupe Marengo, Amnesty International Americas Programme Deputy Director, called on Venezuelan authorities to "either present solid evidence to substantiate the charges against <mask> or release him immediately and unconditionally ...  Amnesty International has not seen evidence to substantiate these charges. This is an affront to justice and free assembly". After <mask> was sentenced to 13 years in prison, Amnesty International declared that, "<mask> <mask> is a prisoner of conscience and should be immediately released without conditions". Post-trial activity

Days after <mask> was formally sentenced and imprisoned, he wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled Even in Jail, I Will Fight for a Free Venezuela in which he describes how he was twice visited by then President of the National Assembly and PSUV official, Diosdado Cabello, shortly after the Venezuelan government called for his arrest with Cabello telling <mask> that he should seek refuge at a foreign embassy; with <mask> saying that he later decided to turn himself in on 18 February 2014. He also called for international attention on the state of Venezuela's economy, corruption and crime, sharing his beliefs on how to help improve Venezuela. <mask> described his jail cell in Ramo Verde, saying:
I am now in solitary confinement in a 7-by-10-foot cell that has nothing more than a single bed, a toilet and a small shelf for my few changes of clothes. I am not allowed writing materials, and the only book permitted is the Bible.I don’t even have a light or candle for when it gets dark outside. While this has all been hard for my family, they understand that great causes require great sacrifices. On 26 March 2014, The New York Times published an op-ed by <mask> under the headline "Venezuela's Failing State". Writing from prison, <mask> lamented that for the past fifteen years, "the definition of 'intolerable' in this country has declined by degrees until, to our dismay, we found ourselves with one of the highest murder rates in the Western Hemisphere, a 57 percent inflation rate and a scarcity of basic goods unprecedented outside of wartime." This "is matched by an equally oppressive political climate. Since student protests began on Feb. 4, more than 1,500 protesters have been detained, more than 30 have been killed, and more than 50 people have reported that they were tortured while in police custody," thus exposing "the depth of this government's criminalization of dissent". Addressing his incarceration, <mask> recounted that on 12 February, he had 'urged Venezuelans to exercise their legal rights to protest and free speech – but to do so peacefully and without violence.Three people were shot and killed that day. An analysis of video by the news organization Últimas Noticias determined that shots were fired from the direction of plainclothes military troops.' Yet after the protest, 'President Nicolás Maduro personally ordered my arrest on charges of murder, arson and terrorism ... To this day, no evidence of any kind has been presented." <mask> called for justice for Maduro’s victims, for the disarming of paramilitary groups, for "an investigation into fraud committed through our commission for currency exchange," and for "real engagement from the international community, particularly in Latin America". He charged that while international human- rights organizations had been outspoken in condemning Maduro, many of Venezuela's neighbors had responded to his actions with "shameful silence", as had the Organization of American States, which represents nations in the Western Hemisphere. House arrest

According to <mask>'s wife, Lilian Tintori, in early June 2017 he rejected an offer from officials of the Venezuelan government, made during the 2017 Venezuelan protests, which would allow him to serve the remainder of his prison term under house arrest. Tintori reported that he said other political prisoners should be released before him and that he "had to be last to leave ... [that it was about] liberty for all of Venezuela".A month later, on 8 July 2017, <mask> left Ramo Verde and was taken home in the company of two Bolivarian officials, Delcy Rodriguez and her brother Jorge Rodriguez, at 3:00am VST. He was placed under house arrest by Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which cited case "irregularities" and health reasons for <mask>'s release; Reuters reports that the Bolivarian government "seems to be calculating that his return home may ease domestic protests". Following the 2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election which granted the Bolivarian government much more authority over Venezuela, SEBIN agents arrived at <mask>'s home in the early hours of 1 August 2017, and took him back to prison. But on 5 August 2017, Venezuelan authorities again released <mask> to house arrest. Since then, <mask> has remained under house arrest. According to <mask>, SEBIN agents have been taking a picture of him with a copy of the day's newspaper every day since his return to house arrest. In October 2017, the head of a private security team guarding <mask> and his home was arrested; he has not been seen since.On 17 November 2017, SEBIN officials reinforced the surveillance of <mask>'s house, after the former mayor of Caracas, who was in the same situation, fled on the same day to Colombia. Release

<mask> was released from house arrest on the morning of 30 April during the 2019 Venezuela uprising, with the assistance of defecting armed forces supportive of Juan Guaidó. Later in the day, <mask> and his immediate family entered the Chilean Embassy in Caracas, but moved to the Spanish Embassy in the early hours of 1 May 2019. According to Roberto Ampuero of the Chilean Foreign Ministry, <mask> and his family moved to the Spanish Embassy after a "personal decision", noting that <mask> and his wife both have Spanish ancestry. On 2 May 2019, the Supreme Tribunal issued an arrest warrant for <mask>, who exited the gates of the Spanish Embassy, with his wife Lilian Tintori, to speak with reporters, saying that Maduro's days were numbered. The Spanish government announced that Lopez would not be handed over to Venezuelan authorities. Escape from Spanish Embassy

On 24 October 2020, top Venezuelan opposition officials said <mask> had fled Venezuela.<mask>, who is a political mentor to opposition leader Juan Guaidó, had taken refuge in the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas since fleeing house arrest after the failure of a military uprising to overthrow Maduro in April 2019. His political allies and his father said <mask> made his way across the border into Colombia, after spending more than a year inside the Spanish Embassy. <mask>’s escape was first reported by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. A Spanish government source said his arrival in Spain, where his wife now lives, was "imminent." The Spanish foreign ministry said on Twitter that Lopez's decision to leave was "voluntary and personal." <mask> arrived in Madrid on 25 October, and had a meeting with the Secretary–General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, on 27 October. Exile
While living in exile, during a press conference in the Círculo de Bellas Artes, in Madrid, in October 2020 <mask> expressed that his goal now was to have "free and transparent" elections in Venezuela, saying that "we want for Venezuela the same as in Bolivia", referring to the 2020 Bolivian elections, where the Movement for Socialism (MAS) candidate Luis Arce was elected president.In exile, <mask> has also declared that "for a transition to be viable" support from the "Maduro regime" was needed, citing as examples South Africa, Eastern Europe and Spain, but saying that those who have committed human right abuses or crimes against humanity should not be included. On 9 December, <mask> <mask> started a tour in Latin America, travelling to Colombia and seeking to "strengthen" an "international front" against Nicolás Maduro, after the Venezuelan parliamentary election that year, which he considered fradulent. The following day <mask> met with Colombian President Iván Duque, and on 11 December he travelled to Cúcuta to meet Venezuelan migrants living in the border and learn about their problems. On 22 May 2021, having travelled to Ecuador, <mask> met with the mayor of Guayaquil, Cynthia Viteri, to discuss about the regularization of the Venezuelan diaspora and to recognize both expired Venezuelan passports and other documents. The following day <mask> met with the president of the National Assembly of Ecuador, Guadalupe Llori, who on 24 May would be in charge of inaugurating president elect Guillermo Lasso. He travelled later to Peru, during the Peruvian general election, and on 29 May participated in a political panel with politicians and businesspeople related to right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the imprisoned former president of Peru Alberto Fujimori, saying that Fujimori represented "freedom" and "democracy" while he characterized her opponent Pedro Castillo as supporting "dictatorship" and "communism". <mask> criticized Castillo for openly declaring that Venezuela was a full democracy and said that he opined about the Peruvian elections because there were a million Venezuelans living in the country, and that their results would affect the region, including Venezuela.On 23 June, after travelling to the United States and meeting with Republican congressman Rick Scott, <mask> declared that the United States would not lift sanctions "without significant advances". Awards and honors
 2007 – Kenyon College Honoris Causa Doctorate Law. 2007, 2008 – Premio Transparencia Award, to the most transparent city mayor of Venezuela, granted by the Venezuela branch of Transparency International. 2008 – Third place, World Mayor Project, for being a "hands-on mayor as well as a national politician fighting for democratic openness and fairness in Venezuela". 2009 – The Most Innovative People Award for Resiliency from the Future Capitals World Summit. 2014 – Harvard University Alumni Achievement Award for the support of democracy and transparency in Venezuela. 2014 – Foreign Policy listed <mask> in its Leading Global Thinkers of 2014 publication.2015 – National Endowment for Democracy awarded <mask> its Democracy Award in May 2015. 2015 – Cádiz Cortes Ibero-American Freedom Prize was awarded "given the unblemished defense of freedom in your community and minimum requirements of the realization of human rights in the same, which has led them to be subject to public rebuke of their government, including the flagrant situation of imprisonment or the cutting of your minimal civil rights". 2015 – One of Spain ABC's Ten Faces in the World in 2015. 2016 – Courage Award, Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, shared with Antonio Ledezma, "for inspiring the world with their extraordinary courage in the defense of liberty and universal human rights". 2017 – Florida Medal of Freedom awarded by Governor of Florida, Rick Scott. 2017 - Sakharov Prize, along with the Venezuelan opposition. 2018 – Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

Publications

Notes

External links

 New York Times: <mask> Lopez interview (February 2018)

1971 births
Living people
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Venezuela
People from Caracas
Kenyon College alumni
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Venezuelan people of Spanish descent
Venezuelan people of Basque descent
Justice First politicians
Mayors of places in Venezuela
A New Era politicians
Popular Will politicians
Venezuelan democracy activists
Venezuelan escapees
Venezuelan politicians convicted of crimes
Venezuelan dissidents
People of the Crisis in Venezuela
Venezuelan Roman Catholics
Venezuelan torture victims
Exiled politicians
Escapees from Venezuelan

masks: López López López López López Leopoldo López López López Leopoldo López López López Leopoldo López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López López Leopoldo López López López López López López López López Leopoldo


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<mask> (born February 17, 1999) is a Cypriot Muay Thai fighter. He is the current WBC Muaythai World Lightweight champion. Muay thai career
<mask> made his professional debut against Abed Halaby in November 2013. He won the fight by a third-round knockout. He won his next four fights, before challenging Panagiotis Zissimopoulos for the WKU European title. <mask> won the title by knockout. <mask> would go on to win 20 of his next 21 fights, during which he won the IKSA European Lightweight Muay thai and WMC World Lightweight titles.While his previous fights were mostly in the Greek muay thai circuit, after winning the WMC title, <mask> began fighting almost exclusively in Thailand. He scored decision wins against Phetsongkom Sitjaroensub and Kaensuan Sasiprapa, as well as a KO win against Jomrachan Kiatworatha in the Rangsit Stadium. <mask> participated in the 2018 Toyota Revo Marathon 135 lbs Tournament. He defeated Kongsuiya Sitnatee by decision in the quarterfinals, and Vladimir Lytkin by head kick in the finals, before facing Felipe Lobo in the finals. He beat Lobo by decision. <mask> entered the 2018 Toyota Revo Marathon 140 lbs Tournament as well. He beat Antonio Faria by decision in the semifinals, and Julio Lobo by decision in the finals.He made his ONE Championship debut against Singtongnoi Por.Telakun at ONE Championship: Warriors Of Light, winning the fight by unanimous decision. He next knocked out Petngam Kiatkampon at the Rajadamnern Stadium, before returning to ONE to face Lerdsila Chumpairtour at ONE Championship: Dreams of Gold. Lerdsila won the fight by a second-round TKO. In December 2019, <mask> fought Dennanpho Sor Thanyaluk for the WBC Muaythai World Lightweight title. <mask> won the fight by a fourth-round TKO. After his title win, <mask> returned to ONE at ONE Championship: Warrior’s Code against Taiki Naito. Naito won the fight by unanimous decision.style=background:white colspan=9 |
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2018-12-21|| Win ||align=left| Antonio Faria || Toyota Marathon Tournament, Semi Final || Bangkok, Thailand || Decision || 5 || 3:00
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2018-10-18|| Win ||align=left| Raksommai Sor.Sommai || Rajadamnern Stadium || Bangkok, Thailand || KO (Straight to the body)|| 3 ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2018-09-28|| Win ||align=left| Sornphet SamartPayakaroonGym || Petchyindee + True4u, Rangsit Stadium || Rangsit, Thailand || Decision || 5 || 3:00
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2018-05-18|| Win ||align=left| Felipe Lobo || Toyota Revo Marathon Tournament, Final || Thailand || Decision || 3 || 3:00
|-
! style=background:white colspan=9 |
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2016-08|| Win||align=left|  || True4u Channel 11 Stadium || Bangkok, Thailand || ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2016-08-14|| Win||align=left| Numchai Huaiyaikombat || Max Muay Thai|| Pattaya, Thailand || KO || 2 ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2016-07-02|| Win||align=left| Alexandros Maragkakis || The Castle Gladiators 2 || Cyprus ||  ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2016-04-23|| Win||align=left| Tagir Khalilov || Prestige Fights || Cyprus ||  ||  ||
|-
! style=background:white colspan=9 |
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-08-02|| Win||align=left|  ||  || Cyprus || ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-07-26|| Win||align=left|  ||  || Cyprus || ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-04-13|| Win||align=left| Petros Papoutsakis || Young Emperors || Cyprus || Decision || 3 || 3:00
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-02-02|| Win||align=left| Petros Papoutsakis || Clash of Titans || Cyprus || Decision || 3 || 3:00
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2013-11-10|| Win||align=left| Abed Halaby || Cyprus International Martial Arts Show || Cyprus || KO (elbow) ||  ||
|-
! style=background:white colspan=9 |
|-
| colspan=9 | Legend:

|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2016-03|| Win||align=left| Sherov Kholmirzaev || WMF World Championship 2016, Final || Bangkok, Thailand ||  ||  ||
|-
! style=background:white colspan=9 |
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2016-03|| Win||align=left| Victor Decarvalo || WMF World Championship 2016, Semi Final || Bangkok, Thailand ||  ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2016-03|| Win||align=left| Albert Arutiunian || WMF World Championship 2016, Quarter Final || Bangkok, Thailand ||  ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-09|| Win||align=left| Andreas Koualis || WMF European Championship 2014, Final || Bucharest, Romania ||  ||  ||
|-
! style=background:white colspan=9 |
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-09|| Win||align=left| Adam Brahim || WMF World European 2014, Semi Final || Bucharest, Romania || Decision || 3 || 3:00
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-09|| Win||align=left|  || WMF European Championship 2014, Quarter Final || Bucharest, Romania || KO (Elbow) || 2 ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-03|| Win||align=left| Serdal Arpaci || WMF World Championship 2014, Final || Pattaya, Thailand || TKO (Doctor Stoppage/Elbow) ||  ||
|-
! style=background:white colspan=9 |
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-03|| Win||align=left|  || WMF World Championship 2014, Semi Final || Pattaya, Thailand ||  ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2014-03|| Win||align=left|  || WMF World Championship 2014, Quarter Final || Pattaya, Thailand ||  ||  ||
|-  style="background:#cfc;"
| 2013-|| Win||align=left| Giorgos Marousides || Mortal Combat 2 || Cyprus || Decision || 3 || 3:00
|-
| colspan=9 | Legend:

See also
List of male kickboxers
List of WBC Muaythai world champions

References

1999 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Limassol
Cypriot Muay Thai practitioners
ONE Championship kickboxers

masks:
Savvas Michael
Michael
Michael
Michael
Michael
Michael
Michael
Michael
Savvas
Michael


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<mask> (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician, and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister for Fisheries and the Minister for Mineral Resources from 1999–2003. Prior to the March 2015 expiry of his term in the Legislative Council, Obeid announced his decision to retire early on 10 May 2011, citing family reasons. During his parliamentary career, Obeid was considered by many to be a "power broker" in the New South Wales Labor Party, belonging to the dominant right-wing sub-faction, often referred to as The Terrigals, so named as its inaugural meeting was held at Obeid's beach house in Terrigal. It was reported that Obeid might retire at the 2011 state election, prior to the expiry of his term; however, he waited until the election was concluded. Obeid, who joined the Labor Party in 1972, was expelled from the party in May 2013 for bringing the party into disrepute. A series of three investigative hearings by the Independent Commission Against Corruption between 2012 and 2014 into the conduct of Obeid and others found that Obeid acted in a corrupt manner in relation to cafe leases at Circular Quay and that he misused his position as a Member of Parliament to benefit his family's financial interests in both Direct Health Solutions and in water licences over the family's Bylong Valley farm.In June 2014, the Commission recommended the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) consider prosecuting Obeid for the offence of misconduct in public office over his attempts to influence bureaucrats and Labor colleagues to benefit his family. In 2013, the DPP announced that it would be prosecuting Obeid for misconduct in public office, and a criminal trial in the Supreme Court of New South Wales began in February 2016. Obeid pleaded not guilty; however, a jury found Obeid guilty of misconduct in public office. He was sentenced to five years in jail with a non-parole period of three years. In separate proceedings, Obeid, together with one of his sons, Moses, and former Labor minister, Ian Macdonald, were charged with conspiracy for Macdonald to conduct misconduct in public office and grant a mining lease over the Obeid’s family farm at Bylong. In July 2021, all three were found guilty; and on 21 October Obeid was sentenced to seven years in gaol, with a non-parole period of five years and three months. Obeid, Moses Obeid, and Macdonald, lodged an appeal against their conviction, expected to be heard in September 2022.Early years and background

Obeid was born in the village of Matrite (sometimes called Metrit or Mitrit), a village in Northern Lebanon with a Maronite Catholic majority, in Lebanon. At age 6, he migrated to Australia with his family and they settled in Redfern, growing up in a terrace house. A dual LebaneseAustralian citizen, of Lebanese Maronite Catholic faith, Obeid was an altar boy, sold newspapers from a street corner, and collected deposits on soft drink bottles. Obeid married Judith in 1965, is now father of nine children and a grandfather of 31 grandchildren. At age 29 in 1972, Obeid joined the Labor Party. Prior to entering parliament, Obeid held a range of voluntary roles that included a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1980–1982), a part-time Commissioner of the Ethnic Affairs Commission (1981–1985), a vice-president of the Ethnic Press Association of Australia (1981–1986), a director of the Western Suburbs Hospital Board (sic) (1983–1986), on the Board of Governors of the Law Foundation of New South Wales (1985–1988), the lead of the Australian-Lebanese hostage negotiation mission to Iraq (December 1990), and was the patron of the Australian Lebanese Christian Federation. Political career
Elected to the Legislative Council in 1991 to replace Jack Hallam, despite a brief carriage of junior ministerial responsibilities in the second Carr ministry, Obeid's main contribution to parliament has been through Committee representation and his ability to manipulate factional numbers and votes.At the time of his resignation from the Council, Obeid claimed that his most satisfying moment in politics was to assist in the passage of legislation to help building sub-contractors. His term in parliament, though, was dogged by controversy, including:
2002 Oasis redevelopment (see below) and subsequent investigation that cleared him of allegations of corrupt behaviour
2002 revelations that Obeid had failed to disclose all his business interests on Parliament's pecuniary interests register (see below)
2003 allegations that Obeid promised to secure the seat of Parramatta, and an early ministry for David Borger if he dumped the Left faction and joined the dominant Right
Providing Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, a member of the Australian Democrats, with a lift to Parliament House and using the opportunity to lobby Chesterfield-Evans in order to achieve favourable political outcomes, as revealed by Chesterfield-Evans in Hansard:

2004 censure motion due to Obeid's undue influence in the elections of Matrite Council
2004 claims that Obeid had exerted undue influence on family members
2006 attempts to dump Obeid from the 2007 state election in favour of a Muslim candidate
2007 influence in the composition of the Iemma ministry and Iemma's demise
2009 influence in the composition of the Rees ministry
2009 representations to NSW Minister for Roads, Michael Daley, on behalf of Mid-Western Regional Council for funding to seal a 1.5 km stretch of roadway near Obeid's family property near Mudgee. Obeid failed to disclose his business interest
2009 allegations of linkages between Obeid, his son, Moses, former Labor powerbroker and current lobbyist, Graham Richardson, businessman, Ron Medich and the murder of Michael McGurk
2009–2010 allegations that Obeid, together with right-wing Terrigals sub-factional colleague Tripodi, influenced the election and make-up of the Kristina Keneally ministry

A large number of the allegations against Obeid have been generated by Fairfax Media's, Sydney Morning Herald. In 2003, following Obeid's decision to not seek re-election to the fourth Carr ministry, he was quoted as saying:

Announcing his decision to retire from the Legislative Council on 10 May 2011, Obeid issued a statement that his granddaughter, Gisele, was diagnosed with cancer tumours in her kidneys in November 2010 and that, despite an operation and extensive chemotherapy, recent scans suggest some of the tumours remain. He said: "My wife and I need to spend all our time supporting our son Moses and his wife Nikki through this difficult time." Following his announcement to retire, John Hatzistergos MLC also announced his intention to retire from the Legislative Council. Walt Secord, the former chief of staff to the former Premier, Kristina Keneally, and Adam Searle were nominated by Labor to fill the casual vacancies.Business interests and corruption findings
Initially working as a taxi driver and then property developer, the source of Obeid's initial wealth and business is not clear. However, it is known that Obeid, together with his two brothers, inherited their father's estate that comprised land and houses in Lebanon. In 1973, Obeid together with business partners, purchased an interest in the recently established Arabic press, El-Telegraph Newspaper, with Obeid later buying out his business partners. Obeid has since sold his stake and is, "no longer the publisher of that paper". In September 2002, The Sydney Morning Herald alleged that Obeid was one of NSW's richest members of parliament. Media reports claimed that Obeid had purchased a property in Clovelly for 875,000 in 1991 and the following day sold the property to the New South Wales Department of Housing for A$1.1 million. The Herald also claimed that two companies associated with Obeid have had debts of $AUD5 million written off by various banks.It was also alleged that the Obeid family trust secured a loan from the Colonial State Bank for A$18 million. The Herald also sourced an internal document from Macquarie Bank, claiming:

These allegations arose at the same time as The Herald alleged that Obeid had attempted to solicit a A$1 million payment in return for promising NSW Government support for the Canterbury Bulldogs League Club's A$800 million Oasis housing development in south-western Sydney. As a result of these allegations, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) conducted an inquiry and found that there was no evidence that any donation was made to the Labor Party in relation to the project. The Commission made a finding that Obeid had never solicited a donation and cleared him of any wrongdoing. In the meantime, The Herald reports for a series of articles concerning Canterbury Bulldogs salary cap breaches and the above (false) allegations had won a Gold Walkley. Obeid commenced defamation action against Fairfax Media and in 2006 the Supreme Court found that Obeid had been defamed and that the media article had contributed to Obeid losing his job as a NSW minister. Obeid was awarded A$162,173 in damages, plus costs believed to have been more than A$1 million.Walkley Awards organisers later said the judging panel, "would not have awarded the prize if it had known the allegations against Mr Obeid would be found to be unsubstantiated". Obeid's family have property interests in Lebanon, Port Macquarie, Terrigal, Bylong Valley, Woolwich and Hunters Hill, and Concord (since sold); and business interests in live sheep exporting to Syria and Iraq, leases on cafes at Circular Quay, and the marina at . ICAC investigations

Operations Jasper and Acacia

In November 2012, the New South Wales ICAC began a series of investigative hearings relating to Obeid's alleged property and mining interests. This inquiry concerned, among other issues, the circumstances surrounding a


texts:
 decision made in 2008 by the then Minister for Primary Industries and Minister for Mineral Resources, Ian Macdonald, to open a mining area in the Bylong Valley for coal exploration. These circumstances include whether Macdonald's decision was influenced by Obeid. After the presentation of the ICAC's opening statements in 2012, NSW Opposition Leader, John Robertson asked the NSW Labor Party to suspend Obeid's party membership; which was subsequently terminated in mid-2013. The witnesses list for the inquiry included former NSW Premiers Morris Iemma and Nathan Rees.On 31 July 2013 the Commission found that Obeid, Macdonald, and others engaged in corrupt conduct in relation to their actions involving the Mount Penny mining tenement in the Bylong Valley. The ICAC found that Obeid engaged in corrupt conduct by entering into agreements with Macdonald, whereby Macdonald acted contrary to his public duty as a minister of the Crown. The Commission recommended that the matter be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions with respect to prosecuting Obeid and others. On reviewing the evidence before the Commission of the financial benefits accrued to the Obeid family, the ICAC provided relevant information to the NSW Crime Commission for such action as it deems appropriate, and the ICAC also disseminated relevant information to the Australian Taxation Office for appropriate action. Further matters were also referred to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Stock Exchange, and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. In 2014 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission commenced investigations of allegations of cartel conduct in relation to the 2009 tender process for the coal exploration licence. In 2013 the Australian Tax Office sent a bill totalling almost A$9 million in tax and penalties to more than thirty members of the Obeid family, including family matriarch Judith and most of the couple's children, sons and daughters-in-law and grandchildren.In January 2014, the then Premier, Barry O'Farrell, announced that the Liberal/National government would introduce legislation into Parliament to cancel the exploration licences for Doyles Creek, Mount Penny and Glendon Brook. In late May 2017, Obeid was committed to stand trial on conspiracy charges with Macdonald, relating to McDonald's granting of a coal exploration licence involving the Mount Penny tenement; due to commence in March 2019. Operations Cyrus, Meeka and Cabot

In October 2013, the Commission commenced further investigative hearings surrounding allegations that, between 2000 and 2011, Obeid misused his position as a Member of Parliament to attempt to influence public officials to exercise their official functions with respect to retail leases at Circular Quay, without disclosing that Obeid, his family or a related entity had an interest in some of those leases. It was also alleged that during the same period, certain public officials improperly exercised their official functions, with respect to retail leases at Circular Quay, to benefit Obeid or his family (Operation Cyrus). The Commission also investigated allegations that, between 2005 and 2008, Obeid misused his position to attempt to influence other public officials to make decisions favouring Direct Health Solutions Pty Ltd., without disclosing that he, his family or a related entity had an interest in that company (Operation Meeka). Further, the Commission also commenced investigations into allegations that, between 2007 and 2008, Obeid misused his position as a Member of Parliament to influence public officials to exercise their official functions with respect to the review and grant of water licences at a farm at Bylong in the Upper Hunter, without disclosing that he, his family or a related entity had an interest in the licences. It is also alleged that during the same period, certain public officials improperly exercised their official functions with respect to the review and grant of the water licences (Operation Cabot).Former ministers, Carl Scully and Joe Tripodi were called before the Commission; which handed down its findings in June 2014, recommending that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) consider charging Obeid with misconduct in public office. Criminal charges and findings

Misconduct in public office
In November 2014 the ICAC announced that following advice from the DPP, Obeid would be prosecuted for the offence of misconduct in public office for corruptly lobbying his former colleagues to gain lucrative concessions over cafe leases at Circular Quay that were secretly owned by his family. After a December hearing that refused to place Obeid under strict bail conditions, in February 2015 a Supreme Court judge ordered Obeid to surrender both his Australian and Lebanese passports, in the absence of an extradition treaty between Australian and Lebanon, as Obeid was considered a potential flight risk. In February 2016 a criminal trial against Obeid commenced in the NSW Supreme Court; however, as new evidence came to light, ten days into the trial the jury was discharged. In a subsequent criminal trial lasting just over three weeks, a jury found Obeid guilty of misconduct in public office. He was sentenced in December 2016 to five years in jail with a non-parole period of three years, and granted parole in 2019. Appeal

In June 2017 before the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, Obeid lodged an appeal against both his conviction and his sentence on the basis that he should not have stood trial in any court because breaches of the code of conduct governing NSW Members Parliament are within the exclusive cognisance or jurisdiction of Parliament, rather than the courts.On 13 September 2017 the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, Bathurst CJ, Leeming JA, Hulme, Hamill and Adams JJ, dismissed the appeal against both his conviction and his sentence. The Court held that it would be an affront to the administration of justice for the Court to decline to exercise its jurisdiction and that it was inconceivable that a politician of sixteen years standing who had been a Minister for four years did not know that his duty was to serve the public interest and that he was not elected to use his position to advance his own or his family’s pecuniary interests. Obeid's legal team subsequently sought leave to lodge an appeal against his conviction with the High Court of Australia; claiming that the courts had no jurisdiction to hear a case about misconduct in public office and that jurisdiction rested with the NSW Parliament. Handing down its ruling on 22 March 2018, the High Court, before Bell, Keane and Edelman JJ, ruled there was insufficient possibility the appeal would succeed and leave was refused. Criminal conspiracy
Further to Operations Cyrus, Meeka and Cabot, the DPP charged Obeid and his son, Moses, of conspiring over a coal exploration licence granted over the Obeid family farm in the Bylong Valley, when Ian Macdonald was Resources Minister from 2007 to 2009. Macdonald was separately charged with misconduct in public office. All three were tried before Justice Elizabeth Fullerton, and the trial commenced in early 2020 and concluded in February 2021.None of the accused gave evidence at their trial. Justice Fullerton handed down her verdict on 19 July, finding all three guilty. On 21 October 2021, Obeid was sentenced to seven years' gaol, however was immediately released on bail due to concerns about the risk of Obeid contracting COVID. Macdonald and Moses Obeid were also given custodial sentences and did not apply for bail. Obeid, together with his son and Macdonald, lodged an appeal against their conviction, claiming that Justice Fullerton made a number of errors of fact and reasoning when she found them guilty. Despite applying for bail, Obeid is in custody with the appeal expected to be heard in September 2022. Post-political career

In late 2013, it was reported that Obeid and family were building a sandstone mansion in his ancestral home town of Matrit, Lebanon, due for completion in late 2014.In 2013, Obeid and his wife listed for sale their family home, Passy, in Hunters Hill, with an initial asking price of 10 million. In 2020, it was reported that Passy sold for approximately 11 million. In 2013, Obeid also made application for fee assistance from the New South Wales government to assist with legal costs. In May 2017, the NSW Parliament passed legislation to remove parliamentary pensions from former politicians convicted of serious criminal offences. , the NSW Government was trying to recover approximately 7.9 million from Obeid and three of his sons for their failed lawsuits against the ICAC and its officers. Awards and honours

In 1984 Obeid was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to ethnic welfare; which was cancelled by the Governor-General in 2014. As a state minister and Member of the Legislative Council, Obeid was entitled to use the honorific "The Honourable" for life.Following findings of corrupt conduct against Obeid and the announcement of the decision to commence criminal proceedings, at the request of Mike Baird, the Premier of New South Wales, the Department of Premier and Cabinet asked Obeid to show cause why he should not lose the honorific. Although Obeid argued for its retention, Baird recommended to Governor David Hurley that the honorific be removed; which was authorised with effect from December 2014. References

Further reading

External links

1943 births
Living people
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Lebanese emigrants to Australia
Medal of the Order of Australia forfeitures
Lebanese Maronites
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Labor Right politicians
Political scandals in Australia
Australian politicians convicted of crimes
Australian white-collar criminals
21st-century Australian