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DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY is reviewing its relationship with a Saudi Arabian University in light of the ongoing controversy over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Dublin City University is monitoring current developments related to Saudi Arabia and is reviewing its relationships in that context,” a DCU spokesperson confirmed as Turkey says that the 59-year-old was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month.
DCU Student Union president Vito Moloney Burke also confirmed work was ongoing in the university on the matter, saying “any decision, either way will be done so with vigorous research”.
The spokesperson declined to say if the university would be issuing a public statement once it had concluded the review.
DCU has retained a relationship with Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) since the summer of 2012, when it signed an agreement to deliver two undergraduate degree programmes there: a Bachelor in Business Studies International Finance BSIF, and Bachelor of Marketing, Innovation and Technology.
PNU is one of the largest women-only universities in the world with more than 60,000 students. It is named after Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman, the sister of the founder of Saudi Arabia.
DCU has also completed an in-depth curriculum review with PNU as part of “broadening our offering from business to human performance, health science and nursing”.
Secretary of the NUJ, Séamus Dooley told TheJournal.ie that he believes any review should “take all of five minutes”.
“What I would say is that I believe they should withdraw. It is unconscionable that a college which has a distinguished record – not just in journalism but also in politics and public affairs – would be involved in an ongoing basis at this stage,” he continued.
Dooley acknowledged the decision could be financially difficult for DCU to take. He said he absolutely recognised it “could be a potentially difficult decision to DCU on an economic level but on an ethical level it’s a no brainer”.
Dooley had previously written to the President of DCU, Professor Brian MacCraith, in his role as a board member of IBEC, calling on the organisation to cancel a joint event with the Irish Saudi Arabia Business Council (ISABC).
In the letter Dooley said, “Given DCU’s distinguished role in journalism education I believe you will fully understand the gravity of this murder and I request your support for cancellation of tomorrow’s event.”
The event did not go ahead.
Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist, and critic of the leadership regime in the country, was murdered in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul on 2 October.
The Turkish prosecutor investigating the case said this week that Khashoggi was strangled immediately after entering his country’s embassy in Istanbul. In a gruesome, premeditated killing, his body was then dismembered and destroyed.
Saudi authorities initially denied Khashoggi was dead, saying he had left the premises alive and well.
DCU’s relationship with PNU has already come under scrutiny this year when it emerged that DCU was advertising positions at the university in Saudi Arabia. However, no men were allowed apply for the positions at the all-female university.
DCU has also failed to disclose the financial relationship between the two universities.
In response to parliamentary questions tabled by Independent TD Clare Daly earlier this year, the Department of Education said, “DCU has entered into a commercial contract with the university in question for the delivery of DCU degree programmes in that university. The financial details are commercially sensitive and therefore confidential.”
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This is becoming a trend now- assaulting Gardai. IF that becomes the norm, we are all screwed.
More than we are. At least equip the force with Tasers. Doesn’t mean that things will escalate- that’s already happened.
@Barry Dempsey: unfortunately, it’s already the norm & has been for some time.
@Barry Dempsey: really is the time to issue tasers to all gardai. The usual anti garda rhetoric about how they will abuse them was said when they received extendable batons and pepper spray. Let’s be adults about this and acknowledge the gardai need to protect us and themselves. Tasers need to be issued immediately
@Clever Jake: Don’t panic Guard , I have your murder caught on tape .
@Barry Dempsey: Dawn milk and dairy’s decline matched the uptake in cop bashing over the years….some Ming lad has the secret remedy I hope
@Clever Jake: Are body cams not a solution for taser misuse???
I would rather have a taser to defend myself than a body can in all fairness.
@Clever Jake: not very clever make are you. Violent criminals don’t care if they are being recorded
To be fair @clever jake all you need to do is wear a balaclava and the body cam is effectively useless. I understand the risks with a taser buy we can’t have people attacking our guards and they need some form of arms to protect them or at least deter would be attackers
@Clever Jake: 153 deaths as a result of using a taser. That’s a very small number. One wrong connection with an asp will also result in death or live changing injury
@Clever Jake: if you die as a result of the lawful use of a taser it’s not murder
@Clever Jake: body cams do not necessarily deter attacks on police officers/gardai
@Clever Jake: cams prevent violence WRONG
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-31558269/man-jailed-for-attack-on-police-woman-caught-on-camera
@Clever Jake: you understand there is a difference between killing and murder?
@Joe Bloggs: the judiciary , so out of touch with reality do not protect the Gardai by giving these slimeballs silly sentences. Wonder what would happen if a few of their own were the recipients of violence?
@Clever Jake: read your own link. Over 1000 die after taster incidents in US but only 153 linked to the actual taser
@Clever Jake: do you want me to post more links? And yes you said it prevents violence. And I pointed out that it doesn’t. I can post more links if you want.
@Clever Jake: police officer , with a taser and a body cam , and guess what , he still got shot .
https://youtu.be/884W4l3eoQg
@Clever Jake: Taser is in widespread use across the UK, and several forces are planning to issue them to all officers.
You seem more concerned with the potential for misuse of Taser than you are about the safety of gardaí. All of those arguments were made when pepper spray was issued, but they weren’t borne out. A camera isn’t going to deter someone under the influence of drink or drugs, or someone who’s not in their right mind. Would you rather a garda get permanently injured or killed, than everyone get a Taser?
@Clever Jake: reduction is not prevention
@Clinton Baptiste: A kevlar vest would have come in handy.
@Sean Conway: the vest can’t cover everything.
@Clever Jake: you obviously have no experience of dealing with violent people. No application of force is 100% safe; the very notion that you can apply force to a non-complaint person without running the risk of harming them is naive at best. Police all over the world use physical force, various incapacitant sprays, various types of less lethal rounds and several types of stun guns like Taser; all carry some level of risk. So unless you know Captain Kirk & are going to talk him into coming down here to lend us a phaser, you’re going to have to come to terms with the above. I’d also advise you to have a cursory look at YouTube; it’s got a load of footage of police getting assaulted from all over the world, much of it is from body worn cameras or from vehicle dash cams. A camera is not a deterrent, especially when sentences handed down for those convicted of assaults on police are paltry. Taser use is no longer confined to specialist firearms officers in the UK, it is being issued to ordinary response coppers in many forces & will eventually roll out to all of them.
@Sean Conway: He got shot in the neck .
As far as I’m aware , no Kevlar vest covers your face .
@Clever Jake: If some1 gets tazored by a cop in MOST cases the victim deserved it. Ur going on about a 10% chance of the victim dying after being tazored but the guards have 15k members & the latest stats is 7k guard’s get injured every year doing they’re job. That’s nearly a 50% chance a guards going to get injured every year.Let’s go back a few years to lugs branagens day when if you were caught doing something you shouldn’t have u got taught a lesson. Crime back in them days was alot lower & why because guards had power & respect. Now the guards fear being attacked while on duty & if they try defend themselves so they can get home to they’re family’s. The do gooders like u report them to the obemsman & for some reason they have to defend why they knocked a scrot on they’re ass
@Barry Dempsey: Assaulting the gardai will not ever become the norm in this country the gardai can well take care of this state and themselves as they have bravely proofed in the past.
most of the riff-raff only understand one language – 0 tolerance and tougher sentencing
@Mark Brandt: well in fairness that’s been tried and tested all over the world and still hasn’t worked
@kissmyarse: the death penalty ensures they wouldn’t offend again…. ;)
@B9xiRspG: not sure if your aware that we removed it from the constitution a number of years ago, and personally as a human being I am glad we did so because we are better than that, to take any ones life is murder in my book whether an individual does it or a state
@kissmyarse: how do you know it doesn’t work? Maybe the crime rates would be much higher in other countries if the sentencing was as lenient as here.
I mean it‘s simple put the scrotes away for 30 years and they can’t reoffend during that period put them away for 1 year or/and suspend the sentence and most of them reoffend within a week of release!
So yes, harder sentences would make the country safer without a doubt.
@Mark Brandt: yep, Martin Nolan is waiting anxiously to hand down a very stern suspended sentence!
The guards must feel very vulnerable without any way of protecting themselves against guns, knifes etc
Guns are the norm in policing internationally. We have moved on from the day when the Gardai were dealing with ‘ordinary decent criminals’ if the Garda Siochana can’t protect themselves how are they supposed to protect us? I really pity any Garda responding to an incident these day …they have no idea of the potential outcomes and no way to respond with at least equal force to that which criminals bring to the table. Yes tasters and yes to sidearm.
@Paul Murphy: the Garda should never been armed, there is too much risk of innocent people being killed and we only have to look to the states to see that
@kissmyarse: Agree 100%
@kissmyarse: How many innocent bystanders get shot every year by police in France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Portugal etc etc ?
Innocent bystanders get shot,stabbed and their heads kicked in by drugged up violent criminals, not by police.
Using lethal force for police is a big call to make and you would generally be speaking of single aimed shots so the risks to non involved parties would be relatively small.
@kissmyarse: yeah but only stateside and the cops there are just as trigger happy as the average American.
How many innocent bystanders are getting killed by police in other countries?
Fact is the scrotes have no respect anymore whatsoever and the Guards are not better armed than myself!
Arm them properly now!
@kissmyarse:
I would say the chances of innocent people getting killed by a Garda is much less likely than innocent people getting killed by Sk_bag pond life.
The Gardai should all carry bodycams and tasers.
@kissmyarse: the mindset in the states us half the issue. Shoot first and ask questions later is not proactive policing. There have been very few incidents of innocent members of the public being injured by Garda shootings in the history of the state. We had armed soldiers providing escorts in public for 40 plus years without an incident. Weapons can be used as a deterrent without ever having to be drawn but they give the user a sense of protection. I was in Rome recently with both armed police and soldiers in evidence in public locations. It gave a certain sense of security from terrorism.
@kissmyarse: what are you talking about man….no innocent people get killed in cross fire by the garda.
The states have a culture of it. It hasnt happened yet here..
Proper sentencing none of this concurrent stuff if you commit multiple crimes you serve multiple sentences!
The DPP needs more pressure put on them by the people of Ireland and Judges need to be answerable to the people of Ireland for there substandard sentencing!
Just start shooting them once and for all. Do the whole of society a favour and there’s far less paperwork involved too.
If you werent going down for a while …. You are now.
@John Hayes: that’s no way to speak about a Garda that has been seriously injured on duty
Gardai needs to be armed like any other police force in the world!
How much will this assault cost the tax payer in compensation for the injury, sick time , I’d like to see the dirtbird be taken for every cent he has , his entire dole if that’s what it involves, hopefully he would f off to another country instead
@John Walsh: a sure hell be grand
Time to arm every guard with a proper handgun and a taser like here in Germany
He is a member of ARU so he had a gun and obviously didn’t think he needed to use it. Hope he’s ok
have your say