Free Republic

An Iranian teenager known as 'Zombie Angelina Jolie' has been released from prison in Iran just days after being sentenced to ten years in jail, it is claimed. Sahar Tabar, 19, whose real name is Fatemeh Khishvand, from Tehran, was released on bail on Sunday, according to campaigners and activists in Iran. US-based Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, who first broke the new of Tabar's imprisonment on Twitter, said the release came after 'massive media pressure'. Tabar, who became famous after posting heavily-doctored photos of herself on Instagram, had originally been jailed for obscenity and insulting the hijab, according to the...

"Sir, you have done India proud." That was how the anchorman of a television channel in Delhi addressed the Indian navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, on the victorious sea battle by warship INS Tabar with would-be hijackers as dusk was falling on Tuesday evening in the Gulf of Aden. Those words would have made Sir Francis Drake, the 16th-century British navigator and slaver-politician of the Elizabethan era, truly envious. Sir Francis had bigger claims to fame in a life cut short by dysentery while attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1595. Unsurprisingly, the patriotic Indian media dutifully expressed its gratitude...

Navy free to pursue pirates into Somalian waters The Indian Navy can now go after Somali pirates without hindrance. It has been authorised for “hot pursuit” of pirates into Somalian waters. A country’s territorial waters extend to 12 nautical miles from its shore. Till now, the navy did not have the mandate to chase pirates into Somalian waters. A senior official said the navy had been given the permission to chase Somali pirates across the country’s maritime boundary under certain circumstances. “Different laws apply when it comes to chasing pirates in territorial waters of another country. In the case of...