Watchdog

Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of the jailed former boss of Azerbaijan's biggest bank, has been detained in London and faces extradition, the BBC reports.

It said Hajiyeva, 55, was detained by Metropolitan Police last week after an extradition request from authorities in Azerbaijan, where she faces two charges of embezzlement.

A judge at London's Westminster Magistrates Court ruled that Hajiyeva could be released on bail under certain conditions, according to the BBC.

However, prosecutors appealed the decision, meaning she will remain in custody pending an appeal on November 8.

Hajiyeva's husband, Jahangir Hajiyev, was chairman of the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan from 2001 to 2015. In 2016, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of fraud and embezzlement, charges he denied, and was ordered to repay $29 million.

His wife fled the country and was given permission to live in Britain under a visa scheme for wealthy investors.

There, Hajiyeva's lavish lifestyle made her the first target of new legislation designed to target suspected corrupt foreign officials who have potentially laundered stolen money through Britain.

She is under investigation by Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA), which in February secured the country’s first-ever unexplained wealth order (UWO) to target Hajiyeva's wealth.

Under the order, the NCA can apply to court to seize property when a suspected corrupt foreign official, or their family, cannot identify a legitimate source of the funds used for buying it.

It has been revealed that Hajiyeva, who lives in a $20 million house in London, used as many as 35 credit cards issued by her husband's bank to spend more than $21 million at the luxury store Harrods over a decade.

Her legal team argued that she was a "spendthrift" -- not "a fraudster."

With reporting by the BBC

The United Nations has rejected a claim that it forced a Pakistani lawyer to leave the country after successfully defending a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy.

The lawyer, Saiful Mulook, flew to the Netherlands amid protests across Pakistan by hard-line Islamists demanding the execution of Asia Bibi, whose conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court on October 31.

In a deal with the hard-line Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) party that ended the protests but came under criticism from Western countries and human rights groups, the Pakistani government on November 3 indicated that it will bar Bibi from traveling abroad pending a "review" of the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit her.

Bibi, a mother of five, had spent eight years on death row for allegedly insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad before being acquitted. She has denied the charges.

Mulook told a news conference in The Hague on November 5 that he was "put on a plane against my wishes" even though he had refused to leave the country without ensuring that his client was out of prison.

He said he contacted a UN official in Islamabad after protests incited by the TLP brought the country to a virtual standstill.

"And then [the UN] and the European nations' ambassadors in Islamabad, they kept me for three days and then put me on a plane against my wishes," he said.

However, UN spokesperson Eri Kaneko said on November 6 that the UN in Pakistan "extended its assistance to Mr. Mulook at his request and did not force him to leave the country against his wishes."

"Nor can the UN force someone to leave Pakistan against his or her will," Kaneko added.

Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, has pleaded for asylum from Western countries, saying his family is in great danger in Pakistan.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on November 6 urged Pakistan to take "all measures necessary to ensure the safety and security of Asia Bibi and her family."

"It is a very important issue, a central priority for our government," Freeland said.

Meanwhile, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini pledged to help Bibi leave her country, saying, "It is not permissible that in 2018 someone can risk losing their life for a ... hypothesis of blasphemy."

Insulting Islam is punishable by death in Pakistan, and the mere rumor of blasphemy can lead to lynchings by mobs.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters