• Billionaire Rausing charged with preventing wife's burial

    Hulton Archive / Getty Images file

    Eva Rausing and Hans Kristian Rausing, heir to the Swedish Tetra Pak fortune. Eva Rausing, known for her philanthropic work and her struggle with addiction, was found dead in the couple's home on July 9.

    One of the world’s richest men, Hans Kristian Rausing, was charged with preventing the lawful burial of his wife's body, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

    The report, citing London’s Metropolitan Police, said the charges filed on Monday extend to July 9, when Eva Rausing, 48, was found dead in the couple’s $100 million home in London after her husband was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.


    Rausing’s body was discovered in an advanced state of decomposition that suggested she had been dead for some time, possibly as long as a month, The Independent reported on Monday.

    Police went to the couple’s Georgian mansion to arrest Hans Kristian Rausing — billionaire heir to the Tetra Pak fortune — on suspicion of drug possession after he was seen driving erratically. In the search of the home for drugs, police discovered the body of Eva Rausing.

    The couple had a long-publicized battle with drug use and addiction.

    A profile in the Sydney Morning Herald, citing friends of the couple, reported that in the months leading up to her death, Eva Rausing had been wracked by fears that she and her husband were being spied on, and that they were the victims of a conspiracy of "bribes, lies and sleaze."

    Hans Kristian Rausing was arrested in connection with her death, but the autopsy was inconclusive on the cause because of the decomposition, reports said.

    Rausing remains under arrest but is receiving medical treatment for withdrawal and has not yet been questioned by detectives, the Associated Press reported.

    The charge of "preventing the decent and lawful burial" is a common law offence, which leaves it up to a judge how much time Hans Kristian Rausing would face if convicted, the AP said. Recent cases on similar charges have led to sentences of several years.

      

  • Lifting the veil on Afghanistan's female addicts

    Left: A drug addict in Kabul smokes for an additional kick after injecting himself with heroin, Aug. 2007. Image: Saurabh Das / AP
    Right: An Afghan woman holds up opium as she attends a counseling session at the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Reuters reports: Anita lifted the sky-blue burqa from her face, revealing glazed eyes and cracked lips from years of smoking opium, and touched her saggy belly, still round from giving birth to her seventh child a month ago.

    "I can't give breast milk to my baby," said the 32-year-old Anita, "I'm scared he'll get addicted.”

    Left: Male drug addicts sit in the detox room at the Kabul Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, Sept. 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Image: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
    Right: Female drug addicts visit the Nejat drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    While it is not uncommon to see men shooting up along the banks of the dried up Kabul riverbed in broad daylight, women in the ultra-conservative culture of Muslim Afghanistan are expected to stay out of public view for the most part. They often have to seek permission from a male relative or husband to leave their home, and when they do they are encased in the head-to-toe burqa.

    No estimates are available on how many women are addicted to opium or heroin. Nejat estimates around 60,000 women in Afghanistan regularly take illegal drugs, including hashish and marijuana. Full story

    Left: An Afghan drug addict smokes heroin in the city of Ghazni west of Kabul, Afghanistan. Aug. 2007. Image: Musadeq Sadeq / AP
    Right: A woman addict sits cross-legged during a counseling session at the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Left: An Afghan policeman stands behind a pile of burning illegal narcotics in Kabul, April 2009.
    Right: A drug addict waits for her turn to see doctors at the Nejat drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, Jan. 2012. Images: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Left: Afghan farmers work in an opium poppy field in Nawa district of Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 2009. Image: Abdul Khaleq / AP
    Right: A drug addict holds her child as she visits the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Left: A doctor gives advice to a new detox patient in the Nejat detox program at the Kabul Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, Sept. 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Image: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
    Right: An Afghan doctor explains the use of condoms to a group of women addicts at a counseling session at the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Ahmad Masood / Reuters

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