A former Indonesian state airlines pilot was convicted of murdering a leading human rights activist today and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the country’s supreme court.

It was the second time the Garuda pilot, Pollycarpus Priyanto, 45, was convicted of poisoning Munir Thalib with arsenic during a stopover on a flight to Amsterdam. The supreme court had quashed his first conviction on appeal.

The celebrated case has become a test case for Indonesia’s resolve to tackle the legacy of ailing former President Suharto’s 32-year dictatorship, after allegations that the state’s intelligence agency had plotted the murder.

After the verdict was announced, Indonesian police said that secret service agents would also be investigated for the first time about their involvement in the murder of Munir.

The 38-year-old activist was one of the Indonesian military’s staunchest critics, exposing human rights abuses in Papua and Aceh, as well its involvement in drug trafficking and illegal logging.

But in 2004 Munir decided to escape the repeated death threats to travel to the Netherlands to study for a year.

On the Garuda flight to Amsterdam he was poisoned in a Coffee Bean outlet at Singapore’s Changi airport and died in agony two hours before the flight reached its destination.

Pollycarpus was convicted of the murder in December 2005 and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. The decision was overturned ten months later, even though Pollycarpus was convicted of forging a letter authorising him to travel on the flight as a security officer.

The supreme court reopened the case after fresh evidence came to light last year during a judicial review which found that Munir had been seen drinking with Pollycarpus in Singapore airport.

Agents of Indonesia’s intelligence agency, BIN, also testified that they were ordered to assassinate Munir on several occasions, even with the use of magic spells.

A former Garuda chief, Indra Setiawan, was also caught up in the web of intrigue after he admitted receiving a letter from BIN asking him to assign Pollycarpus as an on-board security officer two months before Munir was murdered.

In a recorded telephone conversation, Pollycarpus was heard reassuring the airlines boss and telling him not to worry as Indonesia’s attorney general and supreme court chief justice were “our men”.

Munir’s widow, Suciwati, said the verdict did not go far enough and demanded further investigation to expose those who ordered the killing.

“This is what [Pollycarpus] deserves, but I wish he got a longer punishment,” she said. “What’s more important is to follow up on the intelligence people behind him. He didn’t act on his own.”

SCOTLAND has dominated a new list of Britain’s greenest hotels with winners ranging from five-star multinational establishments to family-run rural retreats.

Of the 50 awards for eco-friendly credentials, 35 were given to hotels north of the Border.

The “Gold Register” was compiled by a team of independent examiners who visited hundreds of hotels.

The award-winners had to show that at least 60 out of 120 potential environmental measures were in place - ranging from energy-saving light bulbs to innovations such as waterless urinals and having a green purchasing policy backing local farmers and caring for wildlife.

The inaugural list released by the Green Tourism Business Scheme - which was founded in 1997 and now has more than 1,400 members across the UK - includes the Torridon, a four-star hotel in Achnasheen in Wester Ross.

It began introducing measures such as recycling cans and glass nine years ago.

Rohaise Rose-Bristow, who runs the 19-bedroom hotel with husband Daniel, said that the green ethos was a factor in every aspect of the hotel. “First thing in the morning, guests are served produce such as organic sausages and bacon from local suppliers,” she said.

“When they see the vans coming up the road, they know their food is locally sourced. We have a kitchen garden and any food scraps are recycled to the animals.

“We keep a watch on the thermostat and make sure that if a room is not being used, we don’t put the heating on. We’ve also cut down on waste by having fixed soap and shampoo dispensers rather than mini-toiletry bottles. It’s all these little changes that are important.”

Mrs Rose-Bristow added that staff and guests were enthusiastic about new measures including plans to use water from a stream to provide electricity.

Alexandra Hammond, who oversees green policies at the award-winning Radisson SAS Hotel on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, added: “We recycle everything which is recyclable - even what we can from guests’ rooms, including the bins.

“We also try to cut down energy use by asking guests if they wish to reuse towels, then leave a thank-you note telling them how many litres of water they’ve helped save.

“Other practical measures include having small cisterns and putting old plastic bottles in cisterns to reduce the amount of water needed to flush them. We’ve also reduced the flow of water in taps throughout the hotel and no-one can tell the difference.”

Andrea Nicholas, director of the Green Tourism Business Scheme, said: “This is more than just a list - it is a sign of the future as more people are demanding that hotels have to be environmentally aware.

“We’ve seen masses of interest and a lot of the hotels use the scheme as a way to motivate staff. These hotels are pioneering, leading the way.”

Consumers are more concerned about environmental issues than ever before.

A recent survey found 84 per cent of people would choose an attraction or accommodation that was part of a green award scheme over one that was not.

The gold-standard hotels are located from Cornwall to Orkney. A spokeswoman for VisitScotland added: “Scotland was one of the first countries to implement a green business scheme over ten years ago and it’s gone from strength to strength.”

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A leap in the Chinese divorce rate last year of nearly 20% has been blamed by experts on the country’s restrictive one-child policy and a loosening of divorce laws.

Figures released by the Civil Affairs Department revealed about 1.4 million couples divorced last year, up 18.2% from 2006. The number of divorces has been steadily rising since 1980 when the figure was just 341,000.

The China Daily said the number of divorces could be far greater than the 1.4m figure as the official report did not include court-sanctioned divorces.

However, marriages also increased in 2007, reaching 9.5m, up nearly 12% on 2006.

Sociologists believe the rise in divorce can be linked to the one-child policy because the lone children resulting from the policy are said to be unable to sustain relationships, having grown up as little emperors and empresses in their own homes.

Previous generations frowned on divorce, but the now-adult children can take advantage of a law passed four years ago that allowed couples to divorce in a day at a cost of just 10 yuan (70p).

Xu Anqi, from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told The Global Times that frequent migration and longer working hours could also threaten relationships.

The changing role of women in Chinese society is also a major factor in the rising divorce rate. Chen Xinxin, from the Women’s Studies Institute of China, told Shanghai Daily that more Chinese women were financially independent so could easily become single.

“But the increase in break-ups does not mean that Chinese are losing faith in marriage,” she said. “They are looking for marriages of higher quality.”