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Israeli intelligence refusing to release prisoners upon completion of sentences

Palestine Information Center – 14/05/2011

SALFIT — The Israeli intelligence apparatus said it would not release Palestinian prisoner Rami Suleiman, 31, after he completed serving his five-year prison term and instead would place him under administrative detention without any charge.

Ahrar center for prisoner’s studies and human rights stated in this regard that the Israeli occupation state refused lately to release a number of Palestinian prisoners after they served their terms and decided to extend their detention administratively.

It added, “Israel wants to tell the Palestinian prisoners that they are not in prison according to law and their freedom after they complete their imprisonment terms is decided by the intelligence apparatus.”

In another incident, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped at dawn Thursday Palestinian writer and political analyst Amer Sa’ad, 27, from his home west of Nablus city.

Local sources said the IOF ransacked Sa’ad’s house and took him to an unknown destination.

Sa’ad is a writer and a specialist in the Arab movements and their ideologies, and issued many studies in this regard.

May 14, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

22 Wounded One Critically in The Weekly Nonviolent Protest in Nabi Saleh

By George Rishmawi – IMEMC & Agencies – May 13, 2011

A large march started after the Friday prayers midday towards the construction site of the new settlement Israel is building on the land of the villagers of Nabi Saleh near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israeli soldiers fired a number of tear gas bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets at the nonviolent protesters wounding at least 22 civilians.

One American protester was wounded in the head when he was hit with a tear gas canister. He was moved to the hospital for treatment and his wounds were described as critical.

Israeli troops also kidnapped two women identified as Nida and Iqbal Tamimi. Eyewitnesses said they were handcuffed and blind-folded and were taken to unknown destination. Troops also arrested two Israelis from the site. Dozens other were treated for gas inhalation and for being beaten by the Israeli soldiers.

Israeli soldiers also assaulted photojournalist Hilmi Tamimi, and broke his camera during the protest.

May 13, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

The West is Trapped in its Own Propaganda

Hillary Clinton Needs a Mirror

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS | CounterPunch | May 12, 2011

One of the wishes that readers often express to me came true today (May 11). I was on the mainstream media. It was a program with a worldwide reach–the BBC World Service. There were others on the program as well, and the topic was Hillary Clinton’s remarks (May 10) about the lack of democracy and human rights in China.

I startled the program’s host when I compared Hillary’s remarks to the pot calling the kettle black. I was somewhat taken aback myself by the British BBC program host’s rush to America’s defense and wondered about it as the program continued. Surely, he had heard about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo detainees, CIA secret torture prisons sprinkled around the world, invasion and destruction of Iraq on the basis of lies and deceptions, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya. Surely, he was aware of Hillary’s hypocrisy as she demonized China but turned a blind eye to Israel, Mubarak, Bahrain and the Saudis. China’s record is not perfect, but is it this bad? Why wasn’t the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs criticizing America’s human rights abuses and rigged elections? How come China minds its own business and we don’t?

These questions didn’t go down well. None of the other interviewees or guests thought that Hilary had made a good decision, but even the Chinese guests were not free of the common mindset that frames every issue from the standpoint that the West is the standard by which the rest of the world is judged. By pointing out our own shortcomings, I was challenging that standard. The host and other guests could not escape from the restraints imposed on thought by the role of the West as world standard.

What has happened to the West is that it can see itself and others only through the eyes of its own propaganda. There was a great deal of talk about China’s lack of democracy. As the BBC program was being broadcast, the news intruded that Greeks had again taken to the streets to protest the costs of the bailout of the banks and Wall Street–the rich–being imposed on ordinary people at the expense of their lives and aspirations. The Irish government announced that it was going to confiscate with a tax part of the Irish people’s pension accumulations. It simply did not occur to the host and other guests that these are not democratic outcomes.

It is a strange form of democracy that produces political outcomes that reward the few and punish the many, despite the energetic protests of the many.

Political scientists understand that US electoral outcomes are determined by powerful moneyed interests that finance the political campaigns and that the bills Congress passes and the President signs are written by these interest groups to serve their narrow interests. Such conclusions are dismissed as cynicism and do not alter the mindset.

While the program’s host and guests were indulging in the West’s democratic and human rights superiority, the American Civil Liberties Union was sending out a bulletin urging its members to oppose legislation now before Congress that would give the current and future Presidents of the United States expanded war authority to use, on their own initiative, military force anywhere in the world independently of the restraints imposed by the US Constitution and international law.

In other words, in the great American “democracy,” the president is to become a Caesar.

~

Paul Craig Roberts was an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.  His latest book, HOW THE ECONOMY WAS LOST, has just been published by CounterPunch/AK Press. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

May 12, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment

Extensive Human Rights Abuses noted in B’t Selem report

Middle East Online | May 12, 2011

JERUSALEM – Israel has systematically exploited the resources of the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, favouring settlers over Palestinians, a report by Israeli rights group B’Tselem found on Thursday.

Entitled “Exploitation and Dispossession,” the report found Israel dominated the land, water resources and even tourist sites along the strip of land which runs along the eastern flank of the West Bank, in what appeared to be a prelude to a de facto annexation of territory.

“Israel has instituted a regime that massively exploits the resources of the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, far more than elsewhere in the West Bank, demonstrating its intention: to de facto annex the area to the state of Israel,” the rights group said.

“Israel has taken over most of the water sources in the area, allocating almost all derived water to settlements,” it said, charging that such actions violated international law, which prohibits the exploitation of natural resources within an occupied territory.

B’Tselem said the 9,400 Jewish settlers living there were able to develop intensive agriculture because they received an annual water allocation of 45 million cubic metres — almost a third of the quantity accessible to the West Bank’s 2.5 million Palestinian residents.

“This generous water supply has enabled settlements to develop intensive-farming methods and to work the land all year round, with most of the produce being exported,” it said.

At the same time, Israel’s control of water sources in the area had depriving Palestinian farmers who had been forced to cut back.

“Due to the water shortage, Palestinians have been forced to neglect farm land that used to be cultivated and switch to growing less profitable crops,” the report’s authors wrote.

The study reviewed various measures used by Israel to take control of 77.5 percent of land in the Jordan Valley by declaring large swathes to be military firing zones, nature reserves or to be under state control.

Israel had also taken over most of the major tourist attractions in the area, such as the northern shores of the Dead Sea, the Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and the springs on the Ein Fashkha reserve, allowing private Israeli businesses to profit from mineral extraction and tourism.

The report was hailed by Dr Shadad Attili, head of the Palestinian Water Authority who said the disparity in water allocation was a clear example of the “systemic inequalities” taking place under Israel’s occupation.

“The Jordan Valley serves as a microcosm of what is going on across the occupied Palestinian territory when it comes to Israel’s systematic exploitation of Palestinian water resources in violation of international law,” Attili said in a statement, accusing Israel of using water “as a weapon to target some of the most vulnerable” Palestinians.

“Restrictions imposed by Israel on the amount of water Palestinians can access are part of a deliberate policy designed to put additional pressure on struggling Palestinian communities to leave their land,” he charged.

The Jordan Valley, which was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War along with the rest of the Palestinian territories, spans 1.6 million dunams and makes up 28.8 percent of the West Bank.

Statistics in the report show it is home to 65,000 Palestinians living in 29 communities, and around 15,000 Bedouins, while 9,400 settlers live in 37 settlements in the area (seven of them wildcat outposts).

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told AFP the Jewish state would insist on maintaining troops in the Jordan Valley in any peace agreement with the Palestinians, saying it would be crucial for Israel’s future security.

But Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas completely rejected the idea, telling AFP last month that such a troop presence would torpedo the possibility of an independent state, and would effectively destroy his Palestinian Authority.

May 12, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Bahrain arrests freelance photographer

Press TV – May 12, 2011

Mohammad Salman al-Sheikh, freelance photographer

Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have arrested a prominent freelance photographer as the Manama regime continues its brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) said on Wednesday that Mohammad Salman al-Sheikh was arrested the previous day in his apartment in the town of Sanabis.

Al-Sheikh, who heads Bahrain’s Society of Photography, is the winner of more than 13 international awards. His most important prize was a silver medal in international competition titled “Slovenia Exposed” in 2009.

He is also a member of the international organizations of photography.

BYSHR is deeply concerned about the arrest of al-Sheikh and has called on international organizations to act urgently to protect him.

Saudi-backed regime forces have detained more than a thousand opposition activists since the anti-government protests erupted in mid-February.

Bahraini regime forces have also raided dozens of mosques, schools, sacred sites and even graves in persisting efforts to suppress protesters.

Protesters are demanding an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty.

May 11, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | Leave a comment

Israel Admits To Cancelling Residency Rights For 140,000 Palestinians

By Kevin Murphy – IMEMC and Agencies – May 11, 2011

Haaretz today revealed files showing that Israel cancelled the residency of up to 140,000 Palestinians between 1967 and 1994.

The paper reports that the files, obtained by the Centre for the Defence of the Individual upon filing a request under the Freedom of Information Law, show a clear procedure of removal of residency rights for Palestinians during the period. Haaretz claims the procedure was unknown to Palestinians leaving the country, often for work and study purposes abroad.

Between the occupation of the West Bank in 1967 and the Oslo Accord of 1994 those wishing to travel from the West Bank into Jordan via the Allenby Bridge were required to leave their identity cards at the border and were issued with an exit visa valid for three years. Unbeknownst to Palestinians, the Centre has claimed, those who failed to return within six months of the cards expiration would be declared NLR, or No Longer Resident, without warning, and prevented from returning to their homes.

According to Haaretz, Maj Gen Danny Rothschild, who was coordinator of government activities in the Territories from 1991 to 1995 has said he was unaware of the procedure. “If even I wasn’t told of the procedure, one may infer that neither were residents of the occupied territories,” he said.

A similar process is today in place for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who lose their residency rights after seven years abroad. The Centre for the Defence of the Individual has vowed to uncover what it believes to be a similar secretive procedure for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians who emigrated from the West Bank following the establishment of the PA in 1994 retained residency rights irrespective of time spent abroad.

If the figures are correct the population of the West Bank would have been some 14% greater than the 1.05 million residents recorded in 1994. This figure does not include descendants of the individuals who were forcibly exiled.

Top Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat has stated that the practice amounted to war crimes by the Israeli state. “Israel’s actions violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that ‘everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country’” he said in a statement to Haaretz.

The news will fuel criticism that Israel has an active policy of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from both Israel and the Occupied Territories, often carried out through bureaucratic legal procedures. Such procedures include the extensive and complex system of permits subjected solely on Palestinian property and movement abroad and across Israeli checkpoints. The system, The Centre for The Defence of The Individual claims, is designed to make life un-liveable for Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel and to encourage their immigration abroad; “The policy turns Palestinians’ human rights into a privilege, dependent on the whim of army commanders and reliant on a complex and non-transparent bureaucratic system that needs to be approached time and again” the Center claims.

Israel has shown an acute sensitivity to increases in its Palestinian population in both Israel and the Occupied Territories since its foundation. The state has consistently denied the right of return for refugees who fled or were forced from their homes from 1948 onwards. Palestinian leaders have demanded that a right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homes in what is now Israel is essential to any lasting stable peace. Israeli commentators claim any such right of return would undermine the demographic status of Israel as a Jewish state.

May 11, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | Leave a comment

Americans Are Living In 1984

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts | LewRockwell.com | May 10, 2011

The White House’s “death of bin Laden” story has come apart at the seams. Will it make any difference that before 48 hours had passed the story had changed so much that it no longer bore any resemblance to President Obama’s Sunday evening broadcast and has lost all credibility?

So far it has made no difference to the once-fabled news organization, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which on March 9, eight days later, is still repeating the propaganda that the SEALs killed bin Laden in his Pakistani compound, where bin Laden lived next door to the Pakistani Military Academy surrounded by the Pakistani army.

Not even the president of Pakistan finds the story implausible. The BBC reports that the president is launching a full-scale investigation of how bin Laden managed to live for years in an army garrison town without being noticed.

For most Americans the story began and ended with four words: “we got bin Laden.” The celebrations, the sweet taste of revenge, of triumph and victory over “the most dangerous man on the planet” are akin to the thrill experienced by sports fans when their football team defeats the unspeakable rival or their baseball team wins the World Series. No fan wants to hear the next day that it is not so, that it is all a mistake. If these Americans years from now come across a story that the killing of bin Laden was an orchestrated news event to boost other agendas, they will dismiss the report as the ravings of a pinko-liberal-commie.

Everyone knows we killed bin Laden. How could it be otherwise? We–the indispensable people, the virtuous nation, the world’s only superpower, the white hats– were destined to prevail. No other outcome was possible.

No one will notice that those who fabricated the story forgot to show the kidney dialysis machine that, somehow, kept bin Laden alive for a decade. No doctors were on the premises.

No one will remember that Fox News reported in December, 2001, that Osama bin Laden had passed away from his illnesses.

If bin Laden beat all odds and managed to live another decade to await, unarmed and undefended, the arrival of the Navy SEALS last week, how is it possible that the “terror mastermind,” who defeated not merely the CIA and FBI, but all 16 US intelligence agencies along with those of America’s European allies and Israel, the National Security Council, the Pentagon, NORAD, Air Traffic Control, airport security four times on the same morning, etc. etc., never enjoyed another success, not even a little, very minor one? What was the “terror mastermind” doing for a decade after 9/11?

The “death of bin Laden” serves too many agendas that cover the political spectrum for the obvious falsity of the story to be recognized by very many. Patriots are euphoric that America won over bin Laden. Progressives have seized on the story to excoriate the United States for extra-judicial murder that brutalizes us all. Some on the left-wing bought into the 9/11 story because of the emotional satisfaction they received from oppressed Arabs striking back at their imperialist oppressors. These left-wingers are delighted that it took the incompetent Americans an entire decade to find bin Laden, who was hiding in plain view. The American incompetence in finding bin Laden simply, in their minds, proves the incompetence of the US government, which failed to protect Americans against the 9/11 attack.

Those who ordered, and those who wrote, totally incompetent legal memos that torture was permissible under US and international law, thereby setting up George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for the possibility of prosecution, are riding the euphoria of bin Laden’s death by declaring that it was torture that led the American assassins to bin Laden. All of a sudden, torture, which had fallen back into the disrepute in which it had been for centuries, is again in the clear. Anything that leads to the elimination of bin Laden is a valid instrument.

Those, who want to increase the pressure on Pakistan to shut up about Americans murdering Pakistani citizens in Pakistan from the air and from troops on the ground, have gained a new club with which to beat the Pakistani government into submission: “you hid bin Laden from us.”

Those who want to continue to fatten the profits of the military/security complex and the powers of Homeland Security, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, use bin Laden’s second, or ninth, death as proof that America is being successful in its war on terror and that the war must continue on such a successful path until all enemies are slain.

Most ominous of all was the statement by the CIA director that bin Laden’s death would lead to new attacks on America and new 9/11s from al Qaeda seeking revenge. This warning, issued within a few hours of President Obama’s Sunday evening address, telegraphed the inevitable “al Qaeda” Internet posting that America would suffer new 9/11s for killing their leader.

If the Taliban knew in December 2001 that bin Laden was dead, does anyone think that al Qaeda didn’t know it? Indeed, no member of the public has any way of knowing if al Qaeda is anything more than a bogyman organization created by the CIA which issues “al Qaeda” announcements. The evidence that al Qaeda’s announcements are issued by the CIA is very strong. The various videos of bin Laden for the last nine years have been shown by experts to be fakes. Why would bin Laden issue a fake video? Why did bin Laden cease issuing videos and only issue audios? A person running a world-wide terrorist organization should be able to produce videos. He would also be surrounded by better protectors than a couple of women. Where was al Qaeda, which according to former Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld, consists of “the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth.” Had these most dangerous men alive abandoned their leader?

The CIA director’s warning of future terrorist attacks, followed by a suspect “al Qaeda” threat of the same, suggests that if the American public continues to lose its enthusiasm for the governments open-ended wars, which are conducted at the expense of the US budget deficit, the dollar’s exchange value, inflation, Social Security, Medicare, income support programs, jobs, recovery, and so forth, “al Qaeda” will again outwit all 16 US intelligence agencies, those of our allies, NORAD, airport security, Air Traffic Control, etc. etc., and inflict the world’s only superpower with another humiliating defeat that will invigorate American support for “the war on terror.”

I believe that “al Qaeda” could blow up the White House or Congress or both and that the majority of Americans would fall for the story, just as the Germans, a better educated and more intelligent population, fell for the Reichstag Fire–as did a number of historians.

The reason I say this is that Americans have succumbed to propaganda that has conditioned them to believe that they are under attack by practically omnipotent adversaries. Proof of this is broadcast every day. For example, on March 9, I heard over National Public Radio in Atlanta that Emory University, a private university of some distinction, treated its 3,500 graduating class to a commencement address by Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security.

This is the agency that has goons feeling the genitals of young children and adults and which has announced that it intends to expand this practice from air travelers to shopping malls, bus and train stations. That a serious university invited such a low-lifer, who clearly has no respect for American civil liberty and is devoid of any sort of sense of what is appropriate, to address a graduating class of southern elite is a clear indication that the Ministry of Truth has prevailed. Americans are living in George Orwell’s 1984.

For those who haven’t read Orwell’s classic prediction of our time, Big Brother, the government, could tell the “citizens” any lie and it was accepted unquestioningly. As a perceptive reader pointed out to me, we Americans, with our “free press,” are at this point today: “What is really alarming is the increasingly arrogant sloppiness of these lies, as though the government has become so profoundly confident of its ability to deceive people that they make virtually no effort to even appear credible.”

A people as gullible as Americans have no future.

May 10, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, False Flag Terrorism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | Leave a comment

So It Begins! Sen. Charles Schumer Proposes Increased Security And No Fly List For Amtrak Trains

The Intel Hub | May 8th, 2011

Just days after the CIA released information allegedly found in the compound of Osama Bin Laden that indicated Al Qaeda is planning to target U.S. railways, a leading Democratic has proposed new security measures for all Amtrak stations in America.

The simple fact is that the staged death of a long ago dead man is being used to implement further totalitarian police state actions in a country billed as land of the free.

Soon after the staged media spectacle began, western intelligence sources claimed that they had found evidence that Al Qaeda was planning to attack U.S. railroads.

Instead of doing their job and vetting information given to them by a corrupt government, the corporate controlled media immediately broadcasted the fake videos as 100% truth.

Now in response to the Al Qaeda terror fear, Sen. Charles Schumer is taking the lead in the establishment of these so called “security” checkpoints.

“Circumstances demand we make adjustments by increasing funding to enhance rail safety and monitoring on commuter rail transit and screening who gets on Amtrak passenger trains, so that we can provide a greater level of security to the public,” the New York Democrat said at a news conference, reported Reuters.

These adjustments include a new Amtrak no fly list similar to the list that is already in place in our nation’s airports.

This is a classic example of Problem – Reaction – Solution.

May 9, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception | Leave a comment

Bahraini Activist Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja Severely Wounded under Torture

Al-Manar | May 9, 2011

Bahraini human rights activist and former president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja was drastically beaten by the Bahraini authorities after being arrested in April.

“Al Khawaja’s jawbones were completely smashed and he is suffering from four fractures in his face; he is to undergo a very critical operation”, another Bahraini activist Nabil Rajab stated.

In an interview with Al Manar website, Rajab called upon “the Bahrainis all over the world, specifically those living in European countries, to proceed with the lawsuits and use all possible judicial methods against the Bahraini regime”.

Furthermore, the human rights activist clarified that “we are victims of our region, as sympathizing with any cause is influenced by the sectarian aspect… we are also victims of inconsistencies and interests of world powers that ally with Al khalifa (Bahrain) regime”.

This comes as the Bahraini regime has been executing brutal repressive policies against civilians since the protests began. The Bahraini security forces are breaking into houses, kidnapping young men and women, arresting humanitarian and political activists, as well as opposition figures, and are imprisoning and torturing most of them.

Four political prisoners have been tortured to death; the last was funder of Al Wasat Bahraini newspaper and prominent business man Karim Al Fakhrawi.

In addition, the Bahraini authorities have issued death sentences against four protestors who were accused of killing two policemen; an accusation that was denied by the young men’s lawyers.

On this topic, Rajab, who is currently prohibited from traveling abroad, expected that more death sentences will be issued against political detainees, and considered that “referring civilians to military tribunals and issuing death sentences against them are acts that contradict the bill of rights and are denied by Western countries, specifically the European Union that has ties with this regime”.

May 9, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Soldiers arrest Hamas leader at Jenin checkpoint

Ma’an – 07/05/2011

JENIN — Israel’s army arrested a Hamas leader Saturday in the occupied West Bank, prisoners advocates said.

Khaled Al-Haj, 45, was passing through a military checkpoint at the entrance of Araba when he was arrested, the Ahrar prisoners center said. Al-Haj served as a spokesman for Hamas, and he was recently released from prison.

Soldiers had apparently installed the checkpoint to catch Al-Haj, specifically, the center said in a statement. Another person whose identity was not known was also taken to an unknown location, the prisoners group said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Al-Haj is considered a prominent party official. He served as the movement’s spokesman in Jenin and represented Hamas in the factional coordinating committee that eventually led to a unity deal last week.

He has spent years in Israeli custody, including three without charge under Israel’s “administrative detention” policy. It allows Israel to jail Palestinians for six-month periods which can be extended.

According to the Ahrar center, the arrests were intended to thwart the unity deal.

On Friday, Israel’s army arrested five Palestinians in the same area.

An undercover unit raided Jenin refugee camp and seized Islamic Jihad leader Bassam As-Saadi, who had recently been released from prison after completing an eight-year jail term.

Soldiers forced family members into one room while they searched the house and eventually departed with As-Saadi, who was bound before being taken to an unknown location, his wife told Ma’an.

Four residents of a village near Jenin were also seized. They were identified as Hasen Mustafa Jaradat, Hussein Rafiq Jaradat, and brothers Hussein and Munteser Ahmad Jaradat.

An undercover unit joined the army in the operation, witnesses said. They fired bullets and stun grenades at homes, and soldiers beat several residents after cuffing them outside their houses.

The operation came a day after soldiers stepped out of a Mercedes with Palestinian license plates at 2 a.m. and entered the home of an Islamic Jihad leader in Arraba village.

Tareq Qadan, an Islamic Jihad leader in the north, was taken from his home in his night clothes by five soldiers and shoved into the unmarked car parked outside the two-story building, witnesses said.

His sister said Qadan opened the door when he heard shouts from outside. As soon as the door opened, she said, “five soldiers broke into the house and took his wife into one room, and my brother outside.”

She added Qadan had asked to see his ailing mother before he was taken away, and to notify his brother that he should keep watch over the elderly woman: “They refused his request and took him in his pajamas.”

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed at the time that there was one arrest carried out in the village. She declined comment on the nature of the operation and alleged use of an unmarked vehicle.

May 8, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Bahrain charges 21 rights activists with subversion

Press TV – May 8, 2011

A security court in Bahrain has charged 21 human rights activists with attempted subversion, alleging they tried to overthrow the ruling monarchy.

On Sunday, the country’s military prosecutor accused the suspects, seven of them tried in absentia, of forming a terrorist organization in their attempt to overthrow the ruling monarchy, the Associated Press reported.

The defendants included the leaders of the Waed secular group, the Haq opposition organization, and Al Wafa Islamic Party. A follow-up trial would be held on Thursday.

Their lawyers have been instructed not to talk to the press, but a human rights activist quoted one of the legal representatives as saying the charges carry death sentences.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

On March 14, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed police and military forces in the kingdom upon Manama’s request to help quell the nationwide protests.

According to local sources, scores of people, including human rights campaigners, have been killed — some under torture — and hundreds of others are held in custody.

May 8, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties | Leave a comment

Record Number of Americans Targeted by National Security Letters

By Julian Sanchez | CATO | May 6, 2011

The latest report to Congress on the Justice Department’s use of foreign intelligence surveillance powers has just been released, and it shows a truly stunning increase in the number of Americans whose sensitive phone, Internet, and banking records were obtained by the FBI — without judicial oversight — pursuant to National Security Letters. In 2009, a total of 14,788 NSL requests were issued targeting U.S. persons — a number that excludes requests for “basic subscriber information” as opposed to phone or e-mail logs — and 6,114 different Americans were affected by those demands for information. In 2010, the number of NSL requests targeting Americans rose to 24,287.

What’s really shocking, however, is the number of people affected. A whopping 14,212 American citizens and permanent residents had records of their financial, telephone, and online activity seized last year.  The previous record, set in 2005, was 9,475. Were you one of those 14,212? If so, what did the FBI get? Thanks to the gag orders that come with NSLs, you will almost certainly never get to find out. But even if the Bureau decides there’s no reason to continue investigating you, whatever data they obtained — lists of phone numbers, credit card purchases, financial transactions, e-mail correspondents, or IP addresses visited — are likely to remain in a massive government database indefinitely

This pattern suggests that the Bureau is doing broader but shallower investigation — sweeping more people into the information vacuum, but issuing fewer requests per person, presumably because the results of the initial request provide few grounds for further scrutiny.  Needless to say, the overwhelming majority of those people are not terrorists — and, indeed, are probably guilty of nothing more than a second- or third-degree connection to the subject of an investigation. Remember, as expiring Patriot Act provisions come up for re-authorization at the end of this month: These tools are fundamentally not about spying on terrorists. The government has always had ample power to do that. They’re about authority to spy on the innocent.

May 6, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Progressive Hypocrite | Leave a comment