Yemen ‘abandons’ human rights
By Andrew Wander | Al-Jazeera | August 25, 2010
Yemeni authorities have carried out grave human rights abuses as part of an internationally-backed crackdown on a range of security threats facing the country, rights groups have said.
In a report issued on Wednesday, Amnesty International says that growing US concern over al-Qaeda’s presence in Yemen, combined with domestic challenges to the legitimacy of the government, has prompted a marked deterioration in the human rights situation in the impoverished country.
The group says that over the past year, the Yemeni government has carried out vicious military campaigns, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings as it faces international pressure to tackle al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, and seeks to quell a growing secessionist movement in the south while fighting periodic battles with Houthi rebels in the north.
“Yemeni authorities are abandoning human rights in the name of security,” the report, entitled Cracking Down Under Pressure, says, cataloguing a range of abuses carried out by government forces against opposition groups in Yemen.
Al-Qaeda threat
Amnesty International says that some of the violations have been carried out under the pretext of complying with international demands to prevent al-Qaeda and other groups from launching attacks from the country.
“An extremely worrying trend has developed where the Yemeni authorities, under pressure from the USA and others to fight al-Qaeda, and Saudi Arabia to deal with the Houthis, have been citing national security as a pretext to deal with opposition and stifle all criticism,” says Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director.
The US has dramatically expanded its counter-terrorism operations in Yemen since an al-Qaeda-affiliated group attempted to blow up a transatlantic airliner over Detroit last December.
Human rights activists operating in Yemen say that the subsequent security crackdown, which has seen increased military and diplomatic co-ordination between the Yemeni and US governments, has coincided with a major increase in reports of human rights abuses.
“There are many people who have been arrested and jailed as a result of American demands,” says Khaled al-Anisi, the executive director of the Yemen-based National Organisation for Defending Rights and Freedoms.
“Other people have been killed by the Americans and by Yemenis for America’s sake.
“Because this security cooperation is beneficial to the Americans, they ignore the human rights situation in the country.”
Counter-productive
The US has been criticised for carrying out recent drone attacks in Yemen which have killed civilians, including a high profile incident in May when the deputy governor of a Yemeni province was killed by a missile as he tried to talk al-Qaeda members into abandoning their fight.
Yemen’s government has never officially admitted the extent of its cooperation with Washington, but US officials have been more forthcoming in explaining the scope of their operations in the country, making the so-called “shadow war” against al-Qaeda an open secret in Sana’a.
But far from increasing Yemen’s security, some believe that the US is sacrificing the domestic legitimacy of Yemen’s government in a bid to ensure its own security.
“American policy in this country is done without respect for the Yemeni state, without respect for the Yemeni constitution,” al-Anisi says. “That makes people feel that [the] government is just a policeman for the US, and makes al-Qaeda stronger here.”
Abdul-Ghani al-Iyrani, a Yemeni political analyst, agrees that the campaign is having counter-productive results.
“It contributes to the fundamental problem in the political situation in Yemen, which is the erosion of the government’s grass-roots legitimacy,” he says.
Scorched Earth
But he says that al-Qaeda related operations represent only a “small part” of the human rights abuses being carried out by the government. Worse, he says, were the violations last year.
The Amnesty report offers disturbing details of the Yemeni government’s “Scorched Earth” military operation against the Houthis, during which it carried out heavy aerial bombardment of civilian areas, displacing more than a quarter of a million people.
When the fighting spilled over the border into Saudi Arabia, Riyadh joined military operations in Yemen, sending troops and aircraft to attack Houthi rebel positions as tens of thousands of civilians were trapped in the area.
“The Yemeni government’s Scorched Earth operation between August 2009 and February 2010 signalled the deployment of military forces against the Houthis on a scale not witnessed before, particularly after Saudi Arabian forces joined in,” the report says.
Al-Iyrani says that during the fighting many civilians were left stranded with no food as the city of Sada’a was besieged by Yemeni forces. “What happened in Sada’a was just unspeakable,” he says, accusing the government of leaving thousands of civilians ‘starving’ during the operation.
Secessionist movement
After negotiating a ceasefire with the Houthis in February, Yemeni authorities turned their attention to quashing a growing secessionist movement in the south of the country, where many people believe they are subject to discrimination by the government.
The report says that the government has carried out a campaign of “unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrations” against southern Yemenis who want formal independence from the north, under the guise of fighting terrorism.
The government has accused the Southern Movement, a loose coalition of political groups calling for greater rights for people in the south, of having links with al-Qaeda, and has set up special “terrorism” courts in which to try activists.
Amnesty has called on Yemen’s government to ensure that its security operations respect human rights concerns, and says that the US and Saudi Arabia should play a more constructive role in preventing such abuses.
“Enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, and extrajudicial executions are never permissible, and the Yemeni authorities must immediately cease these violations,” Smart says.
“It is particularly worrying that states such as Saudi Arabia and the US are directly or indirectly aiding the Yemeni government in a downward spiral away from a previously improving human rights record.”
PA security subdues opposition to direct talks with Israel
Palestine Information Center – 26/08/2010
RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority’s security militias on Wednesday used excessive force to prevent dozens of Palestinians in Ramallah from participating in a conference opposing the US-sponsored direct talks with the Israeli occupation state.
The militias violently stormed the building where the press conference was supposed to be held and embarked on beating the participants.
They also beat two cameramen working for the local Al-Watan TV before confiscating their equipment.
Wednesday’s press conference was organized by the national conference against direct talks, a coalition consisting of hundreds of political factions, organizations, institutions and figures from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The event was supposed to be held simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza through video conferencing.
A statement issued in the press conference held in Gaza strongly denounced this repressive move and considered it a serious violation of the Palestinian basic law and the national norms.
The participants in Gaza conference declared the launch of a plan to form a popular rallying against the decision to enter into direct negotiations with the occupation state.
Senior official of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Jamil Al-Majdalawi explained during the conference that a joint committee in the West Bank and Gaza will be formed to follow up this plan and to organize events and protests against the direct negotiations.
The PFLP deplored in a separate statement on Wednesday the intelligence apparatus in the West Bank for sabotaging and disrupting this conference and called for an immediate probe into the incident and punishing the perpetrators.
It also expressed its dismay at this level of degradation which the security apparatuses in the West Bank have stooped to.
For his part, member of Hamas’s political bureau Ezzat Al-Resheq strongly condemned what he described as the brutal attack on national figures opposing the direct talks with Israel and reiterated his call for Abbas to step down from all his posts.
“Not only those who take up arms against the occupation in the West Bank are hunted and targeted by Abbas-Fayyad forces, but everyone having a position opposing the policy of concessions and compromises pursued by the authority in Ramallah against the national cause is also targeted and repressed,” Resheq stated Thursday.
See also:
One Democratic State in Palestine
My Catbird Seat | August 25, 2010
Introduction by Gilad Atzmon:
Living in a world dominated by relentless Zionist lobbying, I am far from being captivated by the current state of Western democracy. I am not impressed at all by the lethal enthusiasm to democratize the World in the name of ‘moral interventionism’.
I am sickened by the murderous zeal that led the USA and Britain into a criminal war that left already more than 1.5 million Iraqi fatalities….
And yet, democracy can also be a genuine universal call. As it happens, it is the Palestinians who are teaching us what democracy is all about, what it stands for and why we favoured it in the first place. Read the Declaration of the Movement for One Democratic State (ODS) in Palestine. I assume that moral interventionists better visit the ODS conference in October so they gather that democracy is actually a humanist call.
Instead of an ethno-centric exclusive ‘Jews only democracy’ we are talking here about an inclusive multi ethnic state of its citizens.
For more information: http://www.onedemocraticstate.com/
Declaration of the Movement for One Democratic State in Palestine
Vision of the Movement
1. The entire territory of Palestine between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is one country that belongs to all its citizens including all those who live there and all those who were expelled over the past century and their descendants. The country shall be constituted as an independent sovereign State in which all citizens enjoy equal rights and all can live in freedom and security.
2. The reunified country in Palestine shall be constituted as a democracy in which all of its adult citizens shall enjoy equal rights to vote, stand for office and contribute to the country’s governance. No State law, institution, practices or activities may discriminate among its citizens on the basis of ethnicity, religion, language, nationality or gender.
3. The State shall not establish or accord special privilege to any religion and shall provide for the free practice of all religions.
4. Public land of the State shall belong to the nation as a whole and all of its citizens shall have equal access to its use. Private property of Palestinian refugees shall be restored or compensation arranged. The natural and economic resources of the country shall benefit all of its citizens equally.
5. The State shall provide the conditions for free cultural expression by all of its citizens. It shall ensure that all languages, arts and culture can flourish and develop freely. All citizens shall have equal rights to use their own dress, languages and customs, and to express their cultural heritage free of insults or discrimination.
6. Citizens shall have equal access to employment at all levels and in all sectors of the society. Employment shall not be determined or restricted by language, race, religion, gender, or nationality. Education and vocational training shall not be segregated or specialized in any way that impedes equal access of all citizens to employment and other opportunities to fulfill their talents and dreams.
7. The State shall uphold international law and seek the peaceful resolution of conflicts through negotiation and collective security in accordance with the United Nations Charter. The people of a unified Palestine shall reject racism and promote anti-racism throughout the world. The State shall seek to build a world order in which all countries and peoples enjoy their social, cultural and political rights as set out in relevant United Nations covenants. The State shall seek and contribute to the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East that will also be free of all weapons of mass-destruction.
The Houston Conference on
ONE DEMOCRATIC STATE IN PALESTINE
Houston, Texas
October 22-24, 2010
For more info:
Gilad Atzmon was born a secular Israeli Jew in Tel Aviv and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in jerusalem. His service as a paramedic in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon caused him to reach the conclusion that “I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing.” In 1994 Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he attended the University of Essex and earned a Masters degree in Philosophy. He has lived there since, becoming a British citizen in 2002. Atzmon’s novels have been published in 22 languages. His first novel A Guide to the Perplexed, published in 2001, is set in a future where by 2052 Israel has been replaced by a Palestinian state for 40 years.
Military court convicts anti-wall leader
Ma’an – 24/08/2010
BETHLEHEM — An Israeli military court on Tuesday found the leader of a West Bank protest movement guilty of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations.
Abdallah Abu Rahmah of Bil’in, near Ramallah, could face jail time for his leadership in the popular campaign against Israel’s wall, which severs the West Bank village for to protect nearby settlements.
The verdict was read in a military courtroom packed with friends, supporters, and family members, concluding an eight-month trial. Diplomats from Europe including a representative of the European Union attended.
According to his supporters, Abu Rahmah’s conviction was based only on testimonies of minors who were arrested in the middle of the night and denied legal counsel despite significant ills in their questioning.
The court threw out two charges, stone-throwing and arms possession, activists said. The arms charge was over Abu Rahmah’s collection of used tear-gas projectiles and bullet cases, the indictment said.
“This absurd charge is a clear example of how eager the military prosecution is to use legal procedures as a tool to silence and smear unarmed dissent,” the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said in a statement.
Abu Rahmah’s case was the first time the prosecution had used the organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations since the First Intifada, the committee said.
Military law defines illegal assembly in a much stricter way than does Israeli civilian law, in practice forbidding more than 10 people from assembling without receiving a permit from the military.
Abu Rahmah was detained in December during a night raid, but he “did not find himself behind bars because he is a dangerous man,” the committee insisted.
“Abdallah, who is amongst the leaders of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, is viewed as a threat for his work in the five-year unarmed struggle to save the village’s land from Israel’s wall and expanding settlements.”
Abdallah is the recipient of the the Carl Von Ossietzky Medal for Outstanding Service in the Realization of Basic Human Rights, which awarded by the International League for Human Rights in Berlin.
Amnesty slams Canada for rights abuse
Press TV – August 24, 2010
Amnesty International’s new secretary general has sharply criticized the Canadian government for its “serious” human rights violations.
Salil Shetty told the CIVICUS World Assembly on Citizen Participation on Monday that Amnesty International is increasingly concerned “about the serious worsening” of Canada’s human rights approach.
“There is a real shrinking of democratic spaces in this country… Many organizations have lost their funding for raising inconvenient questions,” AFP quoted Shetty as saying. He also pressed Ottawa to seek the repatriation of a Canadian detainee, Omar Khadr, held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Shetty said that the prisoner’s detention was “unlawful” and that his trial, held this month before a US military tribunal, was “unjust.”
Khadr was only 15 years old when he was captured by US troops in Afghanistan eight years ago. He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier during a gun battle in 2002.
Khadr, who has spent one-third of his life in Guantanamo, says he was tortured while being interrogated and forced to provide false confessions.
In a sworn statement, the traumatized Canadian said he was beaten, subjected to long periods in solitary confinement, doused in freezing water, spat on, chained in painful positions, terrorized by barking dogs and subjected to sleep deprivation and threats of rape.
Israel refuses to lift ban on family unification
The Electronic Intifada, 20 August 2010
Jerusalem-born Firas al-Maraghi has been holding a hunger strike outside the Israeli embassy in Berlin, Germany, since 26 July, protesting a decision by the Israeli government to prevent his newborn daughter from being registered as a Jerusalem resident. Al-Maraghi, who is married to a German citizen, temporarily moved to Berlin to accompany his wife as she completed her doctoral thesis, and was informed by the Israeli embassy that the couple’s daughter, Zeinab, would not be granted the identification and residency papers needed to live in their home when the family moved back to Jerusalem.
During his temporary stay in Germany, al-Maraghi has frequently traveled back to his home in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem, while refusing to apply for any travel visas or passports that may strip him of his Israeli-issued laissez-passer. The laissez-passer is a special travel document specifically for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem in the stead of Israeli passports, since those Palestinians are not recognized as citizens of the State of Israel but rather “legal residents” of the area.
Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq stated in a 12 August press release that the decision to refuse Jerusalem residency rights to the couple’s newborn daughter “breaches Firas’ right to live in Jerusalem with his family” (“Palestinian on Hunger Strike in Berlin for Family Rights in East Jerusalem).
“Firas has been on hunger strike … drinking only water, refusing to end his strike until the Israeli embassy in Berlin revokes its denial of registering Firas’s daughter as Jerusalem resident,” the statement added.
Family unification frozen
Al-Haq remarked that this policy of disallowing family unification and residency status in occupied East Jerusalem is not new, nor is al-Maraghi’s case an isolated incident. “Since 1967, Israel has engaged in a deliberate policy of reducing the number of Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem while facilitating the increase of the Jewish population in the city,” al-Haq said. “To this end, Israel has used various legal and administrative means aimed at preventing the unification of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem with non-resident spouses and children.”
Al-Haq stated that in the past, Palestinians of occupied East Jerusalem were able to apply for family unification documents for their spouses and children through the Israeli interior ministry, in order to legally live in East Jerusalem and Israel with their families. They point out that this requirement does not apply to Jewish citizens and immigrants, who are free to marry Jewish Israelis and can easily obtain all residency, citizenship and travel documents required by the state.
However, in the past decade, Palestinians like al-Maraghi and his family have been subjected to administrative procedures aimed at thinning out the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem. “In 2000, Israel de facto suspended all family unification procedures, impacting tens of thousands of Palestinians and their foreign spouses,” Al-Haq stated. “Moreover, since 2003, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) has regularly extended the discriminatory ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law of 2003’ (most recently on 21 July 2010). This law formally denies family unification of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem with their spouses and children from other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories or abroad. Consequently, these families are prevented from living together in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, resulting in the separation and forced relocation of such families.”
On 29 July, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) officially urged Israel to lift its draconian ban on family unification laws, as the group found “a large number” of violations of Israel’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. UNHRC stated that it “reiterates its concern with the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, which adversely affects the lives of many families, remains in force and has been declared constitutional by the Israeli Supreme Court. The law should be revoked and Israel should review its policy with a view to facilitating family reunifications of all citizens and permanent residents without discrimination” (“UN Human Rights Committee Urges Israel to Revoke Ban …,” Adalah news update, 4 August 2010).
Israel has neither lifted its ban, nor responded to the United Nations’ appeal.
Ma’an News Agency reported that a letter “was also delivered to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, calling for rapid intervention by Israeli authorities and for the government’s respect of the human rights declaration” (“Jerusalem man on hunger strike over residency rights,” 15 August 2010).
Meanwhile, solidarity activists in Germany have requested portable heaters to help keep al-Maraghi warm during regular, seasonal thunderstorms, as his hunger strike enters its fourth week.
Widow deported
At the same time, in Washington DC, US citizen Bettye Brown faces an ongoing battle with the Israeli government as she fights for her rights after the death of her husband, Muhammed Nijjab, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank.
Brown, 71, told The Electronic Intifada that after the death of her husband of nearly fifty years, Israel has denied her entry from the West Bank. Brown inherited land in the village of Jibya that is threatened with further land confiscation to a nearby settlement colony.
“My husband had gone back to Jibya to retire about ten years ago,” Brown said. “I stayed in the Washington DC area, but when he got sick in 2005, I went to the West Bank to take care of him.” Nijjab was a research chemist, and developed silicosis from years of inhaling toxic substances. Brown said that she stayed in the village until his death in 2006, and inherited about 85 acres of the family’s land.
“It would have been a lot more, if the Israelis hadn’t confiscated a third of the original parcel of land for the settlement back in the 1908s,” Brown added.
Earlier this year, Brown said she intended to visit her land in Jibya and was subsequently deported from the country after enduring eight hours of humiliation and interrogation by Israeli soldiers in a detention cell at the Jordanian border.
“They didn’t give me any food or water, and they took me back while two women and a man interrogated me and screamed at me,” Brown said. “At some point, they fingerprinted me, took a mug shot and stamped ‘denial of entry’ on my passport. I went back to Amman.” She’s been back in Washington, DC since May.
Brown told The Electronic Intifada that she believes that Israel’s intentions to confiscate more land in her husband’s village contributes to their decision to deny her entry. “It’s a very small village, on the top of a small mountain. It’s beautiful. What they’ve done is redraw the map, designating an area to be under Israeli control, which I think is their plan to grab more land. [My husband’s] family has had the land surveyed and registered, in an attempt to protect it.”
In the meantime, Brown told The Electronic Intifada she has consulted an attorney and is appealing to her congressional representatives, as well as working with the West Bank-based advocacy group, Right To Enter (www.righttoenter.ps), which focuses on the protection of the rights of foreign passport holders and residents who have been denied entry by the Israeli authorities. She is also continuing her small business of selling handmade Palestinian and regional crafts to local community organizations and churches for fundraising events.
“My husband never got over not living in Jibya,” Brown remarked. “All his life, he talked about Jibya and how much he loved it. The people there are lovely. I’m the only non-Muslim in the village, but it doesn’t matter.”
In a related story, Ma’an reports that a Palestinian father from the West Bank was stopped at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem and prevented from accompanying his wife to a Jerusalem hospital when she developed serious complications during labor. Safi Abdul Hamid al-Tamimi told Ma’an that his wife gave birth earlier this month but he has not seen her nor his newborn baby yet, as he didn’t have a permit to enter Jerusalem when his wife was transfered. Israel has rejected his application to obtain a permit “without explanation” in the days following the birth (“Father says denied permit to visit wife and newborns,” 16 August 2010).
Disney tells Muslim woman to work out back where she won’t be seen
By Josh Cain | OC Weekly | August 18 2010
As we reported earlier, a Muslim woman who works as a hostess in the Grand Californian Hotel at the Disneyland Resort was not allowed to come to work today because she was wearing her hijab, a traditional Islamic headscarf.
This was the fourth time that the woman, 26-year-old Anaheim resident Imane Boudlal, attempted to work in the headscarf. Each time, she’s been told to remove the scarf or leave.
This time, however, she showed up with some back up.
Boudlal as she attempted to go to work for the fourth time.
Boudlal was accompanied by representatives of Unite Here Local 11, a union representing hotel workers involved in a contract dispute with Disney, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the rights group whose state office is in Anaheim.
She and her support team insisted that Disney did not allow her to work because of discriminatory policies against Muslims.
However, theme park officials insisted in a press release that Disney offered Boudlal “reasonable accommodations” on her request to wear the headscarf.
Boudlal said those accommodations would have forced her to work in the back of the hotel, where she wouldn’t be seen, rather than greeting guests in her job as a hostess.
“Why should I have to hide?” Boudlal asked at a press conference conveniently Unite Here and CAIR organized at the intersection of Disney Way and the driveway leading to the Grand Californian.
“I’m not here to scare anyone,” she continued. She explained that she had requested that she be allowed to wear the headscarf in a written letter to her Disney employers. When she didn’t hear back for two months, she went to work anyway in early August.
Boudlal said when she went to work wearing the hijab, her manager told her early that day she could wear the headscarf, but she was later escorted from the hotel by security.
She said she understood that the headscarf didn’t comply with the “Disney look,” but she felt she was being discriminated against because other workers were allowed to wear symbols of Christian faith, tattoos and other symbols that didn’t comply with the rules.
Basically, things don’t look very good for Disney from a public relations standpoint. It doesn’t help that Boudlal’s supporters, Unite Here, have made it known they don’t like the way Goofy and Co. do business.
Neither does CAIR, apparently. Ameena Qazi, deputy executive director and staff attorney for the group, seemed downright hostile to Disney when she stood up to speak at the press conference.
“Disney is positioning itself as a company that discriminates,” Qazi said. “I suggest [Disney] take a ride on ‘It’s A Small World,’ a ride that celebrates diversity.”
Use of Government Property to Relocate NYC Mosque Raises Serious Legal Questions
Americans United | August 18, 2010
New York Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to offer public property to relocate the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” raises serious constitutional issues and could spark litigation, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
“I understand that some people are not happy with the prospect of an Islamic center opening in Manhattan, but relocating it to public property raises significant legal issues,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Whether the governor is talking about a gift of public land or a sweetheart deal that gives one religious group a special right to purchase government property, it’s wrong.
“In America,” continued Lynn, “government does not subsidize religion or give religious groups preferential treatment.”
Controversy has flared recently over plans by a Muslim group to build an Islamic center two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Paterson proposed resolving the matter by offering public land elsewhere for construction of the Islamic facility.
But Paterson’s proposal is legally flawed, AU says.
Lynn pointed out that the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that government may not subsidize religious facilities. Any attempt to use public resources to relocate the Islamic center would undoubtedly lead to a legal challenge.
In addition to the U.S. Constitution, Lynn noted that New York’s constitution contains strong language barring any diversion of public resources for religious purposes. Article XI, for example, bans public support of institutions “wholly or in part under the control or direction of any religious denomination….”
Lynn urged Paterson to drop the proposal. The solution, Lynn said, is to respect the Muslim group’s right to build its center on private property using private funds.
“Local authorities in Manhattan have cleared the way for construction of the Islamic center,” Lynn said. “It’s up to the Islamic group to decide whether they want to proceed. I’m sorry that this situation has become so politicized.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Developer Won’t Budge On Mosque Location
By Grace Rauh | NY1 | August 17, 2010
Sharif El-Gamal is the developer behind the plan to erect an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
Calls are mounting for him and the other backers to find a new home for their center, further away from the site of the September 11th terrorist attacks, but El-Gamal isn’t budging.
He is sticking with his plans to erect Park51, a 13-story center and prayer space in Lower Manhattan. He likens the project to a YMCA or Jewish Community Center, with programs open to all residents of all faiths.
“A landmark, an iconic building that will have people come and visit it from around the world,” said El-Gamal as to what he imagines. “This looks like it is going to be the most famous community center in the world.”
Some might argue that the center would be the most famous mosque in the world, but El-Gamal emphasized throughout the interview that he is building a community center, that is expected to house a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a restaurant and an auditorium.
The developer takes issue with the fact that so much has been made of the location of the project, saying it is “nowhere near the World Trade Center site.”
“Park51 is a community center. It is two blocks north of the World Trade Center site,” said El-Gamal. “In New York City, two blocks is a great distance. There are some buildings in New York that have their own zip codes. There is such a scarcity of space in New York, especially in Lower Manhattan. Keep in mind this is a small island, so we are nowhere near the World Trade Center site.”
I asked El-Gamal if he’s been surprised by the backlash against the project and the national attention it’s garnered. He chose his words carefully.
“I am surprised at the way that politics is being played in 2010. There are issues that are affecting our country, which are real issues: unemployment, poverty, the economy,” he said. “And it’s a really sad day for America when our politicians choose to look at a constitutional right and use that as basis for their elections.”
El-Gamal views the fight over the center currently raging on television and in newspapers in sweeping, historic terms.
“This is a defining moment for you and I and the First Amendment, and I see us passing this test as Americans,” he said.
Of course, the project got a boost from the White House last weekend when President Barack Obama spoke strongly in support of the developer’s right to build the center. El-Gamal says he heard the president’s remarks while he was on his way to East Hampton. He says he was blown away.
There was also word on Tuesday that Governor David Paterson is planning to meet with mosque developers to discuss moving the project. El-Gamal says that while there is no such meeting scheduled yet, he is open to talking to the governor.
He insists, however, that he is not open to moving the center.
“This is not a debate. This is not a debate. This is us as Muslim Americans giving back to our community,” said El-Gamal.
Khadr’s ‘torture’ confessions admissible
Press TV – August 10, 2010
Confessions made by Omar Khadr, who was captured by US troops when 15, can be used as evidence in trial despite claims they were obtained through torture.
Khadr, who was charged with war crimes based on the allegation that he threw a grenade that killed an American soldier in Afghanistan in 2002, has been held in US custody with out a trial since then.
The Canadian-born captive is set to be tried before a military tribunal on Tuesday.
He reportedly confessed to the crime while in a US prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, 8 years ago, but later pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has argued that his confessions should be ruled as inadmissible because he was forced to confess due to torture and threats of death and rape.
A military judge at Guantanamo Bay, where Khadr is currently held, denied that request on Monday.
“He suffered 142 separate interrogations at Bagram,” Alfred Lambremont Webre, a war crimes lawyer, told Press TV.
“Bagram interrogators threatened him to be raped, he was not allowed to use the bathroom, and he was forced to urinate on himself. They were shoving bright lights up against his face and his eyes would tear and tear and tear.”
“This is torture; it is prohibited by international conventions,” Webre said.
Khadr has reportedly been beaten, subjected to long periods in solitary confinement, doused in freezing water, spat on, chained in painful positions, terrorized by barking dogs and subjected to sleep deprivation in the three months he was imprisoned in Bagram.
“He is protected by the conventions on the rights of the child. And he is protected as a prisoner of war by the Third Geneva Convention and he is protected by the Convention against torture and other cruel or inhumane treatments,” Webre said.
The now 23-year-old is the youngest, among the 176 captives held without charge, in the US notorious detention center.
Media gag in occupied Kashmir
By Khalid Awan | The News | August 08, 2010
In Occupied Kashmir, working on a two-pronged strategy, India has been trying to suppress the freedom movement by unleashing death and destruction and at the same time making every effort to hide the truth from the world.
For the latter, it has been muzzling the right to expression and freedom of the press by subjecting the media to stringent curbs. Presently, there is a new surge in the uprising and the Kashmiri people are coming to the streets, thousands in number, to demand their right to self determination. Forceful demonstrations all across the occupied territory have become a routine. The occupation authorities are responding by resorting to brute force, randomly killing the innocent people.
Over 18 youth, most of them teenagers have been killed by Indian troops during the last five weeks while firing on peaceful demonstrations. The All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has been confined to his residence in Srinagar by placing him under house arrest.
The octogenarian leader, Syed Ali Gilani, senior pro-movement leader Shabbir Ahmad Shah, President High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Mian Abdul Qayoom and almost all other Hurriyet leaders have been sent to jails, booking them under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). Curfew and other restrictions are in place to prevent people from holding demonstrations.
To keep the international community blind to all these happenings, the occupation authorities have imposed more curbs on the media and are engaged in terrorising the Kashmiri journalists. On many occasions, they were fired upon, subjected to humiliation, thrashing and beating besides prevented from covering events. After the imposition of curfew in the occupied territory, the authorities banned the movement of media-persons and cancelled all the curfew passes issued to them.
At least, 12 media persons were critically injured, including President of Kashmir Photojournalists Association, Tauseef Mustafa, when Indian paramilitary forces and police attacked them with batons at Tengpora-bypass in Srinagar on the morning of 6th July 2010. The incident took place when the media persons were covering protests that had erupted after the killing of two youth by the police in the area. While giving details of the incident, Bilal Bhadur, a photojournalist of Times of India said: “We were taking picture of the dead bodies, when suddenly seven of us were surrounded by CRPF and police personnel and we were beaten up mercilessly.”
The restrictions on the movement of media persons resulted in the non-publication of newspapers in the Valley, the total number of which is around 60, both in Urdu and English languages. Jammu and Kashmir remained a territory without newspapers for four days.
Amidst all this state of muzzling of the media, the authorities banned the beaming of Pakistani channels and the cable operators were directed to block PTV, Geo TV, Dawn News and others, instituting a total blackout of information. Banning of Pakistani channels, which are widely viewed in IOK, was a shameful attempt by the Indian authorities to give an impression to the world community that Pakistan is instigating the local youth to come on the streets. It speaks of the Indian negative mindset to level the blame on Pakistan for its every wrongdoing as ever before.
Since 1989, it has become commonplace that Kashmiri journalists are being beaten up and injured by Indian troops and are subjected to abductions, murder attempts and death threats.
They are also being detained on fake charges and subjected to humiliating interrogation. Nine Kashmiri journalists have so far been killed in the occupied territory while carrying out their professional duties eversince the freedom struggle has started off.
Restricting freedom of movement: an Israeli attempt to silence leaders of the popular struggle
International Solidarity Movement | August 5, 2010
Khatib during a speaking his speaking tour in Canada. Photo: Tadamon!
On August 4, 2010 about 1 PM, Mohammed Khatib from Bil’in was denied exit to Jordan via King Hussein Bridge. Khatib was on his way to Spain via Amman when Israeli border officials prevented him from crossing the border to Jordan. Denying the leaders of the non-violent Popular Struggle to go abroad is clearly an attempt to silence Palestinians who speak about human rights violations committed by Israel.
This is not the first time Israel has prevented leaders of the Popular Struggle from going abroad. Earlier this year Iyad Burnat, the leader of the Popular Committee in Bil’in was denied exit via King Hussein’s Bridge when on his way to Europe via Amman. Burnat and his 5 year old daughter were detained at the border, and after hours of waiting they were sent back to Bil’in. Later Burnat was given permission to travel abroad, on condition he did not speak about the situation in Bil’in. He is now threatened with arrest if he chooses to do so.
Both Khatib and Burnat had valid visas for their destinations, and had been planning their departure months in advance. Since Israel denies the vast majority of Palestinians entry to Jerusalem where the consulates are located, obtaining a visa is a time consuming process.
Crossing the border back to Israel after travelling abroad is also a complicated and potentially dangerous process. In 2009 Mohammed Othman was arrested at the Jordan border when returning from a speaking tour in Norway. Othman was held under administrative detention for months, without trial, allegedly considered a “security threat”.
Mohammed Khatib and other activists for the Popular Struggle can tell of frequent human rights violations: arrests and night raids carried out by the army, and theft of Palestinian land that makes life extremely difficult in their villages. As more and more people become aware of the situation in Palestine, Israel needs to find new strategies to silence those Palestinian voices speaking out – and denying Palestinians freedom of movement and freedom of speech is one tactic.
At 10 PM last night Mohammed Khatib returned to Bil’in. He reports that the reason Israeli border police gave for refusing to let him pass to Jordan was that the Israeli intelligence, Shebak, had given them instructions. The refusal came despite Khatib’s possession of a valid ruling by an Israeli court – issued on Tuesday – which allowed him to travel. This legal ruling was ignored by the border officials and proves once again that Israeli officials do not even follow their own legal system.
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