Nei file della Cia il caso Abu Omar
"Azioni del genere sono un danno"
Il fondatore del sito Wikilekas Julian Assange
condividi 
Wikileaks svela i documenti
dell'intelligence sul terrorismo
«Attenti a come ci muoviamo,
l'unilateralismo è un rischio»GIUSEPPE BOTTEROTORINO
Un documento di tre pagine sui rischi del terrorismo nato negli Stati Uniti, sulle divisioni all’interno dell’agenzia di spionaggio americana e alcune considerazioni sulle operazioni di extraordinary renditions, i blitz con cui vengono arrestati clandestinamente i presunti terroristi.
Wikileaks viola gli archivi della Cia e mette online un file di tre pagine in cui spuntano anche riferimenti al “caso Abu Omar”, l’imam egiziano prelevato a Milano da dieci agenti nel 2003. Un esempio citato nell’ambito di un’analisti sulla percezione che i Paesi europei hanno delle operazioni della Cia e sui pericoli a cui si espone l’intelligence muovendosi in modo troppo autonomo. «Se i governi stranieri cominciano a pensare che la nostra posizione sulla rendition è troppo unilaterale e favorisce gli Stati Uniti ma non gli altri paesi, gli sforzi per la detenzione dei sospetti terroristi rischiano di essere deteriorati. Nel 2005 infatti- si legge nel documento- l’Italia ha emesso un mandato di cattura per gli agenti Usa coinvolti nel rapimento di un religioso e il suo trasferimento in Egitto. Una proliferazione di casi del genere potrebbe rovinare non solo i rapporti bilaterali degli Stati Uniti con altri paesi ma anche danneggiare il nostro impegno globale nel contro-terrrorismo».Il file, annunciato dal sito di Julian Assange con un post su Twitter, è l’ennesimo capitolo della sfida tra il portale dei pirati e il governo americano, un duello iniziato a luglio con la fuga di notizie sulla guerra sporca in Afghanistan, la più clamorosa di una serie di operazioni che secondo il presidente degli Stati Uniti Obama «potrebbero mettere a rischio individui e operazioni» nei teatri mediorientali. Nel documento di quella che Assange definisce «la cellula rossa» della Cia spuntano le preoccupazioni di Washington sulla generazione di integralisti nata negli Usa, un fenomeno che potrebbe trasformare l’America agli occhi degli altri stati in un paese «esportatore di terrorismo». «Contrariamente a quanto si crede l’esportazione di terrorismo o di terroristi da parte dell’America non è un fenomeno recente, nè è stato associato solo con i radicali islamici o con individui di etnia mediorientale, africana o dell’Asia meridionale» scrivono gli agenti secondo cui «questa dinamica sfida la convinzione americana che la nostra società libera, democratica e multuculturale diminuisce il fascino del radicalismo e del terrorismo per i cittadini degli Stati Uniti».
Il rapporto degli analisti di Langley esamina quindi una serie di casi di terrorismo esportato dagli Usa: tra questi l’appoggio dato da ebrei Usa a entità giudicate nemiche di Israele e da americani di origine irlandese agli sforzi violenti per costringere la Gran Bretagna a abbandonare il controllo sull’Irlanda del Nord. I vertici dell’intelligence confermano la bontà del documento, «è tutto vero- dice un dirigente alla Nbc- ma non è certo uno scoop».
lunedì 30 agosto 2010
Cia e Abu Omar
Droni iraniani
Iran la morte misteriosa del programmatore dei droni
ByIran, morto ‘padre’ programma sviluppo droni,l’ombra di attentato
La casa ‘esplosa per una fuga di gas’, ma sospetti su arabi e Usa
La versione ufficiale parla di una fuga di gas. I fatti sembrano far propendere per un attentato. Reza Baruni, il padre del programma militare iraniano per la costruzione di droni, è morto nella violenta esplosione della sua villa ad Ahwaz, nel Khuzestan, avvenuta il primo agosto. Ne dà notizia ‘Debka’, un sito internet vicino ai servizi segreti israeliani.
Il sito smentisce la versione ufficiale, quella secondo cui l’esplosione sarebbe stata provocata da una fuga di gas. Si sarebbe, infatti, trattato di un attentato, compiuto con bombe piazzate almeno in tre angoli dell’edificio, esplose contemporaneamente. Baruni era un personaggio chiave dell’apparato bellico iraniano e il suo ruolo era conosciuto solo da un numero ristretto di alti ufficiali e autorità statali. La sua morte rallenterà lo sviluppo tecnologico iraniano e, per questo, potrebbe aver fatto gola a molti nemici.
Secondo il sito, le autorità sospettano degli Ahwazi (comunità araba), che lottano per l’indipendenza del Khuzestan e già in passato hanno rivendicato degli attentati contro Teheran, e dei servizi segreti di alcuni Paesi del Golfo, che avrebbero agito su commissione. Per ‘Debka’ non è da escludere, in qualche modo, il coinvolgimento degli Stati Uniti: il sito ricorda che cinque mesi fa, il segretario alla Difesa americano Robert Gates aveva lanciato, davanti a una commissione del Senato, l’allarme sui “Paesi come l’Iran che stanno costruendo i droni”.
da NOTIZIE.VIRGILIO.IT
Hamas-Islamic Jihad Relations Deteriorating
Hamas-Islamic Jihad Relations Deteriorating
29/08/2010By Kifah Zaboun
Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat- Sources within the Islamic Jihad Movement have described relations with the Hamas movement as "tense" to the degree that interaction between the two movements' officials on a political level have ceased.
Another high-level source told Asharq Al-Awsat, "They went beyond all limits ... They are acting like a government that owns Gaza, and now nothing is left between us except the media."
The sources accused Hamas of escalation against elements of the Islamic Jihad on a daily basis through arrests, attacks, and raiding of the movement's offices.
The relationship between the two movements have become strained, particularly after the Islamic Jihad accused elements of the Hamas Movement of raiding an Islamic Jihad office in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying its contents--as the sources said--and arresting four of its members there.
This incident took place a few days after the Islamic Jihad accused elements of the "Gaza police investigations department" of stabbing and seriously wounding a member of the Al-Quds Brigades "because of activities he was conducting in one of the Khan Yunis mosques."
The sources said that elements of the internal security service of the deposed Gaza government raided the office of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Khan Yunis last week, which cares for the families of martyrs and prisoners, arrested four office security men, and confiscated documents and files belonging to the movement. The Islamic Jihad regarded this as irresponsible behavior that affects national relations and an attempt to create internal tensions that would aggravate the situation in the Palestinian arena.
The sources added that leaders and members of the Islamic Jihad are complaining about the actions of Hamas. An Islamic Jihad leader, who asked to remain anonymous, accused leaders in Hamas of forming "gangs within the police departments in order to attack citizens, particularly those that opposed it politically." He explained, "The recent incidents against members of the Islamic Jihad show that these gangs, which are protected by the government by orders of Hamas leaders, are operating openly without the Gaza government doing anything to stop them."
The leader added, "What is happening on the ground is strange. When you go to a police station to complain, you find that those who receive you to record the complaint are the ones who attacked members of the Jihad ... and still, no action is taken against them. The complaint case is closed without taking into consideration that they are police officers whose duty is to protect the people and not only members of the Hamas."
Asharq Al-Awsat asked Khalid al-Batsh, a prominent Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, about the two incidents. He said, yes, "they stabbed one of our youths with a knife and raided one of our offices in Khan Yunis and confiscated the "hard disk" from it ... They have become specialists in the confiscation of hard disks. They also arrested four of our young men there." Al-Batsh could not find an explanation to this Hamas escalation, and said, "I do not think they have made a decision on the political level. I think this is unlikely. But it seems they have become accustomed to clashes." He continued, "They do not respect our distinctive characteristic, and we can no longer keep quiet." Al-Batsh accused the Hamas security services of chasing the mistakes of others and said, "They are dealing with the people as masters, and no one is allowed to object."
This is the second time that the Islamic Jihad has opened fire at Hamas within one month. The first time was when a clash took place in which two elements of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas, were wounded following a quarrel with an element of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, in the Al-Sabrah area, south of Gaza. Elements of the Al-Qassam attempted to detain an element of the Al-Quds Brigades, opened fire at him wounding him in the legs, and left him outside the Al-Shifa Hospital bleeding. The Islamic Jihad regarded this incident as a violation of all moral and religious values. Because of this incident, contacts on the military level between the two movements were broken off. Al-Batsh called for the need to activate and respect the coordination mechanisms agreed upon between the two movements, affirming that respecting the mechanisms of coordination and acting according to them is the real guarantee for the non-repetition of such regrettable and harmful incidents. He wondered, "Had they honored the mechanisms of coordination, such incidents would not have happened and matters would not have developed to this point."
The interior ministry of the deposed Hamas government has admitted that the internal security service had raided the Islamic Jihad office, but said that the raid took place to free a person that armed men from the Islamic Jihad had kidnapped. Ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghusayn explained, "Four Islamic Jihad members had kidnapped a citizen and questioned him in the Islamic Jihad office. The security forces arrested them for violating domestic security and the law."
Al-Ghusayn confirmed "the arrest of the four Islamic Jihad members with the handcuffed kidnapped person to complete the investigation." He denied that any of the contents of the office were confiscated or damaged. While the interior ministry underlined "the depth of the relationship with the Islamic Jihad, it expressed regret for the statement issued by the Jihad." Al-Ghusayn said he finds it strange that offices for the welfare of the families of martyrs, as the statement said, are used for kidnapping and investigation operations." Al-Ghusayn added, "The security services and the interior ministry are exercising their authorities, and will not allow any party to take the law into its hands and return us to the law of the jungle and anarchy." He noted, "The recent incidents in the eastern region during which kidnapping operations were carried out by armed men of the Islamic Jihad demand that we consider what happened and bring those involved to account."
Al-Ghusayn referred to "established coordination mechanisms between the resistance factions and the security services" and said, "Their door is open to receive any complaint, particularly with respect to the security and protection of the resistance. They are cooperating as much as possible in this respect, but they will not allow any unruly behavior by any group, no matter who it may be, on the Palestinian street."
Morocco: The Sublime Sufi Revival
By Nabila Taj
The rhythms of a Sufi revival are passionately reverberating through the corridors of Morocco, and they are not going unheard, especially by the nation’s youth. A blogpost on Lonely Planet reports :
The mystical branch of Islam, with its philosophy of inner peace, social harmony and oneness with God, is seen by many in Morocco as the ideal counterweight to such strict interpretations of Islam as Salafism, which have gained ground in the past few decades, as well as answering the country’s spiritual needs.
Sufism is recognized for introducing Islam to most parts of southern Morocco in the twelfth century. Eventually, Sufi tariqats, or brotherhoods, extended their influence to northern Morocco, and as well as to the rural areas. By the late fourteenth century, Sufism became a vital aspect of Moroccan politics. After a three hundred year stint as a defining facet of Moroccan culture and mores, Sufism disappeared into the shadows of a stricter, more politicized Islam.
In the infancy of the twenty-first century, Islamic fundamentalism is rapidly advancing across the world. Sufism’s tenets of tolerance and pacifism exhibit great potential as a tonic for the looming threat of extremism.
King Mohamed VI, a descendant of the Alaouite Dynasty, which has ruled Morocco since 1666, wholeheartedly supports a Sufi revival. Since his coronation, he has faced quite a bit of criticism from right-winged opponents who want to instate a more religiously conservative administration to replace the current king’s liberal and secular governance.
Margot Boyer-Dry, a student from Wesleyan University provides her analysis on this issue.
“This is where Sufism comes to the rescue (at least in the mind of the government): Sufi Islam in Morocco is quite similar, in its liberal nature and tolerance, to the Islam enforced under Kind Mohamed VI. Ideally, the more adherents Sufism can gain within Morocco, the fewer people will be left to question the King’s role as a religious ruler.”
Even if Sufism is being utilized as a political tool in the Moroccan government, it is still welcomed by members of the younger generation who are attracted to Sufism’s rejection of fanaticism, and lenience with modernization.
For example, annual Sufi festivals are held throughout the year in Morocco. A writer on Moroccoboard illustrates the Fez Festival held this past April:
“The festival will, according to the Association of Fes Festival of Sufi Culture, continue to show Morocco as the land of the ancient home of Sufism and promoter of dialogue among cultures, but also as a bridge between the East and the West, symbolized by the mediating role that Morocco has always played, especially in its modern history.”
Festivals such as the Fes Festival feature musical acts from all over the world, but Morocco is home to several innovantive musicians as well. The three most popular brotherhoods in Morocco are the Gnawa, the Aïssawa, and the Hamadcha, and each offer their own musical styles and practices.
Joe Tangari writes:
“Gnawa musicians, mystics, and dancers provide a communication conduit between people and the jinn, unseen beings of smokeless fire that are important not to anger. The word is the source of our “genie,” and one particular type of jinn, the mluk (literally, “the owners”) is said to possess people who cross its path. One of the purposes of Gnawa ceremony is to negotiate with the mluk and send it packing– it dovetails with the Sufi quest for spiritual purity. An “Ouled Bambara” is a suite of Gnawa songs played during the Fraja, or entertainment, phase of a Gnawa ceremony.”
An example of a Gnawa invocation, or a lila can be found here.
Another notable Moroccan brotherhood is led by Bachir Attar. The Master Musicians of Jajouka is based in the village of Jajouka in northern Morocco. Members of the Attar family were knighted the royal musicians of the Kingdom of Morocco, and played for the sultans. The Attar family has been passing down music and traditions through generations for almost 1,300 years.
Despite all the enthusiasm, a fraction of Moroccans believe that the Sufism rejuvenation is a blasphemous tactic to undermine specific aspects of mainstream Islam. Idris al Faez, who defines himself as a conservative Sufi imam, imparts his position on the validity of Sufism. “There are some aspects of ignorance among some Sufis such as the mingling of the two genders and the use of music.”
Nonetheless, it is evident that Sufism is deeply rooted in Moroccan traditions, and a Sufi resurgence would, at least, be paying homage to the history of Morocco.
sabato 14 agosto 2010
Russi buoni, russi cattivi
La denuncia sul sito israeliano Debka
Il sito israeliano Debka non ha dubbi: i sistemi di difesa russi dispiegati in Abkhazia servono a intercettare eventuali voli militari partiti dalle basi aeree in Romania e Bulgaria e diretti nell'Iran settentrionale. Anche se la Russia ha congelato la vendita all'Iran di questi missili intercettori, Mosca dispone comunque di metodi per bloccare un raid americano o israeliano contro gli impianti nucleari della Repubblica Islamica.
venerdì 13 agosto 2010
Il sesto pilastro dell'Islam saudita
Arabia Saudita: un servizio SMS per monitorare le donne
di Amira Al Hussaini · tradotto da Sara Cifani · vai all'articolo originale [en]
L' Arabia Saudita sta tenendo il passo con i tempi, e la blogger Eman Al Nafjan ci racconta [en, come tutti gli altri link] come:
Sapevate che in Arabia Saudita è attivo un servizio che prevede che il Ministero degli Affari Esteri invii un sms al tutore maschio, ogni qual volta una “persona a carico” lascia il paese?
Per “tutore” si intendono padri e mariti, o in loro assenza i fratelli, mentre le “persone a carico” sono mogli, figlie e sorelle.
Eman prende una pausa dalle vacanze per darci [questa notizia]:
Al momento mi trovo in vacanza in Italia, ma dovevo assolutamente pubblicare sul mio blog ciò che il Ministero degli Affari Esteri ha inviato a mio marito. A quanto pare c'è un nuovo servizio attraverso il quale viene inviato al tutore maschio un sms ogni volta che una “persona a carico” lascia il paese. [Il messaggio] non specifica per quale paese la donna in questione è partita, limitandosi a comunicare semplicemente l'avvenuta partenza. Mio marito mi ha raccontato di aver ricevuto lo stesso messaggio quando sono andata in Germania.
La blogger aggiunge:
Sono una donna adulta e da ormai dieci anni ho un mio reddito ma, a causa del mio genere, il governo saudita mi considererà persona “a carico” fino al giorno in cui morirò.
Questo breve post ha aperto il vaso di Pandora, provocando 93 commenti (che continuano ad arrivare) che spaziano dai messaggi di sostegno a quelli che tirano in ballo la religione, fino agli interventi di persone che hanno vissuto esperienze simili. Kha è sorpresa e scrive:
Mio Dio. Inviano davvero degli sms? È incredibile come un Paese possa stare al passo con i tempi in termini di tecnologia, ma essere COMPLETAMENTE indietro in termini di uguaglianza tra i sessi (…).
Un'altra lettrice, che si firma come Health Practitioner, condivide la sua esperienza di viaggio scrivendo:
Stavo viaggiando con mia madre, che all'epoca aveva 60 anni, e ci siamo accorte che il permesso era scaduto. Il poliziotto mi ha detto che non c'erano problemi perché se la donna ha oltre 50 anni, non ha bisogno di un permesso!!!
La cosa che mi sconvolge maggiormente è che molte donne con tanto di laurea e dottorato di ricerca non possono viaggiare per partecipare a conferenze o eventi senza aver ottenuto un permesso dal proprio tutore maschio, che può avere 21 anni ed essere un incapace, o addirittura più giovane di lei…
Per me è questa la vera tragedia: che in Arabia Saudita le donne “a carico”, con una buona formazione, non possano nemmeno recarsi in un ufficio governativo se non accompagnate dal proprio tutore, per non parlare dei viaggi all'estero…
Om Lujain aggiunge:
Penso che scelgano un'età qualsiasi, arbitrariamente, visto che mia madre ha 54 anni e ha ancora bisogno del permesso di suo fratello minore (è divorziata).
Hai proprio ragione, è una vera tragedia che donne adulte non possano prendere decisioni in autonomia e debbano di fatto implorare il proprio fratello/figlio/padre/marito per qualunque cosa gli occorra.
Nel frattempo, Hala sostiene che le risorse spese per tenere d'occhio le donne saudite dovrebbero essere investite in qualcosa di più utile, come ad esempio lo sviluppo delle infrastrutture del Paese:
Se si pensa a tutto il denaro e la programmazione impiegati per pedinare le donne mentre le nostre infrastrutture sono in pessime condizioni e rischiano di crollare al primo acquazzone…! ai piani alti, qualcuno non ha ben chiare le priorità…
Fawad fa l'avvocato del diavolo, e afferma di non capire quale sia il problema degli sms al tutore:
si tratta soltanto di un servizio sms per arrivi e partenze. Che c'è di così grave?
Ma Kha non prende il commento alla leggera e ribatte:
A me sembra grave perché si tratta, in pratica, di un sistema di monitoraggio. Perché una persona non dovrebbe poter prendere le proprie decisioni senza che lo sappia nessuno? Perché una donna, e CHIUNQUE altro, non dovrebbe avere il diritto alla propria privacy? Il servizio sms implica che queste donne sono così indifese e stupide che i loro mariti devono tenerle costantemente sott'occhio. Sapete chi è che dev'essere tenuto costantemente sotto controllo? I bambini. Le donne adulte che lavorano NON sono bambini. I messaggi dovrebbero mandarli se è un bambino, a lasciare il paese da solo, e non una donna adulta!
Jenna avanza una nuova proposta:
Sapete, lo voglio un sistema di monitoraggio anche per mio marito…ogni volta che parla con qualche sconosciuta o flirta con una donna… voglio ricevere un SMS!
Vicks chiama in causa anche un altro aspetto della questione, scrivendo:
Articolo interessante!!! Quello che mi meraviglia è che, sebbene la maggior parte dei commenti suggerisca disprezzo verso questa iniziativa (e molte altre simili) del governo saudita, in nessuno [si riscontra] il minimo dissenso o la minima forma di protesta nei confronti delle autorità (dove sono gli attivisti per i diritti delle donne o i gruppi per i diritti dei musulmani in questo caso?)… Non mi stupirei affatto, qualora un qualsiasi governo occidentale [monitorasse allo stesso modo la circolazione delle donne musulmane], se queste stesse persone reagissero con manifestazioni di piazza, gridando alla discriminazione e all'islamofobia!!!!
Ari , invece, auspica una rivoluzione:
Aspetto il giorno in cui queste ricche principesse saudite decideranno di FARE veramente qualcosa per rendersi libere, invece di passare il tempo a lamentarsi.
In occidente, tanto le donne benestanti con uno status sociale elevato quanto le donne qualunque, e perfino gli uomini, hanno marciato, protestato, sono state arrestate e hanno sofferto torture come l'alimentazione forzata, e tutto per ottenere l'uguaglianza e il diritto di voto.
Quando le donne saudite, al pari di altre donne e uomini musulmani, saranno pronte a pagare il prezzo dell'uguaglianza, allora l'otterranno. Nel frattempo, c'è chi può prendersi una vacanza nel mondo libero, mentre le proprie sorelle e fratelli meno privilegiati continuano a soffrire.
Fino ad allora, buono shopping!
Per ulteriori reazioni, si leggano i commenti al post originale. Eman ha anche scritto un post che fa seguito a quello in questione.
Moscheofobo lombardo
Il vicepresidente lombardo, il leghista Andrea Gibelli, ha intenzione di porre forti limitazioni all’edificazione di moschee e centri islamici. Non solo in Lombardia, ma anche su tutto il territorio nazionale, con una proposta di legge che verrà discussa da settembre. Intanto, per quanto riguarda la Lombardia, Gibelli punta a formalizzare una serie di vincoli legislativi e urbanistici in tal senso. Propone infatti di introdurre il referendum per permettere o meno l’edificazione di moschee. Inoltre, le moschee dovranno trovarsi lontane “almeno un chilometro” da altri edifici di culto e dovranno essere noti i finanziatori e i frequentatori delle stesse. Gibelli così giustifica la sua proposta: “l’islam non impone la preghiera in uno spazio consacrato. La verità è che dietro la richiesta di “luogo idoneo” per la liturgia si nasconde la volontà di ‘occupare’ uno spazio. È un’ambizione politico e culturale, molto più che un’esigenza di natura religiosa”.
Notizia inserita da Valentino Salvatore
Nucleare russo-iraniano
Iran, Mosca caricherà combustibile nucleare a Bushehr dal 21 agosto
La Russia inizierà a caricare combustibile nucleare nel reattore iraniano di Bushehr il 21 agosto. Lo ha annunciato il portavoce dell'Agenzia atomica russa. A fine giugno Teheran aveva annunciato che la prima centrale nucleare iraniana, costruita dai russi nella città meridionale di Bushehr, sarebbe stata attivata entro la metà di settembre. Il portavoce ha precisato che il carico di carburante sarà un passo fondamentale verso l'attivazione del reattore nella prima centrale nucleare iraniana, anche se il reattore non sarà considerato operativo a partire da quella data.
giovedì 12 agosto 2010
Il primo terrorista condannato sotto Obama
Bin Laden's cook sentenced
Ibrahim al-Qosi pleaded guilty at the Guantánamo Bay court to conspiring with al-Qaida. Photograph: Janet Hamlin/AFP/Getty Images
A US military tribunal has sentenced Osama bin Laden's former cook to 14 years in prison, but he is expected to serve far less under a plea deal that remains secret.
Sudanese-born Ibrahim al-Qosi pleaded guilty last month in the war crimes court at the Guantánamo Bay US naval base to charges of conspiring with al-Qaida and providing material support for terrorism.
Qosi, 50, has been held at Guantánamo for more than eight years.
Military officials said it could be several months before his full plea agreement was made public. But the al-Arabiya television network based in Dubai quoted unidentified sources as saying Qosi's sentence had been capped at two years.
Qosi acknowledged that he knew al-Qaida was a terrorist group when he ran one of the kitchens in Bin Laden's Star of Jihad compound in Afghanistan.
Qosi, who met Bin Laden in Sudan and travelled with him to Afghanistan, also admitted helping the al-Qaida leader escape US forces in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan.
He said he had no involvement in or prior knowledge of terrorist attacks.
Qosi was the first Guantánamo captive convicted under the administration of Barack Obama, whose efforts to shut down the detention camp have been blocked by Congress.
Qosi's sentencing hit a snag because, according to the judge, the US military ignored orders to develop a plan specifying how prisoners would serve their sentences after conviction in the Guantánamo tribunals.
Qosi wanted to avoid serving his in solitary confinement. His plea deal required the convening authority overseeing the trial to recommend that Qosi serve his time in Camp Four, where detainees live communally under fewer restrictions than in the other camps. But military rules forbid housing convicted criminals with other detainees.
The judge, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Nancy Paul, said an assistant defence secretary ordered two years ago that the army and the military's Southern Command, which oversees the Guantánamo base, develop a detailed plan for housing prisoners after their conviction. "This has not been done," the judge said.
She said the absence of any written policy or plan was "especially troubling" because another trial was under way, for a young Canadian, and could produce another conviction.
She ruled that Qosi's plea agreement was valid because it called only for a recommendation that he be housed in the communal camp, and did not guarantee he would be.
The judge directed that Qosi remain in Camp Four for 60 days while the military worked out where he would serve the rest of his sentence.
Qosi is the fourth captive convicted in the tribunals created to try non-US terrorism suspects after the al-Qaida attacks of 11 September 2001. Two served short sentences and were sent home to Australia and Yemen.
The only other convict remaining at Guantánamo is Ali Hamza al Bahlul, a Yemeni who was an al-Qaida videographer. He is serving a life sentence for conspiring with al-Qaida and providing material support for terrorism.
"He is separated from the general population," said a Guantánamo spokesman, Navy Commander Brad Fagan. He declined to elaborate except to say that "he's by himself".
Defence lawyers said that once Qosi returned to Sudan he would enter a programme run by the Sudanese intelligence service that was designed to rehabilitate those with radical views. Nine other Sudanese captives had gone through the programme upon repatriation from Guantánamo, they said.
After completing the programme Qosi would live with his family but would be monitored to ensure he had no contact with radicals.
Perché Guantanamo non chiuderà
Half of Guantanamo Bay's 180 detainees are Yemeni, meaning it won't close anytime soon da Nasser Arrabyee di Nasser Arrabyee
Source : MINN POST: By Alice Fordham 09/08/2010
Al Qaeda is flexing its muscles in Yemen.
Sana'a-The al Qaeda offshoot here, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has in the last few weeks staged a series of high-profile attacks, freed suspected militants from security offices and targeted oil employees and police forces.
Accompanying the violence has been a well-organized propaganda campaign, complete with slick online sermons glorifying their deeds.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Cuba, the prison at Guantanamo Bay is still open and home to about 180 prisoners, many of them Yemeni, long after the January 2010 date set by U.S. President Barack Obama for its closure.
While the prison is a long way from the broiling shores of Yemen, the answer to its continuing existence lies here. With Yemen so volatile, U.S. officials are reluctant to repatriate Yemenis at Guantanamo Bay, even the ones that have been deemed a non-threat.
In Yemen, Al Qaeda is a growing force, swelled by fighters pushed out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Taking advantage of the tribal structures in areas of the country that remain weak with government oversight, the militants are, in addition to their recent bloodshed, attempting larger operations, one of which the world witnessed on Christmas Day last year.
After Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner in December, the world's attention swiveled to Yemen, where the Nigerian student had spent time, and, according to American authorities, had fallen under the influence of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-Yemeni cleric.
The group's increasingly daring attacks — a suicide bomber in January tried to kill the British ambassador — have become a cause of global concern, and the flailing Yemeni government's inability to monitor former Guantanamo detainees here — two are now leaders of Al Qaeda in Yemen — has prompted a swift moratorium on repatriating any more Yemeni prisoners.
This was despite a recommendation of a U.S. military task force that more than 30 Yemeni detainees pose no threat and should be released. More than half of Guantanamo's prisoners are Yemenis and the moratorium is the single biggest obstacle to the closure of the prison.
“They are concerned that if these people come back, they will rejoin Al Qaeda,” said Muhammad Naji Allawo, a human rights lawyer in Sanaa who works on behalf of the detainees. “They want the Yemeni government to keep them in jail as long as possible to make sure they don't join … but it has been proved that many are not al Qaeda members.”
One Yemeni detainee, Muhammad Odaini, was released this month from Guantanamo Bay after intense judicial and media pressure on the Obama administration. But even as it announced Odaini's transfer, the Department of Defense issued a statement saying, “The suspension of Yemeni repatriations from Guantanamo remains in effect due to the security situation that exists there.”
Analysts concur that the situation is indeed a cause for concern. Saeed Obaid al Jemhi, founder of Al-Jemhi Centre for Research and Study, a Yemen-based think tank addressing regional terrorism, said, “they have become really strong. With all the attacks they have made, you can compare them with the groups in Iraq or Afghanistan.”
The actual number of fighters in the group is the subject of some speculation. Western diplomatic sources put the figure in the hundreds.
“There are not less that 2,000 and not more than 3,000. Just 500 are fighters and the rest are for logistical support,” Jemhi said.
However, he also said support and sympathy for the group is growing, especially in rural areas, where the group preys on some of the most disenfranchised people in the Arab world. Yemeni militants often cite government corruption as a reason to join the fight, an issue most people here can relate to.
The young men, Jemhi said, are often influenced by the hardline Islamic doctrine of Salafism, and are susceptible to the religious message of Al Qaeda.
Even some Yemeni media have become sympathetic to the Islamist movement, he said.
“From my observation, some television presenters say that Al Qaeda operations are good things, especially when they make an operation against the foreign people," he said.
Although Yemenis are generally welcoming toward individual foreigners, growing antipathy to foreign interference, particularly from the United States, is fueling concerns about the radicalization of young people.
All of this was aggravated in May by the accidental death of the deputy governor of Maarib Province in what was meant to be a targeted assassination of a militant. Although U.S. forces have never officially confirmed their involvement, the death was universally blamed on America.
The continuing detention of about 90 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay has become part of a vicious circle of radicalism. The Al Qaeda group here cites the imprisonment without charge of Yemenis as one of the driving forces behind their attacks.
It’s a view that is shared by even those in Yemen’s mainstream.
“Their dignity should be preserved,” Allawo said. “They should not be subjected to emergency trial, should not be tortured or subjected to inhuman treatment, their punishment should be decided by a judge.”
Muhammad Odaini's brother, Bashir, a recently released detainee, said the prison is having the opposite effect it should and is making the security situation worse in Yemen.
“If you keep the bad people, it is better for everything, even us,” he said. “[But] if you keep arresting innocent people, you keep making bad feeling — and it is increasing.”
I soldati bambini dello Yemen
Children participated in Yemen’s war, UNICEF says
By Nasser Arrabyee /12/08/2010
A UNICEF report said that more than 15 % of the fighters of Al Houthi rebels and tribal militias in northern Yemen were children below 18 years.
68 % of the children interviewed have been subjected to domestic violence, said the report which covered the five conflict-affected areas of Sa’ada, Hajjah, Amran, Al-Jawf and Sana’a. The report said 8 % of all abused children have admitted exposure to sexual exploitation perpetrated by host communities, aid workers and others.
21 % of children reported that they saw someone being injured or wounded.
10.3% of children have been injured as a direct result of the fighting from both sides of the conflict.
2.1 % of displaced and affected families have indicated that at least one of their children is still missing. The report, the First Inter-Agency Comprehensive Child Protection Assessment Report in Conflict Affected Areas in the north of Yemen, said illiteracy was very high among fathers and mothers of the children.
73% of fathers and 85% of mothers are illiterate without appropriate learning or educational opportunities, the report said.
The Yemen-based UNICEF representative Geert Cappelaere commented on the report by saying, “ “The content of the report must be a matter of concern for all players in the humanitarian and development landscape.”
“It serves as a clarion call to ensure the immediate end to all hostilities by all parties, urgent scale-up of interventions and effective coordination of child protection responses and a strong call to the international and donor community as well as the government for increased funding allocation in order to ensure the protection of the children of Yemen from all forms of abuse, exploitation and violence,” Mr Cappelaere added.
The report highlights key issues regarding killings, injuries, disabilities, recruitment, detention, domestic violence, separation, abuse as well as sexual and economic exploitation of children. It also highlighted concrete and key recommendations at all levels for follow up to ensure the protection of children from all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation and discrimination.
“The urgent need to unify all efforts between the government of Yemen, UN agencies, and NGOs to assume their responsibilities and address the recommendations of the study,” said the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, Dr. Amat Elrazzaq Hummad, who attended the launch of the report.
“The government of Yemen and the President strongly support building peace in the North and start a process of reconstruction together with all efforts to rehabilitate and reintegrate children who suffered a lot during the last war,” She added.
Mr. Adel Dabwan, director of social protection Department at the ministry of social affairs and labour said the government would follow up on the recommendations in cooperation with UNICEF.
“We are in the process of developing a national strategy on Child Protection in emergencies and we will certainly take into our consideration all the recommendations of the assessment.”
The report, which was launched on August 9th, was jointly compiled by the Child Protection sub-cluster in Yemen, led by UNICEF in collaboration with Yemen Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour as well as other Government Departments and ministries, UN agencies and national and international organizations working in conflict areas.
Le sanzioni aiutano Ahmadinejad, lo dice Karrubi
Iran sanctions 'strengthen regime'
Mehdi Karroubi, the leading reformist politician in Iran, says sanctions 'have given an excuse to the government to suppress the opposition by blaming them for the unstable situation of the country'. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP
Punitive international sanctions imposed on Iran have strengthened Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and assisted its post-election crackdown on the opposition Green movement, the leading reformist politician and former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi has told the Guardian.
In his first interview with a British newspaper since widespread unrest erupted after Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election as president last June, Karroubi blamed the US and Britain for adopting counterproductive policies to combat Iran's suspect nuclear programme, describing sanctions as a gift to the Iranian regime.
"These sanctions have given an excuse to the Iranian government to suppress the opposition by blaming them for the unstable situation of the country," Karroubi said in email responses to the Guardian.
Karroubi, 73, a former speaker of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, under the reformist president Mohammad Khatami, and a candidate in last year's election, said that isolating Iran would not bring democracy. "Look at Cuba and North Korea," he said. "Have sanctions brought democracy to their people? They have just made them more isolated and given them the opportunity to crack down on their opposition without bothering themselves about the international attention."
The UN security council agreed a new round of sanctions on Iran in June after the US and Britain, which believe Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, obtained backing from Russia and China. The EU, and individual countries such as the US and Britain, subsequently imposed additional punitive measures.
The move followed Washington's rejection of a proposed deal, brokered by Brazil and Turkey, under which Iran would have handed over nearly half of its stock of low-enriched uranium in return for "safe" nuclear fuel supplies that could not be used in bomb-making. Turkey and Brazil voted against the new UN sanctions, but today Brazil announced that it was reluctantly prepared to enforce them.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, who helped lead the protests following last summer's election, co-authored a public letter with Karroubi last week in which they condemned the sanctions while blaming Ahmadinejad's government for mishandling negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.
"Sanctions have targeted the most vulnerable social classes of Iran including workers and farmers," the letter said.
Karroubi told the Guardian: "On the one hand, the government's mishandling of the economy has resulted in deep recession and rising inflation inside the country, which has crippled the people of Iran and resulted in the closure of numerous factories. On the other hand, we have sanctions which are strengthening the illegitimate government."
Karroubi, who was imprisoned before the Islamic revolution in 1979,said that despite widespread corruption, the shah's regime treated its opponents less harshly than the current government, partly because the shah was sensitive to international criticism.
"But because Iran is getting more isolated, more and more they [Ahmadinejad's government] are becoming indifferent to what the world is thinking about them," he said.
Last summer's unrest resulted in the killing, beating or arrest of hundreds of protesters who took to the streets convinced that Ahmadinejad, who is backed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had stolen the election.
Hopes the regime would call a fresh vote or collapse under public anger dissipated in clouds of teargas, counter-demonstrations organised by the government, and often brutal repression. Since then, Iranians have suffered a crackdown on dissent and an increase in human rights abuses.
Yesterday the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, issued an appeal to Iran to honour its international treaty obligations to respect the rights of its citizens.
She also expressed concern about the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was sentenced to death by stoning after being found guilty of adultery. In his interview with the Guardian, Karroubi condemned Ashtiani's sentence and said he was opposed to stoning in principle.
Karroubi said that since the election his office has been sealed off and his newspaper, Etemad-e-Melli (the National Trust), closed down while he was under informal house arrest. Wherever he went, he said, groups of government supporters, sometimes accompanied by plainclothes basiji militiamen, followed him.
"In the last year, they [officials] have tried to suppress me in many ways," he said. "Once I was physically attacked, on the anniversary of the Islamic revolution, and my son Ali was arrested and severely tortured. During a recent visit I had to Qazvin province, they went further in attacking me and opened fire on my car and later raided my house."
Ayatollah Khamenei has never attacked him or Mousavi by name, but always referred to them as "leaders of sedition", a term now now routinely used to describe opposition leaders. Last month, during a visit to Qom, Karroubi was met by government supporters shouting "western stooge".
Despite having to call off protests in the face of the government crackdown, Karroubi said he believed the Green movement had not been defeated. "It's no longer possible for the opposition movement to pour out en masse into the streets … But we also do not think it's necessary any more to do this," he said.
The movement's message had already reached the world, he said. "People were out in the streets to inform the world of what is really happening inside Iran, and they succeeded in doing so. Now the world knows what is the problem in Iran."
Karroubi said he still believed in the Islamic republic, but not the current ruling system. "I should make it clear that we are a reformist movement, not a revolutionary one … We are seeking nothing more than a free election."
Asked about criticism that the opposition has no clear leader and sometimes appeared divided, Karroubi said: "In my opinion, it's an advantage that no specific person is the leader. I think that the only reason the Green movement has not been stopped yet is because it doesn't have one leader or unified leadership. If it had, then by arresting that leader they could have controlled the whole movement."
Reaching out to Iran's ordinary people remained the opposition's biggest problem: any newspaper that mentioned the Green movement would be immediately closed down, he said. "We are not even allowed to publish a funeral announcement at the moment."
Consumare spiritualità
Comincia il Ramadan. E i prezzi esplodonoIl Manifesto, 11 Agosto 2010
ISLAM - Digiuno per 2 miliardi di musulmani
Quasi due miliardi di musulmani iniziano oggi il digiuno rituale di Ramadan, uno dei cinque pilastri dell'Islam, che apparentemente accomuna tutti i fedeli ovunque essi siano sulla Terra. Hanno il diritto di non osservarlo (ferme restando le differenze di indirizzi religiosi e delle fatwa locali) donne incinte o nel periodo dell'allattamento, malati che digiunando metterebbero a repentaglio la loro vita e viaggiatori. Hanno il dovere di non osservarlo le donne durante il periodo mestruale e nei 40 giorni dopo il parto. A queste categorie si aggiungano i braccianti, gli operai delle acciaierie e quelli che lavorano davanti ai forni: secondo l'imam egiziano Ahmad al-Sakka, laureato presso la prestigiosa universita al-Azhar al Cairo (recentemente nota per la proposta di vietare la lettura e la distribuzione delle Mille e Una Notte), fanno parte dei casi in cui «è lecito per un musulmano derogare al divieto di bere acqua durante il giorno di Ramadan».
Il diritto islamico è un diritto la cui applicazione in taluni casi dipende dal contesto. Sui siti di fiqh (giurisprudenza islamica) ci si imbatte così in questioni come il modo di stabilire gli orari di digiuno se si vive vicino al Polo Nord, dove la gran parte del giorno o è dì o è notte. A parte la sua natura puramente teorica, la domanda illustra l'importanza del singolo muftì o del contesto storico-politico nella vita religiosa delle varie comunità. La religiosità è un fatto spirituale ma la religione è una serie di norme applicate in una dimensione squisitamente materiale.
A proposito del binomio spiritualità-materialità, dalla settimana precedente Ramadan i prezzi dei generi alimentari aumentano vertiginosamente. Ogni anno i governi annunciano misure calmierative e contro la speculazione ma senza risultati significativi, mentre i commercianti si difendono con giustificazioni climatiche (la canicola estiva rovina i raccolti). In Algeria, ad esempio, al 9 agosto i prezzi erano raddoppiati: patate e zucchine, componenti importanti della chorba con cui si rompe il digiuno, erano passate rispettivamente da 25 a 45/50 e da 40 a 80 dinari, mentre la carne di pollo era arrivata da 280 a 300 o 310 dinari. I governi di Arabia Saudita e Yemen intanto hanno firmato un memorandum sui prezzi ufficiali di tutti i tipi di merci, soprattutto per evitare la vendita di prodotti contraffatti, ma i partiti di opposizione yemeniti hanno denunciato aumenti dal 30% al 50%. Questo, oltre a colpire i meno abbienti, prduce un'ondata di inflazione che si ripercuote sull'economia nazionale. Analoga la situazione in Egitto, dove gli aumenti si sono aggirati attorno al 32%.
Quanto alla carne, che Ramadan a parte è difficilmente accessibile a gran parte della popolazione, alcuni governi per contenerne i prezzi hanno deciso di importarla dall'India. Una scelta «materialmente» opportuna, si direbbe, ma Ramadan è soprattutto un mese spirituale. In Algeria, dove dall'8 agosto si trovano sui banchi dei mercati più di quattromila tonnellate di carne rossa indiana, una fatwa pubblicata il 4 agosto da Sheikh Chamseddine Bouroubi ne ha definito «haram» (proibito) il consumo, in quanto macellata da «pagani». «Il metodo di macellazione è sconosciuto», ha spiegato. Si è concluso intanto il dibattito sulla qualità di questa carne e su eventuali rischi di intossicazione alimentare. Le autorità sanitarie di Algeri ne hanno inoltre accertato la conformità alle leggi religiose, essendo prodotta in Uttar Pradesh e Maharastra, dove vive un'importante comunità musulmana. Contro i rischi di intossicazione alimentare nei ristoranti delle diverse città, Algeri ha inoltre disposto costanti controlli sulle loro condizioni igieniche. In Egitto, che è tornato ad importare carne indiana dopo l'esito negativo dell'analisi sulla sarcocisti, è stata sospesa l'ora legale per tutto il mese, per rendere il digiuno meno faticoso. A proposito, Habib Malik del Comitato di Emergenza per i Disastri pakistano (che coordina i soccorsi durante le alluvioni), ha lanciato l'allarme sulle condizioni di salute dei concittadini colpiti dalle alluvioni durante questo mese di digiuno. Un digiuno che invece di unire ripropone, quando non accentua, le differenze di sempre.
mercoledì 11 agosto 2010
Vola, colomba d'Israele
Israele, Il ministro della Difesa Ehud Barak voleva attaccare il Libano
Il ministro della Difesa Ehud Barak voleva attaccare il Libano dopo lo scontro a fuoco del 3 agosto scorso tra soldati israeliani e libanesi. Il quotidiano londinese in lingua araba al-Sharq al-Awsat ha spiegato che il ministro è stato dissuaso dal premier francese Nicolas Sarkozy e dal segretario di stato americano Hillary Clinton.
Barak aveva comunicato al ministro degli Esteri francese Bernard Kouchner: "Israele intende avviare un'operazione militare su larga scala per dare una lezione all'esercito libanese e per vendicare la morte di un alto ufficiale israeliano". Dopo questa informazione sono iniziate le comunicazioni tra Sarkozy e la Clinton, e tra i leader di Egitto, Giordania e altri Stati arabi. La pressione diplomatica mirata ad allentare la tensione è stata efficace.
Categorie a rischio
Egyptian Journalists Without Rights launch websiteUnder the slogan "Free press and fair wages,” Journalists Without Rights celebrated the launch of their website late on Thursday at the headquarters of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), after a test period of 20 days.
The journalists' league, founded in 2008, strives for better working conditions and acts as an advocate for journalists in the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate (EJS).
"Over the last 18 years the [journalists’] syndicate has been retreating from its role of defending journalists and providing them with social and economic backing," said Amr Abdel Ghani, a member of the EJS's social fund.
"Journalist Without Rights has provided a platform for all journalists who are suffering because of their press organizations or the passiveness of the syndicate," added Abdel Ghani.
The head of ANHRI, Gamal Eid, which provides technical support for the new website, gave a word of advice to the group in his opening speech for the website launch.
"Journalists Without Rights can widen its circle by reaching out to similar initiatives in the Arab world," Eid said. "The site is significant as an independent workers’ group website which can help mobilize for better working conditions."
In December 2008, a handful of journalists, mainly from the independent-daily Al-Dostour and leftist Al-Badeel, founded Journalists Without Rights, initially to speed up the enrollment of journalists in the Journalists Syndicate.
The league, over the past two years, has mobilized several protests and issued statements in support of journalists' social, economic and human rights.
Earlier in July, the league called for a sit-in in support of al-Nahar, an Egyptian news website. Journalists had allegedly been assaulted by their editor-in-chief, who threatened to fire them with no legal justification.
"[Journalists Without Rights] ensured our complaints were widely discussed in the media at a time when the Journalists Syndicate was playing-down our cause," said Amer Ismail, a journalist from al-Nahar who, among a dozen other journalists, received an order to resign from his position.
"Insecure working conditions is a common complaint in public, private or party-owned press,” added Ismail.
The new website posts the group’s statements, campaigns and interactions in support of Egyptian as well as Arab journalists.
As the website shows, the biggest problem for Journalists Without Rights lies within media organizations.
"Our biggest enemies are the CEOs of newspapers who constantly take away journalists' minimal rights, and are powerful through their connections in the syndicates," said Radwan Adam, one of the league's founders and a journalist at Al-Dostour.
"Our struggle starts in our work places, defending our colleagues, and then extends through our league to support other journalists as well."
Mecca, l'ombelico del mondo
ARABIA SAUDITA
Ramadan: orologio gigante alla Mecca farà concorrenza al meridiano di Greenwich
Sarà varato domani o nei prossimi giorni, all’inizio del Ramadan. I quadranti sono di 48 metri e poggiano su una torre di oltre 400 metri. Argomenti “scientifici” per rivendicare la centralità mondiale del meridiano della Mecca.
Mecca (AsiaNews/Agenzie) – Un orologio gigante di fronte alla Grande moschea della Mecca sta per essere inaugurato domani o entro la prima settimana del Ramadan nella speranza che il “tempo della Mecca” sostituisca, almeno per i musulmani, il riferimento al meridiano di Greenwich.
L’enorme orologio, visibile dai quattro lati, ha quadranti di 48 metri e poggia su una torre di oltre 400 metri. L’edifico a cui appartiene, l’ Abraj Al-Bait Project, sarà il secondo grattacielo più alto del mondo, dopo il Burj Khalifa di Dubai e sarà alto circa 600 metri. L’orologio sarà visibile fino a 17 km di distanza ed è stato disegnato e costruito da una ditta tedesca con base a Dubai, la Premiere Composite Technologies. Ogni quadrante riporta la scritta “Allah” e il simbolo del regno saudita.
L’intero complesso comprende 3 mila stanze d’albergo, appartamenti con vista sulla Grande moschea, cinque piani di centro commerciale, enormi sale di preghiera e per conferenze.
Esso ospita tre hotel a cinque stelle: il Fairmont, il Raffles e lo Swiss Hotel.
Secondo gli abitanti della Mecca, essendo la città sacra il centro del mondo, il tempo della città dovrebbe essere il punto di riferimento mondiale per tutti. Nel 2008, durante una conferenza a Doha, professori e dottori coranici hanno espresso molti argomenti “scientifici” difendendo la tesi secondo cui il meridiano della Mecca è quello centrale per il mondo.
Ma insomma, di chi era quell'albero?
Libano, secondo il catasto l'albero della discordia era sul territorio di Beirut
Secondo il catasto libanese era in territorio libanese l'albero all'origine dei sanguinosi scontri verificatisi il 3 agosto scorso nella localià di Addaisseh, lungo il confine provvisorio tra Israele e Libano.
Secondo il giornale di Beirut an Nahar: "le radici dell'albero sradicato dai soldati israeliani sono all'interno della proprietà della cittadina".Gli scontri sono cominciati quando alcuni miltari israeliani hanno sconfinato, secondo le forze di sicurezza libanesi, per abbattere alcuni alberi oltre il reticolato elettrificato eretto dalle forze armate di Tel Aviv. Tre soldati libanesi, un ufficiale israeliano e un giornalista libanese sono rimasti uccisi negli scontri a fuoco tra i due eserciti. L'Unifil, missione Onu schierata nel sud del Libano, ha riconosciuto che l'azione israeliana era stata compiuta a sud della Linea Blu, tracciata dall'Onu nel 2000, e che quindi non c'era stata alcuna violazione da parte di Telv Aviv. Secondo le autorità libanesi però, in quel settore il tracciato della Linea Blu non coincide con il confine internazionale tra il Libano e la Palestina occupata.
Cosa direbbe Oriana Fallaci? Purtroppo...
Vergogna a Ground Zero
Chissà cosa direbbe Oriana Fallaci in merito alla costruzione del centro islamico di New York, un palazzone da tredici piani con moschea e centri sportivi a due passi dal cratere di Ground Zero. Se la più grande e celebre scrittrice italiana minacciò di far saltare in aria con la complicità degli anarchici la moschea di Colle Val d’Elsa, come minimo progetterebbe un attentato atomico in questa circostanza. Congetture ed ipotesi a parte, la scelta del luogo dove edificare il cuore della comunità musulmana newyorkese lascia stupefatti. Indubbia provocazione, è ovvio, e spiace che Bloomberg, Sindaco della Grande Mela, plauda all’iniziativa dell’imam locale, tale Feisal Abdul Rauf, definendola “vittoria sui terroristi”. Non si capisce bene in cosa consista questo presunto successo.
Ci sono luoghi intoccabili, spazi che raccontano la storia. Quel cratere, con tutte le migliaia di vittime che ha inghiottito una mattina di settembre di quasi un decennio fa, è lì a rappresentare lo sfregio alla vita umana che terroristi imbevuti di fanatismo e Corano praticarono radendo al suolo il World Trade Center. La costruzione di una moschea è vista dai musulmani come una vittoria decisiva sugli infedeli nella marcia islamica per il raggiungimento della sottomissione di tutti gli altri all’Islam ed alla Sharia. A dirlo non siamo noi, ma Wafa Sultan, psichiatra siriana autrice di un libro dall’emblematico titolo “The God that hates”. E questo dovrebbe bastare a far riflettere. La politica delle mani tese prosegue senza sosta, nonostante gli sputi ricevuti e le batoste prese. I parenti delle vittime sono sul piede di guerra, la popolazione della città pure. “E’ come se i tedeschi aprissero una società corale dedicata a Bach vicino ad Auschwitz. Anche se sono passati tanti anni, sarebbe giudicata un’iniziativa mostruosa”, spiega qualcuno che ha votato contro l’abnorme progetto da cento milioni di dollari.
Nessuno vuole togliere ai musulmani i loro luoghi di preghiera, né negar loro il diritto ad adorare il loro dio. Ciò sarebbe impossibile nella culla della democrazia moderna, da sempre rifugio di tutti i perseguitati per la loro fede religiosa. Viene però spontaneo chiedersi perché proprio lì, in quel luogo simbolico. E’ un insulto ai tremila morti senza colpa alcuna. E’ sacrificare quei corpi straziati sull’altare di un patetico ed utopico volemose bene. Un fallimento annunciato.
Il mito dei curdi buoni
Iraq: Ruling party threat to press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which is headed by the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, has been waging a hate campaign for the past week against Lvin Magazine, accusing it of besmirching the memory of Barzani’s father, the late Kurdish nationalist leader Mullah Mostafa Barzani.
The KDP’s supporters are on the warpath and are threatening all sorts of terrible things if they do not get a public apology. The KDP has also brought a libel action against Rojname, an opposition weekly, over an article accusing the party of corruption.
“Both of these cases pose a very disturbing threat to press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan,” Reporters Without Borders said. “There are many red lines that journalists must not try to cross, there are many subjects that are off-limits and Mostafa Barzani, an historic figure, is clearly one of them. We are extremely worried, especially by the death threats that have been made against Lvin’s journalists. Two journalists have already been murdered in the past two years.”
The press freedom organization added: “We appeal for calm. The KDP’s leaders must accept that they have a duty to talk sense into their supporters or else the situation will get out of control. The regional government also has a duty to protect journalists working in Iraqi Kurdistan. Politicians must learn to distinguish between defamation and criticism. And the lawsuit against Rojname is absurd. Would the KDP dare to sue the New York Times, which the first to report what Rojname reported?”
Hate campaign against Lvin over article criticizing historic figure
The offending article in Lvin Magazine, published on 1 August, consisted of an interview with a student, Irfan Qani’ Fard, who is currently preparing a thesis at Harvard University on modern Kurdish history. In the interview, Fard criticized Mostafa Barzani, one of the earliest leaders of the KDP and a dominant figure on the Kurdish political stage until his death in 1979.
Fard said his research into British and US archives showed that Mostafa Barzani, when commander of the army of the Republic of Mahabad, a short-lived Kurdish political entity founded in December 1945, was encouraged by the British to help bring down the republic and betray its president, Qazi Muhammad, who was hanged by Iranian troops in 1946 when they recovered the region after a Soviet withdrawal.
Fard also said his research showed that it was the Iranian intelligence services that placed Mostafa Barzani at the head of a Kurdish revolution in 1961.
The publication of the interview triggered a wave of attacks on the newspaper and its staff that has grown in virulence.
The newspaper’s editor, Ahmed Mira, told Reporters Without Borders: “Lvin Magazine interviewed the student in a neutral and professional manner. The staff is in no way responsible for the comments this historian made during the interview. Soon after its publication, Lvin and its journalists were the target of serious direct and indirect threats from the KDP. The attacks took various forms. They included death threats. They promised to make us pay.”
Leaflets attacking Lvin and its journalists began being distributed by party supporters on the streets of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. The KDP daily newspaper Khabat ran a similar message the next day with explicit threats against Lvin’s staff (see copies of these threatening messages).
Pro-KDP mullahs publicly attacked Lvin and its journalists in their Friday sermons on 5 August, accusing them of blasphemy against Islam and urging the population to demonstrate against the newspaper. Some even called for physical attacks on its staff.
“All these threats were made because we published an interview in which a researcher dared to criticize what the official version of Kurdish history has to say about Mullah Mostafa Barzani,” said Mira, who added that Lvin’s journalists had ceased to be protected by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) despite being citizens of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Mira announced on 8 August that he had filed a complaint against Massoud Barzani as KRG president and as leader of the KDP because of the murderous appeals issued by KDP organizations and media.
KDP sues Rojname over smuggling allegations
A report published in Rojname on 20 July accused the KDP and its ruling coalition partner, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), of helping to smuggle refined petroleum products into Iran in violation of the international sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic by the UN Security Council. The article accused the KDP and PUK of collecting 250,000 dollars a month each in kickbacks.
The KDP sued Rojname for 1 billion dollars in damages on 25 July and demanded its closure. “This lawsuit is one more example of the KDP’s attempts to gag independent and opposition journalists,” Rojname editor Azad Chalak told Reporters Without Borders. “The authorities do not want other voices to make themselves heard, especially when they expose the authoritarian system’s inner workings and corruption.”
“We have all the documents to prove what is said in the article,” Chalak added. “There can be no doubt about the fact that we are going to win.” The allegations that the PUK and KDP were collecting kickbacks from the contraband in petroleum products was first reported by the New York Times in its 8 July issue.
The amount of damages demanded is the biggest in the history of lawsuits against news media anywhere in Iraq, including Kurdistan. The 2007 press law in force in Iraqi Kurdistan does not allow a court to close down a news media and limits the amount of damages that can be demanded to 3 million dinars. But the KDP asked for Rojname to be tried under the 1969 Iraqi criminal code.
The trial, which Chalak regards as highly political, opened on 8 August in Erbil but Rojname’s lawyers would rather the case were heard in Sulaymaniyah where the newspaper is based. “We have doubts about the independence of the courts in Erbil,” Chalak said. “In Erbil, judges cannot issue a ruling without getting a green light from the KDP first. A trial of this kind cannot for one moment be regarded as fair. If it is held in Erbil, we will fear for our lives. We have asked for the case to be moved to Sulaymaniyah.”
The court’s decision on where the case should be tried is due to be issued on 23 August. The KDP is meanwhile reportedly pressuring the court to impose a travel ban on Chalak and the journalist who wrote the article, Sirwan Rasheed.
Launched in 2007 by the company Wisha, Rojname is nowadays the main mouthpiece of the opposition Movement for Change.
Raid on Hawdam Magazine
Gunmen went to the headquarters of the newspaper Hawdam in Erbil on 31 July claiming they had been authorized to carry out a search. “But they were unable to show us the authorization,” editor Rekan Sabah said. The newspaper reportedly supports Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
RSF
Share this:
