Thursday, October 30, 2014

Web of Chaos in Syria

 



Shocking photos have been leaked of the Syrian regime’s 215 Intelligence Branch in Damascus, where detainees are sent to die. Many are summarily executed without any formal charges or military trial.
The Violation Documentation Center in Syria has published satellite photography of the regime’s detention centers near Damascus, documenting the growth of cemeteries and “irregular digging.” The report states that “many of the locals testified about the burying operations that required bulldozers and about the arrival of big refrigerated lorries (fruits and vegetables refrigerator trucks).” This led to the VDC’s confirmation of mass graves.
According to VDC collected eyewitness statements on Assad’s detention centers, “most of the death cases happen almost exclusively in the first ten days of the detention.”
A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman denounced the Iranian regime for siding with Assad, saying, “Iran should remain silent out of shame over its support for Damascus which is the true terrorism,” according to the Anatolia News Agency.
Assad forces and Shiite militias fiercely attacked the al-Waer neighborhood in Homs, in order to control the city last week. Al-Waer neighborhood is currently a haven to more than three hundred thousand civilians. The neighborhood, which is crowded with displaced persons who fled there to escape fighting in other neighborhoods of Homs, is experiencing ongoing fierce shelling after the violent attack a week ago. Al-Waer has become a daily target for the missiles, artillery and explosive barrel bombs from Assad forces and allied sectarian militias. Within 3 days last week, more than 24 civilians were killed, most of them women and children.
The western media is focusing only on “Kobanî,” a Syrian town near the Turkish border where armed Kurds, including many women fighters, are battling against ISIS.
“US air strikes have hit ISIS targets near the town in recent days but do not appear to have stopped the militants’ advance,” reports the Independent.
The Free Syrian Army, which reportedly represents 90% of the rebels against the regime, is also present in Kobani. The FSA is at odds with ISIS as well as the Kurds, who are using this situation to split off and form an independent Kurdistan, while the FSA wants to keep Syria as one nation.
However, activists in Homs, condemning the silence of the international community, insist that “people’s lives in Al-Waer are as precious as those of Kobanî.” The residents of Al-Waer have been suffering under siege for more than a year. The activists insisted that the international community should intervene to save civilians regardless of their race or origins.
TMO interviewed 22 year old Mahmoud Allouz in Homs about the situation. The young man, who identifies with the Free Syrian Army, said that “Homs is the capital of the Syrian revolution.”
He explained that the first neighborhood in Homs to be destroyed in 2011 by Assad was Baba Amr. The military campaign continued for months in the southern countryside. The violent battles were “dominated by the help of the Lebanese Hezbollah after [Baba Amr] was destroyed,” stated Allouz. “They want to serve their project [of] sectarian Shiite fighting. They brutally destroy and commit crimes. There are fighters from Iran who are also taking part in the ranks of the Assad regime.”
Although anti-government rebels fought long and valiantly, as of May 2014, the city of Homs is now completely under control of the government, whose snipers continue to shoot civilians including children in a sadistic manner. For example, some video footage was recently released of a dead or dying person, who was just laying in full view on the road, but because of all the sniper shooting, no one could go collect him. Assad’s soldiers take these videos as trophies to brag about their accomplishments.
Al Waer neighborhood “gets the daily massacres,” said Allouz. However, “The countryside north of Homs is still under the control of the rebels,” he explained.
When asked about the rumored opium fields, Allouz stated that they are located mostly in the middle of Syria and are now under the control of ISIS.
“Who do you think ISIS are?” TMO inquired.
Allouz stated that they are a “takfiri criminal gang” whose murders are “working in favor of the Assad regime.” He observed that ISIS is more interested in fighting other rebels than against the regime. “More [ISIS] battles were against the FSA, trying to control the positions held by FSA and the oil fields and assaults on civilians… They are battling the Free Syrian Army, and slaughtering Syrian civilians as does the Assad regime.”
I asked him, “Do you think ISIS is a local movement or are they foreign employees?”
He answered that the gang is not being paid by any country but is “self-financing” through seizure of oil fields, theft of territory and stealing money. They are “trying to lure poor people with money to join them, placing ideas in their mind” about committing “criminality and murder.”
Al Jazeera however put ISIS into context, reporting this week that Mexican drug cartels have murdered exponentially more people than ISIS including 57 journalists and almost 300 Americans visiting Mexico. They have beheaded hundreds of people and displayed mutilated corpses in public squares and on social media in order to intimidate detractors. It is truly astonishing how Americans are more concerned about criminal gangs in Syria than violence happening next door.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Aafia Siddique’s Appeal Mysteriously Withdrawn

 


aafia_campaign1
On October 9, 2014, Dr. Aafia Siddique’s family announced that US District Judge Richard Berman had without any warning ordered the case closed for the appeal of her conviction. The openly hostile, Zionist activist judge, the same judge who sentenced Aafia in early 2010, denies this. The Nation, Pakistan reported that Berman stated he had “allowed” Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to withdraw what could be the last appeal of her conviction on charges of attempted murder. Berman claimed that Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence at Carswell prison medical centre in Texas, had ‘clearly and unequivocally’ stated her intent to end the appeal. Berman added that even if the appeal had continued, he likely would have ruled against her.  
Salman Khan of the Free Aafia Movement said the organization had made vehement attempts to protest the racist judge’s inclusion in the appeals process, but they were unable to have him removed from proceedings due to lack of legal funds.
“Just to reopen the trial costs $150,000, and then to remove him it would have cost us a further $100,000,” he said.
Reuters reports that Aafia wrote a statement, “I refuse to participate in this system of total injustice that has punished and tortured me repeatedly, and continues to do so, without my having committed a crime.” She wrote that she wanted to be sent home to Pakistan through diplomacy, not through the legal system.
However, Aafia’s sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddique said mystery shrouds the circumstances. She is convinced that Aafia’s statement was coerced. In their last communication, Aafia said she was “determined to fight her case.”
“This is not Aafia’s decision. I know because my last conversation with her was that she was visited [in her dreams] by our prophet Muhammad, saw, and he was pleased with my efforts and the appeal. She said it is for this reason I consent, and if we don’t connect again DO NOT believe any statement to the contrary on my behalf.”
“Since then we have had absolutely no contact with her. I know she did not withdraw of her own free will. She has been coerced. God knows how much torture [she’s been forced to endure], complete solitary and manipulations…. It horrifies me to even think about what she has been forced to go through.”
Aafia, who is being held in solitary confinement, has not been allowed phone calls to her family in Pakistan since initiating her appeal.
“We have not been allowed [in-person contact] with her at any time. There is a prison rule that she gets to speak to family for 300 minutes per month – as long as the family pays for the call. We did get that order, and the only time that was implemented was when there were worldwide demonstrations – at those times there were calls. But since filing the appeal they have kept Aafia completely incommunicado,” stated her sister.
Mauri Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation comments, “While Malala Yousafzai is being celebrated for her accomplishments and yet unfulfilled future potential, Aafia Siddique is wasting away in a maximum security prison cell on a military base in the land of ‘liberty and justice for all!’”
Aafia received her university training in America, graduating with honors from MIT and the Jewish university Brandeis, where she was active in Muslim student groups. She was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying that if Americans would know more about the beauty of Islam, they would all want to become Muslims. This innocent statement of youthful idealism caught the attention of the local Zionist organizations.
Soon later, in 2003, Aafia was wanted by the FBI for questioning for possible ties to al Qaeda because she made a debit card purchase at a US army surplus store. She and her children were kidnapped by Pakistani authorities while awaiting a train.  Aafia was placed into one black car and the crying children into another. They were handed over to US agents and held incommunicado in Afghanistan for five years. Aafia’s baby was never seen again. The two older children were rescued from Bagram prison some years later as a result of intervention from the UK and are now living with relatives.
Instead of receiving an apology, this tiny woman, who never did anything more radical than collecting boots to donate to Bosnia, has been named as one of the FBI’s most wanted “terrorists.” Her isolation covers up some dark secrets, the government hopes.
Siddiqui was never even charged with links to terrorism. The FBI agents, US soldiers and interpreters said that as they were about to interrogate her at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni, Afghanistan, she supposedly grabbed a rifle and began shooting at them. None of them were wounded, but she was shot in the abdomen when they “returned fire.” At her trial, Aafia’s lawyer argued that there was no evidence the rifle had been fired.
Aafia approached the US soldiers because she thought they were there to save her from her Afghani captors! Aafia was being raped and tortured at the US military’s Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Instead of helping her, the US government committed her to life at Carswell, where she has reportedly been forced to walk on the Quran in addition to other humiliations.
What has been done to this innocent Pakistani woman and her children in the name of the US War on Terror is so sick and so awful that it would turn the stomaches of every citizen of the United States if they knew about it. Popular opinion would instantly turn dead against this criminal use of the American government.
“Had Aafia’s appeal reached its logical end, many hidden facts would have come to light, and many important people unmasked. This just proves Aafia is a victim of international power politics and her captives have a lot to hide and will revert to any length to keep her behind bars,” Fowzia told reporters.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

US Supreme Court Denies Mehanna Appeal

 


supreme_court
Tarek Mehanna’s appeal to the US Supreme Court was rejected on Monday, October 6, 2014. Mehanna of Sudsbury, Massachusetts, is serving a sentence of 17 1/2 years on account of visiting Yemen to study Arabic and later translating Islamic texts for the website At Tibyan, which the government has construed as “supporting terrorism.”
“Where, exactly, does free speech end and unlawful terrorist coordination begin?” commented Mark Joseph Stern in Slate. “Translating, publishing, and praising ideological texts, no matter how morally vile, is generally considered to be a basic free speech activity. Everyone knows that the First Amendment protects translations of Mein Kampf. Why did Mehanna’s translation of jihadist hosannas land him behind bars?”
This question gains weight with the news this week that the Supreme Court also refused to hear appeals from two other Muslim men, who have suffered intolerably for no crime: Ziyad Yaghi, a North Carolina native and Guantanamo inmate Abdul Razak Ali.
“Petitioner raised arguments based solely on issues of undisputed fact: he was arrested in Pakistan, not in Afghanistan, he had nothing to do with the September 11th attacks or terrorism, and he was not engaged in hostilities against the United States or its allies at any time. Petitioner’s “malfeasance” that apparently warrants his life imprisonment without charge was simply an eighteen day stay in the same guesthouse as a man who the government once believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, but, as the evidence showed below, is now no longer believed by the government to have been associated with al-Qaeda,” wrote Abdul Razak Alik on August 23, 2014.
“The questions Petitioner asks in his petition are whether he can be held, indefinitely, based simply on the fact that he was staying in the same guesthouse in Pakistan as someone else who happened to once have been accused of being connected with Al-Qaeda, rather than upon actual evidence of Petitioner’s own overt acts hostile to the United States or its allies; and, where, as here, Petitioner was not alleged to have been engaged in an armed conflict against the United States in Afghanistan (or anywhere for that matter) prior to his capture. If the answer to those questions is yes, then Petitioner also asks whether there is any limit to the duration of his detention. It is clear that the government has avoided discussing or answering these questions, because its basis for holding Petitioner is based not on the law, but on its ever-expanding and elastic view of the law.”
As convincing as this argument may seem to loyal Americans, we need to be asking these questions of our government until they listen. This is very frightening, that the Supreme Court’s reaction to an obviously innocent person is to ignore his case because he is Muslim. And this doesn’t even just apply to foreigners.
Tarek Mehanna had no idea his actions were criminal . He possessed the self-confidence and outspoken attitude of a relatively affluent, American born male. His brother gave an interview on WGBH News on September 25, 2014 stating:
“The FBI was approaching my brother since 2004. So, we saw a lead up to something happening. and that kind of peaked in 2007 before we graduated from pharmacy school. He was arrested in 2008, he was let off on bail, and at that point we didn’t know what to expect. So when it happened again in 2009, at that point we didn’t know what to expect… My parents did discourage him from online activities, but his response to them was it’s free speech and it’s protected.”
Mehanna’s lawyers argued that he didn’t give any tangible support to al-Qaida, and his online activities were protected free speech.
However, five years later, Mehanna’s father Ahmed said his family had not even had “one iota of hope” that his son would get a hearing before the high court, in light of the news reports on ISIS.
“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is affected by such a saga and such media frenzy,” Ahmed Mehanna said. “It is a very, very sad day.”
Mehanna’s prosecutor, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, is the same one who is pursuing the prosecutions of youths accused in relation to the Boston Marathon bombings. She claims Mehanna was “using the Internet to encourage others to support terrorism.”
“I’m disappointed to see even the highest court still submissive to the executive branch’s fabrication of charges. It’s clearly the First Amendment [at issue], and they refused to even look at it.”
Mehanna was threatened with prosecution after refusing to act as an informant for the FBI. He is accused of support for terrorism, though his support never included picking up a gun or fundraising. The government alleges that Mehanna “intended” to go to Iraq to take up arms against the US, although there is no evidence of this.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Why Was Aafia Siddique's Appeal Withdrawn?

Scholar, teacher: Stripped Naked, Forced to Desecrate the Qur'an. Horrific Injustice. Why Was Aafia Siddique's Appeal Withdrawn? 


"With the attention and celebration that greeted the selection of Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai and India's Kailash Satyarthi for the world's most coveted peace prize, one would think that the American establishment has a special regard for young, accomplished (and committed) Muslim women. An honest review of the record would show that quite the opposite is true," writes Mauri Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation. "While Malala Yousafzai is being celebrated for her accomplishments and yet unfulfilled future potential, Aafia Siddique is wasting away in a maximum security prison cell on a military base in the land of 'liberty and justice for all!'"

On October 9, 2014, Dr. Aafia Siddique's family issued an announcement that US District Judge Richard Berman, without any warning, had ordered the case closed for the appeal of her conviction.

Aafia's sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui told Al-Jazeera that she is convinced that "coercion tactics" were used to make her withdraw her appeal because according to their last communication, Aafia said she was "determined to fight her case."

 Dr. Aafia Siddique's

Aafia, who is being held in solitary confinement, has not been allowedphone calls to her family in Pakistan since initiating her appeal.

"We have not been allowed [in-person contact] with her at any time. There is a prison rule that she gets to speak to family for 300 minutes per month - as long as the family pays for the call. We did get that order, and the only time that was implemented was when there were worldwide demonstrations - at those times there were calls. But since filing the appeal they have kept Aafia completely incommunicado," stated her sister.

"This is not Aafia's decision. I know because my last conversation with her was that she was visited [in her dreams] by our prophet Muhammad, saw, and he was pleased with my efforts and the appeal. She said it is for this reason I consent,and if we don't connect again DO NOT believe any statement to the contrary on my behalf."

"Since then we have had absolutely no contact with her. I know she did not withdraw of her own free will. She has been coerced. God knows how much torture [she's been forced to endure], complete solitary and manipulations.... It horrifies me to even think about what she has been forced to go through."

Previous reports about her treatment at Carswell included stripping her naked and forcing her to walk on the Quran in order to be allowed to attend hearings - one reason she has held back from the appeal until receiving spiritual permission. Therefore it makes no sense that Aafia would withdraw her appeal now. She has nothing to lose by appealing.

Reuters reports that Aafia wrote a statement, "I refuse to participate in this system of total injustice that has punished and tortured me repeatedly, and continues to do so, without my having committed a crime." She wrote that she wanted to be sent home to Pakistan through diplomacy, not through the legal system.

The openly hostile judge, the very same judge who sentenced her in early 2010, is reported to have ordered the case closed. Even if the appeal had continued, he likely would have ruled against her, he said. The Nation, Pakistan, reported that US District Judge Richard Berman stated he had "allowed" Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to withdraw what could be the last appeal of her conviction on charges of attempted murder. Berman claimed that Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence in a prison medical centre in Texas, had 'clearly and unequivocally' stated her intent to end the appeal.

According to Salman Khan of the Free Aafia Movement, the ruling came as a shock as they had hoped that the application for a retrial would receive a fair judgment. Despite vehement attempts to protest his inclusion, he said they were unable to have him removed from proceedings.

"Just to reopen the trial costs $150,000, and then to remove him it would have cost us a further $100,000," Khan said.

In 2003, Aafia was wanted by the FBI for questioning for possible ties to al Qaeda and was detained by Pakistani authorities. This tiny woman was named as one of the FBI's most wanted "terrorists." She was handed over to US agents and held incommunicado in Afghanistan for five years.

Siddiqui was never charged with links to terrorism. The FBI agents, US soldiers and interpreters said that as they were about to interrogate her at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni, Afghanistan, she supposedly grabbed a rifle and began shooting at them. None of them were wounded, but she was shot in the abdomen when they "returned fire." At her trial, Aafia's lawyer argued that there was no evidence the rifle had been fired. No bullets, shell casings or bullet debris were recovered.

Before the US brought her captive to the US, Siddiqui's family says Aafia was raped and tortured at the US military's Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Aafia has become a popular figure in her home country of Pakistan, which has influenced a wide variety of Islamic fighting groups to attempt to win her release. It is hard to think of any other woman in the world who is so deeply loved by millions of people around the world.

In 2011, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan took a Swiss couple hostage and said they could be freed if Siddiqui were released. In Afghanistan, the Taliban asked for her release as part of a deal to free US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. ISIS proposed swapping American journalist James Foley for her, but the US refused and allowed his execution.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1572.htm

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Supreme Court Rejects Tarek Mehanna’s appeal

No Justice for Muslim Political Prisoners.
Supreme Court Rejects Tarek Mehanna’s appeal;
Ziyad Yaghi, Abdul Razak Ali also denied appeal
by Sis. Karin Friedemann [Boston]

On Monday, October 6, 2014 the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Tarek Mehanna, a Massachusetts resident who is serving a 17 1/2 year sentence for translating ancient Arabic texts on jihad for the Islamic website At Tibyan.

Mehanna claims he was threatened with prosecution after refusing to act as an informant for the FBI. He is accused of support for terrorism, though his support never included picking up a gun. The government alleges that Mehanna “intended” to go to Iraq to take up arms against the US, although there is no evidence. Mehanna is guilty of nothing more than saying in passing that Iraqis have a right to defend themselves.

“I’m disappointed to see even the highest court still submissive to the executive branch’s fabrication of charges,” Mehanna’s father, Ahmed Mehanna, 64, said. “It’s clearly the First Amendment [at issue], and they refused to even look at it.”

Mehanna’s prosecutor, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, is the same one who is pursuing the prosecutions of youths accused in relation to the Boston Marathon bombings. She claims Mehanna was “using the Internet to encourage others to support terrorism.”

Boston FBI Agent Vincent Lisi in charge of framing the case against Mehanna stated, “From his travel to Yemen to receive training to kill American soldiers to his material support for terrorism at home, it was clear Mr. Mehanna trained to be a terrorist.”

Prosecutors say Mehanna traveled with Ahmad Abousamra to Yemen in 2004 to join a terrorist training camp, while Mehanna insists he traveled there to learn Arabic. He had expressed some light-hearted interest to a friend in checking out the famous al Qaeda training camps, but they don’t really exist as tourism adventure spots anymore in this decade now that Reagan is no longer president. Mehanna never did go to any camp to participate in any weapons training, and even if he had, that is not the same thing as signing up for a war against the US. Mehanna’s lawyers said he didn’t give any tangible support to al-Qaida, and his online activities were protected free speech.

“We are disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear the case,” a lawyer for Mehanna, P. Sabin Willett told ABC News.

Mehanna’s father said his family had not even had “one iota of hope” that his son would get a hearing before the high court, in light of the news reports on ISIS.

“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is affected by such a saga and such media frenzy,” Ahmed Mehanna said. “It is a very, very sad day.”

“Everybody agrees that Mehanna supported al-Qaida’s cause; At Tibyan is a fairly popular terrorist forum, and Mehanna translated its content with the clear intention of swaying opinion toward the jihadist cause. But translating, publishing, and praising ideological texts, no matter how morally vile, is generally considered to be a basic free speech activity. Everyone knows that the First Amendment protects translations of Mein Kampf. Why did Mehanna’s translation of jihadist hosannas land him behind bars?” writes Mark Joseph Stern in Slate.

“Where, exactly, does free speech end and unlawful terrorist coordination begin?”

Mehanna had no idea his actions were criminal. He possessed the self-confidence and outspoken attitude of a relatively affluent, American born male.

“A major issue that seems to remain open as a result of the Court’s decision is the extent to which a defendant must “coordinate” his or her activities with the FTO [Foreign Terrorist Organization] in question in order to be convicted under § 2339. The Court had previously held in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 130 S. Ct. 2705 (2010), that § 2339 “reaches only material support coordinated with or under the direction of a designated foreign terrorist organization” (emphasis added),” writes Alex Ely in lawfareblog.com.

Andy Wang of lawfareblog explains, “The 1996 “material support” provision, 18 U.S.C. § 2339, criminalizes the providing of “material support or resources” to a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Providing “material support or resources” can mean the providing of “any property... or service” to the FTO... The government succeeded in convicting him under the material support provision, and the First Circuit affirmed the conviction.”

“Mehanna’s petition opens with a statutory argument—that his actions were not criminal under any reasonable definition of the word “coordination.” Noting that he only translated the texts—at his own discretion—and that the translations were not committed, directed, paid for by, performed in concert with, or presented to any FTO, Mehanna argues that he could not possibly have “coordinate[d]” with any FTOs... he merely translated the texts at his own discretion and disseminated them to other users on the internet.”

Mehanna concludes, “If the government’s low bar for what actions and speech constitute “coordination” is allowed to stand, it would impose unconstitutional sanctions for merely talking or associating with people on the internet.”

However, Mehanna’s vacation to Yemen, the government argued, was enough to let the conviction stand, brushing aside the issue of whether translations alone can constitute sufficient coordination and material support.

This week the Supreme Court also denied appeal to Ziyad Yaghi, another American-born Muslim found guilty of suspicious vacationing after he went to Egypt in search of a bride and tried to make a stop in Jerusalem; and Guantanamo inmate Abdul Razak Ali.

Friday, October 10, 2014

UK Terror Case against Moazzam Begg Collapses

 


Moazzam-Begg-012On October 1, 2014 the UK dropped all seven charges against Moazzam Begg, Outreach Director of the Muslim prisoner advocacy organization CAGE, due to “lack of evidence.” The judge, Mr. Justice Wilkie, then “entered a formal verdict of not guilty” and “ordered that Begg be set free immediately.”
CAGE has insisted all along that Begg’s arrest last February was politically motivated, targeting him for his work on exposing complicity between the Asad regime and illegal torture and rendition in Syria. His arrest took place the day before his research report on Syria was to be released to the public. This was the second time that a major Western country has held Moazzam Begg without trial and so serious questions must be asked about why this has been allowed to happen for a second time.
Andy Worthington wrote that “it was impossible to believe that Begg, one of the most scrutinized Muslims in the UK, would have engaged in any activities that could be construed as terrorism.” 
Begg says he suspects the explanation for his wrongful imprisonment probably embraces incompetence, Islamophobia, maliciousness and fear. “I think we will know the answer one day and it will be very embarrassing.”
The “new information” which emerged just in time for his pre-trial hearing includes the minutes of meetings that MI5 had neglected to hand over to police and prosecutors, in which Begg had explained that he was planning to visit Syria in part to investigate the agency’s involvement in kidnapping a man in Syria and bringing him to Libya for torture. MI5 told him they would not stop him.
The Crown Prosecution Services issued a statement that said: “If we had been made aware of all of this information at the time of charging, we would not have charged.”
West Midlands police officers are reportedly furious that MI5 had withheld the minutes of its meetings with Begg for so long. They said that MI5 had pressured local police to arrest him.
It has also emerged in court that not long after that meeting with MI5, Begg’s car was bugged for more than a year. Begg says it is inevitable that he will be bringing civil proceedings against MI5 and the government.
He told the Guardian he “feels cheated” by the prosecutors’ decision to abandon the case against him. “I wanted my day in court; I was spoiling for the fight. I wanted to challenge every allegation in the case against me. I believe that if I had put my case before a jury I would have been acquitted.”
Begg told the Guardian that the Belmarsh high-security prison in south London where he was detained without bail was much more pleasant than the three years he spent in Guantanamo, where he was hooded, handcuffed in stress positions, kicked in the head by US soldiers who threatened his family members with harm.
Nevertheless, he is still “bewildered” that so many British Muslims have faced arrest and imprisonment after returning from Syria. Some, he says, spent no more than a couple of weeks there, during which many were deeply disturbed by the brutality of Isis.
“People returned specifically because they did not want to be part of that … they wanted to come back,” said Begg.
“In Denmark and Germany they are not arresting returnees from Syria. We need to find another way. Not to take young men, some as young as 19, and put them away for 15 years because they made a misjudgment about the way the British government would view them.”
While in Syria, Begg helped to run a training camp in the countryside near Idlib, north-west Syria, where opponents of the regime could undergo military- style physical exercise training and acquire the rudiments of first aid. This, Begg insists, was not an act of terrorism, but an attempt to help people defend themselves against war criminals.
The charges against him involved claims that he attended a terrorist training camp in Syria “knowing or believing instruction or training was provided there for the purposes of terrorism” between October 9, 2012 and April 9, 2013 and that he possessed documents for a purpose connected to terrorism and terrorist funding.
“I was never afraid to go to court. Any right-minded person on a jury would have seen very early on that I am not the terrorist here,” he says.
Amandla Thomas-Johnson, spokesperson for CAGE, said, “Moazzam Begg and his family have suffered over the past 7 months not only because of his incarceration but also because of the financial sanctions imposed upon him, as a result of which his bank accounts (including joint accounts) were frozen or shut down. His wife was unable to pay her utility bills that were held in their joint names without receiving a license from the Treasury, and it became a criminal offense to even try and support his family with money and food during this period. Our thoughts are with his family and we share in the joy of receiving him home again.”
“We call on the CPS to review all ongoing Syria-related terrorism trials to review the evidence and drop charges. We believe many of these trials and the campaigns against Muslim charities and individuals working in Syria are politically motivated fishing expeditions using the wide scope of terror laws and Prevent policy to criminalize Muslims.”
“We also ask that the British state reviews its policies of harassment intimidation and politically motivated prosecutions of Muslims involved in the Syria crisis.”
Mirza Begg, brother of Moazzam Begg, told CAGE, “We are just so happy to have Moazzam home with us in time for Eid.”

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Moazzam Begg freed: UK drops charges

Blatant Attempt to Stop Humanitarian Aid to Islamic People in Syria Fails on Legal Grounds. 

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1570.htm


On Wednesday, October 2, 2014 Moazzam Begg was released from prison after all charges against him were dropped due to "insufficient evidence" that Begg's trips to Syria involved terrorism. Begg's lawyer, Gareth Peirce, who described her client as "a good man trying to the right thing in a very difficult world," told the Guardian that "he should never have been charged, as his activities did not amount to terrorism."

The former Guantanamo inmate had received a generous payout after suing the UK for wrongful imprisonment that enabled him to buy a house in England for his family. Begg became a tireless activist for prisoner rights and served as Outreach Director for CAGE. He was re-arrested in February by the Crown Prosecution Service the day before his report on Syria was scheduled to be released. He was being held without bail in prison, until his sudden release Wednesday.

Government prosecutor Christopher Hehir told the court, "The prosecution have recently become aware of relevant material, in the light of which, after careful and anxious consideration, the conclusion has been reached that there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction in this case. The prosecution therefore offers no evidence." Mirza Begg, brother of Moazzam Begg said, "We are just so happy to have Moazzam home with us in time for Eid."

Andy Worthington wrote that "it was impossible to believe that Begg, one of the most scrutinized Muslims in the UK, would have engaged in any activities that could be construed as terrorism."

UK security services had already interviewed Begg before his last trip to Syria in April 2013. Knowing that he was doing research on the US torture rendition program under the Assad regime, they did not prevent him from traveling. However, his passport was taken away upon his return. It is remarkable that the British government has now admitted that they had no case against Begg and dropped the charges - especially compared to the common practice in the US of using prejudice to sway the jury to convict Muslim defendants in the absence of clear and convincing evidence.

Neither the Crown Prosecution Service nor the local police would say what "new material" had impacted the government's decision that the standard of proof had not been met. The local Muslim community and other supporters were extremely active in advocating for Begg and insisting on his innocence and his importance to human rights activism. It is probable that public pressure played a role in his release, especially at this time when the suspicion and demonization of British Muslims that have gone to Syria has increased in intensity.

Amandla Thomas-Johnson, spokesperson for CAGE expressed relief that the ordeal, which had largely paralyzed the prisoner advocacy organization, was over.

"Moazzam Begg and his family have suffered over the past 7 months not only because of his incarceration but also because of the financial sanctions imposed upon him, as a result of which his bank accounts (including joint accounts) were frozen or shut down. His wife was unable to pay her utility bills that were held in their joint names without receiving a license from the Treasury, and it became a criminal offense to even try and support his family with money and food during this period. Our thoughts are with his family and we share in the joy of receiving him home again."

"We call on the CPS to review all ongoing Syria-related terrorism trials to review the evidence and drop charges. We believe many of these trials and the campaigns against Muslim charities and individuals working in Syria are politically motivated fishing expeditions using the wide scope of terror laws and Prevent policy to criminalize Muslims. We also ask that the British state reviews its policies of harassment intimidation and politically motivated prosecutions of Muslims involved in the Syria crisis."

"Everything is terrorism and for those who fear losing their jobs and government funding, terrorism is everything. It is time to change the narrative," wrote Begg the month before his arrest.

Moazzam Begg's past articles can be found on the CAGE website. For example his interviews with British Muslims fighting in Syria and explanation of fighting groups: http://cageuk.org/article/syria-britain%E2%80%99s-new-war-teror and his Islamic explanation of Jihad. http://cageuk.org/article/jihad-and-terrorism-war-words

It remains to be seen whether Begg's written report on torture rendition involving Syrian prisons, confiscated by British police, will now be allowed to be published.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Freeing the Traumatized Mind

 


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When looking at the huge death toll and physical destruction taking place in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere, the average person can acknowledge that abuse is taking place. However, the general world population seems to be under some kind of spell or confusion making it impossible for the people who are supposed to be in charge to stop the abuses from occurring. This leaves it up to the victims to rectify the situation.
Perhaps the Muslim world could gain some insight as to how to proceed by looking at victims of domestic abuse and exploring the emotional realms in which the abuser leaves thorns preventing life from going forward in a smooth manner. If ongoing conflict and negativity have become habitual, as in Israel vs. Palestine, this may imply the abuse was caused not by personal, political or economic circumstance – but by the narcissistic personality. The narcissist literally believes himself to be more worthy than other people.
To a person without a highly developed conscience, others exist only to mirror positive images of themselves. If you mention feeling hurt by their actions, their instant response will be to feel indignant – not concerned for your discomfort. They will become enraged that your stated view of them is less than perfect. This psychological profile explains why mentioning what Israel did makes you an “anti-Semite.”
A narcissist does not seek out relationships in order to engage in personal sharing or free trade. They literally do not possess that emotional capacity. Other people exist only to provide their “Narcissistic Supply,” whether it’s financial funding or admiration, or else ongoing personal attention thus validation in the form of back and forth hostilities.
An empathic person cannot even imagine entering a relationship without the sincere goal of sharing.”One must first learn to recognize that psychic abuse is indeed taking place in order to stop further psychic attacks. In order to get our souls back and to protect ourselves from further psychic soul intrusion, we must invoke powerful spiritual tools,” writes Kaleah LaRoche, author of “Spiritual Recovery From Narcissistic Abuse.”
“The psychic cord, or invisible energy stream, between you and the narcissist is very real! It is the continuation of this psychic energy stream after the relationship has ended that keeps you engaged with that person.”
This “psychic cord” when viewed in political terms has been referred to as “the colonial mindset.” Entire human societies have struggled throughout history with the problem of narcissistic abuse from populations who had a misguided sense of entitlement. The Stages of Healing available to the domestically abused can also be applied to political situations affecting populations traumatized by narcissistic abuse.
The most difficult, first step is to realize the reality of evil, politely described as personal limitations. Our decades long attempts to negotiate with the oppressor have failed. Why? We cannot blame ourselves or Hamas. The problem lies in the mind of the aggressor. He has some kind of inability to comprehend you as human.
“He doesn’t have the inner capacity to care about you or your needs. Your needs are of no concern to him. He is on a one-sided quest to get what he wants and you are simply a tool to help him get it… There is truly a dark force at work in the unconscious reality of the narcissist,” writes LaRoche.
A sensitive person could be left quite traumatized by a human interaction that was not based on returning given respect. “There is a psychic intrusion into the world of those intimately involved with the narcissist.”
“Narcissism effects the victim on a very deep soul level. It is a type of “soul rape” that leaves the victim feeling very violated on many levels.”
The first step forward towards healing for those wronged is to forgive themselves for not recognizing that they were being lied to and betrayed by someone who wasn’t thinking of them in terms of a peaceful and respectful coexistence.
“If we don’t understand narcissism or know what to look for how can we know if we are being conned? writes LaRoche.
“On the most part we want to believe the best about people. We want to believe that everybody pretty much wants what we want; love, caring, nurturing, respect and honesty. Our minds have difficulty comprehending the psychopathic or narcissistic reality. It is a reality so far from our own that we cannot conceive of it. The reality of a narcissist is twisted, distorted and confused. But we cannot see this in the beginning.
“The goal is to get yourself back! Your Life-force doesn’t and never did belong to the narcissist in your life! Your life-force energy belongs to you! If you don’t work hard to cut the psychic chords between you and your abuser, the recovery process can drag on for a very long time.”
Naturally, those whose lives have been destroyed will be feeling a deep sense of violation. Healing can only begin when the violator is no longer the center of your life.
Alexander Burgemeester mentions in “Victims of NPD Relationships: Stages of Recovery” that there is a specific process an abused person has to go through in order to be free from being constantly attacked.
The first stage of recovery is when you realize he is not your friend. It has just dawned on you that you’ve been in a relationship with someone who has no empathy. You are exhausted and tired of living in fear. Researching and networking will empower you.
An undervalued yet very important stage of healing from injustice is the Anger Stage: You are angry what has been done to you but also at yourself for letting this happen to you and your family. 
The Affirmative Action Stage is when you begin to effectively make life decisions. This is when you learn how to protect yourself. This is a time of great upheaval. The narcissist will fight you tooth and nail to win and will be very vicious at this stage.
The Mirroring Stage is when you mirror the narcissist’s behavior back at them, effectively scaring them off. Counter-threatening – involving the Court – is the mode of action most recommended for women involved in domestic disputes. Sometimes it takes many instances of “mirroring” before the stubborn narcissist finally “gets it” that the relationship is over.
The final stage of healing from oppression is a stage of realizing that there was nothing you could have done to prevent the nightmare that you just lived through. You start looking working toward your new future and close the door on the narcissist.