[Onthebarricades] Repression in global South - 1 of 3

[Andy]

*  SINGAPORE:  Protests may finally be legalised
*  UAE:  Strikers jailed over unrest
*  BAHAMAS:  Residents charged over local uprising
*  BRAZIL:  Anti-GM protester murdered by paramilitaries
*  TONGA:  Vicious sentences for "riot" accused
*  PAKISTAN:  Police submit charges over Bhutto protests
*  WEST PAPUA:  Indonesia tries to silence Papuan intellectuals
*  WEST PAPUA:  Governor denounced over ban on Papuan flag
*  OAXACA:  Protesters cleared
*  SOUTH AFRICA:  University seeks to "discipline" protesters
*  PHILIPPINES:  National ID planned
*  IRAQ:  Who is killing the women of Basra?
*  IRAQ:  Apartheid death squads active in Iraq?
*  IRAN:  Crackdown on leftist dissidents
*  HOLLAND/PHILIPPINES:  Sison persecution continues
*  MALAYSIA:  Indigenous people dispossessed in Sarawak
*  INDIA:  Curfew declared to aid Bhutan, Nepal in repression
*  BHUTAN:  Vicious crackdown launched on Nepalese minority
*  TURKEY:  Arrests show depth of "deep state"
*  KARACHAEVO-CHERKESSIA/RUSSIA:  Repression against separatists escalates - 
surveillance, arrests
*  INDIA:  Police stitch-up exposed in court
*  PHILIPPINES/HOLLAND:  Sison makes the best of a bad situation
*  SUDAN/ETHIOPIA:  Sudan deports refugees to face abuse, death
*  ISRAEL:  Torture widely documented against Palestinians
*  INDIA:  Fearing reprisals, leftist villagers flee homes

Publicly Archived at Global Resistance: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/1609566


Singapore protest rules may be relaxed
Feb 29, 2008 4:32 PM

Singapore may allow public protests at one of the city-state's parks, a 
government minister said, in a relaxation of its strict rules on 
demonstrations.

Wong Kan Seng, the minister for home affairs, told members of parliament 
that he was looking to liberalise the use of Hong Lim Park - Singapore's 
version of speakers' corner.

Currently those who want to speak at the park are required to register at a 
nearby police station.
Singapore bans public speeches unless the speaker is licensed by a 
government official.

"We are presently reviewing how we can further liberalise the use of 
Speakers' Corner as an outdoor venue for more political activities including 
demonstrations," Wong said, according to a transcript of his speech posted 
on a government website.

Singapore defends its use of legislation to regulate protests and free 
speech as a necessity given the country's multiracial make up.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=209781&Sn=WORL&IssueID=30342

Strikers jailed
DUBAI: A Dubai court has sentenced 45 Indian construction workers to six 
months in jail followed by deportation for involvement in violent protests 
to demand pay increases.
Late in 2007, labourers closed down roads, assaulted police and overturned 
vehicles in one of several protests calling for better pay and living 
conditions.
The court found the labourers guilty of charges, including holding illegal 
gatherings, vandalism and violating public security.
The sentences can be appealed within two weeks.
Labour unions are banned in Dubai.
The government had revised the labour law to include requirements that 
employers pay for migrant workers' travel, employment permits, medical tests 
and health care.

http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=45&a=16064

March 1st, 2008
More Charged with Milton Street Riot
By Paige Ferguson
Two more men were charged on Friday in connection with that Milton Street 
riot on February 23.
The weekend attack occurred around 8pm last Saturday on Milton Street, off 
East Street, according to police.
Officers responding to reports of gunshots being fired in the area 
reportedly observed a man with a weapon. However, as they approached the 
individual a group of persons in the vicinity surrounded the officers and 
assaulted them, according to police reports.
Basil Clarke, 31, of Windsor Lane and Stafford Bethel, 19, of Milton Street, 
were charged with seven counts including disorderly behaviour, assaulting a 
police officer, obstruction, throwing missiles, resisting arrest, using 
obscene language and damage.
It is alleged that the two behaved that way toward Chief Inspector Bonamy, 
Detective Corporal 2369 Bowe; and Detective Constables 519 Outten and 1059 
Farrington.
Court dockets state that the men allegedly threw missiles to the "danger and 
annoyance" of the four officers and caused damaged to Corporal Bowe’s Tommy 
Hilfiger shirt valued at $79.95.
The two men entered not guilty pleas and were remanded to prison.
They are set to return to court March 3rd for a bail hearing along with the 
four others arraigned for the same matter.
On Tuesday Anastacia Thompson, Demaro Jamaal Cooper, Charles Arlington Rolle 
and a 15-year-old C.C. Sweeting female student were arraigned and also 
pleaded not guilty to the charges.

http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news610.htm

DIAL GM FOR MURDER
A Brazilian anti-GM campaigner has been murdered at a Syngenta GM crop trial 
in Paraná, Brazil. Via Campesina (The International Peasants Movement)'s 
camp at the experimental farm was shot at by security, killing Valmir Mota 
de Oliveira, a Movimento Sem Terra (the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers 
Movement - see SchNEWS 505) activist. That morning 150 Via Campesina members 
had set up camp at Syngenta's site, and at 1pm a bus full of gunmen arrived 
and opened fire. Also killed was a security guard with two other protesters 
seriously injured.
This is the second time Via Campesina occupied this site, after Syngenta had 
previously illegally trialled GM soybeans and corn last year. At the time 
this was a victory, with the state governor siging a decree proposing to 
turn the farm into a centre for agricultural research to help rural 
peasants. Since then, the decree was overturned due to the pressure of the 
Rural Society of the West - a reactionary group of pro-agribusiness 
large-scale landowners, and other agribusiness interests - and Syngenta is 
pressing ahead with another trial crop. When the MST organised a march to 
the farm last November, they were blockaded by the tractors of the Royal 
Society, who fired shots in the air and beat the marchers with sticks, 
injuring nine.
Now Syngenta have brought in security firm NF Security (has a nice neo-Nazi 
ring to it!). The activist killed had been one of three MST members who'd 
received death threats from the president of the Rural Society - the other 
two managed to escape. The owner of NF Security has admitted that he gave 
the order to attack, and wasn't claiming the anti-GM protesters were armed. 
They have a Blackwater-style relationship as a private security firm to 
Syngenta and the local large-landowners. NF - which last month had illegal 
arms confiscated by federal police - is known to hire individuals with 
violent criminal records to form armed militias to carry out rural land 
evictions, for customers like the Royal Society.
Syngenta are the world's largest agrochemical company, and third largest 
commercial seed producer. They caused the largest ever genetic contamination 
in the US in between 2001-2004 when its GM Bt-10 corn was mixed with grain 
meant for human consumption.
They previously held GM crop trials in the UK - mostly herbicide tolerant or 
insect resistant crops - but, like Bayer and Monsanto, were forced to 
abandon plans for more crops in Britain in 2004. Since the mid nineties 
direct action campaigners trashing the trial crops and overwhelming negative 
publicity has kept them at bay (but the GM threat is back - see SchNEWS 
583).
See www.viacampesina.org

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=38088

Seven jailed over Tonga riot crimes
Posted at 23:11 on 18 February, 2008 UTC
Seven people involved in the deadly riots in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, 
have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from six months and 11-years.
The Matangi Tonga website reports that in sentencing the six men and one 
woman, Chief Justice Anthony Ford said everyone in Tonga would remember 
November 16th in 2006 as a day of infamy and shame, where anarchy prevailed.
Two men were sentenced to 11 years in jail for the destruction of businesses 
and other crimes.
Those given lesser sentences had faced charges such as riotous assembly, 
housebreaking and the destruction of property.
The Chief Justice said the destruction was an example of mob violence 
feeding upon itself.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=93538

Police submit charge sheet in arson and riot cases By By our correspondent
1/29/2008 Police submitted charge sheets before the Administrative Judge 
(AJ) of the Anti-Terrorism Courts in arson and riot cases.

Mohammad Shahid and Allah Bux were accused of ransacking public and private 
properties following the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party 
Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27. Police alleged that 
the suspects, along with the absconding co-accused, set several vehicles on 
fire, damaged banks, police check posts, and shops in Lea Market within the 
limits of the Kharadar police station.

The AJ, Justice Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, accepting the charge sheet against 
them, sent their case to ATC-III for trial. Police also submitted charge 
sheets against Mohammad Ramzan who is booked under riot and arson charges.

Police alleged that the suspect along with other absconding co-accused was 
involved in ransacking a bank, KESC offices, and setting on fire several 
vehicles. Ramzan, however, denied police charges and said that he was a 
hairdresser and that the police had falsely implicated him in the cases.

The cases against Ramzan were sent to ATC-V for trial. The arson case 
against Mohammad Bux was also sent to ATC-V for trial. The AJ also sent the 
arson and riot case against Ayub Khan and Deedar Ali to ATC-III for trial. 
They were booked by the Shah Lateef Town police for taking part in arson and 
rioting.

http://kerrycollison.net/index.php?/archives/7070-Shackling-Papuan-intellectuals.html

Shackling Papuan intellectuals
Saturday, January 19. 2008

Since the fall of Soeharto's regime, Indonesia has apparently begun to move 
toward democracy. Indonesian citizens have found space to exercise their 
rights and duties without fear, pressure and intimidation from the state.

Indigenous Papuans, for their part, have taken advantage of the democratic 
atmosphere to express their opinions by writing books on some aspects of 
Papua. Although there are only a few Papuan authors, it should be recognized 
that the publication of such books has encouraged more Papuans to exercise 
their freedom of opinion and expression through writing.

However, the central government has not always regarded the new developments 
as good news. Instead of being proud to see Papuans, who were once 
illiterate and relied on oral tradition to tell their stories, expressing 
their ideas in written form, the government considers the exercise of 
Papuans' intellectual creativity something suspicious if not dangerous.

Many books on Papua, particularly those authored by indigenous Papuans, are 
censored under certain criteria set by the government or are banned 
entirely.

The latest book to be outlawed by the government is Tenggelamnya Rumpun 
Melanesia: Pertarungan Politik NKRI di Papua Barat (The Sinking of the 
Melanesian race: The Unitary State of Indonesia's Political Struggle in West 
Papua), written by young author Papuan Sendius Wonda, and published by 
Deiyai, a Jayapura-based publishing house.

The introduction of the book is written by Rev. Socrates Sofyan Yoman, the 
chairperson of the Fellowship of the Baptist Churches in Papua.

According to the chief of Jayapura prosecutor's office, Sri Agung Putra, 
Wonda's 247-page book contains some elements that "discredit the 
government", "disturb public order", and "endanger national unity".

Police seized the book from shelves immediately after the ban was announced 
on Dec. 14, and ordered those in possession of the book to give it up to the 
prosecutors.

Wonda's work is the second book on Papua on which the government has slapped 
a ban, after Peristiwa penculikan dan pembunuhan Theys H Eluay 10 November 
2001 (The Abduction and Assassination of Theys H Eluay on November 10, 2001) 
by Benny Giay, a Papuan anthropologist, in 2002.

Like Wonda's book, the book on Theys was considered dangerous to national 
unity.

Theys was a Papuan pro-independence charismatic leader who chaired the 
Papuan Presidium Council, a body formed by the second Papuan congress in 
2000 to lead the peaceful struggle for the creation of an independent state 
of West Papua. He was abducted and assassinated by the Army's Special force.

It seems that the same criteria will be applied by the Attorney General's 
Office to screen and ban any books on Papua, more particularly those written 
by Papuans, in the future simply by saying the books contain elements 
categorized as dangerous to the Indonesian government and state.

However, everyone knows the Attorney General's Office has never clearly 
explained how the books endanger national unity, discredit the government, 
or disrupt public order.

By banning Papuan books based on unclear criteria, the central government 
shows its undemocratic face, despite its persistent self-promotion as a 
champion of democracy.

The undemocratic aspect of the government has been and is being manifested 
through its inability to face Papuans' dissenting opinions.

Instead of producing more books to encounter the content of the banned 
books, the government has abused its power to stifle Papuans' intellectual 
creativity and freedom of opinion and expression.

After decades nothing has changed in the way the government ignores Papuans' 
freedom of expression and their intellectual freedom. It remains restrictive 
in determining which books are appropriate or not for Papuans to read.

The presence of the Indonesian government in Papua, then, is very suspicious 
for it seems to exist not to protect the Papuans in exercising their 
intellectual creativity but to treat them cruelly.

The banning of books does not apparently constitute an isolated action. 
Rather, it reflects the government's policy of threatening Papuans' 
intellectual freedom.

Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua

The writer is a lecturer at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and 
Theology in Abepura, Papua.
Jakarta Post

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=37536

Activist denounces Papua Governor over Morning Star ban
Posted at 03:31 on 18 January, 2008 UTC
A London-based Papuan activist has criticised the Governor of Indonesia’s 
Papua for upholding a ban on the Morning Star Flag.
Governor Barnabas Suebu is demanding compliance with a new government 
regulation that bans the use of separatist attributes as regional symbols.
He says the provincial legislature will discuss a more suitable regional 
symbol than the Morning Star, which is associated with Papuan separatists.
In 2005 a man was jailed for 15 years for raising the flag.
And this week, police in Jayapura arrested two women who were trading 
souvenirs carrying the Morning Star logo.
Activist Benny Wenda says this makes a mockery of provisions under Papua’s 
Special Autonomy.
“Because Indonesia promised that the Morning Star is like a cultural symbol, 
and this is what the Autonomy package already promised. Then why now have 
they banned all people making handbags with the Morning Star and printing 
tee-shirts, and any sort of identity and now the ban. There is not any 
freedom in West Papua.”
Benny Wenda

http://www.ww4report.com/node/5017

Mexico: Atenco activists freed
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Sat, 02/02/2008 - 01:41.
On Jan. 25, seven adherents of the People's Front in Defense of the Land 
(FPDT) from the central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco were 
liberated from the Mexico State prison at Molino de Flores, after a federal 
judge cleared them of charges of kidnapping and attacking communications 
infrastructure. They had been in prison since their arrest in violent 
confrontations with the police in May 2006. (La Jornada, Jan. 26) Charges 
were also dropped against 53 other FPDT followers who had been freed on 
bail. (Uno Mas Uno, Jan. 25) A collective of "Zapatista lawyers" announced 
plans to bring criminal charges against Judge Jaime Maldonado, for having 
"arbitrarily" ordered the 164 FPDT followers imprisoned. (La Jornada, Jan. 
27)
Fifteen of the 21 police officers facing charges in the May 2006 violence 
were also exonerated. (La Jornada, Jan. 25) Spanish citizen Cristina Valls, 
who was injured by police in the confrontation, has announced that she will 
bring suit charging the Mexican authorities with "torture." (International 
Civil Human Rights Observation Commission-CCIODH, Jan. 26)

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=724205

Hearing for riot students

11 March 2008
Sne Masuku

The Mangosuthu University of Technology has ordered members of its students 
representative council (SRC) to appear before a disciplinary hearing when 
the university reopens on Monday.
The university was closed on Friday after a week of students’ riots over the 
lack of resources and lecturers on campus.
The university’s executive committee felt that not all students should be 
blamed for the violent protest, but that it should be attributed to a small 
group of perpetrators led by the South African Democratic Students Movement 
(Sadesmo).
University spokesman Sandile Zondi said: “Under the circumstances 
disciplinary proceedings will be instituted against those students who 
transgressed the rules of the university.”
Zondi said the students did not follow the right procedures before embarking 
on their strike action.
A memorandum outlining grievances was only received by vice-chancellor and 
principal, Aaron Ndlovu two days after the strike began, he said.
“Issues are first considered by the SRC, then tabled before the students’ 
parliament for deliberation and eventually presented to a mass meeting of 
students to obtain a mandate, he said.
“None of these steps were complied with before the commencement of the 
protest.”
----------------------------------------------------------------

*/PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines/*

*Proposed nat'l ID, part of Arroyo reign extension and heightened
fascism scheme--CPP
*January 8, 2008

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today denounced Malacañang
and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for reviving plans to
establish a "national ID system" saying this is "part and parcel of the
preparations for Gloria Arroyo to extend her rule and intensify her
fascist policies."

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said "the establishment of a
national ID system is a major ingredient in Arroyo's fascist plans to
quell resistance and force through an extension of her grip on power
beyond 2010. In the hands of Arroyo's fascist officials, it will be used
to put the population under a police state-to control the people's
movements, curtail th eir fundamental democratic and civil rights, and
institute a reign of terror."

"In conjunction with the Human Security Act (HSA), Arroyo's planned
national ID system will be used to intensify state terrorism and
suppress the people's resistance to Arroyo's recoronation as soon as her
present illegitimate term ends in 2010," added Rosal. "Arroyo's
security, military and police officials plan to use the national ID
system in the same way that the cedula system was used by the Spanish
colonizers to oppress the Filipino people."

Rosal belittled the AFP's claims that the national ID system will be an
effective instrument in stopping the growth of the revolutionary armed
movement. "It will only be effective in harassing the people, making
their living, livelihood and travel difficult, and angering them.

Like the Filipino people's hatred of the Spanish-era cedula, the
people's hatred of the national ID system, once implemented, will only
result in their heightened support of the armed revolution and
intensified resistance to the reactionary state's fascist rule."

"With a rotten, puppet, increasingly fascist Arroyo regime continuing to
force itself at the helm of the defunct reactionary state, more and more
people are being convinced to join the New People's Army and help the
revolutionary armed struggle as the most effective way of putting an end
to the terrorist state and the whole of the rotten ruling system."

Rosal urged the progressive and democratic forces, the broad anti-Arroyo
opposition and the entire Filipino people to vigorously resist the plan
to institute a national ID system. "The revolutionary armed forces and
mass movement will carry out more and more blows against the fascist
pillars of the Arroyo regime to help frustrate Arroyo's scheme to cling
to power beyond 2010."

Reference:
Marco Valbuena
Media Officer
Cellphone Numbers: 09179776392 :: 09282242061
E-mail:cppmedia at gmail.com

http://www.madre.org/articles/me/womenbasra010908.html

Who is Killing the Women of Basra? In Basra, Iraq's second largest city, 
2008 was ushered in with an announcement of the 2007 death toll of women 
targeted by Islamist militias. City officials reported on December 31 that 
133 women were killed and mutilated last year, their bodies dumped in trash 
bins with notes warning others against "violating Islamic teachings..." But 
ambulance drivers who are hired to troll the city streets in the early 
mornings to collect the bodies confirm what most residents believe: the 
actual numbers are much higher.

The killers' leaflets are not very original. They usually accuse the women 
of being prostitutes or adulterers. But those murdered are more likely to be 
doctors, professors, or journalists. We know this because activists from the 
Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) have taken on the gruesome 
task of visiting city morgues to try and determine the scale and pattern of 
the killings. According to OWFI, most of the women who have been murdered 
"are PhD holders, professionals, activists, and office workers."

Their crime is not "promiscuity," but rather opposition to the 
transformation of Iraq into an Islamist state. That bloody transition has 
been the main political trend under US occupation. It's no secret who is 
killing the women of Basra. Shiite political forces empowered by the US 
invasion have been terrorizing women there since 2003. Within weeks of the 
invasion, these groups established "Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of 
Vice" squads, which many Iraqis refer to simply as "misery gangs." They 
began by patrolling the streets, harassing and sometimes beating women who 
did not dress or behave to their liking. Coalition forces did nothing to 
stop them, and soon the militias escalated their violence to torturing and 
assassinating anyone who they saw as an obstacle to turning Iraq into an 
Islamist state.
The Culture Card Despite the clearly political nature of these killings, US 
media generally portray violence against Iraqi women as an unfortunate part 
of Arab or Muslim "culture." For instance, journalist Kay S. Hymowitz has 
catalogued the "inventory of brutality" committed by men in the "Muslim 
world," railing against "the savage fundamentalist Muslim oppression of 
women." Hymowitz echoes a commonly held assumption, namely that gender-based 
violence, when committed in the Middle East, derives from Islam.

Of course, pinning violence against women on Islam is politically useful: it 
helps to dehumanize Muslims and justify US intervention in their countries. 
It also deflects attention from the many ways that US policy has ignored and 
enabled violence against the women of Iraq (like championing political 
leaders with an openly-stated intent to unravel women's legal rights). But 
in fact, culture alone explains very little. All human behavior has cultural 
dimensions, but culture is merely a context, not a cause or a useful 
explanation for violence, whether in Iraq or anywhere else.

It makes much more sense to examine gender—a system of power relations 
whose number one enforcement mechanism is recourse to violence against 
women. There is nothing "Muslim" about that system, except that its Muslim 
proponents, like their Jewish, Christian, and Hindu counterparts, use 
culture and religion to rationalize women's subjugation.

In fact, shifting the focus from culture to gender reveals a system of power 
that is nearly universal. Yanar Mohammed, the founder of OWFI, describes 
this year's killings of women in Basra as a campaign "to restrain women into 
the domestic domain and end all female participation in the social and 
political scene." Compare her comment to Amnesty International's conclusion 
about the ongoing mass killings of women in Guatemala.

According to Amnesty, that wave of violence, "carries with it a perverse 
message: women should abandon the public space they have won at much 
personal and social effort and shut themselves back up in the private world, 
abandoning their essential role in national development." This certainly 
captures the intent of Iraq's Islamists, who have little in common with the 
killers of women in Guatemala, other than a rigid adherence to a gendered 
system of power.

Instead of lamenting the "brutality" of Islam, the US media should start 
connecting the dots between the US occupation and the empowerment of people 
who use violence against women as a strategy to pursue their political 
agenda. We can start with the fact that the Pentagon has trained, armed, and 
funded the very militias that are killing the women of Basra.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12061

IRAQ: The South African Connection

EXCERPT:
Part of 'Project Barnacle,' he helped track down and assassinate top 
anti-apartheid leaders in Southern Africa - including Joe Gqabi, the ANC 
representative in Zimbabwe.

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IRAQ: The South African Connection

According to a recent United Nations report, South Africa is among the top 
three suppliers of personnel for private military companies operating in 
Iraq next to the US and the UK. At least 10 South African based companies 
have been sending people to Iraq. Most of those recruited operate as drivers 
and bodyguards, protecting supply routes and valuable resources.

by Andy Clarno and Salim Vally, ZNET
March 6th, 2005


A startling fact has emerged from the battlefields of Iraq, providing 
powerful evidence that the conduct of war has been radically transformed 
over the last 15 years. In the 1991 Gulf War, 1 in every 100 soldiers 
deployed by the US-led coalition were mercenaries hired by private military 
companies. Today in Iraq, more than 1 in 5 coalition soldiers are 
mercenaries. Since the mid-1990s, the private military sector has been the 
fastest growing industry in the world. With the US as its biggest client, 
the industry was worth $100-200 billion per year even before the invasion of 
Iraq.
There are currently 130,000 US soldiers, 9000 British, and 15,000 other 
coalition soldiers operating in Iraq. With estimates of more than 30,000 
private 'security experts,' mercenaries now compose the second largest 
military force in the country. The vast oil resources and uncontainable 
resistance have made the country a magnet for mercenaries. War profiteers 
such as Bechtel and Halliburton hire private armies to protect their assets, 
paying mercenaries up to $1000 a day for special assignments quelling 
uprisings in Iraqi cities.
The number of South Africans in Iraq is estimated to range from 5000 to 10 
000. According to a recent United Nations report, South Africa is among the 
top three suppliers of personnel for private military companies operating in 
Iraq next to the US and the UK. At least 10 South African based companies 
have been sending people to Iraq. Most of those recruited operate as drivers 
and bodyguards, protecting supply routes and valuable resources. Yet several 
hundred South Africans are alleged to have fought alongside the Americans 
and the British in Fallujah and other hotspots. Members of special police 
units, such as the South African Police Services' Elite Task Force, who 
protect senior state officials like President Mbeki, have sought early 
retirement to join private military companies in Iraq.
The most heavily recruited South Africans are those with backgrounds in the 
elite apartheid-era special forces. Many members of Apartheid-era security 
groups such as the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), the 32 Buffalo Battalion, 
the Parachute Brigade, Reaction Unit 9, the Reconnaissance Commandos, 
Koevoet, and Vlakplaas - many of whom received amnesty from the Truth and 
Reconciliation Commission - are now in Iraq. This fact emerged last January 
when a bomb in Baghdad killed Francois Strydom and maimed Deon Gouws.
Strydom and Gouws were recruited by Erinys International to provide 
bodyguard services to a US general. In the 1980s, Strydom worked for 
Koevoet, a brutal wing of the South African military whose members were 
reportedly paid bounties for the bodies of SWAPO activists in Namibia. A 
former member of Vlakplaas, Gouws, admitted to the TRC that he petrol-bombed 
the homes of 40-60 anti-apartheid activists, assassinated KwaNdebele 
homeland Cabinet minister and ANC activist Piet Ntuli, firebombed the home 
of the late Fabian Ribiero, and murdered nine activists.
Gouws has recently changed his mind about mercenary activity and is now 
discouraging South Africans from going to Iraq. In a recent interview he is 
quoted as saying, "To go to Iraq is to sign a death warrantit is hellpeople 
do not want us thereno amount of money is worth it". Thus far, 13 South 
Africans have been killed in Iraq.
Last April, Gray Branfield, working for a contractor called the Hart Group 
was killed in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut. After spending the 1970s in an 
elite Rhodesian paramilitary unit, Branfield was recruited by the SA Defence 
Force in the 1980s. Part of 'Project Barnacle,' he helped track down and 
assassinate top anti-apartheid leaders in Southern Africa - including Joe 
Gqabi, the ANC representative in Zimbabwe. During one covert operation in 
Zimbabwe, Branfield kidnapped a police officer, strapped explosives to his 
body, and took his family hostage in order to secure the release of a 
captured South African commando. He also helped plan an attack on an ANC 
safe house in Botswana in which 14 people, including a child, were killed in 
their sleep.
The brutal foot soldiers of the Apartheid era are much in demand. In fact, 
building on a long tradition of mercenary activity throughout Africa, South 
Africans pioneered the re-packaging of mercenary activity as 'legitimate' 
private business. In the late 1980s, Executive Outcomes (EO) was formed and 
drew heavily on members of the 32 Buffalo Battalion and operatives of the 
notorious Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB). During the 1990s, EO conducted 
'counter-insurgency' operations throughout Africa in exchange for mining and 
oil concessions. In the late 1990s, EO morphed into Sandline International, 
which later shut down and re-emerged as Aegis Defense Systems. Last June, 
Aegis was awarded a massive $300 million contract by the US authorities to 
protect the 'Green Zone' in downtown Baghdad and to coordinate the 
activities of all private security companies operating in Iraq.
South African military companies play a prominent role in Iraq. Meteoric 
Tactical Solutions has about a R3.1 million contract with the British 
government to provide bodyguards and drivers for senior officials in Iraq. 
The latter company, together with Grand Lake Trading, has registered with 
South Africa's National Conventional Arms Control Committee to operate in 
Iraq. Erinys International, founded by apartheid-era military intelligence 
officer Sean Cleary, has a nearly $80 million contract to train Iraqi 
soldiers and protect oil installations. With the support of close business 
associates of the Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, Erinys has employed South 
African military specialists to train hundreds of members of Chalabi's Iraqi 
National Congress. Speculation in Iraq suggests that Erinys is helping 
Chalabi build a personal army.
Other South Africans with odious pasts involved in Iraq include Albertus van 
Schalkwyk also known as 'Sailor' who runs a company called Sailor Security 
Services. He was a Koevoet member, and was deported from New Zealand on drug 
smuggling charges. Brian Boucher, fingered as a police spy on the Wits and 
Natal university campuses in the eighties, and later in charge of the Point 
Road Police Station formed a company called Shelfco Investments. It is 
alleged that he has recruited many South Africans from the Durban area to go 
to Iraq.
In addition to South Africans, the military companies operating in Iraq have 
recruited security personnel associated with the former Chilean dictator, 
Pinochet, Yugoslavian war criminal, Milosevic, as well as security personnel 
from Israel and Central America.
The US and the UK have unapologetically promoted the privatisation of 
repression and the legitimization of mercenary activity. The intentions of 
the Equatorial Guinea coup plotters were well known to Jack Straw, 
Condoleeza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld. Yet the US and UK did nothing to stop 
them. In 1998, when the US based military firm, DynCorp, was found to be 
involved in the trafficking of sex-slaves in Bosnia, 13 employees were 
withdrawn but no one was charged. In Columbia, DynCorp is contracted by the 
US government to spray toxic herbicide over fields, without regard to the 
devastating consequences on the villagers and farmers below. DynCorp is also 
actively recruiting South Africans. In Iraq, private military firms such as 
CACI and Titan were supposed to be providing staff support and translation 
in Abu Ghraib prison. Instead, they've been implicated in the torture, rape, 
and execution of prisoners. But no one has been charged with a crime. 
Erinys's past activities are as unsavoury as DynCorp's. In August 2003, the 
Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining, a Ghanaian 
organization, released a report detailing human rights abuses perpetrated by 
Erinys personnel at an Ashanti gold mine. The report details eyewitness 
accounts of the torture and killings of local small-scale miners between 
1994 and 2002.
Unlike its British and American counterparts, the South African government 
insists on its opposition to foreign military activity for private monetary 
gain. The Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act is supposed to 
regulate the ability of South African companies and individuals to 
participate in armed conflicts abroad. However, the loopholes and 
insignificant penalties imposed by the Act make it extremely ineffective. In 
addition, for a long time there seemed to be no political will to properly 
enforce the law. Only two people have been convicted under the terms of the 
Act, both for mercenary activity in the Cote d'Ivoire. Carl Alberts was 
fined $3000 and Richard Rouget a mere $1500. These fines are trivial for 
mercenaries raking in huge amounts of money. South African citizens require 
much clearer information about these dogs of war instead of the bland and 
banal exchange between Taljaard from the Democratic Alliance and the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs: MS R TALJAARD (DA) TO ASK THE MINISTER OF 
FOREIGN AFFAIRS:(1) Whether the Government has had any contact with either 
the Swiss or British governments in respect of South African private 
military companies, specifically two companies (names furnished - Meteoric 
Tactical Solutions and Erinys International), for protecting facilities and 
officials of the two governments concerned without having obtained approval 
for such contracts from the National Conventional Arms Control Committee 
(NCACC); if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (2) Whether 
the Government specifically communicated the lack of compliance with the 
provisions of the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act, 1998 (Act 
No 15 of 1998), by these firms in contracting with the two governments 
concerned; if not, why not; if so, when; (3) Whether she will make a 
statement on the matter? N780E REPLY:(1) Yes. The Swiss Ambassador in 
Pretoria approached the Department of Foreign Affairs on 2 June 2004 with 
regard to the South African company that provides, amongst others, security 
services to foreign personnel based in Iraq, including Swiss Embassy 
personnel in Baghdad. The British Government has not approached the 
Department of Foreign Affairs. (2) The Department of Foreign Affairs 
referred the matter of MTS to the National Conventional Arms Control 
Committee (NCACC) for consideration in terms of the Regulation of Foreign 
Military Assistance Act (RFMAA). (3) No. This might change, however, since 
President Thabo Mbeki declared in his recent State of the Nation address 
before Parliament, "In the coming year, we shallreview the Foreign Military 
Assistance Act in order to discourage, for their own good and the good of 
the country, those who seek to profit from conflict and human suffering such 
as in Iraq."
A good place to begin tightening up the Act would be to return to the draft 
version of the Act, which stated that any person found guilty would be 
liable to "a fine not exceeding one million rand [roughly $150,000] or to 
imprisonment for a period not exceeding ten years, or to both such fine or 
imprisonment." The final version, on the other hand, merely stated that 
those guilty would be liable to "a fine or to imprisonment or to both such 
fine and imprisonment." Our government also needs to tighten loopholes in 
the Act; refuse the sanctioning of the contracts of Private Military Forces 
and define clearly what military assistance means. Some companies, for 
instance, register as de-mining companies to bypass the Act. There is also 
the danger of subverting parliamentary oversight by allowing the Foreign 
Ministry to sanction contracts.
Above all, our government must realize, in the words of Michael Schmidt, 
that what "the South African authorities are up against is not merely a few 
military adventurers, but the 21st-century equivalent of the troops employed 
by the Dutch East India Company: private armies of very wealthy companies 
with global reach". It is imperative that our government stems the tide of 
those seeking a quick fortune on other's misery. The prestigious Lancet 
magazine estimated that at least 100 000 Iraqi civilians have been killed 
since the invasion of Iraq. How many South Africans contributed to these 
deaths? As Gouws discovered, it is not the second Kimberly diamond rush many 
have been led to believe. Most flights from Johannesburg International to 
Dubai these days carry at least a few mercenaries en route to Baghdad. Some 
Iraqis confirm that Afrikaans is heard very frequently on the streets of 
Baghdad. Over the past ten years the mention of the name South Africa filled 
many with pride- a symbol of the ability of a people to overcome oppression 
through resistance and human solidarity across national boundaries. In the 
streets of Baghdad, this legacy is fast being squandered.
-Andy Clarno and Salim Vally are members of the Anti-War Coalition (JHB). 
The 19th of March, the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, has been 
declared a day of action by global peace and social justice organizations. 
In Johannesburg, the focus of demonstrations will be on South African 
mercenaries in Iraq.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/middleeast/20iran.html?_r=1&oref=sloginRadical Left, Iran's Last Legal Dissidents, Until NowBy NAZILA FATHITEHRAN — In early December, a surprising scene unfolded at TehranUniversity: 500 Marxist students held aloft portraits of Che Guevarato protest President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies. Smaller groupsof Marxist students held similar protests in several other cities.Political protest has been harshly suppressed under the currentIranian government, especially dissent linked to the West. But theradical left, despite its antireligious and antigovernment message,has been permitted relative freedom. This may be, analysts say,because, like the government, it rejects the liberal reform movementand attacks the West."The government practically permitted the left to operate startingfive years ago so that they would confront religious liberals," saidSaeed Leylaz, a political analyst in Tehran. "But that led to thespread of a new virus."In recent weeks, the leaders of the Marxist student movement havebeen arrested, suggesting that the government is worrying about thesize of the demonstrations and the growing attraction of an ideologythat is deeply antithetical to its own.Morad Saghafi, a political analyst and the editor in chief ofGoftegoo magazine, said that it was not so strange that there wereleftists but that it was significant that they were radicalleftists."They are showing a kind of radicalism to reform, religion and thecurrent situation," he said.Even some of those who object to President Ahmadinejad saypermitting the growth of Marxist student movements is dangerous.For example, former President Mohammad Khatami, a moderate byIranian standards, recently raised concern over the growth ofleftists at universities. He drew a comparison with the strugglesbefore the 1979 revolution and said after the shah's government hadbanned religious groups, leftist groups encouraged armed struggleagainst him, according to the news agency ISNA.Leftist students use an anti-imperialist discourse toward the UnitedStates and say they have no plans to overthrow the Iraniangovernment. But they refer to the government as a capitalist regimeand condemn pro-democracy politicians who support changeas "bourgeois."In a leftist publication called Khak, meaning earth, a member whowas jailed wrote in an editorial in May, "In this leftist movementwe need to move based on the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin."Marxists need "grass-roots and radical social movements," heemphasized.Another member, a woman who has an anonymous blog atfaaryaad.blogfa.com (faaryaad means shout), writes "Reform died,long live revolution."One leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear ofgovernment reprisal, said, "We think the regime is a capitalistregime and Mr. Ahmadinejad is a true fascist."Members are atheists and attack poverty in Iran as well as othercountries, including the West. They consider no socialist countrytheir role model, oppose pro-democracy students and accuse them oftrying to reform a system that cannot be reformed.Yet they have no specific agenda for change and seem almostnihilistic at times."We don't think we can change anything in the near future," said a22-year-old student at Tehran University and member of a groupcalled the Radical Marxists, who asked not to be identified. "But asstudents we think we can transfer our knowledge about class,capitalism and equality to society, especially the workers."Another member, Shahin, 21, who said his father was also a Marxistand was executed by the government in 1988, said the studentsultimately want "free education, free health care and highersalaries for workers."Analysts familiar with them said leftist student groups began toemerge in the early 2000s when the democracy movement was sufferingsetbacks and many of their supporters were becoming disillusioned.The government ignored the leftist students until December when thegovernment began cracking down on their leaders.As in many countries, a majority of intellectuals in Iran has beeninfluenced by Marxist ideas since the 19th century. Much of theliterature written since then is closely interwoven with leftistnotions. However, Marxists never gained power here. They played animportant role in the success of the 1979 revolution but they weresoon marginalized by the Islamists and their members were forcedinto exile. Many were executed in 1988.Authorities allowed all of Marx's books to be published after thefall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Leftist books sell very well thesedays, one bookstore said. The store said the most popular books werethose about the Confederation of Iranian Students, the most activeorganized opposition during the two decades before the 1979revolution. Many of its members were influenced by leftist ideas.Now, once again, it appears the government has decided to suppressthe left. The number of arrests has reached 40 and those detainedremain in the notorious Evin prison.At least three Marxist groups operate at the universities aroundIran. The Radical Marxists have the most supporters, according tostudents. The other two organizations are workers groups.The 22-year-old Radical Marxists member said that she had rejectedIran's laws against women when she was 7 and had to wear the Islamichood known as a maghnaeh to cover her hair for the first time. "Inreligion class, we always got angry as women when we read in thebooks that the head of the family is the man," she said.Reza Sharifi, 34, the leader of the youth branch of Mosharekat, aparty that seeks change, said it was hard for the government tosuppress Marxist students at the same time it was seeking betterrelations with leftist leaders worldwide."The government paved the way for leftist movements in the countrywhen its best friends became Castro and Chávez," he said, referringto Fidel Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela."The whole idea was that any country that was against America was onour side," he said. "As a result, all communist leaders became theIslamic Republic's best friends."----------------------------------------------------------------------Press Statement21 January 2008PROLONGED INVESTIGATION OF SISON CASEIS AN ATTACK ON NDFP AND PEACE PROCESSBy Luis JalandoniChairperson, Negotiating PanelNational Democratic Front of the PhilippinesThe Dutch prosecutor Ms. J. S. de Vries claims that the examining judgeMs. C. M. Derijks has done something grievously wrong by declaring the“untimely closure of the preliminary investigation” of the false andpolitically motivated charge of inciting the murder of the militaryagents Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara against Prof. Jose Maria Sison,NDFP Chief Political Consultant.The claim of the prosecutor cannot be farther from the truth. Theexamining judge based her 21 November 2007 decision to close thepreliminary investigation on the13 September decision of the District Court of The Hague pointing to theinsufficiency of evidence against Prof. Sison and the 3 October 2007decision of the Court of Appeals upholding the decision of the districtcourt on the lack of prima facie evidence and ruling further that thecharge has a political context casting doubt on the reliability of thewitnesses and the ability of Prof. Sison and his lawyers tocross-examine the witnesses under current circumstances of gross humanrights violations in the Philippines.The examining judge gave ample and repeated opportunity to prosecutor DeVries to give substantive reasons to counter the two aforementionedcourt decisions. But the prosecutor failed to do so. The two courtdecisions and the failure of the prosecutor to provide substantivereasons constituted the valid ground for the examining judge to closethe preliminary investigation. It is a big lie for the prosecutor topremise the continuance of the preliminary investigation with the claimof wrongdoing by the examining judge. It is also anomalous that theprosecutor stands publicly in judgment over the examining judge.The prosecutor is hell-bent on using the prosecution process to oppressand run down Prof. Jose Maria Sison. She threatens to make the life ofProf. Sison miserable not only with the patently false charge ofinciting the murder of Kintanar and Tabara but also with the possibleexpansion of criminal charges under various laws against him and others.But the prosecutor is apparently playing a role or doing a dirtypolitical job assigned by powerful forces, like the Dutch and othergovernments, to persecute and destroy Prof. Sison as well as therepresentation of the NDFP abroad, particularly the NDFP NegotiatingPanel of which I am the chairperson. Moral and material damages continueto be inflicted directly on Prof. Sison and many other persons andentities whose papers, digital files, bank accounts and other materialsand equipment were seized by the police upon the arrest of Prof. Sisonon 28 August 2007.The NDFP and the Filipino people are grievously offended by theinjustices done directly to Prof. Sison and other Filipinos in TheNetherlands. They are outraged that something never done before to anational liberation movement like the African National Congress (ANC)and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is being done to theNDFP. The Dutch government is either wittingly or unwittingly being usedby Washington and the Manila government to conjure and hype the illusionthat Filipino communists are killing each other, a line of deceptionused by the Arroyo regime to justify the extrajudicialkillings,disappearances and other human rights violations. Thisdeceptive line has been exposed by the reports of UN Special RapporteurProf. Philip Alston, Amnesty International, the World Council ofChurches, Human Rights Watch and other respected institutions.The false and politically motivated charge of inciting the murder ofKintanar and Tabara may just be a stepping stone to the charge of warcrimes or crimes against humanity or crimes of terrorism. The maliciouspolitical intent of the US, Dutch and Manila governments may be tostigmatize and destroy Prof. Sison and the NDFP Negotiating Panel andpressure the NDFP to capitulate to the Manila government. But the schemeof these powerful forces may only lead to the complete destruction ofthe peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Manila government andthe intensification of the civil war in the Philippines.There are indications that the Dutch prosecutor intends to expand thecharge of inciting murder to a charge of war crimes in order to get awayfrom the rigorous rule of evidence of direct and personal responsibilityin a case of murder to the rule of command responsibility. If this shiftwere to be done, the Dutch prosecutor will be practically recognizingthe existence of a civil war in the Philippines and accusing Prof. Sisonof being a leader of a belligerent force under international law.But it is utterly ridiculous for the Dutch prosecution to be accusingProf. Sison of command responsibility for war crimes under internationallaw. He came straight from nearly a decade of fascist imprisonment in1986, freed from the charge of rebellion and subversion Since then, hehas been abroad for more than 20 years, always hounded byfalse charges invented by the Manila government but never convicted inany court. It would be a stark case of paradox if Gloria M. Arroyoremains scot-free, despite the gross and systematic violations of humanrights in the Philippines, and Prof. Sison is imprisoned in TheNetherlands.Under the auspices of the US-directed policies of neoliberalglobalization and war of terror, the US and pro-US governments arecapable of doing anything to slander, harm or destroy any individual,organization or movement that fights for national liberation anddemocracy. The Filipino people and the people of the world must bevigilant, resolute and militant against the cumulative attacks beingunleashed by the imperialists and their puppets against Prof. Jose MariaSison, the NDFP Negotiating Panel and the NDFP. ###http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16254Indigenous Dispossession and Price of Resistance in Sarawak,Malaysian Borneo.January 21, 2008 By Alex HelanAlex Helan's ZSpace PageOn December 17th, the worst fears of the community of Long Kerongwere realised. The shattered skeleton of their headman wasdiscovered in the forest a few hours walk from their longhouse. Thelate Kelesau Naan disappeared after departing for a routine check onhis animal trap that lay in surrounding virgin forests, some of thelast left in Sarawak. Two months later, his wife, Uding Lidemidentified her husband from his watch, still attached to his wrist-bone, which lay alongside his thigh, skull and ribs on the junglefloor. He is another indigenous leader who may well have paid theultimate price for the ongoing saga of indigenous resistance inSarawak.Kelesau Naan was more than a community leader, at 79 he hadunbounded experience of the forest, he commanded respect from allover his tribe – the Penan -and indeed across the proportion ofSarawak's indigenous community who continue to resist (collectivelycalled the Dayak). He was an integral part of the fragile backboneof indigenous resistance, leading his community through the years ofdirect confrontation with the logging company Samling, whoseresources included the state security services and their politicalpatrons in Sarawak's state government. When, in 1997, Samling'sbulldozers encroached on their ancestral land, the villagers'petitions to Samling and their government were met with customarydisregard while their road blockades were met with tear gas andrifles of Malaysia's military. However, their unrelenting resistancepaid off and, following a court injunction, the community of LongKerong temporarily regained some immediate security over theirnative customary land. The villages' land is communal, consisting ofplanted hill rice, fruit trees and large tracts of primaryrainforest. And in no romantic sense, this land is their livelihoodand the villagers' lives are intimately intertwined with the naturalcycles seasonal produce and raw materials that their forest andfarms provide them with; a seemingly weird and wonderful array ofgame, fish, starchy sago palm, fruiting trees, medicinal herbs,timber for housing, weaving rattan, latex, dyes, soaps and poisons.Aside from the aesthetics that deluded tourists find so gratifying,it is essentially a lifestyle principle that modernity (for now)believes to have rendered obsolete: resourcefulness.Since the 1960s, industrial logging arose as a potent force inSarawak (alongside oil), propelled by Malaysia's compulsive and everelusive drive for `development'. Timber seemed an accessible andseemingly abundant source of quick revenue. However, there was oneseemingly major impediment between the elite's grandiose dreams ofmonetary flow and their realisation: the majority of this timbergrew on the autonomous and communal native customary land ofSarawak's indigenous communities. The undermining of indigenous landrights has been slowly gathering pace since the era of the WhiteRajahs, a British family dynasty of romantic adventures whom (inrelatively) sought the protection of indigenous rights from emergingglobalising commercial pressures. However, following World War II,Sarawak joined the Malaysian Federation under the high browedtutelage of British imperialism and the indigenous people foundthemselves, by default, governed by a state they had little of noconception of. Yet there began their subordination to the `greatereconomic good' of the Malaysian developmental state!It is at this point that the major dismantling of indigenousautonomy and land rights began and nearly forty years later,Sarawak's primary forest cover has been depleted by over 90% andnearly every community has been subject to government `development'programs to utilise `unproductive' and `idle' rural land; `idle'land such as that described above of Long Kerong. Underpinning theexpansion of these operations was an emerging `rhizome' structure ofcorruption, cronyism and opportunism with concessions being awardedby political patronage and without competitive tender. In somecases, local political representatives saw opportunities inpredating on the land of their indigenous constituencies.Throughout the 1980s and 90s, there was wide-scale indigenousresistance that resulted in deaths, beatings, house demolitions andarrests of indigenous activists, while the government continued topass legislation that undermined their legal rights and expeditethese autocratic `development' policies. Headmen were now onlylegitimate if appointed by the state and many were bribed or coercedto consent to commercial operations on their land, betraying theirvillage and demoralizing the communal customs on which indigenouslife traditionally depended upon. Ironically, for all the anti-colonial rhetoric of Malaysia's political elite, such tactics werealso employed by British colonialists to sustain a systemof `decentralised despotism' and ensure expedient production forexports.Hope came with international attention and the beginning of courtinjunctions on behalf of the indigenous communities with the help ofNGOs, organic indigenous activists, opposition politicians and agroup of dissident barristers. In 2001, the first indigenouscommunity of Rumah Nor won its court case and since then hundreds ofcases have been filed and the word is spreading; unfortunately manyonly able to appeal for retrospective compensation.For the Long Kerong, Kelesau Naan was one of the chief witnesses andmain plaintiffs in the court case, which, alongside the fact that hehad lived in the jungle for nearly eighty years, makes hisdisappearance so suspicious. For Samling, the capitulation of LongKerong is a vital strategic asset, with the village leading to theone of the last tracks of un-logged forest in Sarawak; the Sela'anSuling Permanent Forest Estate (PFE) concession.Yet, international pressure can have profound effects. The Swissactivist Bruno Manser (whom also disappeared in dubiouscircumstances) made the plight of the Penan a relative vogue for ashort time, with Al Gore and Prince Charles speaking on the subjectand in 2006, Britain's largest building supplier Jewson Ltd ceasedits imports of Sarawak timber after an exposé in `The Times'newspaper. Unfortunately, the tragic dispossession and conversion ofindigenous land has its purveyors in the international bankingelite. In barefaced contradiction to their claims of SocialCorporative Responsibility, HSBC (the world's green bank), CreditSuisse and Macquarie Bank appear to be unable to turn their back onopportunistic profiteering and last year floated Samling Global onthe Hong Kong stock exchange, earning themselves a handsome HK$142million and allowing Samling to continue their aborrant practices inSarawak and expand them to other congenial territories (withoperations in Malaysia, New Zealand and Guyana).Paradoxically, while HSBC is `proving it's green credentials' byoffering paper banking to `save' the Amazonian rainforest, ittacitly undermines indigenous solidarity and endorses the expansionof a company that has recently been implicated in extensive illegallogging of the Guyanian Amazon. In Sarawak, the struggle to maintainsome remnants of control over their land, culture and futurecontinues, minus Mr Kelesau Naan.http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=135371On Bhutan's sovereigntyBY KAZI GAUTAMIndia's reluctance to help repatriate Bhutanese refugees has furthercomplicated the refugee issue. Of late, Indian authorities in WestBengal prevented Indian parliamentarians from entering Nepal throughthe border at Panitanki. They were planning to visit the refugeecamps to explore ways to address the refugee crisis.The District Magistrate of Darjeeling, Rajesh Pandey, imposed acurfew along the border according to section 144 of the Penal Codewith the sole purpose of stopping the parliamentarians from enteringNepal.However, this was not the first attempt of the Indian government tothwart repatriation of the refugees. The BJP-led government toowasn't interested in resolving the refugee problem, and it did notallow them to return to their homeland. It sided with Bhutan whichhad evicted one-fifth of its population. India, the so-calledlargest democracy in the world, backed the Druk regime in its ethniccleansing drive.Perhaps one-fifth of Bhutan's population would not have beenlanguishing in the UNHCR-administered refugee camps for 17 years hadIndia ever realized that they were ejected by the Druk dictator andthat they should return to Bhutan.India did not see it as an incident of ethnic cleansing. Itsupported Bhutan by not letting the refugees to return home.However, India must realize that the fight for the fundamentalrights of the refugees will continue as long as Bhutan remains anindependent country.In the third week of December 2004, a good few refugees crossed theMechi bridge and made their way towards Bhutan. Unfortunately,Indian police in West Bengal stopped them from proceeding further.Some of the refugees were detained, tortured and later sent back toNepal.Similarly, in January 2005, some 500 refugees marched throughKakkarbhitta and reached the Mechi bridge only to be stopped byIndian security personnel. Another batch of more than 350 refugeeswere halted at the Indo-Bhutan border on July 3. On January 10,Bhutanese security forces arrested 12 refugees crossing into Bhutanat Phuntsholing and handed them over to the Indian authorities. Theywere later dumped at the Mechi bridge.Eventually, the refugee leaders launched what they called the "LongMarch" on May 28, 2007. This time too the refugees couldn't get pastthe Indian security forces. In 1994, India banned a cycle rally thatplanned to highlight the refugee question and interceptedparliamentarians citing poor security. India's indifference hasreached a point where it can be called anti-Nepal. In the 1980's,India's state paramilitary forces threw out thousands of Nepalisfrom the northeast.The relationship between Bhutan and India is not a recent one. In1958, India's first prime minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru,addressed the people of Bhutan in Paro. Subsequently in 1961,Bhutan's Indian-designed Five Year Plan was launched. Since then,India has been guiding Bhutan in every aspect of its socio-economicdevelopment, including getting it admitted into the Colombo Plan in1962 and the Universal Postal Union in 1969. India also helpedBhutan in removing one-fifth of its people.Furthermore, Bhutan's first census (1964-71) was completed withIndian assistance. From 1961 until 1980, India's National PlanningCommission handled Bhutan's development projects. The IndianMilitary Training Team provides training to the Bhutanese armedforces at Haa. Also, skilled Indians are working in the fields ofhealth, education, public works and communication, among manyothers. It was with Indian help that the National Assembly wasestablished in 1953, and the Nepali-speaking community was acceptedinto the mainstream only in 1958. Two visionary Indian leaders,Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi, had always envisioned a peaceful,inclusive and independent Bhutan.However, Mrs Gandhi's son and successor, Rajiv Gandhi, conspiredwith King Jigme Singye Wangchuk who reversed the 1958 CitizenshipAct to set in motion the process of ejecting Lhotsampas from Bhutan.Nehru had guaranteed Bhutan's status as a sovereign state during hisParo public address, while Mrs Gandhi had said that Bhutan shouldnot compare its political status with Sikkim's.The Bhutanese king, after consulting with his personal aide KalyonJaphag Dorjee, had even directed his foreign minister Lyonpo DawaTshering to seek Mrs Gandhi's view. Her positive response clarifiedeverything.India has, no doubt, been Bhutan's greatest benefactor. It financedin full Bhutan's first, second and third Five Year Plans, besideshelping it qualify for membership in the United Nations in 1971. TheTreaty of Peace and Friendship signed between Bhutan and India in1949 underlines that Bhutan shall be guided by India in matters offoreign affairs. Not to forget, India has adroitly avoided gettinginvolved in any of the refugee talks between Nepal and Bhutan.It is true that Bhutan's politically conscious citizens are livingin exile. Given India's indifference, repatriation of the refugeesseems impossible. Interestingly, King Jigme and his son have becomeIndians. Apart from Nehru and Mrs Gandhi, none of the Indianministers seems to consider Bhutan an independent kingdom.India's motive behind its intervention in Bhutan's daily affairsmust be read between the lines. In fact, India is a greater schemer,and its behavior smacks of hypocrisy. The realization may comebelatedly after Bhutan has been turned into an Indian state.Posted on: 2008-01-25 20:15:03 (Server Time)http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/feb/feb26/news06.phpA rights groups criticises Bhutan govt for action against minoritiesA report by a rights group has criticised the Druk regime in Bhutan for aspate of crackdown and arrest of minorities.Issuing a statement on Monday, Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan (HUROB)has said that "if the crackdown by the Bhutanese government against its owncitizens continues then it will cause another exodus of the people from thecountry for safety and security of their life and of their families.""Therefore, we request all to raise the issue with the Royal Government ofBhutan without delay to stop arresting people on doubts of being affiliatedto a political party and belief in particular ideology. So that people liveand enjoy peace without fear and trepidation and another phase of humanmisery is not created," HUROB said in the statement signed by its chairmanS.B Subba.It also said the Royal Bhutan Police is arresting mainly Nepali speakinglocals in the district of Samchi by charging them of being activists of theCommunist Party of Bhutan-Marxist, Leninist and Maoist (CPB-MLM) and makingthem disappear.According to HUROB, the condition and whereabouts of one Lal Bahadur Chettriof Katarey village in Samchi district is still not known even after a yearof his arrest by the Royal Bhutan Police on allegation of being CPB-MLMmember. Soon after that his son Devi Bahadur Chettri was also arrestedwithout any reason and is being kept in Samchi jail.HUROB said it is very concerned of the safety and security of the twoprisoners."As in the past, the prisoners might be facing inhuman tortures and crueltreatments," the human rights organisation said adding that prisoners arealways kept incommunicado till they are convicted in Bhutan, barring them ofa fair trial. nepalnews.com ag Feb 26 08........................................................Help stop arrests in Bhutan : HUROBPOST REPORThttp://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=138874KAKADBHITTA, Feb 25 - Human Rights Organization Bhutan (HUROB) onMonday drew the attention of the international community and urgedthe latter to take initiative to immediately stop the indiscriminatecrackdown and arrest of citizens by the Bhutanese government.Issuing a statement, HUROB said the latest atrocities against localsby the Druk government were aimed at chasing them away from thecountry.It also said security forces were arresting locals in the northerndistrict of Samchi and also making others disappear by charging themof being activists of the Communist Party of Bhutan- Marxist,Leninist and Maoist (CPB-MLM).According to the human rights organization, one Lal Bahadur Chhetriof Katahare village of the district was made to disappear bysecurity forces after his arrest in May last year on the charge ofbeing an activist of BCP-MLM.Similarly, the statement also said his son Devi Bahadur was held 10days ago without any reason.http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/01/appearances.htmlSunday, January 27, 2008APPEARANCES"In Spain, the 28 murders committed by the GAL have become a matterof concern at the highest government level, whereas in Turkey, whichlikes to present itself as a law-abiding state and which is seekingadmission to the European Union, not one single perpetrator of morethan 4,500 unsolved murders carried out since 1991 - the so-called 'faili mesul cinayetleri'- has thus far been arrested. In mycountry, the murderers are on the streets and the intellectuals arebehind bars."~ Akýn Birdal.http://mondediplo.com/1998/07/05turkeyWith the recent Ergenekon arrests, one should bear in mind thatthings are not always what they appear to be in Turkey. As oneanonymous commenter remarked [emphasis Mizgîn's]:https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=19312979&postID=3286460529957423297&isPopup=trueErgenekon was a part of the Turkish deep state. The Turkish statedidn´t make a move against the deep state, there motive was againstthis fraction that operate independent. This was a clear messagefrom the Turkish deep state. This was only matter of time. Ourfreedom movement PKK told the media many times in the past of thefractions inside the Turkish deep state. This is evidence!As I mentioned, "we should not expect too much from this so-called 'operation'". It's very likely that Veli Küçük's Ergenekongang will take the fall for purposes unclear at this moment.Remember, nature abhors a vacuum even in connection with the DeepState and their Islamist brothers. Let no one mistake the Ergenekonarrests for an exercise in the practice of democracy on the part ofthe AKP government, a government that is carefully controlled by thereal rulers of the Ankara regime--the Paþas.Reality is explained well by a heval at Kleine Kurdistan-Kolumne:http://kurdistan-kolumne.blogspot.com/2008/01/ergenekon-welcher-staat-funktioniert.htmlBut appearances can be vastly misleading. Members of paramilitaryterror gangs are arrested and released often. Most of those nowarrested already appeared in the 1996 Susurluk scandal, and remainedunmolested. Especially Veli Küçük, the imagined mighty founder ofJITEM, the worst state-terrorism group of the'90s, enjoyed ahitherto unprecedented immunity. It remains to be seen whether thatimmunity for the obvious sponsors of the "Ergenekon" and likelyperpetrators of the murder of Hrant Dink, now gets more than just afew scratches himself.The "deep state" is unfortunately more than just a gang of 30 ultra-nationalists. It is based on a broad ideological consensus againstKurds, Christians and Left, and its ramifications extend far intobureaucracy, security apparatus and politics. To render the deepstate unworkable requires a little more than a few media arrests. Aslong as Erdogan rides on the wave of nationalism, the shock of hispolice against a few excesses, especially anti-government, remainsimplausible.Vahe Balabanian at Hyeloghttp://hyelog.blogspot.com/2008/01/kk-gives-orders-to-kill.htmlcarries a portion of an article from Sabahhttp://english.sabah.com.tr/42DD1E1F19E54BEAA97AC7228DDB3D8C.htmlwhich mentions some of the assassinations ordered by Küçük. Inanother article from Sabah, Abdullah Gül is quoted as saying "Therewill be no unresolved murders," except in The Southeast, naturally.Meanwhile, Zaman outlines some of the charges against the Ergenekongang:http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=132507Evidence so far also suggests that 700 kilograms of explosives foundloaded on a van in Ýstanbul belonged to this gang. An attack againstthe Association for the Union of Patriotic Forces (VKGB), also amurky group with shadowy affiliations, in Diyarbakýr was actuallystaged by the VKGB itself, according the investigation. The attackhad then been blamed on the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)organization.Ah, yes, false flag operations . . . the hallmark of Gladio.http://mediafilter.org/CAQ/caq61/CAQ61turkey.htmlIt's odd, isn't it, that with all the talk of the alleged "War onTerror," that guys like those in the Ergenekon gang are neverreferred to as terrorists?Now why is that?Posted by Mizgîn at 8:12 PM------------------------------------------------------------------------------[From: Chechnya Weekly (The Jamestown Foundation, USA)January 31, 2008—Volume IX, Issue 4]http://www.jamestown.orgKarachaevo-Cherkessia: A Small War with Big RepercussionsBy Fatima TlisovaDuring the past few months, the Karachaevo-Cherkessia Republic (KCR)has remained below the mass media's radar. In the meantime, theevents unfolding in the republic illustrate a growing confrontationbetween the Russian authorities and the separatists. Despite theofficial announcements that the Karachaevo Jamaat has beeneradicated (Vremya Novostei, January 24), a number of developmentsdemonstrate that the underground is alive and well. In fact, thearea of influence of the so-called jamaat has spread beyond themountainous part of Karachaevo.On January 26, KCR Interior Minister Nikolai Osiak said that a videosurveillance system code-named "Safe City" will be installed in theKCR capital Cherkessk in 2008 (RIA Novosti, January 16).According to the minister's statement, the installation of thisexpensive system is vital to ensuring an adequate level of securityin the capital. Video surveillance is an extraordinary acquisitionfor a republic in which federal subsidies account for 97 percent ofthe local budget and all economic indices rank near the bottom ofthe list of the Russian Federation's federal subjects.The leaders of the KCR's law enforcement and military agencies dohave reasons to be concerned.On January 23, one of the members of the Karachaevo-Cherkessiajamaat, a 32-year old Stavropol Krai resident Pavel Novikov(Abdullah), was detained in Moscow. Russia's mass media refer toNovikov as a leader of the Karachaevo Jamaat (RIA Novosti, January23), but in truth Novikov was a member of the group headed by RustamIonov, an ethnic Abazin. Importantly, the arrest was a jointoperation of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the federalInterior Ministry's Anti-Terrorism Center, not the local specialservices.Rustam Ionov (Abu Bakr), the group leader, was assassinated alongwith his wife in the fall of 2007 during an attempt to cross theRussia-Georgia border (Regnum, September 5, 2007). Ionov was bornand lived in the Abazin village of Psyzh, which is just across theKuban River from Cherkessk. He was able to establish one of the mosteffective and largest jamaats in the KCR—around 35 members,according to official data. Ionov's group included mostly Abazin andCherkess members with a handful of Russians and Karachays. The groupconsidered itself a part of the Caucasus Front and actedindependently to plan and carry out assassinations of RussianFederation law enforcement personnel across the entire territory ofthe KCR.Rustam Ionov was also involved with Camagat.org, a websitecontaining information on the activities of the Karachaevo-Cherkessia jamaat as well as an extensive photo and documentcollection related to the Kabardino-Balkaria jamaat. The site hasbeen hacked numerous times and was taken offline in the summer of2007.Ionov's assassination exposed his group and 27 members werearrested. Four more members known to the special services escapedand are currently wanted by the authorities.The Karachaevo Jamaat, whose zone of influence and active operationswere confined to the mountainous part of Karachaevo and thesouthwestern part of the republic, had to go deep underground evenprior to these events. In the spring of 2007, a number of specialoperations conducted by the FSB and Interior Ministry in villagesformally known as Cossack settlements resulted in the killing of 12jamaat members.In December 2006, one of the jamaat leaders, Tokov, was surroundedin a residential building and killed after the building was stormed;another Karachaevo native, Salpagarov, was arrested during the sameoperation. At the same time, the KCR's FSB branch helped disseminateinformation on the ties between the Karachaevo Jamaat and KCRPresident Mustafa Batdyev (Kommersant, December 26, 2006). Despitethat, Batdyev managed to stay in office while his son-in-lawreceived a lengthy prison term.After a number of actions in the southwestern part of the KCR andthe elimination of Ionov's group, the director of Russia's FSB,Nikolai Patrushev, announced that the Karachaevo Jamaat had beeneradicated.However, on December 26, 2006, shortly after Patrushev made hisstatement, a young man opened fire and killed a police sergeantduring a document check in Cherkessk. Afterwards, he detonated thebomb hidden in his gym bag and received lethal wounds. Theinteresting thing about this incident is that the fighter hailedfrom the Khabez district, an ethnically homogeneous area in which 90percent of the residents are Cherkess or Abazin who had neverpreviously been associated with jamaats.In May 2007, the first "clean-up" operation in the Cherkessia partof the KCR took place in the Khabez district's central mosque.Notably, the operation was conducted by an OMON division speciallysent from Cherkessk, not by the local police. Approximately 160young men were forcibly detained as they were leaving the mosque andtaken to the police precinct, where they were kept for a long time,fingerprinted and photographed.The Cherkess and Abazin roots of Tishkov and Ionov's group, as wellas the massive clean-up action in Khabez, suggest that the Cherkesspopulation of the KCR has joined the resistance movement. Thereasons that the FSB prefers not to announce that fact publicly arealso quite clear.The spread of resistance ideas among the Cherkess youth has mostcertainly been triggered by the developments in Kabardino-Balkaria.The young people were obviously very much influenced by the factthat the underground leader in the neighboring republic is ofKabardinian nobility (Kabardins, Cherkess and Adygs are the samepeople, who were artificially split into three groups by Russia),while an overwhelming number of those who took part in the Nalchikoperation in October 2005 were Cherkess (Kabardins).Another reason Russia's special services are keeping quiet is therisk posed by the growing authority of the resistance movement inAdygeya, another Cherkess republic. Looking into the future, theMoscow camp will certainly be concerned if the young Cherkess fromthe 6-million strong Circassian diaspora become involved in thestruggle for freedom in the Caucasus.Along with an increasing numbers of troops and personnel of theDefense Ministry, Interior Ministry, FSB and GRU in the republic,the Kremlin is trying to reactivate another time-proven weaponagainst the Caucasus resistance by providing financial and emotionalsupport to the Cossacks.In January 2008, the Russian government adopted a special program tosupport Cossacks in the KCR and Adygeya. Five million rubles (morethan $200,000) were earmarked for Cossacks in the KCR alone in 2008.Since 2000, Cossacks have been permitted to carry knives andfirearms, something that remains a criminal offense for members ofother social and ethnic groups in the Caucasus. In addition tospecial funding incentives, the government is also providing theCossacks with ideological support. On January 25, the KCR's massmedia reported that churches in the KCR and Adygeya held services tocommemorate Cossack casualties of Communist political repressionduring the Soviet period.The measures pursued by Kremlin are clear proof that the threat ofCherkess retaliation remains real. It seems that Russia failed toresolve the problem in Cherkessia even after the eradication of theentire country and forcible deportation of its population. Russia isnow facing the threat of Cherkessian consolidation within andoutside the Caucasus, and it is perhaps ready to make someconcessions.One of the signs of Russia's wavering is its policy toward thegenocide issue. Earlier, any demands to acknowledge Russia'sgenocide against the Circassians in the 19th century were stronglyrebuffed, but in January 2008, Zvezda, a St. Petersburg-basedacademic journal, published an article entitled "A CherkessiaAtlantis," which hints that it would be possible and even desirablefor Moscow to admit its wrongs against the Circassians.However, the article's author, Yakov Gordin, made it clear that thegenocide may be acknowledged to provide validation of a strictlyemotional character, with no financial, territorial or status-related obligations assumed toward the Cherkess; an emotional boneto throw, of sorts. What is important about this article is theauthor's connection to Vladimir Putin: Yakov Gordin stands close tothe Russian president as his advisor on national policy.Fatima Tlisova is a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human RightsPolicy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.---------------------------------------------------------------HOW TO 'CARVE OUT A TERRORIST' FROM AN INNOCENT PERSONAND SAY IT WORKSby Subhash Gatade(Judge: The papers on my table show he isnot Mukhtar. So what is his real name?Officer: He is actually Aftab Alam Ansari.Judge: That means you have arrested awrong person. How can this horrible blunder takeplace?The officer stayed silent.Judge: If he is neither Mukhtar nor Raju,why did not you write that in the petitionclearly? Have you written that? Please underlinethat and show it to me.As the officer began scanning the petition,he looked puzzled.Judge: I'm not going to accept thispetition. Please go and make a fresh one.)Aftab Alam Ansari, an electrician with a powercompany in Kolkatta, is finally free. And theordeal through which he had to go through as a'terrorist' is finally over.Recently he met withthe Chief Minister of Bengal to apprise him ofthe whole situation and seek help for hismother's failing health.It is now history how he was arrested fromBaranagar in Kolkatta on 27th November withBengal police's help supposedly for 'ferrying theentire cache of explosives for the Novemberblasts in UP'.It is now revealed that the Special Task Force ofthe UP Police had been set on Aftab's trail by aclaim by two arrested militants - Mohamad Khalidand Tariq Quazmi - that the mastermind of thecourt blasts in the state called himself Aftab aswell as Mukhtar, Raju and Bangladeshi. The duohowever, had mentioned no middle name or surname.Though Aftab is now free, Ayesha Begum - Aftab'smother has other worries staring in her eyes.Whether they would be able to live a normal lifeand would ever be able to get out of the 'stigma'attached to the whole operation and Aftab's briefsojourn in Jail.It is now clear that Aftab's arrest by theover enthusiastic UP STF was a case of mistakenidentity as he also hailed from Gorakhpur likethe ringleader of the November blast and alsoshared his nickname 'Mukhtar'.But now that Aftab, a innocent citizen of thiscountry is free at last, will it be OK to saythat the tragedy which befell Aftab would be thelast one of its kind. And henceforth no Aftabliving on this part of the earth would ever betraumatised in a similar manner. Looking at thetrack record of the Indian police and the bigotryand sectarianism of the powers that be it wouldbe dishonesty to make any such grand claim.In fact the day the news of Aftab's freedom injail appeared, one came across the stricturespassed by the Maharashtra high court against theMaharashtra police's arbitrariness in handlingthe Khwaja Yunus case. It is now history howKhwaja Yunus, a Gulf returned software engineer,was arrested by the police on December 27, 2002and booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act,in connection with the Ghatkopar blast. OnJanuary 7, 2003 Yunus was found dead amidstpolice claims that he had escaped after thevehicle in which he was being escorted toAurangabad had met with an accident. Later it wasrevealed that Yunus was tortured to death by somepolice officers. After persistent protests byhuman rights activists about this custodial deathand struggle for justice launched by Yunus'smother Aasiya Begum, FIR was lodged against theguilty policemen. Of course the dillydallying onpart of the Maharashtra government continuedunabated.The highcourt 's query was simple 'Whywere ten top police officers initially named byCID for their alleged involvment in the custodialdeath of Yunus let off ?'While Aftab is finally a free man, MohammadMoarif Qamar and Irshad Ali, two residents ofDelhi seem to be not so lucky even afterlanguishing in jail for more than two years. Bothof them were victims of well-planned conspiracyhatched by the Special Cell of the Delhi Policein collaboration with the intelligence bureauoperatives. CBI found to its dismay that IBofficials colluded with Delhi police personnel to'plant' RDX on these youths who were arrested as'Al Badr' terrorists. While Qamar was abductedfrom his Bhajanpura residence on Dec 22, 2005itself ; Irshad Ali had gone missing from hisSultanpuri home 10 days earlier. Their relativeshad informed the police about their suddendisappearance. On February 9, 2006 the familymembers were told that both had been arrestedwith 2 Kg RDX and pistols. It was clear that theywere kept in illegal detention by the specialcell all this while. One can just imagine if thehigh courts had not intervened in the case anddirected the CBI to look into the matter, the'terrorist' label on both these youths would havestuck to them all their lives.May it be the case of Aftab or for that matterKhwaja Yunus, or Mohammad Qamar, Irshad Ali - itis becoming increasingly clear that framing ofinnocents and branding them as terrorist is thelatest norm among lawkeepers of the country.Ofcourse anyone familiar with the Indian situationmay easily notice the continuity in the rampantmisuse of various laws of detention andconfinement. Post 9/11 a significant change hasoccured in the whole process. It is for everyoneto see that Muslims as a community areincreasingly becoming the target ofcriminalisation and terrorisation.To be very frank, in all such cases it isdifficult to differentiate whether the people areruled by forces of the 'programmatic communalistvariety ( like the BJP or Shiv Sena) or the'pragmatic communalists' like Congress.It then becomes impossible to forget MohammadAfroz , who was arrested after 9/11by the Mumbaipolice and was charged for planning a terroristattack . It was told to the pliant media thenthat this 'dreaded terrorist' wanted to crash aplane piloted by him on the British house ofCommons and Australia. A special team from Mumbaipolice especially went to these countries butcould not bring back any evidence. Ultimately ittook the whole charge as a grand fabrication. Itwas a time when Maharashtra was ruled by aSecular front which comprised of parties likeCongress and NCP.The 'dreaded terrorists' arrested in connectionwith the five year old attack on the Raghunathtemple in Jammu also faced similar ordeal.Thecourts finally absolved all the accused of anycharges and advised the police to properly useits minds in handling sensitive cases of suchnature.These innocent people had to languish injail for such a long period for no fault oftheirs.It is worth noting that despite many such fiascosthe powers that be never attempt to draw anyimportant lesson to avoid recurrence of suchincidents. On the contrary, the whole attempt isto 'individualise' all such cases and proceedwith the established practice of stigmatisationand brutalisation of the social and religiousminorities.It is high time that they are told about the waythe Canadian government handled similar case.Canadian-Syrian Mahel Arar - a young softwareengineer - was seized by CIA operatives during astopover at New York in 2002 and was secretlysent to Syria.Lodged in a grave like cell inSyria, Arar was repeatedly tortured to extractinformation which he did not know. Ultimately histormentors released him within a span of year andhalf without ever being charged with a crime.Looking back it is clear that Mahel Arar became avictim of the Islamophobia manufactured by thelikes of Bush-Blair in the immediate aftermath of9/11.Last year Stephen Harper, Prime Minister ofCanada sought public apology for the ordeal whichMaher went through and for the role played byCanadian officials in the whole affair . TheCanadian government also gave him nine milliondollars as compensation. Mr Harper said in fullpublic view of the media "On behalf of thegovernment of Canada, I wish to apologize to you,Monia Mazigh (Arar's wife) and your family forany role Canadian officials may have played inthe terrible ordeal that all of you experiencedin 2002 and 2003."Is anyone listening ?- subhash gatade, h 4 pusa apts, rohini sector15, delhi 110085 Ph: 011-27872835Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur SoyeDukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye-------------------------------------------------------I Turn a Bad Thing into a Good Thing' – SisonNDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison's listing asa "foreign terrorist" in 2002 brought about the suspension of hisbenefits and pension, and restrictions on his right to travel. "ButI turn a bad thing into a good thing," he said.BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINOBulatlatVol. VII, No. 50, January 27-February 2, 2008http://www.bulatlat.com/2008/01/i-turn-bad-thing-good-thing-sisonFor Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the NationalDemocratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), coping with the day-to-day-demands of life and work has in the last five years remainedpossible largely by getting personal loans from friends."My living conditions are extremely difficult," Sison shared in an e-mail interview with Bulatlat.The e-mail interview between Sison and Bulatlat was conductedfollowing a Jan. 21 global press conference held by the NDFPInternational Office. Philippine media were able to attend the pressconference through Internet audio-video patch facilitated by theNDFP-nominated section of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC).As an asylum seeker, Sison is entitled to social benefits and old-age pension in the Netherlands but is not allowed to seek employmentthere. But even these – his only source of "livelihood" – have beenwithheld since 2002, when he was listed by the U.S. Department ofState and the Council of the European Union as a "foreign terrorist."Aside from these, his listing as a "foreign terrorist" also broughtabout restrictions on his right to travel."But I turn a bad thing into a good thing," Sison said. "Because Ihave no money to go places and to go on holidays and because I amalso explicitly restricted from traveling, I have more time to readand write and I have ample opportunity to think and exercise myfreedom of thought and expression in the interest of the Filipinopeople and other peoples."A poet and revolutionarySison – a poet, essayist, and political analyst – taught English andSocial Science courses at his alma mater, the University of thePhilippines (UP), and the Lyceum of the Philippines in the 1960s,after graduating with honors in 1959.He founded the progressive organizations Student CulturalAssociation of the University of the Philippines (SCAUP) andKabataang Makabayan (KM). He was later also involved in the workers'and peasant movements through the Lapiang Manggagawa (Workers Party)and the Malayang Samahan ng Magsasaka (MASAKA or Free Association ofPeasants). He became secretary-general of the Socialist Party of thePhilippines (SPP) and, later, the Movement for the Advancement ofNationalism (MAN).But he is best known as the founding chairman of the Communist Partyof the Philippines (CPP).In 1968 he led a group that broke away from the leadership of theLava brothers in the old Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) due toideological differences, and re-established the party as the CPP.Under Sison's leadership, the CPP rapidly gained strength andtogether with the NPA, its armed component, which was founded in1969, it developed into one of the strongest organized forcesopposed to the U.S.-Marcos regime during the martial law years.He was the CPP's highest-ranking leader from its reestablishmentuntil he was arrested by the Marcos dictatorship in 1977.Released in 1986 by virtue of then President Corazon Aquino'sgeneral amnesty proclamation for political prisoners, Sison gotinvolved in a number of legal political activities and evendelivered a series of lectures at his alma mater, the University ofthe Philippines (UP).In 1988, he found himself having to apply for political asylum afterthe Aquino government cancelled his passport while he was in Europeon a speaking tour. He has since lived in the Netherlands as anasylum seeker."Terror" listingIn 2002, the CPP-NPA was included by the U.S. Department of State inits list of "foreign terrorist organizations." Sison was also listedas a "foreign terrorist." The Dutch government listed the CPP-NPAand Sison in its own terror list a day after the U.S. listing.According to Jan Fermon, one of Sison's lawyers, the Dutch ForeignMinistry admitted in its website that the inclusion of the CPP-NPAand Sison in its list of terrorists was done to comply with therequest of the U.S. government. It likewise stated that 150 Dutchcompanies have investments in the Philippines and that Holland isone of the major investors now in the country. It added that theonly burden in the relationship between Holland and the Philippinesis the presence of what they called the communist leadership inUtrecht.The Netherlands is at present one of the leading U.S. allies inEurope – next only to the United Kingdom.The Council of the European Union followed suit in listing Sison asa "terrorist" later that year.On May 29, 2007 the Council of the European Union decided to retainSison in its "terrorist" list. This decision was annulled by theJuly 11 verdict of the European Court of First Instance (ECFI).On Aug. 28 that same year, Sison was arrested by Dutch police inUtrecht for allegedly ordering the murders of former CPP-NPA leadersKintanar and Tabara in 2003 and 2004, respectively – an accusationhe has denied. His apartment, the homes of a few other NDFPnegotiators, and the NDFP International Office were raided andseveral important items like computers, hard disks, and filesrelated to the NDFP's peace negotiations with the Government of theRepublic of the Philippines (GRP) were taken.The CPP-NPA leadership in the Philippines has owned up to thekillings of both Kintanar and Tabara, citing them for "crimesagainst the Revolution."On Sept. 13, the District Court of The Hague ordered Sison's releasedue to lack of direct and sufficient evidence against him. Part ofthe decision reads thus:"The police files submitted to the court include many indicationsfor the point of view that the accused has been involved in the CC(Central Committee) of the CPP and her military branch, the (NPA).There are also indications that the accused is still playing aleading role in the (underground) activities of the CC, the CPP andthe NPA."Without prejudice to the justified suspicion that the accusedduring the period described in the charges played a leading role inthe aforementioned organizations, the files nevertheless do notprovide a sufficient basis for the suspicion that the accused, whilestaying in the Netherlands, committed the offenses he is chargedwith in deliberate and close cooperation with the perpetrators inthe Philippines."Last Jan. 18, however, the Dutch Public Prosecution Serviceannounced that it would continue its investigation of Sison'salleged involvement in the killings of Kintanar and Tabara up to themiddle of this year. This development was the subject of the Jan. 21global press conference.ConfidentDespite all these, Sison remains in a fighting stance and throwingin the towel is the farthest thing from his mind."After consultations with my lawyer, I let him do the work in mylegal defense," he said."I am not at all mentally and physically weighed down by the furtherinvestigation announced by the prosecutor. I am confident aboutwinning my case completely because the charge is patently false andpolitically motivated and because so far I have won several courtdecisions pertaining to it."He admits, however, that the "ceaseless persecution" and prolongedsuspension of his benefits and pension "adversely affect" his livingconditions."They expose the brutal character of imperialist states like theU.S. and the Netherlands," he said. Bulatlathttp://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article25852Ethiopia's Meles and Sudan's Beshir: Unholy AllianceWednesday 6 February 2008 03:30By Adane AtanawFebruary 5, 2008 — On the basis of tangible evidence, Meles'sgovernment wants more than mere victories over his opponents. Hewants blood. Your blood, if you are opposing his ethnic segregationmisrule. Every last drop of it. Let him get an opposingparty/individuals down and he exercise his blood lust, even goingafar for more victims beyond internationally recognized territories,as he did to the Ethiopian refugees in Sudan and Kenya recently.Sadly, a neighboring country of Sudan solidly conspires with Meles'sheinous criminal act for untold suffering of Ethiopians.On July 7 2007, the Sudanese security agents at the request of theTPLF government rounded-up and arrested over 20 Ethiopian politicalrefugees from Khartoum and Gedaref area. The refugees were legallyregistered by UNHCR and Sudanese office of the refugee and neverbeen a security threat to the Sudanese government. They wereunarmed, law-abiding individuals who were under the protection ofthe Sudanese people and government from political persecution ofTPLF in Ethiopia.Seven weeks after the arrest, eyewitness, international humanitarianorganizations, privately Sudanese officials and other sourcesconformed that the Sudanese government had answered favorably to therequest of the TPLF regime and turned them over forcibly againsttheir will to the Meles regime on September 27 2007, at the borderEthiopian town of Metema. Since then no one knows exactly what hashappened to their wellness at the hand of Meles's TPLF regime inEthiopia.Regrettably, among those political refugees forcibly handed over tothe TPLF regime against their will has lived in the Sudan as arefugee since the takeover of Ethiopia by the TPLF in 1991: AtoAtanaw Wasie, founder and member of the leadership of the EthiopianDemocratic Union (EDU) - one of Ethiopian strong political partiesthat fought against the military junta "Dergue" in the 80's, is oneof the forcibly returned victims of Meles. He is languishing inTPLF's prison in complete isolation and harsh condition. What washis crime? Hasn't he suffered enough under the Dergue? No doubt theTPLF has turned itself excelling the Dergue in all category evenworse with divisive ethnic politics.The Beshir government decision forcibly to handover the defenselessrefugees to the TPLF regime they opposed, however, not only violatedhuman right, but also his own declared constitution andinternational law. The action of the Sudanese government defiescommon sense and shattered long held mutual trust between the peopleof Ethiopia and the Sudan. The naked inhuman treatment of theSudanese government against defenseless refugees is troubling, bad-precedence, shortsighted, and insensitive to human suffering anddisgusting at best. At least, the government of Sudan could haveoffered an opportunity to the refugees to seek third country forasylum instead of endangering their lives by turning them-over tothe vindictive TPLF sharks. Alas, what prompted the Sudanesegovernment to take such drastic action against defenseless refugeesunder his custody is hard to rationalize and remained a puzzle formany who followed the politics of the Sudan.http://palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article10Palestine Monitor factsheetTorture “Israel is the sole country in the world to have legalized the useof torture”B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human RightsTorture: The Facts Since the beginning of the Occupation in 1967, over650,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israel. Almost 95% of them havebeen subjected to some form of torture or cruel, inhuman and degradingtreatment.Since 1967, over 105 documented torture techniques have been used by Israel.At least 66 Palestinians have been tortured to death.To date, no Israeli official has ever been charged and sentenced fortorture-related crimes.Israel justifies torture by designating the Palestinian Territories as beingunder ‘exceptional circumstances’. But this is a direct violation ofthe 1984 Convention Against Torture, ratified by Israel in 1991. Article2(2) states that ‘no exceptional circumstances whatsoever... may be invokedas a justification of torture’.The right of every person not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhumanor degrading treatment is one of the few human rights that are consideredabsolute. It is forbidden to balance this right against other rights andvalues, or suspend or restrict this right, under any circumstances.Methods of Torture Detainees are frequently “softened up” before theirinterrogation starts. Any examination of torture therefore has to considerthe cumulative impact of the conditions imposed on a detainee.The methods of unlawful treatment include:• Isolation, including prohibiting meetings with attorneys and relatives toexacerbate the sense of powerlessness;• Confinement in cells lacking daylight without any items to pass the time,to induce sensory deprivation;• Weakening of the body by preventing physical activity, sleep disturbance,and inadequate food supply;• Cuffing in the ‘shabah’ position, i.e. painful binding of the prisoner’shands and feet to a chair;• Intimidation, cursing and humiliation by threats, strip searches, shoutingand spitting.Detainees are also subjected to direct physical violence, such as:• Dry beatings;• Tightening of handcuffs;• Violent shaking;• Sharp twisting of the head;• The ‘frog’ crouch (forcing the detainee to crouch on tiptoes for extendedperiods);• The ‘banana’ position (bending the back of the detainee in an arch whilstthey are seated on a backless chair with their hands and feet bound).In the ‘banana position’ a detainee’s back is bent into an arch for extendedperiods of time. Torture and Israeli Law In 1987, the Israeli governmentestablished a commission headed by former Supreme Court President MosheLandau, to investigate methods of interrogation used by the General SecurityServices.The Landau Commission concluded that in cases in which obtaining informationis necessary in order to save lives, the investigator is entitled to apply‘a moderate degree of physical pressure’. However, the guidelines of thisaccepted form of physical pressure - which per se contradicts article 2(2)of the Convention Against Torture - still remain undisclosed.In 1996, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) submitted itsconcluding observations to Israel’s first report regarding the InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights. The UN HRC stated that ‘... themethods of interrogation, which were described by non-governmentalorganizations... were neither confirmed nor denied by Israel. The committeemust therefore assume them to be accurate’.Under international law, statements resulting from torture cannot be invokedas evidence in any judicial proceedings. However, under Israeli law,information extracted from detainees by any means can be used freely intrials, except for confessions. In 1999, the Israeli Supreme Court statedthat ‘if it emerges that the means of pressure, whatever they were, did notactually influence the interrogee... it should not be said that theconfession was the result of the use of improper means’.The Pretext of ‘Ticking Bombs’ In 1999 the Israeli Supreme Court held thatsecurity officials do not have legal authority to use physical means ofinterrogation that are not ‘reasonable and fair’. However, the Court statedthat interrogators who used prohibited ‘physical pressure’ may avoidcriminal responsibility if it is subsequently found that they acted ‘in theproper circumstances’.By stating that the necessity defence ‘likely arises’ in the case of‘ticking bombs’ even when the danger is not immediate, the Supreme Courtfailed to clearly identify these ‘proper circumstances’.In this way, every Palestinian can be viewed as the ‘clue’ that leads tovital information that can prevent an attack in the near future.Torture During the Two Intifadas During the First Intifada (1987-1993)Israeli security forces interrogated approximately 23,000 Palestinians. ThePublic Committee Against Torture in Israel estimates that almost all of themendured some form of torture.Methods frequently used against detainees included:• Tying up detainees in painful positions for hours or days;• Solitary confinement and confinement in tiny, cramped cubicles;• Beatings;• Covering the detainee’s head with a sack;• Violent shaking;• Deprivation of sleep and food;• Exposure to extreme cold or heat;• Verbal and psychological abuse;• Sexual abuse;• Threats against the detainee’s life or family members’ lives;• Lack of adequate clothing or hygiene.Since the outbreak of the Second Intifada in September 2000, violations haveincreased and become more systematic.Responsibility for investigating suspected offences committed by securityforces rests with the Israeli State Attorney. Since 2000, the State Attorney’s Office has received over 500 complaints. To date it has not ordered asingle investigation related to torture.The Use of Human Shields is Torture During the 2002 massacre in Jeninrefugee camp, residents were used as ‘human shields’ by Israeli soldiers.They were forced at gunpoint to lead the way into homes, opening doors whichthe soldiers thought might be booby-trapped.The use of human shields is a breach of article 16 of the Convention AgainstTorture.The Israeli Supreme Court forbade this practice on 6 October 2005.Israeli soldiers have continued to use human shields. Palestinain childrenas young as 11 were used as human shields during an Israeli militaryinvasion of Nablus in March 2007.13 year-old Mohammad Badwan was tied by the arm to an Israeli military jeepin Biddo in April 2004. Torture and International Law The 1984 ConventionAgainst Torture defines torture as ‘any act by which severe pain orsuffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on aperson for such purposes as obtaining information or a confession, punishingor intimidating or coercing him... when such pain or suffering is inflictedby a public official’.Israel is the only state party to the Convention that prevents the CommitteeAgainst Torture from freely entering its prisons.Under international law Israel is obliged to launch investigations andprosecutions for all allegations of torture.If it fails to do so, all other states are authorized, and indeed obligedunder the principle of universal jurisdiction, to arrest the suspectedoffenders when they are in their territory, and prosecute or extradite them.International law does not acknowledge any exceptions to the prohibition ontorture.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080219/jsp/jharkhand/story_8920445.jspJHARKHANDRed-friendly villagers flee homesKUMUD JENAMANIJamshedpur, Feb. 18: With the police having come up trumps againstNaxalites in Dumaria, villagers known to be sympathetic to theNaxalites, often providing them with food and logistical support,are now feeling the heat.Fearing a backlash from fellow villagers, several families of BhitarAmda and Fuldungri villages situated on the foothills of Ranijharnahave fled their homes ever since last week's encounter that leftseven Naxalites, including a self-styled commander, dead.Apparently, as many as 75 people belonging to 15 families have lefttheir village homes and are among those who would not only providefood and shelter to the armed guerrillas, but also facilitate theiroperations in the strategic Ranijharna hills.They have now taken shelter in far-flung areas, either within theGhatshila sub-division or in the Seraikela-Kharsawan district.But their move, no doubt undertaken in sheer desperation, leavesthem exposed and vulnerable to attacks from both villagers as wellas the security forces.By deserting their homes in post-Ranijharna operation, thesevillagers have emerged more distinctly as Maoist sympathisers.But superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh pleaded ignoranceabout the exodus."We are going to set up a permanent police picket at Bhitar Amda toensure the safety of all villagers," he said."No one need panic."The Bhitar Amda village is broadly divided into two camps — onesection supports the All Jharkhand Stu- dents' Union (Ajsu), but themajority are supporters of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).After the assassination of Jamshedpur MP Sunil Mahto, the bondbetween Ajsu supporters and Maoist rebels had strengthened."It's not that villagers owing allegiance to Ajsu are fleeing. Thosewho do not support any political outfit are also leaving theirvillages," said one Ludhia Soren.Soren has taken refuge with a relative at Ghatshila, about 35km fromhis house at Balidi Tola in Bhitar Amda."The main reason for the exodus is that our lives are not safeanymore," Soren told The Telegraph.Shanker Hembram, the president of the anti-Naxalite Nagrik SurakshaSamiti (NSS), said Ajsu supporters' fears were misplaced."I have personally tried to convince some of the families. But itdid not help," Shanker added.Meanwhile, a team of human rights body, People's Union for CivilLiberty, which had been to Bhitar Amda village for an on-the-spot-visit on Sunday was harassed by a section of villagers.The frenzied villagers, who considered the People's Union for CivilLiberty as sympathisers of Maoist outfits had snatched the camera ofone of the team members.They had also roughed him up.The police rescued Subrato Bhattarcharjee, the state unit presidentof People's Union for Civil Liberty, who was leading the team.An FIR has also been lodged with the Dumaria police station by thePeople's Union for Civil Liberty in connection with the violentincident.