*Strong Trigger Warning*
A Syrian journalist accused of reporting stories of Bashar’s atrocities to Al Jazeera is buried alive by Assad’s Army.
Bradley Manning Lawyer Says Military ‘Mishandled’ Case As Hearings Continue
Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of secret state documents to WikiLeaks, will face his military detractors again this morning at the start of up to three more days of procedural hearings ahead of a full court martial.
Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, has filed several defence motions with the military court in Fort Meade, Maryland, that call for all 22 charges against his client to be dismissed on grounds that the prosecution has mishandled the case. The lawyer will argue that the proceedings have been beset by delays and by refusal to hand over key documents during the discovery process, which he will say is a violation of the military rule book for court martials.
The hearing in Fort Meade is the third time Manning has been seen in public since his arrest on 25 May 2010 at the Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad. He was working as an intelligence analyst there, and has been charged with downloading and transmitting to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks a huge trove of US state secrets including confidential cables from embassies around the world.
Death Toll Rises In Syria Before U.N. Vote
Opposition activists said at least six people were killed in Syria on Saturday as the U.N. Security Council tentatively was scheduled to vote to authorize an advance team to monitor a fragile, three-day-old ceasefire.
Activists also reported the first shelling, in the city of Homs, by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, since the U.N.-Arab League-brokered ceasefire took effect.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed during a funeral march in Aleppo, one by shelling in Homs and a sixth succumbed to wounds inflicted by torture in the central town of Rastan, straddling the Damascus-Aleppo road.
A video, shot in a destroyed part of what the cameraman says is the Homs neighborhood of al-Qarabis, showed two tanks rushing through the streets to the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions.
“Look with your own eyes. Look, world. Watch what they are doing,” the man making the video screams as a tank raises its turret.
Mother of Former Patient Suing Judge Rotenberg Center For Torturing Her Son
Cheryl McCollins, the mother of a teen who received controversial electro-shock treatment at the Judge Rotenberg Center ten years ago, is suing three workers and the center itself.
In October of 2002, Andre McCollins, 18, received painful shock treatments the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton.
Shocking evidence was revealed in a Dedham courtroom on Wednesday. A video showed Andre McCollins at the center — for people with behavioral disorders — screaming in pain and begging for help while apparently receiving electro-shock treatment.
The Judge Rotenberg Center has been a controversial facility. About 1.5 years ago, a UN official said the shock therapy at the facility amounts to torture, and he urged the U.S. government to put a stop to it.
Though some families say the shock aversion therapy has worked, an expert hired by McCollins as a witness testified that after more than 30 shock treatments, the defendants should have known they were dealing with a different sort of patient — who was not responding well.
“He was essentially in what we would call a catatonic condition. That means a condition that happens with people that are acutely psychotically disturbed and they let him stay in the facility basically sitting still, not eating, refusing fluids for the most part, for the next few days. They’re lucky he didn’t die,” said Dr. Marc Whaley, expert witness.
The jury was ordered to disregard Dr. Whaley’s opinion.
Cheryl McCollins testified Tuesday she never signed up for her son Andre, who is now in his late 20s, to be “tortured, terrorized, and abused.”
CIA Committed ‘War Crimes,’ Bush Official Says
A top adviser to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned the Bush administration that its use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading” interrogation techniques like waterboarding were “a felony war crime.”
What’s more, newly obtained documents reveal that State Department counselor Philip Zelikow told the Bush team in 2006 that using the controversial interrogation techniques were “prohibited” under U.S. law — “even if there is a compelling state interest asserted to justify them.”
Zelikow argued that the Geneva conventions applied to al-Qaida — a position neither the Justice Department nor the White House shared at the time. That made waterboarding and the like a violation of the War Crimes statute and a “felony,” Zelikow tells Danger Room. Asked explicitly if he believed the use of those interrogation techniques were a war crime, Zelikow replied, “Yes.”
Zelikow first revealed the existence of his secret memo, dated Feb. 15, 2006, in an April 2009 blog post, shortly after the Obama administration disclosed many of its predecessor’s legal opinions blessing torture. He briefly described it (.pdf) in a contentious Senate hearing shortly thereafter, revealing then that “I later heard the memo was not considered appropriate for further discussion and that copies of my memo should be collected and destroyed.”
At least one copy survived in the files of the department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. The State Department has now disclosed it to Danger Room, mostly without redactions — three years after this reporter filed an official request for it.
![Bahrainis Rally In Support Of Hunger Striker
Bahraini security forces have fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of protesters marching in support of a jailed famous human rights activist whose nearly two-month hunger strike has become a powerful rallying point for the tiny nation’s uprising against the monarchy.
“Freedom or martyrdom,” cried marchers who carried portraits of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, whose declining health has brought appeals for international intervention from groups such as Amnesty International.
Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for 58 days, was moved to a hospital and fed intravenously on Friday after his health deteriorated sharply, his lawyer said.
On Wednesday, the Information Affairs Authority said Khawaja had been moved to a clinic after losing 10kg (22 pounds).
Khawaja’s lawyer said the activist had now been moved to a military hospital.
“Mr Khawaja has been moved to a military hospital which is more equipped that the Interior Ministry clinic where he was earlier,” lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi told the Reuters news agency by telephone.
“His condition has worsened … his blood pressure is down, and he is getting an IV [intravenous] drip.“
The detainee underwent surgery on his jaw after he was beaten up on arrest on April 8, 2011.
The account says that abuse resumed eight days later, including beatings on the soles of his feet and being sodomized with a stick.
The report says the detainee went on hunger strike at that time in an effort to stop the torture.
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Bahrainis Rally In Support Of Hunger Striker
Bahraini security forces have fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of protesters marching in support of a jailed famous human rights activist whose nearly two-month hunger strike has become a powerful rallying point for the tiny nation’s uprising against the monarchy.
“Freedom or martyrdom,” cried marchers who carried portraits of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, whose declining health has brought appeals for international intervention from groups such as Amnesty International.
Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for 58 days, was moved to a hospital and fed intravenously on Friday after his health deteriorated sharply, his lawyer said.
On Wednesday, the Information Affairs Authority said Khawaja had been moved to a clinic after losing 10kg (22 pounds).
Khawaja’s lawyer said the activist had now been moved to a military hospital.
“Mr Khawaja has been moved to a military hospital which is more equipped that the Interior Ministry clinic where he was earlier,” lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi told the Reuters news agency by telephone.
“His condition has worsened … his blood pressure is down, and he is getting an IV [intravenous] drip.“
The detainee underwent surgery on his jaw after he was beaten up on arrest on April 8, 2011.
The account says that abuse resumed eight days later, including beatings on the soles of his feet and being sodomized with a stick.
The report says the detainee went on hunger strike at that time in an effort to stop the torture.
Obama Indicts Sixth Whistleblower Under the Espionage Act
On April 3, 2012, the Obama administration indicted intelligence whistleblower John Kiriakou. Kiriakou is the sixth whistleblower that the Obama administration has charged under the Espionage Act for the alleged mishandling of classified information – more than all past administrations combined. In a rare move, the indictment was sealed until today.
Kiriakou is a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) veteran who headed counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11, organized the team operation that captured suspected al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, and refused to be trained in torture interrogation tactics.
In December 2007, Kiriakou gave an on-camera interview to ABC News in which he disclosed that Zubaydah was “waterboarded” and that “waterboarding” was torture. Kiriakou was one of the first CIA officers to label waterboarding as torture, and his interview helped expose the CIA’s torture program as policy, rather than the actions of a few rogue agents. Kiriakou further exposed the CIA’s torture program and the CIA’s deception about torture even to its own employees in his 2009 book, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror.
Government Accountability Project (GAP) National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack, a Department of Justice (DOJ) whistleblower herself, represented National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Thomas Drake, the first individual indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act for disclosing massive waste, fraud, abuse and illegality at the NSA through proper channels. The DOJ case against Drake fell apart days before the trial was set to begin last summer, in what was widely seen as a bellwether case for future prosecutions, like that of Kiriakou.
Samira Ibrahim, The Women Who Brought The Case Against An Army Doctor Accused of Conducting Forced “Virginity Tests”, Is Acquitted
For Samira Ibrahim, and many other Egyptians, the struggle to remake their country didn’t end with the ouster last year of Hosni Mubarak.
Ibrahim, a 25-year-old from southern Egypt, was arrested by the military during a protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in March of last year, a month after Mubarak was overthrown.
While in custody, Ibrahim said that she and six other young women were subjected to a co-called “virginity check” — a forced penetration to check for hymen blood. Amnesty International has called the procedure as a form of torture.
After her release, Ibrahim filed suit against the military in a closely watched case as the country’s military rulers come under increasing scrutiny.
Earlier this month, a military tribunal ruled against Ibrahim, who stepped out of the courtroom sobbing. But the verdict only seemed to strengthen the resolve of Egyptian activists who want to put an end to military trials of civilians.
Whistleblowing Wednesday: Human Rights Group Exposes Secret CIA Torture Prisons
Human rights campaigners welcomed on Wednesday a report that prosecutors had charged the former head of Poland’s intelligence service for helping set up CIA prisons for al Qaeda suspects in the country at the height of the U.S.-led “war on terror.”
Daily Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading Polish newspaper, said on Tuesday that Zbigniew Siemiatkowski was charged as part of a classified investigation into the matter launched in 2008.
At least two prisoners of the U.S. military jail in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, have said they had been held by U.S. agents in Poland.
Rights groups say detainees were kept there without court orders and often tortured.
“Poland deserves credit for this step, as the first European state to begin to deal with CIA torture on its own soil,” London-based human rights group Reprieve said and urged Romania and Lithuania to follow Poland’s lead.
Poland’s smaller neighbor, Lithuania, was the first country in Europe to acknowledge it had worked with CIA in establishing two secret detention facilities in 2002-2006.
“Every state that has signed the (United Nations’) Convention Against Torture has an obligation not just to prevent torture but to hold accountable officials who authorize or facilitate it,” said Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Poland has traditionally been one of the staunchest U.S. allies in Europe and has taken part in missions both in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Polish constitution bans torture and imprisonment without court order. Politicians who authorize such activity could be tried in regular courts as well as the State Tribunal, a special court set up to try senior state officials.
~~not fucking news~~~
this information has been available for a long time but it’s only when white people “expose” it that anyone gives a shit
thx tho occupy
I’m latino but I guess posting this makes me ‘white identifying’ right? Insinuating that polish people cannot expose the injustices in their country because they are white is incredibly ignorant.
Whistleblowing Wednesday: Human Rights Group Exposes Secret CIA Torture Prisons
Human rights campaigners welcomed on Wednesday a report that prosecutors had charged the former head of Poland’s intelligence service for helping set up CIA prisons for al Qaeda suspects in the country at the height of the U.S.-led “war on terror.”
Daily Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading Polish newspaper, said on Tuesday that Zbigniew Siemiatkowski was charged as part of a classified investigation into the matter launched in 2008.
At least two prisoners of the U.S. military jail in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, have said they had been held by U.S. agents in Poland.
Rights groups say detainees were kept there without court orders and often tortured.
“Poland deserves credit for this step, as the first European state to begin to deal with CIA torture on its own soil,” London-based human rights group Reprieve said and urged Romania and Lithuania to follow Poland’s lead.
Poland’s smaller neighbor, Lithuania, was the first country in Europe to acknowledge it had worked with CIA in establishing two secret detention facilities in 2002-2006.
“Every state that has signed the (United Nations’) Convention Against Torture has an obligation not just to prevent torture but to hold accountable officials who authorize or facilitate it,” said Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Poland has traditionally been one of the staunchest U.S. allies in Europe and has taken part in missions both in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Polish constitution bans torture and imprisonment without court order. Politicians who authorize such activity could be tried in regular courts as well as the State Tribunal, a special court set up to try senior state officials.
Zimbabwe: Six Sentenced And Tortured For Watching Arab Spring Video
The government of Zimbabwe should drop all charges against six civil society activists convicted for watching a video of Arab Spring protests in 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. The six, who alleged they were tortured to confess to planning violence, were sentenced to two-year suspended sentences, a US$500 fine, and 420 hours of community service on March 21, 2012.
A Harare Magistrate’s Court on March 19 convicted the activists – Munyaradzi Gwisai, Hopewell Gumbo, Antoinette Choto, Edson Chakuma, Welcome Zimuto, and Tatenda Mombeyarara – of conspiracy to commit public violence under section 188 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The convictions violate their rights to freedom of expression and association protected under international law, Human Rights Watch said.
“In the Middle East people get arrested for taking part in peaceful protests, but in Zimbabwe they get sent to prison just for watching them on video,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
“The government should immediately set these outrageous convictions aside and exonerate all six.”
The six activists were among a group of 46 people arrested on February 19, 2011, for watching a video on the Arab uprising at a seminar in Harare. The authorities initially charged the activists with treason and attempting to overthrow the government by unconstitutional means, but later dropped charges against 40 defendants. The six activists spent three weeks in detention before they were released on bail.
UN Torture Official Criticizes Treatment of WikiLeaks Suspect
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture says the U.S. military’s treatment of an Army intelligence specialist accused of leaking military secrets to WikiLeaks was “cruel and inhuman” and could even be classified as torture.
U.N. expert Juan Mendez this week wrapped up a 14-month investigation of the confinement conditions of Pfc. Bradley Manning, who faces 22 charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a maximum life sentence in prison.
Mendez said Manning had been held in solitary confinement for 11 months despite not being convicted of a crime. He said if the effects of that treatment on Manning were severe, it could be considered torture.
“The special rapporteur concludes that imposing seriously punitive conditions of detention on someone who has not been found guilty of any crime is a violation of his right to physical and psychological integrity as well as of his presumption of innocence,” Mendez writes.
After his arrest in 2010, Manning spent 11 months confined at the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Virginia, where the harsh treatment is alleged to have taken place. He was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, last year.
Detention officials said Manning was kept isolated and closely watched because they feared he would hurt himself.
Mendez said in a report last month that he tried without success to get permission from military officials for an unmonitored interview with Manning. He says Manning’s treatment has improved since he changed locations.
Manning’s release of the diplomatic cables and military reports to WikiLeaks infuriated the international community, often providing blunt and unflattering U.S. views of world leaders’ private and public lives.
U.S. officials say WikiLeaks’ publication of the stolen document put lives in danger, threatened national security and undermined American efforts to work with other countries.
Amnesty Says Syrian Authorities Torture Detainees
Syrian security forces routinely torture people detained during the country’s year-old uprising against authoritarian President Bashar Assad, Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday.
The London-based group said detainees are beaten with sticks, cords and rifle butts and sometimes suspended inside tires for further beatings. Others are sexually assaulted or killed.
Since protesters first took to the streets in Syria one year ago to call for political reform, security forces have cracked down hard, deploying snipers, troops and pro-government thugs to quash all signs of dissent.
As the protest have spread and some in the opposition have taken up arms to protect themselves and attack government troops, Syria’s uprising has evolved into one of the bloodiest of the Arab Spring. The U.N. says more than 7,500 have been killed, most of them peaceful demonstrators.
Amnesty based its report on interviews in mid-February with dozens of Syrians who had fled to neighboring Jordan. Twenty-five said they had been tortured or ill-treated, the group said.
Torture appears to be part of a strategy to punish and intimidate dissidents, the group said. It calls on the International Criminal Court in the Hague to investigate charges of crimes against humanity against Syrian officials.
“Torture and other ill-treatment in Syria form part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population, carried out in an organized manner and as part of state policy and therefore amount to crimes against humanity,” it said.
The group said it has documented 276 cases of death in detention since the uprising’s start. But given the large number of people who have been detained, it says the number of those killed is likely much higher.
The report also accuses armed opposition groups of kidnapping and killing people believed to be associated with the regime - actions it condemns.
Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment. The Syrian government blames the uprising on armed extremists acting out a foreign conspiracy.
Leaked video shows patients tortured by medical staff in Syrian military hospital
Secretly shot video footage aired Monday by a British television station shows what it said were Syrian patients being tortured by medical staff at a state-run hospital in Homs.
The Syrian city has been the focus of an intensifying military crackdown on protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The United Nations says more than 7,500 civilians have died in almost a year of political bloodshed in Syria.
Britain’s Channel 4 said it had obtained footage of shocking scenes at the military hospital in Homs, filmed covertly by an employee and smuggled out by a French photojournalist identified only as “Mani.”
“I have seen detainees being tortured by electrocution, whipping, beating with batons, and by breaking their legs. They twist the feet until the leg breaks,”
the employee who made the video told Mani.
“They operate without anesthetics … I saw them slamming detainees’ heads against walls. They shackle the patients to beds. They deny them water. Others have their penises tied to stop them from urinating,”
the employee said.
The video, which Channel 4 said it could not independently verify, showed wounded, blindfolded men chained to beds. A rubber whip and electrical cable lay on a table in one of the wards. Some patients showed what looked like signs of having been severely beaten.
The hospital employee said some of the men were soldiers who refused to follow orders and others were civilians. The youngest was 14 years old, he said.
Opposition activists have accused Syrian forces of torture, killing civilians and other crimes but their reports are hard to verify because of government restrictions on independent media.
