http://freegaza.org/...from-a-cell-block-in-israel

3 July 2009 | Written by Free Gaza Movement

GENEVA - The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk, denounced the unlawful naval seizure by an Israeli gunboat on the high seas of a ship carrying medicine and reconstruction material to blockaded people of Gaza.

“This Israeli action implements its cruel blockade of the entire Palestinian population of Gaza, in violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits any form of collective punishment directed at an occupied people”, said the human rights expert.

Mr. Falk pointed to a recent report on the impact on health resulting from the two year blockade, issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross, stressing that Israeli actions not only restrict such vital supplies as food, medicine, and fuel to bare subsistence levels, but has in unprecedented fashion, disallowed the entry to Gaza of building materials and spare parts needed for repairing some of the widespread damage caused by its attacks on the Strip that took place for 22 days starting on December 27, 2008.

“Such a pattern of continuing blockade under these conditions amounts to such a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions as to constitute a continuing crime against humanity”, added the independent human rights expert.

The boat in question had been inspected in response to Israeli demands before departure by the port authorities in Cyprus to determine whether there were weapons on board. None were found, and Israeli authorities were so informed.

Nonetheless, the 21 peace activists on the boat were arrested, held in captivity, and have been charged with ‘illegal entry’ to Israel even though they had no intention of going to Israel. The group included such prominent figures as the Irish winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Mairead Maguire, and the former American congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/us/30victim.html?ref=nyregion

ERIC LICHTBLAU | June 29, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal brought by families and insurers of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in an effort to link the Saudi royal family to the financing of Al Qaeda and terrorism.

The decision lets stand a lower court ruling that found Saudi Arabia and members of the royal family could not be sued in American court because of a 1976 law granting sovereign immunity to foreign countries.

The Obama administration angered some victims’ families last month by supporting the Saudis’ claim to immunity, citing among other factors the significant diplomatic implications raised by the case.

Lawyers for the victims’ families had wanted the Supreme Court to resolve a split among appeals courts on the question of immunity and allow the suit to move forward based on an exception to the law for countries that sponsor terrorism. Some survivors accused the Obama administration of coddling the Saudis.

But the Supreme Court, without comment, refused to intervene in the case.

The families will still be allowed to continue with their claims in federal court against a number of Saudi financial institutions, charities and other groups that are not directly tied to the Saudi government or the royal family. Those defendants were not affected by the court’s decision not to hear the case.

“We intend to vigorously press those claims and are confident that the presentation of our evidence against those remaining defendants will lead directly back to government offices and royal palaces in Riyadh,” said Sean Carter, a lawyer with the Philadelphia law firm Cozen O’Connor, which is representing a number of insurance companies that paid billions in claims arising from the Sept. 11 attacks.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009...sheila-birnbaum

March 13, 2009 | Ashby Jones

Last week, settlements in 92 of the 95 cases filed on behalf of those injured or killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks were announced, shortly after they were approved by Alvin Hellerstein, a federal judge in Manhattan.

The total amount paid was close to $500 million, according to the mediator in the case, Sheila Birnbaum, of Skadden, Arps. Click here for the LB post on the settlement;  here for a copy of Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s order, which attaches the report filed by Birnbaum on the settlements.

The lawsuits were brought by those who chose not to participate in the Victim’s Compensation Fund, a special fund Congress established that distributed more than $7 billion to more than 5,000 survivors.

We threw a few questions to Birnbaum and Skadden counsel Thomas Fox on Friday about the process, what it was like sitting between the defendants — airlines, security companies and insurers — and the plaintiffs, mostly relatives of those killed on 9/11. [Unless otherwise specified, the answers were provided by Birnbaum.]

Hi Sheila, Tom. Thanks for taking the time. How’d all this start for you?

Well, in 2006, the judge wanted the parties to at least start to have some settlement discussions, and they all agreed to have a mediator. I was suggested to be the mediator, and the parties agreed that I was mutually acceptable.

http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2009/06/deadly-thriller-in-baghdad.html

Posted by Layla Anwar at 27.6.09 

While the whole world mourns the pop icon M.Jackson, whose Thriller was the turning point in his career, there is another series of thrillers taking place in Baghdad and which will mark another turning point in the recent bloody history of this doomed country.

Over the past 4 days alone, over 350 Iraqis were killed. And scores of others injured.

These are the locations all over Baghdad.

Today, yesterday and the day before :

• Bab El Sheikh, central Baghdad. Over 19 dead.
• Al Thawra or "Sadr City" . Over 250 killed and injured.
• Karrada . 2 bombs went off . no official number of injured or dead.
• Hurriya . Another bomb 5 injured /dead
• Orfali/East of Baghdad. Another bomb. no official numbers given.
• Jihad neighborhood - 10 civilians injured/dead.
• Al Baya'a neighborhood - 5 dead, 2 injured.
• Al Sayddiya - 4 injured/dead.
• Baladiyat - no official number of dead/wounded.

Abu Nawas street - 3 mortars fell on a residential area, some say they were meant to be for the Green Zone. No official number of dead or injured.

These strings of attacks/blasts/bombs are taking place 4 days before the pulling back, not withdrawal, but pulling back of the American troops to their bases inside Iraq and handing over security matters to the Iraqi "police and army."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...victim.html

By Matthew Hickley
Last updated at 10:25 PM on 25th June 2009

A British man spoke publicly for the first time yesterday to accuse MI5 officers of forcing him to confess to masterminding the July 7 bombings.

Jamil Rahman claims UK security officers were behind his arrest in 2005 in Bangladesh.

He says he was beaten repeatedly by local officials who also threatened to rape him and his wife.

Mr Rahman, who is suing the Home Office, said a pair of MI5 officers who attended his torture and interrogation would leave the room while he was beaten.

He claims when he told the pair he had been tortured they merely answered: 'They haven't done a very good job on you.'

Mr Rahman told the BBC: 'They were questioning me on the July 7 bombings, showing me pictures of the bombers.

'They showed me maps, terrains ... they asked me to draw things out and write names next to pictures.

'They threatened my family. They go to me, "In the UK, gas leaks happen, if your family house had a gas leak and everyone got burnt, there's no problems, we can do that easily".'

He says he eventually made a false confession of involvement in the July 7 bomb plots.

The extraordinary allegations will add to pressure on UK ministers to come clean over the way Britain's intelligence agencies have been allowed to gather evidence around the world in the eight years since the September 11 attacks.

Jamil Rahman, a former civil servant from south Wales, is a British citizen who moved to Bangladesh in 2005 and married a woman he met there. He returned to the UK last year.

He said: 'It was all to do with the British. Even the Bengali intelligence officer told me that they didn't know anything about me, that they were only doing this for the British.'

www.telegraph.co.uk/...anti-terrorist-police-chief-calls-for-77-inquiry.html

Andy Hayman, Scotland Yard's former head of counter-terrorism, says an independent public inquiry should be held into the July 7 bombings.

Published: 8:00AM BST 20 Jun 2009

Mr Hayman, at the time Assistant Commissioner for Special Operations, says he is "uncomfortable" with the official position that an inquiry would divert resources from the fight against terrorism.

He is the first figure from the security establishment to call for an open inquiry, almost four years after the attacks carried out by Mohammad Mohammed Sidique Khan and his cell that killed 52 people and injured more than 700.

In his book, The Terrorist Hunters, being serialised in The Times, Mr Hayman says that "incidents of less gravity have attracted the status of a public inquiry".

Calling the July 7 bombings "a bolt from nowhere", Mr Hayman explains that he was called to a meeting of Cobra, the Government's emergency cabinet, within an hour of the first explosions, where he had to admit he did not know what was happening.

Survivors of the July 7 bombings and families of the victims are taking High Court action over refusal to grant an independent inquiry.

It would challenge why Khan, 30, who had been followed and tracked by surveillance because of his terrorist links, was left free to carry out the attacks.

A report released last month by the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee has been criticised after it said MI5's decision not to make Khan a priority target was "understandable and reasonable".

It disclosed that at one point, MI5 knew where Khan lived but had decided he was not a key suspect.

Rachel North, a survivor of the Piccadilly Line bomb at King's Cross, welcomed his support for an inquiry. "It is not to blame or have a witch-hunt but... to learn the lessons of how 7/7 happened and whether it could have been prevented."

This video suggests that the current unrest in Iran is the product of a deliberate destabilisation program initiated by the CIA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRwUZ-u6KFo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSnC3LX07rQ

http://www.guardian.co.uk/...suspects-rights

Judgment in case of three Libyans says use of 'secret evidence' denied them fair trial

Alan Travis | 10 June 2009

The law lords have dealt a major blow to the government's controversial use of control orders on terror suspects, saying that the use of "secret evidence" denies them a fair trial.

The nine-judge panel, led by Lord Philips of Worth Matravers, the senior law lord, upheld a challenge on behalf of three Libyans on control orders who can't be named.

The control orders against the men have not been quashed but the law lords ordered that their cases must be heard again.

The trio argued that the refusal to disclose even the "gist" of the nature of the evidence against them denies them a fair trial under the Human Rights Act.

The Home Office argued that it was sometimes possible to have a fair hearing without any disclosure depending on the circumstances of the case. Security-vetted special advocates are supposed to represent the interests of those placed on control orders in each case.

The terms of the control orders imposed on individual suspects by the home secretary include curfews at their home address of up to 16 hours, a ban on travelling abroad, all visitors to be approved by the Home Office, monitoring of all phone calls and a ban on internet and mobile phone use.

The judgment is a further blow to the government's control order regime after the law lords ruled in 2007 that 18-hour curfews were in breach of the European convention on human rights.

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, said it was an extremely disappointing judgment. "Protecting the public is my top priority and this judgment makes that task harder. Nevertheless, the government will continue to take all steps we can to manage the threat presented by terrorism," he said.

"All control orders will remain in force for the time being and we will continue to seek to uphold them in the courts. In the meantime we will consider this judgment and our options carefully."

He said control orders were introduced to limit the risk posed by suspected terrorists who could neither be prosecuted nor deported. "The government relies on sensitive intelligence material to support the imposition of a control order, which the courts have accepted would damage the public interest to disclose in open court.

"We take our obligations to human rights seriously and as such we have put strong measures in place to try to ensure that our reliance on sensitive material does not prejudice the right of individuals subject to control orders to a fair trial." 

http://www.smh.com.au/world/loony-landing-20090605-byhj.html

John Huxley | June 6, 2009

If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon, If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool …  - from Man On The Moon by R.E.M.

Forty years on it remains one of mankind's crowning achievements; a moment in time and space etched forever in the memories of those old enough to have watched it happen live on murky, monochrome television pictures bounced round the world via a NSW bush tracking station.

At least, that's the official version of the Apollo moon landing on July 21, 1969, Sydney time. But Glen Nagle, the education manager for the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, is constantly confronted with a different perspective: that the man on the moon is no more than pie in the sky.

"The question of conspiracy theories crops up here every other day. Members of the public come in, and yeah, yeah, they know we're exploring the universe. But, nah, they don't believe man landed on the moon. Fifty per cent who come through have their doubts."

More disturbing is the level of disbelief among children. "I often do a quick hands-up with school groups that come through. 'Who here thinks we didn't land on the moon?' Again, about half the hands go up."

Nagle attributes such scepticism to naivety, stupidity or, more likely, misinformation. "They've probably been told to do a project on the moon landing, got on the internet and found all this conspiracy stuff pop up."

http://www.prisonplanet.com/...overthrow.html

Declares American people “skewed” for questioning government

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Monday, June 8, 2009

During a discussion with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last Friday, Trilateral Commission co-founder and top Obama advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski spoke of those who question the official version of events on 9/11 in the same context as those who deny the holocaust.

The two were analyzing Barack Obama’s Cairo speech, and in particular, his tacit warning regarding 9/11 Truth.

During the speech Obama said “I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11,” suggesting that anyone who asks questions about the attacks also somehow justifies them.

“But let us be clear: al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day …These are not opinions to be debated, these are facts to be dealt with.” Obama asserted.

“He took time to debunk both 9/11 conspiracists and deniers of the holocaust,” Maddow said to Brzezinski, “…is there a reason to believe that he thinks those issues are holding back political progress, those specific conspiracies and misconceptions of our modern political history are part of the problem in terms of moving forward?” she asked, wearing what can only be described as a painfully rehearsed puppy dog face of false concern.

“There’s no doubt over recent years, both many Americans viewed the world in a very very skewed fashion,” Brzezinski replied, “and many outside of America, had a totally conspiratorial view of America, including even the idea that 9/11 was somehow or other a put up job and really wasn’t done by Osama Bin Laden and others, so I think president Obama is breaking through a whole mythology that has paralysed American dealings with the world.”

Watch the video of the exchange:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_IYkfkJIiU

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=821316

NASA footage sparks UFO paranoia

By Wade O'Leary, ninemsn and wires
15:30 AEST Wed Jun 3 2009

The release of raw archival NASA footage that allegedly shows UFO activity has sparked new debate about extraterrestrial life — and the enduring power of conspiracy theories.

One clip shows a pair of cylindrical lights caught by a shaky hand-held camera while the other one captures what are claimed to be alien craft zig-zagging in front of a space shuttle's window.

But while the footage has been posted with the provocative titles 'UFO called a ground light, then a star by NASA' and 'UFOs quickly take off from NASA video', the astronauts involved have given less exciting explanations.

Mario Runco was part of a 1996 mission that deployed an experimental satellite and says the eerie lights in the first clip were the craft's Stimsonite reflectors — as found on bicycles and road markings.

"If I thought it was an intelligent (alien) craft, I'd be the first one to speak up — I'd want the credit," he told Fox News.

"Why would I ever want to keep it a secret?"

Thomas Jones went into orbit the same year and took the footage of the so-called zig-zagging UFOs, but he also plays down claims of filming ET in action.

"A few ice crystals or flakes of thrusters residue in the near field are floating by, get hit by a thrusters exhaust plume and zip out of the scene," he told Fox News.

"If a shuttle beams back 10 hours of Earth views each day, there are bound to be images and scenes that are misunderstood or taken out of context."