Spain: Jews receive apology over Spanish Inquisition executions

The leader of Majorca has become the 1st government official to apologise for the execution of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition -- centuries after the events.

Francesc Antich, the regional president of the Balearic Islands, issued an official condemnation of the killings in what was heralded by Jewish groups as the first of its kind in Spain.

"We have dared to gather here to recognise the grave injustice committed against those Majorcans who were accused, persecuted, charged and condemned to death for their faith and their beliefs," Mr Antich said at a memorial service held in Palma de Majorca.

At the end of the 15th century King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella set up the Spanish Inquisition to root out remnants of Islam and Judaism after the reconquest of Spain. Over the following two centuries thousands of so-called heretics were burned at the stake.

Following the order to convert or leave the country, the majority of Spain's Jews fled to safer shores while many of those left behind publicly converted to Roman Catholicism yet practised their true faith in secret.

34 Jews were garroted and their bodies thrown on to bonfires in 1691. 3 others, including a rabbi, were burned alive.

Mr Antich said the purpose of the recognition was to "recover part of that memory" of Majorca's dark past and recognise the violence and discrimination that converts faced for centuries.

An estimated 15,000 people living in Majorca are thought to be descendants of the island's Jews, though almost all are Catholic.

The Israel-based group that came up with the proposal for the ceremony lauded the event as "an important gesture of reconciliation".

Source: The Telegraph, May 6, 2011

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Bin Laden death 'not an execution'

Osama bin Laden

The death of bin Laden was not an "execution" and does not call into question Europe's opposition to the death penalty, the European Commission said today.

In the wake of a statement from Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso welcoming his death as a "major achievement" which ensured his crimes did not go unpunished, a spokeswoman insisted the EU's underlying values of justice were not called into question.

"Our values relating to justice in the EU are very important values for us."

She said the statement, issued jointly with EU Council president Herman Van Rompuy, hailed an "important defeat" for a terrorist movement responsible for many deaths across the world.

She added: "Bin Laden was responsible for many deaths and with his death one enemy has disappeared and we see that as a step towards making the world a safer place.

"This in no way questions the basic principles and values we have always supported ... this was not the execution of a death sentence, it was something completely different. We continue to be against the death penalty."

The joint Commission statement said: "Osama bin Laden was a criminal responsible for heinous terrorist attacks that cost the lives of thousands of innocent people. His death makes the world a safer place and shows that such crimes do not remain unpunished.

"This is a major achievement in our efforts to rid the world of terrorism.

"The European Union continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States, our international partners and our friends in the Muslim world in combating the scourge of global extremism and in building a world of peace, security and prosperity for all."

Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of Europe's human rights watchdog the Council of Europe, hailed the death as of huge significance.

He said: "The news of the death of Osama bin Laden is certainly an important step in the international efforts in fighting terrorism. It is of immense symbolic significance.

"However, as recent events have shown, the threat of terrorism remains acute today and the Council of Europe is dedicated to combating terrorism together with its member states."

European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek said: "We have woken up in a more secure world.

"Although the fight of the international community against terrorists is not over, an important step has been made in the fight against al-Qa’ida, to give security to millions of people: Christians, Muslims, all those who believe in peaceful coexistence."

Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the attacks of September 11 and the man who ever since has remained an elusive, shadowy presence at the centre of perhaps the world’s greatest manhunt, has been killed by special forces troops at a compound two hours outside of Islamabad.

The al-Qa’ida leader was killed on Sunday during an operation north of the Pakistani capital led by helicopter-borne US special forces.

Source: The Independent, May 2, 2011

How bin Laden was killed

The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Islamabad, came about four years after U.S. intelligence officials identified a man who served as one of the al Qaeda leader's trusted couriers, according to senior Obama administration officials.

Bin Laden was shot in the head and chest during the operation, a senior administration official told CNN. White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said that despite intelligence indicating that he was in the compound, there was no certainty the al Qaeda leader was actually there when the president authorized the assault.

In announcing bin Laden's death Sunday night, Obama called it "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda."

"A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties," he said. "After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."

Four others in the compound died in the raid, including bin Laden's adult son and a woman, Brennan said.

"Thinking about that from a visual perspective, here is bin Laden, who has been calling for these attacks, living in this million-dollar-plus compound; living in an area that is far removed from the front; hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield," Brennan told reporters. "I think it really just speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years."

A senior administration official said later that the woman who died was not bin Laden's wife and may not have been used as a human shield, as originally reported. Nor did bin Laden have a gun, as earlier reports had indicated, the senior official said.

A DNA match confirmed with virtual certainty that bin Laden was killed in the operation, a senior administration official told CNN. Officials compared DNA of the person killed with bin Laden "family DNA," a senior administration official said, and a senior U.S. defense official said one of bin Laden's wives identified the body to U.S. forces.

There are also photographs of the body with a gunshot wound to the side of the head that shows an individual who is recognizable as bin Laden, a U.S. government official said. No decision has yet been made on whether to release the photographs and if so, when and how.

Calling the U.S. operation a surgical raid, officials said it was conducted by a small team and designed to minimize collateral damage.

A firefight was under way for most of the 40 minutes that U.S. Special Operations forces were in the compound, as the team encountered resistance from bin Laden and three other men, a senior defense official said.

The official said the forces had to fight their way through the first floor of the three-story building, where two adult males lived.

Bin Laden and his family lived on the second and third floors, and they were cleared last, with bin Laden killed in the last five or 10 minutes of the siege, the official said.

One of bin Laden's wives identified his body to U.S. forces after the team made visual identification, the official said.

In the end, all four of the combatants in the compound were dead, along with a woman whom one of the men used as a human shield, the officials said. Sources said bin Laden was shot in the head.

John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, said it is his understanding that the woman who was killed was one of bin Laden's wives.

Later, a senior U.S. official said that bin Laden's wife was not the woman killed and that she may not have been used as a human shield after all. This official also said that bin Laden was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the head.

At some point, one of the assaulting helicopters crashed due to a mechanical failure, according to the officials. It was destroyed as the U.S. team flew away, they said.

Obama and the senior administration officials said no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation, which took place very early Monday morning Pakistani time.

Source: CNN, May 3, 2011


Storming bin Laden's compound

Bin Laden's compound

The operation took place at a fortified compound on the outskirts of Abbottabad in north-west Pakistan.

It happened at some time between 0000 and 0130 local time on Monday morning (Sunday 1900-2030 GMT), dozens of local residents told a BBC reporter. Between two and four helicopters were seen flying low over the area, causing panic among some residents.

Residents describe hearing three explosions several minutes apart, followed by a huge explosion that shook their houses and knocked crockery from shelves. Most residents said they then also heard gunshots, but that the firing was brief, just a couple of minutes or so.

As the explosions started, they say, the lights in the area went off, going on and off again shortly afterwards. One report quotes some residents as saying they were commanded in Pashto - not the common language of the area - to turn their lights off, but this is unconfirmed.

It is believed that militants inside the house fired at the helicopters, but eventually they were able to land or hover outside the compound, and the commandos - a special team of some 15 or 25 US Navy Seals - emerged from them.

At some point in the operation one of the helicopters crashed, either from technical failure or having been hit by gunfire from the ground. But no US commandos were injured.

There are contradictory reports about which base the helicopters took off from, with some saying the US air bases at Jalalabad or Bagram in Afghanistan, but others suggesting it was the nearby Ghazi air base inside Pakistan.

Security concerns

The target of the operation was the compound, which had at its centre a large three-storey building with high walls, barbed wire and security cameras - and few windows.

The compound - valued at about $1m (£600,000) - had two security gates but no phone or internet lines running into the building.

Its occupants were so concerned about security that they were reported to burn their rubbish rather than leave it out for collection as other residents in the area did.

Mr Brennan told reporters that the commando team had been "able and prepared" to take Bin Laden alive "if he didn't present any threat".

"The concern was that Bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation. Indeed, he did. It was a firefight. He, therefore, was killed in that firefight, and that's when the remains were removed," said Mr Brennan.

However other US officials who spoke to news agencies on condition of anonymity denied that Bin Laden had returned fire.

The al-Qaeda leader was in his bedroom when he was shot twice, officials said - once in the head and once in the chest.

Footage purporting to be of the bedroom appears to show a round gaping hole in the wall, suggesting US forces blasted their way into the building.

US officials described the operation as a "surgical raid" and said that as well as Bin Laden, three adult males - thought to comprise Bin Laden's trusted courier, his brother and Bin Laden's adult son - were killed.

A woman was also killed. She was originally reported to be one of Bin Laden's wives, though later reports suggested his wife was only wounded. There have also been conflicting reports as to whether the woman who died was being used as a human shield.

A senior intelligence official told reporters at a US Department of Defense briefing that Bin Laden's body was identified visually on the scene by operatives, by name by a woman at the scene believed to be one of his wives, by CIA specialists using photos and finally later on Monday by experts who found "virtually a 100% DNA match of the body against DNA of several Bin Laden family members".

The team left the compound carrying documents, hard drives and DVDs which it is hoped could yield further valuable intelligence data, officials said.

According to an official from Pakistan's main intelligence agency, the ISI, there were 17 or 18 people in the compound at the time of the attack, while US officials say those who survived the attack included a wife, a daughter, and eight to nine other children, not apparently Bin Laden's.

The ISI and US officials contradict each other as to whether a detainee was taken away alive.

Bin Laden's body was then flown to Afghanistan before eventually being buried at sea. US officials said this was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine.

Source: BBC, May 3, 2011


May 4, 2011 Updates

U.S. revises story on bin Laden's raid, offers more details

Bin Laden's residence sits in
a region where most residents
are Pakistani army personnel.

Abbottabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- U.S. officials issued a revised version of the nighttime raid that killed the world's most-notorious terrorist.

The 40-minute raid early Monday in Pakistan left Osama bin Laden dead, along with four others in the complex that sits on a mountainous region near the capital.

Bin Laden was not armed during the raid, but he put up resistance when U.S. forces entered the compound, the White House said. Officials had earlier said that bin Laden was an active participant in the firefight, implying that he was armed and gave the U.S. Navy SEALs little choice but to shoot him down.

After the operation, U.S. forces departed with the al Qaeda leader's body, nearly 10 years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

U.S. military personnel arrived on two helicopters, attacked the residence and started moving methodically from room to room, said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

They were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation, he said.

There were no armed guards around the compound, according to a U.S. official who is not authorized to speak on the record.

CIA Director Leon Panetta told PBS "NewsHour" that the original plan was for two Black Hawk helicopters, carrying 25 people, to go into the compound.

The first was to go over a courtyard, while the second was to go over the roof. But the first helicopter had problems and had to set down on the ground, prompting the second one to do the same, he said.

"Both teams immediately went into the compound itself. They had to breach about three or four walls in order to get in there," he said. "They were able to do that and they immediately then went into the compound itself and fought their way up to the third floor."

Besides the bin Laden family, two other families lived in the compound, according to Carney.

On the first floor of the building, two al Qaeda couriers were killed in addition to a woman caught in the crossfire, he said.

Bin Laden and his family lived on the second and third floors, and they were cleared last, with bin Laden killed toward the end of the siege, Carney said.

Bin Laden was not armed but did put up resistance when U.S. forces entered the compound, he said.

According to the U.S. official, who is not authorized to speak on the record, bin Laden "didn't hold his hands up and surrender."

A woman in the room with him -- believed to be bin Laden's wife -- rushed U.S. forces and was shot in the leg, but not killed, said Carney.

Officials had earlier said that bin Laden was shielded during the shooting by women, including his wife.

Five of the approximately two dozen people in the compound were killed -- the two couriers, the woman, bin Laden and his son, said the U.S. official who sought anonymity.

Panetta told PBS he didn't think bin Laden said anything to U.S. forces before he was killed. Read more.

Source: CNN, May 4, 2011


White House changes story: Bin Laden unarmed

The administration possesses graphic images of bin Laden's corpse, at least one of which is likely to be released, according to CIA Director Leon Panetta. Officials hope that doing so would quiet any doubts that bin Laden is indeed dead. The worry is that anti-U.S. sentiment would be inflamed as a result.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has also had the photos described to him and said it "does sound very gruesome."

Bin Laden was shot twice at close range, once in the chest and once in the head, right above his left eye and that bullet opened his skull, exposing his brain and it also blew out his eye. So these are not going to be pictures for the squeamish," Martin said.

How did bin Laden resist Navy SEALs without a weapon?

White House officials initially suggested bin Laden had been holding a gun and perhaps firing at U.S. forces. The corrected account raised questions about whether the Americans ever planned to take him alive, or simply were out to kill him.

After they shot him in the head and chest, the SEAL team in just minutes quickly swept bin Laden's compound for useful intelligence, making off with a cache of computer equipment and documents. The CIA was hurriedly setting up a task force to review the material from the highest level of al Qaeda's leadership.

The revised account of bin Laden's final moments was one of many official details that have changed since he was killed in the nighttime raid early Monday morning in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. The White House misidentified which of bin Laden's sons was killed — it was Khalid, not Hamza. Officials incorrectly said bin Laden's wife died in gunfire while serving as his human shield. That actually was the wife of a bin Laden aide, and she was just caught in crossfire, the White House said Tuesday.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney attributed those discrepancies to the fog of war, saying the information was coming in bit by bit and was still being reviewed. Nevertheless, the contradictory statements may raise suspicions about the White House's version of events, given that no independent account from another source is likely to emerge. The only non-U.S. witnesses to survive the raid are in Pakistani custody.

Source: CBSNews, May 4, 2011


May 5, 2011 Update

Account Tells of One-Sided Battle in Bin Laden Raid

The new details suggested that the raid, though chaotic and bloody, was extremely one-sided, with a force of more than 20 Navy Seal members quickly dispatching the handful of men protecting Bin Laden.

Administration officials said that the only shots fired by those in the compound came at the beginning of the operation, when Bin Laden’s trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, opened fire from behind the door of the guesthouse adjacent to the house where Bin Laden was hiding.

After the Seal members shot and killed Mr. Kuwaiti and a woman in the guesthouse, the Americans were never fired upon again.

This account differs from an official version of events issued by the Pentagon on Tuesday, and read by the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, which said the Seal members “were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation.”

In a television interview on PBS on Tuesday, Leon E. Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., said, “There were some firefights that were going on as these guys were making their way up the staircase of that compound.”

Administration officials said the official account of events has changed over the course of the week because it has taken time to get thorough after-action reports from the Seal team. And, they added, because the Special Operations troops had been fired upon as soon as they touched down in the compound, they were under the assumption that everyone inside was armed.

“They were in a threatening and hostile environment the entire time,” one American official said.

When the commandos moved into the main house, they saw the courier’s brother, who they believed was preparing to fire a weapon. They shot and killed him. Then, as they made their way up the stairs of the house, officials said they killed Bin Laden’s son Khalid as he lunged toward the Seal team.

When the commandos reached the top floor, they entered a room and saw Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol in arm’s reach. They shot and killed him, as well as wounding a woman with him.

The firefight over and Bin Laden dead, the team found a trove of information and had the time to remove much of it: about 100 thumb drives, DVDs and computer disks, along with 10 computer hard drives and 5 computers. There were also piles of paper documents in the house.

The White House declined to release any additional details about the operation, saying that further information would jeopardize the military’s ability to conduct clandestine operations in the future. The administration’s reticence came after it was forced on Tuesday to correct parts of its initial account of the raid, including assertions that Bin Laden had used his wife as a “human shield.”

Source: The New York Times, May 5, 2011


Michael Moore: Bin Laden Wasn't Killed, He Was Executed

Osama bin Laden wasn’t killed by a Navy SEAL team -- he was straight up executed, Michael Moore told TheWrap on Wednesday.

The “Fahrenheit 9/11” director has been setting Twitter aflame Wednesday afternoon urging the Obama administration to come clean about the circumstances surrounding the terrorist leader’s death -- particularly in light of the White House’s shifting account of last weekend’s firefight in Abbottabad (see map below).

The Oscar-winning director has been tweeting about his belief that Bin Laden should have received a trial, and his theory that Pakistan was keeping the Al Qaeda head under house arrest. TheWrap grilled Moore about his controversial views.

Is Obama lying about how Bin Laden died?

Common sense tells you he was executed. That was the plan all along. Just tell us that and quit treating us like children.

I have a lot of faith in Obama, but we’ve received three different stories in three days. We heard, "There was a firefight." "He used a woman as a shield." Now it turns out none of these things were true. He wasn’t armed.

Does it matter if he was executed? Do you think he deserved a trial?

I am a Catholic, and the position of the Catholic Church and the Pope is that we are 100 percent against the death penalty unless it is in self-defense. Look at the Nuremberg Trials. We didn’t just pop a bullet in the heads of the worst scum in history. We thought it was important to put them on trial and expose their evil. In a democracy we believe in a system of justice and we believe in a judicial system that gives people a day in court...and then we hung them.

It doesn’t mean we can’t hang them afterward.

Do you think people will be angry if it turns out the operation was less heroic than it originally seemed?

It was heroic. There was no need to embellish things. People in positions of power tread so gingerly around the electorate. Some people may not like it, but don’t bullsh*t us anymore about stuff like this.

The government, especially the Pentagon, has a poor track record of telling the truth, starting with Jessica Lynch. Pat Tillman, that was all made up, and this firefight is going to turn out to be hooey.

Also Read: Killing Bin Laden: Keeping Secrets in the Age of WikiLeaks

Will it hurt Obama if the story turns out to have been partly false?

It won’t hurt him, because the basic facts will remain the same. Osama is still dead and everybody is happy about it.

In your tweets you say that Pakistan was safeguarding Bin Laden.

This is not a conspiracy theory. This was a garrison city. He was living in a compound attached to their version of West Point.

Source: TheWrap, Brent Lang, May 5, 2011


May 6, 2011 Update

Osama Bin Laden: Legality of Killing Questioned

The death of the man held responsible for mass atrocities, including the 11 September 2001 attacks, was welcomed around the world.

But as the US narrative of the raid has developed - and changed - since Monday's raid, there have been growing questions about whether it was legal to kill the al-Qaeda leader.

At one level, these questions have focused on what happened during the operation at the building in Abbottabad in which Bin Laden was found.

"The issue here is whether what was done was an act of legitimate self-defence," said Benjamin Ferencz, an international law specialist who served as a prosecutor during the Nuremburg trials and argued that it would have been better to capture Bin Laden and send him to court.

"Killing a captive who poses no immediate threat is a crime under military law as well as all other law," he told the BBC World Service.

'Killing appropriate'

Putting the case for the legality of the raid on Wednesday, US Attorney General Eric Holder said it was "conducted in a way that was consistent with our law, with our values".

"If he had surrendered, attempted to surrender, I think we should obviously have accepted that, but there was no indication that he wanted to do that and therefore his killing was appropriate," he told the Senate judiciary committee.

No blow-by-blow account of what happened in the moments before Bin Laden was shot has been agreed upon.

US officials have suggested that Bin Laden may have been reaching for a weapon, and that the Navy Seals may have suspected that people in the compound were wearing suicide belts.

But they have also said Bin Laden was not carrying a weapon - after initially saying he was.

And they have told US media that just one person in the compound shot at the special forces team, in what appears to have been a fairly one-sided confrontation.

Legal experts have therefore asked whether the US forces were instructed to kill, and whether Bin Laden was given a chance to surrender.

'Proportionate response?'

Like Mr Ferencz, British law professor Philippe Sands QC, of University College London says it is impossible to make a definitive legal judgement without knowing precisely what happened. But he says the case for the raid's legality has been weakened.

"The question to ask is: were the measures taken in the actual situation that pertained reasonable and proportionate given the circumstances in which the [Navy Seals] found themselves?" he told the BBC.

"The facts for Bin Laden don't appear to easily meet that standard."

On a broader level, US officials have justified Bin Laden's killing as an act committed as part of an armed conflict with al-Qaeda.

Mr Holder said Bin Laden's killing was "an act of national self-defence", calling the al-Qaeda leader "a lawful military target" who had acknowledged his role in the 9/11 attacks.

"It's lawful to target an enemy commander in the field," he said.

Some legal experts have backed up that position.

"I don't think that this is an extrajudicial killing," Philip Bobbitt, a specialist on constitutional law and international security, told the BBC's Today programme. "I think this is part of an armed conflict authorised by the United Nations, authorised by both houses of Congress."

'Setting precedents'

But the fact that Bin Laden was killed in a normally quiet town in a country that was not informed about the raid until after it had finished, has also raised questions.

"As a matter of international law, one country is not free to enter another country apparently without the authorisation of that country, and intervene, whether to kidnap or kill a national of a third state," Mr Sands said.

He acknowledged that under the doctrine of necessity, where there is an "overriding threat to national security", such an act might not give rise to responsibility or liability.

But he said the difficulty with that argument was that it was put forward against a background of a rise in extrajudicial killings, including through the use of drones, and that this was not a "lawful direction to be taking".

The logical conclusion of any idea that Bin Laden could be killed as an enemy combatant was "that anyone associated with al-Qaeda in any country in the world can be taken out, can be executed," Mr Sands said.

"I think it's deeply troubling if we are indeed moving to a place where you can have a global assassination policy for those who are perceived to cause trouble," he added.

The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, have raised a similar concern.

"In certain exceptional cases, use of deadly force may be permissible as a measure of last resort... including in operations against terrorists," they said in statement.

"However, the norm should be that terrorists be dealt with as criminals, through legal processes of arrest, trial and judicially decided punishment," they added.

"Actions taken by states in combating terrorism, especially in high profile cases, set precedents for the way in which the right to life will be treated in future instances."

Source: BBC News, May 6, 2011



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Bahrain worshippers protest death sentences

Source: Al Jazeera

Thousands denounce death sentences for anti-government protesters, and solidarity protests in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Thousands of Bahraini Shia Muslims have gathered before a revered cleric to denounce death sentences given to protesters over anti-government rallies crushed last month in the Gulf kingdom.

The verdict, handed down by a military court a day earlier to four men accused of killing two policemen in violent protests last month, could intensify sectarian tension in the Sunni Muslim-ruled state that hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

"It's not true that they killed them," a man who identified himself only as Moussa said, after praying at the mosque of Sheikh Issa Qassim, as a police helicopter circled overhead.

"The government made it up just like a movie."

He was referring to video footage that Bahraini authorities have circulated showing the two policemen smashed by a vehicle that sped through a crowd of protesters, some of whom appeared to then trample and kick the fallen men.

Police kept a tight grip on roads leading to the village where the mosque is located, turning back many vehicles.

The rulings were only the third time in over 30 years that a death sentence had been given to a Bahraini citizen.

The seven defendants were tried behind closed doors on charges of premeditated murder of government employees, charges which their lawyers denied.

They have further divided a country whose Shia majority says it faces systematic discrimination, but whose Sunni leaders claim Iran is trying to extend its regional influence by manipulating its co-religionists.

Opposition leaders argue the protests in February and March were about demanding more political freedoms and a constitutional monarchy, and that the government is trying to caste it in a sectarian light.

"The sentence was appropriate," Mohammad al-Ammadi, a Sunni lawmaker, citing what he saw as the extreme brutality of the killings. "This is the first time this happened in Bahrain."

In his sermon, the cleric Sheikh Issa Qassim alluded to the growing rift in the country.

"If you wish to be assailed with problems, to lose all comfort ... then allow the spirit of antagonism to take hold and spread in your country," he said.

"This is a fire which may seem manageable at first, but is ultimately beyond control ... and its consequences are always grave."

In the aftermath of the protests, hundreds of people have been detained, and at least three have died in custody. Human rights groups say hundreds of people have been sacked from public sector jobs and that Bahraini forces have seized patients and health workers from hospitals where protesters had been treated.

The latter assertion figured in a rare, mild rebuke of Bahrain from the United States on the heels of the court ruling, which included life sentences for three other men.

"Security measures will not resolve the challenges faced by Bahrain," Heide Bronke-Fulton, a spokesperson for the US state department, said via email.

"We are also extremely troubled by reports of ongoing human rights abuses and violations of medical neutrality in Bahrain. These actions only exacerbate frictions in Bahraini society."

Germany urged Bahrain on Friday to rescind the death sentences.

"This draconian punishment impedes the process of rapprochement and reconciliation in Bahrain," Andreas Peschke, a spokesperson for the German foreign ministers, said on Friday.

Solidarity protests

More than 200 Shia Muslims protested in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing east on Friday in solidarity with fellow believers in nearby Bahrain, who are facing a rolling crackdown, two activists said.

The gatherings in the towns of Awwamiyah and Qatif on Friday defied a call by leading Shia clerics last week for an end to rallies in the conservative Gulf kingdom's Eastern Province, in an apparent bow to government pressure.

Shia activists in the area have held weekly protests over the past two months without major clashes with police.

"There was a protest of over 200 people in Awwamiyah, with the same demands as previous weeks. Police were present but far from the protesters," one activist in Awwamiya told the Reuters news agency by telephone.

The Sunni Muslim monarchy of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and a major US ally, does not tolerate any form of public dissent.

Saudi protesters have called for solidarity with Shia in the nearby Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain, where a fierce crackdown has continued since anti-government rallies, led mostly by Shia, were crushed there in March.

Bahrain's uprising unnerved Saudi Arabia, which is connected to the Gulf island kingdom by a causeway. Saudi authorities sent in troops after Bahrain's rulers called on Gulf neighbours to support its crackdown.

In the Pakistani city of Lahore, Shia Muslims held a protest on Friday against the death sentence ruling in Bahrain, carrying symbolic coffins in a show of support.

Bahrain’s prime minister ordered the head of the country's civil service and other senior officials to review procedures for firing state employees, the state news agency said a week ago.

Related article: "Four protesters sentenced to death in Bahrain", April 28, 2011

Source: Al Jazeera, April 29, 2011

URGENT APPEAL for Ali Abdullah Hassan al-Sankis, Qassim Hassan Matar, Saeed Abduljalil Saeed, Adbulaziz Abdulridha Ibrahim Hussain at imminent risk of execution in Bahrein

Four men accused of killing two policemen during anti-government protests last month have been sentenced to death in Bahrain. They may be at imminent risk of execution.

Ali Abdullah Hassan al-Sankis, Qassim Hassan Matar, Saeed Abduljalil Saeed and Adbulaziz Abdulridha IbrahimHussain were sentenced to death on 28 April by a military court although they are believed to be civilians,their trial was conducted behind closed doors. The prosecution accused them of the premeditated murder of two police officers during anti-government protests in March by deliberately running them down with a vehicle. They and three other defendants tried with them - Issa Abdullah Kadhim Ali, Sadeq Ali Mahdi and Hussein Jaafar Abdulkarim – who were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, all reportedly deny the charge.

The seven defendants are believed to have been tried by a special court, the National Safety Court of First Instance, which was established under the State of National Safety (SNS), a national state of emergency declared by the King of Bahrain on 15 March. The provisions of the SNS are broadly drawn and vague, and it contains no explicit human rights guarantees. The SNS also established the National Safety Court of First Instance to try people accused of crimes committed under the state of emergency, and a National Safety Appeal Court to hear appeals from this special court. The SNS stipulates that Bahrain’s ordinary courts may not hear appeals from these special courts, whose verdicts are final.

It is expected but not yet confirmed that the seven defendants will lodge appeals. If this does occur, the appeals may be held very quickly and the four prisoners under sentence of death may be at imminent risk of execution. The seven are believed to have been held incommunicado for some time following their arrests which are believed to have taken place on or after 16 March, and they may have been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
--Expressing grave concern at the imposition of death sentences on Ali Abdullah Hassan al-Sankis, Qassim Hassan Matar, Saeed Abduljalil Saeed and Adbulaziz Abdulridha Ibrahim Hussain after a military court trial behind closed doors.
--Acknowledging the Bahraini government’s responsibility to protect the public and bring to justice those responsible for committing crimes, but insisting that this should always be done in accordance with international law and Bahrain’s international human rights obligations;
--Urging His Majesty Shaikh Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa to commute the death sentences imposed today and those of all others facing possible execution in Bahrain if they are confirmed by appeal courts
--Urging His Majesty to establish a full, thorough and independent inquiry into all alleged abuses of human rights committed during the recent protests, including allegations of unlawful killings by the security forces, with a view to ensuring that those responsible for serious abuses are brought to justice through fair trials and without recourse to the death penalty.


APPEALS TO:

King
King Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa
Office of His Majesty the King
P.O. Box 555
Rifa’a Palace, al-Manama,
BAHRAIN
Fax: 011 973 17664587
Salutation: Your Majesty

COPIES TO:

Prime Minister
Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa
Office of the Prime Minister
P.O. Box 1000, al-Manama,
BAHRAIN
Fax: 011 973 17533033
Salutation: Your Highness

Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs
Shaikh Khaled bin Ali al-Khalifa
Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs
P. O. Box 450, Manama
BAHRAIN
Fax: 011 973 17531284
Salutation: Your Excellency

Ambassador Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo
Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain
3502 International Drive. NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone: 202 342 1111
Fax: 1 202 362 2192
Email: ambsecretary@bahrainembassy.org

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Source: Amnesty International


May 2, 2011 Update

Set Aside Martial Law Death Sentences -- 4 Civilians Condemned to Death, 3 to Life in Prison in Unfair Military Trial

Bahraini authorities should set aside a military court ruling on April 28, 2011, sentencing 4 defendants to death and 3 others to life in prison for their alleged involvement in the murder of 2 police officers, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch understands that the 7 defendants, ages 19 to 24, whose trial and sentencing lasted less than 2 weeks, are the 1st civilians to be convicted in special military courts set up after King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared martial law on March 15.

Authorities accused them of running over 2 police officers on March 16, 2011, when security forces attacked protesters occupying the Pearl Roundabout in central Manama.

"By establishing these special courts, the government of Bahrain is making it near impossible for defendants to enjoy the rights to which they are entitled," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The role of the military prosecutor, the makeup of the special court, and the meager access to legal representation undermine the most basic due process protections."

One defense lawyer who had initially acted in the case was arrested just before midnight on April 15 and lack of information about his whereabouts and well-being gives rise to concern that he may have been forcibly disappeared. Other defense lawyers were called in for questioning in recent days.

Authorities charged the defendants with premeditated murder under Bahrain's 1976 Penal Code and the 2006 counterterrorism law, which mandates the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder, when designated a terrorist crime. The trial began in the special military court, which the government calls the National Safety Lower Court, on April 17 after at least three pretrial sessions in early April. All the defendants pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder. The rulings came four days after Bahrain's military public prosecutor, Col. Yusif Rashid Feleyfel, announced that the government was seeking the death penalty and defense lawyers presented their final pleadings.

Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority announced the death sentences on April 28 for Ali Abdullah Hassan al-Singace, 19; Qasim Hasan Matar Ahmad, 20; Saeed Abd al-Jalil Saeed, 19; and Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Ridha Ibrahim Husain, 24, "for their role in the deaths of policemen Kashef Ahmed Madhoor and Mohammed Farooq Abdulsamad."

The court sentenced Isa Abdullah Kadhim Ali, Sayyed Sadiq Ali Mahdi, and Husain Jafar Abd al-Karim, all age 19, to life in prison. A defense lawyer who represents one of the defendants told Human Rights Watch that during the trial lawyers were able to meet with their clients only twice - for 30 minutes before the trial began and once again before the final hearing. Unlike regular criminal court proceedings, the lawyer said, a military prosecutor presented the state's case, and a military judge, accompanied by two civilian judges, presided.

The official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said that family members and others were allowed to attend the trial, although it was not open to the public. Under an April 8 National Safety Court of Appeal decision, media may not publish information about cases pending before the national safety courts to "ensure safety of evidence and guarantee the right of witnesses for legal protection."

A lawyer representing one of the seven men told Human Rights Watch that the defendants may appeal their convictions and sentences to a National Safety Court of Appeals. Those decisions are final and not subject to further appeal. In civilian trials, defendants can appeal criminal sentences to the Higher Court of Appeals, and the Court of Cessation must review all death sentences. On April 28 the BNA acknowledged that Bahrain has observed a "de facto moratorium on capital punishment" but "retained the right to apply the punishment for the most serious of crimes."

Bahrain is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes guarantees for a fair trial. Although neither international law nor the covenant prohibit the establishment of special courts, the UN Human Rights Committee has explicitly confirmed that the trial of civilians by such courts can only be very exceptional and take place under conditions which genuinely afford the full guarantees of a fair trial. These include the right to presumption of innocence and against self-incrimination; the right to be tried before an independent tribunal; the right to a lawyer of the defendants own choice and to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of a defense including the right to adequate communication with a lawyer and right to call and examine witnesses.

Human Rights Watch opposes the creation and use of special courts to try national security crimes, as it believes that ordinary courts are capable of effectively prosecuting serious crime including terrorist offences. Human Rights Watch also opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because of its irreversible, cruel, and inhumane nature.

"Even during a state of emergency, fundamental rights such as the right to life and the right to a fair trial must always be respected," Stork said. "And any restrictions during a genuine emergency must be strictly limited and justified by the exigencies of the actual situation. Bahrain's obligations as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights remain fully in force."

As of April 27, according to the head of the Information Affairs Authority, Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, authorities had referred 405 detainees to the special military court and released 312. Human Rights Watch is aware of at least 4 other defendants currently on trial for attempted murder and other crimes before the National Safety Lower Court. On April 20, authorities announced the arrest of a suspect identified as A.Y.A., a 21-year-old male, who allegedly ran down a third police officer, Ahmed al-Muraisi, with a car on March 15, killing him.

One defense lawyer initially involved in the April 28 case, Mohammed al-Tajer, was arrested shortly before midnight at his home on April 15 and has not been heard from since. His wife and colleague lawyers told Human Rights Watch that authorities have not provided any information as to his whereabouts or his well-being, giving rise to concern that he may have been forcibly disappeared. Human Rights Watch has also received reliable information that over the past week Interior Ministry officials summoned 4 defense lawyers, including at least three involved in this case, and that each was questioned by the military prosecutor for between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 hours.

Human Rights Watch is concerned that al-Tajer's arrest and the questioning of the other lawyers is a tactic by the government to intimidate and silence defense lawyers. Under the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, states are required to guarantee that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference, and that their security is not threatened as a result of discharging their functions.

Despite the defendants' "not guilty" pleas, Bahrain TV aired a program on April 28, following the announcement of the sentences, in which several of the defendants appeared to describe in detail their plans to kill police officers. Human Rights Watch has reviewed the 24-minute program and believes that one of those shown on the broadcast was Ali Isa Ibrahim Saqer, 34, who died in custody under suspicious circumstances. He had gone to the police station after police officers came to his home looking for him in connection with the death of a police officer who had allegedly been run over by protesters.

Human Rights Watch viewed Saqer's remains during the ritual body washing before he was buried in his home village of Sehla on April 10. His body showed signs of severe physical abuse. Authorities maintained that Saqer had "created chaos" while in detention, "which led security forces to bring the situation under control," resulting in his death. Saqer's case was 1 of 4 documented by Human Rights Watch in April in which an individual died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody.

"By videotaping the alleged confessions of these defendants and shamelessly airing them on the day the sentences are handed down, Bahrain is taking a page right out of the propaganda playbook of notorious human rights abusers like Iran," Stork said. "It appears they included the televised confession of a detainee who to all appearances had been tortured to death."

Human Rights Watch called on the Bahraini authorities to immediately release information on the whereabouts and safety of Mohammed al-Tajer as well as hundreds of other detainees who have not been permitted contact with families or lawyers. The authorities should either release them or charge them now with a recognizable offense. In any event, they should have immediate access to lawyers, doctors, and families.

Source: Human Rights Watch, May 2, 2011
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Bahrain seeks death sentence for protesters on trial

(Reuters) - Bahrain is seeking death penalty for a group of protesters accused of killing two policemen during anti-government demonstrations in the Gulf island kingdom, state media reported on Monday.

The government has stamped the demonstrations in a security crackdown since February when mainly Shi'ite protesters took to the streets demanding more say in the Sunni-ruled country's affairs.

Security forces have arrested hundreds of people since then and a number of them died while in official custody. Hundreds of mostly Shi'ite workers have been sacked from government jobs and state-linked companies, rights and opposition groups say.

On Sunday, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said the military prosecutor would seek the death sentence for seven men accused of killing the policemen at the Lower National Safety Court.

It quoted the prosecutor as saying the men had "committed their crime for terrorist reasons." It gave no other details of the incident.

BNA added the defendants pleaded not guilty and that the case would be heard again on April 28.

At least 13 protesters and four police were killed during the clashes.

A hospital source told Reuters last month that at least two of the four policemen killed had been run over by cars on March 16. The government says it has only targeted those who committed crimes during the protests.

The state banned protests when it imposed martial law in March and invited troops from Sunni-led Gulf neighbors to help quash the unrest.

The state news agency said three more men also were charged with attempting to kill policemen in separate court cases.

Source: Reuters, April 25, 2011

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Mississippi: Faith leaders call to end death penalty

Leaders of Muslim, Jewish and Christian congregations gathered Thursday at the Capitol to call for an end to the death penalty in Mississippi.

Death penalty supporter Ann Pace of Jackson, meanwhile, held pictures of her daughter, who she said died at the hands of a serial killer.

The main point of contention between the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference and Pace is whether the death penalty effectively deters crime, but the issue also hinges on inequity in the criminal justice system and religious principles.

“We face the real possibility of three state-sanctioned executions within the next month,” said the Episcopal Rev. Carol Borne Spencer. “The organization thus felt that the time was now for us to ask our state leaders to find new ways to deal with one of the largest societal dilemmas of our time, that is how to deal with heinous criminal actions of murder and violence and still hold people accountable in ways that do not require the killing of a person."

On Wednesday, the Mississippi Supreme Court set execution dates for 2 convicted killers, and Attorney General Jim Hood has requested an execution date for a 3rd.

The religious conference, which grew out of the 1960s civil rights movement, asked Thursday for crime victim support. But members said executions only create new victims — the families of executed criminals. Isolating criminals is better than condemning them to death, members said.

Pace, whose daughter Murray Pace was slain by reputed south Louisiana serial killer Derrick Todd Lee in May 2002, disagrees.

Lee, 43, sits on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for Pace’s murder. Murray was killed at the age of 22, 1 week after graduating with an MBA from Louisiana State University.

Lee is suspected of killing 7 south Louisiana women between 1998 and 2003, but Pace said he has not yet been put to death because Louisiana state law allows too many appeals.

“Even though the case is a DNA case, his DNA in 7 murders, and it’s been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court twice, Louisiana still provides for a system called post-conviction relief that can go on for years and years and years, and it made sense before forensic science. It does not make sense now,” said Pace.

She cited a series of studies in the early 2000s finding that each execution prevents between 3 and 18 slayings. The studies have been widely disseminated by pro-death penalty advocates but widely criticized for technical and conceptual errors by those who oppose execution.

“I am here for those three to 18 additional victims,” Pace said. “I think abolishing the death penalty is idealistic, sounds good, feels good to support, but it does not protect life, it does not protect us, and I think our most important moral obligation in our life is to protect ourselves, our children, and our community, and I think that the death penalty does in fact do that."

In addition to the debate over deterrence, the Capitol press conference brought up issues of social equality and faith.

Okolo Rashid of Jackson's International Museum of Muslim Cultures signed the MRLC's call for a moratorium. She said her faith would allow her to support the death penalty if the system did not disproportionately execute black men.

Another MRLC member invoked the symbolism of the Christian day of Good Friday, which marks the day Jesus Christ was crucified.

“We know that Jesus Christ would not want the death penalty for anyone, having suffered himself at the hands of the state,” said the Catholic Bishop Joseph N. Latino of Jackson.

Set to be executed May 10 is Benny Joe Stevens, now 52, who was sentenced to death in 1999 for killing his ex-wife and her husband, his 11-year-old son and his son's 10-year-old friend.

Meanwhile, state officials have set a May 17 execution date for Rodney Gray, now 38, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1994 rape and murder of 79-year-old Grace Blackwell of Louin. Blackwell, who had last been seen withdrawing a large amount of money from her bank, was found shot multiple times in Newton County.

Robert Simon Jr. was sentenced to death for the killings of 3 members of a Quitman County family, but his attorneys say a fall has rendered him incompetent for execution. Hood had earlier asked for an April 20 execution date.

Source: Associated Press, April 23, 2011

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Germany expels imam advocating death penalty for "practicing homosexuals"

Frankfurt - Authorities in Germany have ordered the expulsion of a visiting imam who argues that practicing homosexuals should be sentenced to death, officials said Thursday.

The move comes a day after Abu Ameena Bilal Philips delivered an open-air speech to around 2,000 Muslims in Frankfurt.

The convert to Islam, who is in his 60s, did not repeat his views on homosexuality during Wednesday's rally. Bystanders said the speeches at the rally for Islam were not inflammatory. About 500 opponents demonstrated against him as he spoke.

German officials said they had prepared an order, before he was due to speak, instructing Philips to leave the country by Saturday night and never return.

German immigration law allows for the expulsion of aliens who 'incite hatred against parts of the population' or advocate violence against them. In a video on YouTube, Philips has defended the death penalty for proven homosexual acts.

Philips is entitled to appeal the order, but only from abroad, police said, and must mail in proof that he has left. An arrest warrant is ready in case he does not leave before the expulsion deadline.

Philips was invited to address a demonstration in defence of 'Islam, the Misunderstood Religion' by Pierre Vogel, a German-born convert to Islam who authorities describe as Salafist.

Salafism is a fundamentalist form of Islam that advocates literal adherence to what believers say was the religion's original form, and is closely connected to Islamism, the belief that Islam must prevail over political life.

Philips, who was born in Jamaica and grew up Canada, has said he was a communist before he turned to Islam, at the age of 25.

Gay rights groups round the globe have repeatedly protested at his speeches.

Source: M&C News, April 21, 2011

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Egypt, predictably, begins to go the way of radical Islam

Author: Bruce McQuain
 
Damien McElroy in Cairo, reporting for the UK Telegraph, has the following observations:

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamic movement and the founder of Hamas, has set up a network of political parties around the country that eclipse the following of the middle class activists that overthrew the regime. On the extreme fringe of the Brotherhood, Islamic groups linked to al-Qeada are organising from the mosques to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the dictatorship.

The military-led government already faces accusations that it is bowing to the surge in support for the Muslim movements, something that David Cameron warned of in February when he said Egyptian democracy would be strongly Islamic.

{feigned surprise} Oh, my, who’d have thought that could happen?  Only the terminally naïve or those with no understanding of the area or human nature would have figured otherwise. 

Power vacuums produce opportunities for others to fill them.  The US helped create that vacuum by insisting Hosni Mubarak must step down. 

Usually, as we’ve mentioned here any number of times, the most organized and ruthless succeed in filling such power vacuums.  And that’s precisely the case in Egypt where Islam in general is as pervasive as the air breathed there and the Muslim Brotherhood, while never allowed to be in power previously, was the most organized of the groups with the potential to fill the power vacuum.

And that is coming to fruition.  Not just in an Islamic sense, but in an Islamist sense as well.  The Muslim factions are poised to take over and control any government voted in by the public and do it in a big way:

Mohammed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, last week predicted the group’s candidates would win 75 per cent of the seats it contested.

Fundamentalist factions have also emerged as parties. Gamaa al-Islamiya, an al-Qaeda linked group that promotes Salafist traditions has used its mosques as a political base for the first time since the 1970s.

Egypt attempted in the past – however oppressive that effort was – to keep a largely secular government, at least by Middle Eastern standards.  And that was to our benefit and certainly to the benefit of the region.  It produced the peace treaty with Israel and ushered in a few decades of relatively peaceful times in the Middle East.  That’s pretty much likely to go by the wayside soon.  This next government will be steeped in Islam if not a good measure of Islamism.  That has been ordained by the first “democratic” vote in Egypt:

A scare campaign that a No vote in last months referendum would eliminate Islamic law from the Egyptian constitution ensured a 77 per cent Yes result.

As for those who participated in the April 6th movement and want a more secular and democratic Egypt?  Well, again, the best organized is the most likely to succeed, right?  And they have little or no organization:

But the April 6th movement that spearheaded protests has no clear plan for party politics. Diplomats have warned the demonstrators are not well prepared for elections.

"The leadership of the protests was so focused on the street-by-street detail of the revolution, they have no clue what to do in a national election," said a US official involved in the demonstrations. "Now at dinner the protesters can tell me every Cairo street that was important in the revolution but not how they will take power in Egypt."

Entirely predictable and clearly not in the best interest of the US – which calls into question the administration’s decision not to back Mubarak but call for his ouster.  The result is an unintended consequence one assumes – we backed a faction that we knew little about, which has had little impact since and now we’re going to see results that we don’t want and are not in the best interests of the US or peace in the region.  The same could be said about Libya.

Finally, don’t be fooled by the “independent” status of Egyptian political candidates for the Presidency there.  Their independence is in name only as they must court the factions that are likely to hold power in any legislature that forms.

Although the leading contenders for Egypt’s presidency are independents, many have begun wooing the Muslim blocs. Front-runner Amr Moussa, the Arab League president, has conceded that its inevitable that Islamic factions will be the bedrock of the political system.

Of course they will and that means, inevitably, that Egypt will eventually revoke its treaty with Israel thereby setting the peace process back to square one.

Yes, this has been beautifully played by the President and the State Department.  If naiveté in foreign affairs was ever more  evident than now, I’m having difficulty remembering it (Jimmy Carter is as close as it comes, and they’re making even him look competent).
~McQ

Eleven sentenced to death for India Godhra train blaze

Eleven men have been sentenced to death for setting fire to a passenger train in the Indian town of Godhra in 2002, killing dozens of Hindu pilgrims.

Another 20 men were sentenced to life in prison. Last week, the court in Gujarat acquitted 63 of the accused.

The Sabarmati Express was attacked by a Muslim mob killing 59 people, mainly Hindu pilgrims.

The attack led to some of the worst riots seen in India, in which more than 1,000 people - mainly Muslims - died.

Gujarat's authorities were criticised for not doing enough to stop the riots.

All of those accused were Muslim. The convicted men have 90 days to appeal.

The attackers were said to have forced the train, carrying Hindu pilgrims returning from the northern town of Ayodhya, to stop, and then set fire to one of the carriages.

'Conspiracy'

Whether or not there was a conspiracy to set the train ablaze or whether it was a spontaneous fire has long been the subject of dispute.

An inquiry commission set up by the state government said in 2008 that the burning of the train was a "conspiracy".

That commission also exonerated Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the deadly religious riots that followed the blaze.

He was accused of failing to halt the violence and some opponents said he indirectly encouraged some of the Hindu rioters. But the commission dismissed these allegations.

However, Mr Modi was criticised in 2010 for his "partisan" stance by a separate Supreme Court panel which investigated the riots.

It said he showed "discriminatory attitude by not visiting riot-affected areas in Ahmedabad where a large number of Muslims were killed," according to Tehelka magazine and AFP news agency.

The inquiry commission's findings contradicted an earlier probe by retired Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee, who found that the coach fire was not deliberately started.

He concluded in 2005 that the fire began by accident.

He said there was evidence to suggest the blaze began inside the train and that it was not fire-bombed.

Source: BBC, March 1, 2011

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Afghan Officials Say Jailed Convert Is Free

Under international pressure, government officials in Kabul, Afghanistan, say they have freed an Afghan man who had been jailed since May and faced the prospect of the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity.

The release of the man, Sayed Mussa, 46, follows months of quiet diplomacy between the Afghan government and United States Embassy officials in Kabul, who along with members of Congress and other foreign embassies had sought the former aid worker's release.

Mr. Mussa, a married father of six who worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross before his arrest, was released Monday from Kabul Detention Center after prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence to go forward with the case, said Gen. Qayoum Khan, the detention center director. But there were conflicting accounts about the terms of his release. A senior prosecutor involved in the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was released only after agreeing to return to Islam.

It was also not immediately clear where he was taken or if he even remains in the country. Some of his relatives, including his wife, said they had not heard from him.

An embassy spokeswoman would not confirm his release and declined to talk about the case, saying only that the embassy continued to monitor Mr. Mussa's case and others like it.

General Khan said Mr. Mussa was released Monday and turned over to the attorney general's office.

"We got a letter from the attorney general's office which said we do not have any proof against this man and his detention needs to be removed," General Khan said. The attorney general's office did not return phone calls Thursday.

Mr. Mussa was arrested last May after a television station in Kabul broadcast images that it claimed showed Westerners baptizing Afghans and other Afghans praying at private Christian meetings. The broadcast stoked fears of proselytizing brought on by the influx of foreigners since the American-led invasion in 2001. Some lawmakers have publicly declared that converts should die.

A senior prosecutor closely involved with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said last month that the government was under heavy international pressure to release Mr. Mussa. But how to release him without upsetting hard-line conservatives in the government and among the public was presenting a challenge, the prosecutor said.

On Thursday, however, the same prosecutor said Mr. Mussa was released only after finally agreeing to return to Islam.

"Mr. Mussa said in front of everyone in high court that 'I made a mistake converting to Christianity and I want to return back to Islam,' " he said, adding that "we worked with Mr. Mussa for a long time to convince him to return back to Islam."

The prosecutor said he did not know Mr. Mussa's current location.

Mr. Mussa was one of at least two Afghans being held in cases that underscore the contradictions and limits of religious freedom in Afghanistan nine years after the end of the Taliban's rigid Islamic rule. The other, Shoaib Assadullah Musawi, who has been jailed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif since November after being accused of giving the New Testament to a friend, is still being held, a court official said.

Afghanistan's Constitution, established in 2004, guarantees that people are "free to exercise their faith." But it also leaves it open for the courts to rely on Shariah, or Islamic law, on issues like conversion. Under some interpretations of Shariah, leaving Islam is considered apostasy, an offense punishable by death.

Mr. Mussa's cousin-in-law, Said Yaseen Hashimi, said he visited Mr. Mussa at the jail on Monday but when he returned the next day he was told Mr. Mussa had been released the night before.

In a phone interview from Pakistan, Mr. Mussa's wife, whose full name is not being used out of concern for her safety, said she had not heard from her husband and did not know if he had been released.

"I am very concerned about him," she said. "I don't know how he might have spent the time in prison in this cold winter season. Even if he is released I don't know where he might be now. Or maybe he is in one of the foreign embassies for protection."

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 25, 2011

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Afghans face death penalty for converting to Christianity

The U.S. government and some international Christian organizations are lobbying the Afghan government to release two men who could be executed after being arrested on apostasy charges for converting to Christianity.

The U.S. has called on Afghan leaders to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Afghanistan has endorsed, which theoretically protects freedom of religion for invidiuals. Yet, evangelizing and converting to a non-Muslim religion are forbidden by the Afghan consitution and carry the death penalty.

According to AFP, 22-year-old Afghan Enayat is one of thousands of non-Muslims in Afghanistan who fear for their lives:

"I used to carry my bible everywhere -- I don't any more," says the baby-faced convert, using a pseudonym for fear of being identified and speaking to AFP at the home of a trusted friend, west of Kabul. "I don't want to call myself a Christian, people would think I'm immoral."

Missionaries suspected of trying to convert others to Christianity have been killed in recent years, including eight foreign medics accused by the Taliban who were shot dead in north Afghanistan in August. However, the Christian aid group they represented which had worked in the country for 45 years said it never proselytized.

The two Afghans under custody were arrested in May after a local television broadcast footage of men being baptized and reciting Christian prayers in Farsi, which triggered angry protests.

One of the men imprisoned, Musa Sayed, who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross, claimed in a letter that he has been beaten, raped and humiliated "day and night".

Source: The Examiner, January 27, 2011

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UK: Men charged with anti-gay hatred over execution leaflets

Two men in Derby are the first to be charged under new laws against stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Razwan Javed, 30, and Kabir Ahmed, 27, were accused of handing out leaflets called ‘The Death Penalty?’ outside a Derby mosque.

It reportedly said that gay people should be executed and the pair are also accused of pushing it through letterboxes.

The pair were reportedly arrested after a tip-off from a member of the public.

If convicted at a crown court, they could face up to seven years in prison or an unlimited fine. They will appear before magistrates today.

This is the first time anyone has been prosecuted for inciting hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Sue Hemming, a lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “The charges relate to the distribution of a leaflet, ‘The Death Penalty?’, outside the Jamia Mosque in Derby in July 2010 and through letterboxes during the same month.

“This is the first-ever prosecution for this offence and it is the result of close working between the Crown Prosecution Service and Derbyshire Police.”

Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: “We welcome the Attorney General’s decision to allow this prosecution to go ahead. We lobbied for a number of years for a specific law to protect gay people, matching offences against inciting racial and religious hatred.

“Materials like the leaflets posted to homes in Derby create fear and inflame hatred and violence towards gay people. We uncovered a range of similar materials during our campaign to secure much-needed legal protections in this area.”

Source: Pink News, January 28, 2011

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Egypt sentences Muslim to death for Coptic shooting

CAIRO — An Egyptian state security court on Sunday sentenced a Muslim man to death for killing six Coptic Christians and a Muslim police officer in a drive-by shooting on Coptic Christmas Eve in January 2010.

Mohamed Ahmed Hussein, 39, known as Hamam Kamouni, had been charged with the "premeditated murder" of the Christians and the police officer and with "intimidating citizens" in Nagaa Hamady in southern Egypt after mass on the eve of Coptic Christmas.

The judge said Hussein's sentence would be sent to the Grand Mufti for confirmation, a reference to Egypt's top religious authority who is called on to confirm death sentences.

The court said Hussein's two accomplices, Kurashi Abu Haggag and Hindawi Muhammed Sayyid, who were charged with aiding in the murder and possession of weapons, would be announced on February 20.

Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt's mostly Muslim population of about 80 million. Sectarian violence is rare, but disputes over issues including land rights or personal relationships occasionally erupt.

Last week a Muslim policeman was charged with shooting dead a Christian man on a train in the town of Samalut in southern Egypt and he will be tried for premeditated murder.

A New Year bombing outside a church in the port city of Alexandria killed 23 people and injured dozens in what analysts say was the worst attack on Christians in recent Egyptian history. The attack prompted protests by both Christians and Muslims.

The Nagaa Hamady shooting, in which nine Copts were injured, provoked protests by more than 1,000 local Copts.

Southern Egypt is much less developed than the capital Cairo. Nagaa Hamady, which has a large Coptic population, is about 60 km (40 miles) north of the tourist and archaeological center of Luxor.

The referral of death sentences to the Grand Mufti is a procedural step that almost always results in confirmation of the sentence.

Source: Reuters, January 16, 2011