“An al Qaeda handbook preaches to operatives to level charges of torture once captured, a training regime that administration officials say explains some of the charges of abuse at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp…. If captured, the manual states, ‘At the beginning of the trial … the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by state security before the judge. Complain of mistreatment while in prison’.”
Category Archives: State Oppression
Fellow musicians deny Tarik Shah planned to train jihadists
The Bronx martial arts expert busted in an alleged plot to build a secret Al Qaeda training camp is a well-known city jazz musician who has backed greats like Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter, friends said yesterday.
Tarik Shah, 42, has played bass at local clubs for years, and fellow musicians said they’ve never heard him espouse an allegiance to Osama Bin Laden.
“This man talks about music. That’s all he talks about,” said pianist Donald Smith, 61, who earlier this month played with Shah at St. Nick’s Pub in Harlem. “The only thing we know is he is a devout Muslim, loves God. He loves his family.”
New York Daily News, 1 June 2005
Last year, Tarik Shah played at a “Fighting for Peace” concert at New York’s Knitting Factory, held to honour the memory of Daniel Pearl, the US journalist killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. See here.
Obviously this was just a cunning ruse because, according to an undercover FBI agent, two weeks earlier Shah had been boasting about cutting people’s throats. See Jihad Watch, 1 June 2005
Ricin case Algerians risk torture, says Amnesty
The Algerians acquitted in the so-called ricin plot trial at the Old Bailey could undoubtedly face torture if deported to Algeria, according to an Amnesty International team just returned from there.
EU anti-terror policies breach human rights: Amnesty
An international human rights watchdog said on Tuesday, May 31, that the European Union’s awkward anti-terror policies have led to breaches of human rights. The EU launched a drive against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks and stepped it up after the Madrid train bombings 14 months ago. Muslim minorities have taken the brunt of the anti-terror measures, which include predawn raids and stop-and-search campaigns, for no reason other than being Muslims.
Liberty lost – the erosion of justice
Mariam Ali highlights the growing concern felt by Muslims in the UK about the loss of civil liberties being suffered under the government’s ‘anti-terror’ legislation, with a case study of Babar Ahmad, currently awaiting the Home Secretary’s decision on an extradition request by the US.
Muslims denounce US Koran abuse
Thousands of people across the Muslim world have rallied against the alleged abuse of the Koran by US personnel at the Guantánamo Bay military camp. Protesters in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon and Malaysia demanded the US apologise and punish those responsible.
The demonstrations came after the US military admitted some of its guards had mishandled the Muslim holy book. But the camp commander said no credible evidence had been found that the Koran had been flushed down a toilet.
General admits Qur’an errors
The Pentagon admitted last night that it had uncovered five instances of mishandling of the Qur’an at Guantánamo Bay, but it claimed that there was “no credible evidence” that a copy had ever been flushed down the toilet.
US Muslim sues over prison visit, headscarf
A Muslim woman who was ordered by male prison guards to take off her headscarf before she could visit an inmate has filed a federal lawsuit alleging her constitutional right to practice religion had been violated.
Cynthia Rhouni, 43, of Madison, says the scarf, or hijab, that always covers her head and shoulders in the presence of men shows the world she is a devout Muslim.
Rhouni’s lawsuit claims that male prison guards at the maximum-security Columbia Correctional Facility north of Madison told her rules prohibited any head covering in the visiting room. They ordered her to take off her scarf before she could see her estranged husband in 2003, the suit alleges.
FBI memo reignites Qur’an furore
Further allegations that US interrogators at Guantánamo Bay flushed copies of the Qur’an down a toilet emerged yesterday, a week after the White House denounced reports of the incidents.
Guantánamo is gulag of our time, says Amnesty
Britain and the US are betraying the cause of human rights in pursuit of their “war on terror”, Amnesty International says in its annual report published yesterday.
Irene Khan, Amnesty’s general secretary, launching the report, accused the two governments of condoning torture while trying to keep their consciences clear. Britain used the language of freedom and justice in the context of Iraq, yet insisted that the Human Rights Act did not apply to British soldiers operating there, she said.
The British government was seeking diplomatic assurances from countries, including Algeria, to which it wanted to deport people. By seeking assurances for particular cases, it was admitting that torture was entrenched in those countries and was therefore, in effect, condoning the practice, she said.
“A new agenda is in the making, with the language of freedom and justice being used to pursue policies of fear and insecurity. This includes cynical attempts to redefine and sanitise torture,” said Ms Khan.
She said the US claimed to be promoting freedom in Iraq, yet its troops had committed appalling torture and had ill-treated detainees. She described Guantánamo Bay as “the gulag of our time”.