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Putin, Sisi meet in bid to strengthen political, military ties

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd R) gives an AK47 rifle as a gift to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (L) during an informal dinner in honor of Putin at Cairo Tower on February 9, 2015. Anadolu.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd R) gives an AK47 rifle as a gift to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (L) during an informal dinner in honor of Putin at Cairo Tower on February 9, 2015. Anadolu.

President Vladimir Putin arrived on Monday in Egypt for a two-day visit as Russia seeks to expand its reach in the Arab world’s most populous country, amid continual domestic conflicts within the north African country.

The visit by Putin is the first to Egypt in a decade and comes after a 2011 popular uprising that ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak, whom Putin met during his previous trip in 2005.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Putin on arrival at Cairo’s international airport where the two leaders held talks for half an hour, officials said.

From the airport they proceeded to Cairo Opera House in the capital’s central district of Zamalek for a cultural evening.

Experts say Putin’s visit is also aimed at showing that he is not isolated internationally, despite the crisis in Ukraine.

“The leaders will pay special attention to ramping up trade and economic ties between the two countries,” the Kremlin said ahead of the visit.

They will hold formal talks on Tuesday and are expected to sign agreements after which Putin and Sisi will hold a joint news conference, Sisi’s office announced.

They are also expected to discuss Iraq, Syria and Libya, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Russia had hosted Sisi’s predecessor Mursi during his one-year presidency, despite categorizing the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist group” in 2003. In this context, Russia was also one of the first countries to endorse Sisi’s presidential bid last year.

Posters of Putin were put up on Cairo’s main roads greeting the Russian leader in Russian, Arabic and English.

Plans for a nuclear power plant, arms deals

In the same vein, Sisi said that Cairo and Moscow had agreed plans to jointly build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant.

A memorandum of understanding to build the facility was signed by Egyptian and Russian officials during Putin’s visit to the country.

Experts suggest during Putin’s visit military discussion and arms deal negotiations will take place by the two countries’ representatives.

The Soviet Union was the main supplier of arms to Egypt in the 1960s and early 1970s. Cooperation between the two sides dropped after Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty and Cairo began receiving generous US aid.

Sisi himself visited Russia when he was defense minister soon after ousting Mursi amid deteriorating relations with Washington, and followed it up with another trip in August 2014 as president.

At their meeting last summer at Putin’s holiday residence in Sochi, the two discussed Russia supplying weapons to Egypt.

Cairo also hosted the Russian defense and foreign ministers in November — the first such visit since the Soviet era — for discussions on an Egyptian arms purchase plan.

At the time, Russian media said the two sides were close to signing a $3-billion deal for Moscow to supply missiles and warplanes including MiG-29 fighters and attack helicopters.

However, in recent months Washington has warmed to Cairo again and resumed its annual $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt, also delivering Apache helicopter gunships to fight jihadists in Sinai.

Egypt’s military has been battling an insurgency in the region ever since it overthrew Mursi. The government declared a state of emergency in parts of North Sinai after an October 24 suicide attack near al-Arish killed 30 soldiers in the deadliest assault on security forces since Mursi’s ouster.

Militant groups claim their attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown targeting Mursi’s supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.

The Muslim Brotherhood says it is a peaceful movement but authorities accuse its members of being involved with a Sinai Peninsula-based Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since Mursi’s overthrow.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

We dream about drones, said 13-year-old Yemeni boy before his death in a CIA strike

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Mohammed Tuaiman becomes the third member of his family to be killed by what he called ‘death machines’ in the sky months after Guardian interview

‘My father was martyred by a drone’: Yemeni teenager records life months before suffering a similar fate

‘My father was martyred by a drone’: Yemeni teenager records life months before suffering a similar fate

by Chavala Madlena, Hannah Patchett & Adel Shamsan, The Guardian

A 13-year-old boy killed in Yemen last month by a CIA drone strike had told the Guardian just months earlier that he lived in constant fear of the “death machines” in the sky that had already killed his father and brother.

“I see them every day and we are scared of them,” said Mohammed Tuaiman, speaking from al-Zur village in Marib province, where he died two weeks ago.

“A lot of the kids in this area wake up from sleeping because of nightmares from them and some now have mental problems. They turned our area into hell and continuous horror, day and night, we even dream of them in our sleep.”

Much of Mohammed’s life was spent living in fear of drone strikes. In 2011 an unmanned combat drone killed his father and teenage brother as they were out herding the family’s camels.

The drone that would kill Mohammed struck on 26 January in Hareeb, about an hour from his home. The drone hit the car carrying the teenager, his brother-in-law Abdullah Khalid al-Zindani and a third man.

“I saw all the bodies completely burned, like charcoal,” Mohammed’s older brother Maqded said. “When we arrived we couldn’t do anything. We couldn’t move the bodies so we just buried them there, near the car.”

Several anonymous US government officials told Reuters that the strike had been carried out by the CIA and had killed “three men believed to be al-Qaida militants”. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last month.

Marib province has become a flashpoint in the struggle between the Houthi rebels –who have ousted the president after overrunning the capital – and the local tribes who reject the Shia group’s attempts to bring Marib under their control. Like the other families around al-Zur and throughout Marib province, the Tuaiman men have been involved in pushing back against the Houthis.

In a secretive programme carried out by the CIA in rural, isolated parts of Yemen, it is easy for confusion to surround the particulars of those killed in a drone strike. Affiliations with al-Qaida and anti-government tribal sympathies mesh and merge depending on who is attacking whom.

Maqdad said the family had been wrongly associated with al-Qaida, and family members strongly deny that Mohammed was involved in any al-Qaida or anti-Houthi fighting. “He wasn’t a member of al-Qaida. He was a kid.”

Speaking from al-Zur the day after his brother’s death, Meqdad said: “After our father died, al-Qaida came to us to offer support. But we are not with them. Al-Qaida may have claimed Mohammed now but we will do anything – go to court, whatever – in order to prove that he was not with al-Qaida.”

When the Guardian interviewed Mohammed last September, he spoke of his anger towards the US government for killing his father. “They tell us that these drones come from bases in Saudi Arabia and also from bases in the Yemeni seas and America sends them to kill terrorists, but they always kill innocent people. But we don’t know why they are killing us.

“In their eyes, we don’t deserve to live like people in the rest of the world and we don’t have feelings or emotions or cry or feel pain like all the other humans around the world.”

Mohammed’s father, Saleh Tuaiman, was killed in 2011 in a drone strike that also killed Mohammed’s teenage brother, Jalil. Saleh Tuaiman left behind three wives and 27 children.

The CIA and Pentagon were both asked to comment on whether the teenager had been confirmed as an al-Qaida militant. Both declined to comment.

Mohammed’s 27 siblings have now lost three family members in US drone strikes and may grow up with the same sense of confusion and injustice Mohammed expressed shortly before his death.

“The elders told us that it’s criminal to kill the civilians without distinguishing between terrorists and innocents and they kill just on suspicion, without hesitation.”

For Meqdad, Mohammed’s death has reignited his determination to seek out justice for his family. “We live in injustice and we want the United States to recognise these crimes against my father and my brothers. They were innocent people, we are weak, poor people, and we don’t have anything to do with this.”

However, he added: “Don’t blame us because we sympathise with al-Qaida, because they were the only people who showed their faces to us, the government ignored us, the US ignored us and didn’t compensate us. And we will go to court to prove this is wrong.”

Additional reporting by Iyad al-Qaisi in Jordan

Four Muslim faces in newly-elected Delhi Assembly

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New Delhi: Four Muslim faces were among the 67 AAP candidates who came out victorious in the Delhi Assembly polls.

Amanatullah Khan won from the Muslim-dominated Okhla constituency, defeating BJP’s Braham Singh by a record 64,532 votes.

Haji Ishraque popularly known as ‘Bhure Bhai’ emerged victorious from the Seelampur constituency in North East Delhi. He defeated BJP’s Sanjay Jain by a margin of 27,887 votes.

In the 2013 polls too, AAP had fielded a Muslim candidate from the constituency but managed fourth position only.

Matia Mahal assembly constituency saw AAP candidate Asim Ahmed Khan defeating Congress’ Shoaib Iqbal, who represented the seat consecutively five times. Khan defeated Iqbal by 26,096 votes.

Iqbal, who was earlier with JD (U), had joined Congress just ahead of the elections.

In Ballimaran, AAP candidate Imran Hussain emerged victorious with 57,118 votes. He defeated BJP’s Shayam Lal Morwal by 33,877 votes. Senior Congress leader Haroon Yusuf ended up being in the third position.

The AAP had given ticket to five Muslims in the Assembly polls, down from six in 2013.

Mustafabad is one of the three seats bagged by BJP. While Jagdish Pradhan, a non-Muslim face won the seat with 58388 votes, Congress’ Hasan Ahmed and AAP’s Mohd Yunus came second and third respectively.

Of the 673 candidates in fray for the 70-member assembly, 68 were Muslims – down from 108 in 2013 Assembly polls when the total number of contestants was 810.

(PTI)

Remembering Shahid Azmi: Can the love of justice be assassinated?

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by Arvind Narrain & Saumya Uma

Progressive lawyers, social activists and academics have invested much time in trying to puzzle out what is the progressive potential of law. Sometimes, answers to deep philosophical questions emerge from a single life. Shahid Azmi’s life  (1977-2010) exemplifies one answer to this perennial question. It was a life which took to the legal profession with the objective of using  law as a shield and tool in the quest for justice. It was also a life which was tragically cut short, when Shahid Azmi was assassinated at the age of thirty three.

Shahid entered the legal profession, emerging out of a crucible of experiences which few people have had. At the age of sixteen, in the midst of the Mumbai communal violence of 1992-93, he faced violence from the mob, courageously confronted  a policeman who was threatening to shoot a woman and thereafter did relief work in  the Muslim community. Disillusioned by the way Muslims were targeted in Mumbai 1992-93,  he then left to Kashmir with the aim of joining the militants. Unhappy with that experience, he  returned to  Mumbai.

In December 1999, he was  arrested by the Mumbai police and taken to Delhi where he was implicated in a plot to assassinate politicians including  Bal Thackeray.  He was in jail for five  years, during  which he experienced various forms of physical and mental torture as well as several months of solitary confinement. According to Shahid’s brother, Khalid Azmi, in Tihar jail, Shahid was told by one of his co-prisoners: “There are two ways in life: one is to take to the gun to assert your rights, but that is the wrong path. You can also take a pen and fight your enemies till your death. Which path you decide is in your hands.” Shahid was also encouraged by Kiran Bedi  to study.  He completed his twelfth standard as well as a  B.A. while in Tihar  jail. He was subsequently acquitted by the Supreme Court.  On his release, at the  age of twenty two, he was determined  to continue the struggle against injustice.  For this reason, he studied and completed  a course in both journalism and law.

Shahid Azmi’s journey from the Mumbai slums to courts is unique. His life in Govandi in  Mumbai, where he was raised in a lower middle-class woman-headed family with four brothers, taught him the meaning of poverty and deprivation; the communal violence in Mumbai made him conscious of the vulnerability of Muslims in a climate charged with religious fundamentalism; his experiences in the Tihar jail gave birth to a feeling,  that perhaps law was a tool in the struggle against oppression. Shahid did not have the advantage of an affluent family, a law degree from a renowned university or clientele which was passed down from other family members. He stepped into the helms of the legal profession with a baggage of disadvantages, including the fact that his Muslim identity and the history of imprisonment put him on the radar of the police for several years after his release from jail.

As a lawyer in his brief but impressive career of seven years, he represented those who were falsely accused of  terror charges by an Indian state all too willing to tar innocents with the brush of terrorism. The iconic case in Shahid’s legal career was the trial in the Mumbai terror attacks of 26 November 2008. Shahid represented Faheem Ansari who was a co-accused along with Ajmal Kasab.

Shahid’s sharpness and brilliance as a criminal lawyer was instrumental in securing the acquittal. In  Khalid’s opinion,  Shahid was able to cast reasonable doubt on the case of the prosecution that Faheem Ansari was indeed involved in the attack at all. The state’s case was that Faheem prepared the map,  went to Nepal and forwarded it to Sabauddin who forwarded it to Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) or Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the map was shown as recovered from the pocket of Abu Ismail – who was killed in the same encounter in which Ajmal Kasab was taken into custody.  Shahid’s argument was that Faheem never prepared a map, and that at the relevant time , Faheem was in Lucknow jail. Shahid highlighted to the court  that  the map which was shown as being recovered was a fresh map and did not even have folds on it. There was not a single drop of blood on it, which was most strange, if it had actually been recovered from the pocket of Abu Ismail. The map is supposed to have changed many hands, and  travelled from Nepal to Pakistan and from Pakistan via sea to Mumbai and was yet creaseless and had not become soft due to the sea’s humidity. Shahid also questioned the need for a hand-drawn map in the age of computers, as well as writings with two different inks on the panchnama – indicative of manipulation of evidence. The cross-examination of  Shahid ensured that Faheem was acquitted by the  trial court. Unfortunately Shahid was killed some months before the order of acquittal dated 3 August 2010. Both the High Court and the Supreme Court concurred with the findings of the sessions court subsequently.

Shahid represented the accused in other cases such as the Ghatkopar bus bombing case of 2002, Malegaon blast case of 2006, Aurangabad arms haul case of 2006 and Mumbai train blasts of 2006. Shahid also took up the cases of 64 suspected operatives of the Indian Mujahideen involved in the Ahmedabad terror strikes of 2008.  He argued that the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) should  be used for organized crime but not for terror cases. He argued that Section 2 (1)(e) of MCOCA which focuses on “causing insurgency” could not be justified solely on the basis of confession unless corroborated by circumstantial  evidence. The Supreme Court responded positively and stayed the trials in Malegaon blasts case, Mumbai train blasts case and Aurangabad arms haul cases.

Shahid alleged custodial torture of persons accused in the Mumbai train blasts case, in Arthur Road jail and petitioned the Bombay High Court in July 2008.  The High Court ordered an inquiry and found his allegations to be true, and held that jail superintendent Swati Sathe was responsible for supervising and directly perpetuating  the torture.  Strictures were passed against her by the court and predictably, she was transferred without loss of pay. Shahid was also successful in preventing the screening of the film ‘Black Friday’ until completion of the trial into the 1993 attacks, in order not to prejudice the mind of the public or the courts. Unfairly named as a ‘terrorist’s lawyer’, he did not confine his work to anti-terror cases, but worked for asserting the rights of the poor who were ousted when Mithi river was beautified  as well as slum dwellers whose houses were being demolished. The numerous people who sought his legal assistance and  the late hours which Shahid kept are testimony to his commitment as well as his courageous advocacy.

The words of Roy Black – an American criminal defense lawyer – were pinned on Shahid’s desk and inspired him till the day of his death. It aptly summed up the principles Shahid stood by in his life:

“By showing me injustice, he taught me to love justice. By teaching me what pain and humiliation were all about, he awakened my heart to mercy. Through these hardships I learned hard lessons. Fight against prejudice, battle the oppressors, support the underdog. Question authority, shake up the system, never be discouraged by hard times and hard people. Embrace those who are placed last, to whom even bottom looks like up. It took me some time to find my mission in life – that of a criminal defense lawyer. But that ‘school’, and that Teacher, put me on my true path. I will never be discouraged. Even thorns and thistles can teach you something, and lead to success.”.

Perhaps emblematic of the impossibility of extinguishing the ideal for which Shahid stood for is the path taken by his youngest brother Khalid. Khalid was inspired to study law by Shahid, who told him that sooner or later he would be killed and that ‘if something happens to me you should carry forward the work’. It was barely four months after Khalid completed studying law that Shahid was shot dead in his office in Kurla. The responsibility fell on Khalid to take up his brother’s cases and complete them.

The time following Shahid’s assassination was a time of fear, with many advocates unwilling to take on Shahid’s cases. However Khalid ensured that there was a continuity in his brother’s work by first appointing counsel after much difficulty, and thereafter arguing the cases himself. He  simultaneously  built a team of young and committed lawyers to carry forward  the sensitive and life-threatening work. Khalid himself is  barely thirty years of age and seems too young to discharge such an enormous responsibility.  When asked  whether he was ever afraid that he too could be killed, Khalid responded: ‘I have never felt a fear because I have nothing to lose. I have lost my brother – that means that I have lost everything.’ It is also admirable that their mother, Rehana Azmi, after losing one son, extends  consistent support to the work of the other son in the perilous path of justice, while the eldest brother, Arif Azmi, quietly backs his family.

Shahid’s story also  spoke directly to film director, Hansal Mehta and producer Anurag Kashyap, who  recently completed  a film on Shahid’s life, titled ‘Shahid’. A Shahid Azmi memorial lecture has also been commenced in February 2012. These will,  perhaps,  inspire many others to take forward the legacy of Shahid.

The question which his killers need to ponder on is – Did you kill the desire for justice by killing Shahid Azmi? Shahid’s assassination may have created an initial fear and insecurity among defence lawyers handling similar cases. But today, it has inspired numerous Muslim youth in the locality where he worked and was killed, to study law and enter the legal profession, to carry forward the ideals that Shahid stood for. This, despite the clear and imminent danger to their own lives, which they are acutely conscious of. In a manner similar to the shooting of Malala Yousufzai that has strengthened the determination of girls to access education, the killing of Shahid has given a new lease of life to his work – from within an underprivileged community of Mumbai that has long been wronged by state agencies and fundamentalist groups alike. The assassination of Shahid, instead of killing the work that he had undertaken, has only succeeded in multiplying  the quest for justice in innumerable hearts and minds.

Arvind Narrain is a lawyer with the Alternative Law Forum. Saumya Uma is an independent researcher on gender, law and human rights.

AAP win shattered myth of Modi's invincibility: Yogendra Yadav

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AAP supporters holding posters of Arvind Kejriwal after party's victory in Delhi Assembly polls on 10 Feb 2015.

AAP supporters holding posters of Arvind Kejriwal after party’s victory in Delhi Assembly polls on 10 Feb 2015.

New Delhi: AAP ideologue Yogendra Yadav said the party’s landslide win has shattered the “myth of invincibility” around Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opened up “political possibilities”.

Speaking to NDTV news channel after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 67 of the 70 seats, Yadav said Modi had turned the Delhi assembly election into a “referendum (on his government) and said the whole world is watching”.

“He launched a personal attack on Arvind Kejriwal and now he cannot simply walk away and say it is a minor election,” he said.

“Can’t say if his (Modi’s) popularity has waned, but the myth of invincibility has suddenly been shattered. The idea of a juggernaut that would roll on and on and on has been halted, temporarily, and opened up political possibilities,” he said.

By political possibilities, Yadav said, “the complete sense of invincibility (around Modi) has been removed. Now I suspect that BJP leaders would be able to say a few things to the BJP, and the kind of pressure on the media would be relaxed a bit”.

“I always believe that the way to take on Modi is not to take on the old tried and tested political formula,” he added.

Asked about the AAP government having virtually no opposition in the assembly, he acknowledged that there was the “danger of hubris” (excessive pride or self-confidence).

He said the massive mandate has placed a “serious responsibility on the party. The people of Delhi have thrust a double responsibility on us. It is more than what we had dreamt. The people will expect more of us – to deliver on promises”.

Stating that the huge mandate was “scary”, he said it would give the AAP government the “responsibility of listening to voices of dissent, especially of the 32 percent who voted for the BJP and the others, and the responsibility of proving to be the carrier of an alternative politics”.

(IANS)

'Ghar Wapsi' will stop after 15 cr people are reconverted: VHP

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Aligarh: Sadhvi Prachi Arya, a prominent Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, has said that the ‘Ghar Wapsi’ programme will continue till the fifteen crore people who, she claimed, have left the Hindu fold post Independence, are “reconverted to Hinduism”.

“The ‘Ghar Wapsi’ programme launched by some Hindutva organisations would continue until all the fifteen crore people who have left the Hindutva fold after Independence are reconverted to Hinduism,” Arya said at a convention organised by VHP at the Ramleela Grounds in the old City last night.

She also said that the Father of the Nation title to Mahatma Gandhi was “unwarranted”.

“The title of the Father of Nation to Gandhi was unwarranted because the true sacrifice for attaining freedom was carried out by others,” she said.

“The credit for India’s independence was wrongly attributed to Gandhi when it should have been given to Vir Savarkar and Bhagat Singh,” she said.

Sadhavi said the VHP would also continue its movement to ensure increase in the population of Hindus in India which had been steadily declining compared to others.

“I and BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj are receiving threats but we are not scared and would continue working for the rights of the Hindu community,” she said.

The VHP also announced that it would launch a movement for renaming Aligarh as ‘Harigarh’ which, the organisation claimed, was the city’s original name.

The convention was attended by senior BJP leaders including Lok Sabha MP Satish Gautam and city Mayor Shakuntala Bharti.

(Agencies)

Delhi loss ‘defeat’ for Modi, says Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray

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Shiv Sena-BJP

Mumbai: With BJP left badly bruised in the Delhi Assembly poll, ally Shiv Sena today added to its woes saying the outcome amounted to “defeat” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and showed that tsunami is mightier than the “Modi wave”.

“It would not be wrong to call the results a defeat for Narendra Modi. Talks had been going on about a Modi wave sweeping the country. But the people of Delhi have shown that tsunami is mightier than a wave,” Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, taking a swipe at BJP over the poll debacle.

The Sena leader, who called up AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal to congratulate him on the victory, said he would attend the oath-taking ceremony if invited.

“I spoke to (Arvind) Kejriwal today and congratulated him on this victory. I also advised him to continue to work for Delhi and not commit the mistake of resigning from the CM’s post again,” he said.

Though Shiv Sena is part of the NDA government at the Centre and BJP-led dispensation in Maharashtra, the relations between the two parties have been far from smooth since the two parted ways just ahead of the state Assembly elections last year.

Uddhav said the Sena will continue to be in the government but at the same time ensure that the benefits of government schemes reached the people.

“When we were in the Opposition, we had a responsibility towards the people of this state. After coming to power, this responsibility has only increased. It is our duty to live up to the expectations of the people. Thus, I and the Shiv Sena will ensure that schemes that are meant to benefit people, actually benefit them,” Thackeray said.

“The people of the country are the final authority. Nobody can take them lightly. The final outcome will depend on what the people of this nation want,” he said.

Despite joining the Devendra Fadnavis government weeks after it was formed after tough negotiations over ministerial berths, Sena has been critical of its handling of agrarian problems in the state and a spate of suicide by farmers.

(PTI)

"We killed Mahatma Gandhi; will kill Arvind Kejriwal too": Hindu Mahasabha leader

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New Delhi: A video has appeared online in which a Hindu Mahasabha leader one Swami Omji has threatened to shoot Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal.

“We killed Mahatma Gandhi… we will shoot down Kejriwal too,” said Swami Omji, a leader of Hindu Mahasabha and strong supporter of Narendra Modi.

Omji, who contested as an Independent candidate in the Delhi assembly elections from Palika Bazaar constituency, had openly supported BJP candidate and claimed that his intention behind contesting the election was to divide AAP and Congress votes.

Speaking to media persons before the announcement of poll results the fanatic leader with ith the attire of a ‘Sadhu’ said: “I am from Hindu Mahasabha but BJP is my party. I am also global president of Om Saiji Party. Since Asaram and Narayan Sai are in jail, the responsibility fell on my shoulders.”

Calling Kejriwal, an anti-national and traitor, the Hinduva leader also claimed that he had once barged into the house of Kejriwal and thrashed him. “…On 21st January 2014, I entered Kejriwal’s house and thrashed him.”

He went on to claim that Hindu Mahasabha had killed Mahatma Gandhi. “…Nathuram Godse was our man. We killed Mahatma Gandhi… Will kill Kejriwal too,” he said.

When a shocked reporter questioned him what did he say, Swami Omji replied: “In the future, we will try to convince anti-nationals like Kejriwal. If he doesn’t listen, we will shoot him and kill him.”

John Kiriakou: Blowing whistle on Bush-era torture 'was worth it'

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Whistleblower, who’s now serving remainder of 30-month sentence at home, told Democracy Now! that ‘entire torture program was approved by the president himself.’

CIA whisteblower John Kiriakou as depicted in artist Robert Shetterly's "Americans Who Tell the Truth" series. (Credit: Robert Shetterly)

CIA whisteblower John Kiriakou as depicted in artist Robert Shetterly’s “Americans Who Tell the Truth” series. (Credit: Robert Shetterly)

by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams

Former CIA agent John Kiriakou said Monday that the Bush-era torture program “was approved by the president himself” and that the two years he spent behind bars for blowing the whistle on that program was worth it.

Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2013 after pleading guilty to releasing the name of an officer implicated in a CIA torture program to the media and violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. He was released from federal prison last week and is serving out the remainder of his sentence at home.

He is the only government employee who has gone to jail in connection with the torture program—a fact attorney Jesselyn Radack has called “a miscarriage of justice” and which Kiriakou said makes him feel like he’s “in the Twilight Zone sometimes.”

In an interview with Democracy Now!, Kirikou said he was convinced about the reason for his imprisonment: “My case was about blowing the whistle on torture.”

He explained what led him to reveal in 2007 that “high-value detainee” Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded and tortured in numerous other ways. Kiriakou was part of the CIA team that captured Zubaydah in a house raid in Pakistan, but did not participate in his torture.

“I learned initially that he had been waterboarded in the summer of 2002, at the end of the summer of 2002. And as I said in the 2007 interview with Brian Ross, I believed what the CIA was telling us, that he was being waterboarded, it was working, and we were gathering important, actionable intelligence that was saving American lives,” Kiriakou told host Amy Goodman.

“It wasn’t until something like 2005 or 2006 that we realized that that just simply wasn’t true—he wasn’t producing any information—and that these techniques were horrific. It was in 2007, Amy, that I decided to go public. President Bush said at the time, categorically, ‘We do not torture prisoners. We are not waterboarding.’ And I knew that that was a lie. And he made it seem as though this was a rogue CIA officer who decided to pour water on people’s faces. And that simply wasn’t true.”

“Torture—the entire torture program was approved by the president himself, and it was a very carefully planned-out program. So to say that it was rogue, it was just a bald-faced lie to the American people,” Kiriakou said.

He added that the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture shows “how wrongheaded the CIA torture program was,” and because of this, some prosecutions need to be made.

“What about case officers who took the law into their own hands or who flouted the law and raped prisoners with broomsticks or carried out rectal hydration with hummus? Those were not approved interrogation techniques. Why aren’t those officers being prosecuted? I think, at the very least, that’s where we should start the prosecutions.”

That President Obama is not going to pursue prosecution of lawyers at the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department or CIA heads was understandable, he said, “But what about the CIA officers who directly violated the law, who carried out interrogations that resulted in death?” “Those people should not be above the law.” he said.

Despite the nearly two years in Loretto Prison, where he previously described people under medical care “die with terrifying frequency,” he told Democracy Now! he’d do it all again.

“What has happened since that 2007 ABC News interview is that torture has been banned in the United States. It is no longer a part of U.S. government policy. And I’m proud to have played a role in that. If that cost me 23 months of my life, well, you know what? It was worth it,” he concluded.

See more from his interview in the video below:

Bahrain shuts down News Channel that interviewed opposition figure

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Al-Arab News Channel staff are seen on duty at the editorial office in the Bahraini capital Manama (AFP Photo)

Al-Arab News Channel staff are seen on duty at the editorial office in the Bahraini capital Manama (AFP Photo)

Bahrain on Monday announced the closure of a new pan-Arab news channel, owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, which had vowed to practice “objective” journalism.

The Al-Arab News Channel, launched on February 1, was on air for only a few hours before reverting to promotional material while trying to resolve what it called “technical and administrative” issues.

“It has been decided to halt the activities of Al-Arab, the channel not having received the necessary permits,” a statement from the Bahrain Information Affairs Authority said on Monday.

Shortly after its launch on February 1, programming was interrupted after Al-Arab broadcast an interview with an opposition politician in Bahrain.

The interview with a pro-democracy advocate sparked criticism in the pro-regime Bahraini daily Akhbar al-Khaleej.

The newspaper said it learnt that Al-Arab was taken off the air for “not adhering to the norms prevalent in Gulf countries.”

In a column in the same newspaper, editor-in-chief Anwar Abdulrahman asked: “Is Al-Arab really Arab?” He condemned the channel for hosting prominent opposition figure and former member of parliament Khalil al-Marzouq, who he called “radical to the core.”

The head of media at Bahrain’s information ministry, Yousef Mohammed, said last week that “cooperation with Al-Arab’s administration is ongoing, in order to resume its broadcasts and complete necessary measures as soon as possible.”

Jamal Khashoggi, Al-Arab’s general manager, could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

Prior to the launch of Al-Arab, he told AFP the channel was “not going to take sides.”

Khashoggi said “a news channel should not have a political agenda… We should just be a news channel that provides accurate, objective information.”

Although its news programs stopped within hours of the launch, Al-Arab continued to show promotional material.

Until just after 3:00 pm on Monday, it was broadcasting a message that Al-Arab News Channel programming had been interrupted for “technical and administrative reasons, and we’ll be back soon, God willing.”

But at about 3:04 pm the promotional material stopped and the screen displayed only Al-Arab’s green and white logo.

The tiny but strategic Gulf nation has been rocked by unrest since a 2011 uprising led by its majority demanding a constitutional monarchy and more representative government.

The February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition is an active revolutionary faction which was leading daily protests and sit-ins after the eviction from Pearl Roundabout in March 2011, where Saudi backed troops violently dispersed demonstrators who have been camping on site for a month.

Saudi-led Gulf troops deployed in Bahrain on the eve of the March 2011 crackdown, manning key positions while its own security forces carried out the crackdown.

The Pearl Square roundabout and its central monument, which were a symbol of the uprising, were later razed and the site remains heavily restricted.

At least 93 people are estimated to have been killed and hundreds have been arrested and tried since peaceful protests erupted.

Political activists have been prosecuted by Bahraini authorities for attempting to voice out and expose gross human rights violations by the al-Khalifa ruling family, which has been in power for over 200 years.

Al-Arab entered a crowded field that includes the first regional broadcaster, 19-year-old Al-Jazeera which is subsidized by Qatar.

It is also a rival for Dubai-based Al-Arabiya, established in 2003 and owned by Saudi Sheikh Waleed al-Ibrahim.

Critics have accused the established broadcasters of reflecting their owners’ political views, especially during the 2011 uprisings against authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

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