Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog

An image allegedly of a prisoner at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad (Telegraph)

Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist and social activist, daughter of slaves who led an anti-lynching campaign in the United States in the 1890s. She is quoted as saying,

“our country’s national crime is lynching, it is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury or the unspeakable brutality of an insane mob.”

Wells’s observations ring true, torture for all it horrors is often carried out by rather more mundane individuals, carefully contemplating their actions. By giving a person the label of “monster” we are avoiding the fact that acts of calculated violence for political gain, personal pleasure or both can just as easily be carried out by the boy or girl next door, the foot soldier or the educated college student caught up in the theatre of war. To avoid acknowledging this fact is to distance ourselves from the uncomfortable reality that in certain circumstances many are capable of “crossing the line”.

Lynddie Rana England poses with naked detainee (Washington Post)

Consider Lynndie Rana England, one of eleven US military personnel convicted in 2005 by Army court martial in connection with torture and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq. An image of England posing with a naked detainee is etched on the mind of many people. However the actions of this young woman from Ashland, Kentucky were a small part of a much greater entity of institutionalized brutality that went right to top of US society and became the calling card of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).

We now know the extent to which the CIA abused those held in US custody. The Guardian quoted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights Watch as they wrote of their concerns,

“the agency’s rendition and treatment of terror suspects amounted to ‘a vast criminal conspiracy, under color of law, to commit torture and other serious crimes’”

“the lack of a full criminal investigation ‘would contribute to the notion that torture remains a permissible policy option for future administrations; undermine the ability of the US to advocate for human rights abroad; and compromise Americans’ faith in the rule of law at home’”

It is with this in mind that activist and politician Birgitta Jonsdottir is drawing attention in the Icelandic parliament this week to the revelations of former CIA analyst and case officer John Kiriakou who blew the whistle on state torture. This was not isolated incidents but carefully worded dictum, as human rights organizations claimed, a “deliberate, coordinated government program” crimes labelled as “shocking” and “corrosive to US democracy.”

Jonsdottir is highlighting the horrific abuse suffered by prisoners entrusted into the care of US authorities by presenting a “Parliamentary Resolution On Condemning Torture by the CIA post 9/11” see following link,

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/parliamentary-resolution-iceland-on-condemning-torture-by-the-cia-post-911/

It is important that there is accountability now that the CIA torture report is released as for states to indulge in such behaviour is increasing the security risk to all. The recent acts of the Islamic State (IS) which have shocked the world are in a sense copy-cat torture and killings resembling those of America and her allies, “an eye for an eye”, “like for like”. There is nothing that IS is doing that hasn’t been done before, usually on a far grander scale. We see these “tit for tat” offerings in the symbolism of the IS videos. There are carefully orchestrated scenes of hostages fearful, helpless, on their knees in the familiar orange jumpsuits synonymous with images of detainees at Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba. By its own actions the US has unleashed a wave of retaliation attacks to rival their own abuses and now civilians are very much in the firing line.

Let us not forget also the alleged role of Britain in training police in Basra, Iraq that tortured at least two civilians to death with electric drills, The Independent on Sunday reported in 2005,

Matthew Alexander, leader of an interrogations team assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006 had the following to say on torture in the Washington Post which can equally be applied to Islamic State today,

“torture and abuse cost American lives…I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq…How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me — unless you don’t count American soldiers as Americans.”

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, infamous for dehumanizing and degrading detainees

IS carrying out recent beheadings of Copts, Egypt viewed as an American ally in bombing raids that kill civilians

The US is by no means alone in its actions and we must diversify from the War on Terror to a vigorous War on Torture. Another example of state sadism can be found in Pakistan, an ally of the US that can rival its master when it comes to ingenious injuries inflicted on prisoners. Enforced disappearances, torture, extra-judicial killings and “fake encounters” often associated with the police and military lead to termination of life. Only a few lawyers are brave enough to attempt to legislate for an anti-torture bill with punitive measures for those violating the law.

Express Tribune reports that, “although torture is prohibited in the Constitution of Pakistan under Article 14 (2), police and other law enforcement agencies are still running detention and torture cells”. Bushra Khaliq, focal person for the Anti-Torture Alliance Pakistan, in a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) document released last year is reported as saying,

“with 1,300 police stations across Pakistan, it can be assumed that at least as many people are tortured every day“

States that torture lose all ethical standing and cannot then moralize to others. What is deeply disturbing is how an attitude of “anything goes” as far as detainees are concerned has permeated down to become a norm in society which is now supported by many citizens. Unfortunately what the “torture apologists” fail to grasp  is that this is now coming back to haunt them.

A new generation saying no to torture in Pakistan

In the weeks preceding the Peshawar Army School (PAS) attack where a series of incidents of torture and killing in custody occurred, families were told to come to claim the dead bodies of young relatives showing signs of physical abuse with a message not to create trouble by filing complaints. To those that monitor insurgency closely, it was obvious that Taliban groups were ready to blow on this issue. They gave repeated warnings that if this didn’t stop they would target not only police and army alleged to be involved in such activities but possibly their families too.

What has become clear over the years is that it is not only known insurgents at risk in detention centres but locals not involved with insurgency that have been rounded up in terrorist “sweeps” and incarcerated. Taliban have even contacted rights activists to say they are aware that innocent men are in custody for their actions as Taliban that have committed certain acts remain free and they don’t want others being forced to take responsibility for their actions. In one incident where a special forces officer was beheaded, they were prepared to “prove” this by giving details that could only have been known by those at the scene of the crime.

Warnings related to torture and unlawful killing must be taken seriously as Taliban previously executed 23 Frontier Corps men after earlier warnings went unheeded… full details of this can be read here,

“Pakistan:Warning letter on human rights abuses in custody was ignored, Taliban kill 23 FC men”

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/pakistan-warning-letter-on-human-rights-abuses-in-custody-was-ignored-taliban-kill-23-fc-men-in-retaliation/

Attack on police headquarters Lahore February 2015 in retaliation for prisoners “barbarically murdered” (image AFP)

Pakistan: Four examples of terrorist attacks in retaliation for state torture, unlawful killing of detainees according to reasons given by insurgents in statements and only the tip of the iceburg:-

The killing of police officer Chaudhry Aslam Khan, the killing of 23 Frontier Corps, the Peshawar Army School attack, and the Lahore police bombing yesterday can all be linked to statements where torture and or killing in custody was a major motivating factor. These incidents affect the general public who may not be a direct target but are unfortunate to be in the area of a bombing, suicide attack taking place. In the Peshawar case torture, unlawful killings were the “trigger” which pushed Tehreek-e-Taliban to chose what some term a “soft target” a school associated with the military. These are only four incidents mentioned as examples but are linked to serious loss of life.

January 2014… Killing of police officer Chaudhry Aslam Khan, statement from Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP),

“TTP Mohmand Agency claims the responsibility of FIDAI attack on CID S-P Chaudhry Aslam ,who was involved on torturing Mujahidden in prison and killed many of them while torture. This attack was to avenge killing of our friends by him.
We warn all those who torture our friends in jails, If they don’t stop their unlawful activities, we inform them that their future well be worse than Chaudhry. This attack we title with the name of our friends killed in Karachi in prison, Dr. Maqbool, Abdurrahman and all those who have been killed by forces in torture centers.”

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Mohmand Agency.

February 2014……Killing of 23 Frontier Corps men by TTP (before 2014 splinter of groups) reason given,

The FC men were executed in retaliation for killings of Taliban prisoners in state custody in Karachi and Peshawar as detailed in a written statement by Omar Khalid Khurrasani, (Mohmand TTP leader)…. attack was to avenge

“killing of Taliban prisoners in the government’s custody”

“we had urged the government to stop the killings of our comrades… [But] it has continued to do so against the backdrop of peace talks”

Communication was received from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) along with a video statement from their own media, then TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid also claimed that the Mohmand Agency killings were,

“in response to killing of 23 colleagues in state custody”

December 2015….. attack on Peshawar Army School by Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) statement reason given,

Mullah Fazlullah video transcript, giving extracts explaining reasons for attack. There were other factors mentioned in statements such as military operation Zarb-e-Asb, drone and jet attacks on civilians but torture in custody, extra judicial killings appear to have been the “trigger” for crossing over to a “soft target”. It is too easy to dismiss as propaganda without addressing root causes of violence… (translation via Pakistani source) :-

“First thing is about the army and the current situation. What the army has done everyone knows. We conveyed our message of peace through each and every forum to the government but—-you know that we are in war with you. If you are killing our people, those were unarmed, and then remember every action has its reaction. We are following the teaching of Allah otherwise we would teach you a lesson that how people are being killed.

Pakistan is already ruined neither the US nor the infidel Pakistani army can save it. What you (army) has done with our prisoners and women, you know what you have done. If you are killing our people then be brave and do everything with evidences and in front of people. Don’t kill them in fake encounters. We do everything with evidences. We have no lust for killing of people, bloodshed. But you have killed our people all around the country and released the dead bodies in different squares and termed them encounters. You have started torturing our women but we are not making it public or complaining but we complain to Allah.”

“The war will continue and we could not be eradicated with such killing of our men in fake encounters with jails and martyrdoms.” 

February 2015…..Lahore Police attack Tehreek-e-Taliban Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP JA) statement reason given,

Statement from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP JA) includes the reason for attack,

“we dedicate this operation to the shuhada who are being taken out of prisons and barbarically martyred or are hanged” (referring to Nawaz Sharif’s  “revenge hangings) Ehsanullah Ehsan (TTP JA spokesperson)

Taliban groups tend to be very clear in their warnings (if anyone is listening) and after attacks issue statements claiming responsibility and giving reasons. This is not to justify any acts of violence but to address the cause. Rather than government and military facing the alleged illegal actions of the state, they suddenly took the decision to lift the stay on the death penalty and hang those unrelated to the Peshawar incident which has only accelerated the violence.

Legal case

Prisoners claim to have been threatened with electric drills

According to award winning human rights activist Amina Masood Janjua (Defence of Human Rights) those tortured in Pakistan are often too afraid to take cases forward or know if they do, they are unlikely to get anywhere. Even to write about it is to be subjected to abuse and threats in “shoot the messenger” style attacks. There is likely to be a guilt element too in those that tortured and unlawfully killed, knowing their actions contributed to the deaths of many children. However, according to the Guardian, Salahuddin Amin, a British man from north of Luton is pursuing a legal case in the UK after claims he was questioned by MI5 following alleged torture by Pakistani intelligence officers. He claims to have been,

“beaten, whipped and deprived of sleep by officers of Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence agency, and on one occasion threatened with an electric drill.”

Another case that comes under scrutiny is that of Ammar al-Baluchi, convicted for his role in an al-Qaida plot, Bloomberg View notes;

“it’s hard to imagine that al-Baluchi’s interrogation by the Pakistanis met Geneva standards. A former senior Pakistani diplomat who spoke to me on condition of anonymity said it’s likely that al-Baluchi and other detainees mentioned in the report were tortured; threatened with torture; or told that their family members would be in danger if they did not cooperate. “After 9/11, there was enormous pressure on the Pakistani services to produce intelligence for the Americans,” this diplomat said. “I cannot believe al-Baluchi’s interrogation in 2003 would have met international standards.”

Whatever crime a person may have committed, when he is in custody of the state, there is a duty of care to protect that individual according to the law. Evidence obtained under torture should not be admissible in court. While a prison guard or intelligence officer may get their kicks from stringing up a prisoner, extracting their fingernails, or beating someone half to death, their irresponsible actions may in fact be signing a death warrant for their own family members or ordinary members of the public. Those torturing then become a severe menace to society to rival the so called “terrorists” themselves. When torture and extra judicial killing is linked to incidents like the Peshawar School attack, there is a serious problem with state institutions that must also be held accountable for their actions.

Media often collude to play this down. They publish a one liner stating that a particular group has accepted responsibility for a terrorist attack but omit the wider statement of reason. The state encourages not to report what terrorists say and websites, social media links are pulled down quickly. However some counter-terrorist analysts recognize that this pushes things further underground and messages can predict past or emerging security risks. Media are also under threat by opposing sides, insurgents slate journalists for being “biased” on the other hand, those who report insurgency in more depth are labelled as apologists no matter how peaceful they may be as individuals simply wanting to analyse and understand key incidents.

Even human rights organizations can practice a “selective” version of human rights, mindful not to upset the state and funders may not be as independent as we would like to believe. There is an automatic assumption by some that if an insurgent is reporting a rights violation is must be propaganda even as they try to document alleged civilian killings by the state in their regions. Insurgents are often more open to giving access to research and will pass on information of deaths for documentation. As TTP stated they openly claim their killings … the state on the other hand may be far from open on their own torture and terminations. Why would they be… when the next question is accountability? Only insurgents can be held to account, state killers manufacture their own private authorization for torture and murder and ensure they stay out of court.

Whether its the CIA, foreign intelligence services or military, the public ought to be asking more questions and calling for increased accountability. They may choose to live in a bubble but should bear in mind that the actions of those in power can impact heavily on the security of their own lives and those of their family and the wider community.

Links

“Torture friendly Pakistan needs effective laws”

http://www.dawn.com/news/1028174/torture-friendly-pakistan-needs-effective-laws

“Pakistan bill moved in senate to extend jurisdiction of courts to FATA and bill to prevent torture custodial deaths and custodial rape”

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/pakistan-bill-moved-in-senate-to-extend-jurisdiction-of-courts-to-fata-and-bill-to-prevent-torture-custodial-deaths-and-custodial-rape/

“Torture in Pakistan, 2014” (International Rehabilitation Council For Torture Victims)

Click to access CF%20Pakistan%20-%20PUBLIC%20EDIT%20pdf.pdf

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Guest blog by Birgitta Jonsdottir, Reykjavik, Iceland

(Tuesday, February 17th 2015)

“Poetician and activist in the Icelandic Parliament for the Pirate Party”

This is for the courageous whistleblower John Kiriakou. He was the first U.S. government official to confirm in December 2007 that waterboarding was used to interrogate Al Qaeda prisoners, which he described as torture. On October 22, 2012, Kiriakou pleaded guilty to disclosing classified information about a fellow CIA officer that connected the covert operative to a specific operation. He was the first person to pass classified information to a reporter, although the reporter did not publish the name of the operative.^[6] He was sentenced to 30 months in prison on January 25, 2013, and served his term from February 28, 2013 until 3 February 2015 at the low-security Federal correctional facility in Loretto, Pennsylvania.^[7]

Whistleblower John Kiriakou spoke out against torture (RT)

14 members of the Icelandic Parliament out of 63 from all the minority parties joined me in co-sponsoring a proposal on condemning the horrendous torture conducted by the CIA post 911.

I will speak for this proposal in the Icelandic Parliament today:

Proposal for a Parliamentary Resolution

On condemning torture carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States

Sponsors.: Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Árni Páll Árnason, Óttarr Proppé, Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, Össur Skarphéðinsson, Ögmundur Jónasson, Sigríður Ingibjörg Ingadóttir, Katrín Júlíusdóttir, Jón Þór Ólafsson, Brynhildur Pétursdóttir, Steinunn Þóra Árnadóttir, Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir, Róbert Marshall.

Alþingi condemns the harsh torture the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States has conducted as well as the US authorities for allowing it since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Explanatory memorandum:

Gul Rahman (subjected to inhumane treatment, died in a secret CIA prison, or black site, located in northern Kabul, Afghanistan)

The United States’ Senate recently published a report which exposes the brutal torture carried out under the authority of the CIA, of people who were detained in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In the report the brutal treatment of people of all ages, male and female, of various nationalities, is described. For instance, it is described how detainees were kept awake, up to a full week, sometimes in a standing position, sometimes with their arms chained above their head. Some detainees were given rectal rehydration, without medical necessity. This was carried out with excessive force, which in one instance lead to anal fissures, chronic haemorrhoids and symptomatic rectal prolapse. One detainee, Majid Khan, was administered an enema consisting of hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts and raisins which was pureed and force fed rectally. Gul Rahman was kept awake for two whole days. He was subjected to auditory overload in total darkness and isolation, made to endure cold showers and chained to a wall in a position that forced him to lie on the cold floor. Clothes had been taken away from him as punishment for being uncooperative and he only had a sweater on, naked below the waist. Due to this inhumane treatment, Gul Rahman died from hypothermia. Two detainees with broken legs, one with a sprained ankle and one with a prosthetic leg were chained in a standing position and kept awake until medical professionals concluded that they could no longer be kept standing.

Torture is among the most serious crimes and has been so defined by the international community and in international law. In the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which both Iceland and the United States are signatories to, it says in Article 7 that “[n]o one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Iceland and the United States are bound by the Covenant according to which torture is absolutely inexcusable in whatever circumstance and the international community has a great responsibility to prevent torture and to bring those to justice who are guilty of such crimes.

The sponsors of this proposal consider it a matter of great urgency that this brutal treatment of people described in the report referred to above, is condemned around the world and call for Alþingi to react quickly to condemn these atrocities, formally and publicly. Alþingi has, in the 135th parliamentary session, condemned human rights violations and inhumane treatment of detainees in the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (see case 107 from tat parliamentary session 135). With this resolution it is proposed that such a condemnation be reiterated in light of new information that has come to light with the publication of the recent Senate report.

End

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

The convoy rolls on along the dusty road

The hazy mirage-like horizon of the desert looms ahead

In the lead vehicle a young American sits, 21, fresh out of college, a US army reservist

Gripped by the promise of college fees paid, and health care subsidised -if only he would sign up

“Only one weekend a month” is what they said

“Sure, it will be fun, no one ever gets called up, no one winds up dead”

So he joined; at least this way he could go to college

Deprivation in the world’s richest nation was his recruiting Sergeant

Over a ridge, a young Iraqi waits

Crouched behind a rock, an RPG rests on his shoulder

A laser guided bomb destroyed his house, one night; burnt his family

He was out working, earning money to pay for his university education

Since the occupation began, the university has closed

Like many others he is destitute, nowhere to go

A quiet whisper from a friend of a friend

Lured him into the shady resistance movement

Stirred by an internal fire of revenge and cries of ‘burn the sky’

He traded his pen and writing pad for a keffiyeh and an RPG

The convoy drew ever closer

The tracks of the occupier’s tanks pressing down on the dusty old Sumerian sands

Weapon shouldered, ready to die a martyr, the young Iraqi forever changes two lives

Two members of the working class pitted against each other in a sick imperialist game- a game with no winners

A fiery explosion burns away the hopes and dreams of the young American … little did both men known that they had more in common than each would have thought

Both shared a common enemy- the ruling class for whose benefit wars are fought (the common people being drugged with a diet of false nationalism)

The young Iraqi dies under a hail of bullets from the surviving soldiers

Also killed are several shepherds whose animals were grazing nearby

The occupiers take out their revenge on the civilians in the area- shooting anything that moves

Millions of lives ruined just to realise a free-market imperialist’s wet dream

If only the people of the world realised that they have a common enemy: The enemy has always been and still is the ruling class

Or better still, if only wars could be fought by the bastards who instigate them: the ruling class

 ———————————————–

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Explosion hit near police headquarters, Lahore (image AFP)

Police in both Lahore, Pakistan and Logar, Afghanistan were hit hard today in attacks which left dead in 2 locations and a number of injured.

A blast went off outside a shopping plaza close to Police Lines (police headquarters) in Qila Gujar Singh area of Lahore on Tuesday. Senior police official Haider Ashraf told Al Jazeera, “a suicide bomber approached the entrance of the building and on being denied entry, detonated his explosives.” The explosion was strong enough to turn vehicles into flames and shatter nearby windows showering the streets with glass. Reports of numbers killed varied between 4 and 8 with dozens injured including a woman and child. Casualties were taken to Mayo and Ganga Ram hospitals and calls went out on Twitter for blood donors. Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan dispatched a team of 10 volunteers and 4 ambulances and carried out rescue and relief activities at the site. They also helped the injured get to hospital.

Blast set several cars alight

 Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Jamaat -ul-Ahrar (TTP JA) carried out the attack and the following statement was received from Ehsanullah Ehsan, the official spokesperson for the group as follows,

“TTPJA Jamat- Ul -Ahrar accepts the responsibility of bomb blast in police lines lahore.We dedicate this operation to the shuhada who are being taken out of prisons and barbarically martyred or are hanged. We want to make it clear to the murtad rulers that we would revenge the blood of innocent Muslims and that they should wait for more such attacks. we would carry out these attacks till the day Islamic System that is, sharia is implemented across the land. INSHALLAH”

The issue of alleged torture and extra-judicial killing has repeatedly been raised by Taliban groups and was a major factor in the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) assault on Peshawar Army School, (PAS). This followed weeks of warnings that if this did not stop army and police would be hit. The problem has become so bad that lawyers are currently working on an anti-torture bill which is has been taken to parliament. There has also been a series of “revenge hangings by the Nawaz Sharif government in retaliation for the PAS attack.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, Chairman of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) tweeted, “I strongly condemn the terrorist attack outside Police Lines.

“the terrorist incident in Lahore is the result of Punjab government’s incompetence and negligence of police”.

Fauzia Kasuri, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said, “horrible news of another blast..this time in Lahore. We stand with Pak Army in their resolve to crush terror. Allah Kaamyabi ata karay.”

Afghanistan

 Taliban attack police headquarters in Logar Province (image Warisboring.com)

Meanwhile at least 20 police were killed and 8 wounded in Logar, Afghanistan according to Provincial governor Niaz Mohamed Amiri, Al Jazeera reported,

“Din Mohammad Darwesh, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Logar province, said that Tuesday’s attack on the police headquarters in Logar was carried out by four suicide bombers.

He added said two of the attackers managed to enter the headquarters and two detonated the explosives on them in the kitchen and the dining room of the compound. The bombers were wearing police uniforms and used a police vehicle to enter the compound, he added.”

NBC reported, “Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack on his Twitter feed.”

Recently Islamic Emirate (Afghan Taliban) had complained of the brutal behaviour of Arbaki (local police) towards civilians, see,

“Afghanistan: The odd silence of the media against the brutalities of Arbakis (local police)”

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/afghanistan-the-odd-silence-of-the-media-against-the-brutalities-of-arbakis-local-police/

Taliban spokesperson Abdulkahar Balkhi tweeted another spokesman today stating that, “foreign invaders & their ‘hirelings’ had allegedly burnt 200 shops & showroom with 22 vehicles in Malmand area Helmand on Monday”. No reason was given for this act of aggression.

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Coptic Christians from Egypt kneel to await death

Islamic State gave a preview of the next graphic episode to come in the latest edition of Dabiq, a publication from their media wing. This time the 5 minute grisly video from Alhayat Media Centre showed a mass beheading on a Libyan beach. The sound of breaking waves in a deceptively tranquil setting becomes surreally transformed into the kind of bloody sea spectacle usually only seen on a Japanese whaling hunt.

The victims are Egyptian Coptic Christians allegedly captured in Libya. Men dressed in the usual orange jumpsuits contrast with the grey of the water as each is walked along “the coast of Wilyat Tarabulus by the Mediterranean Sea” accompanied by a masked jihadist in black. They are made to kneel, some man appear to be mouthing what may be good byes to a loved one, a final prayer. Then they are lowered face down on the sand and decapitated…. their life blood draining away with the waves.

The leader of the group dressed in desert fatigues (Islamic style) who narrates on the video is another “Jihadi John” figure delivering his message as follows,

A Message Signed With Blood To The Nation Of The Cross

The narrator of the video

The People of the Cross, the followers of the hostile Egyptian Church.

All praise is due to Allah. The strong and the mighty, may blessings and peace be upon the ones sent by the sword as a mercy to all the world. Oh people recently you have seen us on the hills of Sham and plains chopping of the heads that have been carrying the cross of delusion for a long time filled with spite against Islam and Muslims. Today we are in the south of Rome on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message.

All crusaders, safety for you will be only wishes, especially when you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together….until the war lays down its burdens and Jesus PBUH will descend breaking the cross, killing the swine and abolishing jizya ( a tax taken from the non-Muslims). The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.”

Life blood of the executed men drains into the sea

As the men are being beheaded the following words appear on the screen,

“they supplicate what they worship and die upon their paganism. This filthy blood is just some of what awaits you in revenge for Camelia and her sisters”

The main jihadists then points his knife into the air and states,

And we will conquer Rome with Allah’s permission the promise of our Prophet PBUH

End

An article in the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) highlighted the case of “Camelia” (mentioned in IS video) in March 2011. The reference to Camelia refers to Camelia Shehata who was a Christian woman “a priest’s wife, and ‘her sisters in faith’ whom they (Muslims) allege converted to Islam and are imprisoned by the Church and tortured to give up Islam (AINA 9-18-2010 ).” This led to demonstrations against the Egyptian Coptic Church and a case filed by a number of Muslim clerics “contesting the validity of the detention of Camelia Shehata and Wafaa Constantine in the churches of Pope Shenouda III.”

Camelia allegedly appeared on video saying she was a Christian, had not reverted and was staying in a place connected to the church of her own free will. Muslims protesters claim on the other hand that nearly 70 men, women and children “new Muslims” are being held captive and their goal is to set them free.

AINA also stated,

“the return of Camelia from the prisons of the Coptic Church was also the reason Al-Qaida gave for the massacre 58 Assyrians at “Our Lady of Deliverance” Church in Baghdad on October 31, 2010″

The full article can be read on the following link,

http://www.aina.org/news/20110329221230.htm

One man named Michael tweeted the list of names of 21 Egyptians known to be held by IS, see below, though as yet deaths have not been independently confirmed

There was widespread condemnation on hearing of the video content.  Yahoo reported,

“In a statement, Al-Azhar (a renowned centre of learning) said it had heard the news of the beheadings ‘of a group of innocent Egyptians with great sorrow and grief'”.

“Al-Azhar stresses that such barbaric action has nothing to do with any religion or human values.”

Copts in Egypt constitute the largest  Christian community in both Egypt and the Middle East.They are also the largest religious minority in the region. Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, told BBC World Service,

“It’s horrific to be dealt with in this way and the sanctity of life can be overcome and overstepped in this way. Our hearts go out to the families. These are underprivileged who have come from very poor villages just gone to work and support their families and within the rural nature that they come from, this is going to affect their homes, their families, their whole rural community and their villages, so you can imagine the depth and breadth of mourning that there is at the moment in Egypt so we pray for them.”

Full interview here,

https://soundcloud.com/bbc-world-service/egyptian-christians-beheaded

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

John Cantlie as he appears in an IS video

Last year (January 2014) I took the decision to publish a transcript from a video of the words of Bowe Bergdahl, a US prisoner with the Taliban (Afghanistan, Pakistan region). Prior to his release I had been able to establish on a high probability that he was still alive and to forward and receive messages regarding updates on his health. Perhaps in some small way this communication helped work towards his final release, not long after he was exchanged for 5 Taliban prisoners incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, see link,

“Bowe Berdahl: US soldier captured by Taliban, a reflection on his words and time for prisoner exchange”

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/bowe-bergdahl-us-soldier-captured-by-taliban-a-reflection-on-his-words-and-time-for-prisoner-exchange/

I have decided to do the same with the words of John Cantlie, British journalist held hostage by Islamic State (IS) which were published in Dabiq, the media outlet of the Islamic State.

Freedom of speech and expression has become a much debated concept depending who interprets and how it is defined. For example you have Fox News taking the decision to show the entire video of the Jordanian pilot Muath al Kasasbeh being burnt alive in a cage by IS. Then you have global demonstrations in support of Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine (whose offices were attacked in Paris) to allow publication of illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that disrespect and defile thus offending millions of Muslims.

Today February 14th 2015, human rights activists are also expressing themselves on the streets of London in the “We Stand With Shaker” campaign. It is 13 years since Shaker Aamer was first detained in Guantanamo and the very day his son Faris was born, a boy who has never seen his father, see,

“Cleared Londoner Shaker Aamer marks 13 years in Guantanamo without charge or trial.”

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/cleared-londoner-shaker-aamer-marks-13-years-in-guantanamo-without-charge-or-trial/

I also want to reflect on John Cantlie by bringing attention to his article. No doubt some will scream IS “propaganda” but then governments spout propaganda all the time. I know this from personal experience communicating with politicians due to the fact that the US and Brit governments were responsible for the unlawful deaths of my husband and brother in law.

There may be cries against my publishing words from a “terrorist” publication but they are often from those with double standards. The social media host providers never close down the CIA websites with a long record of alleged torture and global terrorism only insurgent sites.

I am publishing the Cantlie article as it appears without censorship. The only slight moderation is that I am unable to post the exact photos from Dabiq and transfer onto WordPress. Therefore I have taken the nearest photos I can find of the same people using the captions under the original images.

What I can’t know are the daily conditions of Cantlie’s imprisonment or his mental state in captivity or whether he wrote freely or under pressure.

I note that Cantlie although a captive has at least been able to go to film with IS unshackled, in the fresh air and interact with others outside his place of detention. Similarly Bergdahl was given increased movement outside his prison and certain activities after a period of time. This is more than can be said of Guantanamo detainees.

In every article there are messages… what we must ask are whose messages, what messages are being conveyed and what can we learn from those messages.

So here is the article:-

The Anger Factory

(Article originally published in Dabiq, February, 2015)

It’s Western governments’ heavy-handed tactics that generate the growing anger that will reduce Western nations to ashes…

Something interesting that I read in The Independent on 19th January was that nearly half of France opposes the publishing of offensive cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and that they believe there should be greater restrictions on the freedom of speech.

In a poll, “42 per cent of respondents express opposition to cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad,” says Zachary Davies Boren in his article. This is just after Charlie Hebdo, which normally sells around 60,000 per issue, printed seven million to cope with public demand after the Paris attacks. And what did they put on the cover? Another cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad! Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of Muslims all over the world took angrily to the streets in protest. And who knows how many others will plan out more attacks against Europe?

So it seems half of France is pleading for common sense and respect to prevail. And the other half wants to carry on with sacrilegious speech and belligerent behavior. It’s not the only example of a split in opinions following the attacks after a comedian was arrested by police for praising the operation. So in other words, it’s okay to offend Islam by making fun of the Prophet Muhammad but it’s an offense to defend Islam by expressing support for mujāhidīn.

The French attacks have highlighted the growing rage of Muslims worldwide against Europe. Just three young Muslims brought an entire country to its knees while in the Middle East a billiondollars’ worth of bombs have been dropped in the last three months alone. And yet everyone acts all surprised and outraged after a relatively small attack in a capital city occurs as a direct result.

Why us? Why here? What did we do to deserve this? Well remember the dozens of Muslim men, women, and children who were killed in Syria from coalition bombs in January alone.

“The Crusader David Cameron” (CBI)

(wording as it appears in Dabiq)

Politicians were quick to support Islam, of course, but only their kind of “Islam.” In Britain, someone called Eric Pickles wrote an open letter to the UK’s Muslim community asking for help in “dealing with this problem of radicalization.”

“The Crusader Eric Pickles” (Times)

(wording as it appears in Dabiq)

“British values are Muslim values,” he blurted, clearly having no idea what he was talking about, before hastily adding that Islam’s “message of peace and unity” makes the country better and stronger.

British leader David Cameron waded as he always does after the fact, saying, “Anyone, frankly, reading this letter, who has a problem with it, I think really has a problem. What he is saying is that British Muslims make a great contribution to our country, that what is happening in terms of extremist terror has nothing to do with the true religion of Islam. It’s being perverted by a minority who have been radicalized. Frankly, all of us have a responsibility to try and confront this radicalization, and make sure we stop young people being drawn into this poisonous, fanatical death cult that a very small minority of people have created.”

Wow.

What we have here are two people, politicians with a tremendous amount of power, who do not have the slightest idea what they’re on about. They clearly have little knowledge about Islam, the Sharī’ah, jihād, the mujāhidīn, or why Muslims are getting angrier and angrier about how the West arrogantly pushes and shoves its principles and beliefs on the rest of the world.

Crusaders deployed in the streets after the Mujahidin’s assault, (Daily Mail)

(Wording as it appears in Dabiq)

And yet, as politicians and leaders, they have the platform to spread their opinions and influence millions of others. It’s the same rubbish we hear from Obama, Hollande, Netanyahu, and the others time and again, the old “the Islamic State is not Islamic” diatribe. How Islam is great, we really like Muslims, but only “Muslims” who conform to our definition of what a “Muslim” should be, who fits neatly into the definition of a working democracy. And whoever does not conform to this new definition of “Muslim” will be persecuted.

This, my friends, is the Anger Factory.

Governments are breeding more anger every single day with their increasingly hawkish viewpoints that simply do not work in the real world. They refuse to change or adapt. Confronted with a complex, developing situation that needs to be addressed intelligently or differently, Western governments just revert to form, and use heavy-handed police tactics or support military intervention abroad when it is exactly those responses that have been making the situation worse for decades.

Their response is often violently reactionary instead of forward-thinking. Following the attacks the French government responded by flooding the streets with troops and tanks, a completely pointless move that will only raise panic levels amongst its citizens. Following the capture of a Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State, the coalition responded by launching a night of intensive airstrikes on the city of ar-Raqqah in Syria that will only prompt the mujāhidīn to shoot down more aircraft and execute more pilots.

Just as politicians failed to spot the explosive growth of the Islamic State last year, so they failed to anticipate a surge of attacks on their home soil and are completely behind the curve on addressing the situation. The horse bolted a long time ago and the governments are only now trying to slam the stable door shut. But again, that is hardly surprising since it’s their meddling that created this dangerous cocktail.

And they’d never admit to that.

Governments will happily talk with terrorist organizations near their home soil if it suits them. Britain negotiated with the IRA and Spain negotiated with ETA Basque separatists. But when it comes to talks with Islamic groups, belligerence and aggression are the only replies, and the mujāhidīn have always posed a far greater danger than any “homegrown” outfit. So how much more of a danger is the Islamic Caliphate established by these diehard fighters!

In taking a course of belligerence, governments have set themselves down a deadly path. Every bomb dropped in Syria or Iraq serves as a recruitment tool for the Islamic State. It’s an unwise course of action when there are millions of Muslims living in those very same countries who may not be slow in coming forward to the call of jihād, and one that has irrefutably led to the situation that is now blowing up in the faces both at home or abroad.

This absolute refusal of governments to see the bigger picture and take any kind of remedial action has been starkly brought home to me in my small world.

I’ve been allowed access to a number of news reports and Twitter feeds regarding my situation, and about the only thing I’m aware that the British government has done in my case is to comment pointlessly on the release of my videos.

“We are aware of the release of another video and are studying its contents,” a Foreign Office spokesman will say. Awesome. Good job. Family and friends have done far more for the other Britons and myself who were imprisoned out here. I’m even aware of an online campaign that’s been launched by some of my old friends to try and get my story represented before the government. Thanks guys, I hope it has some effect but really, asking the government to help when it’s they who set the rules in the first place may prove fruitless.

Because in my case, the British government was entirely happy to watch as an 81 year-old man made a film asking for my release from his hospital bed, then die because he didn’t want to see his youngest son executed. That was my dad. They were okay with a mother of three children making a video asking the Islamic State personally to “re-initiate direct contact,” without getting involved themselves. That was my sister. And they were fine with a woman doing multiple interviews with the media trying to drum up awareness for the situation while they did nothing. That was my fiancé, whom I hope now has long since forgotten me and moved on.

To them also I say thank you, thank you so much for your tireless efforts. But let it go. Leave it be and get on with your lives, all of you. What can the remnants of one family, smashed and emotionally exhausted after two years of searching, be expected to do by themselves while the government, so full of intelligence officials, think tanks, and pompous men in suits, sits back impassively and does nothing?

In doing so Cameron and his friends have drawn me into the Anger Factory for the suffering they’ve made my family endure. My father was getting on a bit but he wasn’t that unwell when I saw him last, and I hold the apparent lack of any political support for my family, and therefore the government, partially responsible for his death.

Incidentally, please don’t mistake this for “poor me.” I do so hate self-commentary and merely use this as an example.

If you don’t fit into one of the neat slots government has created for you, then you’ve fallen through the mesh of regular society and will either have your name on a list or be stoically ignored as the situation dictates. And it’s not just the politicians. The media too can sadly be remarkably indifferent in their approach. This makes sense when you remember that the majority of the print media are right-wing today also (in the UK, the Telegraph, Times, Daily Mail, Sunday Times, and The Sun are all batting for the Conservatives) and so all feed into the same system. Very few reports look at the bigger picture or ask questions like, “Should the government have helped more?” Or, “Can we prevent this from happening again?” Or even, “What can be done to help families in this situation?”

Of late, and sticking with my situation as the example, they simply report I have made another video and appear to make little effort to penetrate any deeper than surface level.

“John Cantlie, 43, plays the role of TV correspondent in the video walking around Mosul in what appears to be an attempt by the militants to show that life is ‘business as usual’ in the ISIS-controlled city in northern Iraq,” said Mashable on 3rd January. “Intended to show that life is carrying on as normal in the Jihadist controlled city of Mosul, it is produced in the style of a television travelogue akin to those used on holiday programmes,” said The Telegraph on 3rd January.

“Mr Cantlie says he accepted ‘long ago’ that his fate is ‘overwhelmingly likely’ to be the same as other captives,” said the Express on 4th January.

In many reports there’s little commentary or analysis, just “Cantlie does another film and talks about this and that.” It’s great that the media think my situation is worth commenting on if it makes people think beyond the obvious but surely the point of journalism – and there are some very good journalists out there – is always to go a little deeper than surface level. The specter of my death is always mentioned in news articles and I’ve read the same thing so many times that I have a sneaking suspicion the media can’t wait for me to be executed. I believe it’ll make their day if I have my head chopped off. One internet site, Newsday 24/7, was so eager for me to die they published a story about it in very bad English on 13th December. “Source within the Islamic state told Newsday 24/7 that British journalist, John Cantlie is executed by the group,” it said without, clearly, making any kind of verifiable check on such a serious statement.

Amazing. I suggest to my family that they have a hacker shut that website down for the anguish such a report must have caused them.

The one sphere which does seem to ask intelligent questions and try looking at the bigger picture is the public. The changing face of media in the last 10 years means the public don’t have to rely on the same media that they’ve become so tired of over the years, and generate their own, which is often much faster, always more interesting, and sometimes more reliable. Everyday people are more open minded to a developing world and the things that happen inside it and less controlled by the meddling of government in what they read. In many ways, social media has become a more powerful tool than “real” media, as long as you’re not hypnotized by the illusory trends that social media can sometimes wrongly convey.

These days, it’s the public who have become the news-gatherers and the journalists read what they say. “Is ISIS playing a game of cat and mouse with #JohnCantlie?” asked one tweeter on 3rd January. “Playing with and taunting their captive until they kill him? Hope not but fear so.”

“ISIS twitter accounts can’t get enough of #JohnCantlie,” said another tweeter. “It’s forgotten he is a hostage with a cut throat hanging over his head.” And my favourite comment, also tweeted on 3rd January. “Funny how an Islamic State prisoner looks happier and more free than most of us living in the west.”

Interesting, thought-provoking stuff, people asking tough questions and airing ideas that are nowhere to be seen in the mainstream media. The truth of the matter, for anyone who is interested, is that I’m making the most of my situation. Way back in September I said I would speak out against our deceitful governments for as long as the mujāhidīn allowed me to live, and now in February that still remains the case.

If the mujāhidīn ask me to shoot a video or write an article that in some small way sticks it to a political system that simply doesn’t care about its citizens, despite endlessly saying the contrary, then I jump at the chance. I’ve seen dozens of videos of Cameron saying how much he values the lives of the British public, but actions sometimes speak louder than words and that isn’t what I’ve witnessed when it comes to the families of British citizens held in Syria.

John Cantlie as he appears in IS video

It’s a strange thing, to harbor real anger. towards your government. For me it’s a new sensation, politics never touched me before because I lived blissfully under the radar. I’d never voted in my life because I figured that all politicians were, by nature, public school liars who would just say whatever needed to be said to get into power and then do exactly the same as the leader before them except wearing a different-colored tie.

Now, having been exposed first-hand to the cold indifference of politicians and how utterly ruthless they are when the chips are really down, I realize how right I was in the first instance. 1

Despite being a prisoner, I’ve been shown respect and kindness, which I haven’t seen from my own government. Even if I had the choice, could I honestly return to and live in a country that disowned the other Britons, all their families, and myself so contemptuously?

I don’t think so.

—————————————-

1 Editor’s Note: The major evil found in voting within the democratic system is not due to the false promises of the two-faced politicians, rather due to what it entails of ascribing the rights and attributes of Allah – including the right of legislation – to men. Accordingly, it is a form of major shirk. {Or do they have deities who have legislated for them a religion which Allah has not permitted? But if not for the decisive word, it would have been concluded between them. And indeed, the wrongdoers will have a painful punishment}

[Ash-Shūrā: 21].

End

Appeal… I appeal to the Islamic State as a new revert sister to free John Cantlie as I appeal to the US government to free Shaker Aamer from Guantanamo. I am not one of those that want his “head chopped off”. John has served you well in recent times presenting videos and relayed many key messages to the public. I would like to see him returned to his family…. you have the power to do this.

 “And whoever saves one life – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely”.

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

TTP team including bombers responsible for the mosque attack described as a “blessed operation”

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) have claimed responsibility for an attack on Imamia mosque today (Friday) in Hayatabad area of Peshawar which killed 20 people and injured over 50 others as Shia performed their Friday prayers. The attackers allegedly wearing police uniforms threw several grenades at worshippers who tried to tackle assailants and remove their weapons as they fired into the crowd.

DAWN media reported that,

“SSP operations Dr Mian Saeed said three suicide bombers entered the mosque while only one was able to blow himself up. Another suicide bomber was killed by security forces while the third was arrested in injured condition.”

Haq Nawaz Khan, a freelance journalist covering security issues in the northwest of Pakistan tweeted,

“Ali Hassan, 17, was with his father Qalbe Ali in the unfortunate mosque in Peshawar is missing. His father was killed” (picture of the boy, below)

Scene at mosque after the attack (DAWN)

TTP claimed the attack (in a 4 minute 12 second video) was in retaliation for the hanging of Dr Usman who once worked as a soldier in the army’s medical corps and was behind an assault on the headquarters of the Pakistan Army in 2009. Usman (also known as Mohammad Aqeel) became one of a wave of “revenge” hangings by the state following the December 16th TTP attack on Peshawar Army School (PAS). He had no involvement in that attack as he was in prison. The PAS attack was in response to Pakistan military operation Zarb -e-Asb on the Tribal Areas, drone attacks and the final “tipping point” the alleged torture and murder of detainees in custody in the weeks before assault, see following link,

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/peshawar-review-bombing-civilians-torture-and-extra-judicial-killings-major-factors-leading-to-army-school-massacre/

Human rights groups warned that a government knee-jerk reaction hanging inmates unrelated to PAS would only bring about more killings and this has proven the case.

TTP video statement

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Illustration of Shaker Aamer from the “Save Shaker” campaign

Statement from Reprieve February 13th 2015

Today [Saturday February 14] marks 13 years since the arrival of British resident Shaker Aamer at Guantanamo Bay, where he has been held without charge or trial ever since.

Mr Aamer, a father of four from London, has been cleared for release under both the Bush and Obama administrations, in a process which requires six government agencies to confirm that he poses no threat. However, he remains imprisoned in Guantanamo, despite repeated requests by the UK Government that he be returned to his family in South London.

Mr Aamer’s plight was most recently raised by David Cameron during talks at the White House in January, leading a spokesperson for President Obama to say the US would ‘prioritise’ his case. However, concerns about a lack of progress have been raised after Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel – whose signature acts as the final authorisation to release prisoners from Guantanamo – reportedly said that Mr Aamer’s file was not ‘on his desk’.

Today also marks the birthday of Mr Aamer’s youngest son, Faris, who was born on the day Mr Aamer was brought to Guantanamo Bay, and whom he has never been allowed to meet.

Commenting, Clive Stafford Smith, Director of legal charity Reprieve, which represents Mr Aamer said: “President Obama’s claim that he will ‘prioritise’ Shaker’s case rings rather hollow, since he is the most powerful person in the world and is perfectly able to put Shaker on a plane to London and his long-suffering family within 24 hours. Eight hundred years ago the Magna Carta assured us that to nobody will we ‘deny or delay justice’. Thirteen years in a military prison without charge or trial is an affront to the most basic standards of justice. The Prime Minister needs to tell Shaker’s children when their father is coming home.”

ENDS

Links

Reprieve website

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/topic/guantanamo-bay/

“On eve of 13th anniversary of Shaker’s arrival at Guantanamo renewed calls for action from Barack Obama and David Cameron” (AndyWorthington)

On Eve of 13th Anniversary of Shaker Aamer’s Arrival at Guantánamo, Renewed Calls for Action from Barack Obama and David Cameron

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Drone Victim Mohammed Saleh Qayed Taeiman, age 13 (right) who died in a drone strike in January 2015 pictured with his younger brother 2013 (NODV)

An interfaith conference consisting of 150 ministers, priests, imams, rabbis and other faith leaders gathered together to discuss Drone Warfare at Princeton Theological Seminary in late January. They spent a week discussing the impact of armed drones which they stated affected “mainly Muslims” (such as Mohammad Taiman, pictured above) and devised a statement to address this issue as follows:-

The Policy Recommendations from the Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare:

IMMEDIATELY HALT LETHAL DRONE STRIKES

The Hebrew Bible states, and the New Testament affirms, “Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:15, I Peter 3:11)

The Quran teaches, “Act justly for that is what piety demands.” (49:9)

The Sikh tradition teaches that all of humanity is one family. “The sword may only be used for self-defense or to protect life when all peaceful means have failed.” (Guru Gobind Singh, Tenth Guru of the Sikhs)

Unitarian Universalists covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

Pope Francis has said that, “War is madness” and warns that perhaps World War III has already begun, “one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction.”

We, the more than 150 religious leaders who attended the Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare at Princeton Theological Seminary, January 23-25, 2015, represent many of the world’s religions, and the Just War, Pacifist and Just Peace traditions. We are compelled to address our growing concern about the use of lethal drones by the United States and other countries.

Our concerns center on the nature of lethal drones as a weapon, namely their use in targeted killings of specific individuals most of whom are Muslims, their impact upon targeted communities, their operation by remote control, and the consequences that drones increase hostilities. After two and half days of presentations and conversation and in full awareness of the differences in our faith traditions and our beliefs about war, we have come together to issue this statement of recommendations.

1. We call on the Administration to immediately halt targeted lethal drone strikes.

2. We call on the administration to be transparent and accountable on the past use of such strikes by public disclosures including but not limited to:

1.  Acknowledging strikes conducted
2.   Accounting for victims
3.   Explaining official criteria for the “kill list”
4.  Disclose all legal justification for authorization of strikes
5.  Detailing the methods of investigating deaths
6. Disclosing the standards and mechanisms for compensating victims

3.  We call on Congress to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that has been used as a legal justification for the lethal drone program.

4. We call on the President to rescind the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency, Joint Special Operations Command, or any other government agency or contractor to use weaponized or lethal drones.

5. We call on the President and Congress to commission an independent study on the impact of lethal drones on drone operators, targeted persons and affected communities to determine the full extent of costs and consequences (including political, economic, social, psychological, racial, and religious) of the use of drones from 2001-present.

6. We call on the U.S. government to pursue a negotiated global ban on semi-autonomous and autonomous weapons systems.

7. We call on the U.S. government to press the international community to abide by and especially hold our allies accountable to the same recommendations as stated here, beginning with an immediate halt to targeted lethal drone strikes.

We call on our leaders to take us off the path of unending war by implementing these recommendations. As people of faith, we advocate the rigorous pursuit of Just Peace, based on upholding dignity and human rights for all, with resources dedicated to this alternative at a level matching that spent on the current drone warfare program.

End

Mohammad died in a lethal drone strike 26th Jan 2015 (NODV)

Pressure from community and religious leaders is valued and the US moral compass on this issue appears to be broken with indifference from government to the sufferening of civilian victims. Recently I reported on the case of Mohammed Tuaiman (age 13) who was killed in a drone attack in Yemen on 26 January in Hareeb while travelling as a passenger in a car. The strike killed him, his brother-in-law Abdullah Khalid al-Zindani and another man, see link,

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/yemen-national-organization-for-drone-victims-allege-12-year-old-child-victim-in-latest-killings-by-us/

Since then the Independent spoke to his older brother Maqded who stated that Mohammad (who had previously lost his father and another brother in a drone attack) used to dream of them. He is reported by his brother as saying,

“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.”

Last year Mohammad told the Guardian,

“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.”

Maqded recalled to the Independent, how he found his brother,

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

It will be interesting to see what response government give to the proposals from the interfaith conference and if there are any moves forward. Despite child victims  travelling from Pakistan to give evidence at Congress little seems to have changed in practice.

Saadullah was injured in a drone attack, losing both legs and an eye, 3 relatives died in a strike (BBC)

 I asked a well regarded local community leader in Pakistan (name withheld for security reasons) if he had seem any signs of military or Pakistan air force co-operating on drones? I had received a letter a few months ago alleging that several members of the Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF) were asking to be taken off “drone duty” on ethical grounds and if they refused they were being penalized over their pensions. He told me the following,

“It was 10 June 2009 morning time, my brother and 2 cousins were gone to Makeen. I was going to shop, two Pakistani jet planes came, US drone was also flying as it was a routine. It was morning time, sunlight was not fully dispersed on the ground, so planes and drone were very clear in the sky. Jet planes fly under and over the drone.. all the people with me were very excited, because we thought that perhaps government decided to take down drone but I was wrong. Jet do that for few minutes then at once go toward Makeen and drop bombs there.

I was very worried about my brother and cousins, fortunately they were safe and came back.. more than 120 people died including dozens of women and children. My cousin was for a few months psychologically disturbed. Later I got that the play of our jet planes with US drone was actually capturing their attack in the camera of drone and after that in my valley which is between Ladha and Makeen drone attacks were increased because they maybe got signal to do attacks frequently without any solid suspects proof..

I told this thing in many of my speeches and mentioned in my columns .. so madam it will be true that many officers ignore to participate in campaign there …”

Link 

Jemima Khan’s Full Documentary on Drone Attacks UNMANNED America’s Drone Wars 26th October 2013

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Guest blog from Samuel Mutter (Drone Philosophical)

Drones are a technology seemingly defined by their particular ability to reside, almost exclusively, in air-space. Unlike conventional planes, they apparently do not rely on the ground, that domain of human life, for anything apart from their first breath. Just like satellites, once launched drones can float indefinitely. This is no-longer flight. Flying is what planes and birds do; flying is defined in relation to the ground. What drones do is more akin to an orbit of the skies, a low orbit, but even orbit does not have the same level of freedom as this. Orbit is held in a trajectory restricted, even if not entirely determined, by the cosmic body about which it occurs. Though of course affected by gravity, the drone resists it with lasting success. It may very well soon be the case that drones need never come down. Even birds must return to feed their young; drones are not weighed down by the mortal necessity of reproduction, and can feed off the near-immortal energy of the sun. And satellites, though they do not require fuel to remain, do require guidance to function. The ambition for drones is to transcend even this minimal level of dependence: to become ‘autonomous’, not only in a physical but also a mental sense; to develop the capacity to make decisions based on their own perceptions. It is even proposed, by the scientist Ronald Arkin among others, that these decisions could be not only logical, but ethical, thoughtful, calculations[i].

True, robotic autonomy was predicted in many-a-sci-fi dystopia, but what was not foreseen, as far as I know, is the significance of airspace autonomy; the combination of a highly-autonomous machine and a highly-independent space. We, the corporeal human, cannot directly approach the sky without the use of another technology – a plane or a jetpack – as we might approach the land by walking, or the sea by swimming. The independence, the privacy which the sky attains from this has a clear impact upon the ability for human legal control of these environments. Thus, since the sea is comparatively unapproachable, uninhabitable, maritime law has always been more difficult to enforce than the law of the land. Similarly, the law of the skies is found to be vulnerable because, although we can enter it, we cannot inhabit it – but even more so than the seas as, whereas we can swim for minutes; hours, we can only jump for a fraction of a second.

Yet we must ask, as always, what does this idea permit or encourage? What are the effects of believing that at some point, if not already, we will not be able to control the drone or its corresponding space?

I would argue that it is a belief laced with peril. It is perilous because it leads us to the false conclusion that a certain force, a geographical-legal principle, has entirely dissolved. This principle can be most simply expressed as that narrow-minded view of the world held by maps, and demonstrated by the colonial despots who, during the era of Empire, drew arbitrary lines on them to separate one’s land from another’s. The point is that this principle has not at all dissolved, and in fact resides at the heart of the very functionality of drone warfare itself.

Geographical-Legal Exceptionality: The ‘Double Standards’ of Drone Warfare

Recently, Carol Anne Grayson has drawn attention, on her blog, to the ‘double standards’ of drone strikes with regard to the Pakistani capital Karachi:

“While [s]till NO meaningful action has been taken to tackle the US on the continued use of drones on the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)…

…It’s an entirely different attitude with drones over Karachi. The hypocrisy is beyond belief.Dawn is now reporting that security agencies want action for a complete ban on heli-cams (drone cameras) over Karachi for fear of surveillance operations by undesirables and turning small drones into explosive devices”.

To the extent that drones are regarded as autonomous and free, their movement is apparently indiscriminate, they do not care for our earthly geographies, or the legal divisions – sovereignty being the most obvious – that accompany them. There seems to be a careless equality to the drone. Particularly as the smaller quadcopters and micro-drones become cheaper and more accessible to the general public, they express a liberal individualist sense of freedom.

But this naivety leads us to pay scant attendance to the continuing inequalities of power through space. In terms of geographical-legal discriminations in the waging of drone warfare, we are usually given the bare minimum of analysis: that simple binary of a Western nation regulating drones in its own skies whilst raining down Hellfire from another’s. And even this, it is reckoned, might disappear with the proliferation of drones into the hands of ‘lone wolf’ insurgents. But of course the governments realise their hypocrisy, and they will not let its principle of discrimination dissolve so easily. As we have already seen, the threat of equality that drones pose will be countered, quashed with ever-stricter regulation: Geographical-legal regulation, like the ‘no-fly zones’ proposed in Washington after a small unarmed drone landed on the White House lawn late last month, and now, as Grayson observes, in Karachi[ii]. The response to a so-called democratising technology will, as we are gradually seeing with the internet, be an increasing proliferation of more authoritarian divisions and blockades.

The ‘double standards’ to which Grayson refers are thus geographical-legal by nature, and the case of FATA draws attention to the regional or urban/rural order by which this hypocrisy often functions. The Federally Administrated Tribal Areas are, as Shaw and Akhter have explained in detail, an exceptional space. They have, since their status as a frontier region of the British Raj in the 19^th century, and in particular the imposition of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in 1901, been constructed as a territory outside the normal legal order, a by-turn formal and discursive tradition upheld to this day by Karachi and Islamabad[iii]. It is with this concept of geographical-legal exception in mind that we should in fact regard all grants of ‘consent’ given by governments in those countries affected by US drone strikes. Because, whether a formal legal exceptionality exists as in FATA, it is nevertheless always the case that those geographies being targeted are isolated from those that give the go-ahead. In arguments that portray the whole state as victim, there is a failure to take into account the fact that, though the government may be under pressure from Washington or London, it is in turn the pressurising force in an inequitable relation of power with its own (rural) population.

I propose that a vital precursor to appreciating these continuing geographical-legal orders of dominance and exception is to banish the notion that the drone and its airspace is autonomous or free in any true sense of that word.

The False Freedom of the Liberated Being

Regardless of the potential ability of the drone to act with reference to its own ‘intelligence’, what must be remembered is that the decisions that it makes are only required because we demand them. For any of you familiar with John Rawls’s Theory of Justice[iv], it may be helpful to reflect on one of the criticisms aimed at that work. In short, Rawls argued that his theory of justice, the theory of ‘justice as fairness’, was moral, and – until he was forced to clarify his error in Political Liberalism[v] – potentially universal, because it is the system which would be chosen by a group of citizens in what he called the ‘original position’. This is a situation in which the individuals choosing the system of justice are stripped of the knowledge of their own status in the society they are deciding upon, placed behind of a ‘veil of ignorance’ as to their vested interests, so that their choice could not be unfairly influenced. However, the problem is that these beings-without-interests are not really individuals at all, and that, as empty vessels deprived of their humanity, they would have no sense of morality whatsoever. Their care-less equality is a paradox, and the only way it can be solved, the only way they would come to a decision, is if they were made to choose by whoever put them in the position in the first place: that is, none other than Rawls himself. From what Rawls envisioned as ultimate freedom, we have suddenly moved into the epitome of dictatorship, ofbeing forced to be free.

In the same way, the drone is merely forced to be autonomous. It not only remains sutured to its dictator – the human that requires it; it also, returning to the geographical-legal principle, remains dependent upon the ground for its life. Not, you understand, for its source of energy, of survival, but for its sense of purpose. Just because the drone does not touch the ground, its bombs do. They are not faecal matter, waste simply dropped; they are limbs extended, umbilical cords like those extracting nutrients from the blood of the human race in H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. And just like those fiery tendrils, the drone’s source of life; its dependence on the ground, is precisely death. Even if its gaze no-longer needs to tell the human operator what it sees, this intelligence leads ultimately – via the network of targeting – to the enforced choice of who to kill.

Though it finds it so easy to survive, the only reason that the drone exists at all is that we are so intent on our own impossible immortality – an immortality achieved, according to the foolish minds of men, out of the death of others. We have indeed invented this thing in our own image, yet not only so that it can materialise our dream of immortality in itself, but also so it may bring about, accelerate the mortality of others, ‘our enemies’, on our behalf.

Whatever the relative freedom of the drone, and the relative lawlessness of the skies, the people killed are killed on the ground, (un)certain people fell victim to the evacuation of law from (un)certain spaces; killed at the will of certain people in certain – protected, regulated, powerful – geographies. We must not let our heads escape up into the sky while our drones continue to pummel the earth.

[i] Arkin, R. ‘Ethical Robots in Warfare’. Technology Research News. 09.12.2005.

[ii] In a separate post, Grayson also discusses the White House episode.

[iii] Shaw, I. & Akhter, M. (2012). ‘The Unbearable Humanness of Drone Warfare in FATA, Pakistan. Antipode. 44(4), p.1498.

[iv] Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[v] Rawls, J. (1993). Political Liberalism. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

End

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.