Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog

CIA (Image via RT)

Wed March 8th, 2017

Guantánamo’s military court will reportedly call CIA witnesses to explain the Agency’s destruction of torture evidence – an act carried out in part by the new Deputy Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel.

In a one-page ruling cited by the Miami Herald, judge Air Force Col. Vance Spath authorized defense lawyers to call four witnesses to explain the CIA’s shredding of 91 videotapes depicting the experimental torture of prisoners in the Agency’s black sites.

Ms Haspel, who has not been called, was instrumental in both the torture and the shredding of the tapes – the latter of which triggered the Senate’s inquiry into the CIA’s rendition and torture program. No official has faced prosecution over either the torture itself or the destruction of the tapes. Ms Haspel was recently promoted by President Trump to the number two position at the CIA.

The court wants to hear about the tapes as part of the defense case against Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who is facing charges based on torture evidence and is likely featured in the tapes. It will call former CIA General Counsel John Rizzo and Jose Rodriguez Jr., the clandestine service chief who in 2005 ordered the destruction of tapes against Rizzo’s advice — as well as James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, psychologists who designed and implemented the interrogation techniques recorded in the videos. None of those men has ever testified in a court.

The CIA’s torture ‘guinea pig’ Abu Zubaydah was held with Al Nashiri in the CIA black site in Thailand overseen by Ms Haspel, and likely featured heavily in the tapes. Unlike al Nashiri, Abu Zubaydah has never been charged with an offense; he was waterboarded 83 times in one month before the CIA concluded that he was not a member of al Qaeda. He remains in Guantánamo after Ms Haspel reportedly sought assurances during his torture that he would “remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life.”

Reprieve attorney Shelby Sullivan Bennis said: “The CIA’s abuse of prisoners and destruction of evidence is no longer merely historical. We now have a key player in these crimes, Gina Haspel, in a top post at the Trump’s CIA. We cannot learn from history unless we know what it is. And we cannot know what Ms Haspel is capable of doing with our CIA unless we know the truth about her. This testimony will be a welcome first step towards a long-overdue public reckoning with the past and the future of the CIA.”

ENDS
Links

Reprieve website

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

4th March 2017

Since a large number of our countrymen were killed, their homes wrecked and faced varying hardships in this harsh winter due to recent heavy rainfall and avalanches in many areas of our beloved homeland.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls on the country’s businessmen, international NGOs, countries and the United Nations to deliver urgent aid to affected areas of Afghanistan on Islamic and humanitarian grounds. Similarly the leader of Islamic Emirate orders it’s Mujahideen throughout the country to provide necessary security to relief workers so they can deliver their aid with reassurance.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

05/06/1438 Hijri Lunar

14/12/1395 Hijri Solar                    04/03/2017 Gregorian

End

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

March 4th 2017

Tues 7 Mar, 2017

A landmark hearing on Britain’s Blair-era involvement in rendition has been moved into secret, after brief proceedings in an open court.

In the High Court this morning, the Government argued that central elements of a case brought by victims of a 2004 UK-US rendition should be heard in secret. The hearing followed a recent, unanimous UK Supreme Court ruling that the men’s case could proceed, after the Government had argued that the courts should not hear the case at all.

The two men, Amanatullah Ali and Yunus Rahmatullah, are challenging the Foreign Office over the UK’s involvement in their rendition. The pair were detained by the UK in Iraq, and rendered to US custody in Afghanistan where they were held without charge, trial or access to a lawyer for a decade. Both men were badly abused.

Human rights organization Reprieve can demonstrate that the detention was based on false intelligence that Mr. Ali, a Pakistani rice farmer with no ties to extremism, was mistaken for a man called Ahmad Dilshad, head of the military wing of the Sunni extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Central to the case is how ministers have been misled, and continue to mislead Parliament, concerning this false intelligence.

The request by the Government for a so-called ‘closed material procedure’ or CMP has faced criticism, as – if approved – it will mark the first time that the controversial practice has been used in a case brought by rendition victims. Reprieve, which is assisting the men, has raised fears that the Government is seeking to avoid embarrassing revelations about the cases.

Reprieve has also raised concerns that Mr. Ali was not represented by British lawyers at the hearing, so his evidence was not heard.

At today’s hearing, journalists, members of the public and lawyers from Reprieve were asked to leave the court after 45 minutes. The case proceeded behind closed doors with the judge, the Government and a ‘Special Advocate’ for Mr. Rahmatullah. The Special Advocate is not allowed to discuss the case with his client.

In legal documents presented to the court today, the Government repeated the false allegation that the men were members of LeT, but did not present any evidence to support the claims.

Under CMPs, the side opposing the Government is excluded from the courtroom, along with the press and the public, and is unable to hear or challenge evidence used against them. The measures have attracted criticism, because they hand an advantage to the Government’s lawyers – as well as a mechanism by which ministers can prevent embarrassing facts from becoming public.

Commenting, Omran Belhadi – a lawyer at Reprieve – said: “This is secrecy piled upon secrecy. The Government is trying to cover up false intelligence, riding rough-shod over long-established principles of open British justice. With a torture apologist now in the White House, it’s more important than ever that the full truth about Amanatullah’s and Yunus’ ordeal comes out. We hope the court will ultimately reject ministers’ attempts to shroud the case in secrecy.”

ENDS
Links

See also

Illegal rendition cover up continues: Government seeks secret hearing for first time in victims’ case

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/illegal-rendition-cover-continues-government-seeks-secret-hearing-first-time-victims-case/

Reprieve website

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

Post via Islamic Emirate

Time

The complex coordinated martyrdom attacks , part of the annual Omari Operations, began at around 12:30 pm local time on 3 sites inside Kabul city and lasted till around dusk time.

Martyrdom Seekers

The attack was carried out by 7 martyrdom seekers of Islamic Emirate namely Mullah Habibullah Ghaznawi, Student Alim Wardak, Mullah Muhammad Anwar Farahi, Subhanallah Laghmani, Mullah Abdul Raheem Paktiawal, Mullah Muhammad A’zam and Abdul Haq from Logar, with each armed with heavy and light weapons, explosives vests as well as grenades, and car packed with explosives.

Targets

The first target was PD6 Department, second the adjacent Recruitment Center and the third a key intelligence center used for torture located in Arzan Qeemat area of PD12.

Operation Details

Initially Mullah Habibullah Ghaznawi detonated his explosives laden truck at a point between PD6 Department and Recruitment Center such that it heavily damaged both buildings and cleared all barriers for the other martyrdom seekers to enter inside.

Following the explosion, 2 martyrdom seekers entered PD6 Department and 2 others Recruitment Center where they began shooting the hireling who were not killed in the initial powerful explosion.

As the attack was ongoing, the remaining 2 martyrdom seekers where Mullah Muhammad A’zam opened fire and killed the 3 guards, then he entered the building and set off his explosives which opened the way for the second martyrdom seeker, Hafiz Abdul Haq, to enter.

The fighting against enemy forces at all 3 sites lasted for about 6 hours.

Enemy Casualties

At all the attack sites, some 77 key enemy officers, police, army and intelligence personnel were killed and around 99 others wounded.

14 were reported killed by explosions and clearing ops in the intelligence center and up to 60 in the Recruitment Center and PD6 Department while 28 more were injured in the intelligence center and 71 at the remaining two sites.

All the Mujahideen participants were also martyred after 5 hours of heavy combat,  may Allah accept them.

Reminder

The enemy claims of preventing the martyrdom seekers from entering the intelligence building are completely false. If we observe the pictures provided of the operations, this claim will be rubbished because the explosion takes place at the location pinpointed inside the building, causing heavy losses.

Further Progress

Meanwhile as these attacks were underway in the capital of the country, Kabul, Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate managed to take completely control of Tala wa Barfak district in northern Baghlan province, killing and wounding several police and detaining 13 as well as seizing a large amount of arms, ammunition and equipment.

Mujahideen also overran 4 check posts in Laghman capital Mehtarlam, destroying 7 APCs and seizing 5 along with arms and equipment, killing and wounding several gunmen and detaining 7.

Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Zabihullah Mujahid

02/03/1438 Hijri Lunar

01/03/2017 Gregorian

Mujahid sets off explosives inside Intelligence Center

Second Mujahid entering Intelligence Center

End

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

Post by Islamic Emirate

The Afghans are a Muslim, freedom-loving and peaceful people.  They neither accept foreign aggression nor do they invade others’ land.  During the course of history, they have taken up arms only when they had been invaded by others and hence dealt them crushing blows.

Few decades ago, when the former Soviet Union dreamt of conquering Afghanistan and subjugating the Afghans, they lost control of lands which they had been ruling previously. Today, another imperialist force which considers itself as sole power of the world is flexing its muscles in a bout with the Afghan Muslims but notwithstanding that, everyone can see that due to the sacrifices of the Afghan people, the world is shifting away from uni-polar system towards a multi-polar order.

It is to be mentioned that even if today the factors of war in Afghanistan are eliminated, Afghans and the Islamic Emirate as their representative seeks peace in Afghanistan however firstly the obstacles in the way of peace should be removed, i.e. the open aggression of foreigners and the existence of an imposed regime in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the invaders and their domestic allies only raise mere slogans of peace while practically, create factors for continuation of the war, i.e. announcement of influx of foreign troops in the country and prolongation of their mission; bombardment of villages; night raid of houses; imprisonment of innocent Afghans etc. Likewise, the media is also deliberately spreading poisonous propagandas instead of providing facts and real solution of the Afghan issue. They have ignored their responsibility. Hence, it further adds fuel to the fire of war.

If someone has an intention for peace, he tries to create conducive peaceful atmosphere and removes hurdles in the way of peace. He neither creates belligerent atmosphere nor creates new factors for fighting.

The Islamic Emirate is a military and political reality of our beloved country. This reality can neither be concealed nor wished away by leveling allegations and launching poisonous propagandas against it on the behest of colonialism. Furthermore, neither overt and covert conspiracies nor tactical approaches can resolve the issue of Afghanistan.

It is vital for establishment of real peace to foremost identify hurdles in the way of peace and then remove them. All suffering Afghans should come together, think over the wicked conspiracies and objectives of colonialism and join hands with one another for obtainment of independence and establishment of an Islamic system.

End

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

Post by Islamic Emirate

Yesterday the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Nicholson, made irresponsible comments following the martyrdom of Kunduz governor, Shaheed Mullah Abdul Salam Akhund, stating:

“Salam’s death is an opportunity for change. The people of Afghanistan want peace and the Government of Afghanistan is committed to achieving peace through reconciliation.”

The Islamic Emirate – as a representative of the Mujahid Afghan nation and martyrdom-loving people of Kunduz – in response to the irrational comments of General Nicholson declares that you do not have the capacity to talk to the Mujahideen because you are invaders and you understand well that the valiant Afghan nation has always treated invaders such that their brains are first put in order then forced them out of their country in humiliation.

Read the history of the Afghans. It was these same Afghans who forced the much stronger economic and military powers of British and Soviet from their country through Jihad and might of the sword. Can you see anything by the name of Great Britain and Soviet Union on the face of this planet anymore?

The Muslim Afghan nation views you Americans with the same eye as the invading English and Soviets and with the blessing of Jihad and help of Allah, will throw you out of their motherland in a similar fashion.

We do not view the martyrdom of Mullah Abdul Salam as failure or regret but as honor and victory which has intensified the thirst for revenge of the people of Kunduz and Afghanistan. It has revealed the truthfulness of the Mujahideen and has further increased the love for Mullah Abdul Salam and his companions in the community. Understand that we are a nation that loves martyrdom in the path of Allah as you love the short life of this fleeting world.

These are not our emotions or assumptions talking but are the realities which forced over one hundred and fifty thousand fully equipped troops to kneel.

If you do not end this occupation and accept the lawful demands of the valiant Afghan nation then this nation (Allah willing) will force you out of Afghanistan as the commander of US and NATO forces with all your might and technology just as this resistance broke, deranged and forced out your most celebrated commanders and experienced generals.

Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Zabihulllah Mujahid

02/06/1438 Hijri Lunar

11/12/1395 Hijri Solar                    01/03/2017 Gregorian

End

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

Post via Islamic Emirate

KABUL, Mar. 01 – Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate have launched coordinated attacks on 3 key enemy targets inside Kabul city amid the ongoing ‘Omari Operations’ at around 12:00 pm local time today.

The first attack took place on the enemy Recruitment Center also known as Military School, beginning with use of explosions to remove obstacles followed by multiple martyrdom seekers entering the building and killing the hireling personnel busy in their studies inside.

The second attack targeted PD6 Department. It also began with use of explosive to remove barriers followed by martyrdom seekers entering and engaging the enemy personnel inside.

Later a car bomb was set off on the reinforcements inside the department, killing and wounding dozens as well as destroying a large part of the building. Mujahideen have currently cleared the second floor by killing all the gunmen and have taken up positions to engage further reinforcements.

The third attack in which explosives were used targeted an intelligence building inside 241 Qit’a (Unit), killing and wounding many gunmen as well as heavily damaging the building.

Reports say that clashes are still ongoing at all 3 sites inside Kabul with the heavily armed martyrdom seekers engaging enemy troops approaching the areas.

Martyrdom seekers directly in contact report that they have killed dozens of police, army and intelligence personnel at all 3 sites so far. The enemy is confused and in a state of shock while the martyrdom seekers are battling the hirelings with high spirits.

More details as information arrives.

Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Zabihullah Mujahid

02/03/1438 Hijri Lunar

11/12/1395 Hijri Solar               01/03/2017 Gregorian

End

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.

Post via Islamic Emirate

An American citizen, Paul Overby, went missing three years ago over the border in Waziristan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In a message send to Mashal Radio, the wife of the missing individual claimed that her husband was being held by the Mujahideen of Haqqani Sahib.

We reject this assertion. Firstly, we do not have a separate branch, organ or as the enemy describes a network under the name of Haqqani in the working framework of Islamic Emirate. The word, decisions and actions of the Emirate are one and the son of the Haqqani Sahib, the esteemed Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the deputy of the Leader of Islamic Emirate.

Second, our Mujahideen do not have a hand in the kidnapping of the missing US citizen because they do not conduct any activities in Waziristan.

If the US citizen Paul Overby were with us, we would have made it public and stated our demands just as we have shared videos of other US citizens in our detention with the media and made clear our demands.

We have previously assured the family of this individual – through private channels – that we are not holding captive their family member. We once again wish to openly declare that the US citizen Paul Overby has not been captured by our Mujahideen, neither is he in our captivity, nor are we aware of his capture and detention.

We assure the family of this missing person that if their family member was with us, we would definitely have kept them informed because detaining a person and keeping him with us in this dangerous security environment would be of no benefit for us.

All individuals held captive by us are granted all their humanitarian rights, and their health, wellbeing and contact with families are given due attention.

End

Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Zabihullah Mujahid

01/06/1438 Hijri Lunar

10/12/1395 Hijri Solar                    28/02/2017 Gregorian

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights 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”.