[Al Ahram] An Egyptian court was taken aback on Thursday after a man tortured at a Cairo protest camp by loyalists of deposed president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... changed his account of the incident.
Ahmed Hassan Mohsen, a garage attendant, was badly tortured and had his finger amputated in the vicinity of a pro-Morsi sit-in in northeast Cairo in July. Mohsen's assailants then drove him to a desert region and threw him on a freeway.
Earlier, Mohsen told Sherlocks that he was tortured by pro-Moslem Brüderbund protesters at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in after they accused him and a friend of stealing a cell phone.
In the Thursday hearing, Mohsen backed down on his statement. He instead claimed that the defendants came to his rescue and that the accusations were trumped up by a police officer, according to judicial sources.
Mohsen said a police officer forced him to accuse the defendants of torture after the policeman failed to arrest them. He did not specify, however, who the assailants were.
Several allegations of torture of anti-Brotherhood protesters and coppers were reported during the two week long pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and Giza, charges denied by Islamists. The interior ministry also stated that the bodies of torture victims were found at the sites.
Amnesia Amnesty International issued a report in August containing several testimonies from anti-Morsi protesters, who alleged they had been captured, beaten, subjected to electric shocks and stabbed by supporters of the deposed president.
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10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Nigerian Tribune] THE Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on Wednesday, struck out the motion filed by Senator Mohammed Ndume, seeking to stay his trial before the Federal High Court siting in Abuja, over his alleged link with the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect.
The development was sequel to an application brought by Ndume through his counsel, Ricky Tarfa, seeking to withdraw the motion.
It will be recalled that Ndume had appealed the ruling of Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the High Court, which admitted some exhibits against him, while the prosecution opened its case.
The panel of three justices of the appellate court, led by Justice Amir Sanusi, struck out the motion after it was withdrawn by Tarfa and adjourned till November 1.
Ndume was accused, among other charges, of sponsoring members of the Boko Haram sect.
The senator, however, denied all the charges when read to him and was admitted to bail by the trial judge at the lower court.
Ndume had approached the Court of Appeal to set aside the ruling of the trial judge, who admitted in evidence DVDs containing alleged conversation between him and front man of the Boko Haram sect, Ali Konduga.
He prayed the court to expunge the admitted evidence from the record, on the ground that the judge erred in law when he admitted non-admissible documents, which the senator described as fundamental to his case.
At the last adjourned date, his motion for stay of proceedings could not be entertained by the court, following the sudden objection to the motion brought by the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... the Conference of Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers has passed a resolution condemning the killing of people at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya and the College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State, Nigeria by suspected terrorists.
"The Conference of Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers recalls that the dignity and sanctity of human lives, as well as the imperatives of combating terrorism has always been high on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association agenda.
"It, accordingly, condemns this barbaric terrorist attacks on the peace-loving peoples of the Republic of Kenya and Nigeria.
"The conference calls on Commonwealth Parliaments yet to adopt or domesticate the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... (UN) Conventions on terrorism, particularly the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, to urgently do so."
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10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
[Al Ahram] Turkey's parliament voted on Thursday to extend by a year a mandate authorising the deployment of troops to Syria if needed after the government said the possible use of chemical weapons by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... posed a threat to Turkey. The motion, put forward by the ruling AK Party, which has a strong parliamentary majority, had been widely expected to pass despite stiff resistance from opposition parties. The current mandate is due to expire on Friday.
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10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain is still keen to pursue dialogue with local Talibs, the government's top national security adviser said Thursday, despite a spate of bloody attacks in the country's northwest.
Three bombings in the space of a week in the city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. killed more than 140 people, most of them civilians, prompting many to question a government plan to seek peace with the bad boys.
The umbrella Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) group has denied responsibility Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. for the attacks, which included a double suicide kaboom on a church, and claimed a conspiracy to thwart the talks was afoot.
Sartaj Aziz, adviser on national security and foreign affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , said talks should be given a chance.
"Despite these incidents the dialogue option should be pursued, because the Taliban are many groups and many of them have said they do want to pursue dialogue," he told news hounds.
"There are some elements who want to disrupt the dialogue but the whole purpose of the dialogue is to put an end to such incidents."
The TTP, which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Pak state since 2007, has issued stringent conditions for its participation in talks, including the release of its cadres from jail and the withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghan border.
Aziz's remarks came a day after the TTP said it would only consider a government ceasefire to be valid if it included an end to US drone strikes in the tribal areas, where it has strongholds.
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10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] Former Taliban second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, held in Pakistain, has been taken to a safe house in the violence-plagued city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. near the Afghan border, moving a step closer to starting peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, security sources said on Thursday.
Afghanistan and the United States believe Baradar holds the key to stopping the war in Afghanistan because he is influential enough to persuade his former comrades to stop fighting.
But his movements have been shrouded in secrecy since Pakistain announced his release on Sept 20. Baradar remains effectively under house arrest in Pakistain, an arrangement which could undermine his role as a peacemaker.
"Baradar was moved from one safe house in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to another, and has now been moved to Peshawar," one senior Pak defence official told Rooters.
"He has been in regular touch with his colleagues and the dialogue is on course."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss Baradar's movements with journalists, refused to give any further details.
It was unclear who Baradar would meet and where, or whether he would cross into Afghanistan to meet the Taliban or stay in Peshawar.
Another intelligence official confirmed separately that Baradar was in Peshawar, a volatile city hit by frequent attacks by the Pak Taliban, but gave no further details.
Baradar was once a close friend of the reclusive, one-eyed Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who gave him his nom de guerre, "Baradar" or "brother". He still enjoys much respect among Taliban fighters.
Baradar also belongs to the same tribe as Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and has once reached out to the Kabul government with a peace proposal.
Some are sceptical about his role as a peacemaker, with critics saying his years in detention have eroded his sway over the insurgency. There are also doubts whether real decision-makers such as Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... would agree to talk to him.
Many also believe war-hardened forces of Evil are likely to be suspicious of a man seen as close to Pak authorities.
Afghanistan, which suspects its neighbour of trying to influence its internal affairs, wants Baradar to be handed over and believes he cannot be considered released as long as he is on Pak soil.
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[Dawn] Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... has convened a multi-party conference in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. tomorrow (Friday) to discuss lawlessness in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and viable ways and means to restore durable peace in the region.
A news release issued by Al-Markaz-e-Islami, the JI provincial secretariat, on Wednesday said various political parties and civil society groups from the province had been invited to the event, where JI provincial chief Professor Ibrahim would be in the chair.
It said Awami National Party, Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Fazl, Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami and Pakistain Mohammedan League-Quaid had agreed to attend the conference, while the decision of Pakistain Mohammedan League-N was awaited.
Earlier, Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... , which leads the coalition government in the province, had announced to call a similar conference on the issue in Peshawar.
The JI release said a party delegation visited the ANP Central Secretariat and discussed the agenda of the conference with ANP parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly Sardar Hussain Babak.
It said Sardar Babak assured the delegation that his party would support every move meant for the restoration of peace in the province and adjoining tribal areas.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie was cracking himself up, but nobody else seemed to be getting the non-stop jokes... JI front man Israrullah said APC held in Islamabad last month had given mandate to the federal government to find out peaceful solution to terrorism and begin talks with the Taliban for it.
He said unfortunately, the federal government had yet to make serious efforts for peace and that a series of suicide and kabooms in Peshawar, Upper Dir and parts of tribal areas had caused a serious security crisis in the province and Fata.
Mr Israrullah said the provincial politicianship should pressure the federal government and the Taliban to begin talks for early end to the bloodshed.
He said thousands of innocent people in the province had been killed or injured in the so-called war on terrorism, while economy of the province was in ruins.
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10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday filed a rebellion complaint against Nur Misuari, the founding leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), for the deadly standoff following the attack launched by his followers in Zamboanga City in Mindanao on September 9. The PNP alleged that Misuari ordered his followers to attack and seize Zamboanga City Hall.
Aside from rebellion, the PNP has also filed a separate charge of violations of international humanitarian laws against Misuari and 82 of his followers at the Zamboanga City prosecutors office.
Included in the charge sheets were two captured MNLF leaders, identified as Misuari loyalists: commander Emer Misuari, his nephew, and commander Mistah Baladji, a woman.
The three-week standoff tied the city in knots, left more than 100 militants, soldiers, policemen and civilians dead and displaced more than 100,000 civilians now crammed into 56 temporary evacuation centers. More than 10,000 homes were razed and once-populated villages have been reduced to rubble.
Records showed this was the second rebellion complaint filed against Misuari. The first was an attack launched by Misuari loyalists in Sulu and Zamboanga City in 2001 that killed at least 100 people and injured scores of others.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah is mulling to withdraw its fighters from the neighboring country Syria if the reasons behind its intervention in battles in Damascus were resolved, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Thursday.
According to the newspaper, the leadership of Hizbullah is discussing the withdrawal of its fighter from Syria with President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... Sources told the daily that the party voiced hope that the conditions in Leb would be adequate to kick off the withdrawal process.
Suleiman said in an interview with As Safir newspaper on Thursday that he is "against the party's engagement in battles in Syria."
He stressed, however, that he is ready "to discuss with it the matter in an attempt to convince it to withdraw its fighters."
Hizbullah has dispatched fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against rebels seeking the overthrow of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... The conflict, pitting a Sunni-dominated rebel movement against Assad, has raised sectarian tensions in Leb and Lebanese Sunni fighters have also been killed while fighting alongside Syrian rebels.
Suleiman expressed hope on Friday that Hizbullah would withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately as per the Baabda declaration that calls for disassociating Leb from regional conflicts, and to maintain Leb's best interest.
The Baabda Declaration was unanimously adopted during a national dialogue session in June 2012. It calls for Leb to disassociate itself from regional crises, most notably the one in Syria.
Lebanese parties are sharply divided over the crisis in Syria as the March 8 alliance continuously expresses its support to Assad, while the March 14 camp voices its support for the popular revolt.
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10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The struggle for Syria's second city Aleppo has been locked in stalemate for months, fueling the frustration of rebels who see no way out but to doggedly battle on.
"We take a building and then lose it two or three days later, only to take it back the following week," said Abu Ahmed, whose platoon operates in the Salaheddin and Saif al-Dawla districts of the devastated city that was once Syria's commercial capital.
"There is no progress. We are not winning the war," the 42-year-old fighter grumbled as he spoke to an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound who passed the night with the platoon on the front line.
"Take this street, for example. We took it in just an hour a year ago, and since then we haven't advanced one meter (yard)."
The conflict in Syria has cost more than 115,000 lives since it erupted in March 2011 with peaceful protests that became a civil war after a harsh regime crackdown on dissent.
But the fighting came late to Aleppo.
Rebels seized parts of the northern city in July 2012 and Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... 's troops have been trying ever since to regain full control of it.
Morale is particularly low this night. One of the rebels has been seriously maimed by a sniper who shot him in the chest.
Resting his AK-47 assault rifle against the wall and taking off his combat jacket, one of Abu Ahmed's men said bluntly: "This war is wearing us down.
"The food is bad, and there's not enough of it. We can only wash a couple of times a week because we don't always have water, and the electricity comes and goes."
But it is not just everyday comforts that are lacking, but the means to wage a proper war, said Abu Ahmed, as he opens a plastic bag and empties its contents on the floor.
Two men collect the bullets up and snap them into magazines, which they shove in their jackets.
"We have to count every bullet," Abu Ahmed said.
The daily tedium of battle
"We don't have the luxury of wasting ammunition... If the army attacked now in force, we would only have enough to pull back without losing too many men."
The daily tedium of the battle is relentless.
The men move through the night's shadows, ghost-like shells of buildings on either side. Broken glass crunches under their boots.
Pop! A far-off sniper takes a shot at them, but no one is hit.
They run into a deserted building and up to the fourth floor.
There, through holes in the wall, they aim their Kalashnikovs into total darkness. Waiting for a flicker of light, a sound, a moving shadow.
And then, they make out a small group of men edging stealthily along the street.
They open fire, emptying their magazines into the darkness.
"And that's the way it is, night after night," said one of the fighters, Omar, his voice tinged with bitterness.
"The commanders keep telling us to wait, that they are preparing a plan to take Salaheddin, but all we do is fire through holes in the wall.
"I don't know what they're waiting for. We can't spend five or 10 years peering through holes in the wall and waiting for Allah to win the war for us."
Despite being disillusioned, the rebels see no alternative to carrying on the fight.
"We couldn't surrender because they would show us no mercy, and a political solution wouldn't change anything," Abu Ahmed said.
"No, the only solution must be for Assad to leave."
Hussein, a 23-year-old former student of Arab philology at the University of Aleppo, tries to explain why.
"Assad is discredited in the eyes of the people. How could we do a deal with someone who has massacred his people and now wants to negotiate to stay in power as if nothing had happened?"
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10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Dawn] Pakistain is still keen to pursue dialogue with local Talibs, the government's top national security adviser said Thursday, despite a spate of bloody attacks in the country's northwest.
Nawaz Sharif
[Dawn] 
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday filed a rebellion complaint against Nur Misuari, the founding leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), for the deadly standoff following the attack launched by his followers in Zamboanga City in Mindanao on September 9. The PNP alleged that Misuari ordered his followers to attack and seize Zamboanga City Hall.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
