[Dawn] A suicide car booming against a border police vehicle in troubled southern Afghanistan killed three border police guards, local authorities said.
Monday's attack was the second suicide kaboom in four days against border police in the area of Spin Boldak, a town near the Pakistain border in the province of Kandahar.
On Friday, a Taliban bomber targeting a senior border police officer killed 17 people and maimed 23 when he detonated his explosives in a bathhouse where men were washing before Friday prayers.
Border police chief commander Abdul Razaq said the suicide car boomer on Monday struck the border police vehicle on a road between Spin Boldak and Kandahar city.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Two coppers and one civilian were killed in a suicide kaboom in southern Kandahar province on Monday, Police officials said.
The incident happened at 11:00 am in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar when police stopped a jacket wallah in a car, who went kaboom!", Salam Ehsas, chief of 404 Maiwand Zone in Kandahar told TOLOnews.
No group including the Taliban has take responsibility.
The incident happened as last Friday 17 people including a policeman were killed and 24 others were maimed in a suicide kaboom in a bath house in Spin Boldak.
Spin Boldak is roughly 110 kilometers from Kandahar city; it sits near the border with Pakistain.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Part of the Taliban insurgency is led by the Taliban capos who were released by Afghan government and US military.
Officials confirmed to TOLOnews that Taliban capos rejoin the Taliban side right after being released from custody.
Officials said currently the released Taliban capos make bulk of challenges against foreign and Afghan troops.
Addressing cases of individuals nabbed over charges of targeting Afghan government officials and foreign troops have long been a hot issue.
After peace jirga more than dozens of prisoners were released as part of Afghan government's grinding of the peace processor.
But now it's believed that majority of gunnies pardoned by President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai in a bid to attract Death Eaters to join the grinding of the peace processor, have been making the war even more troublesome.
"With regret, a huge number of our countrymen who were pardoned and released by Islami Republic of Afghanistan in particular by President Karzai, from Bagram, Guantanamo bay and Pul-e Charkhi prisons, have resumed insurgency," Mohammad Gulab Mangal, Helmand province governor, told TOLOnews.
Mullah Abdul Qayoum Zaker, Mullah Murtaza, Mullah Rahmatullah known as Ezat and Mullah Joma Khan known as Ghaznayee are the five pardoned Taliban capos who are believed to be operating against the government in Helmand province.
"Those we had jugged before have now returned and are fighting against us. We have often seen them on the enemy side," a military commander in Helmand told TOLOnews.
US commanders also confirmed that jugged Taliban members rejoin their own side after being released.
"There has even been evidence showing the release of a number of suicide kaboom planners who were jugged by Afghan cops based on strong proof and evidence," said a US commander.
But Afghan Ministry of Defence has no information about the issue.
"Afghan army makes detentions and later gives in the detainees to national directorate of security. We are also responsible to guard prisons," said Defence Ministry Spokesperson, General Zaher Azimi.
"We keep prisoners whether sent by National Directorate of Security or foreigners, but we are not involved in the releases. It is up to justice organisations," Mr Azimi further said.
Around two years ago Mawlawi Dastgir, a Taliban capo in Badghis, was released after tribal elders negotiated with President Karzai.
After being released, Mawlawi Dastgir carried out a deadly attack against security forces that claimed a lot of lives.
Mawlawi Dastgir was later killed in a military operation, but an Afghan official said on condition of anonymity that Dastgir was set free in a cash deal.
A former member of parliament was paid $200,000 to make tribal elders urge President Karzai to release Dastgir, the official said.
"Several others including the MP had consistent meetings with the President to discuss Mawlawi Dastgir's release, because they thought his release would be good for the community," said the official.
President Karzai has been seen the only one releasing majority of thugs.
Previously it was believed that President Karzai is somewhat unaware of such cases.
"Certainly, we could say that President has acted without prior information about the case. A number of people close to Karzai could be the factor," an Afghan official told TOLOnews.
Officials at National Directorate of Security, which has crucial role in detention of key Taliban leaders, highlighted that there has been much more attention recently on careful release of individuals held by Afghan government and foreigners.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
WORLD NEWS > BROAD VALLEY IN CENTRAL ASIA BECOMES MILITANTS NEW SANCTUARY.
"Valley of the -STANS" where three former SSRS meet.
[Tolo News] A new military operation named "Omid 5" will be conducted in turbulent southern Helmand province, Isaf said on Monday.
The operation is due to begin in a few weeks and it will be led by Afghan forces, Josef Blotz, Isaf's Spokesperson, said.
The operation will be focused in Greshk district to ensure security and clear the district of roadside mines.
Mr Blotz said after the offensive comes to an end a new military base will be made in Greshk district to keep it under control.
Foreign military officials said it's expected that a massive number of US marines would take part in the operation.
"The operation is to be conducted by the marines alongside with other marines in Helmand," Blotz said.
Isaf once again expressed its support of Afghan government's peace efforts.
Blotz said peace efforts could work to decrease violence in Afghanistan.
"Taliban fighters are demonstrating they are tired of killing their fellow Afghans and are expressing confidence in the grinding of the peace processor. They are coming forward in a few provinces all around the country to renounce violence and return home with honour and dignity," he said.
Helmand, Taliban's religious and powerful stronghold in southern Afghanistan, has long been the scene of harsh bad boy attacks since the war began in 2001.
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[Tolo News] At least 15 gun-hung tough guys were killed in a joint Afghan and Nato forces operation in northern Kunduz province, local officials said on Monday.
The operation was launched at 11:00 am local time in Dasht-e-Archi district and Shah Rawan area, in which 15 gun-hung tough guys were killed including their commander Zabi Murcha, officials said.
There were no Afghan, Nato and civilian casualties in the operation, officials added.
Taliban have not yet commented about the operation.
Militants are active in more villages in this province.
Afghan and Nato forces have increased their military operations in northern Afghanistan recently.
In the past one month, more than 200 gun-hung tough guys have laid down their weapons and surrendered to government forces in Kunduz.
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Voters standing in a second day of long lines in Southern Sudan's capital sat patiently and rested against concrete walls for hours to cast ballots in an independence referendum likely to lead to the world's newest country.
Voting in the weeklong referendum began Sunday with jubilant celebrations, and most everyone agrees the vote will result in the south splitting off from the Khartoum-based north. The two sides ended a 23-year civil war in 2005 that killed some 2 million people. The peace deal called for this week's vote.
Mahmud Abubakar waited in line to vote twice. On Sunday, he said, he got in line at 8 a.m. but abandoned the queue at 1 p.m. still far from the ballot box. On Monday he got in line at 7 a.m. and cast his ballot four hours later in between ancient-looking lab tables at Juba University. He said he didn't mind waiting.
"We have suffered long enough. We want separation," Abubaker, 31, said.
Juma Salah, the head of the electoral workers at the university, said lines were much shorter Monday despite the four-hour wait. Still, two queues snaked around the chemistry building.
Southerners, who mainly define themselves as African, have long resented their underdevelopment, accusing the northern Arab-dominated government of taking their oil revenues without investing in the south.
"I'm black," voter Jenaro Kwajok Pierssio said while pinching his skin. "No unity."
Almost everyone -- including Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. who has been indicted for war crimes in the western Sudan region of Darfur -- agrees that the mainly Christian south will secede from the mainly Mohammedan north.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said here Monday that suspected Al-Qaeda bully boyz "coldly eliminated" two kidnapped Frenchies they had earlier kidnapped once Niger security forces started to pursue the kidnappers and their hostages.
Three Nigerian Gendarmes were killed in the operation on Sunday, and an officer was maimed but French forces joined the rescue attempt in a second phase of the operation that left almost all the kidnappers dead.
Some questions have been raised as to who could have killed the two hostages and there have been cases of death by friendly fire in the past. But officials here indicated that it seems the two French were victims of summary execution.
Fillon said that French authorities had weighed the risks and advantages of a rescue operation and he thanked the Niger authorities for the efforts to free the nationals, two young men aged 25.
"But the hostage takers, as soon as they saw they were being pursued, coldly eliminated the hostages, according to the first elements at my disposal, " Fillon told journalists at a New Years event at his Matignon Residence.
"Of course, the enquiry will be broadened and all the results will be communicated to the families," he affirmed.
He urged French people to remember to exercise "vigilance" while travelling in the area where the kidnappings took place and where five other French people have been held since September by the Al-Qaeda for and Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group, which has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
The same group murdered a 78-year-old French man last July after a botched rescue attempt by French and Mauritanian forces.
"French people in the Sahel zone must double up on prudence," he said, adding that La Belle France would stand up to terrorist threats.
Defence Minister Alain Juppe has flown to Niger to meet officials there on Monday and "will take a message of firmness of the French and its involvement for the safety of the expatriate community in the face of terrorism," the Prime Minister said.
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Five North Koreans were shot dead and two others wounded by North Korean border guards on the Chinese side of the border when they tried to flee the Stalinist country, a source said Sunday.
The high-level source in Changbai in the Chinese province of Jilin said the seven had left Hyesan, Yanggang Province and walked across the frozen Apnok (or Yalu) River and reached the Chinese side on Dec. 14. But five of them died instantly under intensive gunfire by North Korean border guards who had run after them and the two others were wounded and taken to the North.
North Korean border guards had never shot at defectors once they reached the Chinese side. Observers say guards must have new instructions for dealing with defectors.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION DAILY TIMES.PK > COMMUNISTS VOW TO KEEP ONE-PARTY RULE IN VIETNAM.
* WMF > RISE/ADVENT OF THE "NORTHEAST ASIA" ERA: JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AGREE TO CREATE WORLD'S LARGEST FREE-TRADE ECONOMIC ZONE, US DOLLAR REJECTED AS FUTURE FREE-TRADE ZONE'S SOLE OR PRIMARY ANCHOR CURRENCY IN FAVOR OF YUAN, EURO, + OTHER NON-US MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CURRENCIES.
#3
There was one report of Chinese border guards being horrified by the actions of NKor border guards. The Chinese had returned some NKor women, and the NKor guards immediately put large, sharpened hooks on chains through their collarbones, to lead them away.
I was reminded of the incident at the end of WWII, where US soldiers were ordered to repatriate Russian soldiers captured by the Germans to the Russian military. The Russians then took their POWs just out of eyesight, and murdered them with machine guns, on the paranoid assumption that they had been "turned".
Then they blithely asked for the next group of POWs. When the US guards refused, the Russians immediately sent a loud and threatening protest to Washington, D.C., who, unfamiliar with what had transpired, strongly ordered the US units to continue with the repatriation.
Our soldiers refused, to the man, and were threatened over it by the high command, until their commanders could finally explain what had happened. So despite the bitter protestations of the Stalinist government, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were permitted to remain in the west.
#4
China has been more cooperative in some ways. For example, North Korean border guards are under more pressure to halt people from fleeing North Korea. If you shoot escapees, there are rewards (like more food). China does not want more North Korean refugees, who often resort to illegal or semi-legal activities to survive once they arrive. So in remote areas of the border (now easily crossed over frozen rivers), North Korean border guards are allowed to pursue escapees into China, kill them, and drag the bodies back to North Korea (and collect the food bonus). Hunting has been good this year.
http://strategypage.com/qnd/korea/articles/20110111.aspx?comments=Y
Posted by: George Hupaviger4591 ||
01/11/2011 12:45 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] The Basque separatist group ETA has declared a permanent ceasefire after more than three decades of fighting for a homeland independent of Spain. The group announced the truce in a statement published on the website of the Basque-language newspaper Gara on Monday.
"ETA has decided to declare a permanent and general ceasefire which will be verifiable by the international community," the group said.
"This is ETA's firm commitment towards a process to achieve a lasting resolution and towards an end to the armed confrontation. It is time to act with historic responsibility. ETA calls upon those governing Spain and La Belle France to end all repressive measures and to leave aside for once and for all their position of denial towards the Basque Country," it said.
The group made no mention of disarming or dissolving the organisation, which are key demands of the Spanish government.
Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Spain's deputy prime minister, rejected the ceasefire, saying it did not go far enough.
Guy Hedgecoe, editor of the news website Qorreo.com in Madrid, told Al Jizz the announcement is a significant development, but that people in Spain are sceptical.
"We have seen ceasefires before, the most recent was in 2006," he said. "The reason people might be a little cautious today despite this announcement is that they'll look back to 2006 when ETA announced their ceasefire then.
"They unilaterally ended that one by planting a bomb in Madrid-Barajas airport, which killed two people. But seeing the fact that they've said this is permanent and internationally verifiable by outside observers is encouraging."
ETA has been fighting for a separate homeland for Basque-speaking people in northern Spain and southwestern La Belle France for more than three decades. It is considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the US. It has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s.
The group had been pressed for a change in strategy by some members currently serving prison terms for violent acts.
Hedgecoe told Al Jizz that Monday's announcement was triggered by a great deal of pressure on the group to declare a ceasefire in recent months, including from its own political wing.
"They've been publicly pressurising ETA to move in the direction of a peaceful solution and to end its violent campaign," said Hedgecoe.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Cheering fanatical islamists crowds have gathered in recent days to support the bung-hole assassin who riddled the governor of Punjab with 26 bullets and to praise his attack -- carried out in the name of the Prophet Muhammad may bees pee upon him -- as an act of heroism. To the surprise of many, chief among them have been Pakistan's young lawyers, once seen wrongly
as a force for democracy.
Their energetic campaign on behalf of the killer has caught the government flat-footed and dismayed friends and supporters of the slain politician, Salman Taseer, a real hero in a hard country
an outspoken proponent of liberalism who had challenged the nation's strict blasphemy laws. Brave soul. rest in peace. wish he lived.
It has also confused many clueless western liberals in the broader public and observers abroad, who expected to see a firm state prosecution of the assassin.
Instead, before his court appearances, the lawyers showered rose petals over the confessed killer, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a member of an elite police group who had been assigned to guard the governor, but who instead turned his gun on him.
It may seem a stark turnabout if you had no idea what was going on
for a group that just a few years ago looked like the vanguard of a democracy movement. They waged months of protests in 2007 and 2008 to challenge Pakistan's military dictator after he unlawfully removed the chief justice. military dictators take over in Pakistan to repress the venom spittling holy men.
Washington has poured billions of dollars into the Pakistani military to combat terrorism, but has long neglected a civilian effort to counter the inexorable pull of conservative Islam. didn't know that was the job of US taxpayers and their representatives... how about just cutting off the aid until they play ball?
By now the conservatives have entered nearly every part of Pakistani society, even the rank-and-file security forces, as the assassination showed. The military, in fact, has been conspicuously silent about the killing.
#1
Anon is right. For all the blood and wealth we have poured into Iraq and Afgan; not to mention Pak; what have we gotten? Add to this the utterly misguided energy policy of the last 40 years making us more and more dependent on idiot dictators. Our foreign policy seems to be either non-existent or insane.
I would propose that we unilaterally withdraw from Iraq, Afgan this year (as quickly as we can do it safely for our troops). I also propose we draw down the Army by 1/3, but leave the Navy, Marines, and Air Force about the same. Yes, this is partially isolationist, but those 3 forces can provide force projection without long-term commitments.
I was for the Iraq and Afgan wars up until very recently, but enough!
#2
Forgot; please cut aid to Pak, Egypt and Palestine. Also, cut aid and assistance to any country not working with us. And, cut our UN dues to that of the average of every other country.
#3
Common sense dictates that the US at long last, support Secularism in Pakistan, and encourage a scorched earth policy against the Waziri, Pashto and Balochi jihadis. You can't solve Afghanistan without dealing with the islamonazi vermin.
The viral parts of Afghanistan should have been nuked on Sept. 12, 2001. Protect the Northeners, but scrap nation-building. Nation-destruction is of the essence.
He may (or may not) have acted alone, but plenty of those around him knew his plans and approved... including those on his team charged with stopping such things, as he was also.
[Asharq al-Aswat] The bodyguard behind Pakistain's most high-profile political liquidation in three years has confessed that he acted alone in the shooting of governor Salman Taseer, police said.
Police commando Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who was led away smiling on Tuesday after gunning down his boss outside an Islamabad coffee shop, appeared in court for a remand hearing following his official confession.
He has said he killed in the name of religion because the governor of Punjab province wanted to reform controversial blasphemy laws.
"He has recorded his confessional statement for the murder... in which he said that he killed Salman Taseer on his own and there was no involvement of any Islamic or orc organisation," senior police official Haroon Joya told AFP.
Members of the main ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP), to which Punjab provincial governor Taseer belonged, had suggested that his killing was part of a wider plot, and slammed security failures that led to his death.
Questions have been asked about why no policeman or guard apparently made an attempt to overpower the 26-year-old gunman.
Qadri was not due in court until Tuesday, but officials said he was brought to a closed hearing in Rawalpindi a day early after officially confessing to the crime, infuriating defence lawyers who said they were not invited.
"The move was to avoid arguments from the defence," defence lawyer Malik Waheed Anjum told AFP.
"None of our lawyers could attend the court because we didn't know about the proceedings."
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces arrested around 10,000 wanted persons during 2010, while 1,826 policemen were killed and 3,067 others were wounded in the same year, according to local police chief.
Police forces have realized several achievements during 2010, including the arrest of 9,571 wanted men, and freeing 43 kidnapped persons, General Abdulhussein al-Shemri said during the festivity organized by the Diala police department.
There are 21,000 policemen in Diala police working in various departments, he added, pointing out that 1,826 cops were killed and 3,076 were wounded in 2010.
Baaquba, the capital of Diala, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Arm forces killed a wanted man while attempting to arrest him in west of Mosul, and arrested seven more in southeast of the city, according to an army source.
A force from the 3rd division of the Iraqi army killed this afternoon a wanted man in al-Baaj district, west of Mosul, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, explaining that the man tried to resist the force using a hand grenade but they showered him with bullets.
Another army force from the 2nd division detained seen wanted persons in al-Namroud district, southeast of Mosul, he added.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Israeli warplanes launched twin air strikes on the Gazoo Strip overnight in response to rocket and mortar fire from the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-controlled territory, an army front man said on Monday.
The strikes targeted "centres of terrorist activities, which have been hit", said the front man, referring to projectiles fired from Gazoo over the weekend.
Israel considers the Hamas movement as the only organisation responsible for the firing of the missiles "even if it does not claim responsibility," said the front man.
In December 2008, Israel launched its devastating "Operation Cast Lead" into the Gazoo Strip in response to rocket and mortar fire.
The 22-day war, which ended in a ceasefire on January 18, 2009, killed 1,400 Paleostinians, mostly civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.
In its wake the number of Paleostinian attacks dropped significantly, although 230 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel during 2010, according to army figures.
Right wingers in the Israeli government called on Sunday for tough military action against Gazoosnuffies after a violent weekend on Israel's border with the Paleostinian coastal enclave.
"The government must consider afresh a policy of zero tolerance, exert a heavy price, not let this situation deteriorate," National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told journalists at the weekly cabinet meeting.
"It needs to stop," added Landau, a veteran hawk from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.
The military said two rockets had slammed into southern Israel on Sunday, one shortly after midnight and a second later in the morning, bringing the number of rockets and mortar rounds fired across the border this year to 20.
On Saturday, three people on an Israeli kibbutz were maimed, two of them seriously, by mortar fire from the Gazoo Strip, for which the beturbanned goon group Islamic Jihad grabbed credit.
That followed a border firefight between snuffies and Israeli troops on Friday in which an Israeli soldier was killed by so-called friendly fire.
Israel has so far responded to nearly every instance of projectile fire with air strikes on the Gazoo Strip.
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01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Just both sides practicing for a future Paleostinian state. Nothing to see here. Move along.
A paramilitary ranger was gunned down by terrorists militants early on Monday in Narathiwat province, police said.
The attack occurred about 1 a.m. when Hamadmaruwan Awae, 33, of the 45th Rangers Regiment, was going by motorcycle from his house to go on duty at a post.
Hamadmurawan was followed by six terrorists militants on three motorcycles. Two of the pillion riders, one armed with an M16 and another an AK47 rifle, shot at him, killing him instantly.
The attackers took one 9mm pistol from Hamadmurawan before fleeing the scene.
TEHRAN - An Iranian human rights lawyer who has worked with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, has been jailed for 11 years for actions deemed detrimental to national security, the activists lawyer said on Monday.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has worked to defend people accused of political crimes, was arrested in September and charged with undermining national security.
My client has been handed an 11-year compulsory prison term, banned from practising law for 20 years and given a 20-year ban on leaving the country, Mahnaz Parakand, Sotoudehs attorney, told Reuters by telephone. She was convicted of taking hostile actions, involvement in propaganda activities and colluding against national security, said the lawyer.
In other words, she did her job.
Sotoudeh was also found guilty of being a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a banned rights association founded by Nobel laureate Ebadi, Parakand said.
Shortly after her detention, Sotoudeh, a mother of two, went on a hunger strike, declining all liquids and food. She stopped the protest in early November.
The reformist website Kaleme quoted Sotoudehs husband, Reza Khandan, as saying that he had expected a much lighter one. We will have 20 days to appeal, he said.
Khandan said he and his wifes lawyer had also been summoned to court. In the written summons the term accused was used against me. In previous summons I had to defend myself for talking to the press, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2011 00:00 ||
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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.
[Dawn] A suicide 
Hamid 
[Al Jazeera] The Basque separatist group ETA has declared a permanent ceasefire after more than three decades of fighting for a homeland independent of Spain. The group announced the truce in a statement published on the website of the Basque-language newspaper Gara on Monday.
[Dawn] Israeli warplanes launched twin air strikes on the 
