Silence Broken: Legacies of Repression & Resistance

March 31, 2011 Justice with Peace

When: Sunday, April 3, 2011, 11:30 am to 9:30 pm

Where: Northeastern University • 360 • Curry Student Center - West Addition (Ground Floor) • Boston

Start: 2011 Apr 3 - 11:30am

End: 2011 Apr 3 - 9:30pm

Workshops * Socializing * Panel * Food * Music

Speakers include:

*Ashanti Alston - Former Black Liberation Army Political Prisoner & steering committee member of the National Jericho Movement

*Marta Rodriguez - Puerto Rican independence activist and member of the New England Committee to Defend Palestine

*Jihad Abdul Mummit - Former Black Liberation Army Political Prisoner and chair of the National Jericho Movement

*Viviane Saleh-Hanna - Activist Scholar and Assistant Professor of Crime and Justice Studies at the UMass Dartmouth

*Jason Lydon - Minister of the Community Church of Boston as well as anti-racist, abolitionist, queer liberation organizer

*Mauri Saalakhan - Director of Operations for The Peace And Justice Foundation; a Muslim-led, grassroots human rights organization.

*Tamer Mehanna - Brother of Tarek Mehanna, currently incarcerated after refusing to serve as an informant for the FBI and corroborate any FBI claims or accusations against members of the Muslim community that might arise, at the discretion of the FBI.

*Kazi Toure - a longtime community organizer who works especially on rights issues for American Friends Service Committee, seeking justice for all political prisoners. He himself is a former political prisoner and was the first African American convicted of seditious conspiracy in the U.S., for which he served nearly ten years.

*Richard Hugus - member of New England Committee to Defend Palestine and under investigation by FBI. He has used his skills as an activist, film-maker and writer to stand up for fundamental truths: oppressed people have the right to fight their oppressors; colonized people have the right to take back the land that was stolen from them.


Performances by:

Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde
X-Vandals
spiritchild
Tem Blessed
& more

This will be a one day community-building educational event featuring interactive workshops, a panel discussion, time for socializing and networking, and performances by some of the region's best movement artists. The conference will bring together student activists with community members to present a diverse array of voices and an alternative discourse about FBI repression, political prisoners, and the struggle for liberation.

Cosponsored by Human Rights Week: In Our Hands (3/27-4/3)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154328757961418

Contact us for your co-sponsorship!
Speakers/Performers subject to change.

Onward, United and Stronger Until Return!

Ninth Annual International Al-Awda Convention
The Embassy Suite Hotel, Anaheim South
11767 Harbor Boulevard
Garden Grove, California 92840
April 29, 30, 2011

A significant event at a critical time in Arab history

At a time when the people of the Arab world have taken to the streets to initiate major and momentous political changes after decades of brutal control by dictatorial regimes, we the Palestinians are faced with similar challenges standing up to one of the most brutal occupations in modern history. The recent revelations of betrayal and attempt to liquidate the right to return by elements of an unelected and unrepresentative puppet leadership, requires once again for our people to take control of our own destiny. We need to develop strategy and tactics to join our Egyptian, Tunisian and other Arab comrades as our struggle to return is raised to a higher level. We must also begin to think beyond return. As the call for freedom in the Arab world has evolved, the Zionist occupier has intensified its bombing of the Gaza Strip, land confiscations and home demolitions in the West Bank, Al Naqab and elsewhere in Palestine. The repression by the Zionist puppets becomes more desperate, as they try to hang on to our lands and lives. The purpose of our annual convention is to summarize and evaluate our work since the previous convention.

Al-Awda's Ninth Annual International Convention comes in the midst of these challenges. We call on all Palestinians regardless of organizational affiliation to join Al-Awda's members and supporters at this year's convention. We will address and collectively take steps toward changing our destiny as a people while we reaffirm our determination to return to our homes and lands. We can no longer stay silent while an un-elected, illegitimate leadership beholden to its U.S. and occupation masters is cravenly giving up on our rights.

To address these critical issues that our cause is facing, planning discussions that will merge brain storming ideas, strategy, tactics with action items will include:

*
The Palestine Papers and the Arab people's uprising; Impact on the Palestinian struggle and future organizing
*
Boycotts & Divestment
*
Refugee Support
*
Return From Exile Project with Free Palestine Movement
*
Cultural Resistance Through Various Forms of Art
*
Palestinian Children's Rights Campaign
*
Student Summit

Several young activists from Al Bayader Center Yarmouk refugee camp will be taking part this year in hands-on workshops

Among the Speakers at the Ninth Al-Awda convention are:

*
Dr. Salman Abu Sitta, General Coordinator Palestinian Right of Return Congress, Founding President of the Palestine Land Society
*
Abbas Al-Nouri, Syrian Arab actor of "bab el-h7ara" fame, political activist
*
Diana Buttu, Palestinian lawyer, former legal advisor to Palestinian negotiating team
*
Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, and Palestine Solidarity Campaign's Chair UK
*
Ali Abunimah, Palestinian author and co-founder Electronic Intifada
*
Lubna Masarwa, Palestinian activist, survivor of Mavi Marmara massacre
*
Laila Al-Arian, Palestinian Author, writer and producer with Al-Jazeera English, one of the lead producers of the Palestine Papers
*
Dr. Jamal Nassar, Specialist in Middle East politics and Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at CSUSB
*
Rim Banna, Palestinian singer & activist
*
Najat El-Khairy, Palestinian porcelain painting artist
*
Remi Kanazi, Palestinian spoken word artist, activist
*
Youth from Refugee Camps

Palestinian singer Rim Banna will also perform some of her songs live during the convention!

Plus . . .

Cultural presentations, books and solidarity items, network with friends and fellow activists & lunch presentations & evening banquet with live music! (Baby-sitting available for entire convention)

Join us! Make a difference by volunteering & donating!

Additional Information: Ninth Annual International Al-Awda Convention Website

DON'T DELAY! RESERVE YOUR PLACE TODAY!

Media: Special arrangement available for media reporters who will cover the convention including interviews with guest speakers and panelists and organizers. If you are with the media, please contact us at office@al-awda.org

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-918-9441
Fax: 760-918-9442
E-mail: office@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC) is a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3) organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations to PRRC are tax-deductible. To donate, please go to http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the instructions. To become a member, http://www.al-awda.org/membership.html

Windsor, NC, Heats Up: Prisoners Set Fires, Barricade Doors, and Engage in “Riotous Type Protest”

March 29, 2011 prisonbookscollective

Comrades and outside supporters of the prisoners at Bertie CI in Windsor,
NC, recently received word that two prisoners on Solitary Confinement
recently barricaded themselves in their cells as a protest of prison
conditions and repression. This “lock-in” action lasted four days, and was
timed to coincide with an outside demonstration by anarchists and
supporters on March 12th. It also coincided with the second of two
national call-in days to the prison and NC Department of Corrections.

Two days into the lock-in, which began March 10th, about twenty anarchists
gathered outside the prison with drums, pots and pans, and large banners
reading, “Against Prisons.” According to one prisoner,

“In regards to the demo on the 12th, the pigs tried to keep it under wraps
from everyone. Usually, when a disturbance happens, they’ll lock the
facility down. On this occasion, they figured if no one brought attention
to it then they could go on as if everything was normal. One problem
though. There are rooms facing the parking lot and prisoners were able to
see what was happening! Word of mouth is effective. We started kicking on
the door and flooding. A couple prisoners set fires.”

Another prisoner got written up for his behavior, his disciplinary report
alleging, “creating a riotous type protest and causing other inmates to do
the same thing.” Two days later, the prisoners conducting the lock-in were
forcefully extracted from their cells, and later promised that many of
their demands would be met.

The following is a description of the lock-in action by one of the
prisoners involved, as well as the demands they submitted to prison
authorities:

Description of Action:

“On March 10th, 2011, myself (James Graham) and my comrade Danny
Washington barricaded ourselves in our rooms and refused to come out for
anything. This was done in protest of the conditions here at Bertie
Correctional Institution.

On March 14th, we both sent a list of demands to prison officials
demanding that we not be  treated like animals and slaves and that they
institute programs that address our basic human rights. Once they received
the list of demands, they sent the Unit Manager, Asst. Unit Manager,
Captain, and the Intelligence Lieutenant (he deals with prisoners who are
labeled as being part of a Security Threat Group) to our doors to speak to
us and ask us if we had any food trays, but neither of us answered and
they left. The captain summoned his lil’ “goon squad,” and he came to our
cells again, this time accompanied by a guard holding a camera, giving us
a direct order to come out of our cells. He received no reply. He stated
on the camera that we “had weapons” and that his goons would come and
extract us from our cells “to restore order.”

First off, we had no weapons and I didn’t know that refusing to come out
of your cell was causing a disturbance. Once they saw we weren’t coming
out, they left. When they returned, it was the Captain along with his
goons who had an electric shield and a mace canister (the size of a fire
extinguisher). They came to my cell first and told me to “submit to the
cuffs” and come out of my cells. No reply.  One of the guards opened my
food trap and sprayed mace in my cell and closed my trap hoping that would
force me to come out willingly. It didn’t work. Next, they did the same
thing again and it was unsuccessful too. Then, the Captain called the
guard in the control booth to open my door. My door wouldn’t open courtesy
of my barricade.  I sat back and waited patiently while listening to the
guards cough and choke on the mace as they struggled trying to get my door
open. After witnessing this for a good lil’ while, they finally got my
door open and rushed in my cell, tackled me and held me down while I was
handcuffed, chained, and shackled. I was then thrown in a shower – with
the water on – for about five or six minutes, taken to see the nurse for a
check-up and placed in a cage. They also ran my comrade’s cell, but I
don’t know the details.

We had the chance to speak to the Superintendent, Asst. Superintendent,
Captain, Intelligence Lieutenant, Unit Manager, and Asst. Unit Manager. In
meeting with them, we went down the list of demands [attached below] and
addressed every demand. This is what I was told in response to these
demands:

   * A new chaplain will be starting on 3/28/11 who will come around and
visit the prisoners. Also, they will be making sure there are
materials for all religions and no specific religion will be shown
favoritism.
   * Lack of nurses has been the reason for inadequate medical care and
in timely responses to medical emergencies. More nurses are in the
process of being hired.
   * More dental staff are in the process of being hired as well. The
dental floss issue wasn’t discussed.
   * The Unit Manager and Asst. Unit Manager were told to make sure we
had clothes daily and they promised to contact the warehouse about
making sure our clothing was sanitized.
   * The food will be served according to the dietary charts in Raleigh.
Basically, no change.
   * Maintenance would be contacted to make sure the temperatures are
correct, and to clean the vents out.
   * I was told to contact a woman in the Education Dep. about starting
up some educational programs for prisoners in solitary.
   * I was told to contact Raleigh about the publications ban list.
   * I was told we would ne given toilet brushes during cell clean-up
–and we have been.

We have made great strides in the right direction. We will definitely
continue what we have started and will continue in the struggle. Whatever
repressive tactics that may be used against us won’t be anything we
haven’t experienced at one time or another. The only thing to fear is fear
itself and the only thing to lose is these chains.”

Prisoners’ Demands and Communique:

   * Equal treatment of all religions. Here at Bertie CI certain
religions are favored over others. The chaplain only provides
religious materials for certain religions and the rest he tells
prisoners to “write your leader.”
   * Adequate Medical Care. Ibuprofen and aspirin are given out like a
cure to all diseases – including vomiting up blood.
   * Prompt responses to all medical emergencies. Often times it takes
hours for medical personnel to respond to a medical emergency.
Sometimes it’s ignored altogether.
   * Adequate dental care. Prisoners have to wait months after filling
out numerous dental requests before being seen by a dentist. Also,
prisoners house in solitary are prohibited from having dental floss
even though it’s vital to dental care. The excuse for the denial has
been “because you’re on lock-up.”
   * Clean clothing. Prisoners are given clothing that has not been
washed properly or not at all. Prisoners have received clothing with
urine, feces, and semen stains in them with foul odors. Prisoners have
caught rashes from wearing these unsanitized clothes.
   * Adequate portions and nutritional meals.
   * Protection from extreme conditions. In the winter, the air
conditioning is blasting, in the summer, the heat is blasting. The
extreme temperatures are done for psychological purposes.
   * Clean air. The ventilation (air flow) is so poor it undermines
sanitation. There’s excessive dust and lint particles in the air in
our cells which prisoners in solitary confinement breathe 23 hours a
day.
   * Educational and self-improvement opportunities. Prisoners on
solitary realize that no guard can rehabilitate them. Only we can do
that. Problem is, there are no resources for us to utilize.
   * The publications ban list be revised. The ban list exemplifies
racism, bigotry, and prejudice. It targets Black books, Black
publications,  and a specifically Black genre: urban fiction.
   * A toilet brush to properly sanitize our toilets. Prisoners are in a
cell for a minimum of 23 hours a day in a cell with a toilet they use
daily.

We refuse to come out of our cells in protest of these conditions. We will
continue to struggle by various means until these demands are addressed.”

These actions followed an increase in tension and struggle inside of
Bertie over the last 6 months, as the prison has experienced the
appearance of Black and anarchist study groups, as well as several
collective actions involving refusals to leave cells and the occupation of
yards. Personal and political relationships between anarchist and prisoner
support groups and prisoners have also increased. We stand in total
solidarity with these prisoners, and remain committed to helping their
struggle generalize whenever and wherever possible.

North Carolina, cmon raise up!

…some anarchists against prisons…

"Shocked and Appalled": Sister of Death Row Prisoner Troy Davis Responds to Supreme Court Ruling

March 29, 2011 Demcracy Now

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the appeal of well-known Georgia death row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis, likely setting the stage for Georgia to schedule his execution. Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of off-duty white police officer, Mark MacPhail. Since then, seven of the nine non-police witnesses who fingered Davis have recanted their testimony. No physical evidence ties Davis to the crime scene. With his legal appeals exhausted, Davis’s fate rests largely in the hands of Georgia’s Board of Pardons and Parole, which could commute his death sentence and spare his life. We speak with Troy Davis’s sister, Martina Correia. “No one wants to look at the actual innocence, and no one wants to look at the witness recantation as a real strong and viable part of this case,” Correia says. “I think there needs to be a global mobilization about Troy’s case."

AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of the well-known Georgia death row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis, likely setting the stage for Georgia to schedule his execution. Troy Davis was convicted in 1989 of killing an off-duty white police officer, Mark MacPhail. Since then, seven of the nine non-police witnesses who fingered Davis have recanted their testimony. There’s no physical evidence that ties Davis to the crime scene.

His case has garnered widespread national and international support from figures like Pope Benedict, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, all calling for clemency in his case. John Lewis, the congressman from Georgia, has also weighed in. With his legal appeals exhausted, the fate of Troy Davis rests largely in the hands of Georgia’s Board of Pardons and Parole, which could commute his death sentence and spare his life.

Earlier this month, federal regulators seized Georgia’s entire stockpile of sodium thiopental, a sedative used to carry out lethal injections. This means even if the state sets a date for Troy Davis’s execution, it can’t carry it out until the Drug Enforcement Administration concludes its investigation or Georgia switches to another drug.

For more on these developments, I’m joined now by Troy Davis’s older sister, his staunchest defender, Martina Correia. She’s an anti-death penalty activist. She’s in Savannah, Georgia. She’s joining us on the Democracy Now! video stream from her home.

Martina, welcome to Democracy Now! Talk about this latest development, enormous setback for Troy, the Supreme Court refusing to hear his case.

MARTINA CORREIA: Yes, good morning, and thank you for having me.

We were really shocked and appalled yesterday when we received the news that the U.S. Supreme Court had denied Troy’s petition for a new trial and denied the petition to ask the lower courts to at least look at the new evidence. And so, you know, it was a total setback and shock to the attorneys, as well, because when the U.S. Supreme Court deemed in June of 2010 that the lower courts in Savannah should listen to the new evidence, they let one judge decide whether or not he felt he believed the new evidence enough to give Troy a new trial. And, you know, what this did was it set the stage, because they brought Troy back to the same community, same court system, same prosecutor that actually had convicted him initially. And so, when you walked into the courtroom, the judge had a demeanor that no matter what Troy’s lawyers had to present, no matter what the witnesses had to say, he already had a predisposed decision about denying Troy.

And then, when he sent that information to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court—of course, the Court has changed its dynamic a little bit—has refused to hear the case, because everyone just keeps passing this, and no one wants to look at the actual innocence, and no one wants to look at the witness recantation as a real strong and viable part of this case, even though new witnesses have come forward. They were actually criminalized in the hearing in June and made to feel ostracized by coming forward. And it was really amazing, because the police officer who testified at the hearing could not remember anything about the case, and they actually had selective amnesia. So the judge said that he would believe the police officers over recanted testimony of any witnesses. So, it didn’t matter what we had to say or what we had to do, the judge had already predisposed his self against Troy.

And so, when we went back to the U.S. Supreme Court, we were hoping that they would give us some relief, because the judge did not even follow directions given by the Court. But the Court again decided that it doesn’t want to handle the case, and it just wants to pass the buck. So they did not deem to hear the case nor ask the lower courts to hear the case.

AMY GOODMAN: Martina, what was the most compelling new evidence that you felt needed to be heard?

MARTINA CORREIA: Well, there were three new witnesses who had heard Sylvester "Red" Coles, the other person involved in the case, who he had confessed to and that he had been bragging about killing a police officer. And two of these people had no criminal history. And, you know, the judge, when they got up on the stand, the judge was like, "You know, if you’re another witness going to get up here and say Sylvester Coles did it, you know, if Sylvester Coles is not here, how can we take your word over his?"

So, you know, they—one person had come from the hospital, having surgery, just to testify, and her voice was a little low because she had surgery on her throat. And the judge was like, "If you can’t speak louder, we’re not going to listen to your testimony." And she was like, "I just got out of the hospital. This is the loudest I can speak." Of course, we could hear her. But, you know, it was like the judge didn’t want to hear anything anybody had to say. And a lot of people—

AMY GOODMAN: Martina, we have 10 seconds. What do you think needs to be done right now?

MARTINA CORREIA: I think there needs to be a global mobilization about Troy’s case, and the fact that in the United States it’s not unconstitutional to execute an innocent person needs to be addressed once and for all by the U.S. Supreme Court. And I think that we should get as many people involved, pro- and non-death penalty people, to stand up and say, "This is not why we support the death penalty. Killing innocent people does not bring justice to be either family."

AMY GOODMAN: People can go to our website at democracynow.org for the whole archive of coverage of Troy Davis’s case. Martina Correia, thanks for joining us.

THE COMMITTEE to FREE ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ (Chicano political prisoner) PROTEST CALL-IN Set for Wednesday, APRIL 6, 2011

March 29, 2011

PROTEST CALL-IN on Wednesday, APRIL 6, 2011

THE COMMITTEE to FREE ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ (Chicano political prisoner)

IS ASKING FOR THE PARTICIPATION
OF ALL HIS COMRADES AND FRIENDS IN A:

PROTEST CALL-IN

Set for Wednesday, APRIL 6, 2011,

To the TDCJ in Huntsville, Texas,
Alfred D. Hughes Unit, in Gatesville, Texas,
@ 2PM (CDT)
– To object to the growing threats
of censorship to his mail and 1st Amendment Rights, and retaliation by staff for
observing his right to file a grievance.

(254) 865-6663
Hughes Unit Senior Warden Edward Smith

1(800) 535-0283Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)

Retaliation, in that Mail-room Supervisor G. Vandiver, specifically, made a threat
to Alvaro that his correspondents (we presume ALL) "be put on a negative mail list".

Alvaro has had mail problems before, but this is an open threat made by the
Supervisor and can't go unchallenged, that stemmed from certain pages being removed
(confiscated) from a copy of the book "Defying The Tomb", written by Virginia state
prisoner and Minister of Defense for the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison
Chapter (NABPP/PC) Kevin (Rashid) Johnson, sent him by Inside Out Books (the
publisher) in Seattle, Washington; the pages Supervisor Vandiver and the mail-room
objected to, claimed would breakdown the prison's operation - with prisoner
disruptions - strikes - and rioting.

The fact that the [4] pages removed earlier, were re-sent individually to Alvaro
without incident, and that Inside Out Books was never sent an official notice for
denial of publication, would strongly support suspicions that the retaliatory nature
of Vandiver's reaction to Alvaro's filed Grievance caused the threatening remark
made about his mail in or out; because they must have realized their jobs were in
jeopardy and that they were out of TDCJ & TBCJ policy compliance. This is not an
idle threat, because prison administrations generally allow officers discretion to
control prisoners this way, so it can never be credited for even happening IF an
impression isn't made to Huntsville or a Senior Warden by supporters/public.

2nd Annual Law and Disorder Conference April 15-17, 2011 – Portland, OR

The registration page is up and running!

We also now have a tentative, growing list of speakers and organizations that will be at the conference:
Ashanti Omowali Alston
Evan Greer and Dana Lyons from Riot Folk
Kristian Williams
Claude Marks – The Freedom Archives
Dimitris Dalakoglou – Occupied London
Antonis Vradis – Occupied London
Jeff “Free” Luers
Lauren Regan – Civil Liberties Defense Center, Eugene
Craig Rosebraugh
Tre Arrow
Connect the Dots
Rose City Copwatch
Community Alternatives to the Police

And here is the rough schedule so far:
Friday, April 15th, 6-9pm
6:00-8:00 Registration and Political Prisoner Letter Writing
8:00-9:00 Opening Speaker (TBA)

Saturday, April 16th, 9am-10pm
9:00-10:30 Registration, Announcements, coffee and donuts
10:30-11:45 Panels 1 & 2
11:45-1:00 Lunch break
1:00-2:30 Workshop 1 & 2
2:30-3:00 Coffee break
3:00-4:15 Panels 3 & 4
4:30-5:45 Panels 5 & 6
5:45-7:00 Diner Panels 5 & 6
7:00-8:00 Keynote speaker
8:30-10:00 COINTELPRO 101 Film Screening

Sunday, April 17th, 9am-6pm
9:00-10:30 Registration, Announcements, coffee and donuts
10:30-11:45 Panels 1 & 2
11:45-1:00 Lunch break
1:00-2:30 Workshop 1 & 2
2:30-2:45 Coffee break
2:45-4:00 Panels 3 & 4
4:00-6:00 Closing plenary session

PS – It’s never too early to register!

It's time to end the anonymity of Palestinian political prisoners

March 28, 2011 Middle East Monitor

Nelson Mandela and Aung Suu Kyi are known worldwide as prisoners of conscience who have spent lengthy periods in prison for standing up for their beliefs. South African political prisoner and later President Mandela spent 27 years in prison, many of them in solitary confinement; Aung San Suu Kyi, a political prisoner in Burma, spent almost 15 years under house arrest. Their time imprisoned was well publicised over the years and an international movement of supporters campaigned endlessly for their release.

In stark contrast, there is near silence from the international community on the 133 Palestinian political prisoners who have been held in Israeli jails for two decades or more. They have endured unjust trials and harsh prison conditions; they receive inadequate medical and psychological care, and many are in solitary confinement. Most of these prisoners were detained as young boys and young men and have reached their late 30s and 40s having spent their entire adult life in prison, with little or no contact with their loved ones and the outside world.

The Middle East Monitor will be profiling 25 of these Palestinian prisoners over the coming weeks, bringing an end to their anonymity and highlighting the injustices that these men and their families face at the hands of the state of Israel.

Wael Salih al Barghuthi - Imprisoned 4-4-1978 - View Profile
Fakhri Asfour al Barghuthi - Imprisoned 23-6-1978
Akram Mansour - Imprisoned 2-8-1979
Fuad Qasim al Razim - Imprisoned 30-1-1981
Ibrahim Jabir - Imprisoned 8-1-1982
Hasan Salameh - Imprisoned 8-8-1982
Uthman Musleh - Imprisoned 15-10-1982
Sami Yunus - Imprisoned 1983
Karim Yunus - Imprisoned 1983
Maher Yunus - Imprisoned 1983
Saleem Ali al Kayal - Imprisoned 30-5-1983
Hafiz Qundus - Imprisoned 15-5-1984
Eesa Abdu Rabbu - Imprisoned 20-10-1984
Ahmad Fareed Shahadeh - Imprisoned 16-2-1985
Muhammad Nasr - Imprisoned 11-5-1985
Rafe' Karajeh - Imprisoned 20-5-1985
Talal Abu al Kabash - Imprisoned 23-6-1985
Mustafa Ghunaymat - Imprisoned 27-6-1985
Ziyad Ghunaymat - Imprisoned 27-6-1985
Uthman Abdullah Bani Husayn - Imprisoned 27-7-1985
Haza' Muhammad Haza' Sa'adi - Imprisoned 28-7-1985
Siddqui Sulayman Ahmad al Maqt - Imprisoned 23-8-1985
Hani Badawi Muhammad Jaabir - Imprisoned 3-9-1985
Muhammad Ahmad Abdul Hameed al Tous - Imprisoned 6-10-1985
Nafiz Ahmad Talib Harz - Imprisoned 25-11-1985
Fa'iz Mutawi' al Khour - Imprisoned 29-11-1985
Ghazi Jumu'ah al Nams - Imprisoned 30-11-1985
Muhammad Misbah Ashour - Imprisoned 18-2-1986
Ahmad Abdur Rahman Abu Hasireh - Imprisoned 18-2-1986
Muhammad Abdul Hadi al Hassani - Imprisoned 4-3-1986

Prison for Peacemakers in Tacoma, Washington

March 28, 2011 CommonDreams.org

Two Grandmothers, Two Priests and a Nun Go onto a Nuclear Base

by Bill Quigley

Two grandmothers, two priests and a nun were sentenced in federal court in Tacoma, WA Monday March 28, 2011, for confronting hundreds of US nuclear weapons stockpiled for use by the deadly Trident submarines.

Sentenced were: Sr. Anne Montgomery, 83, a Sacred Heart sister from New York, who was ordered to serve 2 months in federal prison and 4 months electronic home confinement; Fr. Bill Bischel, 81, a Jesuit priest from Tacoma Washington, ordered to serve 3 months in prison and 6 months electronic home confinement; Susan Crane, 67, a member of the Jonah House community in Baltimore, Maryland, ordered to serve 15 months in federal prison; Lynne Greenwald, 60, a nurse from Bremerton Washington, ordered to serve 6 months in federal prison; and Fr. Steve Kelly, 60, a Jesuit priest from Oakland California, ordered to serve 15 months in federal prison. They were also ordered to pay $5300 each and serve an additional year in supervised probation. Bischel and Greenwald are active members of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, a community resisting Trident nuclear weapons since 1977.

What did they do?

In the darkness of All Souls night, November 2, 2009, the five quietly cut through a chain link perimeter fence topped with barbed wire.

Carefully stepping through the hole in the fence, they entered into the Kitsap-Bangor Navy Base outside of Tacoma Washington – home to hundreds of nuclear warheads used in the eight Trident submarines based there.

Walking undetected through the heavily guarded base for hours, they covered nearly four miles before they came to where the nuclear missiles are stored.

The storage area was lit up by floodlights. Dozens of small gray bunkers – about the size of double car garages - were ringed by two more chain link fences topped with taut barbed wire.

USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED one sign boldly proclaimed. Another said WARNING RESTRICTED AREA and was decorated with skull and crossbones.

This was it – the heart of the US Trident Pacific nuclear weapon program. Nuclear weapons were stored in the bunkers inside the double fence line.

Wire cutters cut through these fences as well. There they unfurled hand painted banners which said “Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident Illegal and Immoral”, knelt to pray and waited to be arrested as dawn broke.

What were they protesting against?

Each of the eight Trident submarines has 24 nuclear missiles on it. The Ground Zero community explains that each of the 24 missiles on one submarine have multiple warheads in it and each warhead has thirty times the destructive power of the weapon used on Hiroshima. One fully loaded Trident submarine carries 192 warheads, each designed to explode with the power of 475 kilotons of TNT force. If detonated at ground level each would blow out a crater nearly half a mile wide and several hundred feet deep.

The bunker area where they were arrested is where the extra missiles are stored.

In December 2010, the five went on trial before a jury in federal court in Tacoma charged with felony damage to government property, conspiracy and trespass.

But before the trial began the court told the defendants what they could and could not do in court. Evidence of the medical consequences of nuclear weapons? Not allowed. Evidence that first strike nuclear weapons are illegal under US and international law? Not allowed. Evidence that there were massive international nonviolent action campaigns against Trident missiles where juries acquitted protestors? Not allowed. The defense of necessity where violating a small law, like breaking down a door, is allowed where the actions are taken to prevent a greater harm, like saving a child trapped in a burning building? Not allowed.

Most of the jurors appeared baffled when defendants admitted what they did in their opening statements. They remained baffled when questions about nuclear weapons were objected to by the prosecutor and excluded by the court. The court and the prosecutor repeatedly focused the jury on their position that this was a trial about a fence. Defendants tried valiantly to point to the elephant in the room – the hundreds of nuclear weapons.

Each defendant gave an opening and closing statement explaining, as much as they were allowed, why they risked deadly force to expose the US nuclear arsenal.

Sojourner Truth was discussed as were Rosa Parks, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.

The resistance of the defendants was in the spirit of the civil rights movement, the labor movement, the suffragist movement, the abolition of slavery movement.

Crowds packed the courtroom each of the five days of trial. Each night there was a potluck and a discussion of nuclear weapons by medical, legal and international experts who came for the trial but who were largely muted by the prosecution and the court.

While the jury held out over the weekend, ultimately, the activists were convicted.

Hundreds packed the courthouse today supporting the defendants. The judge acknowledged the good work of each defendant, admitted that prison was unlikely to deter them from further actions, but said he was bound to uphold the law otherwise anarchy would break out and take down society.

The prosecutors asked the judge to send all the defendants to federal prison plus three years supervised probation plus pay over five thousand dollars. The specific jail time asked for ranged from 3 years for Fr. Kelly, 30 months for Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald, 7 months in jail plus 7 months home confinement, Sr. Anne Montgomery and Fr. Bill Bichsel, 6 months jail plus 6 months home confinement.

Each of the defendants went right into prison from the courtroom as the spectators sang to them. Outside the courthouse, other activists pledged to confront the Trident in whatever way is necessary to stop the illegal and immoral weapons of mass destruction.

Bill Quigley is part of the legal team supporting the defendants and was in Tacoma for the sentencing. You can learn more about the defendants at disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com.

Bill Quigley is Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Contact Bill at quigley77@gmail.com

Angola 3 Events in New Orleans Mark 39 Years in Solitary

by The Intl. Coalition to Free the Angola 3 Sunday, Mar. 27, 2011 New Orleans Indymedia

At 7 pm, on April 14, the new British film "In the Land of the Free", debuts at Warren Easton High School Auditorium. On April 17-18 there will be several events at the RAE Building.

vigil-announcement.jpg, image/jpeg, 1748x1240

We'd like to invite you to be our special guest at the New Orleans debut of "In the Land of the Free," at Warren Easton High School Auditorium at 7pm on Thursday, April 14th as a part of Patois: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. Robert King and Emily Maw, the Director of the New Orleans Innocence Project will lead a Q&A following the event.

Get your free tickets now! Just send your name and email to landfree@patoisfilmfest.org and we will be happy to put your name on the will call list at the door. If you have any guests you'd like to bring, just send their names along too and we'll do our best to accommodate them.

On April 17-18 please join us at the RAE Building to mark the 39th year anniversary of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox’s unjust isolation in solitary confinement. 39 people will spend one hour each in a 6x9 ft replica cell.
Our program of events over the weekend will also include:

- Screenings of documentaries In the Land of the Free and The Farm, followed by panels of former Black Panthers, artists and legal experts.

- A display of arts & crafts from Angola inmates, and The House That Herman Built by Jackie Sumell and Herman Wallace

- Undoing Racism workshop, round-table discussions, educational workshops with local high school students and a teach-in.

- Theatrical excerpts from Angola 3, The Play written by Parnell Herbert, and Voices performances by Louisiana exonerees.

- Press conference and vigil at dusk.

- A book-signing by Robert King.

- Musical entertainment by local performers.

For more info: angola3action.org
---------------------------------------------

THE CASE OF THE ANGOLA THREE

(written by the International Coalition to Free the Angola Three -- http://www.angola3.org)

38 years ago, deep in rural Louisiana, three young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000 acre former slave plantation called Angola.

Peaceful, non-violent protest in the form of hunger and work strikes organized by inmates caught the attention of Louisiana’s elected leaders and local media in the early 1970s. They soon called for investigations into a host of unconstitutional and extraordinarily inhumane practices commonplace in what was then the “bloodiest prison in the South.” Eager to put an end to outside scrutiny, prison officials began punishing inmates they saw as troublemakers.

At the height of this unprecedented institutional chaos, Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, and Robert King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown into 6x9 foot solitary cells.

Robert was released in 2001, but Herman and Albert remain in solitary, continuing to fight for their freedom.

Despite a number of reforms achieved in the mid-70s, many officials repeatedly ignore both evidence of misconduct, and of innocence.

The State’s case is riddled with inconsistencies, obfuscations, and missteps. A bloody print at the murder scene does not match Herman, Albert or anyone charged with the crime and was never compared with the limited number of other prisoners who had access to the dormitory on the day of the murder.

Potentially exculpatory DNA evidence has been “lost” by prison officials—including fingernail scrapings from the victim and barely visible “specks” of blood on clothing alleged to have been worn by Albert.

Both Herman and Albert had multiple alibi witnesses with nothing to gain who testified they were far away from the scene when the murder occurred.

In contrast, several State witnesses lied under oath about rewards for their testimony. The prosecution’s star witness Hezekiah Brown told the jury: “Nobody promised me nothing.” But new evidence shows Hezekiah, a convicted serial rapist serving life, agreed to testify only in exchange for a pardon, a weekly carton of cigarettes, TV, birthday cakes, and other luxuries.

“Hezekiah was one you could put words in his mouth,” the Warden reminisced chillingly in an interview about the case years later.

Even the widow of the victim after reviewing the evidence believes Herman and Albert’s trials were unfair, has grave doubts about their guilt, and is calling upon officials to find the real killer.

In fact, Albert’s conviction has now been overturned twice by judges citing racial discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate defense, and suppression of exculpatory evidence.

Sadly however, AEDPA-gutted habeas protections that limit federal power recently allowed the U.S. Court of Appeals to defer judgment to Louisiana, where seemingly vengeful prosecutors insist Albert is “the most dangerous person on the planet.”

In spite of this setback, the validity of Albert's conviction is again under review due to apparent discrimination in the selection of a grand jury foreperson, an injustice that may finally set Albert free.

Although a State Judicial Commissioner similarly recommended reversing Herman’s conviction based on new, compelling evidence exposing prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional violations, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied his appeal without comment.

Undeterred, Herman has now turned to the Federal Courts to prove his innocence and win his freedom.

Meanwhile, Louisiana prison officials stubbornly refuse to release them from solitary because “there’s been no rehabilitation” from “practicing Black Pantherism.”

Nearly a decade ago Herman, Albert and Robert filed a civil lawsuit challenging the inhumane and increasingly pervasive practice of long-term solitary confinement. Magistrate Judge Dalby describes their almost four decades of solitary as “durations so far beyond the pale” she could not find “anything even remotely comparable in the annals of American jurisprudence.” The case, expected to go to trial in 2011, will detail unconstitutionally cruel and unusual treatment and systematic due process violations at the hands of Louisiana officials.

We believe that only by openly examining the failures and inequities of the criminal justice system in America can we restore integrity to that system.

We must not wait.

We can make a difference.

As the A3 did years before, now is the time to challenge injustice and demand that the innocent and wrongfully incarcerated be freed.

-----

WRITE THE ANGOLA THREE

Herman Wallace
#76759
Elayn Hunt Correctional Center
CCR - D - #11
PO Box 174
St Gabriel, LA 70776

Albert Woodfox
#72148
David Wade Correctional Center, N1A
670 Bell Hill Rd.
Homer, LA 71040

Robert King
c/o Kings Freelines
2008 New York Av. #B
Austin, Texas 78702
kingsfreelines (at) gmail.com

www.angola3action.org

add your comments

The Angola Three
by The Intl. Coalition to Free the Angola 3 Sunday, Mar. 27, 2011 at 10:11 PM

angola3.jpg, image/jpeg, 200x169

Left to Right: Herman Wallace, Robert King, and Albert Woodfox

www.angola3action.org

add your comments

Free the Angola 3 and all political prisoners
by The Intl. Coalition to Free the Angola 3 Sunday, Mar. 27, 2011 at 10:11 PM

a3mural.jpgmmgefi.jpg, image/jpeg, 600x410

www.angola3action.org

Honduran police break up protest by teachers

By FREDDY CUEVAS, Associated Press Mar 28, 2011

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduran police using tear gas and water cannons
dispersed a group of protesters who blocked a main avenue in the capital
to demand the return of ousted former President Manuel Zelaya from exile.

The protests led by teachers are entering their third week in Honduras,
where Zeyala was ousted in a 2009 coup. The teachers are demanding Zelaya
be allowed to return from exile in the Dominican Republic.

They are also protesting a six-month delay in salary payments and a
proposal to give local communities more control over the country's highly
centralized school system. The government says the protesters want to
destabilize the country.

Students and striking health care workers were also at the protest Monday,
said police spokesman Wilmer Suazo.

President Porfirio Lobo said the protests are aimed at undermining
Honduras' efforts to be reincorporated into the Organization of American
States, which suspended the country after Zelaya's ouster.

"They are trying to destabilize my government," Lobo said at a news
conference. "All of this is part of an ideological strategy to provoke
difficulties, especially now that there is the possibility of returning to
the OAS at the next general assembly in June."

Zelaya, who is in exile in the Dominican Republic, was ousted in June 28,
2009 in a dispute over changing the Honduran constitution. Lobo was
elected in a previously scheduled election later that year but many Zelaya
backers argue the vote was illegitimate because it occurred under an
interim government installed by the coup.

A coalition of Zelaya supporters called the National Front of Popular
Resistance has called for a general strike Wednesday, threatening to
escalate the conflict in the polarized and impoverished Central American
country.

"Porfirio Lobo is once again revealing the fascist character of his
government, which is trying to destroy popular organization and the gains
of the people to impose an economic system that only benefits the
oligarchy and multilateral companies," the front said in a statement.

About 14,000 public health care workers walked off the job for four hours
Monday to support the pro-Zelaya demonstrators and protest a proposal to
raise the retirement age for civil servants from 65 to 70 years old. Union
leader Orlando Discua said the strike ended after the president of the
Honduran Congress insisted there were no immediate plans to the proposal.

The teachers' union also filed a criminal complaint against the Lobo
government for the death of assistant principal Ilse Velasquez during a
protest last week. Protesters say she was hit by a police vehicle that was
spraying water at protesters.

Llamado a la semana de acciones conjuntas por la defensa de los,,detenidos de Khimki del 2 al 9 de abril de 2011

Llamado a la semana de acciones conjuntas por la defensa de los
detenidos de Khimki del 2 al 9 de abril de 2011

26 de marzo   Hacemos un
llamamiento a todas las personas en cualquier ciudad y pai's que no se
quedan impasibles frente a las injusticias cometidas con Deni's So'lopov, Maxim
Solo'pov y Alexey Gaska'rov, para manifestar su solidaridad con ellos. Estos
tres activistas se han convertido en presos de una historia increi'ble
relacionada con los bosques de Khimki: la historia de la oposicio'n de
nuevas fuerzas en la sociedad civil de la Rusia moderna contra la junta despiadada
de a'vidos corruptos en el poder. Con esta historia la ciudad de Khimki
se ha hecho tristemente ce'lebre a lo largo y ancho de todo el mundo.   En
oton~o de 2010 Alexey Gaska'rov y Maxim So'lopov estuvieron en prisio'n cerca de tres
meses por un proceso literalmente fabricado en su contra y que en este
momento ya no tiene bases en la corte. La instruccio'n del sumario se
sirvio'
de amenazas y torturas contra los testigos del caso, adema's de haber
utilizado testimonios falsos por parte de agentes de la polici'a. El 14 de
abril se llevara' a cabo una audiencia ma's en la Corte Municipal de
Khimki.   Deni's So'lopov, un joven artista, se encuentra ahora en la ca'rcel “Dukianovka” de
Kiev (Siso N.13), lugar donde los presos se mantienen en condiciones
infrahumanas, pues deben dormir por turnos al no haber celdas suficientes
para todos. A pesar de que Deni's tiene el estatus de refugiado por parte de
las UBKB OON, el Servicio de Migracio'n de Ucrani le ha negado este
privilegio. Inmediatamente despue's de que le fue negado el derecho al
refugio poli'tico en este pai's, fue detenido y arrestado, lo que demuestra
claramente que el Servicio de Migracio'n de este pai's violo' las normas de
confidencialidad que le corresponden al haber informado a las fuerzas de la
ley sobre la presencia de Deni's en territorio ucraniano. El plazo del
arresto preliminar de Deni's (40 di'as) se vence el 11 de abril, despue's
de lo cual debe ser liberado. De no ser asi', pesa sobre e'l la extradicio'n, que
presupone prisio'n durante un an~o y medio en espera de la desicio'n
final de la corte.   Estos jo'venes han sido perseguidos por su supuesta
participacio'n en las manifestaciones contra la tala del bosque de Khimki y la
construccio'n en su lugar de una autopista privada. Como resultado de estas acciones, el
edificio de la administracio'n local sufrio' leves dan~os. Entre tanto, cabe
recalcar que la manifestacio'n fue una respuesta a los ataques contra
campamentos de ecologistas por parte de los contratistas de la autopista a
trave's de grupos de ultraderecha pagados. La construccio'n de una autopista
privada por esta ruta no tiene ningu'n sentido desde ningu'n punto de vista.
Es un resultado de la corrupcio'n del ci'rculo de poderosos y funcionarios
pu'blicos en conjunto con la cu'pula de la corporacio'n francesa “Vinci”,
ganadora del concurso para la construccio'n de la carretera.  Los defensores
del bosque y gente con una posicio'n social activa en la ciudad de Khimki
esta'n expuestos constantemente a ataques y persecusiones ilegales. Debido a
dichas acusaciones, ya fueron fuertemente afectadas las vidas de dos
periodistas y li'deres pu'blicos: Mijail Beketov y Konstanti'n Fetisov.   La
amenaza de que nuestro planeta se convierta en un lugar este'ril y sin vida
se hace cada vez ma's clara por todo el mundo. La avaricia no la pueden
detener ni la cata'strofe en la base nuclear de Japo'n, ni el desastre del
Golfo de Me'xico, ni los incendios en los alrededores de Moscu'. Por todos
los rincones de Rusia y del mundo la gente trata de defender sus derechos
sociales, su libertad real y no la “libertad” de comprar y vender. Cuando
todos los que creemos que nuestro mundo no es una mercanci'a nos unamos para
luchar juntos, nuestras fuerzas contra estas injusticias se multiplicara'n.
Gente de diferentes pai'ses (desde Estados Unidos hasta China) ya ha
realizado dos veces manifestaciones en los Di'as de Acciones Conjuntas para
la defensa de Solopov y Gaska'rov, como resultado de lo cual fueron
liberados de su retencio'n y detenidas las talas del bosque y la construccio'n del
trazado.

Sabemos que actuando aisladamente no podremos lograr nada. Por eso
pedimos a todos aque'llos a quienes no les da lo mismo ver lo que pasa en el mundo, se
unan a la Semana de Acciones Conjuntas que tendra' lugar del 2 al 9 de
abril. Realizad piquetes frente a las embajadas y consulados de Ucrania con la
exigencia de que se libere inmediatamente a Deni's So'lopov. Realizad
mi'tins frente a las embajadas y consulados de Rusia en vuestros pai'ses
exigiendo la anulacio'n de las acusaciones que pesan sobre Alexey Gaska'rov y Maxim
So'lopov,  y la detencio'n de la tala del bosque de Khimki. Organizad
piquetes contra la direccio'n de la compan~i'a Vince exigiendo que renuncien a su
participacio'n en el proyecto de construccio'n del trazado Moscu'-San
Petersburgo a trave's del bosque de Khimki.

?Nuestra arma ma's fuerte  es la solidaridad!

Os pedimos enviar informacio'n sobre vuestras acciones de solidaridad y
enviar vuestras cartas, faxes y publicaciones a nuestra direccio'n
electro'nica: info@khimkibattle.org

Para mayor informacio'n: Campan~a por la liberacio'n de los Detenidos de
Khimki: 8-915-212-74-17, http://khimkibattle.org /, info@khimkibattle.org

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205040799520706

Llamado a la semana de acciones conjuntas por la defensa de los,,detenidos de Khimki del 2 al 9 de abril de 2011

Llamado a la semana de acciones conjuntas por la defensa de los
detenidos de Khimki del 2 al 9 de abril de 2011

26 de marzo   Hacemos un
llamamiento a todas las personas en cualquier ciudad y pai's que no se
quedan impasibles frente a las injusticias cometidas con Deni's So'lopov, Maxim
Solo'pov y Alexey Gaska'rov, para manifestar su solidaridad con ellos. Estos
tres activistas se han convertido en presos de una historia increi'ble
relacionada con los bosques de Khimki: la historia de la oposicio'n de
nuevas fuerzas en la sociedad civil de la Rusia moderna contra la junta despiadada
de a'vidos corruptos en el poder. Con esta historia la ciudad de Khimki
se ha hecho tristemente ce'lebre a lo largo y ancho de todo el mundo.   En
oton~o de 2010 Alexey Gaska'rov y Maxim So'lopov estuvieron en prisio'n cerca de tres
meses por un proceso literalmente fabricado en su contra y que en este
momento ya no tiene bases en la corte. La instruccio'n del sumario se
sirvio'
de amenazas y torturas contra los testigos del caso, adema's de haber
utilizado testimonios falsos por parte de agentes de la polici'a. El 14 de
abril se llevara' a cabo una audiencia ma's en la Corte Municipal de
Khimki.   Deni's So'lopov, un joven artista, se encuentra ahora en la ca'rcel “Dukianovka” de
Kiev (Siso N.13), lugar donde los presos se mantienen en condiciones
infrahumanas, pues deben dormir por turnos al no haber celdas suficientes
para todos. A pesar de que Deni's tiene el estatus de refugiado por parte de
las UBKB OON, el Servicio de Migracio'n de Ucrani le ha negado este
privilegio. Inmediatamente despue's de que le fue negado el derecho al
refugio poli'tico en este pai's, fue detenido y arrestado, lo que demuestra
claramente que el Servicio de Migracio'n de este pai's violo' las normas de
confidencialidad que le corresponden al haber informado a las fuerzas de la
ley sobre la presencia de Deni's en territorio ucraniano. El plazo del
arresto preliminar de Deni's (40 di'as) se vence el 11 de abril, despue's
de lo cual debe ser liberado. De no ser asi', pesa sobre e'l la extradicio'n, que
presupone prisio'n durante un an~o y medio en espera de la desicio'n
final de la corte.   Estos jo'venes han sido perseguidos por su supuesta
participacio'n en las manifestaciones contra la tala del bosque de Khimki y la
construccio'n en su lugar de una autopista privada. Como resultado de estas acciones, el
edificio de la administracio'n local sufrio' leves dan~os. Entre tanto, cabe
recalcar que la manifestacio'n fue una respuesta a los ataques contra
campamentos de ecologistas por parte de los contratistas de la autopista a
trave's de grupos de ultraderecha pagados. La construccio'n de una autopista
privada por esta ruta no tiene ningu'n sentido desde ningu'n punto de vista.
Es un resultado de la corrupcio'n del ci'rculo de poderosos y funcionarios
pu'blicos en conjunto con la cu'pula de la corporacio'n francesa “Vinci”,
ganadora del concurso para la construccio'n de la carretera.  Los defensores
del bosque y gente con una posicio'n social activa en la ciudad de Khimki
esta'n expuestos constantemente a ataques y persecusiones ilegales. Debido a
dichas acusaciones, ya fueron fuertemente afectadas las vidas de dos
periodistas y li'deres pu'blicos: Mijail Beketov y Konstanti'n Fetisov.   La
amenaza de que nuestro planeta se convierta en un lugar este'ril y sin vida
se hace cada vez ma's clara por todo el mundo. La avaricia no la pueden
detener ni la cata'strofe en la base nuclear de Japo'n, ni el desastre del
Golfo de Me'xico, ni los incendios en los alrededores de Moscu'. Por todos
los rincones de Rusia y del mundo la gente trata de defender sus derechos
sociales, su libertad real y no la “libertad” de comprar y vender. Cuando
todos los que creemos que nuestro mundo no es una mercanci'a nos unamos para
luchar juntos, nuestras fuerzas contra estas injusticias se multiplicara'n.
Gente de diferentes pai'ses (desde Estados Unidos hasta China) ya ha
realizado dos veces manifestaciones en los Di'as de Acciones Conjuntas para
la defensa de Solopov y Gaska'rov, como resultado de lo cual fueron
liberados de su retencio'n y detenidas las talas del bosque y la construccio'n del
trazado.

Sabemos que actuando aisladamente no podremos lograr nada. Por eso
pedimos a todos aque'llos a quienes no les da lo mismo ver lo que pasa en el mundo, se
unan a la Semana de Acciones Conjuntas que tendra' lugar del 2 al 9 de
abril. Realizad piquetes frente a las embajadas y consulados de Ucrania con la
exigencia de que se libere inmediatamente a Deni's So'lopov. Realizad
mi'tins frente a las embajadas y consulados de Rusia en vuestros pai'ses
exigiendo la anulacio'n de las acusaciones que pesan sobre Alexey Gaska'rov y Maxim
So'lopov,  y la detencio'n de la tala del bosque de Khimki. Organizad
piquetes contra la direccio'n de la compan~i'a Vince exigiendo que renuncien a su
participacio'n en el proyecto de construccio'n del trazado Moscu'-San
Petersburgo a trave's del bosque de Khimki.

?Nuestra arma ma's fuerte  es la solidaridad!

Os pedimos enviar informacio'n sobre vuestras acciones de solidaridad y
enviar vuestras cartas, faxes y publicaciones a nuestra direccio'n
electro'nica: info@khimkibattle.org

Para mayor informacio'n: Campan~a por la liberacio'n de los Detenidos de
Khimki: 8-915-212-74-17, http://khimkibattle.org /, info@khimkibattle.org

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205040799520706

Top Bush-era GITMO and Abu Ghraib psychologist is WH's newest appointment

March 25, 2011 By Glenn Greenwald Salon.com

parity-inc.org

Dr. Larry James

(Updated below with White House response)

One of the most intense scandals the field of psychology has faced over the last decade is the involvement of several of its members in enabling Bush's worldwide torture regime. Numerous health professionals worked for the U.S. government to help understand how best to mentally degrade and break down detainees. At the center of that controversy was -- and is -- Dr. Larry James. James, a retired Army colonel, was the Chief Psychologist at Guantanamo in 2003, at the height of the abuses at that camp, and then served in the same position at Abu Ghraib during 2004.

Today, Dr. James circulated an excited email announcing, "with great pride," that he has now been selected to serve on the "White House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family." In his new position, he will be meeting at the White House with Michelle Obama and other White House officials on Tuesday.

For his work at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Dr. James was the subject of two formal ethics complaints in the two states where he is licensed to practice: Louisiana and Ohio. Those complaints -- 50 pages long and full of detailed and well-documented allegations -- were filed by the International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, on behalf of veterans, mental health professionals and others. The complaints detailed how James "was the senior psychologist of the Guantánamo BSCT, a small but influential group of mental health professionals whose job it was to advise on and participate in the interrogations, and to help create an environment designed to break down prisoners." Specifically:

During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic, that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning and practice. . . .

Writing in 2009, Law Professor Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski, a Fellow at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, described James' role in this particularly notorious incident:

In 2003, Louisiana psychologist and retired Col. Larry James watched behind a one-way mirror in a US prison camp while an interrogator and three prison guards wrestled a screaming, near-naked man on the floor.

The prisoner had been forced into pink women's panties, lipstick and a wig; the men then pinned the prisoner to the floor in an effort "to outfit him with the matching pink nightgown." As he recounts in his memoir, "Fixing Hell," Dr. James initially chose not to respond. He "opened [his] thermos, poured a cup of coffee, and watched the episode play out, hoping it would take a better turn and not wanting to interfere without good reason ..."

Although he claims to eventually find "good reason" to intervene, the Army colonel never reported the incident or even so much as reprimanded men who had engaged in activities that constituted war crimes.

James treated numerous detainees who were abused, degraded, and tortured, yet never took any steps to stop or even report these incidents. Last year, Steven Reisner -- senior faculty member and supervisor at the International Trauma Studies Program, who also teaches at New York University Medical School and Columbia University -- told Democracy Now: "there is a lot of evidence that has been made public showing that the torture programs in the CIA and at Guantánamo, the Department of Defense, were created and overseen by health professionals, particularly psychologists" and that psychologists were at these facilities "to use their professional expertise to break down the detainees." James, argued Dr. Reisner, was directly implicated because:

Larry James was the chief BSCT starting in January 2003. And when you read the standard operating procedures for mental health, for how to -- behavior protocols for detainees during the time that Larry James was the chief psychologist, you find institutionalized abuse and torture -- isolation for thirty days at a time with absolutely no contact, prohibition of the International Committee of the Red Cross to see these detainees, no access even to religious articles, to the Qur’an, unless they cooperate with interrogations, not to mention frequent interrogation.

For his part, Dr. James claims he attempted to protect the detainees under his care from abuse and psychological injury. Meanwhile, the Louisiana psychology board refused to review the merits of the complaint against James on the grounds that the alleged acts were too old (outside the statute of limitations), while the Ohio board issued a three-sentence, cursory letter which decreed, without any explanation whatsoever, that "it has been determined that we are unable to proceed to formal action in this matter." So while the charges against him have not been formally sustained by either board, neither have they been evaluated or rejected by any apparent consideration of the merits. Judicial review of the Ohio board's decision is still possible (a Louisiana federal court ruled it lacked jurisdiction to review the board's Statute of Limitations findings).

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, James should not be deemed guilty in the absence of a formal adjudication. But the White House's conduct in selecting him is nonetheless baffling, at best. Of all the psychologists to choose from, why would they possibly choose to honor and elevate the former chief psychologist of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib at the height of the Bush abuses? More disturbing still, among those most damaged by detainee abuse are the service members forced to participate in it; why would the White House possibly want to put on a task force about the health of military families someone, such as Dr. James, who at the very least is directly associated with policies that so profoundly harmed numerous members of the military and their families?

This isn't exactly a powerful Task Force, but what this appointment does is have the White House -- yet again -- signal that it does not really take very seriously the Bush torture regime. On appearance grounds alone, the Obama administration should not be embracing and legitimizing the Bush-era Chief Psychologist of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Is there really nobody in the White House who was able to come to that realization on their own, or is this part of some twisted "reaching out" effort to show that they view bygones as bygones when it comes to the war crimes our leaders committed and whom the Obama administration continues to protect? Whatever the explanation, the symbolism here is as ugly as the mindset underlying it.

UPDATE: Here is the full text of the email sent by Dr. James, as provided to me yesterday by Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program:

Message from Dean James for the SOPP Community:

Hello Everyone,

It is with great pride and pleasure that I write to the SOPP community and say that I have been appointed by the First Lady to a White House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family.

The first meeting will be at the White House next Tuesday (the 29th) and will be hosted by Mrs. Obama and her staff. Indeed, I feel honored and privileged to represent the SOPP, WSU and the APA in this important endeavor.

Next week I will provide a follow-up e-mail to provide more information.

All the best,

Larry C. James, Ph.D., ABPP
Dean & Professor
School of Professional Psychology
Wright State University
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy
Dayton, Ohio 45435-001
Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx

On its own website, HLS’s Human Rights Program reported that James sent this email "to colleagues and students of Wright State University, where Dr. James serves as Dean of the School of Professional Psychology.”

The White House, however, now tells a much different story. In an email to me from the First Lady’s Communications Director, the White House claims:

Several members of the White House staff are convening a meeting with multiple mental health professionals on Tuesday to discuss issues pertaining to the wellness of military families. SAMHSA and the American Psychological Association have both been asked to attend. We understand that Dr. James is involved with these groups and may have been indirectly invited to attend this meeting.

She claims, however, that he now will not be at that meeting, and further states that "Dr. James has not been appointed to serve in any capacity with the White House."

There’s obviously quite a discrepancy between the claims in the James email as provided by HLS' Human Rights Project and the White House’s claims. Calls to Dr. James regarding this matter have not been returned, but if I speak with him, I’ll post his response to the White House's denials.

Court rules in Italy's favour over demonstrator's killing

March 24, 2011 monstersandcritics.com

Rome/Strasbourg - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday
that an Italian policeman's fatal shooting of a demonstrator at the 2001
Group of Eight (G8) Genoa summit, was in self-defence and that the case
had been properly investigated by authorities.

The judgement by the 17 judges of the ECHR's Grand Chamber is definitive,
the court said in a statement.

The case had been brought before the ECHR by relatives of Carlo Giuliani
who, aged 23, was killed on July 20, 2001.

Giuliani, who since his death has become an icon for many in the
anti-globalization movement, was wearing a black ski mask and was holding
a fire extinguisher which he was apparently about to hurl at a police car
when he was shot dead.

The ECHR dismissed allegations that Giuliani's death had been caused by
excessive use of force.

After viewing video footage and photographs of the incident the ECHR noted
that the officer who had fired the shots 'had been confronted with a group
of demonstrators conducting an unlawful and very violent attack on the
vehicle in which he was stranded.'

'In those circumstances, the use of a potentially lethal means of defence
such as the firing of shots had been justified,' the ECHR ruled.

It also dismissed allegations that there had been shortcomings in the
organisation of operations to maintain and restore public order in Genoa
for the G8 and that there had been no effective investigation into
Giuliani's death.

Reacting to the verdict, Giuliani's father Giuliano said the family 'would
not surrender,' and noted how the Grand Chamber judges were split over
some of the issues covered by their ruling.

The family would further pursue the case through the civil courts, the
father said.

In 2003 judge at a preliminary inquest in Italy ruled that the bullet
fired by Mario Placanica's pistol deflected off a stone before hitting
Giuliani in the head.

The judge accordingly ruled there was no need for a trial because the
policeman did not intend to shoot the demonstrator.

Hundreds were injured during almost three days of rioting during the G8
summit in Genoa when police clashed with demonstrators trying to enter the
Genoa city centre where G8 leaders from the United States, Germany, Japan,
France, Italy, Canada, Britain and Russia were meeting and which had been
declared off-limits.

A call to a week of common actions to defend the Khimki hostages from the 2nd to the 9th of April 2011

http://khimkibattle.org

We call everyone, who is not indifferent, in different cities and
countries to show solidarity with persecuted brothers Denis and Maxim
Solopov, and Alexey Gaskarov. They became hostages in the course of the
unbelievable story with the Khimki forest, a story of confrontation
between civil society  in today's Russia and a soulless junta of
avaricious corrupters. Due to this situation, the city of Khimki in the
Moscow suburbs has gained a reputation beyond the borders of Russia.

Alexey Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov spent three months in prison, due to a
fabricated case, which is currently collapsing in court. Investigators
used threats, torture and false witnesses from amongst police agents. On
the 14th of april, there will be a new court session in the Khimki city
court.

Denis Solopov is a young painter, who is currently jailed in the
Lukyanovka prison (Remand prison №13) in Kiev, Ukraine, where prisoners
are kept in inhumane conditions. For example, they sleep in three shifts
due to overcrowding of the cells. Although Denis has been approved
refugee status by the UNCHR, which proves that he has a concrete basis
for his appeal, the Ukrainian migration service  refused him asylum.
Immediately after the denial, he was arrested, which means that the
migration service of Ukraine exceeded their powers, hinting to local
police that Denis was at their premises. The 40 day period of
preliminary arrest of Denis is due to expire on the 11th of April, after
which he should be either freed, or will be arrested for the whole
duration of the extradition process, which could take up to 1.5 years.

All three young men are persecuted for the claimed participation in a
demonstration against the clear-cutting of a forest in the way of a new
Moscow-St. Peterburg toll highway, which resulted in insignificant
damage to the Khimki city administration. The action was provoked by the
fact, that a subcontractor of the highway construction had hired
ultra-right activists to attack the protest camp of peaceful
eco-activists. This toll highway, the construction of which will
obstruct the development of the current Moscow-St. Petersburg road is
necessary only for a narrow group of oligarchs, corrupt officials and
the top-management of the French Vinci-corporation, which won the bid
for the construction. Defenders of the forest and citizen activists in
Khimki are regularly attacked and illegally persecuted. Two journalists
and civic activists, Mikhail Beketov and Konstantiv Beketov were
seriously crippled due to attacks against them.

In various parts of Russia and whole world people are fighting for their
social rights, for their real freedom, and not just for the freedom of
those in power to buy and to sell. Everywhere we see the danger of the
transformation of our planet into a lifeless space, but those who reach
for profit are not stopped by the nuclear disaster in Japan, not by the
oil catastrophe in the gulf of Mexico, not by fires in the forests of
the Moscow region. But when all of us, who believe that our world is not
a good for sale, are united, we will be strong. Different people from
various countries and cities (from the USA to China) have organised, two
times already, international days of common action, which resulted in
the release of Alexey and Maxim from under arrest and the halt of the
clear-cutting of the forest. The construction of the toll highway was
temporarily halted as well, and most definitely new networks were formed
between non-indifferent people from all around the world, bypassing
borders and distances.

We understand, that there is no way we can survive alone. This is why we
ask everyone, who is not indifferent, to participate in a new week of
actions from the 2nd to the 9th of April 2011. Organise actions at local
embassies and consulates of Ukraine to demand the immediate release of
Denis Solopov, actions at local embassies and consulates of Russia to
demand that all charges against Alexey Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov be
dropped and that the destruction of the Khimki forestbe halted. Organise
actions against branches of the transnational Vinci corporation and
demand a halt in the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll
highway through the Khimki forest.

Our solidarity is our weapon!

We would like to ask you to please send us information about your
solidarity actions, as well as copies of letters, faxes, and media
publications to the email:  info@khimkibattle.org

Additional information:
Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages
http://www.khimkibattle.org
info@khimkibattle.org
+7-915-212-74-17

(source: http://khimkibattle.org/?p=1931&lang=en)

Anti-cuts march: Tens of thousands at London protest

March 26, 2011 BBC

More than 250,000 people have attended a march and rally in central London
against public spending cuts.

Labour leader Ed Miliband addressed crowds in Hyde Park and the main march
organised by the Trades Union Congress passed off peacefully.

But small groups attacked shops and banks with a stand-off in Piccadilly.
There have been 214 arrests and 66 people injured, including 13 police.

Ministers say the cuts are necessary to get the public finances in order.

In the largest public protest since the Iraq war rally in 2003, marchers
from across the UK set off from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park, where
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber was first in a line of speakers.

"We are here to send a message to the government that we are strong and
united," he said.

"We will fight the savage cuts and we will not let them destroy peoples'
services, jobs and lives."

A very small group of protesters, maybe three to four hundred people,
stopped outside Topshop.

The police are being careful to communicate with people on the ground
using social media, knowing many are young. One update is that there are
no kettles so far.

Protesters are very worried they will get caught within police cordons -
so there is a bit of a game of cat and mouse.

Lots of these protests are very fast-moving. We walk miles with these
protesters as they try to keep out of police cordons.

We saw some scuffles with police. Watching all the time are shoppers -
this is Saturday afternoon. It is not a violent atmosphere, but it's
certainly a lively atmosphere.

Mr Barber was followed by Mr Miliband, who said: "The Tories said I should
not come and speak today. But I am proud to stand with you. There is an
alternative."

The march began at 1200 GMT and it took more than four hours for the
protesters to file past the Houses of Parliament on their way to the park.

The TUC, which organised the event, said more than 250,000 people had
taken part, and the Metropolitan Police confirmed the numbers.

BBC political reporter Brian Wheeler, in central London, said there were
lots of families and older people, and the atmosphere was good-natured but
the anger was real.

"The noise in Whitehall was deafening as thousands of protesters banged
drums, blew whistles and shouted anti-cut slogans, slowly making their way
towards Trafalgar Square.

"The crowds were booing as they went past Number 10, but the demonstration
was good-natured and friendly.

"There are hundreds of trade union banners, but we have also spoken to
public sector workers who have come to make their voices heard."

One of those protesting was Peter Keats, 54, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, who
works for Jobcentre Plus.
Marchers in Whitehall Organisers estimated at least 250,000 people attended

He said: "Personally, I think it's wrong the way we are hitting the poor.

"I'm not so much worried about myself but the customers I deal with are
vulnerable and I'm worried about them and I'm worried about the kids of
this country."

Demonstrator Christine Nugent, a university research fellow, said: "The
size and scale of it, and the range of people here, is great."

The veteran of anti-Margaret Thatcher demonstrations in the 1980s said
protesters came from all walks of life, adding: "There are a lot of trade
unionists here, but it's not just the usual suspects."

There have been separate incidents involving a number of protesters, some
with their faces covered by scarves, away from the main march:

* A sit-in organised by the campaign group UK Uncut took place at
Fortnum & Mason department store in Piccadilly. The group has
previously mounted protests against tax avoidance measures by big
businesses
* A bonfire was lit by protesters at Oxford Circus, where earlier
police said light bulbs containing ammonia were thrown at officers
* Topshop on Oxford Street had its windows smashed and was doused with
paint

* Missiles were thrown at the Ritz Hotel, Piccadilly

* Bank branches including the Royal Bank of Scotland were attacked
with paint and had windows broken, while branches of HSBC and
Santander were broken into.

Scotland Yard said there had been 202 arrests for public order offences,
criminal damage, aggravated trespass and violent disorder.

Commander Bob Broadhurst said: "The main TUC march has been going well. We
have had more than a quarter of a million people with hardly any problems.

"Unfortunately we have had a group of approximately 500 criminals
committing some disorder including throwing paint at Topshop in Oxford
Street and at the police, and scaring the public who are trying to shop."

Policing minister Nick Herbert said the government was "committed to
supporting peaceful protest" and blamed the violence on "a small minority
of individuals".
Police and protesters in Piccadilly A stand-off between police and
splinter groups took place in Piccadilly

Mr Miliband condemned the violence, saying: "There is no excuse for it. It
is unlawful and wrong."

Civil rights group Liberty said the march had been "infiltrated by violent
elements" who attacked buildings before "melting into the demonstration
once more".

Earlier, the largest union involved, Unite, said so many of its members
had wanted to take part that it could not find enough coaches or trains to
ferry them to London.

Its general secretary Len McCluskey said the scale of the deficit had been
exaggerated.

Outlining his economic plan to the BBC, he said: "Our alternative is to
concentrate on economic growth through tax fairness so, for example, if
the government was brave enough, it would tackle the tax avoidance that
robs the British taxpayer of a minimum of £25bn a year."

Education Secretary Michael Gove said he could understand the disquiet and
anger.

"But the difficulty that we have as the government inheriting a terrible
economic mess is that we have to take steps to bring the public finances
back into balance," he said.

Mr Miliband is attending the march but is yet to sketch out an
alternative, he added.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude on cuts

Matthew Sinclair, director of the Taxpayers' Alliance which lobbies for
lower taxes and greater government efficiency, said: "It's understandable
that people feel upset...

"But in the end it's not valid and what politicians should be doing is not
encouraging this rally but saying look, you've got to be more realistic
about the options facing this country."



London's biggest protest since Iraq war in 2003

By MEERA SELVA and AARON EDWARDS Associated Press

LONDON – More than 250,000 people took to London's streets to protest the
toughest spending cuts since World War II — one of the largest
demonstrations since the Iraq war — as riot police clashed with a small
groups. More than 200 people were arrested.

Although most of Saturday's demonstration was peaceful, clashes continued
into the night as dozens of protesters pelted officers with bottles and
amonia-filled lightbulbs. Groups set several fires and smashed shop
windows near tourist landmarks such as Trafalgar Square.

Teachers, nurses, firefighters, public sector workers, students,
pensioners and campaign groups all took part in Saturday's mass
demonstration.

"They shouldn't be taking money from public services. What have we done to
deserve this?" said Alison Foster, a 53-year-old school teacher. "Yes,
they are making vicious cuts. That's why I'm marching, to let them know
this is wrong."

Britain is facing 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) of public spending cuts
from Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government as it struggles
to slash the country's deficit. The government has already raised sales
tax, but Britons are bracing for big cuts to public spending that are
expected next month.

Treasury chief George Osborne has staked the government's future on tough
economic remedies after Britain spent billions bailing out banks. Some
half a million public sector jobs will likely be lost, about 18 billion
($28.5 billion) axed from welfare payments and the pension age raised to
66 by 2020.

Commander Bob Broadhurst of the Metropolitan Police confirmed more than
250,000 people had marched peacefully, but said around 500 caused trouble.

Hundreds were arrested and police expected that number to rise. Dozens
were injured, and several were admitted to hospitals for a range of
problems, including shortness of breath and broken bones. Five police
officers were also injured.

The demonstration began in the afternoon. Police said one small group of
protesters broke away from the main march, scuffling with police officers
and attempting to smash windows on two of London's main shopping streets.
Others threw objects at the posh Ritz Hotel in nearby Piccadilly.

The protesters, shouting "Welfare not Warfare!" outnumbered the police.
Some attacked police officers with large pieces of wood. A handful of bank
branches were damaged when groups threw paint and flares at buildings.

Still, the day's protest otherwise had a carnival feel with music, big
screen TVs and performers in Hyde Park, one of London's biggest public
gardens.

The TUC, the main umbrella body for British unions, says it believes the
cuts will threaten the country's economic recovery, and has urged the
government to create new taxes for banks and to close loopholes that allow
some companies to pay less tax.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he regretted the sporadic violence.

"I don't think the activities of a few hundred people should take the
focus away from the hundreds of thousands of people who have sent a
powerful message to the government today," he said. "Ministers should now
seriously reconsider their whole strategy after today's demonstration.
This has been Middle Britain speaking."

Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party, likened the march to
the suffragette movement in Britain and the civil rights movement in
America. "Our causes may be different but we come together to realize our
voice."

CIA Psychologist's Notes Reveal True Purpose Behind Bush's Torture Program

Tuesday 22 March 2011 by: Jason Leopold and Jeffrey Kaye, t r u t h o u t

This diagram was included in a paper written by Dr. Bruce Jessen's and shows his view of the conflicting psychological pressures bearing down on a prisoner who is held captive by an enemy. (Click here to view full image.)

Dr. Bruce Jessen's handwritten notes describe some of the torture techniques that were used to "exploit" "war on terror" detainees in custody of the CIA and Department of Defense.

Bush administration officials have long asserted that the torture techniques used on "war on terror" detainees were utilized as a last resort in an effort to gain actionable intelligence to thwart pending terrorist attacks against the United States and its interests abroad.

Jason Leopold interviews Jessen's former SERE colleague, retired Air Force Capt. Michael Kearns.

But the handwritten notes obtained exclusively by Truthout drafted two decades ago by Dr. John Bruce Jessen, the psychologist who was under contract to the CIA and credited as being one of the architects of the government's top-secret torture program, tell a dramatically different story about the reasons detainees were brutalized and it was not just about obtaining intelligence. Rather, as Jessen's notes explain, torture was used to "exploit" detainees, that is, to break them down physically and mentally, in order to get them to "collaborate" with government authorities. Jessen's notes emphasize how a "detainer" uses the stresses of detention to produce the appearance of compliance in a prisoner.

Click to view larger.

Indeed, a report released in 2009 by the Senate Armed Services Committee about the treatment of detainees in US custody said Jessen was the author of a "Draft Exploitation Plan" presented to the Pentagon in April 2002 that was implemetned at Guantanamo and at prison facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. But to what degree is unknown because the document remains classified. Jessen also co-authored a memo in February 2002 on "Prisoner Handling Recommendations" at Guantanamo, which is also classified.

Moreover, the Armed Services Committee's report noted that torture techniques approved by the Bush administration were based on survival training exercises US military personnel were taught by individuals like Jessen if they were captured by an enemy regime and subjected to "illegal exploitation" in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Jessen's notes, prepared for an Air Force survival training course that he later "reverse engineered" when he helped design the Bush administration's torture program, however, go into far greater detail than the Armed Services Committee's report in explaining how prisoners would be broken down physically and psychologically by their captors. The notes say survival training students could "combat interrogation and torture" if they are captured by an enemy regime by undergoing intense training exercises, using "cognitive" and "exposure techniques" to develop "stress inoculation." [Click here to download a PDF file of Jessen's handwritten notes. Click here to download a zip file of Jessen's notes in typewritten form.]

The documents stand as the first piece of hard evidence to surface in nine years that further explains the psychological aspects of the Bush administration's torture program and the rationale for subjecting detainees to so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Jessen's notes were provided to Truthout by retired Air Force Capt. Michael Kearns, a "master" SERE instructor and decorated veteran who has previously held high-ranking positions within the Air Force Headquarters Staff and Department of Defense (DoD).

Kearns and his boss, Roger Aldrich, the head of the Air Force Intelligence's Special Survial Training Program (SSTP), based out of Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, hired Jessen in May 1989. Kearns, who was head of operations at SSTP and trained thousands of service members, said Jessen was brought into the program due to an increase in the number of new survival training courses being taught and "the fact that it required psychological expertise on hand in a full-time basis."

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"Special Mission Units"

Jessen, then the chief of Psychology Service at the US Air Force Survival School, immediately started to work directly with Kearns on "a new course for special mission units (SMUs), which had as its goal individual resistance to terrorist exploitation."

The course, known as SV-91, was developed for the Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) branch of the US Air Force Intelligence Agency, which acted as the Executive Agent Action Office for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Jessen's notes formed the basis for one part of SV-91, "Psychological Aspects of Detention."

Capt. Michael Kearns (left) and Dr. Bruce Jessen at Fort Bragg's Nick Rowe SERE Training Center, 1989 (Photo courtesy of retired Air Force Capt. Michael Kearns)

Special mission units fall under the guise of the DoD's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and engage in a wide-range of highly classified counterterrorist and covert operations, or "special missions," around the world, hundreds of who were personally trained by Kearns. The SV-91 course Jessen and Kearns were developing back in 1989 would later become known as "Special Survival for Special Mission Units."

Before the inception of SV-91, the primary SERE course was SV-80, or Basic Combat Survival School for Resistance to Interrogation, which is where Jessen formerly worked. When Jessen was hired to work on SV-91, the vacancy at SV-80 was filled by psychologist Dr. James Mitchell, who was also contracted by the CIA to work at the agency's top-secret black site prisons in Europe employing SERE torture techniques, such as the controlled drowning technique know as waterboarding, against detainees.

Click here to listen to Jason Leopold discuss this report on The Peter B. Collins show.

While they were still under contract to the CIA, the two men formed the "consulting" firm Mitchell, Jessen & Associates in March 2005. The "governing persons" of the company included Kearns' former boss, Aldrich, SERE contractor David Tate, Joseph Matarazzo, a former president of the American Psychological Association and Randall Spivey, the ex-chief of Operations, Policy and Oversight Division of JPRA.

Mitchell, Jessen & Associates' articles of incorporation have been "inactive" since October 22, 2009 and the business is now listed as "dissolved," according to Washington state's Secretary of State website.

Lifting the "Veil of Secrecy"

Kearns was one of only two officers within DoD qualified to teach all three SERE-related courses within SSTP on a worldwide basis, according to a copy of a 1989 letter written by Aldrich, who nominated Kearns officer of the year.

He said he decided to come forward because he is outraged that Jessen used their work to help design the Bush administration's torture program.

"I think it’s about time for SERE to come out from behind the veil of secrecy if we are to progress as a moral nation of laws," Kearns said during a wide-ranging interview with Truthout. "To take this survival training program and turn it into some form of nationally sanctioned, purposeful program for the extraction of information, or to apply exploitation, is in total contradiction to human morality, and defies basic logic. When I first learned about interrogation, at basic intelligence training school, I read about Hans Scharff, a Nazi interrogator who later wrote an article for Argosy Magazine titled 'Without Torture.' That's what I was taught - torture doesn't work."

What stands out in Jessen's notes is that he believed torture was often used to produce false confessions. That was the end result after one high-value detainee who was tortured in early 2002 confessed to having information proving a link between the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, according to one former Bush administration official.

It was later revealed, however, that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, had simply provided his captors a false confession so they would stop torturing him. Jessen appeared to be concerned with protecting the US military against falling victim to this exact kind of physical and psychological pressure in a hostile detention environment, recognizing that it would lead to, among other things, false confessions.

In a paper Jessen wrote accompanying his notes, "Psychological Advances in Training to Survive Captivity, Interrogation and Torture," which was prepared for the symposium: "Advances in Clinical Psychological Support of National Security Affairs, Operational Problems in the Behavioral Sciences Course," he suggested that additional "research" should be undertaken to determine "the measurability of optimum stress levels in training students to resist captivity."

"The avenues appear inexhaustible" for further research in human exploitation, Jessen wrote.

Such "research" appears to have been the main underpinning of the Bush administration's torture program. The experimental nature of these interrogation methods used on detainees held at Guantanamo and at CIA black site prisons have been noted by military and intelligence officials. The Armed Services Committee report cited a statement from Col. Britt Mallow, the commander of the Criminal Investigative Task Force (CITF), who noted that Guantanamo officials Maj. Gen. Mike Dunleavy and Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller used the term "battle lab" to describe the facility, meaning "that interrogations and other procedures there were to some degree experimental, and their lessons would benefit [the Department of Defense] in other places."

What remains a mystery is why Jessen took a defensive survival training course and helped turn it into an offensive torture program.

Truthout attempted to reach Jessen over the past two months for comment, but we were unable to track him down. Messages left for him at a security firm in Alexandria, Virginia he has been affiliated with were not returned and phone numbers listed for him in Spokane were disconnected.

A New Emphasis on Terrorism

SV-91 was developed to place a new emphasis on terrorism as SERE-related courses pertaining to the cold war, such as SV-83, Special Survival for Sensitive Reconnaissance Operations (SRO), whose students flew secret missions over the Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc, and other communist countries, were being scaled back.

The official patch and coin of the Special Survival Training Program. (Photo courtesy of retired Air Force Capt. Michael Kearns)

SSTP evolved into the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA), the DoD's executive agency for SERE training, and was tapped by DoD General Counsel William "Jim" Haynes in 2002 to provide the agency with a list of interrogation techniques and the psychological impact those methods had on SERE trainees, with the aim of utilizing the same methods for use on detainees. Aldrich was working in a senior capacity at JPRA when Haynes contacted the agency to inquire about SERE.

The Army also runs a SERE school as does the Navy, which had utilized waterboarding as a training exercise on Navy SERE students that JPRA recommended to DoD as one of the torture techniques to use on high-value detainees.

Kearns said the value of Jessen's notes, particularly as they relate to the psychological aspects of the Bush administration's torture program, cannot be overstated.

"The Jessen notes clearly state the totality of what was being reverse-engineered - not just 'enhanced interrogation techniques,' but an entire program of exploitation of prisoners using torture as a central pillar," he said. "What I think is important to note, as an ex-SERE Resistance to Interrogation instructor, is the focus of Jessen's instruction. It is exploitation, not specifically interrogation.

"And this is not a picayune issue, because if one were to 'reverse-engineer' a course on resistance to exploitation then what one would get is a plan to exploit prisoners, not interrogate them. The CIA/DoD torture program appears to have the same goals as the terrorist organizations or enemy governments for which SV-91 and other SERE courses were created to defend against: the full exploitation of the prisoner in his intelligence, propaganda, or other needs held by the detaining power, such as the recruitment of informers and double agents. Those aspects of the US detainee program have not generally been discussed as part of the torture story in the American press."

Ironically, in late 2001, while the DoD started to make inquiries about adapting SERE methods for the government's interrogation program, Kearns received special permission from the US government to work as an intelligence officer for the Australian Department of Defence to teach the Australian Special Air Service (SAS) how to use SERE techniques to resist interrogation and torture if they were captured by terrorists. Australia had been a staunch supporter of the invasion of Afghanistan and sent troops there in late 2001.

Kearns, who recently waged an unsuccessful Congressional campaign in Colorado, was working on a spy novel two years ago and dug through boxes of "unclassified historical materials on intelligence" as part of his research when he happened to stumble upon Jessen's notes for SV-91. He said he was "deeply shocked and surprised to see I'd kept a copy of these handwritten notes as certainly the originals would have been destroyed (shredded)" once they were typed up and made into proper course materials.

"I hadn't seen these notes for over twenty years," he said. "However, I'll never forget that day in September 2009 when I discovered them. I instantly felt sick, and eventually vomited because I felt so badly physically and emotionally that day knowing that I worked with this person and this was the material that I believe was 'reverse-engineered' and used in part to design the torture program. When I found the Jessen papers, I made several copies and sent them to my friends as I thought this could be the smoking gun, which proves who knew what and when and possibly who sold a bag of rotten apples to the Bush administration."

Kearns was, however, aware of the role SERE played in the torture program before he found Jessen's notes, and in July 2008, he sent an email to the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, who was investigating the issue and offered to share information with Levin about Jessen and the SERE program in general. The Michigan Democrat responded to Kearns saying he was "concerned about this issue" and that he "needed more information on the subject," but Levin never followed up when Kearns offered to help.

"I don't know how it went off the tracks, but the names of the people who testified at the Senate Armed Services, Senate Judiciary, and Select Intelligence committees were people I worked with, and several I supervised," Kearns said. "It makes me sick to know people who knew better allowed this to happen."

Levin's office did not return phone calls or emails for comment. However, the report he released in April 2009, "Inquiry Into the Treatment of Detainees in US Custody," refers to SV-91. The report includes a list of acronyms used throughout the report, one of which is "S-V91," identified as "the Department of Defense High Risk Survival Training" course. But there is no other mention throughout the report of SV-91 or the term "High Risk Survival Training," possibly due to the fact that sections of the report where it is discussed remain classified. Still, the failure by Levin and his staff to follow up with Kearns--the key military official who had retained Jessen's notes and helped develop the very course those notes were based upon that was cited in the report--suggests Levin's investigation is somewhat incomplete.

Control and Dependence

A copy of the syllabus for SV-91, obtained by Truthout from another source who requested anonymity, states that the class was created "to provide special training for selected individuals that will enable them to withstand exploitation methods in the event of capture during peacetime operations.... to cope with such exploitation and deny their detainers useable information or propaganda."

Although the syllabus focuses on propaganda and interrogation for information as the primary means of exploiting prisoners, Jessen's notes amplify what was taught to SERE students and later used against detainees captured after 9/11 . He wrote that a prisoner's captors seek to "exploit" the prisoner through control and dependence.

"From the moment you are detained (if some kind of exploitation is your Detainer's goal) everything your Detainer does will be contrived to bring about these factors: CONTROL, DEPENDENCY, COMPLIANCE AND COOPERATION," Jessen wrote. "Your detainer will work to take away your sense of control. This will be done mostly by removing external control (i.e., sleep, food, communication, personal routines etc. )…Your detainer wants you to feel 'EVERYTHING' is dependent on him, from the smallest detail, (food, sleep, human interaction), to your release or your very life … Your detainer wants you to comply with everything he wishes. He will attempt to make everything from personal comfort to your release unavoidably connected to compliance in your mind."

Jessen wrote that cooperation is the "end goal" of the detainer, who wants the detainee "to see that [the detainer] has 'total' control of you because you are completely dependent on him, and thus you must comply with his wishes. Therefore, it is absolutely inevitable that you must cooperate with him in some way (propaganda, special favors, confession, etc.)."

Jessen described the kinds of pressures that would be exerted on the prisoner to achieve this goal, including "fear of the unknown, loss of control, dehumanization, isolation," and use of sensory deprivation and sensory "flooding." He also included "physical" deprivations in his list of detainer "pressures."

"Unlike everyday experiences, however, as a detainee we could be subjected to stressors/coercive pressures which we cannot completely control," he wrote. "If these stressors are manipulated and increased against us, the cumulative effect can push us out of the optimum range of functioning. This is what the detainer wants, to get us 'off balance.'"

"The Detainer wants us to experience a loss of composure in hopes we can be manipulated into some kind of collaboration..." Jessen wrote. "This is where you are most vulnerable to exploitation. This is where you are most likely to make mistakes, show emotions, act impulsively, become discouraged, etc. You are still close enough to being intact that you would appear convincing and your behavior would appear 'uncoerced.'"

Kearns said, based on what he has read in declassified government documents and news reports about the role SERE played in the Bush administration's torture program, Jessen clearly "reverse-engieered" his lesson plan and used resistance methods to abuse "war on terror" detainees.

The SSTP course was "specifically and intentionally designed to assist American personnel held in hostile detention," Kearns said. It was "not designed for interrogation, and certainly not torture. We were not interrogators we were 'role-players' who introduced enemy exploitation techniques into survival scenarios as student learning objectives in what could be called Socratic-style dilemma settings. More specifically, resistance techniques were learned via significant emotional experiences, which were intended to inculcate long-term valid and reliable survival routines in the student's memory. The one rule we had was 'hands off.' No (human intelligence) operator could lay hands on a student in a 'role play scenario' because we knew they could never 'go there' in the real world."

But after Jessen was hired, Kearns contends, Aldrich immediately trained him to become a mock interrogator using "SERE harsh resistance to interrogation methods even though medical services officers were explicitly excluded from the 'laying on' of hands in [resistance] 'role-play' scenarios."

Aldrich, who now works with the Center for Personal Protection & Safety in Spokane, did not return calls for comment.

"Torture Paper"

The companion paper Jessen wrote included with his notes, which was also provided to Truthout by Kearns, eerily describes the same torturous interrogation methods US military personnel would face during detention that Jessen and Mitchell "reverse engineered" a little more than a decade later and that the CIA and DoD used against detainees.

Indeed, in a subsection of the paper, "Understanding the Prisoner of War Environment," Jessen notes how a prisoner will be broken down in an attempt to get him to "collaborate" with his "detainer."

"This issue of collaboration is 'the most prominent deliberately controlled force against the (prisoner of war)," Jessen wrote. "The ability of the (prisoner of war) to successfully resist collaboration and cope with the obviously severe approach-avoidance conflict is complicated in a systematic and calculated way by his captors.

"These complications include: Threats of death, physical pressures including torture which result in psychological disturbances or deterioration, inadequate diet and sanitary facilities with constant debilitation and illness, attacks on the mental health via isolation, reinforcement of anxieties, sleeplessness, stimulus deprivation or flooding, disorientation, loss of control both internal and external locus, direct and indirect attack on the (prisoner of war's) standards of honor, faith in himself, his organization, family, country, religion, or political beliefs ... Few seem to be able to hold themselves completely immune to such rigorous behavior throughout all the vicissitudes of long captivity. Confronted with these conditions, the unprepared prisoner of war experiences unmanageable levels of fear and despair."

"Specific (torture resistance) techniques," Jessen wrote, "taught to and implemented by the military member in the prisoner of war setting are classified" and were not discussed in the paper he wrote. He added, "Resistance Training students must leave training with useful resistance skills and a clear understanding that they can successfully resist captivity, interrogation or torture."

Kearns also declined to cite the specific interrogation techniques used during SERE training exercises because that information is still classified. Nor would he comment as to whether the interrogations used methods that matched or were similar to those identified in the August 2002 torture memo prepared by former Justice Department attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee.

However, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee report "SERE resistance training ... was used to inform" Yoo and Bybee's torture memo, specifically, nearly a dozen of the brutal techniques detainees were subjected to, which included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, painful stress positions, wall slamming and placing detainees in a confined space, such as a container, where his movement is restricted. The CIA's Office of Technical Services told Yoo and Bybee the SERE techniques used to inform the torture memo were not harmful, according to declassified government documents.

Many of the "complications," or torture techniques, Jessen wrote about, declassified government documents show, became a standard method of interrogation and torture used against all of the high-value detainees in custody of the CIA in early 2002, including Abu Zubaydah and self-professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as well as detainees held at Guantanamo and prison facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The issue of "collaborating" with one's detainer, which Jessen noted was the most important in terms of controlling a prisoner, is a common theme among the stories of detainees who were tortured and later released from Guantanamo.

For example, Mamdouh Habib, an Australian citizen who was rendered to Egypt and other countries where he was tortured before being sent to Guantanamo, wrote in his memoir, "My Story: the Tale of a Terrorist Who Wasn't," after he was released without charge, that interrogators at Guantanamo "tried to make detainees mistrust one another so that they would inform on each other during interrogation."

Binyam Mohamed, am Ethiopian-born British citizen, who the US rendered to a black site prison in Morocco, said that a British intelligence informant, a person he knew and who was recurited, came to him in his Moroccan cell and told him that if he became an intelligence asset for the British, his torture, which included scalpel cuts to his penis, would end. In December 2009, British government officials released documents that show Mohamed was subjected to SERE torture techniques during his captivity in the spring of 2002.

Abdul Aziz Naji, an Algerian prisoner at Guantanamo until he was forcibly repatriated against his wishes to Algeria in July 2010, told an Algerian newspaper that "some detainees had been promised to be granted political asylum opportunity in exchange of [sic] a spying role within the detention camp."

Mohamedou Ould Salahi, whose surname is sometimes spelled "Slahi," is a Mauritanian who was tortured in Jordan and Guantanamo. Investigative journalist Andy Worthington reported that Salahi was subjected to "prolonged isolation, prolonged sleep deprivation, beatings, death threats, and threats that his mother would be brought to Guantanamo and gang-raped" unless he collaborated with his interrogators. Salahi finally decided to become an informant for the US in 2003. As a result, Salahi was allowed to live in a special fenced-in compound, with television and refrigerator, allowed to garden, write and paint, "separated from other detainees in a cocoon designed to reward and protect."

Still, despite collaborating with his detainers, the US government mounted a vigorous defense against Salahi's petition for habeas corpus. His case continues to hang in legal limbo. Salahi's fate speaks to the lesson Habib said he learned at Guantanamo: "you could never satisfy your interrogator." Habib felt informants were never released "because the Americans used them against the other detainees."

Jessen's and Mitchell's mutimillion dollar government contract was terminated by CIA Director Leon Panetta in 2009. According to an Associated Press report, the CIA agreed to pay - to the tune of $5 million - the legal bills incurred by their consulting firm.

Recently a complaint filed against Mitchell with the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists by a San Antonio-based psychologist, an attorney who defended three suspected terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo and by Zubaydah's attorney Joseph Margulies. Their complaint sought to strip Mitchell of his license to practice psychology for violating the board's rules as a result of the hands-on role he played in torturing detainees, was dismissed due to what the board said was a lack of evidence. Mitchell, who lives in Florida, is licensed in Texas. A similar complaint against Jessen may soon be filed in Idaho, where he is licensed to practice psychology.

Kearns, who took a graduate course in cognitive psychotherapy in 1988 taught by Jessen, still can't comprehend what motivated his former colleague to turn to the "dark side."

"Bruce Jessen knew better," Kearns said, who retired in 1991 and is now working on his Ph.D in educational psychology. "His duplicitous act is appalling to me and shall haunt me for the rest of my life."