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CAMPAIGN AGAINST CRIMINALISING COMMUNITIES
News Bulletin 8 August - 15 October 2003
Police seek DNA record of everyone
Senior police officers will call this week for the national database
of 2m DNA samples to be extended to everyone in the country.
8 August 2003,
The Guardian
New suicide attempt at Guantanamo Bay prison
Another inmate of the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay has
tried to kill himself, the second such attempt in as many weeks.
This week’s suicide attempt was the 31st since the high-security
prison opened in January 2002, Pentagon spokeswoman Lieuten-ant
Commander Barbara Burfeind said.
21 August 2003,
Ananova.com
Guantanamo Bay ruling sought
Lawyers for the Britons, Australians and Kuwaitis imprisoned by
the US in the war on terror are asking the Supreme Court to rule
that they cannot be held indefinitely at the US prison camp in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The case would raise fundamental questions about the US’s
legal authority to hold foreigners without the protection of either
the US courts or the Geneva convention on war prisoners.
4 September 2003,
Financial Times
MODs and wreckers
This weekend thousands of terrorists from all over the world will
be descending on the Excel Centre in London’s docklands
for the DSEI Arms Fair.
5 September 2003,
SchNEWS
Spain extradites exile to Peru on terrorism
charge
A London-based Peruvian exile has been extradited to Peru on
the orders of a court in Spain, to face charges of being a member
of
the guerrilla group Shining Path, the Guardian has learned.
6 September 2003, The Guardian
London police braced for violent protests at Europe’s
biggest arms fair
Anti-terrorist police will be part of a 1 million pound policing
operation in London’s docklands next week to protect Europe’s
largest defence exhibition amid concerns that demonstrations by
anti-arms trade activists and anarchists could turn into riots.
More than 60 different groups have pledged to challenge what many
have dubbed the ‘death fair’, which opens for business
on Tuesday at the Excel Centre and is supported by the Ministry
of Defence.
6 September 2003,
The Guardian
Some kind of asylum
Last month the trial ended of 11 asylum seekers charged in connection
with a fire at Yarl’s Wood, the Government’s showpiece
detention centre.
6 September 2003,
The Guardian Weekend
This war on terrorism is bogus
Massive attention has now been given – and rightly so – to
the reasons why Britain went to war against Iraq. But far too little
attention has focussed on why the US went to war, and that throws
light on Britain’s motives too. The conventional explanation
is that after the Twin Towers were hit, retaliation against Al-Quaida
bases in Afghanistan was a natural first step in launching a global
war against terrorism. Then, because Saddam Hussein was alleged
by the US and UK governments to retain weapons of mass destruction,
the war could be extended to Iraq as well. However this theory
does not fit all the facts. The truth may be a great deal murkier.
6 September 2003,
The Guardian
Big Brother takes grip on America
The message of the posters on the walls of Skokie library is plain:
Big Brother is watching you. The signs, put up by librarian Caroline
Anthony, warn of the radical new laws that have given the American
government to monitor the reading habits of its citizens without
telling them. Now the FBI can also secretly record what websites
people look at. And what books they buy. Or videos they hire. ‘Libraries
are all about freedom of knowledge and not having Big Brother watching
you. We had to warn our users’ says Anthony.
7 September 2003,
Observer
Nightmare played out in the City
It looked like every Tube travellers’ worst nightmare was
being played out in front of them. An Underground station in the
heart of the City swarmed with emergency service wearing gas-tight
suits and masks. Dozens of casualties were brought out on stretchers
and passed through decontamination tents. Mercifully, yesterday’s
mock chemical attack at Bank station was only a simulation for
training purposes. But according to recent warnings, a terror attack
on the capital is a very real scenario.
8 September 2003,
Metro
Protests at arrest of al-Jazeera reporter
Arab human rights groups expressed concern yesterday about Spain’s
detention of a former al-Jazeera correspondent in Kabul as a suspected
al-Qaida member [Tayssir Alouni].
Alouni’s wife, Fatima, said that the arrest warrant had referred
to an exclusive video-tape received from Osama bin Laden threatening
major terrorist attacks, which was broadcast on al-Jazeera a few
weeks after September 11.
8 September 2003,
The Guardian
EU to ban Hamas political wing
EU officials will move today to ban the political wing of Hamas
and place its leaders on a terrorist blacklist.
Diplomats meet in Brussels to thrash out practical moves after
foreign ministers agreed at the weekend to follow the US and outlaw
the group and freeze its assets. The ban is likely to hit fund-raising
and social welfare activities the EU now says are indistinguishable
from terrorist cells. In Britain, the charity commission has already
frozen the funds of the Palestinian Relief and Develop-ment Fund,
or Interpal, because of alleged links to Hamas.
8 September 2003,
The Guardian
Blunkett revives plan to trawl phone and net users’ records
Ministers are to press ahead with plans to ensure that communications
companies retain the records of every telephone, internet and
email user, in the face of determined opposition from industry
and civil liberties groups. The Home Office announced yesterday
that phone companies and internet service providers will be asked
to stockpile customer records for up to 12 months so that they
can be accessed by law enforcement and other public bodies.
9 September 2003,
The Guardian
Liberty plans court action after protestors held under terror
act
The civil rights group Liberty was today expected to launch a high
court action to protect the right to protest outside Europe’s
biggest arms fair in London’s Dockland
Liberty spokesman Barry Hugill said the organisation was hoping
to take urgent high court action on behalf of individuals barred
from the protest under section 44 of the Anti-Terrorism Crime and
Security Act.
He said the government had previously assured the House of Commons
that these measures would only be used where there was “good
reason to believe that there is genuinely a terrorist threat”.
“ To use it as they are using it against protesters at an arms
fair seems to us to be blatantly illegal,” he said.
10 September 2003,
The Guardian
The World Today – Guantanamo Bay ‘a travesty of justice’:
international jurist
A leading international jurist has slammed the Federal Govern-ment’s
decision not to demand the repatriation of two Australians the
United States is holding at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba – a detention
he describes as a “travesty of justice”.
10 September 2003,
ABC Online
Pelican Bay parallels Guantanamo Bay
There are about 640 prisoners from 42 different nations – people
the Bush administration refers to as “detainees” – being
held in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They have not been
charged with any crime and are being denied their basic human rights
and the due process of America’s supposedly moral justice
system.
The Bush administration contends that some of the detainees are “illegal
combatants” in the war against terrorism, thus… these
prisoners can be held indeterminately “pending an investigation.
About 2,500 miles northwest of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in Pelican
Bay, California, the very same method of isolation and confinement
is being practised.
Currently there are about 50 to 60 Black prisoners being held in
Pelican Bay State Prison’s administrative segregation unit – commonly
referred to as the “hole” – “pending an
investigation,” according to officials. The population within
that unit is 70 per cent black.
10 September 2003,
SF Bay View.com
Rumsfeld: Guantanamo Bay suspects held indefinitely
WASHINGTON (AP) – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says
most suspected terrorists at a U.S. prison camp in Cuba will probably
be detained for the course of the global war on terrorism rather
than face trial. That sparked criticism from lawyers who said U.S.
legal tradition insists on a transparent and open judicial process.
Rumsfeld said Wednesday he expects some trials but prefers that
most continue to be held at the Guantanamo Bay facility.
11 September 2003,
USA Today.com
Immigrants sue Spanish PM for claiming terror groups link
Sixteen north Africans held in jail for two months are suing the
Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, for slander after he
and the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, wrongly claimed they
were proof of a dangerous alliance between Saddam Hussein and Osama
bin Laden.
The arrest of the Algerian and Moroccan immigrants in north-east
Spain in January was hailed by Mr Aznar as the capture of “an
important network of terrorists connected to al-Qaida” armed
with “explosive, chemical and electronic material.
But bottles and flasks containing what police claimed were “explosives
and chemical products” found in their homes turned out to
hold cologne, olive oil, honey, household ammonia and washing powder.
The case against them was provisionally shelved and the men were
released.
13 September 2003,
The Guardian
Editorial: Legitimate defence?
Labour’s promises to tighten up on arms sales have been thrown
into confusion by September 11 and its aftermath. So much so that
anti-terrorist legislation was used to curb legitimate protest
at an arms fair in London this week.
The appropriate response to “tough neighbourhoods” such
as south Asia is for governments such as Britain to defuse the
tension and promote dialogue, not an arms race.
13 September 2003,
The Guardian
Arms fair protesters win hearing into use of anti-terror laws
Demonstrators at this week’s London arms fair yesterday were
given permission for a full high court hearing into the legality
of the police’s use of anti-terrorist legislation to arrest
and stop and search protesters.
Mr Justice Maurice Kay said the application for judicial review
from the campaign group Liberty raised a “serious issue” which
should be heard as soon as possible after October 1.
13 September 2003,
The Guardian
Blunkett queries arms fair arrests
Liberty goes to court over use of anti-terror legislation
The
home secretary, David Blunkett, yesterday demanded an explanation
from the Metropolitan police as to why they were using anti-terrorism
legislation against protesters at Europe’s biggest arms fair.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, accused Mr Blunkett of “passing
the buck” to Scotland Yard over the use of “draconian” powers.
“ This is not a matter of operational policing, as the Home Office
has suggested. By passing the buck to the police, he is turning
counter-terrorism measures into a political football and shirking
his constitutional responsibility.”
The deputy assistant commissioner, Andy Trotter, said… that
of a total of 102 people arrested in connection with the arms fair,
only two had been held under terrorism powers, and they were “quite
correctly arrested”.
He was referring to two German nationals arrested in the grounds
of the ExCel site. They were released without charge once they
had given explanations.
The shadow home secretary, Oliver Letwin, said that Terrorism Act
powers should be invoked only in genuine cases of national emergency
and warned against a “slippery slope” towards their
use as part of normal policing.
13 September 2003,
The Guardian
Asylum granted to Putin adversary
Boris Berezovsky, the Russian billionaire and now implacable enemy
of the man he helped into office, Vladimir Putin, has been granted
political asylum yesterday.
Mr Berevosky was arrested in London in March in connection with
Russian charges that he and an associate, Yuli Dubov, defrauded
the region of Samara of 2,000 used Ladas, worth 60 bn roubles (£8m),
in 1994 and 1995 as co-directors of the LogoVaz and AvtoVaz car
companies. He was later given bail.
The charges were politically motivated, claimed Mr Berezovsky,
and coincided with President Putin’s rise to power and Mr
Berezovsky’s opposition to him.
13 September 2003,
The Guardian
Tracked like an enemy of the state, police chief who challenged
Met’s racist attitudes
Superintendent Ali Dizaei was once groomed to be a role model.
Instead he was investigated and prosecuted “like an enemy
of the state”, according to one senior police officer… another
said in exasperation: “What were we doing? I’m aghast.
We don’t appear to have learned.”
The Metropolitan Police Authority member, Peter Herbert, was briefed
in confidence about the case by a senior officer and said: “The
briefing was biased and racist. They were out to get him whatever
the cost. It was all hearsay or gossip.”
In January 2000, detectives were told that Mr Dizaei was an “agent” for
the Iranian secret police. The allegation came from the mother
of a woman with whom Mr Dizaei had a relationship, and then a messy
parting. It proved bogus.
BPA [Black Police Association] members believe the targeting of
Mr Dizaei was an attempt to discredit
their organisation.
The Met even misinformed a Home Office minister about the case,
and then went on to misinform MPs.
16 September 2003,
The Guardian
Algerian pilot sues US over terror charges
An Algerian pilot wrongly accused by the United States government
of training some of the September 11 hijackers is to sue the
FBI and the Department of Justice for $20m (about £13m),
his British lawyers announced yesterday.
Lofti Raissi, 29, who spent five months in Belmarsh high security
prison following the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the
Pentagon, had originally been told by the US that he was likely
to be charged with conspiracy to murder and could face the death
penalty.
However, a British judge refused to extradite him to America on
the grounds that there was no evidence against him.
16 September 2003,
The Guardian
Raid foils neo-Nazi ‘Kristallnacht’ plot
Germany’s interior minister warned last night that the country’s
far right posed a dramatic new danger, following the arrest of
10 neo-Nazis who were attempting to blow up the inauguration ceremony
of a synagogue in Munich.
16 September 2003,
The Guardian
Cabinet split delays ID cards plan
The home secretary, David Blunkett’s plans to introduce a
national scheme of identity cards have been held up by objections
from leading cabinet members, including Peter Hain, the leader
of the Commons, Patricia Hewitt, the trade secretary, and Charles
Clarke, the education secretary.
While several ministers are still concerned about the principle
of the scheme, the debate has also turned to practical difficulties,
including the likely £40 per person charge and the 10 to
13 years it would take to bring into operation.
18 September 2003,
The Guardian
Law Chief calls on US to give terror suspects fair trial
Britain’s senior law officer urged the US not to hand terrorists
a victory by denying alleged Al Qa’eda members held at Guantanamo
Bay a fair trial at an independent tribunal.
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith told the International Bar Association
annual conference in San Francisco, “The goal of the terrorist
is not only to kill, maim and destroy but also to undermine our
societies.
“
That aim is furthered if democratic governments place those suspected
of terrorist crimes outside the law and compromise on their fundamental
principles.”
Negotiations were continuing to ensure that, “if prosecuted,
the British detainees are assured of fair trials wherever they
take place.”
19 September 2003,
The Washington Post
Families of Guantanamo Bay prisoners launch US Supreme Court appeal
Families of four of the more than 660 prisoners held at the US
naval base in Guantanamo Bay have intensified their action against
the Bush administration and its flagrant breach of democratic
rights. On 2 September their lawyers lodged an appeal with the
US Supreme Court over the illegal imprisonment of two Australian
citizens, David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, and Safiq Rasul and
Asif Iqbal from Britain.
19 September 2003,
WSWS
Terror as usual
When eight foreign tourists – including two Britons – were
kidnapped this month, the first reports attributed the crime to
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – the Farc. But
the Farc denied this particular episode and probably they are telling
the truth. This could mean that the ELN did it. Or it could mean
that elements much closer to power – to the security forces
and finally to the government – are responsible.
Earlier this month, 80 Colombian human rights organisations reported
on [President] Uribe’s record, accusing him of promoting
terror against civilians.
23 September 2003,
The Guardian
Terror must end before talks, India tells UN
The Indian Prime Minister yesterday delivered an uncompromising
rejection of Pakistan’s call for general dialogue over
the Kashmir crisis, repeating that talks could only begin once
terrorism ceased. ‘ When the cross-border terrorism stops,
or when we eradicate it, we can have a dialogue with Pakistan
on the other issues between us,’ Atal Behari Vajpayee told
the UN General Assembly. ‘We totally refuse to let terrorism
become a tool of blackmail. Just as the world did not negotiate
with Al-Quaida or the Taliban, we shall not negotiate with terrorism’.
26 September 2003,
Financial Times
Deportation centre for migrants ‘unsafe’
The chief inspector of prisons is calling on the police to investigate
claims that immigration detainees have been assaulted and injured
during attempts by private escort contractors to deport them.
In a report, published today, Annie Owers says that Britain’s
biggest immigration removals centre, Harmondsworth, near Heathrow,
is an “essentially unsafe place for detainees and staff”.
Allegations of assault are common and there is a constant danger
of small fires getting out of control.
29 September 2003,
The Guardian
Yarl’s Wood reopens before blaze inquiry
The government was accused yesterday of gambling with the lives
of asylum seekers after it reopened the Yarl’s Wood detention
centre before an inquiry into a blaze at the facility 19 months
ago was completed.
29 September 2003,
The Guardian
Secret go ahead for ID card database
The cabinet has secretly given the go ahead to the chancellor to
set up Britain’s first national population computer database
that is the foundation stone for a compulsory identity card scheme.
The “citizen information register” is to bring together
all the existing information held by the government on the 58 million
people resident in Britain.
It will include their name, address, date of birth, sex and a unique
personal number to form a “more accurate and transparent” database
than existing national insurance, tax, medical, passport, voter
and driving licence records.
The citizen information register will replace the electoral register
and be regularly updated by electronic registration of births,
marriages and deaths.
30 September 2003,
The Guardian
Third Guantanamo staff member held
A man who has been acting as a translator for prisoners held at
the US camp at Guantanamo Bay has been arrested in Boston.
Ahmed Mehalba was arrested at Logan airport on Monday after he
arrived on a flight from Cairo. He was said to have had documents
connected to Guantanamo Bay in his possession.
Another man attached to the base has already been charged in connection
with security breaches there. Ahmad al Halabi has been charged
with espionage for allegedly passing on classified information
about the base to an enemy.
The third person charged with alleged breaches at the base is Capt
Yousef Yee, a Muslim chaplain, who is being held in Charleston,
South Carolina.
1 October 2003,
The Guardian
Al-Quaida network highlighted as Belgian terror trial ends
A Belgian court yesterday sentenced 18 Islamic militants, ending
a four-month trial that has highlighted the depth and diversity
of Al-Quaida’s network at the heart of Europe.
1 October 2003,
Financial Times
Terror police arrest 11 Algerians in dawn raids
Eleven Algerian terror suspects were arrested yesterday in coordinated
raids in London and Manchester.
They are being held under section 41 of the TA2000, on suspicion
of being involved in the “commission, preparation or instigation
of acts of terrorism”.
Six men, in their 30s, were detained at addresses in north, east
and southeast London at around 6am and a seventh man was arrested
yesterday afternoon in the capital. Four men were arrested in the
Longsight district of Manchester at around 5.30am.
Security sources said the arrests were based on intelligence and
were the result of joint work between the police and MI5.
1 October 2003,
The Guardian
US makes fresh arrest in probe into prison espionage
The US has arrested a second translator who worked with Al-Qaida
detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba after he was detained on Monday
at Boston’s Logan airport carrying a compact disc that
appeared to contain classified information. The arrest, along
with the detention of James Yee, an army captain who served as
the Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo, indicates that the US has
suffered a major security breach at a facility used to house
hundreds of terrorists it considers too dangerous to release
or bring to trial.
1 October 2003,
Financial Times
Ready to die for Allah in battle for Chechnya
Shamil knows one of two things will happen this month when he crosses
from Azerbaijan to Chechnya to wage jihad. Either the Russian
infidels will leave his native Chechnya or he will join Allah
in trying to force them out.
Today, Shamil, 21, lives in limbo, part of a 6,000 strong Chechen
diaspora in Baku, many of whom are without refugee status, aid,
or the right paperwork to live in, or even leave, Azerbaijan. He
sees Chechnya’s independence from the “martial law” imposed
by Russia as his only chance.
“ This war is a jihad for me,” he said. “I will
go to Allah…I will become a mojahedin. I will know that I have
died for Allah.”
Moscow insists that Chechen separatists are now dominated by Islamist
extremists with links to Al Qa’eda. They say Chechen rebels
are often either foreigners bent on fighting jihad…. or no
more than “international terrorists”.
Shamil insists that he and “his brothers” never asked
for help from foreign Muslims but “every Muslim is entitled
to come and help if they want to.”
2 October 2003,
The Guardian
‘Draconian’ stop search laws misused, court
told
Civil rights campaigners yesterday asked the High Court to rule
that David Blunkett, the home secretary, and the Metropolitan
Police Commissioner, Sir John Stephens, are misusing ‘draconian’ anti-terrorism
laws. Two judges heard that the campaign group Liberty believes
that civil rights are under threat because of a ‘more or
less permanent state of alertness’ in London. Liberty is
backing legal action by a freelance journalist and a protester
who were both stopped and searched on September 9 under the new
laws during a demonstration at Europe’s largest arms fair.
3 October 2003,
Press Association
Terrorism and the law: are the rules being bent again?
A federal judge has ruled that prosecutors may not seek the death
penalty against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person in the United
States to have been charged so far in connection with the September
11th terror attacks. Nor may they present any evidence linking
this so-called “20th hijacker” with the planning
or execution of the attacks. The ruling, by a district judge,
Leonie Brinkema, came after the federal government refused to
allow Mr Moussaoui to question al-Qaeda suspects who, he claims,
could prove his innocence. The government says it will appeal.
11 October 2003,
The Economist
Guantanamo Bay detainee’s lawyer gives speech at
UT
The detention of hundreds of political prisoners by the US government
and the denial of their legal rights rivals some of the darkest
civil liberties violations in American history, according to
a Minneapolis civil rights lawyer. Mr. Margulies, 43, working
for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, represents
two Britons and two Australians being held at Guantanamo. Like
all prisoners there, they are being held in solitary confinement,
are not allowed contact with outsiders, and have not been charged. “I
wouldn’t know them if they walked into this room,” said
Mr. Margulies.
During World War I, Congress passed the Sedition and Espionage
acts. More than 1,000 people were jailed for speaking against the
war. The problem, he contends, is that “without exception
the executives overshoot and overextend themselves, especially
[in areas] related to civil liberties.” Though the actions
almost always had public support at the time they were carried
out, “in time we [came] to regret it,” he said. Mr.
Margulies noted that everyone jailed under the Sedition and Espionage
acts later was pardoned.
15 October 2003,
Higher Education
NEW BOOK OUT SOON!
A Permanent State of Terror?
Published by CAMPACC in association with Index on Censorship
If you were to believe the newspaper headlines the threat from
terrorism is getting greater every day. Both police and politicians
in the UK have even said that it is only a matter of time before
the country is faced with a major attack.
But is the threat a reality? Is it any more real than the WMD in
Iraq? Is Al-Qaeda operating on our doorstep? Or does talking up
such dangers serve some sinister political purpose? What are the
real reasons for the suspension of civil liberties and the introduction
of a “state of emergency”? Who benefits, apart, for
example, from the intelligence services and arms manufacturers?
It is clear that the distinction between legitimate protest and
indiscriminate violence is now seriously blurred by current political
discussions. Recent legislation like the Terrorism Act 2000 and
the laws rushed through Parliament in the aftermath of 11 September
have not only fostered a climate of fear but also criminalised
minority communities, largely made up of asylum seekers and political
refugees.
CAMPACC has been trying to resist this for the last two years.
A Permanent State of Terror, published by CAMPACC in association
with Index on Censorship is both a record of the campaign so far
and a serious attempt to analyse what is really happening.
Contributors include: Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Mark Thomas, Liz
Fekete, Tony Benn, Gareth Peirce, Louise Christian, Liz Davies,
Frances Webber, James Kelman, Harold Pinter, Conor Gearty and others.
ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!
A Permanent State of Terror, £4.50, ISBN 0-904286-98-3
to order or for more information please contact:
INDEX ON CENSORSHIP: Tony on 020 7278 2313
e-mail: tony@indexoncensorship.org
or CAMPACC: Estella on 020 7586 5892
e-mail: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
Next CAMPACC meeting
Monday 24 November 7:30pm. ALL WELCOME!
For more details, please phone Estella on 020 7250 1315 or 020
7586 5892.
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