by Austin Fernando

In July 1983, my Accountant Mr. Vallipuram at the Cooperative Department lived off Castle Street where his neighbour was a notorious Sinhalese thug. Until ‘Black July’ Vallipuram once told me that, that thug was the ‘assailant select’ in his mind, whenever he feared a racial riot.

When violent crowds ‘visited’ him early morning on the Day of ‘Black July’ around 3.30 a.m. he, his wife and son escaped through the back door in to the premises of the thug, as it was the safest. They hid behind some banana trees until the ‘Sinhalese nationalist friends’ disappeared.

Suddenly, who appeared in front of them? It was the nasty thug, the intended killer. They thought that that was the last of their breaths.

To their utter surprise, the thug invited Vallipuram and family in to his smoky slum for a plain tea, shelter and security. Vallipuram thought that the instantaneous death was postponed. Yes, they were in the slum for about two hours until a Police Jeep from Borella picked them up. Vallipuram learnt that the message to the Police had gone from the thug, the ‘killer select!’ He was the saviour and not the killer.

Ms. Ponnathurai of Wellawatta
I too had a similar experience on this ‘day of the great divide’ when I had to save the life of one Ms. Ponnathurai who was brought to my house at Pamankada by two Sinhalese gentlemen who were employees of either Richard Pieris or Browns. Ms. Ponnathurai was a co-worker with them and could not reach her house in Wellawatta because it was burning. When she was inside my house, hidden in fear of death, the ‘nationalists’ visited us demanding to know whether we were aware of any Tamils hidden anywhere. If we were found we would have taken our last breaths that day!

Looking back
I narrate these incidents to show that there is unexpected humanity and reflection of justice, even in an underworld thug, whom one expects to be one’s worst enemy at a vulnerable moment and unexpected humanitarianism and reflected justice in civilians like me and those two Sinhalesegentlmen. Today, I reminisce on 25 years through this gloomy darkened tunnel of time and am reminded of the harrowing episodes faced by Vallipuram and Ms. Ponnathurai. I do not think Vallipuram ever met the thug after he left Colombo. I have not met Ms. Ponnathurai even once.

However, are we in the same frame of mind 25 years later to help others, if the same incident happens today? Will we be spared if we react in the same manner? Will I not be called a terrorist sympathiser if I do so today?

Twenty five years later, with the world open to us at the tap of a computer key or pressing a button on a remote control - while calling ourselves members of a global village / family, whom have we become?
Today, we are a society who practices hatred like a fundamentalist religion. We no longer are horrified when Tamil civilians are killed, abducted or disappeared. In fact, some of our extremists may be thinking that it’s worthwhile to kill them young as ‘they will grow up to be Tigers.’

The sentiments of most LTTE’ers and even some extremist Tamil civilians cannot be different towards the Sinhalese, when innocent men, women and children are blown to pieces by suicide bombers in the South. Those blown up children may be the future Army soldiers according to them!

Concurrently, will Vallipuram today reciprocate that thug similarly in Killinochchi, if the latter is faced with threat to life by ethnically motivated Tamil nationalists? If he or Ms. Ponnathurai does so, will they not be called ‘anti-Tamil stooges of the southern Sinhalese chauvinistic Government?’

Is there any solution against polarisation?
All these threats will polarise us more. How long are we prepared to polarise like this? Has not Satan taken over our humanity?

Leave aside our brother or sister of a different community; we are unfazed even when one of our own communities dies in a bomb blast. Today, a LTTE blast is not fabulous enough,or newsworthy unless at least 10-15 innocents have died. By being numb to our brother’s pain, we have instilled in ourselves how to be numb to our own pain.

For two decades, plus on numerous occasions, countless people from different walks of life have remembered ‘Black July’ at different levels of sadness, anger, loss and hopelessness. Very rightly, the politicians who allegedly engineered these atrocities, the thugs, the underworld, the Police have been blamed. Is blaming enough?

Twenty five years after ‘Black July’ we are more venomous, more polarised, and it’s a part of life to sometimes silently (or at other times openly) celebrate the deaths of our brothers. For this, no politician can be singularly blamed, no government can be totally held responsible. It is we who elected them and we should share the major portion of the blame in that event.

Today marks one generation that bypassed ‘Black July.’ Anyway, are we going to carry on this blaming to another generation? As much as senior politicians and Generals say that they don’t want to carry on this war, can’t we unitedly reverberate with one orchestration - that we will permit peacemaking and break the shackles of polarisation to the next generation or our successors?

This could happen the day we conceive that, as much as conflict or war is of national interest, peace too is of national interest. This message will never go down the throats of the people unless the politicians of all colours, public service, judiciary, and media and in the Sri Lankan case the LTTE, swear on this dire need. It is my dream?

Blame, blame and blame!
Are politicians the only ones responsible for this erosion of our souls? Or is it the failing system? Are we a nation that has lost touch with our own conscience? I think each of us individually is to be blamed. We have become a nation that has failed to first understand the human realities in its totality. We have become a nation of men and women unable to have a decent relationship with this world of panoramic political and ethnic realities. In a sea of knowledge on coexistence and moving forward, we have become stubborn men and women who refuse to let go of hatred.

Learn from Emperor Dharmashoka
Emperor Asoka killed ninety nine of his brothers and their male offspring to sit on the throne to be Chandasoka - the violent Asoka. But one nephew of his who escaped - Nigrodha Thero preached a higher truth to him and made him Dharmasoka. Centuries later in our heart we are still ‘chanda’- violent. When will we stop killing our brother, with our thoughts, our actions, our words and sit on a higher throne as a nation? Do we just blame politicians- or do we take emotional and moral responsibility for this sinful behaviour?

If we swear to this Buddhist ideology, then it would have been worthy of reminiscing the dastardly events of July 23rd, 1983. Otherwise, reminiscing would be a silent reminder of sins!

Author of My Belly is White: Reminiscences of a Peacetime Secretary of Defence, Austin Fernando is a former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.

PROUD TO BE A LESBIAN. A member of the Thunderbirds Association of the Cordillera and the Suburbs, Inc. (TACSI) proudly tells the world: gays and lesbians are also important, and productive members of society. TACSI is a member of the Baguio Pride Network (BPN), an alliance of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-genders (LGBT) organizations and advocates for equal rights and to end homophobia and discrimination. Photo by Cye Reyes/NORDIS

Under the umbrella organization Baguio Pride Network (BPN), different LGBT organizations and individuals during a press conference here Thursday, are one in calling for respect and acceptance by society.

According to Julie Palaganas of Lesbians for National Democracy (Lesbond), “homophobia or the irrational fear and hatred of homosexuals is a result of institutionalized discrimination perpetuated by the educational system, mass media, the state and the church.”

Palaganas also said homophobia comes in the form of simple mockery and also hate crimes like gay battering or even murders.

“Homophobia is everywhere – in the homes, schools, workplaces, in the streets,” said Palaganas adding that homophobic parents would even go out of their way to beat their gay sons or have their lesbian daughters be raped to make them “real” men and women.

Photo by Cye Reyes/NORDIS

“We are infuriated by this senseless hatred of society in general because of our sexual preference and it is about time that the LGBTs here in Baguio get out of the closets to show the people that we also are human beings and that we are productive members of society,” said Myke Sotero of the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines (Pro-gay) Baguio chapter.

As a sign of unity for their calls, the BPN is scheduled to have a pride parade today to be participated by LGBTs from Metro Baguio and other areas like La Union and Manila.

“We will be marching around the central business district to show the people of Baguio that we are proud to be queer, that we are here and that we will never disappear and that the people should respect and accept who we are,” Sotero said.

Members of the BPN include Lesbond, Pro-Gay Baguio, Thunderbirds Association of the Cordillera and the Suburbs, Inc. (TACSI), The Lucky Guys of La Union, Cordillera Women’s Education, Action Research Center (CWEARC), Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP), and gay friendly establishments like City Tavern Bar, Rumours, Studio 59, Ayuyang Bar, Butch #3 Flower Shop, Laguisma Electronics Center Stargazzer Acoustic Place and Resto, Samurai Comedy Bar and Café, Gagamba Bar and Fellah Café.

The parade is part of an international celebration of gay pride, which is usually celebrated on the month of June. It was in June 26, 1969 when a series of violent raids by the police force started in Stonewall Inn in New York City, then a popular hangout of gays and lesbians. Known as the Stonewall Riots, this historic event triggered the birth of the gay movement. International LGBT communities now recognize June as the pride month. # Cye Reyes(NorDis)

One year ago, State Rep. John Adams (R-Sidney) introduced one of the most outrageous pieces of legislation we have ever seen. House Bill 287 would require a woman to have the written informed consent of the prospective father of her fetus before being allowed to have an abortion.

That's right... If the man says "No," there will be no abortion.Period!

This bill may actually be scheduled for hearings in the coming weeks. To raise awareness about this offensive bill, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio is partnering with ProgressOhio, an outreach organization that builds awareness of legislative issues.

You're not going to believe this... HB 287 also requires that, if the identity of the prospective
father is unknown, a paternity test must be performed to determine his identity so that his consent could be obtained prior to performing the abortion.

What is left unsaid is that prenatal paternity testing: cannot be performed until at least the 10th week of pregnancy, near the end of the first trimester; is an invasive procedure using a long needle through the abdomen to collect fetal cells; is expensive - up to $2,000 per test;
and poses a potential medical risk. The practical effect of the paternity test requirement would
prevent some women from obtaining an abortion during the first trimester.

Once paternity is established, if the man says "No," there will be no abortion.

Even worse if... If the pregnancy resulted from rape, the woman would be required
to provide a police report proving it. If the pregnancy resulted from incest, the woman would be
required to provide a paternity test or a police report. If the woman chooses not to identify the prospective father (perhaps out of fear for her own physical well-being), her only recourse would be to continue the pregnancy against her wishes or have an illegal abortion, a first degree misdemeanor.

To sign a petition against it, go here. (Thanks, Jender-Parents!)

Cuban Communists celebrate today the 26 de Julio: The Anniversary of the Attack of the Moncada Barracks, supposedly led by Fidel Castro, who arrived late because he got lost in the streets of Santiago de Cuba. Castro and his followers created a myth around his image that, thanks to the International Socialist propaganda machine, survives today.

As Cuban Communists celebrate this day, most Cubans inside and outside the island, hope. They hope for the real change, from slavery to freedom.

Four peace activists who attempted to make a "citizens arrest" of Karl Rove, were arrested by Des Moines police in Iowa.

A dozen protesters had gathered outside a country club where Rove spoke at a private Republican party fundraiser. As the four were put into a police van, the demonstrators shouted: "It should be Karl Rove in that van. War Criminal!"

Chet Guinn, a retired Methodist Minister, was among those arrested. He told reporters: "To be silent when major crimes are being committed against all humanity makes us accomplices," as he was led away. (Source)

An official portrait of Karl Rove

Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) was Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush until his resignation on 31 August 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Since leaving the White House, Rove has worked as a political analyst and contributor for Fox News, Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal.

Investigation by the Office of Special Counsel

On April 24, 2007, it was revealed that Rove is being investigated by the Office of Special Counsel for his involvement in the email scandal, the firing of US attorneys, and for "improper political influence over government decision-making." In response to this investigation and other pending complaints, 2004 Democratic candidate for U.S. Vice President and former 2008 presidential hopeful John Edwards initiated a petition drive calling for Bush to fire Rove. After Rove announced his resignation, Edwards' reply was "good riddance". (Source and more information: Wikipedia.]

He said the lack of judges caused each of the four courts to have a load of at least 1,000 cases, affecting specially the hearing of criminal cases. Read full report here.

He said one indicator is that the courts' schedules had been filled up, that cases

to be reset for hearing could be scheduled in 2010.

Rosos said IBP found the whole year of 2009 is filled with court hearings. He said they have started plotting out schedules for 2010.

Beijing officials maintain the Olympics are threatened by terrorists and other extremists and some fear Chinese authorities could use that as an excuse to move against political opponents. Rice and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said any such action could mar the Games.

"Security threats have to be dealt with and that is fully understood by everybody, but security should not become in any way a cover to try and deal with dissent," said Rice, who will head the U.S. delegation to the Olympic closing ceremonies. "That would be unfortunate."

President Bush will attend the opening ceremony on Aug. 8 to demonstrate U.S. support for what Rice called "really a wonderful thing for China and the Chinese people."

"We are hopeful that the Olympic games will come off without a hitch," Rice said, adding that Chinese authorities should make good on promises to "showcase not just the Olympics but an attitude of openness and tolerance."

"They should carry through on those pledges," Rice told reporters after numerous reports that an unspecified terrorist plot to disrupt the Games in co-host city Shanghai had been broken up.

Chinese officials have said East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, has been plotting terror attacks on Games venues as part of their decades-long fight against Chinese rule.

Neither Rice nor Clark said they had any specific concerns about the safety of U.S. or New Zealand athletes who will compete, although Clark said that any disturbances should be "dealt with proportionality and due restraint."

While the event has become a magnet for critics of the government, ranging from free-speech advocates to activists over Tibet and Sudan's troubled Darfur region, most experts say the actual threat to the Beijing Games from terrorism is low.

 What follows is something the entire country must see.  What follows are the sketches of “Prisoner 345”, Sami al-Haj, an Arab journalist who was falsely apprehended in Afghanistan.  The premise for his detainment as an “enemy combatant” was that he once interviewed Osama bin Laden (which was false), but the reality was that the US Government was desperately trying to prove a link between his news station, Al Jazeera, and bin Laden. The sketches were, of course, censored by the US Military, but an artist has painstakingly recreated them to be published by Sami's lawyer. 

  Pictured: Sami al-Haj

 Sami was incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay without trial or even formal accusation for five years.

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/04/13/sami-al-haj-the-banned-torture-pictures-of-a-journalist-in-guantanamo/

The outline of Sami's story should be familiar to readers; last summer AlterNet published a detailed article by Rachel Morris: "Prisoner 345: An Arab Journalist's Five Years in Guantánamo," which made clear how Sami was seized because of the erroneous claim that he had interviewed Osama bin Laden, and the disturbing fact that his many interrogations in Guantánamo have focused solely on the administration's attempts to turn him into an informant against al-Jazeera, to "prove" a connection between the broadcaster and Osama bin Laden that does not exist. As his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith of the legal action charity Reprieve, noted bluntly and accurately in his book Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice in Guantánamo Bay, "Sami was a prisoner in the Bush Administration's assault on al-Jazeera."

Less well known is Sami's frontline reportage from within Guantánamo. Stafford Smith recalls that when he asked Sami for information, he "would assemble important facts on almost any topic in the prison relying on the incredible prisoner bush telegraph." These have included reports on the religious abuse -- primarily of the Qu'ran -- that preceded a series of hunger strikes and suicide attempts, and a pioneering assessment of the number of prisoners who were under 18 at the time of their capture.

Since January 7, 2007 (the fifth anniversary of his detention without trial by the US), Sami has been on a hunger strike. Although he is strapped into a restraint chair twice a day and force-fed against his will and despite the fact that he is "very thin" and "[h]is memory is disintegrating," according to Stafford Smith, Sami continues to seek ways to publicize the plight of his fellow prisoners. During the most recent visit from his lawyers in February -- with Cori Crider of Reprieve -- he produced a number of morbid, and almost hallucinatory sketches illustrating his take on conditions in Guantánamo, which he described as "Sketches of My Nightmare."

Fearing that they would be banned by the military censors, Crider asked him to describe each sketch in detail and when, as anticipated, the pictures were duly banned but the notes cleared, Reprieve asked political cartoonist Lewis Peake to create original works based on Sami's descriptions.

SCREAM FOR FREEDOM

 “The first sketch is just a skeleton in the torture chair,” Sami explained. “My picture reflects my nightmares of what I must look like, with my head double-strapped down, a tube in my nose, a black mask over my mouth, strapped into the torture chair with no eyes and only giant cheekbones, my teeth jutting out — my ribs showing in every detail, every rib, every joint. The tube goes up to a bag at the top of the drawing. On the right there is another skeleton sitting shackled to another chair. They are sitting like we do in interrogations, with hands shackled, feet shackled to the floor, just waiting. In between I draw the flag of Guantánamo — JTF-GTMO — but instead of the normal insignia, there is a skull and crossbones, the real symbol of what is happening here.”

In recently declassified testimony, Sami described more of his recent experiences of the force-feeding process:

On the Monday before last [February 11] a white male came to do the force-feeding. They gave him only ten minutes training, then he did three of the eight men being fed that day, including me. He screwed the tube into my nose, not slowly, and not using lotion. I had flu at the time and my nostril was closed. It made it much harder. I was in the chair. I could barely talk, and my mouth was covered with the mask they put on. I was waving my hands.

“That’s very painful!” I eventually said. There were tears streaming down my face. “I am meant to do this to you,” the man said, harshly. “If you don’t like it, don’t go on strike.” He would not look me in the eye. He did not look in the least bit ashamed. He never said sorry, or paused when I was in pain. I almost thought he seemed happy that he was doing it.

They used my feeding tube for another man last Monday [February 18]. This, even though they have marked the boxes for each tube. I have been getting a sore larynx, maybe from the infection of another person using my tube. I requested a spray but it was denied.

BY HONOR BOUND

Sami’s second sketch is his take on the familiar JTF-GTMO sign outside the prison. “This time,” he explained, “the hooded skeleton is in a three-piece suit [the prisoners’ term for being shackled at the wrists, ankles and waist]. The head is totally blacked out. The wrists are shackled at the back, with chains running down the legs. There are very elaborate arm bones, leg bones and the spine. And again the flag, the Jolly Roger of JTF-GTMO with a diabolical smile on the skull.”

ANGEL OF DEATH / THE HOSPITAL

For his next sketch, Sami shifted his attention to the prison hospital. “There is a third sketch, which is about the Hospital,” he said. “Again it is a skeleton, but with a face this time. The top of the skull is dotted with tracks, tracks of pain. This is the hospital gurney prisoner. He sits completely still, his hands and feet shackled to the side of the bed.”

In his testimony, recently released, Sami has elaborated on his experiences of the hospital:

I am very concerned about having cancer. I have had blood in my urine for a long time. They refused to believe me until I showed them urine in a container that had red in it. Since then they have had seven positive tests for blood in my urine.

I have a pain all across my chest and stomach, and in both kidneys. To begin with they thought it might be a kidney stone, but I had a scan for that. They did not give me the results for two weeks, and I worried all that time. It was negative.

So then they did a second scan with a tracer in the blood. This time, they did not tell me the results for two months. Again, I was left to worry about what might be wrong with me. Again, eventually a doctor came to see me, a black male, about 40 years old, clean shaven, in a uniform without rank on it. He saw me for only give minutes. He began decently, but then got rather hostile. He told me the test was negative, meaning that there was no kidney stone. “From my experience,” the doctor said to me, “I think it’s cancer.”

They then said that the next time a doctor would be coming with the appropriate expertise would be in May. Nobody would be coming before that, and he might not come even then. “You will leave me worrying about this for months?” I asked. “I don’t have the necessary equipment,” said the doctor. He apparently thought the prisoners were not as important as the soldiers in his care. “I don’t mind if you suffer or not,” he said. “It’s not my problem. I’m not here for you.” He left.

I worried too much after this. For three days I got barely any sleep. I was worrying that maybe I was dying. Then the brothers around me said, perhaps they are just telling you this, just trying to break your strike. I took some heart from this. But I still worry, as Abdul Razzaq died of cancer here, and it was a very painful death [Abdul Razzaq Hekmati, an Afghan who died on Dec.30].

I have all the other medical problems too. Really, I have pain almost everywhere –- all over. I have pain everywhere. It’s hard to identify one thing as it’s all over. My back, kidneys, chest, stomach, knee, I even have hemorrhoids. When I do get released, I am going to need to be taken to hospital right away.

THE INFLATABLE MAN

For his final sketches, Sami focused on the doctors’ role in the force-feeding process. “All they care about is the prisoner’s weight,” he explained. “’Are you sick? Are you in pain?’ Who cares? It is all about the number on the scale. At the top of the drawing there is a skeleton again, but this time without hands or feet. The top of the head, the cranium, even the eyes are gone. Our lives depend on the doctors, but we get nothing from them. So we’re going mad. A man who is mad has no mind, but he still has a heart. We’re all going mad here. The skeleton is strapped to a gurney, there’s a tube and a pump, and the gurney is on a scale. It reads 98 lbs. But that’s with the weight of the gurney, and maybe the soldier’s pushing down on the skeleton a bit also.”

He added, “As they prepare the feeding they don’t use gloves. When they take the tube out, things come out of the nose, but the people are strapped to the chair, and cannot do anything to clean the revolting tube. There are psychological teams all around, all keen to work out what the impact of this is on the prisoner.”

In the fifth sketch, Sami explained the meaning of the bloated body, noting that, even if the prisoner’s weight were to rise due to force-feeding, he would still be losing his mind. “In the second half of this drawing the prisoner is inflated,” he said. “The man is strapped to the gurney, and the weight on the scale reads 250 lbs. He has filled out, there are rolls of fat on his belly, but he is still mad. The pumps are all hooked up, forcing food into him. But the top half of his head is still vacant.”

The last of his declassified notes add a disturbing conclusion to the story of the doctors’ involvement in the force-feeding process, and the horrendous isolation and deprivation that still prevail in Guantánamo:

We met recently with a senior female doctor from the hospital. “Only if you break your strike can we give you medical care,” she told those of us on hunger strike. “Otherwise we cannot help you.” Some have now broken their strike. Four men are very sick, and were suffering too badly. But the truth is that they have given no help even to those who stop.

I am having bone problems. The cold is bad. I am on disciplinary for being on strike, so I get a plastic blanket at 10 pm, at least three hours after our last prayer time. Every other day I hardly get to sleep anyway, as rec [recreation time] is in the middle of the night.

For eight days I had the same clothes. I have not been given proper toothpaste for two years and seven months now. I am allowed a fingerbrush for just five minutes each day, and it doesn’t reach the back of my mouth. I am not allowed a prayer rug. I am not allowed a prayer cap. I am not allowed my prayer beads. I am not allowed any holy book except for the Qur’an. I have no books to read. The last book I was allowed was in December 2006, before I began my strike.

All I have are orange clothes, flip flops, an isomat, a Qur’an, and a bottle of water. I suppose I should think myself lucky. Another of the men here has been disciplined by having even his isomat take away –- for a whole year. Another man has lost his right to a water bottle for a whole year. All this made another man so upset that he tried to hang himself.”

--------------------------------------------

Sami has since been released, for more information, you can visit the website put up by his supporters.

www.prisoner345.net/sami-al-haj

By Paul Craig Roberts
07/25/08 "ICH"

"On October 21 (1948) the Government of Israel took a decision that was to have a lasting and divisive effect on the rights and status of those Arabs who lived within its borders: the official establishment of military government in the areas where most of the inhabitants were Arabs."
- Martin Gilbert, Israel: A History

I had given up on finding an American with a moral conscience and the courage to go with it and was on the verge of retiring my keyboard when I met the Rev. Thomas L. Are.

Rev. Are is a Presbyterian pastor who used to tell his Atlanta, Georgia, congregation: "I am a Zionist." Like most Americans, Rev. Are had been seduced by Israeli propaganda and helped to spread the propaganda among his congregation.

Around 1990 Rev. Are had an awakening for which he credits the Christian Canon of St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem and author Marc Ellis, co-editor of the book, Beyond Occupation.

Realizing that his ignorance of the situation on the ground had made him complicit in great crimes, Rev. Are wrote a book hoping to save others from his mistake and perhaps in part to make amends, Israeli Peace/Palestinian Justice, published in Canada in 1994.

Rev. Are researched his subject and wrote a brave book. Keep in mind that 1994 was long prior to Walt and Mearsheimer's recent book, which exposed the power of the Israel Lobby and its ability to control the explanation Americans receive about the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Rev. Are begins with an account of Israel's opening attack on the Palestinians, an event which took place before most Americans alive today were born. He quotes the distinguished British historian, Arnold J. Toynbee: "The treatment of the Palestinian Arabs in 1947 (and 1948) was as morally indefensible as the slaughter of six million Jews by the Nazis. Though not comparable in quantity to the crimes of the Nazis, it was comparable in quality."

Golda Meir, considered by Israelis as a great leader and by others as one of history's great killers, disputed the facts: "It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist."

Golda Meir's apology for Israel's great crimes is so counter-factual that it blows the mind. Palestinian refugee camps still exist outside Palestine filled with Palestinians and their descendants whose towns, villages, homes and lands were seized by the Israelis in 1948. Rev. Are provides the reader with Na'im Ateek's description of what happened to him, an 11-year old, when the Jews came to take Beisan on May 12, 1948. Entire Palestinian communities simply disappeared.

In 1949 the United Nations counted 711,000 Palestinian refugees.

In 2005 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency estimated 4.25 million Palestinians and their descendants were refugees from their homeland.

The Israeli policy of evicting non-Jews has continued for six decades. On June 19, 2008, the Laity Committee in the Holy Land reported in Window Into Palestine that the Israeli Ministry of Interior is taking away the residency rights of Jerusalem Christians who have been reclassified as "visitors in their own city."

On December 10, 2007, MK Ephraim Sneh boasted in the Jerusalem Post that Israel had achieved "a true Zionist victory" over the UN partition plan "which sought to establish two nations in the land of Israel." The partition plan had assigned Israel 56 percent of Palestine, leaving the inhabitants with only 44 percent. But Israel had altered this over time. Sneh proudly declared: "When we complete the permanent agreement, we will hold 78 percent of the land while the Palestinians will control 22 percent."

Sneb could have added that the 22 percent is essentially a collection of unconnected ghettos cut off from one another and from roads, water, medical care, and jobs.

Rev. Are documents that the abuse of Palestinians' human rights is official Israeli policy. Killings, torture, and beatings are routine. On May 17, 1990, the Washington Post reported that Save the Children "documented indiscriminate beating, tear-gassing and shooting of children at home or just outside the house playing in the street, who were sitting in the classroom or going to the store for groceries."

On January 19, 1988, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, later Prime Minister, announced the policy of "punitive beating" of Palestinians. The Israelis described the purpose of punitive beating: "Our task is to recreate a barrier and once again put the fear of death into the Arabs of the area."

According to Save the Children, beatings of children and women are common. Rev. Are, citing the report in the Washington Post, writes: "Save the Children concluded that one-third of beaten children were under ten years old, and one-fifth under the age of five. Nearly a third of the children beaten suffered broken bones."

On February 8, 1988, Newsweek magazine quoted an Israeli soldier: "We got orders to knock on every door, enter and take out all the males. The younger ones we lined up with their faces against the wall, and soldiers beat them with billy clubs. This was no private initiative, these were orders from our company commander.... After one soldier finished beating a detainee, another soldier called him 'you Nazi,' and the first man shot back: 'You bleeding heart.' When one soldier tried to stop another from beating an Arab for no reason, a fist fight broke out."

These were the old days before conscience was eliminated from the ranks of the Israeli military.

In the London Sunday Times, June 19, 1977, Ralph Schoenman, executive director of the Bertrand Russell Foundation, wrote: "Israeli interrogators routinely ill-treat and torture Arab prisoners. Prisoners are hooded or blindfolded and are hung by their wrists for long periods. Most are struck in the genitals or in other ways sexually abused. Most are sexually assaulted. Others are administered electric shock."

Amnesty International concluded that "there is no country in the world in which the use of official and sustained torture is as well established and documented as in the case of Israel."

Even the pro-Israeli Washington Post reported: "Upon arrest, a detainee undergoes a period of starvation, deprivation of sleep by organized methods and prolonged periods during which the prisoner is made to stand with his hands cuffed and raised, a filthy sack covering the head. Prisoners are dragged on the ground, beaten with objects, kicked, stripped and placed under ice-cold showers."

Sounds like Abu Gharib. There are news reports that Israeli torture experts participated in the torture of the detainees assembled by the American military as part of the Bush Regime's propaganda onslaught to convince Americans that Iraq was overflowing with al-Qaeda terrorists. On July 23, 2008, Antiwar.com posted an Iraqi news report that the Iraqi government had released a total of 109,087 Iraqis that the Americans had "detained." Obviously, these "terrorist detainees" had been used for the needs of Bush Regime propaganda. No one will ever know how many of them were abused by Israeli torturers imported by the CIA.

Rev. Are's book makes sensible suggestions for resolving the conflict that Israel began. However, the problem is that Israeli governments believe only in force. The policy of the Israeli government has always been to beat, kill, and brutalize Palestinians into submission and flight. Anyone who doubts this can read the book of Israel's finest historian Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006).

Americans are a gullible and naive people. They have been complicit for 60 years in crimes that in Arnold Toynbee's words "are comparable in quality" to the crimes of Nazi Germany. As Toynbee was writing decades ago, the accumulated Israeli crimes might now be comparable also in quantity.

The US routinely vetoes United Nations condemnations of Israel for its brutal crimes against the Palestinians. Insouciant American taxpayers have been bled for a half century to provide the Israelis with superior military weapons with which Israelis assault their neighbors, all the while convincing America – essentially a captive nation – that Israel is the victim.

John F. Mahoney wrote: "Thomas Are reminds me of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: an active pastor who comes to the unsettling realization that he and his people have been fed a terrible lie that is killing and torturing thousands of innocent men, women and children. Not without ample research and prayer does such a pastor, in turn, risk unsettling his congregation. The Reverend Are has done his homework and, I suspect, has prayed often and long during the writing of this courageous book."

Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran theologian and pastor who was executed for his active participation in the German Resistance against Nazism.

Professor Benjamin M. Weir, San Francisco Theological Seminary, wrote: "This book will make the reader squirm. It asks you to lend your voice in behalf of the voiceless."

Americans who can no longer think for themselves and who are terrified of disapproval by their peer group are incapable of lending their voices to anyone except those who control the world of propaganda in which they live.

The ignorance and unconcern of Americans is a great frustration to my friends in the Israeli peace movement. Without outside support those Israelis who believe in good will are deprived, by America's support for their government's policy of violence, of any peaceful resolution of a conflict began in 1947 by Israeli aggression against unsuspecting Palestinian villages.

Rev. Are wrote his book with the hope that the pen is mightier than the sword and that facts can crowd out propaganda and create a framework for a just resolution of the Palestinian issue. In his concluding chapter, "What Christians Can Do," Rev. Are writes: "We cannot allow others to dictate our thinking on any subject, especially on anything as important as Christian faithfulness, which is tested by an attitude towards seeking justice for the oppressed. It's a Christian's duty to know."

Duty, of course, has costs. Rev. Are writes: "Speak up for the Palestinians and you will make enemies. Yet, as Christians, we must be willing to raise issues that until now we have chosen to dodge."

More than a decade later, President Jimmy Carter, a true friend of Israel, tried again to awaken Americans' moral conscience with his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Carter was instantly demonized by the Israel Lobby.

Sixty years of efforts by good and humane people to hold Israel accountable have so far failed, but they are more important today than ever before. Israel has its captive American nation on the verge of attacking Iran, the consequences of which could be catastrophic for all concerned. The alleged purpose of the attack is to eliminate nonexistent Iranian nuclear weapons. The real reason is to eliminate all support for Hamas and Hezbollah so that Israel can seize the entire West Bank and southern Lebanon. The Bush regime is eager to do Israel's bidding, and the media and evangelical "Christian" churches have been preparing the American people for the event.

It is paradoxical that Israel is demonstrating that veracity lies not in the Christian belief in good will but in Lenin's doctrine that violence is the effective force in history and that the evangelical Christian Zionist churches agree.

Paul Craig Roberts wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was assistant secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was associate editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and contributing editor of National Review.

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Fighting Cuba's repressive government, armed with democratic ideals and uncommon courage, Jorge Luis García Pérez "Artúnez" is an example for mankind. His sister Berha is actively denouncing the human rights violations Artúnez and the Pro-Democracy Activists suffer on a daily basis for the independent journalism they practice in spite of being arrested, beaten, and tortured by the Cuban Communists. Last week the Cuban exile community, more than two million, embraced a gesture of solidarity towards the political prisoners from Reverend Al Sharpton in New York. As men like Artúnez risk their lives every day for a free and democratic Cuba, the pro democratic cause garners strength worldwide. Even though he faces serious health risks he keeps on denouncing the Communist regime's human rights abuses. For us, Cuban-Americans who will always hope for a free and democratic Cuba, Jorge Luis is an inspiration and an example. Read more about this extraordinary man here.

Nueva York. 25 de julio de 2008. Directorio Democrático Cubano. La activista cubana Bertha Antúnez Pernet condenó la tortura sistemática de opositores practicada por el régimen cubano y pidió solidaridad para los presos políticos y con la causa de la libertad de Cuba en la sede de la Organización de Naciones Unidas en Nueva York el jueves 24 de julio de 2008. Antúnez Pernet es la hermana del ex preso político, opositor y víctima de tortura Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez.”

Lea artículo completo en Net for Cuba.

Picture credit: DW

Europride, (link to official site in English) whose theme this year is "Swedish Sin, Breaking Borders" is under way in Stockholm. Jonah Nylund, president of the Stockholm Pride, explained the theme to the DPA news agency:

' "The theme has two aims. One is to show pride over the progress made in Sweden" for homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders.

"The other is to highlight the problems in the rest of the world, mainly our neighbors in Eastern Europe where gay pride events are banned and attacked time and time again," he added, noting incidents in Warsaw, Prague and Riga.'

A designated area known as Pride Park constitutes one of the two main hubs during Europride, and will offer music, food and entertainment but visitors require a ticket to enter the zone.

Organizers hope visitors will also visit the other hub at Stockholm Culture House in downtown Stockholm where seminars, theater shows and debates were part of the menu.

Gay Activist wishes everyone attending Europride a fantastic weekend. Next year Europride will be in Zurich, Switzerland.

'She warned of "transgenders in the military." She warned that lesbians would take pictures of people in the shower. She spoke ominously of gays spreading "HIV positivity" through the ranks.

"We're talking about real consequences for real people," Donnelly proclaimed. Her written statement added warnings about "inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community," the prospects of "forcible sodomy" and "exotic forms of sexual expression," and the case of "a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault" a fellow soldier.

At the witness table with Donnelly, retired navy captain Joan Darrah, a lesbian, rolled her eyes in disbelief. Retired marine staff sergeant Eric Alva, a gay man wounded in Iraq, looked as if he would explode.

Inadvertently, Donnelly achieved the opposite of her intended effect.'

The article highlights the importance of giving testimony and of the importance of preparation and research so that you are able to counter such ridiculous propaganda with facts, reason, common sense and the blindingly bright light of true personal experience.

But what about the Muslims?

The Milli Gazette Online

23 October 2006

Punjab Human Rights Committee's Report on Cold Blooded Murder of a Muslim Youth on 20-21st night of September 2006.

Even after the end of terrorism in Punjab, functioning of some senior officers of Punjab police still remains the same without any accountability and responsibility.

On the information of murder of a youth in Giana village about 40km from Bhatinda on the night between
20-21.9.06 by the Special Task Force police men (STF), The Punjab Human Rights Committee (PHRC) formed a three member panel to investigate this cold blooded murder.

The panel comprised of Punjab Human Rights Committee General Secretary Ved Parkash Gupta, Mr. Balwinder. S. Bhullar social worker and Mr. Sukhjit Singh (Neena).

The panel visited villages Giana, Kanakwal and townships Rama Mandi and Talwandi Saboo in Bhatinda district and interviewed and interacted with common people and the police officers in this connection. The panel heard the eye witness account of Jagsir Singh one of the occupants of the truck who was fortunate enough to escape death at the hands of STF men. The panel also met the first man who saw the blood covered body of the youth lying in a truck and had reported to the police at Rama Mandi. He told the panel that the villagers heard indiscriminate firing which started between Kanakwal and Giana.

PHRC panel's findings are as under:

According to the findings of the PHRC panel four persons including the driver of the truck were coming from Bhagu village in Haryana. They were bringing a bull in the truck. At Kanakwal village the personal of the Special Task Force (STF) signaled them to stop. According to the facts collected by the panel, this STF is nothing but a group of about one dozen loyal and trusted policemen formed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ferozepur range. This STF is personally controlled and run by the IGP. The STF is not answerable to any one but the IGP only. This force has been working in all the six districts of Ferozepur range independently without any connection, cooperation or coordination with the Senior Superintends of Police (SSPs) of these districts. The working of this STF is very dubious. A few instances when this force directly interfered in the working of the district police have come to the notice of the panel.

The driver of the truck panicked and did not stop and tried to flee as they had stolen a bull from somewhere in Haryana. The STF men chased them in their own vehicle toward village Giana. The STF started unprovoked indiscriminate firing on the truck. This indiscriminate firing was heard by the villagers and the fact substantiated by a panchayat member Raj Singh. The truck driver did not stop even then. The STF police tried to overtake the truck but their vehicle grazed with the truck, which infuriated the policemen. Then they fired at the tyre of the truck and punctured it. Even after the puncture of the tyre the truck covered some distance from village Giana. Ultimately the truck got stuck in the Kutcha road and stopped. The STF men pounced upon the truck one of the constables gave a lathi blow on the glass panel of the driver's seat and shattered it. Then they pulled out the driver and tied his hands behind his back. They gave him a sound beating.

When the STF men inspected the truck they found the blood covered dead body of one of the four occupants of the truck. They panicked and tried to put the blame of the murder of the youth upon them in vain. After some deliberations the STF men released the tied driver and left the place in their vehicle leaving the truck with the dead body of the youth there.

A panchayat member of village Giana S. Raj Singh dared to find out the cause of so much firing in the early hours that night. In the morning he saw the truck and found the blood covered body of the youth. He immediately informed the Rama Mandi police as well as DSP Talwandi Saboo about the incident. The Rama Police took the truck as well as the dead body of the youth in its custody.

Jagsir Singh one of the four occupants of the truck who was released by the STF men informed the relatives of Namim Khan at Muzaffarpur in Utter Pradesh on phone. Namim Khan was a Muslim youth in his twenties who was shot dead by STF firing. About one dozen near and dear ones of the youth Namim Khan reached Bhatinda on 22nd evening along with Jagsir Singh who escaped death at the hands of STF men. Jagsir Singh narrated the whole story to the press men as well as to the PHRC panel in detail. He also told that the STF men have snatched his mobile set no. 9814876110 also.

The panel also met the SHO Rama police station, also inspected the bullet ridden body of the truck number GLIG 4100 there. The right side of the rear of the truck was still covered with blood. The blood of the victim trickled down covering even the number plate of the truck. The panel also talked to Mr. Gurmit Singh DSP Talwandi Saboo in whose area the village Giana falls.

The police got the postmortem of the dead body and hurriedly cremated it without taking the trouble of identifying the dead person.

The panel interviewed SHO Rama Mandi and DSP Talwandi Saboo, the panel found both these officers hesitant to tell the whole truth behind the firing and the resultant death of a youth on the night of 20-21.9.06. Some police constables on condition of anonymity informed the panel that firing and the murder of the youth is the work of STF. The panel wanted to know some more in detail about the STF from here and there. Some other persons connected with the police department were also interviewed. The facts collected from all these persons about STF working by the team have already been mentioned.

The local police of Rama Mandi and Talwandi Saboo was not informed in advance by the STF about their movements in the area and setting up check post there. The panel noted that the STF men deliberately did not inform the local police there about the firing and the death of a youth in the early hours of 20-21 September
06. They must have thought that the case would be hushed up as nobody knew any thing at that time.

Mr. Varinder Kumar SSP Bhatinda ordered immediate probe into the incident. From the quick result of the investigation ending in the arrest of one Surjit Singh ASI Ferozepur and Lakhvir Singh head constable Bhatinda, it appears that Bhatinda police must be knowing about the activities of the so called STF men in the area. Surjit Singh ASI is the leader of STF and Lakhvir Singh as its trusted member. Both have been arrested under section 302 IPC.

It is to be noted here that Bhatinda is a developing area and is a good place for minting money. The IGP and DIG both have shifted their offices from their head quarters at Ferozepur and Faridkot respectively to Bhatinda city.

Panel has many questions to be asked and probed. Was working of STF in the knowledge of district authorities? Why other STF men not identified and arrested? What was the hurry to cremate the body of the youth without making efforts to find out his identity?

The Punjab Human Rights Committee after thorough investigation, interaction with villagers, eye witness account of Jagsir Singh and circumstantial evidences has concluded that STF men were responsible of murder of youth Namim Khan. PHRC panel has demanded a thorough investigation into the formation, control and activities of this STF and the arrest of other members who were present at the time of firing resulting in death of a youth near Giana.

The PHRC panel has apprehensions that the powerful and mighty officers may be successful in hushing up the case or pressurize the victims for a compromise and retract their statements given the press and the Panel.

Copies of this report are being sent to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chief Justice Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chairman National Human Rights Commission, CBI, CVC, Chairman Punjab State Human Rights Commission, Chief Minister of Punjab and Director General Police Punjab for thorough investigation to punish the guilty.

Report released by:
Ved Parkash Gupta.
Punjab Human Rights Committee,
5042, Afim Wali Gali, Bhatinda. Punjab.
Ph. 0164-2253903.
E-Mail - vitull@sancharnet.in
Members of the panel:
Mr. Ved Parkash Gupta,
General Secretary, Punjab Human Rights Committee.

Mr. Balwinder Singh Bhullar,
Social Worker

Mr. Sukhjit Singh (Neena),
Farmer

Released on 30.9.06

I'm 23, I live in the UK, I have a degree, a postgrad, and a job in the media.

For a long time, it was all I wanted to do. But now problems in the world seem to be getting bigger and the impact my life - as it is now - on those problems is getting smaller.

So it just struck me, about a week ago, that I want to use my years to make a difference, but as soon as I thought about it, a long track of hurdles appeared before me. What do I do? How do I do it?  What the hell do I have to offer?

I realised that to do anything I'm going to have to grow some balls and ditch my apathy.  But that in itself is a huge step, especially in the modern western world.

So that's why I've decided to keep this blog. I'll share my ideas and experiences as I try to break the shackles of my own apathy and go out into the world and do something decent with my life. Maybe someone will rock up with a brilliant idea. I might even inspire someone...

I'm 23, and it seems like the right time to do it, before the commitments of modern life take their hold....

I've done lots of reading over the last week, trying to get a hook on where to start. One of the most inspiring things I've found is a quote from Mark Twain, on Escape Club, a site to help people ditch their dead end jobs:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade wind in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Estas dúas persoas foron executadas esta semana.

Enlaces relacionados:

• Coalición Mundial contra a Pena de Morte
• Death Penalty Information Center
• National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Un claro día en que se hizo justicia

Condenaron a Luciano Benjamín Menéndez y otros siete represores y los enviaron a la cárcel. El ex jefe del Tercer Cuerpo del Ejército deberá cumplir prisión perpetua por secuestrar, torturar y asesinar, a fines de 1977, a cuatro militantes del PRT que estuvieron cautivos en La Perla. Hubo festejos dentro y fuera del tribunal.

Por Diego Martínez. Desde Córdoba.

Luciano Benjamín Menéndez durmió anoche como un preso más en la cárcel de Bower, en las afueras de su querida Córdoba. El Tribunal Oral Federal 1 condenó a uno de los dos mayores genocidas de la historia del norte argentino, junto con el tucumano Antonio Domingo Bussi, a la pena de prisión perpetua. Siete de sus subordinados en el Cuerpo III de Ejército que, como miembros del Destacamento de Inteligencia 141 operaron en el centro clandestino La Perla, también fueron condenados a pasar el resto de sus días en una prisión común y corriente, como cualquier hijo de vecino.

Cuando el juez Jaime Díaz Gavier terminó de leer la sentencia, alguien gritó “¡Por fin justicia!”. Hubo un aplauso cerrado y luego silencio. En la calle la emoción se transformó en llantos, gritos, cantos y abrazos.

El clima que se vivió ayer en los tribunales cordobeses es difícil de sobredimensionar. En la calle, pleno parque Sarmiento, miles de personas, amplia mayoría sub-25, hicieron el aguante desde la mañana, cuando los jueces citaron a los imputados para escuchar sus últimas palabras (ver aparte). En el salón de usos múltiples, que tiene 160 butacas, ingresaron no menos de trescientas personas. Sin embargo, la organización nunca se vio desbordada. Los imputados ingresaron a paso lento y no recibieron un solo insulto. Nadie molestó a sus familiares que presenciaron la audiencia. Los reporteros gráficos pudieron cumplir con su trabajo. Los represores agradecieron por el esfuerzo a sus defensores oficiales y al tribunal por haber conservado el orden durante los dos meses de audiencias. El sargento primero retirado Carlos Alberto Díaz, incluso, se dio el lujo de levantar los brazos con sus dedos en V frente a la multitud que celebraba el fallo.

Menéndez & Cía. fueron condenados por secuestrar, torturar y asesinar, a fines de 1977, a Hilda Flora Palacios, Humberto Brandalisis, Carlos Laja y Raúl Cardozo, militantes del Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores. Según declararon los sobrevivientes de La Perla, los miembros del grupo de “operativos especiales” (OP3) del Destacamento los torturaron sin piedad durante un mes. En la madrugada del 15 de diciembre los sacaron para matarlos en un “operativo ventilador”, como llamaban a las ejecuciones en la vía pública en las que simulaban enfrentamientos. No dejaron detalles librado al azar: eligieron la esquina que mejor los representaba: Sagrada Familia y Ejército Argentino. Los militantes del PRT fueron enterrados como NN en el cementerio de San Vicente. Hasta el momento sólo Hilda Palacios fue identificada por el Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense.

Para que nadie quedara fuera de la sala, la lectura de la sentencia comenzó media hora después de lo previsto. En las primeras filas se ubicaron Madres y Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo con sus pañuelos blancos. En las últimas, los H.I.J.O.S. con los suyos. Luego llegaron el gobernador Juan Schiaretti, la diputada y nieta recuperada Victoria Donda y funcionarios de la Secretaría de Derechos Humanos de la Nación encabezados por su titular Luis Duhalde. Los representantes de organismos que debieron elegir sólo una cara visible para ingresar a la sala (Estela Carlotto, por Abuelas; Marta Vázquez, por Madres Línea Fundadora; Laura Conte, por el Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales).

La mayor fiesta se vivió en la calle. Con sol radiante y abundantes choripanes, hasta los perros bailaban al ritmo que imponía el Movimiento Nacional de Murgas. “Olé olé/olé olá/ los subversivos cada día somos más”, celebraban. Detrás de decenas de banderas de organizaciones sociales, gremios y partidos sobresalían cientos de fotos con rostros de víctimas del terrorismo de Estado. Por los altoparlantes la voz de María Angélica Olcese de Moller, Queca para la historia, que murió la noche previa a la sentencia, recordaba el pánico de las primeras vueltas a la Plaza de Mayo y la fundación de Familiares de Desaparecidos y Detenidos por Razones Políticas de Córdoba, que la tuvo en primera fila.

A las cinco en punto ingresaron los imputados. No volaba una mosca. Igual que el primer día, una cinta negra cubría la escarapela de la solapa del saco de Menéndez, de luto por el fin de su impunidad. Los abogados de H.I.J.O.S. adornaron sus pupitres con las fotos de sus seres queridos. Martín Fresneda con la de sus padres caídos, Tomás y Mercedes Argañaraz, con la abuela Otilia, que los crió con infinito amor. Claudio Orosz con la de sus ex compañeros del colegio Manuel Belgrano: Pablo Schmucler, Claudio Román y Gustavo Torres, todos desaparecidos.

Fotógrafos y camarógrafos inmortalizaron a los militares y se fueron. Jaime Díaz Gavier, presidente del tribunal que también integran José Vicente Muscará y Carlos Otero Alvarez, anunció que los fundamentos se conocerán el 31 de julio y comenzó a leer. En los ocho primeros puntos de la resolución, que fue unánime, rechazó planteos de los defensores. Cuando llegó el noveno, consciente de que iba a leer la sentencia más importante de su vida, hizo una pausa y respiró hondo. Una mano sabia apagó el aire acondicionado para que todos escucharan. “Noveno. Declarar a Luciano Benjamín Menéndez coautor mediato penalmente responsable (ayastrando la eye cordobesa) de los delitos”, y enumeró: “privación ilegítima de la libertad agravada por ser funcionario público, por uso de violencia, por la duración (más de un mes) y por compeler a la víctima a hacer, no hacer o tolerar algo a lo que no estuviese obligada; tormentos agravados por la condición de perseguidos políticos de las víctimas y homicidio doblemente calificado, por alevosía y por pluralidad de partícipes”.

Y siguió: “imponerle en tal carácter para su tratamiento penitenciario la pena de prisión perpetua”. Y la sala explotó en un aplauso que se mezcló con abrazos y llantos. Pero faltaba la frutilla: “En consecuencia, revocar su prisión domiciliaria y ordenar su inmediata detención y alojamiento en una unidad carcelaria dependiente del Servicio Penitenciario de la provincia de Córdoba”.

El tribunal leyó por orden de jerarquías. Dictó cinco prisiones perpetuas, por los mismos delitos que a Menéndez, para los suboficiales retirados Luis Alberto Manzanelli, Carlos Alberto Díaz, Oreste Valentín Padován y para el ex personal civil de inteligencia Ricardo Lardone, todos ex miembros del OP3. Al coronel Hermes Oscar Rodríguez y al capitán Jorge Ezequiel Acosta los condenó a 22 años de prisión y al suboficial Carlos Alberto Vega a 18 años, porque para las fechas de los homicidios habían cambiado de destino. Los cuatro años a favor de Vega son por su jerarquía, menor a la de los oficiales. El tribunal resolvió que todos cumplan su condena en la cárcel de Bower, la más moderna de la provincia. Hasta el comienzo del juicio, cuando por seguridad el tribunal concentró a los imputados en el Cuerpo III, Menéndez, Rodríguez y Vega gozaban de arresto domiciliario, en tanto Padován y Lardone habían sido excarcelados por la Cámara de Casación. “Señores, el juicio ha terminado”, cerró Díaz Gavier, quien miró a los ojos a cada imputado mientras leía las condenas. La sala se puso de pie, los H.I.J.O.S. levantaron sus pañuelos, los familiares las fotos de sus víctimas, y a coro entonaron “como a los nazis/ les va a pasar/ a donde vayan los iremos a buscar”. Fue entonces cuando Díaz, el torturador de cogote macizo, se dio vuelta, sonrió y levantó los brazos con los dedos en V. Nadie le respondió. La música siguió con “Siga el baile siga el baile, al compás del tamborín, que tenemos la cabeza, de Luciano Benjamín”. Mientras las cámaras de concentraban en el gobernador Schiaretti, con lágrimas en los ojos, Orosz arengó para salir a la calle “donde está la gente que hizo posible este juicio”. Toda Córdoba lo siguió.

Enlaces relacionados:

• Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo
• Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos
• Asociación de Ex Detenidos Desaparecidos
• Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales
• Proyecto Desaparecidos
• Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense
• Madres de Plaza de Mayo
• Madres de Plaza de Mayo - Línea Fundadora
• nuncamas.org (incluye el informe CONADEP de 1984 y otros documentos)

Anakbayan members conducting a signature campaign and a short program at Kayang Street on July 12 against the weekly oil price hikes and the current economic crisis were surprised when local policemen tried to stop their program and asked for a permit.

While the negotiation was going on, police reinforcements arrived along with two Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) vans with around eight forces carrying long firearms.

Leaders of the youth group were still trying to assert their freedom of speech and assembly when police turned on sirens to muffle the protesters’ calls and crowded the immediate area while some officers started to drag the protesters, their flags and placards.

The protesters got support from vendors and market-goers who expressed their sentiments for them and questioned the presence of the heavily armed forces.

When some members of the media arrived, the SWAT forces hid their firearms at the back of their vans.

According to a statement released by Anakbayan, these “actions by the ‘Baguio’s Finest’ is clearly harassment and repression to progressive organizations voicing out views on the current economic state.”

“We could not help but wonder what justifies the violence done to groups collecting signatures in protest of government neglect on the concerns of the basic masses,” said the statement.

The protesters’ megaphone, the wires of their mobile sound system and placards were forcefully confiscated. # Cye Reyes(NorDis)