tagged w/ Detainment
-
-
SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF ICELAND
Over the last few years, WikiLeaks has been subject to a number of actionsaround the world by public and private security organizations. They rangefrom the appalling assassination of two related human rights lawyers in Nairobilast March and an armed attack on my compound in 2007, to, in the West,an ambush by an apparent British intelligence agent in a Luxembourg carpark, which merely ended with "we think it would be in your interest to.."
Developing world violence aside, we've become used to the level ofsecurity service interest in us and have established procedures to dealwith that interest.
But the escalation of surveillance activities over the last month,most of which appears to be the result of U.S. "interests", althoughsome may be unrelated, deserves comment. These actions include manyattempts at covert following, hidden photography and the detention & questioning of a WikiLeaks' volunteer in Iceland on Monday night.
WikiLeaks' staff have been in Iceland to advise Icelandic parliamentarianson the a package of laws, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, designedto protect investigative journalists and internet services from spyingand censorship.
Possible triggers for the surveillance actions are (1) our release of aclassified US intelligence report on how to fatally marginalize WikiLeaks(expose our sources, destroy our reputation for integrity, hack us),(2) our release of a classified cable from the U.S. embassy in Reykjavikreporting on contact between the U.S. and the U.K. over billions of eurosin claimed loan guarantees and, most significantly, (3) our ongoing workon a classified film revealing civilian casualties occurring under thecommand of the U.S, general, David Petraeus. U.S. sources told Icelandicstate media's deputy head of news, that the U.S. State Department wasaggressively investigating the leak from the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik. Iwas seen at a private U.S Embassy party at the Ambassador's house,late last year.
Then on Thursday March 18, 2010, I was followed on the 2.15 PMflight out of Reykjavik to Copenhagen--on the way to speak at theSKUP investigative journalism conference in Norway. According toairline records, two individuals, brandishing diplomatic credentialsand registered under the name of "US State Department", collectedboarding passes for the same flight within three minutes of eachother. They are not recorded as having checked in any luggage
Iceland doesn't have a separate security service. It folds itsintelligence function into its police forces, leading to an uneasyoverlap of policing and intelligence functions and values.
On Monday 22, March, at approximately 8.30pm, a WikiLeaks volunteerwas detained by Icelandic police for approximately 21 hours after policeattended the volunteer's fathers place of work on an unrelated matter. Thevolunteer was inexplicably detained over night. The next day, duringthe course of interrogation, the volunteer was shown covert photosof WikiLeaks' editor Julian Assange outside a Reykjavik restaurant,the back room of was used last week to hold a production meeting on aclassified U.S. military video exposing civilian kills by U.S. pilots.Specific references were made to the subject of video and "important"Icelandic figures. No charges were filed. The names of well knownjournalists involved in the production were referred to in the policequestions.
Who are the Icelandic security services loyal to? The new governmentof April 2009, or the old pro-Iraq war government of the Independenceparty, or perhaps their connections with another country entirely?Often when a bold new government arises, bureaucratic institutionsremain loyal to the old regime and it can take time to change theguard. Former regime loyalists must be discovered, dissuaded andremoved. But for security services, the first step, discovery, isawry. Congenitally scared of the light, such services hide theiractivities; if it is not known what they are doing, then it issurely impossible to know who they are doing it for.
We have written to both U.S. and Icelandic authorities to demandan explanation.SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF ICELAND
Over the last few years, WikiLeaks has... more
-
-
-
Sounds like the people behind Wikileaks are under some pressure. Since this is unlikely to turn up in your newspapers, I post it here to spread awareness.
Wikileaks has a mission of bringing hidden information to light, when it’s in the public interest. Wikipedia outlines their greatest hits, including Gauntanamo Bay procedure documents, scientology secrets, and net censorship lists. They come under fire sometimes for hosting material that probably isn’t much in the public interest, but overall they have contributed some compelling information to some fractious global arguments.
In the last 24 hours, their Twitter feed has contained some worrying content.
* WikiLeaks to reveal Pentagon murder-coverup at US National Press Club, Apr 5, 9am; contact press-club@sunshinepress.org
* WikiLeaks is currently under an aggressive US and Icelandic surveillance operation. Following/photographing/filming/detaining
* If anything happens to us, you know why: it is our Apr 5 film. And you know who is responsible.
* Two under State Dep diplomatic cover followed our editor from Iceland to http://skup.no on Thursday.
* One related person was detained for 22 hours. Computer’s seized.That’s http://www.skup.no
* We know our possession of the decrypted airstrike video is now being discussed at the highest levels of US command.
* We have been shown secret photos of our production meetings and been asked specific questions during detention related to the airstrike.
* We have airline records of the State Dep/CIA tails. Don’t think you can get away with it. You cannot. This is WikiLeaks.
All those came out in a rush, then silence for hours. Might just be a timezone thing, with people sleeping, or maybe there’s been no news, or maybe everyone with access to the Twitter feed has been detained. I await more information.
UPDATE: “To those worrying about us–we’re fine, and will issue a suitable riposte shortly.” 8.22am NZ time.
UPDATE: Just noticed that the first tweet quoted, “WikiLeaks to reveal Pentagon murder-coverup” is gone from the feed. Now I wish I’d linked to all of them individually. Anyway, it was definitely there, and I think Linda is right that it is this previously-referred-to video
UPDATE: commenter eru found the missing tweet. It isn’t visible in the ordinary feed for some reason.Sounds like the people behind Wikileaks are under some pressure. Since this is... more
-
-
Ahmadinejad said he won't release the three Americans until the US releases five Iranian diplomats. He said this in response to the mothers of the three detained Americans, wrote him asking for their release.Ahmadinejad said he won't release the three Americans until the US releases five... more
-
-
As Tighter Immigration Policies Strain Federal Agencies, The Detainees in Their Care Often Pay a Heavy Cost
Near midnight on a California spring night, armed guards escorted Yusif Osman into an immigration prison ringed by concertina wire at the end of a winding, isolated road.
During the intake screening, a part-time nurse began a computerized medical file on Osman, a routine procedure for any person entering the vast prison network the government has built for foreign detainees across the country. But the nurse pushed a button and mistakenly closed file #077-987-986 and marked it "completed" -- even though it had no medical information in it.
Three months later, at 2 in the morning on June 27, 2006, the native of Ghana collapsed in Cell 206 at the Otay Mesa immigrant detention center outside San Diego. His cellmate hit the intercom button, yelling to guards that Osman was on the floor suffering from chest pains. A guard peered through the window into the dim cell and saw the detainee on the ground, but did not go in. Instead, he called a clinic nurse to find out whether Osman had any medical problems.
When the nurse opened the file and found it blank, she decided there was no emergency and said Osman needed to fill out a sick call request. The guard went on a lunch break.
The cellmate yelled again. Another guard came by, looked in and called the nurse. This time she wanted Osman brought to the clinic. Forty minutes passed before guards brought a wheelchair to his cell. By then it was too late: Osman was barely alive when paramedics reached him.
He soon died.
His body, clothed only in dark pants and socks, was left on a breezeway for two hours, an airway tube sticking out of his mouth. Osman was 34.
The next day, an autopsy determined that he had died because his heart had suddenly stopped, confidential medical records show. Two physicians who reviewed his case for The Washington Post said he might have lived had he received timely treatment, perhaps as basic as an aspirin.
As Tighter Immigration Policies Strain Federal Agencies, The Detainees in Their Care... more
-
-
Four people from a Seattle-based film crew and a Nigerian man accompanying them have been detained for illegally traveling by boat in restive southern Nigeria. They were in the country filming a documentary "Sweet Crude"; tells the story of Niger Delta, an unstable area of Nigeria. Often access to oil revenue is the trigger for the violence. Pipelines are regularly vandalized by impoverished residents, who risk their lives to siphon off fuel.
An associate of the film crew contacted the State Department and was told that a representative from the embassy in Abuja was on the way to see the group.Four people from a Seattle-based film crew and a Nigerian man accompanying them have... more
-
-
devo64
-
added this
-
4 years ago
- |
-
Britain will admit to the country's high court that some of its troops breached the human rights of nine detained Iraqis, one of whom died of asphyxia whilst in custody. Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel worker, suffocated when he was forced to the floor with his arms behind his back as soldiers tried to cuff him, prosecutors said last September.
The Ministry of Defense said it expects to negotiate compensation for the survivors of Mousa, as well as for the other eight former detainees. According to the prosecution, the nine suspected insurgents were held in stress positions and deprived of sleep for two days under extreme heat whilst at a British army barracks near Basra in September 2003.
In a response to the admission, Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth stressed that the men responsible were a tiny minority of the 120,000 British soldiers that have served in Iraq, but that the MoD still 'condemn their actions'. The Ministry has previously argued that British troops on overseas operations were not covered by European human rights law.Britain will admit to the country's high court that some of its troops breached... more
-
-
After a week and a half of filming in Lebanon, the BlakkBox team decided it was time to send their footage back home before anything could happen to it or them. Sending the footage home would not be easy though as they quickly found out. To send the tapes home as fast as possible, Josh and Charlie grabbed some mopeds and headed out on a journey to the DHL in Damascus. This pod documents their 14-hour journey to Damascus.After a week and a half of filming in Lebanon, the BlakkBox team decided it was time... more
-
