Freed Egyptians tell of torture in Libyan jails

 

With drawn and gaunt faces, some 30 Egyptians holed up in a modest Libyan hotel speak of the incarceration and torture they suffered at the hands of Muammar Gaddafi’s loyalists. “They told me, ‘You Egyptians, you caused problems in your country, and now you have come to destroy ours’,” said Mahmud Abu Zeid, referring to the popular uprising that ousted neighbouring Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak in February. “They wanted me to say that I was armed and had encouraged Libyans to rise up against Gaddafi,” he said. The 31-year-old said he was the first Egyptian to have been jailed in Abu Slim, a district of Tripoli that saw some of the fiercest fighting and worst atrocities before Gaddafi lost his grip on the capital late last month. Abu Zeid said the Gaddafi loyalists forced the Egyptians to record confessions that they had triggered the revolt against his regime, before they were eventually freed by revolutionary fighters. “For five months, they gave electric shocks to my son. I was so weak that I was unable to walk, so they dragged me like a sack,” he said, adding, “I ended up recording their message.” Under pressure he “confessed” to having used guns to encourage Libyans to call for the ouster of Gaddafi, he said, adding however that the Libyans who heard the recordings were not fooled. Abu Zeid’s account tallied with that of other refugees at the hotel in Benghazi, the rebellion’s stronghold in eastern Libya, some 600 kilometres (370 miles) from their homeland. “They gave out bread by kicking it at us, and we had a litre (two pints) of water to be shared among a dozen prisoners,” said another Egyptian man who added that he had been shot twice in the leg. It was still difficult for him to walk. Like him, other men in the hotel showed scars and burn marks on their backs they said were the result of torture. Tamer Rad, an Egyptian labourer who worked in Libya for two years, said he had been forced to to drink urine when he asked for water. “I was really thirsty. I asked for water, crying. They told me ‘You want to drink? Here!’ And they poured urine into my mouth. I was handcuffed, I could not resist so I had to drink it,” he said. The 26-year-old said the Egyptians had been stuck in Benghazi for several days and that he now had only one thought — of leaving Libya and returning to Egypt. The group said they fled to Benghazi after being freed on August 21 when anti-Gaddafi fighters broke open several jails as they overran Tripoli. And they had been unable to move on because, they said, the Gaddafi loyalists burned their travel documents and they are unable to contact the Egyptian embassy in Libya. On Monday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said the men would be repatriated on the same day, explaining that they had been forced to stay in Libya after the fall of the regime due to “insecurity on the roads” and the closure of airports.

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Red or Black: The criminal thing about Cowell's show?

 

The premise of Red Or Black is based partly on roulette and entirely on luck. It bills itself as a show that offers 'ordinary people across the UK the chance to become millionaires'. All contestants are asked to do is choose between red and black. Black or red. It's that simple. A no brainer for the brain dead. There is absolutely zilch talent involved; indeed a toddler on the brink of speech could do it. A highly motivated tadpole might just manage it. A smart budgie could be in it to win it. Yet this is what passes for primetime entertainment. Naked, slavering greed served up on a platter. No palpable skills required.  We have finally mined down to the showbiz nadir, reached the lowest common denominator of Saturday night entertainment. The prospect of total strangers doing nothing very much to win large sums of money is supposed to be hugely entertaining. Isn't that depressing? The nation has been shaken down, sieved and graded so that those who can actually do something, or at least think they can, have already auditioned for The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, Big Brother, Countdown or The Weakest Link. Now we are left with the desperate dregs.  Padded out: Former X Factor winner Leona Lewis, one of Cowell's acts, appeared on Red Or Black Indeed, the very first Red Or Black winner, Nathan Hageman, has been exposed as a violent criminal who served a prison sentence for an assault on a woman, believed to be an ex-girlfriend. Red or Black and black and blue? It put the show on the front pages earlier this week, but it was not good publicity — for anyone. Hageman may have fulfilled his jail sentence and his debt to society, but a wife beater, by any other name, elicits scant public sympathy.  Even down in the grim bowels of public entertainment, there is little compassion for a man who hits a woman. Hageman may have done his time, but it appears that redemption is not yet his. And he must have suspected as much, otherwise why lie on his Red Or Black entry forms? Cowell was furious, and wanted Hageman not to be given the £1 million he had rightly won. Yet ITV says there is nothing it can do. Hageman had been allowed on Red Or Black despite the fact that producers knew he had a criminal record. He had claimed that he attacked a man, whereas in reality he was jailed for assaulting Amy McLean. As he was allowed onto the show without proper checks, he was allowed to keep his winnings. Beating up a woman is unacceptable, but beating up a man is OK? What a joke. ITV bosses are now carrying out stringent checks to make sure no more controversial participants appear, and have so far booted three dubious contestants off shows this week. Yet it all makes one wonder about their standards. If, in fact, they have any in the first place. Yet what can you expect on a show like this? If you remove the need for flair or aptitude, anything and anyone goes. Hundreds of thousands have already applied to be on Red Or Black, including the barely sentient, the desperate, the not quite there. Some were filmed sobbing in the queues about how hard life was, and how much they needed the cash. Very unedifying, for all involved.  Let me say it again. All you have to do is choose between red or black. Despite this, the shows are given a frill of respectability with cheap pomp and dreary stunts.  There have been motorbike daredevils — something that stopped being interesting pre-Evel Knievel. And David Hasselhoff doing a 'reverse bungee jump' — catapulted 230ft into the air — thrilled absolutely no one.  The show was padded out exclusively with Cowell musical acts, such as Leona Lewis and Il Divo. How have ITV even allowed this blatant plugfest? Successful game shows flourish by showing real suspense and thrills. Not this overblown and immoral nonsense. It's like Deal Or No Deal for the criminal classes. It makes Dale Winton's Hole In The Wall look like Mastermind. Where on earth do we go from here?

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Authorities Confirm Gun Found In Arizona Is Third At U.S. Crime Scene Tied To ATF's 'Fast And Furious'

 

Authorities confirm a weapon from the failed ATF program 'Operation Fast and Furious' was found at a violent crime scene in Maricopa, Ariz. in 2010. This is the latest in a series of cases where Fast and Furious guns have been linked to violent crimes across the U.S. and Mexico. The two guns found at the scene were an AK-47 and a Beretta pistol, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The AK-47 is linked to Fast and Furious, according to ATF. The weapons were found inside a stolen truck in March 2010 after the driver slammed into two DPS vehicles while trying to evade members of the Arizona Vehicle Theft Task Force, ABC 15 reports. The driver, Angel Hernandez Diaz, was reportedly arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including flight from a pursuing law enforcement vehicle, aggravated assault on an officer with a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon, theft of means of transportation and misconduct involving a weapon, according to court documents. Fast and Furious was an operation launched in late 2009 by the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to follow gun purchasers in hopes that suspects would lead investigators to the heads of Mexican cartels. But hundreds of high-powered rifles and other guns ended up in Mexico, and many now accuse the ATF and the Justice Department of letting the guns "walk" even after safety concerns were raised. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said last week that three weapons linked to Operation Fast and Furious had been used in violent crimes in the U.S.  Weapons linked to the program were used in a December attack along the Southwest border that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Months later, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, launched his committee's investigation, as the Justice Department's inspector general also opened an inquiry, at Attorney General Eric Holder's direction. On Wednesday, Holder said for the first time that not only he but also other higher-ups at the Justice Department were not aware of the operation as it was being carried out. Holder also suggested politics could be a driving force behind Republican lawmakers' forceful inquiries into the matter. Recently, the man who headed ATF in the midst of it, Ken Melson, was reassigned, and U.S. attorney Dennis Burke, who oversaw the prosecution of cases coming out of the operation, abruptly resigned. At least three men have been charged in connection with the murder of agent Terry, though only one is in U.S. custody. The Justice Department recently informed lawmakers that cases coming out of Operation Fast and Furious will now be led by prosecutors from outside Arizona.

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Police officer who shot dead Mark Duggan will NOT return to duty until probe is complete

 

The firearms officer who shot dead Mark Duggan, the event believed to have triggered the London riots, has not returned to active duty despite reports to the contrary, Scotland Yard has confirmed. Mr Duggan, a father-of-four, was shot in the chest and arm after the taxi he was travelling in was stopped by police near Tottenham Hale on August 5 His death sparked protests in the area which were later followed by rioting. It had been reported that the officer who fired the fatal shot had been returned to duty as part of the Metropolitan Police's CO19 firearms unit, but Scotland Yard have denied this saying he will remain suspended until investigations have been completed. The funeral of Mr Duggan is due to be held today with between 1,500 and 3,000 people expected join a procession through the Broadwater Farm estate where he lived. It was initially reported that Mr Duggan, 29, had shot at police. But ballistic tests later found that a bullet which lodged itself in one officer's radio was police issue. Mr Duggan's relatives have accused officers of deciding to 'shoot to kill' and say they do not believe the gun discovered hidden in a sock belonged to him.

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'Credible' terror threat for 9/11

 

The threat is unconfirmed but reportedly involves Washington DC and New York, where people are preparing to mark the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, the worst ever terrorist attack on US soil in which nearly 3,000 people died. New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the new threat was uncorroborated, but he asked citizens to report suspicious activity and said that security would be increased at bridges, tunnels and on public transport. He added: "For the record, I plan to take the subway tomorrow morning." 9/11 anniversary The anniversary of 9/11 will be marked by a ceremony at Ground Zero, attended by President Barack Obama as well as former president George W Bush. The White House said President Obama had been briefed on the threat against the United States. It noted that the US government had "enhanced its security posture" ahead of the anniversary. White House spokesman Jay Carney added: "We're hyper-vigilant to this specific report that's just coming in."

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NHS laptop loss could put millions of records at risk

A laptop containing unnamed patient information has gone missing from a subsidiary of the NHS North Central London health authority, putting the privacy of patients at risk.


A laptop containing unnamed patient information has gone missing from a subsidiary of the NHS North Central London health authority.
Photo credit: comedy_nose/Flickr
The Sun reported on Wednesday that the laptop, which was lost along with 19 others three weeks ago, contained the unencrypted health details of over 8.63 million people and records of 18 million hospital visits, operations and procedures. It was taken from a storeroom of London Health Programmes, a medical research organisation based within the NHS North Central London health authority.

Both the UK's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), and the police are investigating.

"Any allegation that sensitive personal information has been compromised is concerning, and we will now make enquiries to establish the full facts of this alleged data breach," the ICO said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to The Sun, the patient data did not cover names, but did contain postcodes and details of gender, age and ethnic origin.

NHS North Central London confirmed the loss of the laptops. However, it declined to confirm how many patient records were affected, what those records contained or whether any data was compromised, saying it was still looking into the matter.

"One of the machines was used for analysing health needs requiring access to elements of unnamed patient data," the health authority said in a statement. "All the laptops were password protected, and our policy is to manually delete the data from laptops after the records have been processed."

The London health authority does not know if the data on the device had been wiped. "The laptop is missing, so that can't be determined," a spokeswoman told ZDNet UK.

 [The NHS] holds millions of [bits of] data on millions of people. They're probably the body that hold the most sensitive data in the UK.

If the data has been breached, the implications could be serious, according to the ICO. "[The NHS] holds millions of [bits of] data on millions of people. They're probably the body that hold the most sensitive data in the UK, they have millions and millions of records being accessed every day," a spokeswoman for the ICO told ZDNet UK.

In 2010/2011, the NHS reported 165 security breaches to the ICO, the privacy watchdog said.

Christine Connelly, the government's chief information officer for health, told ZDNet UK in April that the NHS had reduced the amount of data it had exposed, after being named by ICO as the organisation with the highest number of breaches in 2009/2010. "Higher levels of encryption mean we get to the point where what gets lost is the physical asset," she said at the time.

However, NHS North Central London could not confirm that the patient record data on the missing laptop was encrypted.

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The News of the World reacted to the unexpected arrest of one of its most senior reporters by clearing his desk.

Despite the paper having promised that it would co-operate fully with police inquiries, executives descended on the desk of former news editor James Weatherup moments after learning of his arrest. Under the eyes of their legal team, they bagged up notebooks, papers and recording machines and removed them "via our lawyers", a firm whose identity the publisher refused to confirm.

A few hours later, the police arrived and took the bags to Scotland Yard.

The unexpected arrest of Weatherup, one of the most senior journalists at the News of the World, at his home leaves little room for doubt that the new police team investigating the phone-hacking scandal is determined to succeed where its much-criticised predecessors failed.

It was three weeks ago that the News of the World dumped a vast archive of data at Scotland Yard's door – a trove that has turbo-charged the Met investigation.

The data, which comprises millions of emails from everyone at the newspaper – and which the NoW previously claimed had been lost – could implicate the paper in more instances of malpractice than have been previously suggested.

There are 8,000 emails relating to Sienna Miller alone. An examination of their contents could reveal that many more public figures were also targeted by the newspaper, in addition to the 24 who are already bringing legal actions, including football agent Sky Andrew and the former culture secretary, Tessa Jowell.

It was also anticipated that the archived data would include email exchanges between the most senior executives on the NoW, including its former editor Andy Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron's media adviser in January, and Ian Edmondson, Greg Miskiw, and Neville Thurlbeck, journalists on the paper.

Edmondson and Miskiw had already been implicated in the affair by paperwork seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was on the NoW's books.

What was not expected, however – even by the most senior executives at the paper – was that a new name would be discovered amid the mountains of data, along with evidence so strong that an arrest could be made.

Weatherup's arrest stunned those at the highest level of the paper. News International executives have been saying privately that they were confident Edmondson and Thurlbeck were the only staffers still working at the paper who were likely to be implicated in hacking. The Met were so determined to conceal the new direction of their investigation that Weatherup, 55, was not given notice that he was being investigated by police officers.

Unlike his colleague and former colleague Thurlbeck and Edmondson – who were arrested last week on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting mobile phone voicemail messages – he was not given the chance to voluntarily attend a police station before being placed under arrest.

Instead, Weatherup – the third news editor under Coulson and one of a handful of senior employees who would take part in private discussions of major news stories with other senior members of the paper – was arrested in an early-morning swoop that left both his family and News International reeling.

Not only was his house in Romford, Essex, searched but the contents of his desk are now being examined by police – the third time Scotland Yard has seized all official and personal material belonging to a NoW employee in little more than a week. What is also significant about yesterday's arrest of a hitherto relative unknown is that the police have worked at such intensity and speed.

Until last week, former royal editor Clive Goodman, jailed in January 2007, was the only News of the World journalist to be arrested for listening to private voicemail messages. No other reporters or executives were questioned by the initial police investigation. It was only after a series of high court cases brought by Miller, the football pundit Andy Gray and others that the Met was forced to reveal material found on Mulcaire's computer, during a 2006 raid of his home.

In contrast, the 45-member new team, Operation Weeting, have arrested three current or former NoW journalists in the past nine days alone over possible involvement in alleged phone hacking at the paper.

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former soap star has appeared in court today accused of murdering a nightclub doorman who was shot dead in the street.

Brian Regan, 53, who played Terry Sullivan in the Channel 4 drama Brookside, appeared before magistrates in Liverpool accused of the murder of Bahman Faraji, known locally as Batman.

Faraji, a 44-year-old father of one, was killed as he left a pub in the suburb of Aigburth, Liverpool, on 24 February. Regan, of Garston, Liverpool, who starred in Brookside for 14 years, is also charged with perverting the course of justice. No pleas were entered.

He appeared in the dock alongside co-accused Lee Dodson, 42, of Garston, who is also charged with murder.

During the brief appearance, both men spoke only to confirm their names and addresses and were remanded in custody until a preliminary hearing at Liverpool crown court on 18 April.

A third accused, Edward Heffey, 40, of Dingle, Liverpool, was charged with murder earlier this month and will also appear at the crown court that day.

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Japan's meteorological agency says it has now lifted a tsunami warning for the north-eastern coast after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck offshore.

The quake hit about 11.30 pm today Japan time. It has rattled nerves nearly a month after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened the same area of coastline.

Announcers on Japan's public broadcaster NHK had told residents in the north-east to move to higher ground away from the shore.

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Rebels in eastern Libya say their forces have been mistakenly hit in a Nato air raid.

Rebels in eastern Libya say their forces have been mistakenly hit in a Nato air raid.

Doctors in Ajdabiya told the BBC at least 13 rebel fighters had been killed by the strike on a rebel tank position.

The BBC's Wyre Davies reports chaotic scenes on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, with rebel forces in retreat reporting being hit by Nato air strikes.

It is the third such incident in recent days involving international forces deployed to protect Libyan civilians.

One rebel commander told the BBC he saw at least four missiles land among rebel fighters.

Many people have been killed and many more have been injured, he said.

Civilians are reported to be fleeing Ajdabiya in their thousands, according to the latest wire reports, after rumours spread that Gaddafi forces were preparing to attack the city.

Rebel anger
The rebels had been taking a group of tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launchers near the front line between the towns of Ajdabiya and Brega in more than 30 transporters.



Nato, with all the equipment they have - is this the second mistake? Is it really a mistake or something arranged secretly?”


Whether or not a Nato pilot mistook all of that heavy armour for Gaddafi weaponry remains unclear.

Following the apparent Nato attack, ambulances were seen heading in the opposite direction, towards the hospital in Ajdabiya.

There is considerable anger among rebel troops after what appears to have been a terrible mistake.

They are asking why rebel units were hit, when they could be seen clearly advancing in a westerly direction towards the front line.

"It is unbelievable," said one Benghazi resident. "Nato, with all the equipment they have - is this the second mistake? Is it really a mistake or something arranged secretly?"

Another said: "The allies and the UN Security Council must allow us to be armed. We don't want anything, just to be armed to defend ourselves against this dictator and fascist."

Rebel forces in the area began retreating on Wednesday after heavy bombardment from government forces.

They had been calling for more Nato air strikes in recent days.

Nato is said to be looking into the incident.

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