Another 2,000 Russian troops airlifted into Crimea in continuing takeover of region

DEBKAfile Special Report February 28, 2014, 11:31 PM (IST)

Tags:  Ukraine,  Crimea,  Russian military,  John Kerry,  Sergey Lavrov,  Vladimir Putin,

Russian troops take over Crimean airports

Thirteen giant Ilyushin-76 (NATO codenamed IL-76 Candid) air transports flew into the Crimea Friday night, Feb. 28, and landed some 2,000 fresh Russian troops at a military airfield near Sebastopol. 

 

debkafile’s military sources report the new intake were members of the Russian Rapid Intervention Force. They arrived as the UN Security Council in New York discussed the Kiev government’s protest against the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, airline companies said Crimean airports had been closed to traffic following reports that armed Russian troops in uniform but without insignia had take control of the runways of Crimea’s two main airports at Simferopol and Sevastopol.
Russia’s step-by-step military takeover of Crimea was tracked by debkafile in earlier reports Friday:
Russian marines and paratroops took control of Crimea’s main airports at the crack of dawn Friday, Feb. 28. debkafile’s military sources report another group seized the region’s key points - bridges, road hubs and power stations. Western sources referred only to “armed men sympathetic to the Russians,” seizing the airport of the capital, Simferopol -  just as they described as “armed men” the Russian paratroops who stormed government and parliament buildings in the city the day before - and hoisted the Russian flag.

However, all doubt was removed later Friday when Arsen Avakov, Ukraine interior minister in Kiev, accused Russian troops of blockading an airport in what he described as an armed invasion.

Avakov said on his Facebook account that troops from the Black Sea Fleet stationed in the city were seen outside Belbek airport of Sevastopol, although the inside of the terminal was controlled by Ukrainian troops.

While stressing that no direct violent confrontations had taken place, Avakov said the matter should be dealt with on a diplomatic level before armed clashes broke out.

Thursday night, US Secretary of State John Kerry called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to propose dialogue for stabilizing the situation in Ukraine. The seizure of Crimean airports the next morning raised the stakes between the two powers. Moscow is making it clear that it won’t give an inch on its refusal to accept the administration rising in Kiev after what it considers to be a coup d’etat against the lawful rule of President Viktor Yanukovych. The West stands by its support for Ukraine's territorial integrity.

For now, President Vladimir Putin has not ordered direct action against Kiev - only Crimea, where Russian troops have been deployed to secure the region and its big strategic bases and protect the Russian-speaking majority, a locution which gives Moscow the pretext for acting in the defense of Russian speakers or sympathizers in Ukraine at large.

The fairly mild US responses to Russia’s moves indicate that the Obama administration has no wish to be dragged in to the Ukraine crisis. John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Thursday reported assurances that the Russian combat drill had been scheduled in advance of the events in Kiev. Hagel only advised Moscow “not to take any action on Ukraine that could be misinterpreted.”
Senior administration officials in Washington commented early Friday that Ukraine was the European Union’s problem and they could look after it.

According to debkafile’s Washington and Moscow sources, the Obama and Putin administrations have each come to roughly the same conclusion: The Kiev administration is unsustainable in Ukraine’s bankrupt state. Before many days go by, it will be confronted with demands to supply wages, food and medicines to the public and the army. Loud complaints that the national coffers were robbed of tens of millions of dollars may be true, but will not restore the missing funds.

The Americans and Europeans are not exactly forthcoming In response to urgent pleas for aid. They are offering guarantees for no more than $1 bn each against loans from European banks, which too may be reluctant to advance money to a far from stable government.

Putin calculates that he holds the whip hand and that the Kiev government to save itself will have to bow to Russia’s demand to first of all honor “the peace deal signed last Friday, Feb. 21, by Yanukovych and the opposition, notarized by the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Poland and approved by the US.”

This agreement recognized Yanukovich as Ukraine president and placed him at the head of a national unity government - not only of opposition parties but also factions sympathetic to Russia.

To prod this process forward, backed by some muscle-flexing, the ousted Ukraine president will hold a news conference later Friday at the southern Russian town of Rostov on-Don, which is only 502 kilometers from the Crimean capital of Simferopol. He is expected to offer pointers to Moscow’s next steps

The President Who Barked Wolf!

"We strongly support Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. We expect other nations to do the same."
Jay Carney, White House spokesman

"We believe that everybody now needs to step back and avoid any kind of provocations."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

Pro-Russian protesters wave Russia's flag in front of Sevastopol's city hall: the council has made Russian citizen Aleksei Chaliy mayor. Photograph: Darko Vojinovic/AP

 

Another red line, but somewhat ambiguous, yet carrying the threat of that shadowy big stick? Uttering caution for the sake of saying something, anything at all? How will the Kremlin, and above all Vladimir Putin view such a statement in light of his previous blandishments toward his American counterpart whom he moulded like soft putty to agree to the Russian way of settling difficult matters like the Syrian onslaught on the Syrian civilian population?

It does help, to a significant degree that other world leaders have echoed Washington's wording. "The world will be watching", said David Cameron at a press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel, clarifying that Britain and Germany, two not-inconsiderable authorities on the world stage of political upheaval "support a united and a democratic Ukraine and we support the aspirations of the Ukrainian people to live in a truly democratic society".

It is, in fact, nothing short of alarming for Ukrainians in Ukraine, let alone those living elsewhere, say for example, the over million Canadian Ukrainians, to view the situation where pro-Russian gunmen have occupied regional government and parliamentary buildings in Simferopol, the capital of the Crimea. That Russian flags have been raised over the buildings, while the regional assembly voted for a referendum on greater autonomy within Ukraine.

The situation where Ukraine's powerful, overpowering neighbour has launched military manoeuvres, claiming that they were previously arranged, and just happen to coincide with the upset in Ukraine, is nervous-making in the extreme. With 150,000 troops, 90 aircraft, over 120 helicopters and 880 tanks, the exercise appears hastily aggressive, and coincidentally threatening on the border of a rupturing country.

"The fighters have failed to hand in arms, they have not freed administrative buildings and they talk of their intentions to 'bring order' to all Ukrainian regions", said a statement from Russia's Foreign Ministry, speaking of the situation in Kyiv, not in the Crimea. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, spoke with John Kerry, affirming their mutual consternation over Ukrainian affairs.

Assuring Mr. Kerry that Russia's military exercises were um, incidental, having no relation to Ukraine.

Well, that's a relief. That news must not yet have reached Oleksander Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president, since he's warned that any attempt by Russian forces to leave their naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, say to move on to Kyiv, would be viewed as an act of "military aggression". Won't he be embarrassed to learn that Russia plans no such thing, and is happy to have Ukrainians figure out all on their own what next to do to restore order and trust in the country?

Meanwhile, thousands of pro-Russian demonstrators have gathered in the Crimean capital for a huge outdoor public concert, listening to Second World War songs and chanting "Russia!", while armed men continue to control the building where the vote was taken by the Crimean assembly to hold a referendum. Gennady Moskal, an MP with Yulia Tymoshenko's Fatherland party claims the gunmen were rogue Berkut riot police.

Those are the special forces police who mutinied when they were ordered to disband. The Golden Eagles (Berkut) represented an elite police unit trained for riot control, using combat weapons, blamed for the worst of the violence against protesters in Kyiv. When they returned to Sevastopol they were greeted with great celebratory congratulations for a job well done in Kyiv by their fellow Crimeans.

Forbidding XIY$%Y*& English

The Parti Quebecois struck gold in hitting a sensitive nerve among voters in Quebec now hailing the decision by the governing PQ to introduce legislation that would disallow any civil servant wearing symbols of their religious devotion. In a province and with a government that is wholly dedicated to secularism in pursuing the public weal, intrusive and disturbing visualizations of religious devotion is unwanted and will be forbidden.

Anything that brings the PQ closer to a majority government can be viewed as a huge success. And with the heady realization that the majority of Quebecers agree with the government's move to outlaw the wearing of a turban, a hijab, a kippah, ostentatious religious jewellery and anything else that could be construed as remotely offensive, the coming election will be a breeze toward majority rule.

And that hallelujah! understanding has propelled a more assertive voice for language.

Quebec's Minister Responsible for the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) in a speech to Quebec business leaders, angrily forbade "creeping bilingualism". "Bonjour-hi", popularly used as an all-purpose bilingual greeting in shops in Montreal are anathema to the PQ, and should be to any self-respecting Quebecer, and she won't have it. Cue the language police; businesses must function in French and enforcement "must be without mercy".

It's hard not to interpret this emphasis on the purity of French and the insulting intrusion of English as a bit of a conspiracy, leading to a clamp-down on English and Anglophones already suffering with diminished language rights in a province of an officially bilingual country which is proudly monolingual, sporting French above all, and English reduced to a tiny tertiary role of grudging appearance.

If the strategy is to incrementally wear out the patience and expectations of Anglophone and allophone Quebecers, it is working marvellously well. English-speaking Quebecers find it difficult enough to have services provided, even as a courtesy by those capable of extending it, but whose unions militate with the government against that courtesy, leaving them adrift in a sea of Francophone resentment of unreasonable language demands.

Live in Quebec, do it the French way.

So is that line of conspiratorial reasoning that if non-French-speakers become sufficiently discouraged they will be encouraged to leave the province for English-speaking pastures? A mass migration of disgruntled Anglophones may be just what the PQ is bargaining for. Leaving them with fewer "no" votes at such future time when they are in a majority government (fairly soon) and will once again introduce the topic of separation.

The Office quebecois de la langue francaise has latterly extended its enforcement of French usage on those living in Quebec by apprising the owner of a small boutique in bilingual Chelsea that her business website is offensive to the dictates of its office because it is in English only. She must present her website as a French-first, English afterthought presentation, else be liable to a hefty fine.

Joel Balsam, Photo, Eva Cooper Holds up the warning letter from Quebec's Office quebecois de la langue francaise that says the messages posted on her Delilah boutique Facebook page must be in French.

The unilingual use of a website from a shop owner in Quebec represents an affront, and Eva Cooper, owner of Delilah in the Parc boutique on Scott Road in Chelsea, is guilty of a verifiable offence. No matter that she may be attempting to reach an international audience, and English is the lingua franca of the cosmopolitan globe.

No matter also, evidently, that by extending its energies in such an absurd manner, Quebec has become an international laughingstock when stories such as this and its campaign of last year to force cafes and restaurants to use French alternatives for words such as "pasta" or "pizza", gained the kind of attention that would make any self-respecting politician wince.

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois doesn't give a damn. She's right, the world is errant, and wrong, wrong, wrong. And don't forget to send transfer payments, Canada.

Suspending Credulity

Suspending Credulity

 Evan Dyer @EvanDyerCBC

• Khurram Sher trial about to begin under heavy security at Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa #cbcott #ottnews
• 
  February 10 at 10:57 AM

  Evan Dyer @EvanDyerCBC

  Sher is arraigned, pleads not guilty. Michael Edelson defending. Justice Hackland presiding. #cbcott #ottnews

Just kidding, folks. What's all the fuss about? Can't a fellow make a joke around here any more? Get a life, why don't you?

"He's talking about how to build bombs and mount attacks in North America. It's alarming isn't it?
"Here is a man who has sworn an oath to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, learned how to build bombs. Is that funny?
Crown prosecutor Jason Wakely

"It raises eyebrows."
Khurram Sher, accused

"You had a shared interest in geo-politics. True?"
"You communicated regularly about the Muslim community in foreign countries."
Crown prosecutor Jason Wakely

"Sure."
Khurram Sher

Incidental, coincidental, most unfortunate, miscommunication, and obviously misinterpreted. Completely innocent, in fact. Just a few casual friends having an animated "what if?" conversation, presaging nothing, just a way to blow off steam and have a few laughs. Why is everyone so serious about this. What's wrong with people? This is a free country, isn't it? Just exercising the right to free speech. Got it?

Federal Crown prosecutor Jason Wakely wanted to know from Khurram Sher who has taken the stand in his own defence -- because he is more than capable of defending himself from untoward, absurd and totally out-of-whack from reality charges --  that if he was aware he was in the company of a "dangerous, crazy, radical man", why he sat there companionably, adding to the conversation, inserting his own opinions and recommendations.

A conversation of some 70 minutes caught by an RCMP wiretap, heard as evidence in the Crown's case against Khurram Sher, father of three, accomplished medical professional with a high-charged, high-endowed position waiting for him, giving a completely erroneous impression far, far from reality. He, conspiring with two others to facilitate terrorist activity? Perish the thought. Or, if you think it, just forget about it.

The conversation between them was antic, they were kidding around, kibitzers all. And the $400 cash Sher forked over was meant to aid children living in Iraq. Definitely not to buy weapons for jihad. He was lied to. Not his fault. But he was reconciled to the latterly-realized impression that his money wasn't to be used for charity, after all. He was trusting, gullible. Going to hold that against him? A man who doesn't mind parting with money for charitable purposes? How much do you claim on your tax returns?

Oh, and loose talk about terrorizing successfully, making people who are 'the enemy' fearful ... "breaking the back of the enemy and taking them from underneath ... like they do to Israel"... well, so what? "Bombs on buses, that's how they put fear into the Israeli", Mr. Walkley repeated. So, he prodded and probed, when that casual conversation turned to violence why no effort to protest, doctor, Canadian citizen, university alumni?



"Why didn't you say 'Is this the same person you sent the money to for charity?" Well, again, all is not as it seems: "They said it went to the brothers. I was lied to It didn't go to the poor and needy."
Fine then: "Is it a fair description of what they tell you that the money is going to finance the Mujahedeen?" Tediously beyond comprehension, this repetitive line of interrogation: "It's a possibility. It sounds like it's not for a good purpose", Mr. Sher obligingly agreed.

And his friend, who had picked him up at his uncle's house where he was staying in Ottawa, en route to his new home and job in London, Ontario, and who said he was going to introduce him to someone 'interesting' ... "You never say 'What are you doing with this guy? He's crazy. Why did you introduce him to me?" Instead, in his state of fatigue and confusion, he left a gift of a Real Madrid soccer shirt for his friend, as a sign of their friendship and mutual regard.

During the cross examination, Mr. Sher affirmed that he and his friend had taken part in a letter-writing campaign to newspapers and politicians between 2006 and 2009 protesting the treatment of Muslims in international conflicts. Writing to the Montreal Gazette where Mr. Sher's home was then, to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urging his cessation of "blind" support of Israel, slamming the "injustice" done by Israel to Palestinians.

Writing to American President Barack Obama for the return of Omar Khadr to Canada. It was the obvious imbalance of media coverage demonizing Islam that motivated Mr. Sher and his colleague. Free speech and all that, remember? Oh, and that dicussion between the three alleged terrorism conspirators related to training and surveillance at CFB Trenton.

Curiosity, simply that, no more. Wanting to "see if anyone bites", because of his growing suspicion of the other two men's possible ill intentions. No intended targets. No plan of attack. Back to square one. Innocent of all charges. Things are simply not as they seem to the suspicious minds of the RCMP, let alone the focused and determined legal mind of a Crown prosecutor.

Expendable Populations

The evil that a handful of men are capable of constructing, altering the lives of millions is demonstrated time and again throughout history. Megalomaniacs, totalitarian tyrants, malicious dictators whose least consideration is the impact that their desires will extend harm well beyond their immediate contacts are simply disinterested as well as oblivious to the needs of other people. Their own need to control, to remain dominant is all that matters to them.

When the world became fully aware of the dread results of Nazi Germany's campaign to eliminate Jews from all the territories they controlled during World War II, as the sheerest, ultimate expression of anti-Semitism, the photographs of concentration camp survivors, the stilled chimneys of the death camps, the piles of corpses and the bewildered eyes of those children who miraculously survived, stirred mass guilt, and an impassioned vow never to permit such an atrocity to be repeated.

But ethnic cleansing, tribalism, religious intolerance, hatred and mass slaughter continue regardless. Regardless of the fact that the United Nations was instituted for the specific purpose of ensuring through its global reach and its membership signing on to a declaration of human rights. Regardless of the later adoption of the 'Responsibility to Protect', when a tyrant launched a vicious war against his own population, restively opposing their prolonged state of persecution.

Cambodia with its killing fields happened anyway. And so did Rwanda, and Darfur. And a whole host of lesser, in the sense of smaller events in which merely tens of thousands were killed in weapons-of-mass-destruction assaults like Iraq's Saddam Hussein launching chemical gas attacks on nuisance portions of his population. And now we have the ancient cities of Syria flattened, millions of its people seeking refuge in camps within its borders and flooding refugee camps in neighbour countries.

A government that uses food, water, medical supplies as a weapon of mass attrition. A government that does not hesitate to mount night-time deadly sarin gas attacks on its people. A government that uses helicopter gunships and sharpshooters to fire on people waiting in bread lines. A country whose allies, like Iran and Hezbollah have already ruined two countries' human rights hopes. A country where the horrified world looks in at a safe geographic remove, helplessly.

UNRWA

Residents wait to receive food aid distributed at the besieged al-Yarmouk camp, south of Damascus on January 31, 2014.

Syria, where Sunni Syrians' lives are in danger from barrel bombs dropped on their enclaves. They are being punished for being Sunni, and not Shia, complicit and content with the Alawite regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The population is gaunt and exhausted. All around them is the devastated remnants of a place they once called home. Where the suburbs of the two largest, most populous cities of the country are regularly bombed and strafed.

And in Yarmouk, the Palestinian refugee camp just outside Damascus the old and the young, the still-fit and the frail queue for food parcels at a United Nations relief agency distribution point. There are 160,000 people living in Yarmouk and they have in common that they are ravishingly hungry. They have been under constant bombardment. They live now in the rubble of the civil infrastructure that was their home. 

They have become accustomed to surviving on very little. Whatever scraps of anything edible that comes their way, and barely survivable amounts of clean water. In January, when this photograph above was taken, 7,000 food parcels were permitted entry into the area by the Syrian regime, in a brief and doubtless extremely reluctant lapse into fitful generosity.  The head of the UN agency has called on all sides in the conflict to allow "safe and unhindered humanitarian access" to Yarmouk.

Bashar al-Assad shrugs. His conscience doesn't bother him, because he has none. His immediate concern is expunging the irritating nuisance of challenges to his government, to his control of Syria. He can thank, in order of helpfulness, Iran, Hezbollah, Russia, and a world paralyzed with indignation for his good fortune in not encountering any challenges himself to his unending atrocities committed against the people of Syria.

Russian marines, paratroops seize Crimean airports. Moscow’s creeping invasion continues

DEBKAfile Special Report February 28, 2014, 10:19 AM (IST)

Tags:  Ukraine,  Crimea,  Russian military,  John Kerry,  Sergey Lavrov,  Vladimir Putin,

Russian troops enter Sevastopol

Russian marines and paratroops took control of Crimea’s main airports at the crack of dawn Friday, Feb. 28. debkafile’s military sources report another group seized the region’s key points - bridges, road hubs and power stations. Western sources referred only to “armed men sympathetic to the Russians,” seizing the airport of the capital, Simferopol -  just as they described as “armed men” the Russian paratroops who stormed government and parliament buildings in the city the day before - and hoisted the Russian flag. 

 

However, all doubt was removed later Friday when Arsen Avakov, Ukraine interior minister in Kiev, accused Russian troops of blockading an airport in what he described as an armed invasion.

Avakov said on his Facebook account that troops from the Black Sea Fleet stationed in the city were seen outside Belbek airport of Sevastopol, although the inside of the terminal was controlled by Ukrainian troops.

While stressing that no direct violent confrontations had taken place, Avakov said the matter should be dealt with on a diplomatic level before armed clashes broke out.

Thursday night, US Secretary of State John Kerry called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to propose dialogue for stabilizing the situation in Ukraine. The seizure of Crimean airports the next morning raised the stakes between the two powers. Moscow is making it clear that it won’t give an inch on its refusal to accept the administration rising in Kiev after what it considers to be a coup d’etat against the lawful rule of President Viktor Yanukovych. The West stands by its support for Ukraine's territorial integrity.

For now, President Vladimir Putin has not ordered direct action against Kiev - only Crimea, where Russian troops have been deployed to secure the region and its big strategic bases and protect the Russian-speaking majority, a locution which gives Moscow the pretext for acting in the defense of Russian speakers or sympathizers in Ukraine at large.

The fairly mild US responses to Russia’s moves indicate that the Obama administration has no wish to be dragged in to the Ukraine crisis. John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Thursday reported assurances that the Russian combat drill had been scheduled in advance of the events in Kiev. Hagel only advised Moscow “not to take any action on Ukraine that could be misinterpreted.”
Senior administration officials in Washington commented early Friday that Ukraine was the European Union’s problem and they could look after it.

According to debkafile’s Washington and Moscow sources, the Obama and Putin administrations have each come to roughly the same conclusion: The Kiev administration is unsustainable in Ukraine’s bankrupt state. Before many days go by, it will be confronted with demands to supply wages, food and medicines to the public and the army. Loud complaints that the national coffers were robbed of tens of millions of dollars may be true, but will not restore the missing funds.

The Americans and Europeans are not exactly forthcoming In response to urgent pleas for aid. They are offering guarantees for no more than $1 bn each against loans from European banks, which too may be reluctant to advance money to a far from stable government.

Putin calculates that he holds the whip hand and that the Kiev government to save itself will have to bow to Russia’s demand to first of all honor “the peace deal signed last Friday, Feb. 21, by Yanukovych and the opposition, notarized by the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Poland and approved by the US.”

This agreement recognized Yanukovich as Ukraine president and placed him at the head of a national unity government - not only of opposition parties but also factions sympathetic to Russia.

To prod this process forward, backed by some muscle-flexing, the ousted Ukraine president will hold a news conference later Friday at the southern Russian town of Rostov on-Don, which is only 502 kilometers from the Crimean capital of Simferopol. He is expected to offer pointers to Moscow’s next steps

Israel warns Lebanon to halt Hezbollah’s threats

Israeli soldiers stand atop an armored personnel carrier (APC) positioned near the Lebanese border, close to the northern Israeli town of Shlomi February 27, 2014. (Reuters)

 

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Friday, 28 February 2014 

 

Israel warned Lebanon on Friday to quash threats emanating from Hezbollah, after its air force raided a site belonging to the Lebanese Shiite group.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah threatened that it will respond to Israel’s Monday night air strike near the Syrian border that killed two of its members.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the strike, in keeping with its silence on at least three such attacks over the past year targeting suspected Hezbollah-bound convoys of advanced weapons from civil war-torn Syria.

In an unusually forthright public statement about the incident, Hezbollah said on Wednesday it would “choose the time and place and the proper way to respond” against Israel, with which it fought a war in south Lebanon in 2006, Agence France-Presse reported.

Israel has frequently promised to target Lebanon at large in any new conflict, noting that Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militia, had politicians in the Beirut government.

“It is self-evident that we see Lebanon as responsible for any attack on Israel from the territory of Lebanon,” Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Friday.

“It is the duty of the Lebanese government to prevent any terrorist attack - whether a terrorist or missile attack, or any other kind - on the State of Israel,” he told Israel Radio.
Israel is technically at war with Lebanon and Syria.

Israeli analysts have been mostly dismissive of Hezbollah’s threat this week, arguing that its fighters were too busy helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad battle a three-year-old rebellion to open up a new front with Israel.

(With AFP)

Dramatic Video of Iranian's Desperate Struggle At Gallows

Iranian prisoner tries to fight off hangmen at public hanging, after last request to say goodbye to mother in audience denied.

By Dalit Halevi, Ari Yashar -- ArutzSheva 7

First Publish: 2/28/2014, 12:47 PM

Dramatic new footage from Iran highlights the repressive nature of the Islamic regime that is pursuing nuclear power. Video captured the desperate struggle of a prisoner in Karaj, a city north of Tehran, moments before he was hung publicly as is the custom in Iran.

His final request to say goodbye to his mother before being killed was denied by the hangmen, who ignored the mother's heartfelt pleas from the audience to say a last goodbye to her son.

In response to the cruelty, the man kicked out at one of the hangmen, knocking him from the gallows box and overturning the bench he was to stand on for the hanging.


A desperate struggle ensued as the outnumbered condemned man fought against hangmen with his hands tied. It was a struggle fated for a tragic outcome, as the guards overpowered the man and carried out the execution right before the man's mother and the public.

Iran has dramatically escalated the pace of hangings; Amnesty International revealed that in the first 21 days of 2014, a rate of two hangings were carried out every day.

Execution orders are often given in secret trials held by Revolutionary Guard courts, where defendants may have restricted access to legal defense and where sentences are often given in secret, reports Amnesty International.

“In Iran drug-related offenses are tried in Revolutionary Courts which routinely fall far short of international fair trial standards. The reality in Iran is that people are being ruthlessly sentenced to death after unfair trials, and this is unacceptable," remarked Hassiba Hadja Sahraoui, Deputy Program Manager for Amnesty International in the Middle East and North Africa.

United Nations officials spoke out following the January report, denouncing “the inherently cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of the death penalty.”

Among those killed by hanging was An Arab-Iranian poet and human rights activist, executed in late January for being an "enemy of G-d." The 32-year-old poet had spoken out against the mistreatment of ethnic Arabs in Iran's Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq.

Tags: Iran, Capital Punishment, human rights violations, hanging

Ukrainian ex-leader Viktor Yanukovych vows fightback

Key moments from Viktor Yanukovych's news conference

Viktor Yanukovych has vowed to fight for Ukraine, in his first public appearance since being ousted as president last week.

Speaking in Russia, he said he was "not overthrown" but was compelled to leave Ukraine after threats to his life.

In the latest flare-up, Ukraine accused Russian troops of seizing two airports in Crimea - charges denied by Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a rapid return to normality in Ukraine.
Mr Putin spoke to Western leaders to emphasise "the extreme importance of not allowing a further escalation of violence", the Kremlin said.

Analysis

Bridget Kendall BBC's diplomatic correspondent, Moscow

The picture being presented from Moscow is that events in Crimea are spontaneous - the natural response of local Russian speakers who felt threatened by the new Kiev government.
How far the Kremlin is pulling the strings behind the scenes is hard to know. Certainly it is not being admitted openly. But there are signs the Russian government is hardening its stance.
The question for President Putin is how far he can push it without risking a full scale confrontation with the West.
Maybe he thinks he can have it both ways - encourage more Crimean autonomy but stop short of secession; criticise the new Kiev government but avoid a full break in relations; and try to unnerve Ukraine's young government by heavy-handed manoeuvres on the border without actually invading.
But it is a dangerous game. If tensions escalate further, a full scale crisis between East and West may be impossible to avoid.

In other developments:

• Swiss and Austrian authorities block the assets of Viktor Yanukovych and his associates, and launch a corruption probe
• Russian MPs propose new laws that would make it easier for Russia to incorporate parts of Ukraine
• Amid fears of hyperinflation, Ukraine's central bank has put a 15,000 hryvnia (1,000 euro; £820) limit on daily cash withdrawals
• The UN Security Council is set to hold private discussions on the crisis later on Friday

"I intend to continue to struggle for the future of Ukraine, against terror and fear," Mr Yanukovych told the news conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

"What's going on now is lawlessness, lack of authority, and terror. Decisions in parliament were taken under duress."

He apologised to the Ukrainian people for not having "enough strength to keep stability" and described his usurpers as "young, neo-fascists".

He insisted he did not "flee anywhere", explaining that his car was shot at as he left Kiev and he was forced to move around Ukraine amid fears for the safety of himself and his family.

He said he arrived in Russia "thanks to a patriotically-minded young officer" and was given refuge in Rostov by an old friend.

Speaking in Russian, Mr Yanukovych said he would return to Ukraine "as soon as there are guarantees for my security and that of my family".

But he ruled out taking part in elections planned for 25 May, describing them as "illegal".
Later Ukrainian authorities said they had started moves to have him extradited to Kiev where he is wanted on charges of mass murder.

Christian Fraser says barriers and armed men are blocking Sevastopol airport

And he said the only way out of the crisis is to implement an EU-backed compromise agreement he signed with opposition leaders last week before he was deposed.

The current turmoil in Crimea was "an absolutely natural reaction to the bandit coup that occurred in Kiev", he said, adding that he was surprised by the restraint shown by Russian President Vladimir Putin so far.

But he stressed that "military action in this situation is unacceptable" and said he wanted Crimea to remain part of Ukraine.

Armed men took over Sevastopol and Simferopol airports in the early hours of Friday.
Acting national security chief Andriy Parubiy said the airports were back in the control of the Ukrainian authorities, but the men were now manning checkpoints on the surrounding roads.

Armed men carrying Russian navy flags arrived at Simferopol airport in several trucks

They have declined to say who they are, and are wearing no identifying insignia

Men whom Ukraine says are Russian naval troops have also blocked roads to Sevastopol airport

Meanwhile people are still reeling from the violence in Kiev, which led to the ousting of Mr Yanukovych.

 

Witnesses also reported seeing Russian army trucks and helicopters in and around the regional capital Simferopol and Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based.

The move on the airports prompted Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov to accuse Russia of carrying out an "armed invasion" of Crimea.

Crimea's airports

• Simferopol is the main international terminal, serving the regional capital
• Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, has a Soviet-era military airport (Belbek) which was also used for civilian flights until some years ago. Ukrainian air force jets are stationed there
• The Russian Black Sea Fleet has aircraft stationed at other air bases in Crimea (Gvardeyskaya and Kacha)

Russia denied any involvement with the takeover at the airport, but confirmed its armoured vehicles had been on the move around Crimea for "security" reasons.

On Thursday, a group of unidentified armed men entered Crimea's parliament building by force, and hoisted a Russian flag on the roof.

They were still in the building when the Crimean parliament later announced it would hold a referendum on expanding the region's autonomy from Ukraine on 25 May.

Crimea is becoming the lynchpin of a struggle between Ukraine's new leaders and those loyal to Russia, the BBC's diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall says.

The majority of people in Crimea are ethnic Russians, but ethnic Ukrainians loyal to Kiev and Muslim Tatars - whose animosity towards Russia stretches back to Stalin's deportations during World War Two - have formed an alliance to oppose any move back towards Moscow.

Syria jihadist group ISIS 'retreating after warning'

BBC News online -- 28 February 2014

Fighting between ISIS and other rebel groups erupted earlier this year

Reports from northern Syria say a rebel jihadist group has been pulling back from positions after being given an ultimatum by a rival. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is said to have been retreating towards the city of Raqqa.

The Nusra Front has given ISIS until Saturday to accept mediation or face being expelled from Syria.
Infighting between rival rebel groups has seen more than 3,000 people killed in the past two months.
The main confrontation is between ISIS and other Islamist militant groups.

Abu Mohammed al-Julani of the Nusra Front, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, warned ISIS on Tuesday that it would be driven from Syria and "even from Iraq" if it did not accept arbitration within five days.

He demanded that ISIS halt all military operations against other rebels, and allow an Islamic court to rule on its actions.

The threat came after the killing of an al-Qaeda emissary, Abu Khaled al-Suri, in a suicide attack on in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday. Rebel groups blamed ISIS for the bombing.
The latest reports suggest ISIS is taking the threat from the Nusra Front seriously, the BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher says.

ISIS's predominantly foreign fighters have been accused of widespread abuses in areas under their control

 

ISIS appears to have pulled fighters out of positions in Aleppo province, where it may fear it is not strong enough to withstand attack.

Videos posted online appear to show residents celebrating in a town that ISIS fighters have left, our Arab affairs editor reports.

The group seems most concerned with protecting the area around its key stronghold, Raqqa, he adds. It has imposed its severe interpretation of Islamic law, including a tax on Christians, in the city.
ISIS grew out of the former Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a jihadist militant umbrella group that included al-Qaeda in Iraq. It is believed to have helped create the Nusra Front in mid-2011.

In April 2013, ISI leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of his group and the Nusra Front - effectively a takeover - and the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
But the move was rejected by Julani and Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's overall leader, who recognised the Nusra Front as its sole Syrian offshoot.

Since then, ISIS and the Nusra Front have operated as separate entities, with the latter focusing on toppling President Bashar al-Assad and maintaining better relations with other rebels.

ISIS has seemed to be more concerned by territorial gains and implementing its extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

ISIS strongholds in rebel-held and contested areas

Current Conflict -- Future Clashes

"The type of scenario we have to plan for is extremely robust. It means the Israeli operational response has to be forceful, swift and decisive."
Israeli military official [anonymous]

"Iran is handing out torches to the pyromaniacs."
"I suggest that everyone keeps in mind that underneath this quiet, a storm is brewing."
Lt.Gen. Benny Gantz, Israeli military chief

Ariel Schalit February 26, 2014 5:48 AM

Israel believes it has good reason to understand that Hezbollah's involvement in Syria is twofold. Much in evidence is the military aspect of the Iranian-supported Hezbollah military machine tasked with giving practical military support to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in putting down the insurrection by majority Sunni Syrian rebels contesting the regime for legitimacy in governing a country which has historically pitted the minority Shia Alawite regime against its majority Sunni population.

Under the radar is the far less conspicuous covert activity related to ferrying advanced weaponry out of wartorn Syria and into Lebanon, for use by Hezbollah in its future plans to confront Israel in all-out attacks in yet more attempts to destroy the Jewish state. There have been a number of night-time aerial attacks launched by the IDF against convoys carrying advanced rocketry and other missiles to Hezbollah possession.

The one that took place this week struck inside Lebanon for the first time in eight years. This strike had the intended purpose of preventing the Islamists from taking possession of sophisticated missiles. The Syria-Hezbollah axis orchestrated from Tehran presents a serious concern to Israel for what it represents; arming a foe whose purpose is to destroy the existence of Israel, to enable Hezbollah to amass a deadly arsenal that might closely match that of the IDF's itself.

Moreover, Hezbollah's front-line involvement with Syrian troops in halting the advance of the Syrian opposition has been both supported and seriously complicated to the point of being detrimental in the battle against the regime by the flood of Islamist militias and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, has given Hezbollah the advantage of real-time experience on the battlefield.

While Syrian state media reported that army troops killed 75 rebels, among them al-Qaeda fighters near Damascus on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed the ambush was a Hezbollah venture.

Israel has taken no sides in the Syrian war. With each side concentrating on conflict to the bitter end with the other, they still mutter threats against Israel, but their primary focus remains on dealing with one another, to the death when at all possible. And they've been doing a fairly good job of it, apart from the Islamist Sunni groups also carving up territory in Syria in competition with one another, wile assassinating one another's commanders on occasion for good measure.

What concerns Israeli battlefield watchers is that irrespective of the successful Israeli airstrikes on suspected arms shipments, Hezbollah has still been successful in obtaining sophisticated weapons. Russian-produced anti-aircraft and antiship missiles included. Which makes it far more feasible to anticipate that any future conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah will become far more intense than heretofore.

While Hezbollah used about four thousand rockets and missiles to hit Israel in 2006, they were for the most part short-range, unguided projectiles. Now, Israel believes, Hezbollah has in its possession 100,000 rockets and missiles with longer ranges, guidance systems and larger warheads, capable of striking anywhere within Israel. And those weapons came courtesy of Syria and Iran. The targeted shipments Israel has destroyed included Russian-made anti-aircraft and surface-to-sea missiles along with Iranian advanced guided missiles.

And it's anyone's guess, and only Hezbollah's certain knowledge of the inventory they have still managed to receive and cache for that future day of conflict. The latest aerial IDF attack was on a known smuggling route along the Syrian-Lebanese border. The target was long-range surface-to-surface missiles from Syria heading to a Hezbollah depot in Lebanon's Bekaa region.

Swatting at Human Rights Violations

"People in countries overseas where religious freedom is being violated are being imprisoned, tortured, killed because of their faith."
"In Canada, we have the courts. We have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. ... We can advance religious freedom overseas because we enjoy it in Canada. So that's the approach that I take.
"Canada is very consistent in having a one-China policy.
"In my interactions that I've had with Tibetan Buddhists, or Uighur Muslims in Canada ... I always focus on the religious freedom aspect.
"Were not getting into discussions about various autonomy claims that those groups might be making ... I'm the religious freedom guy."
"You're seeing the situation in certain countries where the Christian population is being wiped out."
Andrew Bennett, Canadian ambassador for religious freedom

Mr. Bennett was in Washington when he made those statements in an interview, where he took part also in a panel discussion with a colleague from the U.S. Commission on International and Religious Freedom. A panel discussion that had been organized by the Berkeley Center's Religious Freedom Project. Too bad he missed the sixth annual Summit for Human Rights and Democracy hosted by UN Watch, taking place in Geneva. But no one can be everywhere at once.

And in Washington, Mr. Bennett had the opportunity to meet with the Dalai Lama, also visiting there, and being received formally by U.S. President Barack Obama, much to the fury of Beijing. With the Dalai Lama Mr. Bennett discussed the constraints met by Tibetan Buddhists to practise their faith. Beijing, famously, accuses the Dalai Lama of the cardinal sin in China of "splitism", wishing to take Tibet out of China.

China insists Tibet is part of China, and with the military might to assert and back up that claim Tibet is in no position to insist otherwise, though they have attempted repeatedly, to do just that. Beijing responds by connecting Tibet to China by a costly rail link, second to none in the world of transport technology, and by flooding Tibet with Han Chinese, so that possession is nine-tenths of any law; the international community has no wish to confront China, and neither has the Dalai Lama. Lives depend on it.

Daramsala/AsiaNews

While in Turkey, when he raised concerns about the security and freedoms to practise their religion of Turkish Christian, Jewish and Alevi minorities last fall, his queries were not taken too kindly in a country known for its repression and human rights abuses, not only of religious minorities, but the autonomy-declaring Kurd demographic, and the long-suffering journalists who face arrest and jail time. They've latterly been joined by Turkish military elite, police and jurists.

Opposition protests have intensified in Istanbul and other cities as the government struggles with a corruption scandal [AFP]

The Turkish response might have been predictable, much as Iran berates Canada for its purportedly poor treatment of 'immigrants' and First Nations peoples. Well, said the Turkish interlocutors, what about Quebec? Mr. Bennett was somewhat stymied on that one, not authorized to speak of domestic issues where the offending, impending Quebec legislation would bar people wearing hijabs, turbans, yarmulkes and ostentatious religious symbols from working in the public sector.

He did point out, however, that there is little comparison between a repressive human-rights-abusing regime that persecutes its minorities and a country where the law of the land is paramount in protecting the equal rights and freedoms of all its citizens, irrespective of religious diversity; that very religious diversity itself is uncompromisingly protected under Canadian law.

During the forum organized by the Berkley Center, Mr. Bennett pointed out his pride in being named, a neutral, non-partisan civil servant, with his mandate and his office as Canadian ambassador for religious freedom, placed within the larger mandate of that of the Department of Foreign Affairs, making his job one of great importance to Canada. Clarifying when questioned that the Conservative-led government has stated repeatedly its willingness to disagree with major allies rather than compromise its moral ideals.

His experience in Turkey, he pointed out, represented the only instance when a foreign official had raised the issue of charter freedoms and human rights with him since taking up his post.

Unfortunate Misunderstanding

"Is that all you want to tell us? Why were you talking like this? Is there a reason you didn't say, 'I don't like the way this conversation is going?' Were you intimidated? Were you tired?"
Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland

"I realize I should have been more mature. In retrospect, it's what I should have done. I wish I could go back and take it all away."
"I am wondering whether I should tell him I don't agree with that stuff or should I play along. I didn't really like it but wanted to find out more about him and his views. I'd never heard him talk like this before. He was saying some stupid things, too."
"It was late at night. The whole day I'd spent moving. I was tired but there I was in the middle of this strange conversation."
"I just assumed it couldn't be real. I might be academically bright but a lot of people say I'm naive. I had no intention of doing any of this. It was curiosity, I guess."
"I was surprised at the things I said. I was shaking my head. How could I sound so dumb?"
Khurram Sher, accused terrorist conspirator

Dr. Khurram Syed Sher, right, says he was in fact trying to see if his acquaintances, not pictured, were serious about their terrorism talk. Photographed by: Mike Carroccetto, Ottawa Citizen

Calm, well spoken, 31-year-old Khurram Sher who is, after all, an educated man, a medical pathologist whose expertise is in much demand in Canada, and whose profession pays extremely well, so why wouldn't he be well spoken, and with a certain level of confidence. No doubt carefully coached by his team of high-priced criminal lawyers very accomplished in legal jousting in a court of law on behalf of their clients, innocent until 'proven' guilty.

They do their utmost to 'prove' innocence by their careful parsing of the evidence, by their meticulous interpretations and specialized picking away at the testimony of those prepared to give evidence for the Crown, to instill doubt in the minds of juries, and in this particular case, consternation at the very least in the mind of a judge trying this serious case of a suspected terrorist conspiracy without a jury.

"I don't believe in violence" the articulate, confident Mr. Sher informed the court. "I believe in giving back to the community." A rather shopworn, hackneyed phrase that highlights the speaker's bona fides as an innocent bystander to a malevolent plan that had nothing, nothing whatever to do with him. His arrest in 2010 at a time when he was just one month into a position as pathologist at St.Thomas Elgin General Hospital near London, Ontario at a $365,000 annual take-home-pay was most inconvenient.

Mr. Sher believes in 'giving back to the community', and so he supports charitable causes to the tune -- his lead lawyer was careful to point out, attesting to his client's sterling character -- of $10,000 according to his last tax return. If there are two issues that stand large in Islamist circles, it is 'charity' and it is 'jihad'. Ahmad Khadr, father of Omar Khadr, worked for a charity that funnelled funds through to his great good friend Osama bin Laden.

From from a video introduced into evidence by the Crown shows Khurram Sher in Pakistan in the aftermath of the 2005 South Asian earthquake, where Sher was said to be working with a group called the Canadian Muslim Relief Council.    Photograph by: Evidence exhibit photo , RCMP

 

And the neutral listener's heart just has to melt when hearing of a young Pakistani-Canadian travelling to Pakistan in 2005 for the purpose of proffering humanitarian aid after a devastating earthquake. "We were all young and able-bodied and landslides had damaged roads. We had brought medicine. We loaded up bags and knapsacks and trekked out." That's the stuff of unalloyed decency. But this is not:

• K. Sher: And people always come to see, like the public and stuff. So, you, uh, so you could, or we could, but it would look suspicious with beards and stuff.
• Co-conspirator: To be there?
• K. Sher: To be there as uh, or maybe you wear.
• Co-conspirator: Overlapping conversation -- inaudible.
• K. Sher: Canada colours or something. I don't know but, anyways.
• Co-conspirator: It means shaving. You put on a big hat and then.
• K. Sher: So that, so you could really go up close at that point.
• Co-conspirator: And see the whole thing.
• K. Sher: To the main base where they bring back the, you know, the bodies and stuff.
• Co-conspirator: So, we can send someone who doesn't look anywhere close to us.
• K. Sher: [Overlapping] Shady.

The interpretation of a conversation, presumably from Arabic into English from the one that was recorded thanks to the listening devices placed in the apartment by members of the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams and produced as evidence. Where Khurram Sher had introduced the possibility of staging some manner of attack, seemingly fittingly, during a repatriation ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

So, simple human curiosity led this man to involve himself in a purported -- well, it certainly sounds like one -- terrorist plot. But he was not actually involved in anything remotely untoward. Lending his opinion to people whom he has become aware are interested in launching jihad in Canada. He is among other young Muslim men, two of whom appear to have surrendered to the allure of violent jihad.

But who is he to judge? He is hard-wired by his compassionate character to be useful, giving them the benefit of a few ideas. But not remotely connected to this kind of thing. So unconnected that he cannot conceive of other young men dying at the hands of the two he is being so helpful to. So remote from the situation that it would never occur to him that he has an obligation as a law-abiding citizen, a loyal Canadian, to alert authorities.

But he is a devoted Muslim, a father of three young children, a talented medical professional who has nothing whatever to do with terror conspiracies.

Watchdog Group Highlights Anti-Israel Credentials of Amnesty International’s Researchers

February 27, 2014 4:23 pm 

Author:

Joshua Levitt

Tags:

Christopher Hitchens Claudio Cordone Deborah Hyams Edith Garwood Gita Sahgal Haim Schwarczenberg Kristyan Benedict Moazzem Begg NGO Monitor Philip Luther Rasha Abdul-Rahim

Cover of Amnesty International's report about the IDF. Photo: Screenshot / Haim Schwarczenberg

As Amnesty International published an anonymous 85-page report condemning Israel on Thursday, NGO Monitor, the Jerusalem-based charity watchdog, highlighted the backgrounds of Amnesty’s researchers, several of whom were full-time anti-Israel activists before joining the human rights group.

Anne Herzberg, NGO Monitor’s international legal counsel, told The Algemeiner on Thursday, “We are not sure who wrote the report because Amnesty doesn’t say — in violation of NGO Fact-finding guidelines established by the International Bar Association.”

The only name associated with the report, on its press release, was Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International, who has managed to leave few footprints anywhere online; even Luther’s public LinkedIn profile provides little clue to his experience or credentials.

The cover photography from the report was courtesy of Haim Schwarczenberg, who describes himself as a “photographer and activist in Israel” on the anti-Israel blog Mondoweiss, to which he contributed a report last year. Schwarczenberg’s Facebook account features a stream of hundreds of photos showing Arabs igniting tires to hurl at soldiers, aiming slingshots, and, of course, throwing rocks at the Israel Defense Forces.

Herzberg said that what NGO Monitor has been able to confirm is that “the Israel researcher based in London, Deborah Hyams, was a human shield at the Church of the Nativity; the Amnesty US Israel researcher, Edith Garwood, used to be a member of the International Solidarity Movement. Also, another one of the researchers, Rasha Abdul-Rahim, describes herself as ‘a ranty Palestinian activist‘ on Twitter.”

“Again, I don’t know if any of these people worked on the report, but their hiring certainly shows that Amnesty doesn’t care about objectivity or the credibility of its reporting,” Herzberg said.
In a 2012 research note, NGO Monitor said, “Amnesty claims that it maintains a policy of ‘impartiality’ and is unbiased in its research of allegations of human rights violations.”

“Despite this claim, Amnesty employs an anti-Israel activist as a researcher in its ‘Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories and Palestinian Authority’ section,” NGO Monitor said.

“This individual, Deborah Hyams, has a well-documented history of radical activism in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and, correspondingly, weakens Amnesty’s credibility and claims of neutrality.”

On its website, NGO Monitor elaborated on Hyams’s extensive background in anti-Israel activism. In 2001, Hyams volunteered as a “human shield” in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, to deter Israeli military responses to recurrent gunfire and mortars targeting Jewish civilians in Jerusalem. In 2002, Hyams stated that some “of Israel’s actions, all the way back to 1948, could be called ‘ethnic cleansing.’” In 2008, she was signatory to a letter claiming Israel is “a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land.”

Prior to joining Amnesty, Hyams worked for “some of the most radical political advocacy NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict,” according to NGO Monitor, including the Alternative Information Center (AIC), Jews for Justice in Palestine and Israel (JPPI), Rachel Corrie Foundation, and Ma’an Network. “Any of these affiliations should have been a red flag for Amnesty,” the watchdog said.

Another Middle East researcher, Kristyan Benedict, was described by NGO Monitor as having “a strong anti-Israel obsession, fueled by global conspiracy theories,” of which it cited several from a 2011 interview with Labour Friends of Palestine.

“Israel is now included in the list of stupid dictatorial regimes who abuse peoples’ basic universal rights – along with Burma, North Korea, Iran and Sudan, its government has the same wanton attitude to human beings,” Benedict said in the interview.

When asked if Amnesty would hold an event to aid kidnapped Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit, Benedict, according to the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, answered, “Could do, why not? We will also talk about the thousands of Palestinian prisoners as well. We will have to do that if we want to be consistent.”

Described in 2012 as Amnesty’s UK campaign manager, Benedict had to be suspended after a joke on Twitter at the expense of Jewish Members of Parliament, in Britain, backfired, compelling his superiors to even apologize for their employee’s tastelessness.

Outside of the direct Arab-Israeli conflict, NGO Monitor’s Herzberg said that one of Amnesty’s partners, Moazzem Begg, was arrested in the UK on Tuesday “on suspicion of attending a terrorist training camp and facilitating terrorism overseas.”

The former Guantanamo detainee and alleged supporter of the Taliban was one of four people arrested on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offences, the UK’s Telegraph reported, citing the police.

Begg sparked controversy in 2010 after the UK’s Sunday Times reported that Amnesty had suspended Gita Sahgal, head of its Gender Unit, for criticizing the organization’s alliance with the Pakistani-born activist.

In an official response to the “Global Petition to Amnesty International: Restoring the Integrity of Human Rights,” which garnered 750,012 signatures, Amnesty’s interim Secretary General, Claudio Cordone, defended Begg, stating that “jihad in self-defense” is not “antithetical to human rights.”

The organization had previously claimed it collaborated with Begg because he is a “compelling speaker” and because of its commitment to “upholding the universality of human rights.”

At the time, popular columnist Christopher Hitchens, who has since passed away, described the “degeneration and politicization” of Amnesty as “a moral crisis that has global implications,” urging Amnesty members to withhold their funding from the once stalwart defenders of human rights