Recent Appearances...

Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Home Front: WoT

Lockerbie bombing suspect in US custody two years after being charged

2022-12-12

[NYPOST] A suspect in the United Kingdom’s deadliest terror attack was in US custody Sunday morning.

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi

...previously in our archives as merely Abu Agila Mas'ud, Abu Agila Mohammed Masud, and Abu Agila Mohammad Masud ...

was arrested for allegedly helping make the bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, officials said.

The plane was en route from London to New York when it exploded, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground in the small town near England.

Victims of the attack included 190 Americans and citizens of 20 other countries. Dozens of the slain passengers were Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas after spending a semester studying abroad.

In a statement Sunday, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud said the development was a notable step in the process “to bring those responsible for this despicable act to justice.”

Masud was taken into custody two years after authorities charged him in connection with the massacre. He was being held by Libyan authorities.

The suspect is the third Libyan intelligence official charged in the attack, but would be the first to stand trial on US soil.

“At long last, this man responsible for killing Americans and many others will be subject to justice for his crimes,” William Barr, the US Attorney General at the time, said at a news conference.

It was unclear how the US negotiated his extradition.

Masud had been kidnapped from his Tripoli residence by armed men last month, and his family accused the government of not responding to the apparent abduction, according to reports by Lybian news outlets.
Sounds like the family tree needs pruning as well
The US got a breakthrough in the Lockerbie crash case in 2017 when it received a copy of a interview in which Masud admitted building the bomb with two other cohorts; Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. The suspect purportedly gave the confession to law enforcement after Khadafy’s government dissolved in 2012.

Al-Megrahi and Fhimah were tried by a panel of Scottish judges sitting in the Netherlands. Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted in 2001. He is the only person ever convicted in the terror attack and died in 2012 while trying to appeal his conviction. Fhimah was acquitted of all charges.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

ICE Deports Former Liberian Security Forces Commander Living In The US

2020-04-30

[DAILYCALLER] Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday repatriated a member of a rebel forces group involved in human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
violations back to his native country.

Escorted by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations officers, 56-year-old Alexander Mentol Zinnah boarded an ICE deportation flight and was handed over to Liberian law enforcement authorities, according to a blurb from the agency. The removal marked the latest significant deportation by ICE, even in the face of a worldwide pandemic that has scaled back most air travel.

Before arriving in the United States, Zinnah was a military and law enforcement official under former Liberian President

Charles Chuck Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence for human rights abuses.

A probe by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) unit first revealed that he was a member of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, a rebel organization led by Taylor that committed a number of human rights abuses — including massacres, kidnappings and torture. Zinnah had also been a member of the Liberian National Police and even served as a commander during Taylor’s time in office.

HSI arrested Zinnah in 2017 for immigration violations and for violating his parole into the country. The Liberian national had attempted to fight the deportation order.

A U.S. immigration court slapped Zinnah with a final order of removal in May 2019. He lodged an appeal of the decision, but that request was shot down by the Board of Immigration appeals in January, and his request to be released from custody was also dismissed in February.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Prince Johnson Tips Weah Over Boakai for Liberia's Presidential Run-off

2017-10-27

[All Africa] Senator Prince Y. Johnson (MDR, NIMBA) Standard Bearer of the Movement for Democratic Reconstruction today endorsed the candidacy of football legend-turned Senator George Manneh Weah, dealing a major blow to Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai's bid to succeed Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

The next government, he said would needs to stop the importation of rice and invest in mechanized farming in order to make our country self-reliant in food production. "I know that no one party can solve all these problems alone. That is why we must all join in to make the Liberian dream a reality. We must also continue to promote the doctrine of freedom of speech and civil liberties for all Liberians and strangers within our borders. WE must lend our support to elect that government that will be "for the people, of the people and by the people"!

Senator Johnson said he was grateful to the Almighty God for the peaceful conduct of the October 10, 2017 General Elections of which he was a candidate for the Presidency and hailed the National Elections Commission and the Liberian people for their strong commitment to peace and democracy.

In the June 2009 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC), which was established as part of the 2003 peace deal, the TRC recommended Johnson's inclusion on a list of 50 people who should be "specifically barred from holding public offices; elected or appointed for a period of thirty (30) years" for "being associated with former warring factions."

Johnson labelled the recommendation a "joke," noting the absence of several other combatants from the list, and vowed to resist any charges brought as a result of the report.

Johnson finished fourth in the just-ended first round after securing 127,666 votes for 8.2 percent. It remains to be seen how much his backing of Weah, who won the first round with 596,037 votes for 38.4 percent, will impact the run-off.
This is the very same Prince Johnson who tortured the late President Samuel Doe to death and videotaped it. He and Charles Taylor and a few other bad guyz then proceeded to tear Liberia apart in a vicious civil war that went on for what felt like forever but only stretched from 1989 through 1997 and resulted in the rule of Chuck Taylor and the death of about a quarter million people....

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Liberia's Charles Taylor appeals war crimes sentence

2013-01-23

[FRANCE24] Liberia's former president

Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
launched an appeal Tuesday against a 50-year sentence handed down by a UN court in May for his role in aiding the rebels responsible for war crimes during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war.

Link

Down Under

Arms trafficker Bout associate arrested in Australia: US

2013-01-10

The United States announced Thursday that Australian police have arrested an alleged associate of the notorious jailed international arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration said Richard Ammar Chichakli was arrested on Wednesday in Australia at the request of US authorities.

Bout, who was convicted by a US court in 2011 of conspiring to sell arms to Colombia's FARC rebels, has been accused over the past two decades of selling arms to despots embroiled in some of the world's bloodiest conflicts. He was the inspiration for the arms smuggler played by Nicolas Cage in "Lord of War" (2005), and has been dubbed the "Merchant of Death".

His alleged associate Chichakli, who holds both Syrian and US citizenship, is charged with conspiring with Bout to try to purchase two aircraft from companies located in the United States and use them to ship arms. This is alleged to have happened in 2007, a year before Bout's arrest in Thailand. Bout is now serving a 25-year jail term in the US.

Buying the planes would have violated a US executive order imposed first against Bout, and later against Chichakli, banning them from carrying out any transactions within the US. The order, imposed in line with UN sanctions, stems from their links with former Liberian president Charles Taylor, convicted of war crimes last year for supporting for rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for blood diamonds.

Chichakli is also charged with money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and six counts of wire fraud in connection with the attempted aircraft purchase.

"As alleged, Richard Ammar Chichakli consorted with the world's most notorious arms trafficker in the purchase of aircraft that would be used to transport weapons to some of the world's bloodiest conflict zones, in violation of international sanctions," Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement issued by the DEA.

Altogether, Chichakli faces nine criminal counts, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Liberia's Taylor appeals war crimes conviction

2012-07-20

Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor has appealed his conviction for war crimes in Sierra Leone and a 50-year jail sentence imposed, the international court handling the case said Thursday.

Keep pleading Chuckles, right up to the moment you die in your prison cell...

"Charles Taylor respectfully requests that the appeals chamber reverse all the findings of guilt and conviction entered against him and vacate the judgement," said the defence request made public by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Taylor was found guilty in April of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the 1991-2001 civil war in Sierre Leone, the first former head of state to be convicted by an international court since the Nuremberg Nazi trials in 1946. The former warlord, 64, was sentence in May to 50 years in jail after his conviction on 11 counts for arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for "blood diamonds" during war which claimed 120,000 lives.

The court found that Taylor was paid in diamonds mined in areas under the control of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels, who murdered, raped and mutilated their victims while forcing children to fight and keeping sex slaves. Taylor maintained his innocence during the trial at the court outside The Hague.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UN official says no to Syria amnesty

2012-06-03

[Al Ahram] The UN's top human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
official said Saturday that there should be no amnesty for serious crimes committed in Syria, even if the threat of prosecution might motivate members of the regime to cling to power at all costs.
Asked if Syrian

Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
should be allowed to leave power in exchange for safe haven, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said international leaders seeking peace may be drawn to "politically expedient solutions which may involve amnesty or undertakings not to prosecute."

But she said that would be wrong under international law.

"You cannot have amnesty for very serious crimes," she told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named during an interview in Brussels. "So my message is very clear -- there has to be accountability."

Lawyers for former Liberian President

Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
, who was sentenced Wednesday by the Special Court for Sierra Leone to 50 years in prison, had argued that giving him a long sentence would send the wrong message to Assad.

Courtenay Griffiths, an attorney for Taylor, criticized the court for refusing while setting Taylor's sentence to take into account his decision to step down from power after his indictment in 2003.

"What lesson does that send to President Assad?" Griffiths asked. "Maybe the lesson is: If you are a sitting leader and the international community wants to get rid of you, either you get murdered like Qadaffy, or you hang on until the bitter end." Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy
... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring...
was killed by a mob in October.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Former Liberian President Chuck Taylor Jailed for 50 Years

2012-05-31

[Tripoli Post] Judges at an international a UN-backed war crimes court in The Hague have sentenced former Liberian President

Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
to 50 years prison following his landmark conviction for supporting rebels in Sierra Leone who murdered and mutilated thousands during their country's brutal civil war. He has always insisted he is innocent of the crimes.

The sentence follows last month's verdict that found Taylor guilty on 11 counts, relating to atrocities that included rape and murder. He was charged with aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war. The prosecution at the Special Court for Sierra Leone wanted an 80-year prison term, which the defence said was excessive.

Taylor, 64, insists he is innocent of the crimes that during the sentencing Judge Richard Lussick said were the most heinous in human history. He likely to appeal the sentence. An appeal process could last up to six months.

Charles Taylor a great friend of the former Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy,
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
is the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremburg trials of Nazis after World War II.

His trial, that eventually convicted him of the crimes he was charged with, opened five years ago, in June 2007 in The Hague. He had become President in 1995 after a rebellion and in 2003 an arrest warrant was issued for him. Two months later he stepped down and went into exile to Nigeria. He was tossed in the calaboose
You have the right to remain silent...
in March 2006.

Taylor reportedly accused the prosecution of paying and threatening witnesses in his war crimes trial, and also told the judges to consider his age when making their decision, saying he was "no threat to society".

When requesting a sentence of 80 years jail for him, the prosecution said such a sentence would reflect the severity of the crimes and the central role that Taylor.

Prosecutor Brenda Hollis had said that, "the purposely cruel and savage crimes committed (by Taylor) included public executions and amputations of civilians, the display of decapitated heads at checkpoints... public rapes of women and girls, and people burned alive in their homes," wrote.

During the Sierra Leone civil war, Taylor supported Revolutionary United Front rebels who killed tens of thousands of people. The war crimes included murder, rape, the use of child soldiers and the amputation of limbs.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Taylor says prosecutors paid witnesses

2012-05-17

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Convicted Liberian warlord

Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
has accused UN prosecutors of paying witnesses to testify against him as he addressed a war crimes court in The Hague.

Taylor, 64, was found guilty by the UN-backed court last month for aiding and abetting war crimes.

"Witnesses were paid, coerced and in many cases threatened with prosecution if they did not give statements," the former Liberian president told the Special Court for Sierra Leone at a hearing ahead of his sentencing on May 30.

Dressed in a light grey suit, white shirt and blue tie, Taylor addressed the court for 30 minutes from the witness box -- his last chance to state his case before judges pronounce a sentence, expected to be delivered in two weeks' time.

Mr Taylor insisted that he "pushed hard for peace" in the neighbouring country. "I was convinced that unless peace came to Sierra Leone, Liberia could not go forward."

And he expressed his "sadness and deepest sympathies at the crimes suffered by victims and their families in Sierra Leone."

Once one of the most powerful men in west Africa, Taylor was found guilty last month of arming and aiding rebels who killed and mutilated thousands of people in Sierra Leone during a decade-long civil war that killed 120,000.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Taylor prosecutor seeks 80-year sentence

2012-05-05

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The chief prosecutor in the trial of

Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
has suggested an 80-year sentence after the Liberian former president's conviction for war crimes, according to a document made public Thursday.

The prosecutor said the term would be fair given Taylor's role in arming and aiding rebels who killed and mutilated thousands in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2001 civil war, one of the most brutal conflicts in modern history.

"Should the trial chamber decide to impose a global sentence, 80 years imprisonment would be appropriate," said the document, signed by the Special Court for Sierra Leone's chief prosecutor Brenda Hollis in The Hague.

"The recommended sentence is appropriate to reflect the essential role that Mr Taylor played in crimes of such extreme scope and gravity."

Taylor, 64, was found guilty by the UN-backed court last week for aiding and abetting war crimes.

So he should be 144 years old when he gets out, except that this is Europe so he'll be 71...

In the first judgement against an ex-head of state by a world court since the World War II Nuremberg trials, Taylor was convicted on all 11 counts including acts of terrorism, murder and rape committed by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, who paid him for arms with diamonds mined by slave labour.

Taylor will be sentenced on May 30 by the court, based in the leafy suburb of Leidschendam outside The Hague. Should he get jail time, it will be spent in a British prison.

The hearings, which saw model Naomi Campbell testify she had received diamonds from Taylor, lasted a liesurely four years, wrapping up in March 2011.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Chuck Taylor Guilty

2012-04-27

[VOA News] Former Liberian President

Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
was found guilty Thursday of aiding and abetting grave human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
abuses and war crimes in a historic verdict by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. While Taylor was not found guilty of criminal masterminding the atrocities, he became the first former African head of state to be convicted in an international court. In Taylor's native Liberia and in Sierra Leone, where the crimes were committed, interest in the verdict was very high.

Liberians gathered around radios and televisions or watched online, using slow connections at internet cafes, as former President Charles Taylor was convicted of involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone.

From the site of the trial in The Hague, the Special Court for Sierra Leone said Taylor was not guilty of committing the crimes himself. However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
he was guilty of aiding and abetting rebels as they terrorized civilians, carved their initials into the bodies of child soldiers and carried out murder, abductions and rape.

The court said prosecutors had not proven beyond reasonable doubt that Taylor was part of the rebel's command structure.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Liberia's Taylor awaits verdict in blood diamond trial

2012-04-25

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Liberian former leader

Charles Taylor
The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually.
awaits a verdict Thursday on charges of arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for "blood diamonds" in the 1990s.

A three-judge bench will read the historic decision -- the first verdict against a former head of state by an international court -- at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam outside The Hague.

Taylor, 64, is accused of helping Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels wage a terror campaign during a civil war that claimed 120,000 lives between 1991 and 2001.

The trial, which saw model Naomi Campbell testify she had received diamonds from the flamboyant Taylor, wrapped up in March 2011.

Prosecutors alleged that the RUF paid Taylor with illegally mined so-called blood diamonds worth millions, stuffed into mayonnaise jars.

"He (Taylor) was really key in people's minds as to who was accountable for what happened," Elise Keppler, who monitored the trial for Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
, told AFP this week.

She added: "He is a former head of state, the first to hear a judgment against himself: it is unprecedented, it is a historic moment."

During the trial, prosecutor Brenda Hollis told the court: "Charles Taylor created, armed, supported and controlled the RUF in a 10-year campaign of terror against the civil population of Sierra Leone."

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More