| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Russia Told Assad To Shoot Down Turkish Plane, Murder Captured Pilots, 'Leaked Syrian Documents' Show |
| 2012-10-01 |
| [Times of Israel] Devastating intelligence papers purport to prove jet was downed on Moscow's orders, pilots captured alive by intelligence unit and then killed; Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... had claimed June incident was an accident Contrary to previous reports, the two pilots of a Turkish F-4 Phantom which was shot down by Syria in June were not killed in the crash, but were murdered by the Assad regime on Russian orders, according to a devastating series of alleged Syrian intelligence documents leaked to and published by Al-Arabiya on Saturday. A file "sent from [President Bashar] Assad's palace," said the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya, conveys and thus apparently approves a Russian suggestion to "eliminate" the pilots in the "natural way." Syria had claimed that the plane was downed by accident, and at one point asserted that it had believed the plane was Israeli -- hence the need to down it. The leaked paperwork purports to show that the pilots were captured by Syrian Air Force Intelligence forces after their plane was shot down "in coordination with the Russian naval base in Tartus" on June 22, according to a document sent directly from Assad's office to that of Syrian Special Operations Unit head Brig. Hassan Abdel Rahman. Russia maintains a naval facility -- the last Russian military facility outside the FSU bloc -- in the Syrian port city of Tartus, where it provides technical support and maintenance. According to the files, Assad's government officially requested that the two men be investigated concerning Ankara's purported support for the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main force of anti-Assad rebels. In the documents, Assad warned that Turkey would face grave repercussions if it were to act aggressively against Damascus -- not least by utilizing the Kurdistan's Workers Party (PKK), mobilized with Syrian help. A plan to transfer the two pilots to Leb, where they would be placed in the custody of Hezbollah, was reportedly also considered; however, the documents indicate that their fate was quickly sealed -- with Russia's helping hand. According to Al-Arabiya: "A subsequently leaked file, also sent from the presidential palace and addressed to all heads of units of the Syrian foreign intelligence, reads: 'Based on information and guidance from the Russian leadership comes a need to eliminate the two Turkish pilots jugged You have the right to remain silent... by the Special Operations Unit in a natural way and their bodies need to be returned to the crash site in international waters.'" The Russians, the leaks indicate, suggested that the Syrian government quickly issue a formal apology to its counterpart in Ankara for shooting down the plane -- a recommendation the Assad regime followed. The June 22 incident strained Turkish-Syrian relations amid heightened tension over Damascus's use of violence against civilians in the now 19-month civil war. Following the incident, the Rooters news agency reported that a statement on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website urged caution and warned that "it is important that what happened is not viewed as a provocation or a premeditated action" by Syria. But contrary to claims by the Syrian military in the wake of the incident that the plane was shot down by anti-aircraft guns while flying low over Syrian territory, no evidence of anti-aircraft gun damage was found on the aircraft. Turkey claimed the plane was in international airspace, and was shot down without warning. The pilots were hitherto believed to have been killed in the crash. In July, the Sunday Times of London claimed that Russian technicians had played a key part in shooting down the plane, citing sources who said the Russians and Syrians believed the plane was on a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... mission to test Syria's airspace and was shot down, in a split-second decision, to send a message to the organization. Analysts had suspected Russian involvement in the incident, which drew harsh condemnations, but no military action, from NATO. Russia has protected Assad in the UN Security Council and sent a number of refurbished helicopters to Damascus. "We would not be surprised if these Russian experts, if they didn't push the button, at least were beside the Syrian officers who did it," the Sunday Times quoted the sources as saying. Later in July, a vessel owned by US ocean explorer Robert Ballard, best known for discovering the wreck of the Titanic, located the bodies of two Turkish pilots on the Mediterranean seabed. The documents -- of which there are hundreds, according to the report -- were said to have been verified by Al-Arabiya. |
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| Africa North |
| Security chiefs acquitted in Mubarak trial to be freed |
| 2012-06-04 |
[Daily Nation (Kenya)]  Five of the six security chiefs tried with ousted president Hosni Mubarak...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... over the deaths of protesters will be released on Sunday a day after their acquittal, the official MENA agency reported. But the head of the now-dissolved state security apparatus, Hassan Abdel Rahman, will remain in prison pending investigation into another case in which he is accused of destroying state security documents, it said. |
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| Africa North | |
| Prosecutor wants death for Mubarak, security boss | |
| 2012-01-06 | |
| CAIRO: The prosecutor in the trial of Hosni Mubarak on Thursday demanded the death penalty for the ousted Egyptian leader on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during last years uprising against his rule. Mustafa Khater, one of a five-member prosecution team, also asked the judge for the death sentence for Mubaraks security chief and six top police commanders being tried in the same case. Retribution is the solution. Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants, said Khater on the third and final day of the prosecutions opening statement.
Earlier in Thursdays hearing, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said Mubarak was politically and legally responsible for the killing of the protesters and charged that the former president did nothing to stop the killings that he was aware of from meetings with aides, regional TV channels and reports by his security agencies. He said Mubaraks security chief and co-defendant, former interior minister Habib El-Adly, authorized the use of live ammunition on orders from Mubarak. He (Mubarak) can never, as the top official, claim that he did not know what was going on, Suleiman told the court. He is responsible for what happened and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened. It is irrational and illogical to assume that he did not know that protesters were being targeted. Addressing Mubarak directly, Suleiman said, If you had not issued these orders yourself, then where was your outburst of rage over the lives of your people? Testimonies by two interior ministers who succeeded El-Adly, he said, pointed out that the defendant could not have given the order to use live ammunition against the protesters without Mubaraks personal approval, said Suleiman. Suleiman said Mubarak told investigators he decided to step down after the military refused to intervene to immediately and urgently help the security forces contain the protests. Mubarak called out the army on Jan. 28 three days into the uprising and on the day when security forces disappeared from the streets in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained. He (Mubarak) fully knew what was happening but he did nothing, said Suleiman. Another prosecutor, Wael Hussein, said that one of the six police commanders on trial former chief of the hated state security agency Hassan Abdel-Rahman has personally given orders to allow inmates to escape from a string of jails across the nation during the uprising. The escapees, who numbered in the thousands, have been blamed for a dramatic surge in crime since Jan. 28 last year when almost all vestiges of state authority collapsed. Most of the inmates have since been captured and returned to jail, but Egypt continues to suffer higher-than-usual crime rates. | |
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| Home Front |
| Jesse Jackson Headed to Mideast |
| 2002-06-01 |
| Rev. Jesse Jackson has accepted an invitation to visit the Middle East and will be making the trip sometime between June 8 and June 14, Palestinian Authority Spokesman Hassan Abdel Rahman said Friday. The Rev previously Rahman said Jackson is planning to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and other officials from both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. Rev Al did that, too. It really made things better, too... Israeli sources say they have been informed of Jackson's plans. An embassy official said, "We are always happy to meet Americans who want to contribute to building peace and ending terrorism." "(Yawn!)" Jackson has expressed the wish to visit Jenin and to meet with victims of Palestinian bombing attacks. A Jackson spokesman confirmed that he will be traveling to the region. Wonder if he'll compare Jeningrad to Selma, Alabama? |
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