MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012
LAGOS: This file photo shows a Nigeria secret service officer
standing guard during a court hearing. — AP
Nigeria secret police
details leaked: Report
LAGOS: Personnel records of former and current members of
Nigeria’s top domestic spy agency, including home addresses
and names of immediate family members, leaked onto the
Internet in a threatening message that claimed to come from a
radical Islamist sect that’s killed hundreds of people this year
alone, The Associated Press has learned. The leak of personal
data of more than 60 past and current employees of Nigeria’s
State Security Service remained easily accessible on the Internet
for days and had details about the agency’s director-general,
including his mobile phone number, bank account particulars
and contact information for his son.
Many of agents listed who could be reached by the AP said
they received no official warning from the spy agency that their
information had been posted online nor been otherwise alerted.
The material has been deleted from the comment section of
a website, but the security breach astonished spy service veterans
and calls into question whether Nigeria’s intelligence community,
whose agents already have released suspected terrorists
out of religious and ethnic sympathies, are too compromised
from within to stop the violence now plaguing Africa’s
most populous nation.
A senior Nigerian intelligence official said authorities were
aware that the leak had happened and that many were embarrassed
by it. He spoke on condition of anonymity as information
about the leak was not to have been made public. Marilyn
Ogar, a spokeswoman for the State Security Service, declined to
answer questions Thursday about the posting of the information.
The State Security Service, created in 1986 by then-military
ruler Gen Ibrahim Babangida, monitors domestic dissent in
Nigeria, an oil-rich nation of more than 160 million people.
Though geared toward stopping terrorism and destabilizing
coups, the agency routinely faces criticism for targeting government
critics. In Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the agency operates out
of cars made to look like the many green taxis that roam the
streets. Plain-clothed agents of the service routinely question
foreign journalists at airports, border crossings and on city
streets if they see reporters conducting interviews. Agents carrying
assault rifles often guard major events in the country.
Many agents for the typically secretive agency are preoccupied
with concealing their identities, as most try to blend unnoticed
into society. The information leak came in two postings
earlier this month on a website that provides rewritten news on
Nigeria. The first posting threatened to kill agents of the State
Security Service on behalf of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect
responsible for more than 660 killings this year alone in Nigeria.
The second posting simply offered a block of text containing
biographical and other details about the agents.
Though the comments have been removed, the AP is not
identifying the website involved as cached versions of the comments
remain online and intelligence service agents have been
killed by Boko Haram members in the past. The list includes former
and current agents across the country, including Director-
General Ekpeyong Ita. Those reached by the AP who were willing
to talk expressed disbelief that sensitive information like
that could make its way to the Internet.
“I was shocked to see my details posted on the Internet,”
said one former agent, who declined to be named out of safety
concerns. “I’ve not heard anything from anybody. I was surprised
that such information could be leaked.” Another man on
the list said he simply once served as a doctor to help the
agency on an on call basis only. The list appeared to include
lower-ranking agents, as well as one-time state directors for the
agency.—AP
MIAMI: Prosecutors in the
Guantanamo war crimes tribunals have
filed new terrorism charges against a
Saudi prisoner accused of plotting with
Al-Qaeda to blow up oil tankers off the
coast of Yemen, the Pentagon said on
Wednesday.
Ahmed al Darbi could face life in
prison if convicted on six charges that
include conspiracy, aiding and abetting
the hazarding of a vessel and aiding
and abetting terrorism. Darbi, 37, is
accused of working as a weapons
instructor at an Al-Qaeda camp in
Afghanistan in the late 1990s and meeting
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
there. He also is charged with abetting
a plot to bomb civilian tankers in the
Strait of Hormuz and off the coast of
Yemen from 2000 to 2002.
Specifically, he is accused of using al
Qaeda money to buy a boat and GPS
navigational devices and helping
obtain travel documents for al Qaeda
operatives. He also is accused of abet-
ting the plot to bomb a French oil
tanker, the MV Limburg, off Yemen in
2002. The blast killed a Bulgarian crewman
and dumped tens of thousands of
gallons of oil into the Gulf of Aden.
“Mr Al-Darbi’s alleged crimes are
serious violations of the law of war that
were committed to terrorize and wreak
havoc on the world economy,”
Brigadier General Mark Martins, the
chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo
tribunals, said in a statement. Darbi’s
lawyer did not immediately respond to
a request for comment on Wednesday.
Darbi, who was captured in
Azerbaijan in 2002, said previously said
he used his boat only to carry sheep
across the Strait of Hormuz. If Darbi
were to plead guilty and cooperate
with Guantanamo prosecutors in
exchange for leniency, he could be a
useful witness against another prisoner
facing death penalty charges stemming
from al Qaeda attacks on vessels.
That prisoner, alleged al Qaeda
International
US charges Saudi at Gitmo with
plotting to bomb oil tankers
Prisoner Ahmed Al-Darbi could face life in prison
Palestinians
backtrack
on bid for
UN upgrade
RAMALLAH: Palestinian officials yesterday
appeared to backtrack on a pledge to make a fresh
bid for upgraded UN membership on September
27. Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas, told AFP the date
would be decided next week when Abbas meets
the Arab League in Cairo. “The president will have
Palestinian, Arab and international consultations to
set a date for the UN bid to present the request for
non-member state status for Palestine,” he said.
“After the Tehran summit, the president will go
to Cairo to attend the Arab League follow-up committee
meeting on September 5 and 6 which will
set a date for the Palestinian bid seeking a status
upgrade to non-member state.” Abbas was yesterday
at a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran
where members are expected to vote on a political
declaration endorsing Palestinian plans for
upgrading their status from observer entity to a
non-member observer state.
Last September, Abbas made a high-profile
effort to obtain full member status for Palestine at
the UN, but the request was never put to a vote in
the Security Council where the United States had
pledged to veto it. The outcome of the NAM summit
would have a “big effect” on Palestinian plans,
Abu Rudeina said. “The decisions taken at the NAM
summit will have a big effect on the bid to seek
non-member UN status for Palestine,” he said,
without explaining further.
On August 4, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad
al-Malki had said Abbas would make the upgrade
request on September 27 during the UN General
Assembly. “In the upcoming session of the General
Assembly next month, President Abbas will speak
about this on the 27th. Palestine will apply immediately
to the UN, and the head of the General
Assembly will be informed that Palestine wants to
obtain non-member status,” he told reporters.
“After that, we will begin communicating with all
components of the General Assembly to talk about
the appropriate date” for a vote on the issue. Nimr
Hammad, political adviser to Abbas said the UN
upgrade request would definitely go ahead, but
confirmed the date would only be set “in the
upcoming weeks.” —AFP
chieftain Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, is
accused in the plot to attack the
Limburg, as well as sending suicide
bombers to ram a boat full of explosives
into the side of the USS Cole in the
Port of Aden in 2000. The attack on the
US warship killed 17 sailors. Charges
similar to those announced on
Wednesday were filed against Darbi in
2007 and referred for trial in 2008 in the
Guantanamo war crimes tribunals. A
lawyer familiar with the original charges
said Darbi was given $50,000 of al
Qaeda money to further the boats plot
but spent a lot of it on prostitutes and
drugs.
Those charges were dismissed in
2009 to give the Obama administration
time to review its Guantanamo policy.
President Barack Obama tried unsuccessfully
to shut down the
Guantanamo detention camp, which
still holds 168 foreign prisoners, and
move the prosecutions into US civilian
courts. — Reuters
ISTANBUL: Turkish soldiers march during a military parade marking the 90th
anniversary of Victory Day yesterday. Turkey commemorates the anniversary
of the day in 1922 that marked the end of Turkey’s independence war with a
victory over Greek occupation troops in Anatolia. — AFP
Tunisia media accuses
govt of clampdown
TUNIS: Tunisian journalists and media
figures yesterday accused the government
of clamping down on freedom of
expression, as the Islamist-led state is
criticised for tightening its grip on the
press. Two state-run newspapers said
their new director, who they consider
too close to the ruling Ennahda party,
censored an article they were to publish
criticising his appointment by the government.
And the head of a TV channel
gave himself up to the authorities yesterday
under an arrest warrant, claiming
this was ordered in retaliation for a political
satire show his station aired.
International NGOs have recently criticised
the Tunis government for seeking
to manipulate the media, including by
appointing new directors to head public
media groups without consulting their
staff.
“This is harassment,” a journalist and
unionist said of the alleged censorship
by state-owned Dar Assabah press group
director Lotfi Touati of newspapers Le
Temps and Essabah. The two dailies were
to run an article criticising Touati’s recent
appointment to his position by the gov-
ernment, but he stopped it being printed
overnight Wednesday and called the
police to the office, Sana Farhat told AFP.
“The new heads want to control the
newspapers’ editorial line,” Farhat
added, accusing the director of taking
orders from the government. She said
the article, which was also to announce a
September 11 strike, was replaced by
commercials. Meanwhile Sami Fehri,
head of Ettounsiya TV, turned himself in
to the attorney general’s office almost a
week after his arrest warrant was issued,
his lawyer told AFP.
In a video statement released during
the night, Fehri said he was going to the
attorney general to allege unlawful prosecution
and an attack on freedom of
expression. “Freedom of expression with
which we live since January 14 (2011, the
day Ben Ali fled Tunisia) is threatened,”
said Fehri. He believes his arrest was
ordered because of his channel’s satirical
puppet show, which was recently and
abruptly halted allegedly under pressure
from the authorities. Fehri last week told
Express FM radio he would not fight the
warrant.—AFP