Victory in Case Against Somali Colonel Magan!

A federal court in Ohio found Colonel Magan liable for the torture, arbitrary detention and cruel treatment of CJA client and former Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience,  

Professor Abukar Ahmed (pictured here).

Magan was the head of the notorious National Security Service where thousands were unlawfully detained and tortured.

(COLUMBUS, OHIO, November 20, 2012) –  


Today, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio found the former investigations chief of the Somali National Security Service (NSS), Colonel Abdi Aden Magan, liable for the torture and arbitrary detention of constitutional law professor and human rights advocate, Abukar Hassan Ahmed. 


The court’s decision in Ahmed v. Magan is historic in that it is the first judgment ever in a court of law to hold a member of the notorious and widely feared Somali NSS accountable for human rights violations committed under the brutal military dictatorship that ruled Somalia for 20 years, the Siad Barré regime.  


Today’s judgment holds that Colonel Magan is responsible for Professor Ahmed’s arbitrary detention, torture, and cruel treatment at the hands of NSS officers, who acted on Colonel Magan’s orders. In his ruling, Judge Smith found that that Professor Ahmed was detained, subjected to cruel treatment, and tortured by NSS officers under orders from Colonel Magan. Professor Ahmed bears lasting physical and psychological scars from his torture to this day. After the Siad Barre regime collapsed in 1991 Colonel Magan fled the country and sought safe haven in Ohio. This civil case was filed under two federal statutes, the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act, by the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) and pro bono co-counsel Latham & Watkins, LLP on behalf of Professor Ahmed.  


For Professor Ahmed, a former Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience, the decision comes after years of seeking recognition and redress for the torture he endured while wrongly and arbitrarily detained and tortured for his insistence on promoting human rights. After the fall of the Siad Barré regime in 1991, Professor Ahmed spent about twenty years searching for Colonel Magan and was shocked to discover that the man who had interrogated him and ordered his torture was living comfortably in Columbus, Ohio.  


In the words of CJA client Professor Ahmed, “The court’s decision today is of great consequence not only for me but also for the many other Somalis who were tortured or even killed by NSS officers. In order for Somalia to heal after 20 years of military rule, it is essential to confront and hold accountable individuals like Colonel Magan.” Professor Ahmed is a legal adviser to the New Somali Government, participating in drafting the Somali Human Rights Bill and working to ensure that the new government’s laws comply 
with human rights.


“Today’s judgment sends a clear message that torturers will not find safe haven in the United States,” said CJA Staff Attorney Kathy Roberts, adding, “The decision not only acknowledges Colonel Magan’s crimes against Professor Ahmed, but it also sheds light on the role of the security services in suppressing dissent against the Barré regime. This marks a crucial step in the march against impunity for those who committed serious human rights abuses during that dark chapter of Somalia’s history.”  


Christina Hioureas, an attorney from Latham & Watkins added: “We are proud to partner with CJA on this important case. We are honored to represent Professor Ahmed, a bold individual, who had the courage to stand up to the man responsible for his arbitrary detention and brutal torture. We are thrilled with the Court’s decision to hold Mr. Magan accountable for the atrocities he committed in violation of international law. We could not be more pleased with such an excellent result for our client.”  

CJA is a San Francisco-based human rights organization dedicated to deterring torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world and advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress. CJA uses litigation to hold perpetrators individually accountable for human rights abuses, develop human rights law, and advance the rule of law in countries in transition from periods of abuse.  

Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with approximately 2,000 attorneys in 31 offices, including Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New Jersey, New York, Orange 
County, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Since 2001, Latham has provided almost 2 million hours of free legal services.  

Indian woman jumps from train to escape rape

RT-A young woman is in hospital in critical condition after throwing herself off a moving train in an attempt to escape molestation. It’s the latest in a number of incidents that have exposed the vulnerability of women in India.

The 25-year-old woman jumped from the carriage of a moving train after allegedly being molested by a soldier. The attack occurred on Thursday while the train was en route from Darjeeling to Delhi. The man groped her after she had visited the lavatory. After pushing him back, the woman jumped from the Brahmaputra Mail line train. The mother of two is being treated in hospital in the city of Patna.


“Her condition continues to be critical. A team of doctors is treating her. She has suffered injuries to her head and legs,” a police official told the IANS news agency.


A member of the Assam Rifles paramilitary force has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident. 


It comes just weeks after a 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped on a bus in Dehli, while her male companion was severely beaten. She later died from her injuries in hospital.


The male companion has revealed more details of the tragic event. He recounted that in the immediate aftermath of the rape, no one responded to their cries for help. 


Police and passersby left the mortally injured female student lying naked and bleeding for almost an hour.


“We kept shouting at the police, 'please give us some clothes' but they were busy deciding which police station our case should be registered at,” the Zee News network reported on Friday.


The allegations were denied by Joint Commissioner of Police (South West range) Vivek Gogia. Citing electronic logs and data from GPS tracking devices, Gogia said that police had received a report about two people lying on the road in a pool of blood at 10:21p.m.


Less than ten minutes later, two patrol vehicles arrived at the scene, with one leaving to carry the pair to a hospital at 10:39pm, the commissioner said. It took the van 16 minutes to reach the hospital.


The police official also said that no argument over jurisdiction occurred between the officers at the scene.


The rape case has resonated with the population as hundreds of thousands took to the streets to voice their anger over the attack and the lack of police response. The crowd demanded punishment for those responsible, as well as new laws to protect Indian women. 


The rapists have been arrested. Five of the men detained have been indicted with gang rape and murder, and are likely to face execution. They will face a specially-established fast-track court on Monday. A sixth male is under 18 and will be judged in a juvenile court, despite the victim's family’s plea for an adult trial, as he is believed to been the most brutal of the attackers. The victim's father has also demanded new legislation on sex crimes to be named in honor of his daughter.

Indian students of various organisations hold placards as they shout slogans during a demonstration in Hyderabad on January 3, 2013 (AFP Photo / Noah Seelam)


In an effort to provide more protection on transport routes and deter gangs operating on trains, India's inspector general said the railway police have stepped up patrols. In 2012, police apprehended nearly 15 gangs and recovered 15 weapons from trains. 

The problem of sexual violence against women appears to touch all levels of Indian society, as on Thursday the ruling Congress party in Assam state suspended a politician accused of rape. Police claim that Congress leader Bikram Singh Brahma was visiting the village of Santipur when he entered a local house and raped a woman at 2am. The villagers later attacked the politician and captured the footage on tape.

New Delhi has an infamous reputation as India’s rape capital, seemingly confirmed by a report in the Hindustan Times that documents more than 20 rape cases in the city since December 16th, the day of the rape and brutal murder of the 23-year-old medical student.

Indian students of various organisations hold placards as they shout slogans during a demonstration in Hyderabad on January 3, 2013 (AFP Photo / Noah Seelam)

Somali prisoner commits suicide in Lecce penitentiary

Gazzetta del Sud english - Italy's jails continue to suffer overcrowding.

Lecce, January 7 - Italian Penitentiary Police Union (OSAPP) said on Monday that a 38-year-old Somali man committed suicide Sunday afternoon in the Borgo San Nicola penitentiary near the southern city of Lecce by hanging himself in the prison's infirmary cell.

Mohamed Abdi, who was serving time for theft, had been in the Lecce prison for approximately one year. OSAPP representative Domenico Mastrulli said that the prison, located in the region of Puglia, is "beset by several problems, first and foremost overcrowding". 

Roughly 60 prisoners in Italy commit suicide each year, approximately 20 times average for the general population, according to a study released in December.

The Permanent Observatory on Prison Deaths also found that 10 penitentiary police take their lives annually - a rate that exceeds the norm by a factor of three and ranks highest among the various branches of Italy's security forces. Contrary to most suicides, which are usually tied to personal events, a comparative study found that at least two-thirds of Italian prison suicide cases are due to "environmental factors".

The environmental factors in question do not refer to the prison environment per se but to "illegal" detention conditions, the study reported. The prison population has almost doubled in 40 years whereas prison capacity has only increased by 10,000 places. 

Marco Pannella, the historic leader of Italy's Radical Party, recently held a nine-day thirst-and-hunger strike to call for an amnesty to stop chronic overcrowding in Italy's jails, and for prisoners to be given the right to vote.

Alleged militants detained in Djibouti charged by U.S. court

Mark Hosenball | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sign of evolving U.S. legal tactics in counter-terrorism operations, two Swedish citizens and a former British citizen detained in Africa in August have been charged in a U.S. court with supporting Somali-based Islamist militants.

The charges were filed in Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, even though court papers and a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office make no specific allegation that the three - all of whom are of Somali extraction - posed threats to Americans or U.S.-related targets.

The three suspects - two Swedish citizens and a former London resident whose British citizenship recently was revoked - were charged with supporting the militant group al-Shabaab, illegal use of high-powered firearms, and participating in what prosecutors called "an elite al-Shabaab suicide-bomber program."

Ephraim Savitt, a former federal prosecutor who represents one of the Swedish defendants, said he was unaware of any secret evidence that the men threatened U.S. interests, and he saw "no prosecutorial hook whatever to the United States."

Savitt said he was unaware of any previous case in which U.S. authorities had taken custody of foreign militants who had no obvious connection, and posed no known threat, to U.S. interests.

However, a U.S. law enforcement source said there had been cases in the past where suspected foreign militants arrested overseas who had not directly threatened the United States had been brought before U.S. courts on terrorism-related charges.

The latest suspects - Swedes Ali Yasin Ahmed and Mohamed Yusuf, and former British resident Madhi Hashi - were detained by local authorities in Africa in early August while on their way to Yemen, the statement from prosecutors said.

The suspects were subsequently indicted in October by a Brooklyn-based federal grand jury, and in mid-November the FBI "took custody" of them and brought them to Brooklyn, where a revised indictment was filed against them, prosecutors said.

No information about the case was made public until just before Christmas, however.

U.S. officials said they were unable to provide further details about where the suspects were originally arrested, who arrested them, what was the legal basis for their initial arrest, and what happened to them between early August and their first known public court appearance in late December.

ARRESTED IN DJIBOUTI

However, Savitt, who represents Yusuf, said the men were arrested in Djibouti on their way to Yemen.

He said that at one point the men had been "fighters" with al-Shabaab, a group the United States has linked to al Qaeda. But at the time of their arrest, Savitt said, the men were trying to get away from the group after an apparent falling out.

Savitt said he did not know why they were heading to Yemen.

Saghir Hussain, a British lawyer who represents the family of Hashi, told the BBC this month the case had the "hallmarks of rendition," a reference to a secret procedure adopted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during the administration of former President George W. Bush.

Such renditions involved teams of agency operatives taking custody of suspected militants overseas and handing them over, without legal process, to third countries, where they were sometimes mistreated.

Neither Hussain nor Harry Batchelder, Hashi's American lawyer, responded to messages requesting comment. Susan Kellman, a U.S. lawyer for Ahmed, also could not be reached.

Savitt said Hashi and the other suspects were detained and held in Djibouti by local authorities, who sometimes treated them roughly, but U.S. officials who at one point were allowed to interrogate them were "civil."

U.S. government sources familiar with the case said it could not be considered a "rendition," as in such cases suspects were not brought into the U.S. criminal justice system.

President Barack Obama's administration has declared it has stopped counter-terrorism practices such as "enhanced interrogations" and the use of secret CIA prisons, but it has not completely renounced the use of "rendition."

Hashi's family told the BBC that earlier last summer they received a letter from Britain's internal security department, the Home Office, declaring that his British citizenship had been revoked as he was deemed a threat to the U.K. security.

Under British law, Hashi had a right to appeal the revocation of his citizenship to an immigration court. A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Washington said that, for legal reasons, the government could not comment on whether or not such an appeal had been filed.

(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

(This story was corrected to show that the suspects detained in August and clarifies that men of Somali extraction in the first paragraph)

In Djibouti, journalist defiant despite revolving jail door

By Tom Rhodes/CPJ East Africa Consultant

Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh addresses the media after his re-election in April 2011. (AP)

Online journalist Houssein Ahmed Farah spent more than three months in jail in Djibouti before an appeals court finally released him in November--after his defense requested bail three times, Houssein said. His crime? Officially nothing. "It appears to have been an arbitrary arrest because there is still no evidence on file," Houssein told me. He said he was accused of distributing identity cards for the opposition, but he has not been charged with a crime.

The reporter for exile-run critical news website La Voix de Djibouti slept on a mattress provided by his family in a 24-square-meter cell with 75 inmates and two toilets that functioned intermittently. The capacity of the central Gabode prison in the capital, Djibouti City, is 500, but 735 are currently inside, Houssein said. A diabetic, he had to rely on visits from doctors once every 15 days and a long bureaucratic circuit to receive medication. "In fact, everything must go through the prison warden, an ex-policeman loyal to the regime, so I was not medically monitored or allowed physical exercise to lower my blood sugar," he said.

Houssein and his colleagues at La Voix de Djibouti are accustomed to harassment by authorities. "Since my release I go every Thursday to register with the court," he said, "Judge Lamisse Mohamed told me I am still facing two proceedings, one of which dates back to February 2011, when they accused me of participating in an insurrectional movement."

In February 2011, Houssein was arrested along with five colleagues and spent four months in preventive detention at Gabode for participating in a protest rally, local journalists told me. That rare series of protests was organized by civil society and opposition parties in response to an amendment to the constitution that allowed President Ismael Omar Guelleh to run for a third term, according to news reports. (Guelleh was re-elected in April 2011). In February this year, police beat La Voix de Djibouti reporter Abadid Hildid in the capital and detained him for about 24 hours, warning him to stop his reporting, local journalists said.

It is no wonder Le Voix de Djibouti is routinely blocked within the country and its staff face problems; Djibouti has been run like a family fiefdom since independence in 1977, with zero tolerance towards dissent. The website is run by Houssein's brother, Daher Ahmed Farah, the leader of one of the main opposition parties, the Movement for Democratic Renewal (MRD). In 2008, Guelleh banned the party, accusing it of supporting neighboring Eritrea in a plot to invade the country, according to the United Nations. The party is appealing the ban at the Supreme Court, local journalists said, and the European Parliament in a 2009 resolution urged the government to let the party resume its activities.

As in many autocracies, rare independent media such as La Voix de Djibouti tend to be highly critical of the regime, acting as a slight counter-balance to the state's media. The national broadcaster, Radio Television of Djibouti, holds a near monopoly of the airwaves and operates as the ruling party's mouthpiece, unquestioningly reporting on the president's visits and appointments. Only 7 percent of Djiboutians use the Internet, according to the International Telecommunication Union, and the single state-controlled Internet service provider ensures state censorship of the Web, local journalists told me. Despite constitutional guarantees protecting free expression, criminal laws on publication of "false news" and defamation are used to stifle criticism. There are hardly any independent civil society organisations, local journalists told me, and with nearly all employment controlled by the state, criticism of the ruling party could jeopardise any potential employment opportunities.

And yet, you will hardly hear a whimper of protest from the international community. The United States consulate did visit Houssein in prison, local journalists told me, but did not make the visit public. Although Djibouti is tiny, the coastal country is hugely significant for the Western world and elsewhere. Djibouti's Camp Lemonnier, the operating base of U.S. Africa Command, holds 2,000 U.S. troops in addition to occasional naval forces, according to news reports. The country's harbor has become a central base for American, European, and NATO anti-piracy activities--its strategic location in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden helps protect some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Houssein has a long history of writing critical stories for La Voix de Djibouti, such as on the ongoing detention of political prisoners, chronic water shortages, and corruption in the government's management of traffic lights. Despite the repeated arrests, Houssein vows to continue. "My arrest recalls that freedom of the press is trampled in Djibouti," he said. "I will continue to write, although it is not without risks, because power always uses repression to silence dissent."

Briton, 23, accused of working with terror group secretly quizzed by CIA for three months in African prison

By Robert Verkaik

PUBLISHED: 6 January 2013

Mahdi Hashi, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences

Charged: Mahdi Hashi, 23, from London, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences

A British man controversially stripped of his citizenship last year by the Home Secretary has spent three months being interrogated by US agents in an African prison.

Mahdi Hashi, 23, from London, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences.

His sudden appearance in America five months after his family had reported him missing has prompted claims that he is the victim of international kidnap or ‘rendition’.

Now it has emerged that between August and the middle of November he was being questioned by teams of agents from the CIA and FBI while being held by the secret intelligence service of Djibouti, a small African state that borders Somalia.

The former care worker lost contact with his family while staying in Somalia last year. When they began looking for him, they were told by Foreign Office officials that the British Government could not provide assistance because the Home Secretary Theresa May had issued an order depriving him of his UK citizenship over allegations of Islamic extremism.

A few weeks later he was detained by Djibouti’s secret police, who it is claimed raided a house in which he was staying in the capital, Djibouti City.

A source close to the case said Mr Hashi was taken to the intelligence service headquarters, where he spent nearly four months before being sent to America for trial.

‘He was sojourning in Djibouti when he was picked up by Djibouti’s secret intelligence officers and thrown in a cell in solitary confinement,’ said the source.

‘Soon after he was visited and interrogated by FBI officers and then later by the CIA.’

The American interrogations were continuous and all the time the Djibouti security officers were present, said the source.

‘It was as if they were telling him that if he didn’t fully co-operate with the Americans, he would be left to the special interrogation skills of the Djiboutis,’ the source added.

On November 15, he was shackled and put on a plane for the US.

His case has been picked up by the US media as evidence of President Obama’s new rendition programme, where suspects who are deemed to pose a threat to the country are secretly held in African states allied to America.

Mr Hashi, who came to Britain from Somalia when he was five, is accused of working with the terrorist group al-Shabaab, which is at war with the government of Somalia. If convicted, he faces a life sentence.

His family deny that he has ever been involved in terrorist activities and say he was planning to return to London to complete his education.

He left Britain in 2009, firstly for Somalia where he married a local woman. He has a grandmother in Djibouti. Mr Hashi is now being held in solitary confinement in a top-security prison in New York.




 

Ethiopia on track to complete first mega-dams by 2015-minister

Mega dam along Nile River to generate 6,000 MW

- Plans to spend over $12 bln and produce 40,000 MW by 2035\

- Hopes to become Africa's biggest power exporter

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's energy minister played down concerns on Monday about how it would finance the first of an array of mega-dams due to revolutionise east African power markets, saying it was on track to have three plants on line by 2015.

The Horn of Africa country has laid out plans to invest more than $12 billion in harnassing the rivers that run through its rugged highlands to generate more than 40,000 MW of hydropower by 2035, making it Africa's leading power exporter.

Energy chief Alemayehu Tegenu said the plan's centerpiece - the $4.1 billion-Grand Renaissance Dam along the Nile River in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region - was on course to be completed on time in 2015.

Two other smaller dams should also come on line by that point, he said, generating a total of more than 8,000 megawatts of power at full capacity.

"Everything is going according to plan. It (the Grand Renaissance) is on good status," Tegenu told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an energy conference in Addis Ababa.

"So far we have achieved 13 percent of the total construction."

The dam - Africa's largest - will generate 6,000 MW at full capacity.

It is just the latest of a series of ambitious infrastructure projects launched by Ethiopia following years of solid economic growth. The government says funding will come from both domestic and foreign sources.

Worried about the state's ability to raise the billions needed, however, some experts have called on Addis Ababa to sell off state firms and assets they say could rake in a potential $9.6 billion.

Alemayehu said the country has raised more than 5 billion birr ($277.1 million) for the construction of its Grand Renaissance Dam to date, the vast majority of it from sales of government bonds.

"This dam may not be constructed only by selling bonds, but the (power) utility can finance some part of the financing," he said.

"The option we have designed is financing by the people of Ethiopia, the utility and the government."

The other major near-term project the government hopes to complete is the Gilgel Gibe III dam along its southern Omo river, set to generate 1,870 MW from the end of 2013 at a cost of $1.8 billion.

Alemayehu said over 65 percent of construction on that dam had been completed.

Another 254 MW project is being built in the Oromiya region and is due to be ready in two years. Together the three projects will churn out 8,124 MW, compared to Ethiopia's existing capacity of around 2,167 MW of hydro and wind power.

EXPORT TO NEIGHBOURS

Egypt fears that the Nile dams will reduce the flow of the river's waters further downstream and Addis Ababa has long complained that Cairo was pressuring donor countries and international lenders to withhold funding.

An international panel of experts is set to announce its findings on the impact of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile's flow in May 2013.

Analysts suspect that any shortfall in funding of such projects could draw further Chinese capital to Africa, where Beijing has begun to accumulate natural resources and volumes of trade.

Critics have already slammed China's willingness to lend money for Gilgel Gibe III's turbines over concerns the dam would create serious environmental damage.

Addis Ababa is already providing more than 50 MW to Djibouti, while Kenya's border town of Moyale is importing a small amount.

"We have started exports to Sudan, as well as the border town of Moyale. We will gradually expand to Sololo (in eastern Kenya) and plans for Somaliland are also going well," Alemayehu said.

Newly-independent South Sudan has also signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a transmission interconnector to import power, he added.

Another project - a 3,000 km 500 kV line linking Ethiopia with Sudan and Egypt, is also in the pipeline, while the construction of a 1,300 km 500 kV transmission interconnector with Kenya will start soon.

"We have secured the finances (for the project linking with Kenya) and the design has been complete. For construction the tender has also been floated," Alemayehu told Reuters.

"The project is expected to start in less than two months." (Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Patrick Graham)

For CIA chief, Obama taps adviser who defended drone strikes

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) stands next to John Brennan, (R), during the announcement for his nominations for a new secretary of defense and new CIA director at the White House in Washington January 7, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

By Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 7, 2013

(Reuters) - In White House councils, John Brennan has been privy to the most secret U.S. intelligence programs. Outwardly, he has been the administration's most public defender of one of President Barack Obama's most controversial practices - the expanded use of armed drone aircraft to kill terrorism suspects overseas.

This is the second time that Obama has sought to put Brennan at the helm of the CIA, and his confirmation process is likely to revisit old controversies over U.S. counterterrorism measures undertaken by the administrations of Obama and George W. Bush.

Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran, withdrew his name from consideration as Obama's first director of the agency in November 2008 following liberals' criticism that he had done too little to condemn the use by the Bush administration of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, widely considered torture.

This time around, Brennan's defense of targeted killing by drones is likely to provide additional fodder for critics, although barring new revelations, he appears likely to be confirmed.

Deprived of the CIA post four years ago, Brennan, 57, became instead one of Obama's closest advisors on counterterrorism and homeland security. That proximity has made him a more powerful figure in the administration than the director of national intelligence - who will become his boss if he is confirmed.

Brennan, who grew up in New Jersey, is described by those who know him as a "straight arrow" and man of high morals.

"The word for John is ‘intense'," said A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, a former top CIA official who was once Brennan's boss there. "John's all about commitment."

His long working hours at the CIA and the White House are legendary. Obama, in announcing Brennan's nomination on Monday, quipped: "I'm not sure he's slept in four years."

Brennan pledged, if confirmed, to "make it my mission to ensure that the CIA has the tools it needs to keep our nation safe and that its work always reflects the liberties, the freedoms, and the values that we hold so dear."

PICTURE OF CLOSENESS

Brennan was at the president's side during some of the most significant security incidents during his first term.

The White House last week released a photograph of him briefing Obama on the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. He is also visible in an iconic photo of top officials at the White House monitoring, in real time, the U.S. commando raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

Brennan is praised by former CIA officials who have worked with him. "John is a great choice - highly experienced, extremely dedicated, a person of integrity," said John McLaughlin, former acting CIA director.

But, by choosing him, Obama has given both liberals and conservative Republicans an opportunity to re-open the debate over Bush administration interrogation policies.

In a 2007 CBS television interview, while Brennan was out of government, he appeared to assert that enhanced interrogation techniques had produced useful information. "There have been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hardcore terrorists. It has saved lives," he said.

Inside the CIA, where career intelligence officers consider it a point of pride to be above politics, employees will want to see whether Brennan's time at the White House has made him a more political figure.

"He will have to overcome the impression that he has become a political player who overachieved in spinning things to favor the president at the expense of the agency," a former CIA official said on condition of anonymity.

Shortly after the Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden, Brennan briefed the press, telling them that the al Qaeda leader had been killed in a firefight and had tried to use one of his wives to shield himself from the attackers.

"Here is bin Laden, who has been calling for these attacks, living in this million-dollar-plus compound, living in an area that is far removed from the front, hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield," he said at the time. "I think it really just speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years."

The White House later retracted this account but said Brennan was speaking on the basis of the best information available at the time.

Although he rose through the ranks of the CIA's analytical wing, Brennan also worked on the agency's operational, spying side, and at one point served as the agency's chief of station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Said to be conversant in Arabic, Brennan played a hands-on role in Obama's Yemen policy, which was aimed at easing President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office while ensuring counterterrorism cooperation stayed on track. He traveled to Sanaa several times.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee that will hold a hearing on the nomination, said Brennan would make a "strong and positive director" of the CIA. In a statement, the California Democrat said that she would discuss with Brennan CIA detention and interrogation operations.

DEFENDER OF DRONES

In April 2012, Brennan publicly defended the U.S. campaign of lethal drone strikes as legal under international law. It was a rare public justification for classified operations that government officials infrequently discuss in public and that the CIA does not officially acknowledge.

In June 2011, Brennan alluded to drone strikes more opaquely, saying that over the prior year "not a single collateral death" had resulted from counterterrorism operations that were "exceptionally precise and surgical." Rights groups challenged the assertion that no civilians died during that period as a result of drone strikes.

The earlier comment came three months before a CIA drone killed Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an American born member of al Qaeda, in Yemen. Another drone strike killed his 16-year-old U.S.-born son.

U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have been a source of tension with the United States. One national security official familiar with Brennan's White House record said he is expected to favor aggressively moving forward with drone operations, even at the expense of offending Pakistani sensibilities.

The CIA and the U.S. military in recent years have been working more closely together, as in the bin Laden operation, which was run by the CIA but executed by the SEALs.

"Everybody looks at the CIA as insular, as sometimes difficult to establish relationships with, and so the degree to which the director can be one of the key forces for reaching out and breaking down those walls is really helpful," retired General Stanley McChrystal said in an interview with Reuters. "I think he can certainly be one of those types of leaders."

(Additional reporting By David Alexander and Patricia Zengerle.; Editing by Warren Strobel and Christopher Wilson)

Front Line Defenders Human Rights Defender at Risk Award Finalist: Rafiq...

Malawian human rights defender Rafiq Hazat short listed for 2012 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk

Rafiq Hajat, Director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), is one of the leading human rights defenders in Malawi where the Government has been seeking to repress protests and silence all critical voices.


Rafiq Hajat has been publicly acccused by President Bingu wa Mutharika of being an enemy of the state and he has been forced to go into hiding. However, in spite of the threats against him he has continued to speak out about human rights violations in Malawi.

On 3 September 2011, at 1 am approximately, a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of the IPI office in the Chichiri area of Blantyre, following which the front room of the building caught fire resulting in extensive damage.

Once considered a country where civil society could express itself freely, Malawi has descended into a spiral of authoritarianism in recent years. The situation deteriorated further in early 2011 when civil society reacted to corruption scandals and high commodity prices with demands for reform and good governance. The Government, mindful of events in North Africa, reacted with force. The authorities made statements inciting violence against human rights defenders and civil society leaders. The President repeatedly called on supporters to fight all those opposing his views or criticising the Government, stating he would “smoke them out”. In reaction to demonstrations, local authorities banned protests in the main cities. Mass protests on 20 and 21 July were violently suppressed by the police and resulted in the death of 19 protesters and injuries to hundreds. The day before, members of the ruling party took to the streets waving machetes, threatening members of the public not to participate in the demonstrations.

Rafiq Hajat, is one of the leading figures of the civil society coalition behind the pro-reform protests and convenor of the Southern Region Demonstration Group. IPI is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-religious and non-governmental institution which was formed in 2001 to promote enhanced participation by all Malawians in the processes of political, economic, and social decision-making at all levels, within a fully participatory democratic framework. At the international level, Rafiq Hajat is Chair for the International Alliance on Natural Resources in Africa, a network that is advocating for justice in the use and extraction of Africa`s natural resources and has helped steer the development of the network to a level whereby it is recognised by the AU, NEPAD and the African Commission.

As a result of the threats he has faced Rafiq Hajat has been forced to constantly change where he is staying in order to evade Government supporters who are reported to be seeking him. Virtually all HRDs involved in the pro-reform movement have received serious threats, including phone calls to family members asking for the location of the offices or homes of their HRD relative. This situation has placed great stress on Rafiq Hajat's family as well as on his health, exacerbating his existing heart condition.

On 25 August, the President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika had publicly stated that he was ready 'for war' with his critics. Human rights defenders in Malawi believe that such hostile statements by government representatives have incited government supporters to target civil society and human rights defenders. Reacting to media queries on the IPI petrol bombing, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's spokesperson Hetherwick Ntaba reportedly stated that the Government had received information which led them to believe that NGOs were deliberately burning down their offices in order to destroy evidence of misuse of funding.

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The Front Line Defenders Award

THE NOMINATION PROCESS FOR THE NINTH FRONT LINE DEFENDERS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AT RISK IS NOW OPEN...

Front Line Defenders is currently accepting nominations for the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk 2013.

The annual Front Line Defenders Award was established in 2005 to honour the work of a human rights defender who, through non-violent work, is courageously making an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk to themselves.

The Award seeks to focus international attention on the human rights defender's work, thus contributing to the recipient’s personal security, and a cash prize of €15,000 is awarded to the Award recipient and his/her organisation in an effort to support the continuation of this important work.

If you would like to nominate a human rights defender for the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk 2013, please click on the following link to access a secure online nomination form (in English):

Online Nomination Form 2013 or you can found the online nomination form at : http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/front-line-award-human-rights-defenders-risk

Please note:

• Incomplete nominations will not be considered.

• Nominations can be submitted by organisations or individuals.

• Individual nominees may not play a prominent role in a political party and must be currently active in human rights work (the Front Line Defenders Award is not intended to recognise a historical or posthumous contribution).

• Nominees should be active human rights defenders, and must not be living in exile.

• Self-nomination is not permitted. 

• All nominations must be accompanied by 2 referees.

• The nomination process will remain open until midnight (12am GMT) on Sunday, 20th January 2013.

Recipients to date include the following human rights defenders:

2012 - Razan Ghazzawi, Syria

2011 - Joint Mobile Group, Russian Federation

2010 - Soraya Rahim Sobhrang, Afghanistan

2009 - Yuri Melini, Guatemala

2008 - Anwar Al-Bunni, Syria

2007 - Gégé Katana, Democratic Republic of Congo

2006 - Ahmadjan Madmarov, Uzbekistan

2005 - Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Sudan