Tag Archives: United States
20 September 2012
On Wednesday 19 September, an Italian judge convicted 23 US secret agents over the 2003 abduction of Egyptian imam Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street in an extraordinary rendition by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Abu Omar alleged that, after his seizure in Milan, he was taken to a US air force base in northeastern Italy, then flown to the US base in Ramstein, Germany, and on to Cairo. The operation was allegedly co-ordinated by the CIA and Italy’s military intelligence service. He was released after four years in prison without being charged, and currently lives in Egypt.
Source: New York Times | Italy Convicts 23 Americans for C.I.A. Renditions
Source: Al Jazeera | Italy convicts CIA rendition agents
12 September 2012
On 8 September 2012, the United States and Russia signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Antarctica and issued Joint Statements on Pursuing a Transboundary Area of Shared Beringian Heritage and on Enhancing Interregional Cooperation. The two countries already conduct some extensive and diverse scientific activities in Antarctica, and are among the original architects and signatories of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty.
Source: U.S. Department of State | U.S.-Russia Cooperation on Antarctica, Interregional Areas, and Beringia
10 September 2012
On 6 September 2012, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on torture and rendition to Libya during Gaddafi’s regime, entitled Delivered Into Enemy Hands: US-led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya.
The report is based on secret documents that were found after the fall of Tripoli, showing ‘a high level of cooperation between the Gaddafi government in Libya and US and the UK in the renditions discussed in the report.’
According to HRW, the documents and interviews ‘establish that, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US, with aid from the United Kingdom and countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, arrested and held without charge a number of LIFG [Libyan Islamic Fighting Group] members living outside Libya, and eventually rendered them to the Libyan government.’
Source: Human Rights Watch | US: Torture and Rendition to Gaddafi’s Libya
10 September 2012
The State Department of the United States (US) stated that Iraq is obliged under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions to require Iranian planes, which are suspected to be flying arms into Syria over Iraqi airspace, to land in Iraq so that the cargo can be examined.
Iranian flights over Iraqi airspace were suspended in March, after the US objected, but flights resumed in July. According to US intelligence, these flights were carrying military equipment and weapons. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki stated he was assured by Iran that these flights only carried humanitarian aid.
Source: New York Times | U.S. Presses Iraq on Iranian Planes Thought to Carry Arms to Syria
3 September 2012
According to prosecutors from the United States (US), there is evidence that Chinese banks may have disregarded the financial sanctions imposed on Iran. Chinese banks are suspected of moving large amounts of dollars on behalf of Iranian companies and banks. Last month, the US imposed sanctions against the ‘Bank of Kunlun’, because the bank ‘facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks.’
Source: New York Times | Prosecutors Link Money From China to Iran