Banner Advertise

Friday, October 2, 2009

[chottala.com] An education & training yahoo groups

Dear All,

This is an education and training related yahoo groups. You are most welcome to join.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skills-training


Ziaur Rahman
infoiitm@yahoo.com
ziaiitm@gmail.com
IITM
www.iitmbd.org
Dhaka

------------------------------------

[* Moderator's Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chottala/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chottala/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:chottala-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:chottala-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
chottala-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[chottala.com] Israel releases Palestinian women



News Middle East
Israel releases Palestinian women

Some of the 19 prisoners released today have not seen their children in over two years [AFP]

Nineteen female Palestinian detainees have been released from an Israeli prison in return for a videotape of a soldier captured by Gaza fighters in June 2006.

A 20th female prisoner will be released, probably next week, the office of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said.

Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from the occupied West Bank, said those freed on Friday were handed over to the Red Cross after their release from the Hasharon prison.

Eighteen of the prisoners were released to the West Bank, and the other, Fatima al-Zeeq with her 18-month-old baby, was returned to Gaza.

"Today is like a huge party," said Nisrin Hamdan, 26, as she waited outside Ofer military camp with several of her children, all wearing T-shirts bearing a picture of their 60-year-old mother, held for assisting a suicide bomber.

"My mother has been absent for seven years and today we will have her in our home."

Also among those awaiting their loved ones was Nawal Hossein, 37, an aunt of a 22-year-old prisoner who was serving a 20-month sentence for plotting to become a suicide bomber.

Deal plea

Odeh said the one-minute video received in the exchange by Israeli officials was seen as proof of life for its captured soldier, Gilad Shalit.

In depth

 Video: Final Shalit deal uncertain 
 Video: Jubilation for freed women
 Video: Prisoner release for Shalit tape

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said the recording had been viewed by Shalit's family and they gave authority for it to be released. It was later aired on Israeli TV.

In the video, Shalit is shown pointing to the date on a newspaper - September 14 2009 - confirming who he is and giving his ID number.

"I read the newspaper with the goal of finding ... any information about my release and return home soon," Shalit said on the recording.

"I hope that the current government led by Binyamin Netanyahu will not waste now the opportunity to reach a deal, as a result of which I will be finally able to fulfil my dream and be released."

Breakthrough

The exchange deal marks a breakthrough in nearly three years of Egyptian-brokered negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the soldier. German mediators joined the talks in July.

"In the eyes of the Palestinian people this is a significant public relations victory.
It supports those that make the point that through armed resistance Palestinians can achieve tangible results, Al Jazeera's correspondent said.

Shalit was captured by Gaza-based fighters in a raid on an Israeli base in 2006 [AFP]
"By taking military measures ... they can then negotiate the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners who to some extent have not been released through the peace process.

"For the Israelis there will be a scene of confidence that indeed the Israeli government is committed to securing the release of this Israeli soldier. But at what price it is not known."

Shalit was seized by fighters from Hamas and allied groups during a raid on an Israeli border base in 2006.

Until Friday, the only signs of life from Shalit have been several letters and an audio recording. Only one of the letters - written three months after his capture - has been released, just last month. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross to visit the soldier.

Hamas is demanding that Israel release hundreds of prisoners, many of whom are serving lengthy sentences for attacks on Israelis, in exchange for the soldier.

Speaking at the release of the prisoners, Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, said: "Today is a great day for our nation. Many martyrs are not here with us now, but their legacy is not lost, and today the Palestinians celebrate the price of their sacrifices.

"Today's deal will be called the deal of our liberated prisoners. We would also like to remember the 11,000 prisoners still in Israeli jails."

Re-assimilation process

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Ramallah said there were great scenes of celebration there but that it will be extremely difficult for the women to adjust.

"Experts say they will need a long process of therapy and re-assimilation, not just to the new circumstances but to living without limitation [of life in prison], " she said.

"We have been hearing a lot of reports about mistreatment of these women. Human rights activists and experts in dealing with victims of torture have told us they intend to speak to these ladies and see if they need help.

"The fear is that most, if not all of them, will need some sort of expert help before they make the adjustment.

Currently, more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners remain behind Israeli bars. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas all insist there can be no peace deal with Israel before all these prisoners are freed. 

 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
 
Related
Israel in deal for 'Shalit video'
(30 Sep 2009)


__._,_.___


[* Moderator's Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

Re: [chottala.com] A victim of U.S. torture : Free Aafia Siddiqui By Sara Flounders New York



Dear All
 
The article 
"A victim of U.S. torture - Free Aafia Siddiqui"
 is written by  By Ms Sara Flounders who is a New Yorker.
And there are obviously good reasons that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
is getting world wide coverage ....and has become
a  cause de célèbre to many ....
 
Aafia Siddiqui is a graduate of  the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis
University. She is a deeply devout Muslim, who had been
supportive of Muslim charities in Boston that benefitted many 
Bangladeshi immigrants in Massachusetts too.
 
Everyone one wants that Dr. Aafia Siqqiqui gets a fair trial
As Ms Sara Flounders contends:
"This is a Guantánamo case outside of Guantánamo. ...
Dr. Siddiqui has been treated worse than the detainees at Guantánamo  ...
 
 ... We are confident that the evidence in this case will show that
Dr. Siddiqui harmed no one. To the contrary, this 90-pound mother of
three was shot and wounded herself, the alleged circumstances of which
are not supported by evidence. Dr. Siddiqui harmed no one.
She is innocent of these charges."  This is a case that must be taken up
in full solidarity by the entire progressive movement, including the women's
movement, the movement for immigrant rights and the broad movement
against U.S. racism and war."
 
The Aafia Siddique's detention exposes an ugly facet of USA's
imperial outreach vis-a-vis Pakistani intelligences heavy handedness.
 
I do not think that there any reason for a Bangladeshi for getting
impatient or personally annoyed that   "Aafia Siddiqui getting a big coverage"
Readers who do not like Dr. Aafia Siddique's prominance or think that
the "alleged torture" on her is justified should ignore the posts on her or
present his/her points of view in regards to the post
within the context. 
I believe that free discussions are always welcome in our
Chottala forum !!!!!
 
 
Syed Aslam
 
 
  • Pakistani Tortured, Her Attorney Says - washingtonpost.com

    Aafia Siddiqui, who had disappeared for five years, is accused of trying to ... Lawyer Elizabeth Fink told a federal judge in New York that Aafia Siddiqui, ...
    www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/.../AR2008090402245.html - Similar
  • Aafia Siddiqui News - The New York Times

    News about Aafia Siddiqui. Commentary and archival information about Aafia Siddiqui from The New York Times.
    topics.nytimes.com/topics/.../s/aafia_siddiqui/index.html - Cached - Similar

  •  
    On 10/1/09, <siraj uddowllah <siraj_58@hotmail.com>  wrote:
     

    Dear All,

    For years together we are seeing in this chottala group about a Pakistani lady Dr. Aafia Siddiqui getting a big coverage about her life history and torture in American detention. There are so many in American detentions up till now but why this lady is getting some special attention and sympathy. What interest our Bangladesh have about this Pakistani lady as she is getting so much big, time killing coverage in our chottala group regularly?
    Dowllah.

     Syed Aslam (Syed.Aslam3@gmail.com) wrote:
    A victim of U.S. torture

    Free Aafia Siddiqui

    By Sara Flounders
    New York
    Published Sep 13, 2009 10:13 PM
    Now that the documents recording the systematic torture of thousands of prisoners in secret U.S. prisons have been released to the world media in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's Aug. 24 report, the secret documents on the imprisonment and torture of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui must also be released.
    Days before Siddiqui, a woman weighing less than 90 pounds, was again forcibly brought into United States District Court in Manhattan on contradictory charges of trying to murder FBI agents in Afghanistan, these documents of what the FBI and CIA are really doing in Afghanistan and in secret prisons around the world were referenced in major news stories for all to read.
    Siddiqui has been held in secret detention since she was kidnapped in Pakistan at the age of 30. The now 36-year-old, U.S.-educated, Pakistani neuroscientist continues in court to say that she has been tortured. She has refused to accept visits even from appointed defense lawyers because the brutal and humiliating strip searches that she is subjected to are so personally and culturally degrading and excruciatingly painful.
    Siddiqui has wounds and scars from her sternum to her lower abdomen after being shot by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Her charges of being tortured for years are hardly groundless. These acts are documented again and again on every page of the newly-released documents.
    Tens of thousands of pages confirm in the most graphic details that CIA interrogators threatened to kill the children of detainees; threatened sexual assaults; threatened bound prisoners with guns and an electric drill; used water boarding against one prisoner 183 times; used shocking into unconsciousness, brutal strip searches, mock executions, confinement in a tiny box and continued slamming of the head.
    Holder announced on Aug. 29 the appointment of a special federal prosecutor to investigate the interrogation practices of the CIA. These new documents represent the largest release of information about the Bush administration's once-secret system of capturing terrorism suspects and interrogating them in undisclosed locations around the world.
    An ACLU lawsuit compelled the release of the CIA's own 2004 Inspector General's internal report on stomach-turning interrogations. These documents of "enhanced interrogation" tactics were heavily 'redacted' or censored with whole pages blocked out for "security reasons."
    This 2004 report shows that the CIA kept detailed observational records on thousands of prisoners and the impact of their torture techniques on the human psyche. They made systematic measurements of the prisoners' reactions to torture. From the censured documents it is clear that medical doctors and psychologists betrayed their professions by monitoring calibrated, incremental increases of torture to bring about excruciating pain, terror, humiliation and shame. The documents make it clear that all tortures were designed to create a systematic emotional and psychological breakdown in the interrogated prisoners.
    Held in secret prisons
    Aafia Siddiqui is a graduate of  the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University. She is a deeply devout Muslim, who had been supportive of Muslim charities in Boston. On March 30, 2003, during a trip home to Karachi to visit her mother, she was kidnapped and "disappeared," along with her three children.
    Human rights organizations had long demanded that U.S. and Pakistani intelligence agencies account for her disappearance. Human Rights Watch, a year before she was shot and flown to the U.S., considered her among those held at a "CIA black site"—a secret prison.
    U.S. officials denied any knowledge of her for five years. But as far back as April 2003, the Press Trust of India reported that she had been arrested in Karachi and was being questioned by the FBI. U.S. intelligence sources at that time confirmed that Siddiqui was "essentially in the hands of the FBI now."
    Siddiqui's family retained U.S. attorney Elaine Whitfield Sharp of Massachusetts to try to discover her location and to serve as their spokeswoman to the media. She had been filing cases seeking information in U.S. courts ever since Siddiqui's disappearance.
    Millions of people in Pakistan and throughout the Muslim world, along with many human rights groups, always believed that the U.S. government forces and the Inter Services Intelligence of Pakistan had captured and tortured her and were holding her in secret prisons in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Many believe that she was the prisoner described as the Grey Lady of Bagram Prison at the U.S. Air Base in Afghanistan. Prisoners released from secret detention at Bagram described hearing the continuing howls of a woman prisoner being repeatedly raped and tortured. According to The Daily Times of Pakistan, "The cries of this helpless woman echoed with such torment in the jail that it prompted prisoners to go on hunger strike." (July 7, 2008)
    A growing number of media in the region began reporting that Siddiqui had been in Bagram for the last five years, and calls for her release were escalating.
    Contradictory charges
    On Aug. 4, 2008, the U.S. government suddenly announced that Siddiqui had been arrested on July 17 and charged with attempted murder and assault of U.S. officers and employees. She was then flown to the U.S. in the custody of FBI agents.
    Attorney Sharp told the New York Times, "We believe Aafia has been in U.S. custody ever since she disappeared." (Aug. 5, 2008)
    In another interview with Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, she said: "We do know she was at Bagram for a long time. According to my client she was there for years and she was held in American custody; her treatment was horrendous." (www.asia-pacific-action.org, Aug. 7)
    A series of contrary reports claimed that U.S. soldiers, trying to take her from Afghan police who had arrested her in Ghazni, a city in central Afghanistan, had shot her after she managed to grab an M-4 rifle and shoot at two FBI agents. Neither agent was wounded.
    How this 90-pound prisoner surrounded by both U.S. soldiers and Afghan police accomplished this was never explained. Other reports were that she was shot in the abdomen because U.S. soldiers feared she was a suicide bomber.
    Neither the Afghan nor U.S. reports of how, when or even where Siddiqui was captured correspond with each other. The U.S. version claims she had maps of New York City targets in her handbag. Afghan officials claim the maps were of Afghan targets. What is known is that Siddiqui has been horribly brutalized and has been held in total isolation now for a year in U.S. prisons with terrible, life-threatening injuries.
    The case has generated outrage all over the Muslim world. Dr. Siddiqui has become a symbol of the thousands of those who have "disappeared" and been tortured by expanding U.S. wars in the region.
    Dr. Siddiqui has been brought into court in a wheelchair. This writer heard her tell the court again on Sept. 3, in her weak voice that she was tortured. She has been kept in extreme isolation and forced to listen to threats on the lives of her children. She was shown a picture of her son lying in a pool of his own blood.
    Siddiqui's 12-year-old son has recently been released to her family. Her 11-year-old daughter is still unaccounted for. It is believed that her youngest, an infant at the time of Siddiqui's disappearance, died in custody.
    Court hearings on Siddiqui's sanity ruled that she was fit to stand trial, although she was found to be delusional and depressed. U.S. attorney William Ruskin stated to the court that information about where she was for five years is "not relevant to these proceedings."
    Pakistan's parliament unanimously passed a resolution that demanded immediate information on the whereabouts of Siddiqui's three children and demanded her immediate repatriation to Pakistan. A parliamentary delegation came to visit her. Facing growing mass outrage in Pakistan, the government allocated $2 million for U.S. lawyers to aid in her defense.
    At a Sept. 3 court appearance, Siddiqui's trial date was set for Nov. 2. The courtroom was full of Pakistani and other Muslim supporters. Activists from the Pakistan USA Freedom Forum and other organizations have mobilized on days when Dr. Siddiqui is brought into court.
    In addition to Elaine Sharp, the lawyer hired by the family, the lawyers hired by the Pakistani government are Linda Moreno and Charles Swift. Another lawyer, Chad Hadgar, will assist the team, as will the court-appointed defense attorney, Dawn Cardi. Moreno was a lawyer for Dr. Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian unjustly imprisoned in the U.S.
    The legal team was appointed over Siddiqui's rejection of all lawyers. Linda Moreno said in a Sept. 3 press briefing that she felt that the legal team would have to earn Dr. Siddiqui's trust because: "After what she has been through she has no trust for the whole system. What has been done to Dr. Siddiqui is disgusting, degrading and humiliating. This is a Guantánamo case outside of Guantánamo. ... Dr. Siddiqui has been treated worse than the detainees at Guantánamo. ... We are confident that the evidence in this case will show that Dr. Siddiqui harmed no one. To the contrary, this 90-pound mother of three was shot and wounded herself, the alleged circumstances of which are not supported by evidence. Dr. Siddiqui harmed no one. She is innocent of these charges."
    This is a case that must be taken up in full solidarity by the entire progressive movement, including the women's movement, the movement for immigrant rights and the broad movement against U.S. racism and war.
    The demand for Siddiqui's freedom must be combined with the demand for the release of all the secret documents on Siddiqui's long imprisonment. The 130,000 pages of documents released by Holder confirm that the most detailed records were kept, with Nazi-like meticulousness, on the wrenching torture and racist abuse of countless prisoners held in U.S. secret prisons.
    The case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui exposes the whole sordid torturous role of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the widening war in Pakistan. Support for her freedom and return to her family in Pakistan is a basic demand for human rights and justice for a woman who has been horrendously abused.
    A rally to support Siddiqui is planned for Nov. 2 in front of U.S. District Court, 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan.


    Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

    Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
    Email:
    ww@workers.org
    Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
    Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php

    Judge agrees to lawyers' team for Aafia

    DAWN.com - ‎Sep 2, 2009‎
    By Our Correspondent NEW YORK: A US judge on Wednesday agreed to accept a five-member lawyers' team to defend Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui ...

    Aafia's lawyers to visit Pakistan

    DAWN.com - Masood Haider - ‎Sep 5, 2009‎
    NEW YORK: Two of the three new lawyers engaged by Pakistani government to defend Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist accused of ...

    .




    __._,_.___


    [* Moderator�s Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

    * Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]




    Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
    Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
    Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
    Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

    __,_._,___