{"id":19544,"date":"2009-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/18-juillet-2009\/"},"modified":"2009-07-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-18T00:00:00","slug":"18-juillet-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/18-juillet-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"18 juillet 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><html><head><meta content=\"text\/html\" description=\"Le comit\u00e9 a appris par les familles de prisonniers que l\u2019\u00e9tat de \n\t\t\t\tsant\u00e9 d\u2019Adnane Hajji qui est toujours atteint d\u2019hypertension et \n\t\t\t\tde c\u00e9phal\u00e9es, et celui de B\u00e9chir Labidi qui a une jambe enfl\u00e9e \n\t\t\t\tdepuis des semaines, ainsi que celui de Ta\u00efeb Ben Othmane, dont \n\t\t\t\tla baisse de l\u2019acuit\u00e9 visuelle est exacerb\u00e9e du fait de \n\t\t\t\tl\u2019absence de traitement m\u00e9dicamenteux, incitent \u00e0 l\u2019inqui\u00e9tude. \n\t\t\t\tLe comit\u00e9 national de soutien aux populations du bassin minier \n\t\t\t\texige de l\u2019administration des prisons le respect des lois du \n\t\t\t\tpays, des conventions internationales, en qui concerne le \n\t\t\t\ttraitement des prisonniers et leur acc\u00e8s aux soins. \" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\/><\/head><body><body><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" dir=\"ltr\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tunisnews.net\/\"><span>Home<\/span><span lang=\"FR-CH\"> &#8211; Accuei<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"FR-CH\">l<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\">\n<div><font size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\"><font face=\"Arial\"><\/font><\/p>\n<div>\n<div onclick=\"return Control.invoke('ReadingPane', '_onBodyClick', event);\">\n<div>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\">.<\/div>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\">\n<div>\u00a0<meta content=\"Microsoft SafeHTML\"\/><\/p>\n<style>.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.EC_hmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;}<\/style>\n<div><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div align=\"center\"><font size=\"7\"><strong>TUNISNEWS <\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\" dir=\"ltr\"><font><\/p>\n<div><font size=\"2\"><strong>9\u00a0\u00e8me ann\u00e9e, <span lang=\"FR\">N\u00b0\u00a03343 du 18.07.2009<\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><span><font size=\"2\"><strong><font>\u00a0archives<\/font> : <\/strong><\/font><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><font size=\"2\"><strong>www.tunisnews.net<\/strong><\/font><\/a><\/span><font>\u00a0<\/font>\u00a0 <\/div>\n<div><font><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><\/font><font size=\"3\"><\/font><\/div>\n<p><font face=\"Arial\"><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<p><font>Comit\u00e9 National de Soutien aux Populations du Bassin Minier: Information <font>Es Sabil On Line: Cinq personnes d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s devant le juge d\u2019instruction en vertu de l\u2019article 19 de la loi \u00ab antiterroriste \u00bb<\/font> The Public Record: Obama Plans \u2018Rendition\u2019 Of Tunisians In Guantanamo To Italian Jail <font>The Daily Star: Was Hillary sensible, or just deceitful?<\/font> AFP: Mauritanie: deux salafistes arr\u00eat\u00e9s, \u00abprobablement\u00bb les assassins d&rsquo;un Am\u00e9ricain <font>AFP: La Mauritanie \u00e9lit son pr\u00e9sident, l&rsquo;ex-chef de la junte \u00ab\u00a0s\u00fbr\u00a0\u00bb de gagner<\/font> Sud Ouest.com: Le putsch mauritanien se solde par une \u00e9lection <font>AP: People around world do good for Mandela&rsquo;s birthday<\/font> AFP: Iran daily slams Rafsanjani querying poll result<\/font><\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/font><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<hr\/>\n<p> \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div align=\"center\"><font face=\"Arial\"><strong><font size=\"2\">Comit\u00e9 National de Soutien aux Populations du Bassin Minier: <\/font><\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><font size=\"3\"><strong>Information<\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\">Le 16 juillet 2009 Le comit\u00e9 a appris par les familles de prisonniers que l\u2019\u00e9tat de sant\u00e9 d\u2019Adnane Hajji qui est toujours atteint d\u2019hypertension et de c\u00e9phal\u00e9es, et celui de B\u00e9chir Labidi qui a une jambe enfl\u00e9e depuis des semaines, ainsi que celui de Ta\u00efeb Ben Othmane, dont la baisse de l\u2019acuit\u00e9 visuelle est exacerb\u00e9e du fait de l\u2019absence de traitement m\u00e9dicamenteux, incitent \u00e0 l\u2019inqui\u00e9tude. Le comit\u00e9 national de soutien aux populations du bassin minier exige de l\u2019administration des prisons le respect des lois du pays, des conventions internationales, en qui concerne le traitement des prisonniers et leur acc\u00e8s aux soins.  Comit\u00e9 National de Soutien aux Populations du Bassin Minier <font><strong>(Source : Tunisnews du 16 juillet) <\/strong><\/font><font>(traduction ni revue ni corrig\u00e9e par les auteurs de la version en arabe, LT)<\/font> \u00a0<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<hr\/>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"> <strong><font>Es Sabil On Line, <\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\">Tunis Hier, jeudi 16 juillet, Hassam Ben Kilani Lakhal, Azzouz Ben Moncef Ben Salah, Mohammed Ali Ben Ta\u00efeb Harbach, Abdallah Ben Abdessalam Dachman et Karim ben Hamda Khelifa ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s devant le dixi\u00e8me juge d\u2019instruction de Tunis, pour \u00ab r\u00e9union et collecte de dons \u00bb. Les d\u00e9tenus sont \u00e0 la prison de Mornaguia dans la capitale depuis le 13 juillet 2009. Ils ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s en vertu de l\u2019article 19 de la loi \u00ab antiterroriste \u00bb de l\u2019ann\u00e9e 2003, de sinistre r\u00e9putation, et dont le contenu : <em>\u00ab Est puni de cinq \u00e0 douze ans d\u2019emprisonnement et d\u2019une amende de cinq mille \u00e0 cinquante mille dinars quiconque fournit ou collecte, par quelque moyen que ce soit, directement ou indirectement, des biens dont il conna\u00eet qu\u2019ils sont destin\u00e9s \u00e0 financer des personnes, organisations ou activit\u00e9s en rapport avec des infractions terroristes, et ce, ind\u00e9pendamment de l\u2019origine licite ou illicite des biens fournis ou collect\u00e9s \u00bb <\/em>Ils ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s sur la base du proc\u00e8s verbal n\u00b01203 : le d\u00e9tenu Hassam Lakhal a r\u00e9uni la somme de 150 dinars, pour lesquels il a particip\u00e9 \u00e0 hauteur de 65 dinars, Abdallah Dachman,60 dinars, Karim Khelifa 5 dinars et Mohammed Ali Harbach 20 dinars. La somme a \u00e9t\u00e9 revers\u00e9e en totalit\u00e9 au d\u00e9tenu Azzouz Ben Salah qui l\u2019a fait parvenir \u00e0 la m\u00e8re du prisonnier Karim Ben Kilani Hichri. Les quatre d\u00e9tenus (Hassam Ben Kilani Lakhal, Mohammed Ali Ben Ta\u00efeb Harbach, Abdallah Ben Abdessalam Dachman et Karim Ben Hamda Khelifa) n\u2019ont aucune relation et ne connaissent pas le prisonnier Karim Hichri ou sa famille. Ils ont fait dont de cette somme modique, mus par des consid\u00e9rants religieux et sociaux \u00e0 l\u2019exclusion de toute autre motivation. Quant \u00e0 Azzouz Ben Salah, il a remis \u00e0 la pauvre m\u00e8re la somme en question par sympathie apr\u00e8s que cette derni\u00e8re lui e\u00fbt fait part de son besoin d\u2019argent pour rendre visite \u00e0 son ami \u00ab du quartier \u00bb incarc\u00e9r\u00e9, Karim Hichri. Lors de la pr\u00e9sentation de ce groupe au dixi\u00e8me juge d\u2019instruction, Ma\u00eetre Im\u00e8ne Triki s\u2019est pr\u00e9sent\u00e9s et elle a exprim\u00e9 son \u00e9tonnement de voir d\u00e9f\u00e9rer des jeunes qui avaient apport\u00e9 un modeste soutien financier \u00e0 une femme pauvre et bless\u00e9e et qu\u2019ils avaient \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s en vertu de l\u2019article 19 de la loi sur le \u00ab terrorisme \u00bb qui punit de cinq \u00e0 douze ans d\u2019emprisonnement quiconque finance des organisations ou des activit\u00e9s en rapport\u00a0 avec les infractions terroristes et qui ne s\u2019applique pas dans l\u2019affaire en question. Elle a d\u00e9nonc\u00e9 le pr\u00e9sentation de ses clients sur cette base, consid\u00e9rant que l\u2019un deux qui avait donn\u00e9 cinq dinars pour aider une pauvre femme qui ne pouvait plus rendre visite \u00e0 son fils depuis longtemps relevait de la n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 et non de l\u2019infraction, elle a r\u00e9affirm\u00e9 que la solidarit\u00e9 sociale n\u2019\u00e9tait pas punie par la loi et a esp\u00e9r\u00e9 que le juge examine cette affaire avec \u00e9quit\u00e9 et non d\u2019un point de vue strictement s\u00e9curitaire.  De notre correspondant \u00e0 Tunis, Zouha\u00efer Makhlouf <strong><font>(source : Es Sabil On Line du 17 juillet 2009)<\/font><\/strong> <font>Traduction ni revue ni corrig\u00e9e par les auteurs de la version en arabe, LT)<\/font><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>\n<hr\/>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2 align=\"center\" class=\"EC_singlePageTitle\" style=\"color: red;\">\n<h2 style=\"color: red;\"><font size=\"3\"><font>\u00a0<\/font>Obama Plans \u2018Rendition\u2019 Of Tunisians In Guantanamo To Italian Jail<\/font><\/h2>\n<\/h2>\n<p><b>By<a href=\"http:\/\/pubrecord.org\/author\/andyworthington\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Posts by Andy Worthington\">Andy Worthington<\/a> <\/b> The Public Record Jul 17th, 2009<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p align=\"justify\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pubrecord.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Obama-and-Berlusconi.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a>On Wednesday, the British Muslim support group<a href=\"http:\/\/www.helptheprisoners.org\/index.php?alertid=64&amp;cat=alerts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Help The Prisoners<\/a> stated that it had \u201creceived notification from an inmate at Macomer prison\u201d \u2014 an Italian high-security prison on the island of Sardinia \u2014 that \u201cthree Tunisian inmates from Guant\u00e1namo Bay will be transferred there.\u201d This is disturbing news, because, as Help The Prisoners note, \u201cMacomer has been dubbed \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cageprisoners.com\/articles.php?id=29576\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Italy\u2019s Guant\u00e1namo<\/a>\u2019 by inmates and independent human rights organizations who have been campaigning for change at the prison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In<a href=\"http:\/\/www.helptheprisoners.org\/index.php?alertid=63&amp;cat=alerts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">16 letters received<\/a> by Help The Prisoners, those held at Macomer allege that they have been subjected to ill-treatment including \u201cbeatings, abuse of their religious items, denial of medical treatment, [and] sexual humiliation.\u201d<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cageprisoners.com\/articles.php?id=29750\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Another recently received letter<\/a> adds further disturbing details, and it is, therefore, no surprise that Help The Prisoners has stated that it intends to \u201cfile a UN submission to the Special Rapporteur on Torture on the detainees\u2019 behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><strong>Why Italy\u2019s Offer is a \u201cRendition\u201d Proposal <\/strong> However, the news is not entirely unexpected. Since June 15, when<a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/world\/europe\/8102267.stm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">President Obama announced<\/a>, following talks with Silvio Berlusconi in Washington, \u201cThis is not just talk, Italy has agreed to accept three specific detainees,\u201d the Italian press has explained that Berlusconi\u2019s unexpected reversal of his previous opposition to accepting cleared prisoners from Guant\u00e1namo was only agreed on the basis that the Italian government would take prisoners who would subsequently be imprisoned in Italy on the basis of criminal proceedings pending against them.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">According to a translation of an article in <em>La Repubblica<\/em> that was sent to me, the US informally asked the Italian government in April to take six or seven prisoners from Guant\u00e1namo, and in the weeks that followed the Department of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice compiled a list of Guant\u00e1namo prisoners who had criminal proceedings pending against them in Italy.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Sources in the United States and Italy, with knowledge of the cases, explained that the Italian government subsequently whittled the list down to three specific Tunisian prisoners \u2014 Adel Ben Mabrouk, Abdul Ourgy and Riyad Nasseri \u2014 on the basis that all three men would be transferred from Guant\u00e1namo to Italian jails, and it was suggested that Roberto Maroni, the Minister of the Interior (and a member of Italy\u2019s notoriously right-wing Northern League), only approved their transfer when he received reassurances that they would not be set free. This was confirmed in an article in the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/2009\/0617\/p06s17-woeu.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Christian Science Monitor<\/em><\/a>, in which reporter Anna Momigliano wrote that Maroni, whose party was bluntly described as \u201coppos[ing] the presence of Muslim immigrants\u201d in Italy, stated, \u201cI oppose taking [the prisoners] in, as long as we are not sure they will be kept behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><em>La Repubblica<\/em> added that the prisoners would not receive \u201ccredit\u201d for their seven years in Guant\u00e1namo, and noted that, in 2007, the Milanese Public Prosecutor\u2019s office had requested extradition of two of the men, but the Ministry of Justice refused to forward the extradition request to the US government because Guant\u00e1namo was \u201cnot US territory.\u201d As a result, it is understood that the US government\u2019s transfer of the men to Italian custody will not involve extraditing them, but rather expelling them, and the Italian government can therefore treat them not as prisoners who have already served a jail sentence, but as fugitives who are obliged to serve a full term.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">As a source in the United States explained, this novel approach to disposing of prisoners in Guant\u00e1namo is actually a form of \u201crendition,\u201d and, moreover, is particularly disturbing for two reasons: firstly, because the men in question were approved for transfer from Guant\u00e1namo (to the custody of their home governments, or to a third country willing to take them) by a military review board at Guant\u00e1namo under the Bush administration, which only happened because the military concluded that they no longer represented a threat to the United States; and secondly because, as they currently stand, the Italian proposals may actually be worse than what would await the men if they were returned to Tunisia.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><strong>Human rights abuses in Tunisia and Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">To put this in perspective, it needs to be borne in mind that the men were not sent back to Tunisia from Guant\u00e1namo because of well-documented problems with repatriation arrangements negotiated between the US and Tunisian governments. In June 2007, two Tunisians cleared for release from Guant\u00e1namo \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2007\/12\/01\/out-of-guantanamo-and-into-the-fire-conviction-of-ex-detainee-in-tunisia-casts-doubts-on-us-motives\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Abdullah bin Omar<\/a> and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2007\/10\/30\/im-innocent-says-guantanamo-detainee-lofti-lagha-sentenced-to-three-years-imprisonment-in-tunisia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lotfi Lagha<\/a> \u2014 were repatriated on the basis of a \u201cdiplomatic assurance\u201d between the two governments, which purported to guarantee that they would be treated humanely. On their return, however, both men complained that they were threatened in Tunisian custody, and they were subsequently sentenced to seven and three years in prison, after trials that human rights observers condemned as \u201cshow trials.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">As a result, when the US government attempted to repatriate a third Tunisian,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2007\/10\/11\/judge-prevents-tunisians-return-to-torture-from-guantanamo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mohammed Abdul Rahman<\/a>, in October 2007, a District Court judge, Gladys Kessler, intervened to prevent his return, ruling that he \u201ccannot be sent to Tunisia because he could suffer \u2018irreparable harm\u2019 that the US courts would be powerless to reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">At the time of writing, questions remain about the alleged crimes committed by the three Tunisians in Italy, and what rights \u2014 if any \u2014 the Italian government plans to give them to appeal the supposed evidence against them. According to various<a href=\"http:\/\/temporeale.libero.it\/libero\/news\/2009-06-16_116396017.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Italian media reports<\/a>, the arrest warrants issued in 2007 for Riad Nasseri (also identified as Riadh Nasri) and Adel Ben Mabrouk (identified as Moez Fezzani) were \u201cfor conspiracy to commit a crime, encouraging illegal immigration and a number of crimes linked to terrorism,\u201d including involvement in the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), a splinter group of Algeria\u2019s notorious Armed Islamic Group (GIA), and that Ourgy (identified as Abdul bin Mohammed bin Ourgy) was \u201csuspected of having had links in Milan with people who sought volunteers to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan with Islamic insurgents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">This is a source of concern not only because of long-standing claims that the Italian authorities have, in common with most Western countries, taken the lead from the US since the 9\/11 attacks in overreacting to perceived terrorist threats, implementing punitive detention policies and, in June 2008, returning a Tunisian, Sami Ben Khemais Essid, to his home country, \u201cdespite a request by the European Court of Human Rights to suspend any measure to transfer Essid to Tunisia pending their review of his case\u201d (as<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/en\/news\/2008\/06\/08\/letter-italian-government-regarding-expulsion-sami-ben-khemais-essid\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Human Rights Watch<\/a> explained), but also because of the CIA\u2019s notorious involvement, in February 2003, in<a href=\"http:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2008\/03\/exclusive-i-was-kidnapped-cia?page=2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the kidnap and \u201cextraordinary rendition\u201d of Abu Omar<\/a>. The Egyptian-born cleric was seized from a Milan street in broad daylight and rendered to Egypt, where<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/v29\/n15\/foot02_.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he was tortured<\/a>, before finally being released from custody in 2007, and many observers believe that such an operation would have been inconceivable without the close cooperation of the Italian government.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><strong>Who are the three Tunisians?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In Guant\u00e1namo, little information has surfaced publicly regarding the activities of the three Tunisians in Italy, or, for that matter, providing firm evidence of their activities in Afghanistan. Adel Ben Mabrouk, who was 31 years old when he was seized crossing from Afghanistan into Pakistan, worked in restaurants in Naples and Rome, and as a barber in Milan,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2008\/06\/23\/italys-forgotten-residents-in-guantanamo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to his lawyers<\/a>, and explained that he traveled to Afghanistan in early 2001, \u201cbecause I became a Muslim when I was in Europe. My country was very tough on the Muslims. Afghanistan was a country where they were willing to take anybody, you don\u2019t need any money to live there, and they welcome all the Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In Guant\u00e1namo, he denied an allegation that he was part of a terrorist network in Italy, and that he \u201cpossibly\u201d falsified passports \u201cfor fleeing al-Qaeda combatants who make it to Europe\u201d (that use of the word \u201cpossibly\u201d generally indicating that even the US military regarded the allegation as unreliable). He also refuted allegations that he was an \u201cextremist\u201d in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the civil war, and, to prove it, showed the tribunal the visa stamps in his passport, which he requested as evidence. The information about his purported activities in the former Yugoslavia was apparently provided by the Tunisian government, which had sentenced him <em>in absentia<\/em> to 20 years in prison for allegedly being a member of a terrorist organization operating abroad.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Abdul Ourgy, who was 36 years old when seized crossing the Pakistani border, admitted being a drug dealer in Italy from 1991 to 1995, but stressed, \u201cI am not an Islamic fanatic.\u201d After stating that he was encouraged to clean up his life by a man he met in Milan, \u201cwho taught him how to pray, gave him money\u201d and encouraged him to go to a training camp in Afghanistan, which, as he described it, was run by veterans of the campaign against the Russians, who had nothing whatsoever to do with al-Qaeda, he explained that he traveled to Afghanistan in 1997, and married an Afghan woman in 2000.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Explaining the circumstances in which he was seized, he said that, after the fall of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, when Arabs were being killed by the Northern Alliance and by other Afghans, his brother-in-law took his wife to safety in Pakistan, but he stayed behind to pack up the household goods and then volunteered to go through the mountains to Pakistan. \u201cI couldn\u2019t go through the main road because I am an Arab,\u201d he said. \u201cThat way, when he [the brother-in-law] entered Pakistan with all these household goods there would be no problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">A number of the allegations against Abdul Ourgy came from \u201ca senior al-Qaeda lieutenant,\u201d and are, therefore, extremely dubious, as they were probably extracted from one of the \u201chigh-value detainees\u2019 \u2014 including<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2007\/07\/14\/guantanamos-tangled-web-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-majid-khan-dubious-us-convictions-and-a-dying-man\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Khalid Sheikh Mohammed<\/a> and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/04\/24\/who-authorized-the-torture-of-abu-zubaydah\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Abu Zubaydah<\/a> \u2014 who were<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/04\/21\/ten-terrible-truths-about-the-cia-torture-memos-part-one\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tortured in secret CIA prisons<\/a>. According to this source, Ourgy \u201cmay have travelled\u201d to Tora Bora with the Emir of the Tunisian Combatant Group and fought with al-Qaeda in Tora Bora, and was also \u201cidentified as Adel al-Tunesi, an explosives expert for al-Qaeda.\u201d It was also alleged that he was responsible for the finances of the Tunisian Combatant Group (a group opposed to the dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which was added to the US State Department\u2019s \u201cTerrorist Exclusion List\u201d in October 2002), and, most alarmingly \u2014 for an allegation that was presented without any supporting evidence \u2014 it was suggested that he was involved in the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance, who was killed, reportedly by al-Qaeda agents, just two days before the 9\/11 attacks.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In the hearing at Guant\u00e1namo for the last of the three, Riyad Nasseri, who was 35 years old when he was seized (also crossing from Afghanistan to Pakistan), it was alleged that he was \u201ccondemned\u201d in Italy for forging money, and that he \u201chad a warrant order issued for terrorism-related crimes and subversion\u201d (which sounds like a direct translation of a document provided by the Italian authorities \u2014 or perhaps nothing more a newspaper report). It was also alleged that he fought in Bosnia (an allegation that may have been provided by the Tunisian government, because it was also stated that, <em>in absentia<\/em>, he had been given a ten-year sentence in Tunisia for being a member of a terrorist organization operating abroad), and that he \u201cled a band of thieves in Italy and Spain who cooperated with Algerian terrorists,\u201d although there was no indication of where this rather fantastical-sounding allegation came from.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In a plethora of other unsubstantiated allegations, it was also claimed that he was a member of the Tunisian Islamic Front (another Tunisian opposition group, but one that has not been proscribed by the US government), that he was involved in establishing the Tunisian Combat Group, and that he was a member of the GIA. It was also alleged that he was \u201cidentified by a senior al-Qaeda lieutenant as having trained at the Khaldan camp [run by<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/06\/18\/world-exclusive-new-revelations-about-the-torture-of-ibn-al-shaykh-al-libi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi<\/a>, and not connected to al-Qaeda] and that he eventually took over as the Emir of the Tunisian Group in Afghanistan,\u201d which may indicate that either al-Libi (the CIA\u2019s most famous \u201cghost prisoner,\u201d who<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/05\/10\/ibn-al-shaykh-al-libi-has-died-in-a-libyan-prison\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recently died in a Libyan prison<\/a>) or Abu Zubaydah (the gatekeeper of the camp, and the CIA\u2019s most well-known torture victim, along with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) may have made that particular allegation. As with Abdul Ourgy, it was also alleged that he was in Tora Bora, and, specifically, that he fled from Jalalabad to the Tora Bora region after the area fell to the Northern Alliance, that he was injured during the US bombing, and that he and others subsequently \u201carranged their surrender.\u201d Nasseri refused to take part in his hearing, but in the \u201cSummary of Evidence\u201d against him, it was noted that he refuted all the allegations against him.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><strong>Obama, beware!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Where this leaves the men is, at present, unknown, but the rumors from Macomer, and the comments attributed to Roberto Maroni, the Minister of the Interior, indicate that transferring them to Italy without firm assurances that they will receive a fair trial on their arrival may indeed be no better than returning them to Tunisia, and, as a result, President Obama needs to think carefully before risking another Guant\u00e1namo-related scandal to add to those that have already damaged his first six months in office \u2014 including his<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/05\/31\/free-the-guantanamo-uighurs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">failure to act on behalf of the Uighurs<\/a>, and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/05\/14\/judge-condemns-mosaic-of-guantanamo-intelligence-and-unreliable-witnesses\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the feeble cases<\/a> put forward before judges in the habeas corpus hearings, which, most recently, led to humiliation in the case of<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/06\/24\/why-did-it-take-so-long-to-order-the-release-from-guantanamo-of-an-al-qaeda-torture-victim\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Abdul Rahim al-Ginco<\/a>, a Syrian who was allegedly involved with al-Qaeda, even though he had been tortured by al-Qaeda as a spy.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><em>Andy Worthington is the author of<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/the-guantanamo-files\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Guant\u00e1namo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America\u2019s Illegal Prison<\/a> (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon \u2014 click on the following for the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Guantanamo-Files-Stories-Detainees-Americas\/dp\/0745326641\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US<\/a> and the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Guantanamo-Files-Stories-Detainees-Americas\/dp\/0745326641\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UK<\/a>). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/feed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RSS feed<\/a>, and also see my<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyworthington.co.uk\/2009\/03\/03\/guantanamo-the-definitive-prisoner-list\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">definitive Guant\u00e1namo prisoner list<\/a>, published in March 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><em>As published exclusively on<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cageprisoners.com\/articles.php?id=29808\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cageprisoners<\/a>.<\/em> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><font><strong>(Source : The Public Record Jul 17th, 2009)<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pubrecord.org\/world\/2391\/obama-plans\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><font>http:\/\/pubrecord.org\/world\/2391\/obama-plans\/<\/font><\/a> \u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><font><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<p align=\"center\"><b><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The Daily Star:<\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/span><span><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><strong>Was Hillary sensible, or just deceitful?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><strong>By Rami G. Khouri <\/strong><\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> <span><span><strong>Daily Star staff<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/span><\/span><strong><span><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Saturday, July 18, 2009<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><font>US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton\u2019s speech on Wednesday outlining the underlying principles of American foreign policy was realistic and refreshing. We will see in the coming years if it actually affects the conduct of foreign policy, or was merely a nice rhetorical flourish and an exercise in diplomatic double-speak and illusion. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Most of what Clinton said was sensible and predictable, revolving around the main theme that the United States would not try to play balance-of-power politics around the world, but rather would try to build a \u201cmulti-partner world\u201d in which governments and private groups work collectively on common global problems or threats. If translated into policy, this gesture by the Obama administration could be historic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><font>Two aspects of the speech and its official mindset seem significant, one clear and the other not: The clear one was Clinton\u2019s acknowledgment that governments alone cannot address global challenges; unclear is whether the United States understands that its own exercise of power around the world in an erratic manner is in fact one of the threats and problems that many people have experienced in recent years. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><font>The US building partnerships with other power centers around the world is an excellent idea. Critical here is Clinton\u2019s admission that power is no longer concentrated in the hands of central governments. She said, correctly, I believe: \u201cNo nation can meet the world\u2019s challenges alone. The issues are too complex. Too many players are competing for influence: from rising powers to corporations to criminal cartels; from NGOs to Al-Qaeda; from state-controlled media to individuals using Twitter.\u201d<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><font>The single most useful thing that she and her colleagues can do for starters is to recognize how power is exercised by multiple groups within many countries, and how the fragmentation and diffusion of power reflect a parallel multiplicity of legitimate authorities within single countries. The Arab world, Turkey and Iran in the last generation offer excellent examples of this. In the 1970s, central governments controlled almost every aspect of power inside a country, such as military and police forces, the economy, mass media and religious systems. However, the dominant central government forces of the 1970s have changed considerably in some countries \u2013 Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine \u2013 while others see central governments retaining their powers and controls, but at the cost of more tension and underground or exiled opposition movements, as in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Algeria. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Let\u2019s take Tunisia as an example. It is one country that captures the dilemma for the US most precisely. The opposition forces of the past three decades, including labor movements, leftists, Islamists, Arab nationalists and democrats, have all been driven into silence, abroad, into jail or underground by harsh repression that accepts no serious democratic challenges to its total control. If the US is serious about dealing with the range of powers in society, it should engage Tunisian private groups, NGOs and opposition movements in serious discussions about what they seek and how they imagine a future Tunisia. Yet, one reason that Tunisia suffers strains is because its repressive autocracy has been heavily supported by the US and other Western powers \u2013 along with the professional courtesy shown by fellow Arab autocrats. So, if the US plans to puts its admirable policy statement into practice \u2013 and I hope that it does \u2013 it will have to address these two contradictory issues: It should engage with all legitimate opposition forces in a country like Tunisia, while recognizing that American support for the central government is one major reason for the perpetuation of Arab autocracies and the expansion of opposition movements and non-state actors.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><font>The Obama administration has assigned itself a monumental but important and long overdue task: to redefine the balance of its interactions with a range of official institutions as well as other movements or forces in different societies. This is inherently destabilizing. In the past, when Washington had to choose between supporting Middle Eastern and Asian autocrats and accepting their possible removal by their own people, it chose supporting the autocrats. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><font>Societies in the Middle East will evolve according to their own priorities, needs and speeds, but the one legitimate role for the US and other external powers is, for starters, simply to meet with all forces and exchange views. When the US truly seeks to operate on the basis of a \u201cmulti-partner\u201d world and expand its contacts and partnerships beyond governments, this will surely help bring about changes to the status quo in many countries. This is preferable to perpetual intellectual repression, political stagnation, and national dysfunction in many sectors. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><font>Hilary Clinton has articulated exciting new parameters for American foreign policy, and presumably she understands the full implications of her speech. We will find out soon if her actions follow suit, or if this is merely another round of junk diplomacy. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Rami G. Khouri<\/span><\/i><\/strong><em><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> is published twice-weekly by <\/span><\/em><strong><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\">THE DAILY STAR<\/span><\/i><\/strong><em><span lang=\"EN-GB\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><b><span lang=\"FR\">(Source: \u00ab\u00a0The Daily Star\u00a0\u00bb (Publi\u00e9 deux fois par semaine- Liban) le 18 juil. 09)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"FR\"><strong>Lien: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/article.asp?edition_id=1&amp;categ_id=5&amp;article_id=104324\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span><strong>http:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/article.asp?edition_id=1&amp;categ_id=5&amp;article_id=104324<\/strong><\/span><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\u00a0<font><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"color: red;\"><font size=\"3\">La Mauritanie \u00e9lit son pr\u00e9sident, l&rsquo;ex-chef de la junte \u00ab\u00a0s\u00fbr\u00a0\u00bb de gagner<\/font><\/h2>\n<p><\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\"> 18\/07\/09\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0 AFP\u00a0  Les Mauritaniens votaient samedi en grand nombre et dans le calme pour \u00e9lire leur pr\u00e9sident parmi neuf candidats, dont le meneur du coup d&rsquo;Etat du 6 ao\u00fbt 2008, le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, qui a affirm\u00e9 \u00eatre \u00ab\u00a0s\u00fbr\u00a0\u00bb d&rsquo;\u00eatre \u00e9lu d\u00e8s \u00ab\u00a0le premier tour\u00a0\u00bb. Mais le colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, lui-m\u00eame ancien chef d&rsquo;une junte (2005-2007) et candidat \u00e0 la pr\u00e9sidentielle, a d\u00e9nonc\u00e9 de son c\u00f4t\u00e9 de \u00ab\u00a0vastes op\u00e9rations de fraude\u00a0\u00bb. Il s&rsquo;agit de la seule personnalit\u00e9 \u00e0 avoir pour l&rsquo;instant \u00e9voqu\u00e9 des irr\u00e9gularit\u00e9s graves lors du scrutin. Plus de 1,2 million d&rsquo;\u00e9lecteurs sont appel\u00e9s aux urnes dans ce pays en grande partie d\u00e9sertique et vaste comme deux fois la France. Les bureaux ont ouvert \u00e0 07H00 (locale et GMT) et doivent fermer \u00e0 19H00. Quelque 320 observateurs internationaux, notamment de l&rsquo;Union africaine (UA), de la Francophonie et de la Ligue arabe, sont d\u00e9ploy\u00e9s. Ce scrutin crucial et relativement ouvert doit mettre un terme \u00e0 la grave crise cons\u00e9cutive au renversement du premier pr\u00e9sident d\u00e9mocratiquement \u00e9lu du pays, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, qui ne se repr\u00e9sente pas. De longues files d&rsquo;attente, avec les hommes d&rsquo;un c\u00f4t\u00e9 et les femmes de l&rsquo;autre, se sont rapidement form\u00e9es devant les bureaux de vote de la capitale, ce qui pourrait augurer d&rsquo;une participation \u00e9lev\u00e9e. Le meneur du coup d&rsquo;Etat du 6 ao\u00fbt 2008, le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Ould Abdel Aziz, consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme un des grands favoris, s&rsquo;est pour sa part montr\u00e9 tr\u00e8s confiant. \u00ab\u00a0Je suis s\u00fbr, nous passerons au premier tour. Ce sera la victoire de toute la Mauritanie, du peuple mauritanien\u00a0\u00bb, a-t-il d\u00e9clar\u00e9 \u00e0 la presse, peu apr\u00e8s avoir vot\u00e9, pr\u00e8s du palais pr\u00e9sidentiel. Le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Ould Abdel Aziz et son principal concurrent, Ahmed Ould Daddah, chef du plus important parti d&rsquo;opposition, ont r\u00e9p\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 plusieurs reprises pendant la campagne leur conviction d&rsquo;\u00eatre \u00e9lu d\u00e8s le premier tour. Mais de nombreux observateurs estiment qu&rsquo;au vu du nombre de candidats (neuf), un deuxi\u00e8me tour, pr\u00e9vu le 1er ao\u00fbt, est probable. De son c\u00f4t\u00e9, le colonel Vall, et cousin du g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Aziz, a d\u00e9nonc\u00e9 de \u00ab\u00a0vastes op\u00e9rations de fraude, aussi bien \u00e0 l&rsquo;int\u00e9rieur (du pays) qu&rsquo;\u00e0 Nouakchott\u00a0\u00bb. \u00ab\u00a0Il y a eu achats de conscience (vote), de cartes d&rsquo;\u00e9lecteurs et d&rsquo;autres documents de vote. Des villages entiers ont \u00e9t\u00e9 cibl\u00e9s par la +pression de l&rsquo;argent+ pour les amener \u00e0 voter pour tel ou tel candidat. Ceci est tr\u00e8s grave\u00a0\u00bb, a-t-il ajout\u00e9, apr\u00e8s avoir vot\u00e9 \u00e0 Nouakchott. L&rsquo;opposant Ould Daddah n&rsquo;a pas \u00e9voqu\u00e9 de fraudes en cours mais est revenu sur les d\u00e9clarations de l&rsquo;ex-chef de la junte. \u00ab\u00a0Si quelqu&rsquo;un pourrait pr\u00e9tendre \u00eatre \u00e9lu au 1er tour, ce serait bien moi, mais je me refuse de le dire. Je laisse le dernier mot au peuple, j&rsquo;attends les r\u00e9sultats avec confiance\u00a0\u00bb, a-t-il d\u00e9clar\u00e9, apr\u00e8s avoir vot\u00e9. \u00ab\u00a0Aziz sait bien qu&rsquo;il ne sera pas \u00e9lu, peut-\u00eatre fera-t-il un nouveau coup d&rsquo;Etat?\u00a0\u00bb, a-t-il encore demand\u00e9. Comme de nombreux habitants, le pr\u00e9sident de l&rsquo;Assembl\u00e9e nationale et candidat du Front national pour la d\u00e9fense de la d\u00e9mocratie (FNDD, anti-putsch) Messaoud Ould Boulkheir a souhait\u00e9 que le pays tourne la page des coups d&rsquo;Etat pour s&rsquo;engager dans une \u00ab\u00a0une nouvelle voie de d\u00e9mocratie\u00a0\u00bb. Aucun incident n&rsquo;a \u00e9t\u00e9 signal\u00e9 mais vendredi soir un \u00e9change de tirs a eu lieu \u00e0 Nouakchott entre des policiers et deux combattants islamistes. \u00ab\u00a0Fort probablement, il pourrait s&rsquo;agir des m\u00eames personnes ayant tu\u00e9 l&rsquo;Am\u00e9ricain\u00a0\u00bb, selon une source polici\u00e8re. L&rsquo;assassinat le 23 juin dans ce m\u00eame quartier de Ksar du ressortissant am\u00e9ricain Christopher Leggett, 48 ans, avait \u00e9t\u00e9 revendiqu\u00e9 par Al-Qa\u00efda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi). Par Hademine Ould SADI \u00a0<\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<div align=\"center\"><strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"color: red;\"><font size=\"3\">Mauritanie: deux salafistes arr\u00eat\u00e9s, \u00abprobablement\u00bb les assassins d&rsquo;un Am\u00e9ricain<\/font><\/h2>\n<p><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\"> Publi\u00e9 le 18 juillet 2009 Agence France-Presse Nouakchott Deux combattants islamistes arr\u00eat\u00e9s vendredi soir \u00e0 Nouakchott, apr\u00e8s une fusillade avec la police, sont \u00abfort probablement\u00bb ceux qui ont assassin\u00e9 le 23 juin un ressortissant am\u00e9ricain dans la capitale mauritanienne, a-t-on appris samedi de source polici\u00e8re. \u00abFort probablement, il pourrait s&rsquo;agir des m\u00eames personnes ayant tu\u00e9 l&rsquo;Am\u00e9ricain\u00bb, a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 cette source s&rsquo;exprimant sous couvert de l&rsquo;anonymat. Il a ajout\u00e9 qu&rsquo;il s&rsquo;agissait de \u00abjeunes salafistes\u00bb. L&rsquo;assassinat de l&rsquo;Am\u00e9ricain avait \u00e9t\u00e9 revendiqu\u00e9 par Al-Qa\u00efda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi).Un \u00e9change de tirs a eu lieu vendredi soir entre des policiers et \u00abdes hommes en armes\u00bb, quelques heures avant l&rsquo;ouverture des bureaux de vote pour l&rsquo;\u00e9lection pr\u00e9sidentielle de samedi. L&rsquo;un des deux jeunes Mauritaniens arr\u00eat\u00e9s portait, selon le responsable policier, \u00abune ceinture d&rsquo;explosifs qu&rsquo;il n&rsquo;a pas actionn\u00e9. La police l&rsquo;a neutralis\u00e9 (&#8230;) et a r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 enlever la ceinture, tard dans la nuit\u00bb, a-t-il pr\u00e9cis\u00e9. Bless\u00e9, le salafiste a \u00e9t\u00e9 transport\u00e9 \u00e0 l&rsquo;h\u00f4pital militaire de Nouakchott. Des t\u00e9moins avaient fait \u00e9tat vendredi d&rsquo;un troisi\u00e8me homme, qui aurait r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 prendre la fuite \u00e0 bord d&rsquo;un v\u00e9hicule. Mais cette information n&rsquo;a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 confirm\u00e9e de source polici\u00e8re. Dans ce m\u00eame quartier de Ksar, le 23 juin, un ressortissant am\u00e9ricain, Christopher Leggett, 48 ans, qui r\u00e9sidait dans le pays depuis plusieurs ann\u00e9es, avait \u00e9t\u00e9 tu\u00e9 en plein jour de plusieurs balles dans la t\u00eate devant l&rsquo;\u00e9tablissement d&rsquo;enseignement qu&rsquo;il dirigeait. La Mauritanie est la cible de plusieurs attaques revendiqu\u00e9es par la branche maghr\u00e9bine d&rsquo;Al-Qa\u00efda. Fin 2007, quatre touristes Fran\u00e7ais, avaient \u00e9t\u00e9 tu\u00e9s \u00e0 Aleg (250 km \u00e0 l&rsquo;est de la capitale). Trois jeunes Mauritaniens proches d&rsquo;Aqmi sont actuellement d\u00e9tenus et en instance de jugement. Des militaires mauritaniens ont \u00e9galement \u00e9t\u00e9 tu\u00e9s dans trois attaques revendiqu\u00e9es par Al-Qa\u00efda \u00e0 Lemgheity (nord-est) en 2005, \u00e0 Alghallaouiya (centre-nord) en 2007 puis \u00e0 Tourine (extr\u00eame nord) en 2008. Aqmi est essentiellement implant\u00e9e en Alg\u00e9rie mais a \u00e9tendu depuis pr\u00e8s de trois ans ses op\u00e9rations dans le Sahel, depuis deux ans en Mauritanie et depuis quelques semaines au Mali. AFP\/ 2009 \u00a0 <\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<div align=\"center\"> <strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"color: red;\"><font size=\"3\">Le putsch mauritanien se solde par une \u00e9lection<\/font><\/h2>\n<p><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\"> \u00a0NOUAKCHOTT. Le retrait volontaire du pr\u00e9sident d\u00e9pos\u00e9 par l&rsquo;arm\u00e9e en ao\u00fbt 2008 permettra-t-il le retour \u00e0 la case d\u00e9mocratie ? Rien n&rsquo;est moins s\u00fbr De bout en bout, la campagne \u00e9lectorale en Mauritanie, qui s&rsquo;est achev\u00e9e jeudi, a baign\u00e9 dans un climat malsain, augurant mal de l&rsquo;avenir de cette ex-colonie fran\u00e7aise du Sahara atlantique, malgr\u00e9 un retour bienvenu \u00e0 la case \u00ab \u00e9lections \u00bb. C&rsquo;est aujourd&rsquo;hui que les 3 millions de Mauritaniens votent, \u00e0 l&rsquo;occasion d&rsquo;un nouveau scrutin pr\u00e9sidentiel voulu par la communaut\u00e9 internationale pour mettre un terme \u00e0 la longue crise ouverte par le dernier coup d&rsquo;\u00c9tat perp\u00e9tr\u00e9 \u00e0 Nouakchott le 6 ao\u00fbt dernier.  Pr\u00e9sident d\u00e9chu  Ce jour-l\u00e0, soutenue par une majorit\u00e9 de d\u00e9put\u00e9s, l&rsquo;arm\u00e9e avait \u00e9cart\u00e9 Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, le premier pr\u00e9sident \u00e9lu d\u00e9mocratiquement dans ce pays, o\u00f9 le pouvoir n&rsquo;a quasiment jamais \u00e9t\u00e9 transmis pacifiquement. Au pouvoir depuis moins de quinze mois, M. Abdallahi venait de limoger les principaux g\u00e9n\u00e9raux, les soup\u00e7onnant de tirer les ficelles d&rsquo;une fronde parlementaire.  Aujourd&rsquo;hui retir\u00e9 de la vie politique, le pr\u00e9sident d\u00e9chu ne se pr\u00e9sente pas \u00e0 ce scrutin. Au terme d&rsquo;un compromis avec les putschistes, obtenu gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 la m\u00e9diation du S\u00e9n\u00e9gal, il avait \u00e9t\u00e9 provisoirement r\u00e9tabli dans ses fonctions, le temps de charger un gouvernement d&rsquo;union nationale de pr\u00e9parer une nouvelle \u00e9lection.  La joute \u00e9lectorale a h\u00e9las \u00e9t\u00e9 entach\u00e9e par les accusations, les menaces et les insultes, au d\u00e9triment du d\u00e9bat politique. Pourtant, chacun des quatre favoris &#8211; parmi neuf candidats en lice &#8211; avait son projet et son programme.  Quatre candidats en t\u00eate  Se pr\u00e9sentant comme \u00ab candidat des pauvres \u00bb, le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, 53 ans, passe pour le candidat de Paris &#8211; il a re\u00e7u le soutien visible de Raymond Bourgi, \u00e9minence grise de Nicolas Sarkozy pour l&rsquo;Afrique. Il dit vouloir en finir avec les \u00ab moufsidines \u00bb, ces pr\u00e9varicateurs qui, selon lui, depuis l&rsquo;ind\u00e9pendance en 1960, pillent les richesses du pays et maintiennent le gros de la population dans la mis\u00e8re.  Chef de file des opposants de la premi\u00e8re heure au dernier putsch, Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, 66 ans, pr\u00e9sident de l&rsquo;Assembl\u00e9e nationale, veut \u00ab r\u00e9tablir la d\u00e9mocratie \u00bb. Ce fils d&rsquo;esclave, longtemps diabolis\u00e9 par le pouvoir pour son combat pour l&rsquo;\u00e9galit\u00e9 sociale, mais activement soutenu par plusieurs personnalit\u00e9s influentes, veut aussi \u00ab renforcer l&rsquo;unit\u00e9 nationale et assurer une plus grande \u00e9galit\u00e9 entre les communaut\u00e9s \u00bb de ce pays charni\u00e8re entre Maghreb et Afrique noire.  Figure embl\u00e9matique de l&rsquo;opposition d\u00e9mocratique et v\u00e9t\u00e9ran des pr\u00e9sidentielles en Mauritanie, le social-d\u00e9mocrate Ahmed Ould Daddah, 68 ans, ambitionne de faire de la Mauritanie \u00ab un \u00c9tat de droit moderne \u00e0 l&rsquo;\u00e9conomie bien g\u00e9r\u00e9e et aux richesses mieux r\u00e9parties \u00bb.  Enfin, l&rsquo;ex-chef de l&rsquo;\u00c9tat, le colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, 58 ans, qu&rsquo;appuient certains notables, milieux d&rsquo;affaires et puissances \u00e9trang\u00e8res, est entr\u00e9 en course pour, dit-il, \u00ab remettre sur les rails le processus d\u00e9mocratique et en finir avec les coups d&rsquo;\u00c9tat en revenant \u00e0 l&rsquo;esprit du 3 ao\u00fbt \u00bb. Une allusion au coup qui, en 2005, l&rsquo;avait port\u00e9 au pouvoir, avant de le quitter au terme d&rsquo;une transition politique salu\u00e9e dans le monde entier.  Vers un duel fratricide ?  Patron depuis vingt ans des services de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 du tr\u00e8s controvers\u00e9 Maaouiya Ould Taya, le colonel Vall avait alors b\u00e9n\u00e9fici\u00e9 de l&rsquo;appui d\u00e9cisif des unit\u00e9s d&rsquo;\u00e9lite de la garde pr\u00e9sidentielle, dont le chef n&rsquo;\u00e9tait autre que&#8230; le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Aziz.  La probabilit\u00e9 d&rsquo;un second tour \u00e9tant forte, selon les analystes, les deux militaires en seront-ils les protagonistes ? Ce duel fratricide passionnera forc\u00e9ment les Mauritaniens. Car les deux officiers sont aussi cousins germains. Auteur : Lemine Ould M&rsquo;Salem \u00e0 Nouakchott \u00a0 <font><strong>(Source: \u00ab\u00a0SUDOUEST.COM\u00a0\u00bb\u00a0 le 18 juil. 09) Lein: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sudouest.com\/accueil\/actualite\/article\/652890\/mil\/4883145.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>http:\/\/www.sudouest.com\/accueil\/actualite\/article\/652890\/mil\/4883145.html<\/strong><\/a><\/font><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\"><strong><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\"><font><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"color: red;\"><font size=\"3\">People around world do good for Mandela&rsquo;s birthday<\/font><\/h2>\n<p><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\"> By MICHELLE THERIAULT (AP) \u2013 18 Jul. 09 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa \u2014 Nelson Mandela&rsquo;s fans celebrated the anti-apartheid icon&rsquo;s 91st birthday Saturday by emulating him with good deeds, reading to the blind, distributing blankets to the homeless or refurbishing homes for AIDS orphans. Mandela had called on people to spend time doing good Saturday, the first Mandela Day, which his charity foundations hope will be an annual event. South Africans collected clothing for poor children, painted schools, planted trees near Mandela&rsquo;s boyhood home in eastern South Africa, and renovated a building in downtown Johannesburg for people left homeless by a fire. Mandela stepped down after serving one term as president \u2014 the first black South African to hold the post. Since 1999, he has devoted himself to such causes as fighting AIDS and poverty and championing the rights of children. At a Mandela Day concert in New York on Saturday, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin and others are to perform for the benefit of Mandela&rsquo;s AIDS foundation. Mandela Day organizers encouraged people around the world to devote at least a minute for each of the 67 years Mandela campaigned against apartheid to community service. In Soweto, Thembekile \u00ab\u00a0Prisca\u00a0\u00bb Tshabalala invited community members to play with disabled children at her year-old Nkanyezi Stimulation park, a cheery playground with seesaws and swings designed to accommodate children in wheelchairs. More than 50 parents, volunteers and children were there, among them Khumo Bojanyane, who owns a construction company. \u00ab\u00a0We were motivated by the man himself,\u00a0\u00bb said Bojanyane. \u00ab\u00a0We&rsquo;re so encouraged by his life, by his selflessness and sacrifices.\u00a0\u00bb A group of American tourists visiting a nearby museum in a home where Mandela once lived was moved to make a $300 donation to the Nkanyezi park. \u00ab\u00a0This is a very inspiring and moving, and happy birthday to Nelson Mandela,\u00a0\u00bb said one of the group, Mark Rosenberg of New York. The center is named after Tshabalala&rsquo;s son Nkanyezi, who was born with cerebral palsy and died at the age of 11. \u00ab\u00a0I think my son would be very proud to see all the people here today,\u00a0\u00bb she said. The regular volunteers at a Johannesburg animal shelter called CLAW sang \u00ab\u00a0Happy Birthday\u00a0\u00bb for Mandela before getting to work Saturday. Children from poor communities volunteer to care for and walk the dogs at CLAW&rsquo;s shelter, and adults donate time to help the children with their school work. \u00ab\u00a0I think volunteering 67 minutes should be a start, but it should really be more of a way of life,\u00a0\u00bb said Cora Bailey, who runs CLAW. \u00ab\u00a0That&rsquo;s the only way we are going to go forward.\u00a0\u00bb Many of the projects celebrating Mandela Day in South Africa underlined how much work remains to be done in a country proud of ending apartheid peacefully, but plagued by poverty, stubborn inequalities, and AIDS \u2014 some 5.2 million South Africans were living with HIV last year \u2014 more than in any other country in the world. President Jacob Zuma, the current leader of Mandela&rsquo;s African National Congress party, paid a birthday visit to Mandela at his home in Johannesburg. Zuma was joined by party leaders and Mandela&rsquo;s family, including wife Graca Machel and former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, as well as former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and former Tanzanian President Hassan Mwinyi, according to a statement from the ANC. Mandela blew out the candles on his cake, which was decorated in the black, green and gold colors of the ANC. Zuma then went to a poor neighborhood in the city to visit with elderly South Africans at a lunch organized for Mandela Day. In a speech televised live on national television from the lunch, Zuma lauded elderly citizens caring for grandchildren orphaned by AIDS and the charity groups that help them and other vulnerable South Africans. Zuma said Mandela taught the nation \u00ab\u00a0reconciliation and forgiveness and we learned from him that you achieve personal freedom and inner peace if you release hatred and bitterness from your heart.\u00a0\u00bb Helen Zille, leader of the ANC&rsquo;s main opponent, the Democratic Alliance, served at a soup kitchen in Cape Town. \u00ab\u00a0Former President Mandela dedicated his life to bettering the lives of all South Africans reflecting true leadership,\u00a0\u00bb Zille&rsquo;s party said in a statement. \u00ab\u00a0We will honor him by continuously striving to do the same.\u00a0\u00bb In recent years, an increasingly frail Mandela has largely retired from public life and stressed that if his legacy is to live, others must take up his causes. His Mandela Foundation, which houses some of his archives and supports community building projects, has switched from a logo featuring his face to one featuring his hands, reflecting his desire to shift the focus from himself to the work ahead. \u00ab\u00a0It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it,\u00a0\u00bb Mandela said in a message endorsing Mandela Day. \u00ab\u00a0Our struggle for freedom and justice was a collective effort. Mandela Day is no different.\u00a0\u00bb \u00a02009 The Associated Press \u00a0<\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<div align=\"center\"> <strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"color: red;\"><font size=\"3\">Iran daily slams Rafsanjani querying poll result<\/font><\/h2>\n<p><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"justify\"> (AFP) \u2013 18 Jul. 09 TEHRAN \u2014 A leading hardline Iranian newspaper slammed ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Saturday for casting doubt on the outcome of last month&rsquo;s presidential election a month after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed it. The Kayhan daily, whose editor is appointed by Khamenei, accused Rafsanjani of backing lawbreaking through his implicit support for the demonstrators who have clashed repeatedly with riot police and militiamen since the June 12 vote. \u00ab\u00a0Mr. Rafsanjani says a great number of people cast doubt on the election. But he doesn&rsquo;t say why,\u00a0\u00bb the newspaper said. \u00ab\u00a0If people have a suspicion, it is about&#8230; what&rsquo;s behind the riots,\u00a0\u00bb it added, in an allusion to accusations by regime hardliners that foreign hands have been behind the wave of protests that saw thousands take to the streets again on Friday after Rafsanjani&rsquo;s sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers. Kayhan accused the former president of \u00ab\u00a0repeating illogical and baseless claims\u00a0\u00bb of fraud in the official election results which saw hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned to power for a second four-year term. Rafsanjani had told worshippers: \u00ab\u00a0A large group of&#8230; people in the country say they have doubts\u00a0\u00bb about the election result. \u00ab\u00a0We should work to address these doubts.\u00a0\u00bb With reformist Mohammad Khatami, Rafsanjani is one of two former presidents who supported Ahmadinejad&rsquo;s main challenger, moderate former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, in the election. Mousavi, who was at Tehran university to hear Rafsanjani&rsquo;s sermon, has described the vote as a \u00ab\u00a0shameful fraud.\u00a0\u00bb Rafsanjani&rsquo;s continued questioning of the election outcome weeks after the supreme leader endorsed it in a sermon at the same Tehran prayers on June 19 was a mark of the huge rift opened up within the Islamic regime. But Kayhan took issue with the former president&rsquo;s description of the situation as a \u00ab\u00a0crisis.\u00a0\u00bb \u00ab\u00a0Mr Hashemi knows what crisis means&#8230; but plot is the best word to describe the current situation,\u00a0\u00bb the paper said. Rafsanjani, who remains powerful as the head of Iran&rsquo;s main political arbitration body and the chairman of the council which oversees the work of the supreme leader, had called in his sermon for all sides to forge a consensus on how to resolve the \u00ab\u00a0crisis\u00a0\u00bb over the election. \u00ab\u00a0If we can provide a consensus, then this sermon will be the beginning of a change in the future. We will leave behind this problem which we can say is a crisis,\u00a0\u00bb he said. But a prominent cleric who is a member of the electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, which upheld the poll result, rebuked Rafsanjani for his focus on popular legitimacy. \u00ab\u00a0The legitimacy of the government is given by God,\u00a0\u00bb the ISNA news agency quoted Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi as saying. \u00ab\u00a0Acceptance by the people doesn&rsquo;t bring legitimacy to (an Islamic) government. Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani ignored this important Islamic point and talked in both parts of his sermon yesterday as if governments are assigned only by the people.\u00a0\u00bb Thousands of supporters of Ahmadinejad&rsquo;s defeated challengers defied a ban on unauthorised public gatherings to demonstrate around Tehran University after Rafsanjani&rsquo;s sermon. They were confronted by riot police and militia, who detained several people, including leading lawyer and women&rsquo;s rights campaigner, Shadi Sadr, witnesses said. Foreign media were banned from covering the prayers, something that Rafsanjani took issue with in his sermon. Kayhan accused Rafsanjani of backing the protests, which regime hardliners say have left at least 20 people dead and many scores wounded. The former president \u00ab\u00a0openly backed lawbreakers,\u00a0\u00bb the newspaper charged. \u00ab\u00a0He should have condemned the killing of innocent people, the looting of their belongings and the arson against public property. But he did not.\u00a0\u00bb \u00a02009 AFP.<\/div>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/font><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p align=\"center\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<h2 style=\"color: red;\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><strong><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tunisnews.net\/\"><font face=\"Arial\"><span><font size=\"2\">Home<\/font><\/span><font size=\"2\"><span lang=\"FR-CH\"> &#8211; Accueil <\/span><span>&#8211; <\/span><\/font><\/font><span dir=\"rtl\" lang=\"AR-SA\"><font size=\"2\">\u0627\u0644\u0631\u0626\u064a\u0633\u064a\u0629<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/b><\/strong><\/font><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/body><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home &#8211; Accueil . \u00a0 TUNISNEWS 9\u00a0\u00e8me ann\u00e9e, N\u00b0\u00a03343 du 18.07.2009 \u00a0archives : www.tunisnews.net\u00a0\u00a0 Comit\u00e9 National de Soutien aux Populations du Bassin Minier: Information Es Sabil On Line: Cinq personnes d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s devant le juge d\u2019instruction en vertu de l\u2019article 19 de la loi \u00ab antiterroriste \u00bb The Public Record: Obama Plans \u2018Rendition\u2019 Of Tunisians In 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