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Author Links Homeless Man Arrested in Quincy, MA. TO Oklahoma City bombing

Author links man arrested in Quincy to the subject of her book on Oklahoma City bombing

John Doe Number Two

Quincy Police

Hussain Alhussaini,a 45-year-old homeless man, was arrested after allegedly striking another man in the face with a beer bottle, opening a large gash on the man’s cheek.

By Staff

The Patriot Ledger

It was a routine call for Quincy police about two homeless men fighting. Hussain Al-Hussaini was arrested. The victim was taken to the hospital.

Then came the surprise. Readers commenting on a story about Wednesday’s arrest on The Patriot Ledger’s website noted that a man with the same name was mentioned prominently in a book about the deadly bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

By Thursday afternoon, police had contacted the FBI and spoken to the book’s author.

Jayna Davis, author of the 2004 book “Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing,” said she asked a Quincy police detective if Hussain Al-Hussaini, the man police arrested, had a tattoo of an anchor with a snake wrapped around it. He did. Police sent her a photo of him.

“His age, his name, the picture, the mug shot – that’s him,” Davis told The Patriot Ledger via telephone after speaking with police. She said the anchor-and-snake tattoo was common among members of a branch of the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein.

An FBI spokesman in Boston, Greg Comcowich, said Thursday night that a man named Hussain Al-Hussaini was “thoroughly investigated” in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing and “was found to not have any role whatsoever in the attack on the Murrah Federal Building in 1995.”

Comcowich said the Hussain Al-Hussaini the FBI investigated had been seen with bomber Timothy McVeigh before the April 19, 1995, bombing, which killed 168 people.

“The investigation was closed and the FBI has no further interest in that individual,” he said.

Comcowich said he could not confirm whether the Hussain Al-Hussaini arrested in Quincy was the same Hussain Al-Hussaini investigated after the Murrah Building bombing.

The Al-Hussaini questioned by the FBI was never charged in connection with the bombing. McVeigh was executed for detonating the bomb in a truck he drove up to the federal building. Co-conspirator Terry Nichols is serving a lifetime prison sentence.

The Al-Hussaini investigated in the bombing sued Davis, a former television reporter, and Oklahoma station KFOR for a story that indirectly identified him as a potential bombing suspect dubbed “John Doe 2” by investigators. Al-Hussaini’s lawyer at the time claimed he was singled out because he was an Arab, according to a 2002 report in The Wall Street Journal.

Al-Hussaini claimed defamation, invasion of privacy and emotional distress. His suit was dismissed by a federal judge before trial after the defendants’ request for summary judgment. Al-Hussaini appealed the ruling but the decision was upheld.

Hussain Al-Hussaini, 45, was arrested around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday near 1250 Hancock St. and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Police allege he slashed another homeless man’s face with a beer bottle.

Police Detective James Lencki, who was working a construction detail nearby, spotted Al-Hussaini and arrested him after his description was broadcast.

He was arraigned in Quincy District Court later that morning, and held at the county jail in Dedham on $500 cash bail and an outstanding probation matter, said David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey.

Al-Hussaini was ordered to have no contact with the victim, a 37-year-old who was taken to Boston Medical Center, and to stay away from the Father Bill’s homeless shelter in Quincy.

The Al-Hussaini arrested in Quincy had been arrested in the city in 2007 on a narcotics charge and in 2009 for open and gross lewdness, Traub said.

Quincy police Capt. John Dougan said Al-Hussaini is known to police and was first arrested in Quincy in 1996 on a charge of driving without a license. He told police his native country is Iraq.

‘Returnees From Albania’ Case Report

‘Returnees From Albania’ Case Report Ends

Document Number: FBIS-NES-1999-0310
Document Type: Daily Report
Document Title: FBIS Translated Text
Document Region: Near East/South Asia
Document Date: 09 Mar 1999
Division: Arab Africa
Subdivision: Egypt
Sourceline: MM1003112499 London Al-Sharq al-Awsat in Arabic 9 Mar 99 p 10
AFS Number: MM1003112499
Citysource: London Al-Sharq al-Awsat
Language: Arabic
N/A
Subslug: Part four of a four-part report by Khalid Sharaf-al-Din from Cairo:
“Investigations Solve Mystery of Some Violent Incidents, Assassinations,
and Explosions in Egypt Over 12 Years. Defendants Justify Attacks on
Tourists as Pressure on the State. They Tell How They Watched the Houses
of Some Security Officials and Police Officers”

[FBIS Translated Text] One of the incidents attributed to defendant Husam
Nuwayr, who is now on trial in the Returnees from Albania case, was the
attack on the Egyptian National Bank 7 February 1994 in which defendant
Ahmad ‘Abd-al-Fattah Sayyid planted an explosive device in front of the
bank. Another incident was the 15 February 1994 attack on the
Alexandria-Kuwait Bank in which defendant Hasan Salih Mahmud planted an
explosive device in front of the bank as he had been instructed to do.
Other incidents included the attack on the International Commercial Bank
in al-Muhandisin 23 February 1994, the attack on the Mustafa Kamil Branch
of Misr Bank, the attack on the Egyptian-American Bank in al-Muhandisin,
and the attack on the Nile Office Tower in al-Jizah. All these attacks
were carried out on his instructions, and he personally provided the
weapons for them. The defendant’s response to all these charges was just
one word: No.
The State Security Prosecution Office’s investigator continued to
confront the defendant with the evidence. He leveled a number of charges
against him, some of them related to his ties before he fled from Egypt
with Tal’at Yasin Hammam, one of the fundamentalist organizations’
leaders who was later killed in a confrontation with the security forces.
Other charges related to his ties abroad, both with the Afghan and the
Balkan groups, in addition to his constant presence at the acts of
violence that Egypt witnessed throughout all these years. The most
notable of these acts were the attacks on banks and important
installations and the assassination of Maj. Gen. Ra’uf Khayrat, assistant
director of the Higher State Security Intelligence Service, who at the
time was in charge of monitoring the activities of the extremist
fundamentalist organizations. Nuwayr responded to all these accusations
with one single word: No.
The investigator recorded the following: As the defendant Ahmad Jabr was
in the Prosecution Office building to be questioned in the case, we
summoned him. When brought face to face with the defendant Husam Muhammad
Khamis Nuwayr, defendant Ahmad Jabr confirmed that he was the person he
knew as ‘Adil Anwar. Defendant Husam denied any connection with him. We
decided then to ask him the following:
[Question] What is your comment on defendant Ahmad Jabr’s confessions, his
recognition of you, and the details of your arrest?
[Answer] What happened was that at the end of April I was performing the
afternoon prayers at the Jamal-al-Din al-Afghani Mosque in Harun
al-Rashid Street in Heliopolis. When I left the mosque, I bought the
Al-Ahram al-Masa’i paper and began to read it. But I was arrested for no
reason that I knew of.
[Question] When and how did this happen?
[Answer] I do not remember exactly when this happened but it was in the Harun
al-Rashid Street in Heliopolis.
[Question] What was the reason for your presence there at that time?
[Answer] I was performing the afternoon prayers at the Jamal-al-Din
al-Afghani Mosque.
[Question] Who was with you at the time?
[Answer] I was alone.
[Question] What did you tell the person who arrested you?
[Answer] We did not talk.
[Question] What do you say about your admission in the record of your arrest
that you had in the past organizational and ideological links with
leading Islamic Group [IG] figures inside and outside the country?
[Answer] I heard about Safwat ‘Abd-al-Ghani because his name and photograph
were frequently in the papers because he was a defendant in the al-Mahjub
case who had escaped. His photograph was in the papers all the time. But
I know nothing about Mamduh ‘Ali Yusuf, ‘Izzat al-Salamuni, Usamah
Siddiq, or any of these names at all.
[Investigator] The record of your arrest also said that you had ties with
leader
‘Izzat al-Salamuni, who asked you to recruit new members and put you in
charge of organizing the IG’s actions in the ‘Ayn Shams area. The record
also said that leader Safwat ‘Abd-al-Ghani asked you to help ‘Izzat
al-Salamuni manage the IG’s organizational work in Cairo city.
The record of your arrest said that leader Mamduh ‘Ali Yusuf asked you
to travel to Asyut to obtain and bring back the automatic rifles which
were used in the assassination of [Former People’s Assembly Speaker] Dr.
Rif’at al-Mahjub.
The record also said that, following the assassination of Dr. al-Mahjub
and the arrest of the perpetrators, you went to live in the apartment of
defendant Ahmad ‘Abd-al-Fattah Sayyid ‘Uthman in the Bulaq al-Dakrur area
until you subsequently managed to escape.
It said too that you were responsible for protecting defendant Tal’at
Yasin Hammam when he went out to call the IG leaders abroad. You were
also responsible for the exchange of the organization’s messages
containing Tal’at Yasin Hammam’s instructions to defendant Muhammad
Fawzi. Hammam also asked you to hide a quantity of copper strips that
were used in the explosions and which you received from him in defendant
Ahmad ‘Abd-al-Fattah’s apartment in al-Zaytun. Tal’at Yasin also asked
you to hand over these strips to defendant ‘Ali Sirhan. He asked you to
hand over a quantity of explosives to defendants Ahmad ‘Abd-al-Fattah,
Hasan Salih, and Hasan Hamid and to order them to use these explosives in
the attacks on police officers and banks. The record of your arrest said
that you took responsibility for manufacturing the explosive devices
following the arrest of defendant Ahmad ‘Abd-al-Fattah. You moved 21 hand
grenades, 20 kgs of TNT, and some of the organization’s papers from its
hideout in al-Zaytun to the Kafr al-Shurafa’ area.
The firm reply to all these charges was the same: No.

ASSASSINATION OF A MAJOR GENERAL [subhead]

The investigations can possibly be said to have included the history of
all the bloody events in Egypt since the death of Dr. al-Mahjub until the
arrest of the defendants in the Arab Albanians case.
‘Isam Shu’ayb, who joined the IG in the 1980s, continued his confessions
before the Higher State Security Prosecution Office. These confessions
accurately highlighted roles that had remained mysterious in a number of
violent incidents in Egypt over the past 12 years. His confessions
touched on a number of political and security figures who were closely
watched by the IG throughout these years. Its attempts to assassinate
them ended in failure for one reason or another.
The investigator asked the defendant the following at the start:
[Question] What was your partners’ role in watching these figures as reported
in the memorandum of the State Security Intelligence service? What was
their specific role in the attacks on tourists in the Pyramids area?
[Answer] Shaykh Muhammad Ibrahim’s usual role was to provide security backup.
He stood at the point that controlled the site we had under surveillance.
Shaykh Yasir Sidqi’s role was to implement the action. In this incident,
he stood on the safety island in the middle of the road near a park and
at a distance of around 25 meters from me so that he could point out to
me the bus when it arrived. The signal was for him to put his hand on his
head.
[Question] What weapons did each of you carry?
[Answer] Shaykh Yasir did not have any weapons. I and Shaykh Ibrahim carried
a bundle of explosives.
[Question] On which part of the bus did you throw the explosive device?
[Answer] At the windows in the middle of the right hand side of the bus.
[Question] What were you wearing?
[Answer] Shaykh Yasir was wearing light-colored jeans and a blue jacket. This
jacket is in my house in al-‘Imraniyah. I was wearing a loose
light-colored jacket over a vest. I do not remember exactly whether it
was a vest or a shirt. I wore checkered trousers and sports trainers. As
far as I can remember, Shaykh Muhammad Ibrahim wore light-colored jeans,
a black leather jacket, and a koufiyah [traditional Arab headdress].
[Question] What was the aim of the attack?
[Answer] To harm the tourist sector.
[Answer] Did you not check the explosive material inside this device?
[Answer] It was black gunpowder.
[Question] How do you justify the killing of tourists?
[Answer] In the first place, tourists come to Egypt and teach our sons vice
and corruption and spread AIDS. Our youths were not like that but have
become delinquent as a result of tourism, which brings in big revenues
for the infidel regime. Therefore damaging it means exerting pressure on
the regime.
[Question] Does the shari’ah permit the killing of tourists as you say?
[Answer] I am not well versed in shari’ah. There are brother scholars who
know the details of the shari’ah and we trust them. At any rate, these
are things I do not know much about.
[Question] What were your detailed activities in the acts of monitoring,
surveillance, and assassination?
[Answer] First of all, I did not have any role in the assassination actions.
My monitoring and surveillance role was very limited. There were several
levels in this action. It started with the obtaining of information, then
came a normal watch, and this was followed by meticulous and extensive
surveillance. I never did such a thing with anyone.
[Question] Which figures did you help keep watch on, as you said in your
remarks?
[Answer] I only provided information about them. It concerned just one
person, a fellow called Majdi who lived in the Pyramids area. He and his
brothers had a sign saying Lawyers, but he was in fact an officer at the
Liman Turah Prisons. I knew because I worked in an air conditioning
workshop and used to see him. I got my information from my presence in
the area and reported his description to Shaykh Muhammad. He was 1.73
meters tall, well built, black and white hair, a moustache, and he had a
swarthy complexion.
[Question] How did you know whether any of these figures were in their houses?
[Answer] By the guards around the house. I started asking questions as soon
as I saw guards and hence knew the identity.
[Question] Did you report this information in writing?
[Answer] No. It was all done orally.
[Question] When did you report the information you collected about the figures
you have mentioned?
[Answer] It was in early 1993 for the brigadier general living in Faysal. I
reported on his physical build, rank, and residence. I know how to reach
his house but I do not know the name of the street. As to the senior rank
(he meant the senior officer) in al-Rawdah, that was done during Ramadan
of the same year. I also passed information at that time about the writer
or journalist in al-Manil (…). I obtained the information about Maj.
Gen. Mansur al-‘Aysawi (a prominent security official who was director of
security in Cairo and then governor of al-Minya in Upper Egypt) when I
was in his place of residence. Doormen, people who live on other floors,
and shop owners usually talked about people like him who lived in the
same area. I recall that it was Shaykh Yasir who told me that Maj. Gen.
al-‘Aysawi was living in that area. I confirmed this from the doormen. At
the same time, there were guards in the al-Qasr al-‘Ayni Street. Shop
owners and sandwich or fruit juice sellers there talk without anyone
asking them. I knew from their remarks and gossip that the education
minister and a judge in the military courts who sentence the bothers to
death lived in that building. One month later, I reported on the major
general in the square near the Sheraton Hotel. I reported this
information to Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa, who had asked me to report to him
any information I could get about any police officer so as to assist in
his assassination.
[Question] Who were the targeted figures when your activities went beyond the
level of just reporting information to the higher level of a normal
watch?
[Answer] There were three persons: An officer called ‘Isam Fathi, an informer
in the State Intelligence Service called Nafadi, and Maj. Gen. Ra’uf
Khayrat.
[Question] What happened when you watched and monitored Maj. Gen. Ra’uf
Khayrat?
[Answer] I want to say something important first about these three figures.
Muhammad Mustafa or Yasir Sidqi used to tell me to go and watch this
person in this area or to go and watch a police officer. They were the
source of the information, not I. I agreed to meet Sayyid in the al-Haram
Street where Maj. Gen. Ra’uf lived and to walk to his house. I and Sayyid
stayed together during most of the watch. The first time we went there,
it was noontime and we did not find him. I said to Sayyid: Come, let us
go and perform the noon prayers, eat, and then come back. When we
returned, I knew from the number of guards that he was back. Thus we knew
that he would be at home between 1300 and 1400 hours. To obtain more
information, I said to Sayyid: Let us come here early in the morning so
as to learn more about his schedules. Sayyid continued to go there in the
mornings, while I went in the afternoons. Sayyid knew that he left the
house in the morning at 0800. But he could not come into the main street
directly because there was no opening to it. He had to leave from the
back, turn around and enter al-Jizah. He rode in a white Peugeot. That
was all the information we could collect about him, and we reported it to
Muhammad Mustafa.
[Question] How many times did you watch him?
[Answer] Every day, but we never stayed there all day. If we did not happen
to see him, we would continue to walk. But the watch went on daily for
more than 10 days.
[Question] What means did you use to watch him?
[Answer] We went in person and saw with our own eyes.
[Question] Were there any reasons why you should have been in the surveillance
area?
[Answer] There was a real estate agent in the area whose name I do not
recall. I used to go and sit next to him to ask about the price of
apartments and shops. He wore glasses, a gilbab, and a turban and was
over 50 years old. There was one person selling Pepsi at the street
corner. I and Sayyid used to buy Pepsi from him. There was a wall there
on which we sat to drink the Pepsi. That was on the other side of
al-Haram Street just before the building where Maj. Gen. Ra’uf Khayrat
lived. We did so so as not to arouse suspicion.

The Real and Only “Al-CIAda,” Ali Mohamed, a 48-year-old Egyptian–(October 21, 2000)

Former GI Pleads Guilty In Embassy Bombings Egyptian-born ex-sergeant says he helped bin Laden Los Angeles Times Saturday, October 21, 2000

(09-10) 04:00 PDT New York — A former U.S. Army sergeant charged in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa pleaded guilty yesterday, telling the court during his proceeding that Saudi militant Osama bin Laden examined a photograph of the embassy in Kenya and pointed to the spot where a truck bomb could do the most damage.

Ali Mohamed, a 48-year-old Egyptian-born U.S. citizen, said that in late 1993, he was asked by bin Laden to conduct surveillance of U.S., British, French and Israeli targets in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, as part of a plan to retaliate against the United States for its peacekeeping role in neighboring Somalia.

“I took pictures, drew diagrams and wrote a report,” Mohamed said, describing how he later traveled to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where bin Laden and top advisers reviewed his “surveillance files.”

“Bin Laden looked at a picture of the American Embassy and pointed to where a truck could go as a suicide bomber,” Mohamed said.

On Aug. 7, 1998, explosions ripped though the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, killing more than 220 people, including 12 Americans, and injuring more than 5,000. Mohamed was the first person to plead guilty in the case, and his statement was a major victory for prosecutors who are preparing for the trial in January of the other five defendants in custody.

U.S. government lawyers are seeking to extradite three defendants from Britain, while eight others — including bin Laden — remain fugitives. The Clinton administration has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of the Saudi millionaire, who is believed to be in Afghanistan.

Mohamed, balding and wearing a baggy light blue prison uniform, entered the New York courtroom in leg shackles yesterday to appear before U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand, who will also preside at the January trial.

The former Army sergeant, who took basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and spent the rest of his military career at Fort Bragg, N.C., pleaded guilty to five federal counts of conspiracy, which included plotting to kill U.S. citizens, destroy U.S. facilities and murder U.S. soldiers in Somalia and Saudi Arabia.

Throughout the proceedings, his demeanor was calm and he spoke precisely as he outlined his relationship with bin Laden’s organization and other suspected terrorist groups.

SEARCHING FOR TARGETS

Mohamed told the court that he became involved with bin Laden in the early 1990s, later training the Saudi’s bodyguards and scouting locations in Africa for possible attacks.

He said that in the early 1980s he was involved with the militant Islamic Jihad in Egypt, and through that group was introduced to Al Qaeda, the organization headed by bin Laden.

Mohamed said he helped transport bin Laden from Afghanistan to Sudan in 1991, and the next year conducted military and basic explosives training for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

“In the early 1990s, I assisted Al Qaeda in creating a presence in Nairobi, Kenya,” he told the court, saying he worked on the project with Abu Ubaidah, bin Laden’s military commander, who later drowned in a ferry accident.

“A car business was set up to create income,” he explained, along with a charity organization to provide members of Al Qaeda with documents. “We used various code names to conceal our identities. I used the name Jeff.”

Among the potential targets in Nairobi that he scouted in 1993 for possible attacks included the U.S. Embassy, U.S. agricultural and aid offices, the French Embassy and the French Cultural Center.

SURVEILLANCE MISSION

He said bin Laden sent him to the East African nation of Djibouti in 1994 on a surveillance mission of several facilities, including French military bases and the U.S. Embassy. The same year, after an attempt was made on bin Laden’s life, he traveled to Sudan to train the militant leader’s bodyguards.

Mohamed told the court he arranged security for a meeting in Sudan between bin Laden and a leader of Hezbollah, a militant Lebanese Islamic organization.

“Hezbollah provided explosives training for Al Qaeda and Al Jihad,” he said. “Iran supplied Egyptian Jihad with weapons. Iran also used Hezbollah to supply explosives that were disguised to look like rocks.”

Mohamed said he returned to the United States in 1994, after receiving a phone call from an FBI agent asking to speak with him about the forthcoming trial of Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind Egyptian sheikh who was later found guilty of conspiring to blow up targets in New York, including the United Nations.

Mohamed said he spoke to the FBI, “but didn’t disclose everything that I knew,” and after reporting on his meeting was told not to return to Nairobi. Later, he obtained a list of co-conspirators for the sheikh’s trial and sent it to Kenya, expecting it would be forwarded to bin Laden.

After the embassy bombings, he planned to travel to Egypt and later Afghanistan to meet with bin Laden. Before he could depart, he was called before a federal grand jury in Manhattan investigating the twin terrorist attacks.

“I testified, told some lies, and was then arrested,” he said.

This article appeared on page A – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

67 Known Cases of Extroardinary Rendition–Mother Jones

 

Disappearing Act: Rendition by the Numbers

Piecing together a picture of the CIA’s secret rendition program.

Mother Jones

An extraordinary rendition may be defined as the extrajudicial transfer of an individual to a country where there is reasonable probability he will be tortured. In our research we have counted 67 known cases of extraordinary rendition by the United States since 1995. While the details are often incomplete, they help paint a more complete picture of this secretive and controversial Central Intelligence Agency program.

Our research is based on reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU Law School, Andy Worthington’s The Guantanamo Files, Stephen Grey’s Ghost Plane, and media accounts. (Special thanks to Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch for her invaluable assistance.)

Before September 11

Then-CIA director George Tenet testified before the 9/11 Commission that there were more than 80 renditions before September 11, 2001. We found information on 29 cases of extraordinary and ordinary rendition prior to 9/11. Of the 14 that qualify as extraordinary renditions, 12 were to Egypt.

Prisoners who remained in American custody generally were accused of involvement with terrorist actions, such as the 1985 Egypt Air hijacking, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and the 1998 African embassy bombings.

Names in parentheses are alternate spellings or aliases.

	Name	Citizenship	Rendered From	Rendered To	Date	Outcome
1	Abu Talal al-Qasimi (Talat Fouad Qassem)	Egyptian	Croatia	Egypt	September 1995	Questioned on a U.S. ship off the coast of Croatia; transferred to Egypt in 1998; executed in Cairo
2	Ahmed al-Naggar	Egyptian	Albania	Egypt	July 1998	Hanged in Egypt, February 2000
3	Mohammed Hassan Tita	Egyptian	Albania	Egypt	July 1998	Sentenced to 10 years in prison in Egypt
4	Shawki Salama Attiya	Egyptian	Albania	Egypt	July 1998	Sentenced to life imprisonment in Egypt
5	Ahmed Ismail Osman Saleh	Egyptian	Albania	Egypt	August 1998	Hanged in Egypt, February 2000
6	Essam Abdel Tawwab Abdel Halim	Egyptian	Bulgaria	Egypt	August 1998	Sentenced to 10 years in prison in Egypt
7	Ihab Mohammed Saqr	Unknown	Azerbaijan	Egypt	Fall 1998	Unknown
8	Ahmed Mohammed Mabrouk	Unknown	Azerbaijan	Egypt	Fall 1998	Unknown
9	Essam Mohammed Hafez Marzouq	Unknown	Azerbaijan	Egypt	Fall 1998	Unknown
10	Mohammed al-Zawahiri (brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri)	Egyptian	United Arab Emirates	Egypt	April 1999	Imprisoned in Egypt
11	Hani al-Sayegh	Saudi	U.S.	Saudi Arabia	October 1999	Deported to Saudi Arabia, October 1999
12	Hussein al-Zawahiri (brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri)	Egyptian	Malaysia	Egypt	December 1999	Released in 2000
13	Abdul Rahman Muhammad Nasir Qasim al-Yaf’i	Yemeni	Egypt	Jordan	October 2000	Returned to Yemen, March 2001
14	Rifa Ahmed Taha (Abu Yasser)	Egyptian	Syria	Egypt	2001	Unclear if rendered before or after 9/11

After September 11

We found information on 117 renditions that have occurred since September 11, 2001. When we excluded renditions to Afghanistan, CIA secret prisons (or “black sites”), Guantanamo, or American custody, we found 53 cases of extraordinary rendition. All individuals for whom the rendition destination is known were sent to countries that have been criticized by the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which document “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Of these 53 prisoners, more than one quarter have explicitly claimed that they were tortured while in foreign custody; four claim they were tortured while passing through American custody either en route to or following foreign custody. Four others may have been tortured while in foreign custody based on secondhand accounts or vague descriptions of treatment in prisons in their destination countries. Sixteen of the 53 individuals have been released after extraordinary renditions, and half of them claimed they were tortured while in foreign custody; two claim they were tortured while in American custody.

	Name	Citizenship	Rendered From	Rendered To	Date	Outcome
1	Jamal Mohammed Alwai Mar’i	Yemeni	Pakistan	Jordan	September 2001	Says he wasnot tortured in Jordan; transferred to Guantanamo
2	Mamdouh Habib	Australian	Pakistan	Egypt, Afghanistan	October 2001	Tortured in Egypt; transferred to Guantanamo; released January 2005
3	Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed	Yemeni	Pakistan	Jordan	October 2001	Unknown
4	Muhammad Haydar Zammar	German (Syrian descent)	Morocco	Syria	November 2001 or December 2001	Tortured in Syria; now in Syrian custody
5	Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Abu Musab)	Mauritanian	Mauritania	Jordan, Afghanistan	November 2001	Tortured in Jordan; transferred to Guantanamo
6	Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (Ali Abdul-Hamid al-Fakhiri)	Libyan	Pakistan	Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Libya	In CIA custody as of November 2001; rendered to Libya late 2005/early 2006	Possibly tortured in Egypt; sent to Libya
7	Ahmed Agiza	Egyptian (living in Sweden)	Sweden	Egypt	December 2001	Tortured in Egypt; still imprisoned there
8	Muhammad Zery	Egyptian (living in Sweden)	Sweden	Egypt	December 2001	Tortured in Egypt; released October 2003
9	Hassan (Raba’i)	Libyan	Pakistan	Libya, Afghanistan	2002	May have been rendered to Libya in late 2005 or 2006; status unknown
10	Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni	Egyptian (held Pakistani passport)	Indonesia	Egypt, Afghanistan	January 2002	Fellow prisoners say he was tortured in Egypt; transferred to Guantanamo
11	Walid al-Qadasi	Yemeni	Iran	Afghanistan, Yemen	January 2002	Tortured in “dark prison” in Afghanistan; transferred to Yemen April 2004; released February 2006
12	Anas al-Libi (Anas al-Sabai, Nazih al-Raghie)	Libyan	Sudan	Probably Egypt	February 2002	Unknown
13	Abduh Ali Shaqawi (Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi; Riyadh the Facilitator)	Yemeni	Pakistan	Jordan, Afghanistan	February 2002	Transferred to Afghanistan January 2004; transferred to Guantanamo September 2004.
14	Abou Elkassim Britel [Abu al-Kassem Britel]	Italian/ Moroccan	Pakistan	Pakistan, Morocco	March or May 2002	Tortured in Morocco; released February 2003; recaptured May 2003; currently in Moroccan custody
15	Suleiman Abdalla Salim (Suleiman Abdalla, Issa Tanzania)	Yemeni, Tanzanian	Somalia	Afghanistan or Kenya	March 2002 or March 2003	Claims he was tortured in U.S. custody; status unknown
16	Binyam Mohamed al-Habashi	Ethiopian	Pakistan	Morocco, Afghanistan	April or July 2002	Tortured in Morocco; transferred to Guantanamo, September 2004
17	Barah Abdul Latif	Syrian	Pakistan	Syria	May 2002	Questioned in Palestine Branch Prison, Damascus
18	Bahaa Mustafa Jaghel	Syrian	Pakistan	Syria	May 2002	Questioned in Palestine Branch Prison, Damascus
19	Abdel Halim Dalak	Unknown	Pakistan	Syria	May 2002	Student arrested in November 2001; Status unknown
20	Omar Ghramesh	Unknown	Pakistan	Syria	May 2002	Arrested with Abu Zubaydah; Status unknown
21	Unidentified teenager	Unknown	Pakistan	Syria	May 2002	Status unknown
22	Abu Zubair al-Haili (Fawzi Saad al-‘Obaydi)	Saudi	Morocco	Morocco	June 2002	Tortured in Morocco; Status unknown
23	Sheikh Ahmed Salim (Swedan)	Kenyan	Pakistan	Unknown	July 2002	Status unknown
24	Yasser Tinawi	Syrian	Somalia	Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria	July 2002	Interrogated by U.S. agents in Ethiopia, then flown to Cairo; transferred to Syria
25	Omar bin Hassan	Palestinian	Somalia	Ethiopia	July 2002	Released after questioning on Somali border
26	Maher Arar	Syrian/ Canadian	New York	Syria	September 2002	Tortured in Syria; released February 2004
27	Hassan bin Attash	Saudi (born in Yemen)	Pakistan	Jordan, Afghanistan	September 2002	Tortured in Jordan; transferred to Guantanamo
28	Saif al Islam el Masry	Egyptian	Georgia	Possibly Egypt	September 2002	Believed to be held in a secret CIA prison
29	Abdallah al-Sadeq (Sadek)	Libyan	Thailand	Libya	2003	Libyan custody
30	Abu Munder al-Saadi	Libyan	Hong Kong	Libya	2003	Libyan custody
31	Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (Abu Omar)	Egyptian; asylum in Italy	Italy	Egypt	February 2003	Tortured in Egypt; released February 2007
32	Aafia	Siddiqui	Pakistani	Pakistan	March 2003	Status unknown
33	Saud Memon (involved in Daniel Pearl slaying)	Pakistani	South Africa	Pakistan	March 2003	Released April 2007 “badly injured and emaciated”; Died May 2007
34	Laid Saidi	Algerian	Expelled from Tanzania to Malawi	Afghanistan; Algeria	May 2003	Says he was tortured at Bagram; transferred to Algeria; released August 2004
35	Safwan al-Hasham (Haffan al-Hasham)	Saudi	Pakistan		May 2003	Appeared on a congressional “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” list in July 2006; status unknown
36	Jawad al-Bashar	Egyptian	Pakistan		May 2003	Status unknown
37	Mahmoud Sardar Issa	Sudanese	Malawi	Zimbabwe, Sudan	June 2003	Released July 2003 in Sudan
38	Fahad al-Bahli	Saudi	Malawi	Zimbabwe, Sudan	June 2003	Released July 2003 in Sudan
39	Arif Ulusam	Turkish	Malawi	Zimbabwe, Sudan	June 2003	Released July 2003 in Sudan
40	Ibrahim Itabaci	Turkish	Malawi	Zimbabwe, Sudan	June 2003	Released July 2003 in Sudan
41	Khalifa Abdi Hassan	Saudi	Malawi	Zimbabwe, Sudan	June 2003	Released July 2003 in Sudan
42	Salah Nasser Salim ‘Ali	Yemeni	Indonesia	Jordan, Afghanistan, Yemen	August 2003 / October 2003	Tortured in Jordan; held in Yemen
43	Muhammad Faraj Ahmed Bashmilah	Yemeni	Indonesia	Jordan, Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, Yemen	October 2003	Tortured in Jordan; released March 2006
44	Salah Nasir Salim ‘Ali Qaru	Yemeni	Jordan	Djibouti, Afghanistan, Eastern Europe	October 2003	Tortured at a “black site”; returned to Yemen May 2005
45	Muhammad Abdullah Salah al-Assad	Yemeni	Tanzania	Djibouti, Afghanistan, Yemen (CIA custody)	December 2003	Harsh conditions in secret prisons (no direct mention of torture); released March 2006
46	Khaled al-Sharif (Abu Hazem)	Libyan	Pakistan	Libya, Afghanistan	Late 2003	May have been rendered to Libya in late 2005 or 2006; status unknown
47	Ibad al Yaquti al Sheikh al Sufiyan	Saudi	Pakistan	Unknown	January 2004	Status unknown
48	Walid bin Azmi, USS Cole suspect	Unknown	Pakistan	Unknown	January 2004	Status unknown
49	Marwan Ibrahim Jabour	Palestinian (born in Jordan)	Pakistan	Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel	May 2004	Tortured in Pakistan; released in Gaza November 2006
50	Sharif al-Masri (Abd-al-Sattar Sharif al-Masri. Told Pak. authorities of Al Q plan to smuggle nuclear materials to U.S. from Mexico)	Egyptian	Pakistan	Unknown	August 2004	Status unknown
51	Qari Saifullah Akhtar (Amir Harkat-ul-Ansar Qari Saifullah)	Pakistani	United Arab Emirates	Pakistan	August 2004	Appeared on FBI’s “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” list in July 2006; status unknown
52	Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (Abu Musab al-Suri)	Syrian-Spanish dual	Pakistan	India? Syria?	November 2005	Arrested by Pakistani police; was in U.S. custody in early 2006; now likely in Syrian custody
53	[First name unknown] al-Mahdi-Jawdeh (Abu Ayoub, Ayoub al-Libi)	Libyan	Pakistan	Libya	2006	Status unknown

Re-arrest of Zawahiri’s brother for investigation in the case of ‘Albania returnees’

Photographed by other

Egyptian security sources said on Monday that security forces rearrested Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, the organization’s second-in-command.

A prominent member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization led by his brother Ayman, he received a life sentence in 1999. On Thursday, the military released him with 59 detainees who had been convicted of belonging to Islamist groups.

The security official said on Monday that the Egyptian Mohamad al-Zawahiri was sentenced in absentia by a military court in a case known to the media as “The returnees from Albania.”

The sources said by revisiting the records of al-Zawahiri, the authorities found that he was charged in another case. After 3 days from releasing him, the police re-arrested al-Zawahiri, and he awaits trial.

The name “Albania returnees” was given to the Islamist militants who were said to have been active in the Balkans for years of war side-by-side with Muslim residents of the region against attacks by groups, organizations, and state governments.

It is recalled that the influx of these Mujahideen into the Balkan region began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 under the pretext of supporting the resistance. Some then returned to Egypt while others went to fight other wars in Albania and the Balkans during the 1990’s.

The Egyptian authorities charge the “Returnees” with working to overthrow the government, killing civilians, and targeting tourists and Christians.

Nizar Ghorab, a lawyer, has submitted a report to the attorney general accusing Minister of Interior Mansour al-Essawy of detaining al-Zawahiri and taking him to an unknown destination without a judiciary warrant. Ghorab said it is difficult for him to communicate with his family and lawyers.

Ghorab told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the detention is evidence that the State Security Investigation Service (SSIS), last week declared dissolved by al-Essawy, continues to operate in secret. SSIS offices nationwide were shut down and the service was replaced by the new National Security agency, tasked with countering terrorism without interfering in citizens’ personal affairs.

Scumbags From MI6 Taunt Their Libyan Counterparts

MI6 puts gun to generals’ heads: Our spies phone Gaddafi’s men direct to warn: Defect or die

By MICHAEL SEAMARK and TIM SHIPMAN

Defect or die: MI6 have issued military commanders a stark warning – telling them remaining loyal to Colonel Gaddafi could be fatal

British intelligence is warning Colonel Gaddafi’s generals that it could be fatal to remain loyal to the Libyan leader.

MI6 spies and military officials are contacting commanders in Tripoli trying to persuade them to defect, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Their message is blunt: ‘General, we’ve got the GPS co-ordinates of your command post. They are programmed into a Storm Shadow missile. What do you want to do?’

As Gaddafi vowed to wage a long war with the ‘crusader alliance’, British officials said the intelligence services had the telephone numbers of many key military officials in his regime.

A senior source said: ‘They will be doing their best to get in touch. This is a situation where success breeds success. Once you get air superiority it becomes suicidal for Libyan army commanders to want to move tanks or to use artillery.

‘That’s pressure. It worked in Iraq.’

Former Army chief Lord Dannatt said: ‘If I was a Libyan military commander I’d be thinking very closely about my loyalty.

‘What about loyalty to my country, my tribe? I think it’s those ground commanders’ loyalty we expect to see changing when they realise they have no hope against the international air forces.’

Colonel Gaddafi was heard but not seen yesterday as he vowed to fight with ‘unlimited patience and deep faith’.

Obama is a liar. Obama is a liar.

‘America wants full dominance over ME’

Interview with Stephen Lendman, writer and radio host, Chicago

The world is finding out what a “no fly zone” means to “the coalition of the willing.” The promised minimal role by the US exploded from the start into massive continual aerial assaults against both military and illegally against civilian targets. Hospitals have been bombed in Libya by NATO.

While the rhetoric expounds so-called guarantees that ousting Gaddafi is not a main target, Press TV discusses the disturbing turn of events with Stephen Lendman, writer and radio host in Chicago.

Press TV: Some 60 civilians or more have been killed by NATO air and missile strikes in Libya in just the past 24 hours. How do you understand the current situation in Libya?

Stephen Lendman: I’ve seen this too many times before and it’s very disturbing. I absolutely agree with Hugo Chavez’ remarks — the purpose very definitely is to oust Gaddafi. And it is really an utter betrayal because relationships with the US were established back in 2003; he was greeted on one memorable occasion by Hilary Clinton.

For months what began yesterday — the air attacks, cruise missiles, B52 stealth bombers bombing targets; and by the way two hospitals were struck, either heavily damaged or maybe destroyed; a third medical clinic was attacked. These are civilian targets — civilian as well as military targets are being attacked in outright naked aggression and the idea is to oust Gaddafi, colonize the country, steal its resources, and exploit its people.

The same thing that went on in Iraq, the same thing that’s going on in Afghanistan and in parts of Pakistan and Somalia — proxy wars America is engaged in. As soon as I saw America beginning to engage in Libya, rhetorically back in February, which was picked up very easily on US media, there was violence in Bahrain in Tunisia in Libya, all ignored, virtually nothing in the US media reporting on any of these countries. Obama isn’t saying anything about it. Hilary Clinton isn’t saying anything about it. Secretary of Defense Gates isn’t saying anything about it.

But Gaddafi is the only one they’re going after.

The hypocrisy is absolutely gross and again it’s very clear what America wants. America is leading this aggression. The key co-belligerents are America with France and Britain with some support from Canada, Italy and Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

I think there is a split feeling in NATO especially and the UN resolution that went through. I was astonished that the resolution went through, because there is a lot of opposition to what America wants.

You put a no fly zone in — that is an act of war that guarantees air attacks. A no fly zone means to deploy aircraft over the country so you have to destroy its air defenses and therefore begin targeting these defenses, then employ the no fly zone.

French aircraft also attacked and there are unconfirmed reports that three French planes have been shot down.

Press TV: Yes, unconfirmed reports say that three French aircraft have gone down probably over Benghazi as French aircraft are flying 24 hours a day over Benghazi not over Tripoli so thanks for sharing that.

Gaddafi has come out defiant after the no fly zone operation commenced. He has talked of opening up the arms depots to the people, of dying like martyrs, etc. Not all the revolutionaries wanted a foreign military interference while others did, but they were standing against Gaddafi. Do you think this current development could cause a shift where some of these people will now fight for Gaddafi?

Stephen Lendman: I don’t think so. But this is no revolution, it is no uprising — this is an insurrection. US and British operatives have been in Libya enlisting opposition, recruiting them and funding them; this has been going on for many weeks probably months because operations like this take time. To attack another country, months of planning are involved that includes targets being chosen, tactics solidified, troops deployed; it takes a great deal of planning — it could have been six months.

Gaddafi has been in power for 42 years. Where has the opposition been? There has been no uprising against him in 42 years. All of a sudden you get this well-armed opposition exploding in the country.

I am no Gaddafi fan; Libya would be much better off without Gaddafi. But he responded to an insurrection. Any responsible leader, even a despot, has the right to respond to an insurrection and that’s what he did. He did not begin it, but responded to something that was western influenced, Western financed, Western instigated and America is the lead belligerent as it always is. America wants full dominance over the Middle East. Make no mistake about it, including over Iran.

It could be that after Libya if they get rid of Gaddafi, the next target could be Iran — that’s the dominant country — oil rich — and America wants to get its hands on it.

Beginning back in 1990 preceding the Gulf war, the sanctions by the US administration were applied that killed 1.5 million Iraqis in the 1990s — a shocking story completely suppressed in the US media. And then of course everything leading up to the 2003 war, which began on March 19th, the Libyan war began March 19th; it looks like the same script with some variation about whether there will be an occupation or not; Obama says absolutely not.

Obama is a liar. Obama is a liar, George Bush was a liar. Nothing these people say should be believed. He promised a very limited US role; he promised humanitarian intervention. America will not tolerate humanitarian intervention; America will not tolerate democracy. They don’t have it at home so certainly they won’t allow it in Iraq or Afghanistan or Libya. America wants one thing: imperial conquest and domination.

We have no money to spend at home in the US, we’re broke. But we have limitless billions of dollars to spend attacking other countries illegally. These are illegal wars in violation of international law and US law. And the US public I’m afraid is very very much in the dark; they don’t understand it due to the way the US media explains it.

SC/MMA

Naked Aggression: ‘Libya assault planned months ahead’

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Bombs for peace? ‘UN completely disgraced in Libya’

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US Sec. Def. Rejects the Idea of Killing Gaddafi

US defense chief rejects targeting Gaddafi

Brit. Sec. Def. Is OK With Assassinating Qaddafi, If It Doesn’t Make Us Look Bad

Liam Fox says targeting Gaddafi ‘would potentially be a possibility’

Dr Liam Fox says Col Muammar Gaddafi might be considered a target as head of Libya’s armed forces.

The Defence Secretary has emphasised the need to minimise civilian casualties in any attempt to remove the Libyan leader.

“It would potentially be a possibility,” Dr Fox told BBC Radio 5 live.

“We are very careful to avoid [civilian casualties] for humanitarian reasons,” he told John Pienaar on Pienaar’s Politics. “Also for the propaganda reasons that it would provide for the regime itself.”

Major general, 2 brigadiers defect to opposition in Yemen

The most senior of the three has been a close confidant to the president, and all three are members of his tribe.

Mourners shout slogans as they wait for the coffins of anti-government protesters during a funeral in Sana. (Khaled Abdullah / Reuters / March 20, 2011)

Associated Press

Three army commanders, including a top general, defected Monday to the opposition calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, as army tanks and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of the Yemeni capital.

The most senior of the three officers is Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen Ahmar, a longtime confidante of Saleh’s and commander of the army’s powerful 1st Armored Division. Units of the division deployed Monday in a major square in Sana where protesters have been camping out to call for Saleh to resign.

All three officers belong to Saleh’s Hashid tribe, which called on Saleh to step down on Sunday — dealing his desperate attempts to cling on to power a serious blow.

The two others are Mohammed Ali Mohsen and Hameed Qusaibi, who both have the rank of brigadier.

News of the defections came one day after crowds flooded cities and towns across Yemen to mourn dozens of protesters killed Friday when Saleh’s security forces opened fire from rooftops on a demonstration in Sana.

Ahmar has been a close confidant to Saleh for most of the 32 years the Yemeni president has been in power. He is a veteran of the 1994 civil war that saw Saleh’s army suppress an attempt by southern Yemen to secede four years after the two parts of the impoverished Arab nation united. Ahmar also fought in recent years against Shiite rebels in the north of the country.

Ahmar announced his defection in a message delivered by a close aide to the protest leaders at the Sana square that has for weeks been the epicenter of their movement.

Smoke rising over Fukushima nuclear plant prompts worker evacuation

Shawne McKeown, CityNews.ca

A woman is screened for radiation at evacuee center in Fukushima prefecture, March 21, 2011. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Wally Santana.

A storage pool for spent fuel rods remains a great concern at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan. On Monday workers were forced to evacuate the facility after smoke was seen rising over the Unit 3 reactor sparking more fears of a radiation surge.

The Unit 3 reactor has been a particular area of concern since the nuclear crisis began. Operators fear the smoke over the unit is a sign of low water levels in the pool that keeps spent fuel rods cool. If those rods aren’t covered they’ll overheat and emit dangerous levels of radiation.

Late last week military helicopters started dumping water on the reactor and ground crews sprayed the unit in an effort to fill the pool.

Officials still aren’t sure what’s causing the smoke and there’s been no evidence of an explosion. Workers were evacuated around 4 p.m. (local time). Plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Company said earlier Monday it was considering venting out gas to release pressure inside the containment vessel.

Despite some progress over the weekend to stabilize the plant damaged by the March 11 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, an unexpected pressure surge in the reactor core also raised alarms.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency has said Tokyo Electric repeatedly failed to conduct crucial inspections of equipment in the weeks before the quake and tsunami.

The plant operator failed to inspect 33 pieces of equipment, according to a report released nine days before the twin disasters.

The company didn’t check its back-up generators, pumps and other parts of the plant’s cooling systems swamped by the tsunami.

Japanese authorities now estimate more than 18,400 people have died since the twin disasters struck — the majority of the deaths have been reported in the hard-hit Miyagi prefecture. The World Bank estimates it will cost the nation approximately $235 billion to rebuild.

More than 400,000 remain homeless.

Food and water contaminated by radiation are also now of great concern in Japan. The government stopped shipments of spinach in one area and raw milk in another. Both products contained iodine levels above safety limits. Canola and chrysanthemum greens have also been contaminated in some prefectures.

And both iodine and cesium have been detected in tap water in Tokyo. Rain and dust are also contaminated. Residents in Iitate, a village about 30 kilometres northwest of the damaged nuclear plant, have been told not to drink the tap water after iodine levels three times the standard were detected — that’s about one twenty-sixth of the level of a chest X-ray in one litre of water, according to The Associated Press.

The Japanese government insists the levels detected in tap water don’t pose an immediate health threat.

With files from The Associated Press.

Ban: Libya a warning to All Mideast authoritarians (except for Saudi Arabia)

[The United Nations is a sick joke that has only grown more obscene over time.  The hidden agenda of the UN is more than apparent in the continuing double-standards concerning anyone in “Club USA,” and the rest of the world.  If you are in the club than you can do anything to anybody you want and the world press will not utter a line in protest.  If you are not in the club, then anything that the good old USA does to you is nobody’s concern.  UN Sec. Gen. Moon is a fucking hypocrite, issuing a warning to Mideast authoritarians, which doesn’t apply to the worst “authoritarians” of them all, the House of Saud.   The United Nations is a stinking tool of global fascists hell-bent on bringing all of the world under the umbrella of the American dictatorship.  The UN’s sole purpose is to underwrite American aggression on the rest of the world, under the guise of humanitarianism.

Bombing the hell out of all Libyans who oppose the American-created “rebel forces” is an extremely “humanitarian” gesture.  Humanity has been given a common cause–defeat the enemies of the new “American Reich.”

The “Fourth Reich” is fully “MADE IN AMERICA.”  Good luck, when the rest of you assholes supporting this latest aggression wake-up and hear the fists of the “New Order” banging upon your door.  As you are handcuffed, hooded and beaten senseless, before being dragged-off into the night, amid the muffled screams of your family, whom you will probably never see again, think of how you supported the parade to bomb Libya and to wipe-out most of the Muslim world.]

Libya a warning to Mideast authoritarians: Ban

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (L) holds a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi (AFP PHOTO/KHALED DESOUKI)

CAIRO: The Libya war and revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia should be a warning to authoritarian leaders in the Middle East and North Africa still ordering forces to shoot demonstrators, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said.

Ban, who has castigated the king of Bahrain and strongly condemned the repression of demonstrations in Yemen and Syria in recent days, told AFP as he began a trip to Egypt and Tunisia on Monday that other nations have a duty to speak out.

“It is clear that a wind of change is sweeping this region,” he said in an interview.

“The international community, while we closely follow the situation, has a responsibility to help those people, so that leaders could hear clearly and sincerely the voices of the people, their aspirations.”

The UN secretary general said leaders in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria must have seen the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya where Muammer al-Gaddafi’s brutal crackdown led to UN-sanctioned military strikes.

“We are living in an era of globalisation and communications, so they must have been following and they must have been listening to what the international community expects them to do,” Ban said.

“I have been talking to all the leaders in the region, all the leaders without exception, every day, urging them to take bold reform measures that respect the will of their people and ensure freedom of speech.”

In Syria, security forces have shot and killed several demonstrators in the southern town of Deraa. Ban last week called for “genuine reforms, not repression.”

In the Yemeni capital Sanaa, more than 50 demonstrators have been killed.

The UN chief condemned the government and on Sunday said he doubted that President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s decision to sack the government would calm the population.

Ban spoke with the Bahrain’s monarch, King Hamad, last week to highlight his “deepest concern over reports of excessive and indiscriminate use of force by security forces and police in Bahrain.”

He warned that their actions could breach international humanitarian law.

The Arab League was instrumental in getting the UN Security Council to pass Resolution 1973 last week which approved military action against Gaddafi.

Ban has called the resolution “historic” because it “affirms unequivocally, the international community’s determination to fulfill its responsibility to protect civilians from violence perpetrated upon them by their own government.”

Leaders have a duty to maintain order, Ban told AFP. “But in doing that they must exercise maximum restraint and caution, fully respecting human rights. I will continue to speak out.”

Ban is starting his tour with meetings with the Egyptian military and interim government on the dramatic changes since the fall in February of Hosni Mubarak.

He will hold similar meetings in Tunisia which set off the Arab revolution.

Egypt faced a new decisive moment with Saturday’s referendum on a new constitution.

“Leaders have a responsibility to sincerely and authentically listen to the voices and aspirations of the people and take broad-based measures” with the opposition, civic groups, youth leaders “and particularly women leaders,” Ban said.

“This is a quite historic moment, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see the progress of democratisation, fuller democracy.”

Ban said he would discuss possible UN assistance in electoral processes, constitution drafting, and social and economic development, during his stay in Cairo and Tunis.

He said he would also meet opposition leaders and civic groups. “Then I will try to say what I have heard, what I have seen, what I believe the United Nations can do.”

– AFP/fa