The Freedom Watch

U.S. court grants Nigerian asylum-seeker the right to testify about his own torture

"The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided today that a Nigerian man, Olakunle Oshodi, will be allowed to testify fully at his deportation hearing about the torture he suffered as a political dissident at the hands of Nigerian officials before he fled his homeland. The lower courts and dissenting judges refused to hear what happened the first time an unsympathetic immigration judge deported him, back in 1978. Oshodi returned to the United States in 1981, eventually married a citizen and had a child. Despite that, he faced deportation years later and then applied for political asylum." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. court grants Nigerian asylum-seeker the right to testify about his own torture

North Korean spy’s memoir details ‘enemization’ training by abducted South Koreans

"After graduation, the focus switched to training the agents to pass as locals. South Koreans abducted and smuggled back into the North were among those who instructed them in mastering the right accents and understanding the social and political culture of the capitalist South. This 'enemization' process gave them their first real taste of life outside the isolated North, as they consumed a daily diet of South Korean TV shows, movies, magazines, newspapers and books. Popular songs and dance moves were memorised, along with the names and careers of prominent TV celebrities and sports stars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNorth Korean spy’s memoir details ‘enemization’ training by abducted South Koreans

Do Korea “experts” know what they are talking about?

"There is convincing evidence that most Western 'experts' on the DPRK have little, if any, clue what they are talking about. B.R. Myers, one of the very few bona fide experts on Pyongyang and its weird regime, has written at length about just how misguided most of what you’re hearing and reading about North Korea now actually is. In the first place, many commentators apply outdated, Cold War thinking to the DPRK, where it doesn’t fit. Moreover, most 'experts' are stunningly ignorant of what North Korea actually is like or how it thinks, resulting in profound Western misreads on why Pyongyang does what it does. Which, given the awesomely high nuclear stakes right now, kinda matters." Continue reading →

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Eric Margolis: Korea, One Of The World’s Five Most Strategic Nations

"Amazingly, South Korea’s tough 600,000-man armed forces are under the command of a US four-star general 60 years after the end of the Korean War, backed up by 28,500 US troops that include a full heavy infantry division, North Korea calls itself the 'true Korea,' denouncing the South as 'puppets of the US imperialists.' Interestingly, some studies show that many South Koreans share this view and are proud of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program though they want no part of its socialism and self-reliant policy known as 'juche.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEric Margolis: Korea, One Of The World’s Five Most Strategic Nations

U.S. seeks to speed up hearings for five 9/11 suspects

"Self-declared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed appeared in the military court at the US prison in Cuba with his four co-defendants. All face the death penalty if convicted of plotting the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, which left nearly 3,000 people dead. Preliminary hearings in the case began in May 2012. The five defendants were held incommunicado in secret CIA prisons from 2002 to 2006, before they were transferred to Guantanamo. The detainees’ treatment has come under close scrutiny. Mohammed is known to have been subjected to 183 sessions of waterboarding, the technique of simulated drowning which has been decried as torture by rights groups." Continue reading →

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Gitmo defendant’s lawyers: CIA gave ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ makers more info than us

"The CIA cooperated with the makers of the Hollywood movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and has acknowledged one character was 'modeled after' Connell’s client, Ammar al Baluchi, an alleged al Qaeda money mover also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. He is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s nephew. The movie showed interrogators stringing up the Ammar character with a rope, forcing him to wear a dog collar, waterboarding him and stuffing him into a coffin-like box. The CIA has not acknowledged using those techniques on Baluchi but has admitted using them on other prisoners." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGitmo defendant’s lawyers: CIA gave ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ makers more info than us

2 of the Worst Warmongering Neocons Demand To Know

"Why were Beyonce and Jay Z allowed to visit Cuba? Of course, the real question is: how dare the state order us to stay away from places we want to go, East German style? I must say, I'd love to visit Cuba myself. I am told that if one does, one can go through Mexico City and the Cubans do not stamp your passport. Indeed, I'd like to visit Iran, Syria, Gaza, North Korea, and all the other places the parasites don't want us to go." Continue reading →

Continue Reading2 of the Worst Warmongering Neocons Demand To Know

Zurich bank cuts Cuba’s last Swiss franc channel

"Zurich's cantonal bank is halting all transfers to Cuba starting next month to avoid activities deemed in violation of a US embargo on the communist-ruled island. Bank spokeswoman Evelyne Brönnimann told AFP that new rules meant ZKB must now attest to its banking partners in the United States that its activities are in line with the US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) rules. 'If this is not the case, the United States can take actions against the banks like freezing their holdings,' the bank statement said. The head of the Swiss-Cuban Chamber of Commerce harshly criticised ZKB's decision, lamenting that the bank was removing the only banking channel operating in Swiss francs." Continue reading →

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US expat in Switzerland builds North Korean schools

"An American retiree living in Switzerland has gained rare access to the pariah state to build schools in the usually off-limits countryside. Typhoons had destroyed many North Korean schools, built with mud and hay instead of cement, and Carpenter's foundation agreed to help, becoming one of few independent aid groups in the country. Carpenter almost fully funds the North Korean projects himself, and laments the difficulty of convincing donors to pitch in. People 'don't see the human angle (or) the hardship,' he said. 'North Koreans are human beings who laugh and cry like people everywhere,' he said, describing people with a 'good sense of humour' who are curious about the outside world." Continue reading →

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Swiss government blocks arms sales to U.S. over human rights concerns

"The Swiss government regularly comes in for criticism over the export of firearms. A blocked sale of weapon components to the United States has recently put the spotlight on little known aspects of the global arms trade. The government in January vetoed the deal for handgun parts worth more than CHF400,000 on the grounds that the handguns – assembled in the US for export to Saudi Arabia - could be used to violate human rights." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSwiss government blocks arms sales to U.S. over human rights concerns