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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 →

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 →

Human rights court blocks extradition of U.K.-based terror suspect to U.S.

“Extraditing a UK-based terror suspect to an American ‘supermax’ high security prison would constitute ‘inhuman or degrading treatment’, the European court of human rights (ECHR) has ruled. The Strasbourg court barred the removal of Haroon Aswat, whose nationality is unknown, from Broadmoor psychiatric hospital to the US on account of his severe mental illness. Aswat, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, has been indicted in the US as a co-conspirator in a plan to establish a jihad training camp in Oregon. He was arrested in 2005 in Britain following a request from US authorities for extradition. His lawyers have resisted his removal since then in a series of appeals.” Continue reading →

Documenting “Detainee Treatment [sic for ‘Torture’]“

“‘The report of the blue ribbon Task Force on Detainee Treatment[sic for ‘torture’] is the most comprehensive, bipartisan investigation into the detention and treatment [sic for ‘torture’] of suspected terrorists yet published. The report’s first ‘finding’ states, ‘U.S. forces, in many instances, used interrogation techniques on detainees that constitute torture. American personnel conducted an even larger number of interrogations that involved ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.’ Both categories of actions violate U.S. laws and international treaties. Such conduct was directly counter to values of the Constitution and our nation.’ And remember, these are people who like Leviathan!” Continue reading →

British prisoner: ‘People are dying’ in Guantanamo Bay from systemic torture

“Aamer has never been charged or faced trial. Moreover he was cleared for release by the Bush administration in June 2007, a decision that was re-affirmed three years later. The British government has lobbied Washington on his behalf, stating on Sunday: ‘we want him released and returned to the UK as a matter of urgency’. The UK Foreign Office said it continued to monitor Aamer’s condition but stressed any decision to release him remained in the hands of the US government. In the meantime, the father of three continues to languish in a cell. He has never seen his youngest son, Faris, born while Aamer was in captivity, now living with family in London.” Continue reading →

Gitmo inmate who was deemed no threat on hunger strikes and force feedings

“‘Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. I never know when they will come. Sometimes they come during the night, as late as 11 pm, when I’m sleeping. There are so many of us on hunger strike now that there aren’t enough qualified medical staff members to carry out the force-feedings… They are feeding people around the clock just to keep up. ‘ Like most of the striking inmates, he has never been charged with a crime or put on trial, and is not viewed as a threat to US national security.” Continue reading →

Guantanamo Gulag and the Human Rights Lie

“The US military running the Guantanamo Bay prison have cracked down hard on the dozens of prisoners who have, in desperation, engaged in secret hunger strikes so that they may die in peace making their point about the American gulag without being force-fed by US authorities. Of the 166 who remain in indefinite detention, without charge or trial, 86 have been ‘cleared for release.’ But they will not be released. They will most likely be held until they die. Many have likely already gone insane, as they were captured with no evidence, given no trials, tortured, and forced to live in a tropical Siberia. Yet the US has the gall to hector and lecture [other countries] about ‘human rights.'” Continue reading →

Former Cheney aide demands Syria ‘exit strategy’ from Obama

“Mary Matalin, a Republican strategist and former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, on Sunday said that Americans had become “war wise” after the Iraq war and demanded that President Barack Obama produce an exit strategy before launching an attack on Syria. President George W. Bush and Matalin’s former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, were criticized for not having a post-war plan after invading Iraq in 2003. Even after Iraq held democratic elections in 2005, Bush said in his State of the Union address that he would ‘not set an artificial timetable.’ for leaving. That same year, Vice President Dick Cheney argued that the Iraq insurgency was in its ‘last throes.'” Continue reading →