The LWOT: Musharraf says Britain was complicit in torture; Domestic terrorism arrest made in Alaska

Musharraf says Britain complicit in torture of Britons

In an interview for a BBC program on terrorism that ran yesterday, former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf suggested that he had "tacit approval" from British authorities to torture Britons suspected of terrorism ties, saying he was never told not to abuse British suspects in Pakistani custody (Guardian, BBC, Telegraph). Former senior British leaders responsible for security have denied the claim, which will be the subject of an independent investigation set to begin within the next few months (UPI). 

British prosecutors have charged a 30-year old nursing student, Ezedden Khalid Ahmed al-Khaledi, with providing money to attempted Swedish suicide bomber Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, who died after accidentally detonating an explosive on a busy Stockholm street last December (Guardian, Telegraph, Bloomberg, WSJ). Al-Khaledi was allegedly involved in terrorist fund-raising as far back as 2003.

Alaska police arrest militia suspects

National and local law enforcement in Fairbanks, Alaska this weekend arrested five purported members of the "sovereign citizens," a group the FBI considers domestic terrorists, on charges that they stockpiled weapons and plotted to kill several Alaska State Troopers and a federal judge (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner).

The FBI and NYPD are reportedly at loggerheads after the NYPD attempted to transfer the head of New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), an NYPD detective, to another unit for refusing to share task force information with his superiors (New York Daily News).  

Confusion over Gitmo provision

Julian Barnes of the Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration has confirmed that despite a line to the contrary in President Obama’s executive order on Guantánamo Bay last week, the administration will not apply Article 75 of the Geneva Protocols, which call for humane treatment and fair trials, to al Qaeda suspects (WSJ, Lawfare Blog, Lawfare Blog). The administration asserts instead that while military tribunals and detention practices are in keeping with Article 75, U.S. authorities are not bound by the provision.

Former Guantánamo and CIA inmate Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first Guantánamo inmate to face civilian trial, has reportedly avoided being transferred to the federal "supermax" prison in Florence, CO, and has instead been transferred to a high-security prison in the same complex (NYT). Ghailani was convicted last year for his involvement in the 1998 East African embassy bombings. 

Carol Rosenberg reports this weekend that the Obama administration’s decision to begin new military trials raises questions about possible death penalty sentences if the government decides to try detainees on capital charges (McClatchy). And the Globe and Mail highlights how Libyan rebels have attempted to portray themselves as separate from extremists, despite the fact that some rebels have fought with or received training from radical groups or spent time at Guantánamo (Globe and Mail).

Trials and Tribulations

• Leaked Indian interrogation records from interviews with a Hindu radical have shed light on anti-Muslim attacks by Hindu terrorists – allegedly supported by some nationalist leaders and army officers – attacks that in the past had been blamed on Pakistani extremists (Washington Post).
• Defense attorneys for Tawahhur Hussain Rana, who will stand trial in May on charges that he helped orchestrate the 2008 Mumbai attacks, have asked prosecutors for emails sent between Rana and key Mumbai planner David Coleman Headley (Chicago Tribune).  
• Prosecutors in Germany have charged German-Syrian Rami Makanesi, reportedly connected with Frankfurt Airport shooter Arid Uka, with belonging to a terrorist organization for the training he allegedly underwent with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (AP).
• American officials are concerned with growing calls among Egyptian protest leaders to release or re-try imprisoned members of the several radical organizations, including the al Qaeda-linked Gamaa Islamiyyah (WSJ).
• Dozens of people protested in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh this weekend, calling for the release of prisoners they say were wrongfully detained under the country’s anti-terrorism laws (VOA).
• Greek police forces this weekend raided safehouses reportedly belonging to the terrorist group Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire, seizing weapons and arresting six (AP).
• Nigerian security forces in the conflict-torn central city of Jos last Friday captured an explosives-filled truck, while militants reportedly from the radical group Boko Haram killed a nonviolent Muslim religious leader in the city (Reuters, AP).
• Bosnian protesters this weekend called on authorities to release six men of Middle Eastern and Afghan origin who had lived in the country for years but were stripped of their citizenship after the 9/11 attacks, on the grounds that they are national security threats (The Canadian Press).
• Worried about a rising threat from terrorism, Kyrgyzstan will soon be home to a U.S.-funded anti-terrorism center to train the country’s security forces (AP).