Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts

We Definitely Don't Need No Oakland Yankies Mr Cameron

A follow up to: We Don't Need No Yankies Mr Cameron Written as a reply to Cameron's unstatesman like panic and knee-jerk reactions to the recent riots following the execution of Mark Duggan.

As you are probably aware, Oakland PD have been a tad enthusiastic in beating the shit out of it's citizens in dealing with the Oakland occupy protesters. I might have added: a tad enthusiastic beating the shit out of it's citizens in defence of corporate America. But I don't think that would have been entirely accurate, not judging by their past record and the sound of things. More a case of, because we can, and, because we like it, I would argue.

Oakland PD, having as it does, such a reputation for violence and systematic miscarriages of justice, it operates under the confines a Federal court order, telling it to behave itself.

Just the kind of role model we so desperately need to aspire to here in the UK, dontcha think?


Federal Judge Threatens Oakland Police Department With Court Takeover Over Ongoing Abuses
by Mark Karlin
Oct 1, 2011

Due to past law enforcement abuses, the Oakland Police Department (OPD) has been operating under the monitoring of a federal judge overseeing a consent decree since 2003.

Although it is difficult to set aside the deplorable record of the OPD in dealing with protesters for a moment - including Occupy Oakland advocates last Tuesday - it has a history of using excessive force on a daily basis. This includes the unnecessary drawing of guns, extortion and framing arrested individuals that is so egregious that the department may be put into receivership by the federal courts.

According to a September 11, 2011 article in the Bay Citizen, just a little over a month prior to the infamous Tuesday assault on Occupy Oakland, the federal judge overseeing the police department lambasted their conduct:

In a hearing that exposed the breadth of the problems facing Oakland, a federal judge blasted the Oakland Police Department Thursday for failing to make court-ordered changes designed to reduce police misconduct and abuse.

Before a courtroom full of city leaders and police department brass, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson highlighted a series of issues that "indicate to me the city and the department still don't get it."

Shortly prior to the assault on Occupy Oakland, the superintendent of the OPD resigned - after the scathing report by the federal judge - and Howard Jordan was appointed as interim chief of police. What was Jordan's prior role as assistant chief of the OPD? According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Jordan:

has been the Police Department's top authority on bringing the force into compliance with a consent decree ordered after four officers were accused more than a decade ago of systematically beating and framing suspects.

The consent decree is the most critical issue facing the department, as a federal judge warned last week that the city faces the possibility of having its Police Department placed in federal receivership due to its failure to fully comply with the court order. Such a move could result in the city losing control over its police budget, its biggest general fund expense.

Jordan, as interim superintendent, oversaw and directed the police action against Occupy Oakland supporters.

This federal consent decree is separate from the accord that the OPD was compelled to reach in 2004, which prohibits the use of potentially lethal and harmful suppression techniques against peaceful crowds, which BuzzFlash at Truthout pointed out they violated last week.

There's a thin blue line in law enforcement between enforcing the law and breaking the law. It's clear to US District Court Judge Henderson that the OPD keeps crossing that line. buzzflash.com


Little wonder then that: The search engine (Google) received a request from police in the US to remove videos it was alleged depicted acts of police brutality, it revealed. Second article in this post.
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Background RUC Pat Finucane Rosemary Nelson Colm McCartney Sean Farmer

The current story.

Apology for 1989 Finucane murder

The British Government is "deeply sorry" following the murder of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson has said.

Making a statement in the Commons, he told MPs that Mr Finucane's killing in front of his family on February 12 1989 was "a terrible crime", adding that there have been long-standing allegations of security force collusion in his murder. more

Update:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: EUR 45/017/2011
13 October 2011

United Kingdom/Northern Ireland: Deplorable government decision to renege on promise of public inquiry into Finucane killing


Amnesty International deplored yesterday’s announcement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, that there would be no public inquiry into the 1989 killing of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane as a failure to ensure full accountability. The Northern Ireland Secretary instead appeared before Parliament and stated that he had instructed a senior lawyer, Sir Desmond de Silva QC, to conduct a review of all the available documentation in relation to the case of Patrick Finucane in order “to produce a full public account of any involvement by the Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Security Service or other UK Government body in the murder of Patrick Finucane”.


Amnesty International said the decision reneged on past promises that the government would establish a public inquiry to investigate the killing of Patrick Finucane. The organization urged the government to honour its commitment to hold a public inquiry and set about its establishment without delay.


The proposed review falls far short of the requirements of international human rights law to ensure that there is an effective, independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the killing of Patrick Finucane. A review of documentation by Sir Desmond de Silva QC, regardless of how thorough it is, would remain an inadequate substitute for an inquiry held in public, with powers to compel witnesses and testimony, and conducted with the full participation of the family members. more



Background

An Phoblacht
February 2001
RUC handlers face prosecution

by Laura Friel

Two RUC Special Branch officers may face prosecution for their role in the killing of Belfast defence lawyer Pat Finucane. Papers have been sent by the Stevens team to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will decide whether the RUC handlers of William Stobie will be prosecuted.

As an agent working for the RUC, William Stobie is currently awaiting trial for his role in the Finucane killing. As a UDA quartermaster, Stobie has already admitted supplying and disposing of the weapons used in the shooting. Crucially, Stobie has said that he warned his handlers on at least two occasions ``that a murder was about to be committed''.

At first, the RUC claimed that they could not act on the information they received because they did not know who was the intended target. Stobie has claimed that he too was unaware of the intended target but according to another witness, the former journalist Neil Mulholland, Stobie did know the target was Finucane and may have told his handlers.

other British agent, Brian Nelson, in his role within the UDA, supplied a photograph of Pat Finucane and his personal details to the loyalist gang that carried out the killing. Nelson says he alerted his British Army handlers that Finucane was being targeted.

Now, according to a senior source within the Stevens team, the two RUC handlers are claiming that no such conversation with Stobie took place. The handlers, known only as `Ian' and `Raymond', have been questioned by detectives working within the Stevens investigation.

News that the two RUC handlers may face prosecution came as legal insiders are predicting that the case against their agent is about to collapse. Judge Liam McCollum is expected to rule within days on whether Stobie's defence team is entitled to medical reports on the chief prosecution witness.

Last year, former journalist and present NIO press officer Neil Mulholland, at the centre of the case against Stobie, dramatically signed himself into a psychiatric unit. At the time, An Phoblacht warned that the case might collapse.


January 2007


An Phoblacht
April 2001
RUC to face charges over Finucane killing

BY LAURA FRIEL

Two RUC officers who knew a loyalist gang was about to kill but did nothing to thwart the death squad who shot dead Belfast defence lawyer Pat Finucane in 1989 are to be charged with withholding information. The two facing charges are believed to be the Special Branch handlers of William Stobie, the UDA quartermaster who supplied and disposed of the weapons used in the assassination.

The RUC were alerted to a pending loyalist attack by Stobie 1 hour and 40 minutes before the killing, but failed to intervene to prevent the fatal attack. It is understood that the Stevens team will recommend charges be brought against the RUC officers in a report prepared for RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan.

News of the pending charges were leaked to the press as the case against the only other person charged in connection with the Finucane killing appeared about to collapse. William Stobie, a UDA quartermaster attached to a notorious loyalist gang based in North Belfast, was an agent working for RUC Special Branch at the time of the killing.

Stobie alerted his handlers when he was asked to supply weapons for a pending loyalist plot to target ``a top Provo''. A few days later, on Sunday 9 February, the day of the killing, Stobie made two calls to the RUC. The second call was made at 5.30pm. Stobie told his handler ``the team is out''.

The RUC knew the loyalist gang involved, they knew the area in which they operated and in the words of one commentator, ``as little as four vehicle check points could have thwarted this attack''. The RUC did nothing.

After the killing, Stobie alerted his RUC handlers when the principle weapon used in the shooting, a Browning automatic, was being moved. The RUC were given an opportunity to arrest the leading UDA gunman involved in the killing in possession of the murder weapon. The RUC did nothing.

Stobie claims that after the killing he was targeted for harassment by RUC Special Branch who planted weapons in his home. Stobie was arrested and charged with possession but the case against him was dropped after he threatened to reveal all he knew about the RUC Special Branch's culpability in the Finucane killing.

Stobie has also claimed that the RUC Special Branch were behind a plot to kill him in 1994 because they feared he would reveal their role. He claims that the UDA took him to a house and shot him six times. ``I was set up by RUC Special Branch because I was the only person who knew that they had done nothing to stop the murder,'' said Stobie.

The case against Stobie is on the verge of collapse after the chief prosecution witness withdrew his evidence. Former journalist Neil Mulholland, who is now employed as a NIO press officer, contacted the Director of Public Prosecutions last week to formally withdraw three statements implicating Stobie. Earlier in the year Mulholland had signed himself into a psychiatric hospital, effectively undermining his credibility as a witness.

During a court hearing last week, an attempt by Stobie's legal team to force disclosure of Mulholland's medical records was stalled when the proceedings were adjourned for another month at the request of the prosecution.

The news that two RUC officers are now facing charges does nothing to undermine the Finucane family's demand for an international independent public inquiry. As predicted, the Stevens inquiry has collapsed into what republicans and nationalists always suspected it was, a mechanism of damage limitation.

A campaign of vilification against Pat Finucane prior to his death began with RUC Special Branch. During an interrogation of a loyalist, RUC Special Branch officers suggested Finucane should be targeted. It was they who issued death threats against the solicitor through his clients. It was they who compiled a dossier and briefed British Minister Douglas Hogg, which promoted his House of Commons outburst about certain lawyers being too sympathetic to the IRA.

One of their agents, William Stobie, played a key role in the actual plot, a plot which the RUC Special Branch refused to thwart. In the aftermath, the RUC Special Branch ignored information which could have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the gunmen.

They intervened to suppress evidence when a loyalist confessed his role in the killing to an RUC detective. And if Stobie can be believed, they tried to stitch up a loyalist who knew too much. Withholding information? Conspiracy to murder would be nearer the mark.





An Phoblacht
September 2003
RUC questioned over Rosemary Nelson killing

Two former RUC police members have been questioned over allegations that they threatened the life of the Lurgan defence lawyer Rosemary Nelson and may have colluded in her death.

Nelson died in a loyalist car bombing in March 1999. The circumstances of her death mirrored those accompanying that of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane ten years earlier. In both cases, death threats by members of the RUC Special Branch preceded the killings.

Information that two former RUC members had been questioned in connection with the killing surfaced as relatives of Rosemary Nelson were told that the inquiry was finished, despite the failure to secure any convictions.

It is understood that the two RUC suspects were questioned following claims by a convicted loyalist killer that two named RUC officers had asked him to have Rosemary Nelson shot dead.

Loyalist Trevor McKeown first made the claim to a newspaper earlier this year. McKeown said that, in 1997, during an interrogation regarding an unrelated sectarian killing, the RUC members questioning him offered to pass on the Lurgan solicitor's personal details to have her killed.

McKeown's allegations were initially believed to have been linked to a bid to overturn his current conviction, but Rosemary Nelson's family have recently discovered that the officers named by McKeown were two of a number of RUC personnel questioned six years ago, after the solicitor filed a complaint against RUC threats to her life.

An internal RUC investigation followed the complaint but was subsequently discredited. Later a team headed by London Metropolitan Commander Niall Mulvihill was sent to investigate the complaint.

Mulvihill's team questioned a number of RUC members, but his report was never made public. No action was taken, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

Following McKeown's allegations, the two former RUC members agreed to be interviewed by the Port team, but denied the loyalist's claims.

Rosemary's sister Bernie said the family had first wondered if McKeown was "trying to tell a story for his own ends", but later, "when we heard that he named names which were in the Mulvihill report, we were concerned".

The family was recently informed that the Port investigation had ended. Commenting, a spokesperson for the family said that they were disappointed, but not surprised that it appeared that no one would be prosecuted for Nelson's murder.

"It had been the family's view for some time that the Port investigation was not going to expose collusion in the case, nor was it going to bring people to justice."

The family went on to say that, in their opinion, there is extensive evidence suggesting collusion in the murder and that they are placing their trust in the inquiry being undertaken by Judge Cory. The retired Canadian Supreme Court Judge is currently examining six controversial cases, to determine if there is evidence of collusion sufficient enough to lead a public inquiry.




An Phoblacht
September 2003
Court hears how PSNI interferes with forensic evidence

Sinn Féin's Pat Doherty MP said it is ``remarkable'' that the British Secretary of State Paul Murphy has not made any comment following revelations made last week in a Belfast Court the senior members of the PSNI police have attempted to interfere with the work of the Forensic Science Agency in order to wrongly convict people.

The claims came from one of the North's most senior forensic scientists, Ann Irwin, during a court case in Belfast last week.

On Tyesday, the case in which the revelations were originally made was dismissed because there was no evidence linking the man charged to the action. Despite this senior PSNI members attempted to secure his conviction based on false and flawed forensic evidence.

No statement has been made on the issue by PSNI chief Hugh Orde, his boss Paul Murphy or any member of the Policing Board.

Mr. Doherty said:

``In any other judicial system a revelation that senior members of the police force have over a period of years interfered in the work of a Forensic Science Agency in order to wrongfully convict people would spark outrage.

``It says much about public confidence in the system of justice in the six counties that most people are not surprised by the revelation.''

He demanded to know the identity of the senior officers involved.

``We can only assume they are Special Branch members and because of their seniority, close colleagues of the Chief Constable Hugh Orde.,,. From this silence are we to assume that the above individuals condone this practice or do not feel it important?''

``It is time for those who defend this force to tell us straight what they think of this scandal. It is time for the Secretary of State to speak on this matter and it is time for the many hundreds if not thousands of people convicted in the Diplock Courts on the basis of Forensic Evidence to seek a review of their convictions.''




An Phoblacht
November 2003
Stevens seeks prosecutions

London police chief John Stevens, who is heading an investigation into British Crown force collusion with loyalist killers, revealed today his inquiries have led to new breakthroughs.

He has already established ``shocking'' levels of colluson in the murders of Belfast defence lawyer Pat Finucane and another loyalist victim, Adam Lambert.

But in Belfast today he confirmed he has sent files on another eight to ten murders to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the North of Ireland, and more were on the way.

Brian Nelson, a British military agent who acted as the intelligence officer for a UDA death-squad, is at the centre of the allegations.

Nelson, operating for the British Army's murderous `Force Research Unit', directed the UDA to kill Mr Finucane in front of his family at their North Belfast home in February 1989.

Stevens also confirmed his 12-year-long investigation into claims that the RUC police Special Branch and British army units were involved in assassination plots is now centred on an alleged top informer inside the IRA, referred to as `Stakeknife'.

Stakeknife himself carried out killings on behalf of the British Army, it has been claimed.

It is also alleged that loyalist gunmen who planned to murder Stakeknife were re-directed by Nelson to kill a West Belfast pensioner, Francisco Notorantonio, in order to save the life of the British Army agent.

Mr Nelson died earlier this year in mysterious circumstances, but Stevens claimed his investigation ``know exactly what happened and why it happened.''

He said he intends to continue his investigations for another six months.

Meanwhile, the British Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, said yesterday that he hoped a decision on Canadian judge Peter Cory's report into alleged collusion would be made by the end of the year.

The Cory investigation, which was set up to recommend whether public inquiries are necessary into certain collusion cases, has been criticised as a delaying tactic by the families of Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson and Robert Hamill, who all died in controversial circumstances.

In an interview in New York, Mr Murphy said that Judge Cory would come to London and Dublin next week to discuss his reports with the governments, and ``as soon as possible after that we'd want to make them public.''




An Phoblacht
December 2003
FORMER RUC MAN BACKS COLLUSION CLAIM

A former RUC detective has claimed that police informers who carried out murders were later shielded from prosecution.

Speaking on a UTV documentary, Johnston Brown offers his support to Raymond McCord, who believes two men involved in the killing of his son worked for the RUC Special Branch.

Raymond Junior, a 22-year-old former RAF man, was battered to death in Newtownabbey six years ago.

His father believes he was killed by the unionist paramilitary UVF to cover up a drug deal.

``I know exactly what happened to him. he went to visit a friend in jail and after the jail visit he came home and was lured to his death by so-called friends,'' said the victim's father.

But Mr McCord's most serious allegation is that two men involved in the killing were working for the RUC Special Branch.

The allegation is now being investigated by the Police Ombudsman Nuala O`Loan.

``As a protestant from a unionist background, I always thought when I heard about this collusion it was republican propaganda. It`s not republican propaganda, its the truth.''

On tonights Insight show, he is backed by former detective Johnston Brown, who says members of the UVF in Mount Vernon appeared to be `above the law'.

Brown said: ``Could we have put the majority of them in jail in 1997, 1998, 1999? Absolutely. Lives would have been saved time and time again. There appeared to be no will to prosecute certain individuals.''

Meanwhile, Mr McCord is facing a campaign of intimidation by the paramilitaries.

`SPY' CIRCUS FOR HIGH COURT

Meanwhile, Freddie Scappaticci, who denies being the British Army agent and IRA informer `Stakeknife', has been summonsed by a senior British intelligence operative.

Sam Rosenfeld, who once worked undercover gathering intelligence on the IRA in both the Six and 26 Counties, has also summonsed London police chief John Stevens to appear at the High Court in London.

Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Rosenfeld said: ``I want the truth. It's time the truth about all this collusion was known.''

The `Stakeknife' figure is accused of carrying out a series of killings of Republicans while working undercover in the IRA on behalf of the British Army's terrorist unit, the Force Research Unit (FRU).

Sinn Féin has backed Scappaticci in regard to the allegations made against him. Mr Scappaticci's Belfast lawyer said his client did not know Mr Rosenfeld.

The case is due to be heard on December 17.

Stevens, who is continuing his inquiry into allegations of collusion between the British forces and paramilitary asssasins, has confirmed he is to question an agent known as Stakeknife. They have yet to meet.

Rosenfeld, a building contractor, worked for the FRU between 1990 and 1993. British Defence chiefs are attempting to gag him to prevent damaging details being revealed about its `dirty war' in Ireland.

A former intelligence agent known as Kevin Fulton and Martin Ingram, once a FRU handler turned whistle-blower have been summonsed as well. Fulton has confirmed he will be attending.

Mr Rosenfeld claimed his partner lost their baby daughter a month before she was due to be born after a police raid on their home in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh in June 1992. He was not there at the time and is understood to blame bungling by the security forces for the loss of his unborn child.

He and Mr Fulton have also claimed their military bosses reneged on an agreement to re-settle them with a pension after their links with the intelligence agencies ended.

The the 1989 murder of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane is one of a number of killings involving alleged collusion which is under investigation by Sir John`s team.

Mr Rosenfeld claimed this week that the British Ministry of Defence would attempt a cover up of details of their operations in Northern Ireland in the years before the IRA`s first ceasefire in August 1994.

He also said he had suffered British harassment for a decade.

He added: ``Everyone has suffered, particularly families who have had relatives murdered in disputed circumstances. They need closure in the same way I do.

``Sir John Stevens who has been investigating collusion for the last 14 years is in a position to answer important questions.''




Daily Ireland
May 24 2006

PAID FOR SILENCE - Finucane killer serves three years of 22-year term

Barrett’s generous relocation package for silence on state collusion

The killer of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane has been given a generous relocation package by the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) in return for his silence on the extent of state collusion, one of his would-be victims claimed last night.

UDA gunman and British agent Ken Barrett was freed by the Sentence Review Commission yesterday after applying for early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

It is understood he has been relocated to begin a new life in Britain.

Barrett had served nearly three years in Maghaberry prison after pleading guilty to murdering Mr Finucane, who was shot 14 times in his family home in north Belfast by a gang of UDA gunmen.

An investigation by metropolitan police commissioner, John Stevens, confirmed that several gang members were paid agents of British intelligence agencies, including the notorious Force Research Unit.

Barrett dramatically changed his plea to guilty during the last week of his trial at Belfast Crown Court in September 2004. He was jailed for a minimum of 22 years for a series of offences, including murder and attempted murder.
Belfast Sinn Féin councillor Alex Maskey was targeted by the UDA triggerman in June 1988 while he was having a meal at an Antrim Road hotel – one year before Mr Finucane’s murder.

Another British agent – Shankill Road intelligence officer Brian Nelson – contacted Barrett and told him of the Sinn Féin man’s location. By the time Barrett arrived at the hotel, Mr Maskey had already left.

In 1992 Nelson pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to ten years, after being exposed as a British agent by the Steven’s inquiry team in 1990.

Mr Maskey said Nelson – who was also involved in Mr Finucane’s murder – had been released under similar circumstances to Barrett. He told Daily Ireland that Barrett’s release had been a “further act of collusion” and that the British agent had been given a generous relocation package in exchange for his silence on the extent of the state’s nefarious activities.

Mr Maskey said: “Nelson had also changed his plea to guilty in the last stages of his trial and was released during the late 1990s. He was relocated and was given a substantial financial package.

“There is no reason to believe that Barrett hasn’t been given the same treatment.”




An Phoblacht
November 1999
Families seek truth after 25 years

RUC implicated in double killing

by Laura Friel

WHY DID RUC officers who recognised the UDR checkpoint as a ``fake'' when they were illegally stopped by loyalists 45 minutes before a double sectarian murder do nothing to challenge the masquerading gang?

That's the question which Sean McCartney, the brother of one of two GAA fans who were killed at a bogus UDR roadblock almost 25 years ago, wants answering now.

Colm McCartney and Sean Farmer were travelling from Dublin back to Derry after attending a GAA football semi final in August 1975. Their bodies were found, riddled with bullets, just before midnight, a few hundred yards north of the border in Tullyvallen, near Newtownhamilton.

``We always suspected collusion by the RUC or UDR,'' says Sean. The family's suspicions were raised after the bodies of the two men were found outside their car. They were later told by the RUC that there had been a ``fake'' UDR patrol in the vicinity just prior to the killings.

``Over the years, a number of people who also drove through that bogus checkpoint have spoken to us,'' says Sean. Why Sean and Colm were specifically selected for murder might never be known. ``Obviously they were easily identified as Catholics,'' says Sean. ``Perhaps they also drove into the checkpoint alone.''

Confirmation of an RUC patrol also being stopped at the bogus checkpoint recently came to light via a copy of inquest affadavits in which three RUC officers - Sergeant F. Bartholomew and Constables Robert Harvey Gibson and Mervyn Coleman - described the incident.

According to the documents, an armed RUC patrol ``in uniform, with a civilian jacket over tunics'' and travelling in a ``hired'' car, was heading towards the border on the main Newtownhamilton to Castleblayney Road when they were stopped by a man dressed in ``full military combat uniform'' and waving a red torch. The RUC patrol also saw a second man, dressed in a similar uniform and carrying an SLR rifle, lying in a ditch.

The RUC officers describe how one of the uniformed men approached their vehicle and asked for the driver's licence before realising that the three men in the car were members of the RUC. ``Realising something was wrong,'' says RUC Sergeant Bartholomew, ``I told Constable Gibson to drive on.''

After the incident, the RUC patrol drove back to their barracks. On the way, they radioed ahead to check that there were no authorised UDR patrols in the area. It was confirmed. The RUC patrol was stopped at 10.45pm. The inquest puts the time of the two deaths at 11.30pm. ``The RUC had 45 minutes to do something and they did nothing,'' says Sean.

But the questions don't stop there.

Presumably, after the killings, the RUC patrol would have been able to provide vital identification evidence for the ongoing murder investigation. Yet, to date, no one has been questioned about the killings by the RUC.

In a recent affidavit by former RUC Sergeant John Weir, Weir names those involved in the Farmer/McCartney murders. He names UDR Sergeant Robert McConnell, Portadown UVF killer Robin Jackson, and an RUC Reservist. ``The RUC Reservist named by Weir is still alive,'' says Sean, ``but as far as we know, he has never been questioned about the killings. For all we know he may still be a serving member of the RUC.''




An Phoblacht
January 1999
'We are Special Branch'

A republican ex-prisoner is in fear of his life after four men dressed in civilian clothing, claiming to be RUC officers, tried to abduct him.

The incident happened on Monday evening at about 5.15pm as the man, a first year student at Queen's Univerity, was leaving an exam centre in the univerity's leisure complex. He told An Phoblacht that he noticed two men acting suspiciously, and apparently watching him, at the front of the building.

``One was talking on a mobile phone, the other was standing near the door. I went back and made a phone call then left by a side door, but I had to go past the front entrance and the pair spotted me and came after me. At the end of the street, at the Stranmillis Road junction, another two were standing about. I went to a bus stop but they came toward me and I moved away. Further up the street I made my way to a public phone box and two of the men approached me, one got in front of me and the other grabbed me''.

It was then that one of the men addressed the man by name and said, `come with us, we are Special Branch, and we want to talk to you for ten minutes'.

The man broke away and ran into a nearby bakery.

``At this point I was really freaking out, I didn't know who these guys were and thought I was going to be abducted and shot. I kept telling a bakery assistant that I thought I was going to be shot but she didn't take me seriously. Eventually I got her to ask the men for ID, which they produced''.

The ex-POW then left the shop and pushed his way through the second pair of men who were at the door and went to the phone box and called his family to arrange a lift home.

``As I was making the call the four tried to pull me out of the box and when I asked them if they were going to arrest me they threatened to `kick the fuck out of me'. They warned me that they would `be on my back any time I was out of West Belfast'''.

The man said that because of the row he had in the shop, which made their approach so public, the men left him alone to wait for his family to pick him up.

``I am fearful of my life,'' said the man, ``this incident was very frightening and then to be threatened in the way I was makes me believe these men were up to something sinister''.

Phoblacht phoned the bakery into which the man fled and a manager confirmed that the incidnet had occurred. He also confirmed that he phoned the RUC about a second incident which occurred later that night and they admitted that it was RUC members who followed the West Belfastman.


Related:
Jim Gamble: Looking Back (Operation Ballast - RUC collusion)

Trust us, we're the BBC. Shurely Shome Mishtake (Ronnie Flanagan/Rosemary Nelson murder/Shameful BBC bias)

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Who Does This Remind You Of?

Firstly let me make something thing quite clear. I neither wanted to, or ever intended to, ever again blog about the two people responsible for Madeleine McCann's disappearance, her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. But...

But it's that damn twitter thing, it's almost as if someone is poking me every couple of minutes with a sharp stick and saying, what about this then, you remember this bit dontcha? And that's the trouble, I do, and unfortunately, all too well.

Perhaps before going further, and moving to the crux of the post, it might be politic to explain my reasons, however reluctant those reasons might have been initially, for my getting involved in this sordid circus.

More than happy blogging against injustice in my own little way here at Only in America, I can't in all honesty say what and when was the tipping point. I can only hazard a guess that it must have been a reaction to the surfeit of sycophantic mush and drivel that we were being constantly bombarded with from every shameful and irresponsible media outlet in the country. And that is bar none by the way, from the Guardian to the Star, the dereliction of duty by the media, being equalled only by that of Law enforcement in this country. Guilty all!

But get involved I did, in a light hearted manner, and soon thereafter The McCann Gallery came into being. And here I must stress, it was light hearted, because to us all, all of us with two neurons bolted together that is, that it was patently obvious who was responsible for the disappearance of Madeleine, and that justice would be done, and Mummy and Daddy would get theirs. Justice all round, justice for Madeleine, and justice for those responsible for her demise and subsequent disappearance without trace, the same Mummy and Daddy, the Doctors McCann.

And just in case anyone should be in doubt as to where I stand on the issue, let me borrow this from a previous post; and I will even post a graphic to reinforce that stance.

....And what is it all for? Two chavy Doctors who are as clearly guilty of all they are suspected of, as equally clear they are both categorically insane. And insane they are, who else in their right mind would have the affront to talk about reputation given the circumstances that surround them?

People on occasion ask me how I can be so sure they are guilty, invariably my reply; I can use a spoon. And that really is it in nutshell, once you have reached that level of sophistication, this farce, this charade lays open to you, all Danae to the stars if you will.


And that's it! that's all the level of sophistication you need to attain, to draw the right conclusion in this case. I can use a spoon, therefore I can conclude. But what does that then say of the Home Office, Leicester plod, and England's finest, the Met?

eta: And all you plods involved in this ''review'' if you can't see the obvious (or choose not to) and if at the end of it all, these two aren't sat in a cell, then it's time to hand the badge back in. Or give it to the ape with the spoon, I'm sure he would make better use of it than you ineffectual fucks.

But then something happened to change all that light heartedness, it soon became obvious, thanks to both Portuguese and British Government machinations, that there was never going to be any justice. Justice, unlike Madeleine McCann had gone straight out the window. Aided and abetted in this country, by every Government organisation, and every NGO alike.

Aided and abetted by all, other than one small section of society who were having none of it, bloggers. Where would this case be now if bloggers hadn't dug their heels in? The same place Madeleine McCann finds herself, in a hole somewhere, I can't tell you where exactly, but I know two people who can.

I'm proud to call myself a blogger, whether I do any good I don't really know, but I know it's better than sitting on my arse and not railing about injustices in this world. Not when the tools to do so are so readily available to all, and at no cost to any of us. Long live a free and unrestricted internet.

Equally as people asked me, how could I be so sure that the McCann's were guilty, they then started to ask, particularly as my graphics became increasingly more cutting: How can you be so cruel? ....... It was at this point that I was going to write a few words by way of a reply, but a check of the archives show that they are already writ, here they be.

Cards On The Table

It would appear some of my recent posts are not to everybody's liking, not PC enough, nasty language and all that.

To my detractors I say this:

No matter what I produce, no matter what I say, no matter how I say it; it is nothing but nothing compared to what these two creatures have pulled, it is nothing compared to the people they have used and it is nothing compared to the people they are trying to destroy.

When I think what Goncalo Amaral has gone through, and continues to go through, it is not but scandalous, it is heinous.

He has effectively lost his job, his career is over after I don't know how many years. He finds himself in court on trumped up charges, and astonishingly convicted of them, but that part is a Portuguese matter.

But what is not a Portuguese matter is the way this country has behaved towards the man, a man who's only crime was to be a copper, do his job and try to find out what happened to Madeleine McCann.

And a crime it must be, for I can see no other reason why this Government should collude with the Portuguese in seeking his removal from the investigation.

A crime it must be, for I can see no other reasons that the man and his good name have been sullied and dragged through the mud and portrayed as everything from incompetent to lazy to smelly, sweaty, sardine muncher.

And who is it that presumes to sit in judgement on the man and write such xenophobic vitriolic trash? none other than those champions of morals, seekers of truth, the UK press.

A press more interested in reporting, and falsely, Goncalo Amaral's luncheon habits than it is of finding out just what happened to "Our Maddie."

A press, that had it given over just a fraction of its attention and one tenth of its column inches to inquire into all the glaring contradictions in this case, had it done that, then things might, as we stand today, look a whole lot different.

A press so obviously biased, so derelict in its duties and so utterly vile in its manner of reporting that it is the shame of this Nation.

And it is as a Nation that we should get down on our knees in shame and beg the forgiveness of Goncalo Amaral.

But our treatment of Amaral is but a nothing compared to that of Madeleine McCann by her own parents.

Just when I think this sordid pair cannot go any lower, they never fail to surprise me by plumbing new depths, in their equally sordid and undignified use of their own daughter.

A daughter I might add, for who's death the are responsible, as equally as they are responsible for hiding her body, but they are unequalled, they are unparalleled as parents in their grotesque and obscene manner in which they have used of their daughter's name, image and memory, as they hatch and move from one vile plot to the next in an effort to cover their crimes.

This is where I stand, this is how I will be counted, I will write what I want in any manner I want, and I say to my detractors, go and fuck yourselves, don't visit here, go to fucking devil, and take your PC with you.


OK, let's have a look at a couple of clips and words oh so familiar.

It's the first bloke, Scott Peterson, that is the star of the show, unless of course you want to compare Susan Smith with Kate McCann. (video provided)

Scott Peterson: At this point unfortunately, it has reached a point where suspicion of me, is keeping people from searching for Laci.

Its lost that um there focussing on me, we need to ask people when was the last time they really though about Laci missing? as opposed to when the suspicions that swirl around me. Currently um its important that we get people out there looking for Laci again. Transcript for all here.




Yes that's the one, don't look at me look at the bogey man, or straw man as the case may be. Change of plan, no link, here is the graphic in person.



A collection of McCann's odious utterances and malignant mantras can be found, along with the thoughts of a couple of others, here. A Blight On Humanity: Gerry McCann

And here below, a rendition of Susan Smith, performed by Kate McCann.



Vile creatures.

A couple of posts previous, that may be of interest.

A McQuestion Or Two

Barking, Or Something Else Entirely? eta: This really is a must read, but do strap in first.
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End of The Line


Rupert Murdoch The Fat Controller



Martin Brunt Owned By The Fat Controller



Silly Little Bollocks



Sir Paul Stephenson John Yates End of The Line



Neil Wallis Andy Hayman End of The Line



David Cameron Andy Coulson End of The Line
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Paul Dacre and The Daily Mail Making Shit Up! Shurely Not, Shurely Shome Mishtake?


MailWatch has the story, and I have a few piccies for you. Just a few of what can be found throughout my various ex-blogs in the sideber.

Does Dacre and his McMail hold a special place in my heart? You might say so.










Just in passing, I have featured previously, a story by the offending hack, Nick Pisa.


- - -

Caricature du jour
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Clarence Thomas Should Be Sat in a Cell Not on a Supreme Court Bench

When I think about all the poor schmucks that are locked up for years on end, for trivialities. And then there is this bent motherfucker, swanning around with impunity, grabbing every kickback he can, it makes my fucking blood boil. Cocksucker!

I mean, he's no Wall Street slag, although you wouldn't know it, he's a Supreme Court Justice for Christsake. A bent one!

GEORGE! George Carlin, where are you? below.

Clarence Thomas has his own tag here.

Clarence Thomas Should Be Investigated For Nondisclosure, Democratic Lawmakers Say

WASHINGTON -- Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called for a federal investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to report hundreds of thousands of dollars on annual financial disclosure forms.



Led by House Rules Committee ranking member Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), 20 House Democrats sent a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States -- the entity that frames guidelines for the administration of federal courts -- requesting that the conference refer the matter of Thomas' non-compliance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to the Department of Justice.



The letter outlines how, throughout his 20-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Thomas routinely checked a box titled "none" on his annual financial disclosure forms, indicating that his wife had received no income. But in reality, the letter states, she earned nearly $700,000 from the Heritage Foundation from 2003 to 2007 alone.
Slaughter called it "absurd" to suggest that Thomas may not have known how to fill out the forms.

"It is reasonable, in every sense of the word, to believe that a member of the highest court in the land should know how to properly disclose almost $700,000 worth of income," Slaughter said in a statement. "To not be able to do so is suspicious, and according to law, requires further investigation. To accept Justice Thomas’s explanation without doing the required due diligence would be irresponsible."
The letter also cites a June report in The New York Times indicating Thomas may have regularly benefited from the use of a private yacht and airplane owned by real estate magnate Harlan Crowe and failed to disclose the travel as a gift or travel reimbursement.
Current law requires the Judicial Conference to refer to the Attorney General any judge the conference "has reasonable cause to believe has willfully failed to file a report or has willfully falsified or willfully failed to file information required to be reported."



Slaughter's press statement also notes that the Heritage Foundation was a prominent opponent of the Affordable Care Act, an issue the Supreme Court is expected to rule on by next summer.
"The Attorney General would be the appropriate person to investigate the issue of non-disclosure, and that is why my colleagues and I are making this request today," Slaughter said. "I cannot determine guilt or innocence, but I can request that the government do our due diligence in investigating a situation that strikes me, and many other members of Congress, as suspicious." HuffPo

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Ali Dizaei: Scotland Yard insiders describe the decision as "unbelievable"

I'll bet they fucking did!


When you've read the report, should you wish, you can go here and follow the link and listen to the events of the evening that Dizaei had Waad al-Baghdadi nicked.

Originally I had featured both the Guardian and Telegraph reports on this astounding piece of news, both are now consigned to the memory hole in favour of this report from the London Evening Standard, who seem to be a bit more in touch with the reality of the situation.

Though I guess, in the case of a prosecutor, it's something you would hardly want to go to court with, there arise certain situations where one has to ask a question, of yourself or others or the world for that matter. Let me give you a for instance.

A three year old child, in the care of her parents goes missing without a trace. The parents claim she was kidnapped. The dogs are brought in, and everywhere stinks of death.

What are the odds?

From the highest echelons of the shiny buttons brigade, to the lowest of the low, the barely literate woodentops, corruption runs through the Met like water over Niagara, always has, always will, and like the water over Niagara, in amounts that stagger the imagination.

That one of the shiny button brigade, gets nicked and convicted for misconduct, such a polite term isn't it? Now none of us are strangers to cases of wrongful conviction, but when one of the shiny button brigade, gets nicked and convicted for corruption and abusing his power, among other things, and then somehow manages to have that conviction overturned, what are the odds?


Police forced to give Ali Dizaei his job back
Justin Davenport,
30 Sep 2011

Ali Dizaei, the Scotland Yard chief jailed for corruption, has been sensationally reinstated today as a Met commander.

The officer won his job back four months after his convictions for misconduct were quashed by the Appeal Court.

Mr Dizaei, 49, who spent a year in prison, was allowed to return by a secret meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority's professional standards sub-committee.

He said: "I am delighted and really happy to be back in the police service. I intend to clear my name and I will do that irrespective of how long it takes."

However, it is understood MPA officials today took the decision to suspend him as a police officer pending his retrial on corruption allegations.

Technically he has been reinstated as a £90,000-a-year Met commander on full pay and conditions. He said he would appeal to the High Court against any decision to suspend him.

Mr Dizaei claimed the MPA committee took the reinstatement decision after a police appeals tribunal headed by a QC "unanimously" dismissed his sacking. Neither the MPA nor the Met made any initial comment today.



But the decision sent shockwaves through Scotland Yard, with insiders describing the decision as "unbelievable".

Mr Dizaei's lawyers are expected to challenge his suspension in the courts, arguing that other senior white police staff have been allowed to stay in their posts while investigations into misconduct take place.

Mr Dizaei will be formally reinstated when his police warrant card is re-
turned. It is understood that other members of the MPA were unaware of the move this morning.

The decision was taken last night by six members of the sub-committee, who held a session behind closed doors to discuss the case.

One insider said officials were left with no legal alternative but to overturn the decision to dismiss the officer after the appeal court quashed his conviction.

Mr Dizaei last year became the most senior officer in 33 years to be jailed for corruption.

He was convicted in February last year after a jury at Southwark crown court found him guilty of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in a public office.

The policeman was found to have arranged the false arrest of Waad al-Baghdadi, a web designer who had done some work with him.

Iranian-born Mr Dizaei, who wore his uniform at the time, was accused of arresting Mr al-Baghdadi outside the Persian Yas restaurant in Kensington, despite knowing he did not have reasonable grounds to do so.

He was also alleged to have perverted the course of justice by falsely claiming in written statements that he was a victim of an unprovoked assault by the man.

Mr Dizaei, previously a high-flying officer tipped as a possible Met Commissioner, was dismissed from the force in March last year.

In May this year he won an appeal against conviction.

The appeal court ruled that he should face a retrial and the case is expected to be heard early next year.

The officer, a former president of the National Black Police Association, pleaded not guilty to the charges at a court hearing in June. LES

Come back Andy Hayman, all is forgiven.
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Judge Rules East Dublin GA Shooting Justified: Well He Would Wouldn't He?

This is an update of a previous story I ran, the same story that can be accessed by following the dashboard video of the shooting link in the main body of this report.

Just another niggrah and just another example of Gawjah Justice I guess!

Judge Rules East Dublin Shooting Justified
Sep 8, 2011

A Laurens County magistrate judge ruled Thursday afternoon that a July 2010 fatal shooting by a police officer was justified.

Judge Donald Gillis declined to issue a warrant against East Dublin police office Jeffery Deal for killing Melvin Williams.

Gillis cited police-cruiser dashboard video that seemed to show Williams as the aggressor before he was shot and killed.

Earlier Thursday, he heard recorded statements from two witnesses to the shooting, who said they saw Williams attack the officer and try to take his gun.

He said Deal's lack of arrest powers was not a factor in his decision.

Gillis ruled around 6:45 p.m., after a hearing that lasted for more than five hours in the Laurens County courthouse.

Williams' family stood and left the courtroom while Gillis was still announcing his ruling. District Attorney Craig Fraser and East Dublin police chief William Leutke also left without comment.

Deal shot and killed Williams in July 2010, but GBI records show that the officer lacked arrest powers. Williams family argues that he had no authority to stop and shoot Williams, calling that "false imprisonment."

Then, a lawyer for the Williams family questioned Leutke -- who, according to the GBI, also lacked arrest powers, because he failed to get the required training.

He was asked when he realized that almost his entire department lacked arrest powers, and he said, "At this time, it was brought to my attention," but he did not explain.

Williams' family also argues that the dashboard video of the shooting contradicts Deal's account of the arrest, that the traffic stop was not warranted, and that East Dublin's department lacked any training or policy on the use of deadly force.

Leutke said he did not investigate the shooting, which was turned over immediately to the GBI.

He says he comforted Deal at the shooting scene because he was "upset."

Later, Judge Donald Gillis heard from GBI investigator Jerry Jones, who discussed the shooting investigation. In answer to a question from the Williams family's lawyer, he said a crack pipe was found on the passenger seat of the cruiser that Deal was driving.

He said Deal didn't know where the crack pipe came from and said it wasn't his normal cruiser. (Whatever you say officer)

Later, the judge heard recorded statements from two witnesses to the shooting, who said they saw Williams attack the officer and try to take his gun.

Lawyers in both sides completed closing arguments after 6 p.m. Source and photo.

Georgia! Georgia USA, trailer trash capital of the fucking world. Try a Google image search for East Dublin GA and see what you get.

Time has moved on since I first posted this, but I think we can rest assured the situation hasn't.

Kind of reminds me of the tale of Billy Bob Bodean, who moved from Bumfuck Alabama to Scrotumville Georgia and the average IQ of both towns went up.

First posted here, George Wallace "The Little Judge" and All Round Good Ol' Boy. Quite an amazing bit of redneck, racist, social and political history.



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Oi! You Lot, Yes You Twitter. How ''Offensive'' is Killing an Innocent Man, Black or Otherwise

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The Wonderful World of Tony Blair: Dispatches CH4 Video

h/t ICH for bringing this to my attention, but sad to say their copy of The Wonderful World of Tony Blair, Dispatches CH4 is very low res. No harm, you can watch a better quality stream via CH4 Youtube. Link below.

Not had chance yet to watch it myself, probably later.



Yes, I'd look fucking embarrassed too.


The Wonderful World of Tony Blair

Since resigning in June 2007 Tony Blair has financially enriched himself more than any ex-Prime Minister ever. Reporter Peter Oborne reveals some of the sources of his new-found wealth, much of which comes from the Middle East.

On the day Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official representative Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. By January 2009 he had set up Tony Blair Associates - his international consultancy - which handles multi-million pound contracts in the Middle East.

It is so secretive we don't know all the locations they do business in. Dispatches shows that at the same time as Blair is visiting Middle East leaders in his Quartet role he is receiving vast sums from some of them. If Blair represented the UK government, the EU, the IMF, the UN or the World Bank, this would not be permitted. watch



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John Yates is a Bent Scumbag Copper: It's Time He Was Nicked For Corruption

Ex-copper that should read.

''I've done nothing wrong, but I shall resign my two hundred grand a year job.''

Just like his gaffer resigned from his quarter of a million little earner.

Met spent £5,000 on Yates's legal bill without authorisation
By Cahal Milmo
26 September 2011

Scotland yard has been accused of spending more than £5,000 without authorisation on legal advice from a high-profile libel firm for one of its top police officers to enable him to pursue a defamation complaint, The Independent can reveal.

The Yard paid a total of £7,175 earlier this year to enable former assistant commissioner John Yates to hire the law firm Carter Ruck after a national newspaper published an article that he believed questioned his integrity with regard to the investigation of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Mr Yates resigned in July amid criticism of his conduct.

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which must authorise any spending by the Yard on external lawyers to defend the reputation of a serving officer, confirmed yesterday that it had set a cap of £1,500 on that expenditure.

Police sources said they believed the additional funding had been authorised, but the MPA has demanded an "urgent investigation" after its chairman, Kit Malthouse, was forced to apologise to MPs for providing incorrect information about the amount spent on legal fees. He also had to write to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee to correct the figure.

An MPA source said Mr Malthouse was "not best pleased" at the disclosure of the additional spending.

Mr Malthouse said: "I have asked for an urgent inquiry as to why my decision to cap that expenditure was not adhered to."

The alleged unauthorised overspend came to light during the new Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan Howe's first appearance before the MPA last week. In response to a question from Liberal Democrat authority member Dee Doocey, Mr Hogan Howe said that in addition to a previously disclosed payment to Carter Ruck of £1,175 in March this year, the Yard had paid out a further £6,000 the following month. Carter Ruck, which has a reputation for aggressively pursuing its clients' defamation claims, sent letters to newspapers on behalf of Mr Yates after a story in The Guardian and other outlets about his decision in 2009 not to reopen the Yard's investigation into the hacking affair.

Mr Yates won an apology from the London Evening Standard for a story which suggested that he decided not to review the original investigation because he was afraid the News of the World would expose an alleged affair. But Mr Yates had separated from his wife and was openly in a new relationship. The Independent understands that the cost of the legal action against the Standard was not met by the MPA or the Yard.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: "Funding for defamation work is available in exceptional cases where national publicity involves a major slur against the MPS as a whole, as opposed to an individual. It was felt that this case met that level and funding was approved.

"The request for payment was submitted in good faith.

"We will provide our fullest support to the MPA to help them find out exactly how the issue of the 'cap' was communicated." Independent
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