News and Analysis (12/20/13)

The judge says the Guantanamo detainee needs a mental evaluation before the trial can proceed; but was it torture that drive him crazy? …

• New Delay Hits 9/11 Case At Guantanamo (AP / NPR)

… yet in England a “prominent Libyan dissident cannot pursue his ‘well-founded’ claim that he was unlawfully abducted in a joint MI6-CIA operation, and later tortured, because to do so would damage Britain’s relations with the US”:

• Libyan Told He Cannot Pursue Rendition Claim in Case It Harms UK Interests  (Guardian)

Having gone after the Islamists and the liberals, the regime now turns on the leftists, while clearing Shafiq and Mubarak’s family members and prime minister …

• Morsi Supporters Disappear from Egypt’s Streets as Jail Cells Fill (Christian Science Monitor)
• Raid on Egyptian NGO Signals Expansion of Government Enemy List (Christian Science Monitor)
• Hosni Mubarak Allies Cleared of Corruption Charges (BBC)
• Egypt Court Rulings Pave Way for Shafik Return (Reuters)

… while news leaks about Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s megalomaniacal dreams only add to his popularity among the masses yearning for a new Pharaoh:

• Egypt: Leaks Help, Not Hurt, El-Sissi’s Image (AP /abc News)

The jurors did not buy the assassins’ claims that the were soldiers of war …

• Two Muslim Converts Found Guilty of Murdering British Soldier (Reuters)

… and ditto for “two ex-soldiers who firebombed a mosque four days after the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby”:

• Grimsby Mosque Attackers Jailed for Six Years (BBC)

“Iranian experts [are] concerned Congress could sabotage final deal”:

• Iran Nuclear Deal Imperiled by New Sanctions Bill, White House Warns (Guardian)

“The corruption investigation has targeted people close to the administration of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including three sons of cabinet ministers. Mr Erdogan has denounced the inquiry as a ‘dirty operation’ against his government”:

• Turkey Corruption Inquiry: More Senior Police ‘Fired’ (BBC)

LSE’s pro-director for teaching and learning, Prof Paul Kelly, said, “If somebody is wearing a racist or violent or gory T-shirt, that would be a totally different situation. But [it’s different] when you are wearing an innocuous T-shirt that does not offend or harass anyone, not even by the most stringent standards”:

• LSE Apologises to Students Asked to Cover Jesus and Muhammad T-shirts (Guardian)

“’You want to transfer an entire population,’ MK Hanna Swaid (Hadash) said. Committee chairwoman MK Miri Regev (Likud) responded, ‘Yes, as the Americans did to the Indians’”:

• Shared Values: Likud Member Says Prawer Plan akin to What ‘Americans Did to the Indians’ (Mondoweiss)

Syrian activists are victimized by both the state and the rebels:

• Secret Detentions Fuel Syrian ‘Campaign of Terror’: U.N. (Reuters)
• Syria Militants Go After Opposition Activists (AP / abc News)

Muslims in Myanmar remain “stateless because the country’s 1982 Citizenship Act deprives them of citizenship rights further exasperating their struggle for survival. To be sure, the human rights violations committed against the Rohingya and other Muslims are widespread and systematic with no accountability” …

• Muslim Women and Children Confront Challenges in Myanmar  (Huffington Post)

… and other facts you need to know abut the persecution of the Rohingya:

• 10 Things You Need to Know Myanmar’s Persecuted Muslim Minority  (Huffington Post)

ImadadDean