The Skeptic الشكاك

324 Three Men Sentenced to Death for Taba Bombings

[updated Thursday evening, Cairo time]

A security court in Sinai today condemned Younes Mohammed Mahmoud, Osama al-Nakhlawi and Mohammed Jaez Sabbah to death on charges of terrorism, murder, illegal possession of weapons, and belonging to a terror group.

Khaled Ali, a lawyer from the Hisham Mubarak Center who monitored their trial, tells me the only evidence linking the men to the bombings were confessions the defendants said were extracted through torture. They were convicted by an exceptional court set up under the Emergency Law. Those convicted may not appeal their sentences. Only President Mubarak can order a retrial or change the verdict.

The defense tried to prove that the defendants had been tortured, but a delay in the prisoners’ transfer to a forensic doctor made that impossible. The doctor’s report did note bruising, scarring, and bone fractures (one prisoner had a broken arm), that could be consistent with torture.

The trial had other problems. State Security officers stood close by while lawyers spoke with their clients through the bars of the cage. After the Sharm al-Sheikh bombings, the government introduced 13 new defendants to the case midway through the trial, leaving the defense unsure of whether they were defending two prisoners (the third was convicted in absentia, as he was dead), or 15. After the Sharm al-Sheikh bombings, the court started working very quickly, and the defense was left to respond to two sets of documents and two sets of charges. According to Egyptian law, once a case is open, lawyers may petition the court to add new evidence. In the case of this trial, the prosecution added documents to the trial without formally filing a motion to do so.

Osama al-Nakhlawi, an electronics repairman, was convicted of illegal possession of a firearm. When it was discovered that the serial number of the gun entered as evidence did not match the serial number in the police report, the prosecution simply corrected the police report, which had already been entered as evidence. At this point, the defense complained to the court that the prosecution was tampering with evidence. The judge dismissed their concerns. The prosecution also produced bomb-making experts to say that the electronics found in al-Nakhlawi’s home could be used to make a bomb. But, Ali points out, all electronics repairmen have equipment that could be used to make a bomb.

Mubarak has 60 days to confirm the sentence or pardon the defendants. Especially considering the gravity of the crimes and the sentences, as well as the possibility that the guilty might still be at large, Mubarak should show that he is strong and just: strong in his committment to justice. He should order a fair trial for Osama al-Nakhlawi and Mohammed Jaez Sabbah.

[update, Friday afternoon, Cairo time: Check out Nasser Nouri’s photos from the trial at Hossam‘s Flickr account]

[tags]Taba, Egypt[/tags]

323 Two Posts of Note

Ahmadinejad’s new letter is at the Washington Post Web site. H/T to Ursula for noticing.

Also this photo from Gayyash al-‘Aatifa. Posts like this are what make him one of my favorite bloggers in Cairo.

321 Somalis and Sadrists Overrun Lebanon

…and, strangely, no one in Lebanon notices. In this guest post, reader and friend Andrew Exum, recently returned from a research trip to Lebanon and Israel, scoffs at claims that Hizballah has been extensively training Sadrists and fighting alongside Somalis:

I almost choked on my coffee early yesterday morning as I read the front page article in the New York Times claiming ? among other things ? that Hizbollah has been extensively training members of Moktada al-Sadr?s militia in Lebanon and that members of the Mahdi Army participated in this past summer?s war with Israel. While it?s possible and even likely that there exists some connection between the two Shia militias, the fantastic scenarios floated about in the New York Times these past few weeks (on November 15th, an article by Robert Worth claimed 700 Somali militants fought against Israel this summer) defy common sense.

I just returned from a two-week research trip to both Lebanon and Israel as part of a project analyzing the way in which Hizbollah fought this last war with the IDF. No where in my travels ? and I spoke to nearly everyone: pro-Hizbollah Lebanese, anti-Hizbollah Lebanese, UNIFIL officials, journalists, Israeli intelligence officials, IDF commanders, etc. ? did I hear anyone mention the presence of foreign fighters in Lebanon. Not even in Israel ? where Israelis are often quite happy to convince Americans that we share common enemies ? did I hear anything about Iraqis (or Somalis for that matter) in South Lebanon.

My best friend in Lebanon, a Shia Muslim, made a pilgrimage to the holy shrines in Iraq in 2002, worried (with reason, as it turns out) that the coming war might make such a pilgrimage in the future impossible. He told me that he wasn?t on the ground in Najaf for five minutes before everyone in that town knew not only that he was Lebanese but also that he was Shia and the name of his home village in the Bekaa Valley. I know Iraq was an authoritarian police state back then (as opposed to the flourishing, peaceful democracy it is today) and is unlike Lebanon in more ways than one. But I lived for several years in Lebanon, and it strikes me as highly unlikely that several hundred Somali fighters or ever a dozen Iraqi militiamen could walk around South Lebanon without someone noticing and telling someone in the media. Are you trying to tell me that some Greek Orthodox woman on her terrace in Marjayoun wouldn?t have noticed a company of Somali or Iraqi fighters marching through town on their way to Kafr Kila and the Israeli border?

I read around a dozen newspapers a day (Arab and Western) during this past summer?s war and also watched the pan-Arab television station coverage pretty closely once I had returned from Paris to Cairo at the beginning of August. I don?t remember seeing anything about foreign fighters in Lebanon in any of the media during the war. Furthermore, I myself led a platoon of Army Rangers in Iraq in 2003 and had previously fought in Afghanistan in 2002. Foreign fighters stuck out in both places like sore thumbs, and once they were captured or killed (because getting into firefights with Army Rangers doesn?t do much for your life expectancy), we had no problem not only identifying that they weren?t Iraqi but we could often tell from exactly which countries they had come. Wouldn?t the IDF, which by all accounts killed hundreds of Hizbollah fighters in July and August, have noticed foreign fighters among the dead? Of course they would have.

So why ? months after the war has ended ? are we now seeing these articles linking Hizbollah to every other militant group in the Middle East? Well, actually, it makes perfect sense that some commanders in the Mahdi Army would try and claim they were in Lebanon fighting against the IDF this summer. Hizbollah?s performance against the IDF in ?Harb Tammuz? is a point of great pride in the Arab world ? especially among the Shia. Although the Lebanese themselves are largely split down the middle whether or not they love or hate Hizbollah, there remains in the greater Arab world a kind of aura surrounding both Hizbollah and their charismatic leader, Hassan Nasrallah, for the way in which they stood up to the mighty IDF in July. What militia in the Arab world wouldn?t want to claim some of that glory?

In the end, I liken these post-war reports of other militias joining the fight against Israel to the number of people who will claim ? ten years from now ? that they were present at this year?s classic Ohio State ? Michigan football game. The numbers of people who say they were there will exceed the capacity of the stadium in Columbus, Ohio by a factor of ten. The summer war between Israel and Hizbollah has become a cultural point of reference in the Arab World, and intelligence analysts shouldn?t be duped by militias trying to claim their share of the glory months after the fact.

Thanks, Andrew, for the guest post. Just remember, you respond to the hatemail in the comments on this one.

[tags]Lebanon, Sadr, Iraq, Somalia, Hizballah[/tags]

320 The Paypal Fund for Peace in Iraq

If the Americans go, advisor to the Saudi government Nawaf Obaid says, the Saudis will fight a proxy war with the Iranians over Iraq.

At first glance, that seems to be a pretty galling threat, and an incongruously incautious move for the PR-sensitive Saudis, when it appears on the pages of the Washington Post. One correspondent speculates that Cheney or someone in his entourage may have told the Saudis the United States is withdrawing from Iraq and that the Saudis had better use whatever influence they have to rein in the insurgency now, else the Sunnis will be overrun. According to this theory, Obaid’s article is the Saudis’ way of saying things won’t be that simple. Another speculates that this is a variation on the ‘Sunni Bulwark’ idea we’ve been hearing so much about lately (because supporting Sunni mujahideen against an enemy state has always worked out so well for the United States in the past). Yet another predicts that this would lead to an arms-dealers’ bonanza for the next 10-20 years and the eventual breakup of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “How do I become a Shia?” he jokes. Everyone on this little email discussion seems to agree that this is A Very Bad Idea.

Read the article. Other theories welcome.

In any case, I think I have the solution: I’ll take out a Paypal account. Saudis, Iranians, expat Baathists: rather than buying guns for pissed-off Iraqis, send those petrodollars this way. Americans: what are you spending on Iraq? Eleven million dollars an hour? Send it here. Let’s see how long the fighting lasts without a fresh supply of ammunition.

[tags]Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, United States, Cheney[/tags]

329 The Link that Cost Me $618

[update: Thanks to Ogle Earth for hosting the .pdf. The link to its new home on the Web can be found in this post.]

When I started this blog, I never really thought anyone would read it. I was surprised and dismayed to find people did. Now I’m really dismayed.

About two months ago, I posted a link to a .pdf compiling satellite imagery of Bahraini royal palaces from Google Earth sent to me by a Gulf-based correspondent who said this was why Bahrain had briefly blocked Google Earth. By way of a circuitous trail of links, and thanks in part to an unusual interest in Bahrain because of that country’s parliamentary elections, that link wound up on Boing Boing.

a7a.

The Boing Boing link resulted in a few newspaper articles. Now so many people are downloading that heavy .pdf that I owe my hosting company $618 in charges for extra bandwidth. That’s three months’ rent on my apartment here in Cairo.

So I say again: “a7a.”

It was a cool little .pdf. But it’s now the cool little .pdf that’s burning me out of house and home, one gig at a time. I didn’t even make the damned thing (contrary to the allegations of one senior editor at Foreign Policy, who now thinks I’m some sort of quaint Marxist). So please: Everyone who already downloaded it (Bahraini royal family?), post it. I can’t afford to host it anymore.

319 Syria ‘Blocks Blogspot’

Yazan reports on Syria Planet that Syrian ISPs are blocking Blogspot.

I believe him, but the news comes as a surprise because I was able to access many previously blocked sites, such as Levant News, just last week. Indeed, the biggest problem I had was accessing the Internet at all. When I was able to get online, sites that weren’t blocked wouldn’t show up half the time because of mundane network errors.

[tags]Syria, blogspot, blogger, online censorship, blogs[/tags]

318 First English-Language Palestinian Daily Hits Newsstands

Welcome to The Palestine Times. I hope it helps fill the gap left by the demise of the excellent weekly Palestine Report.

The first issue is available as 12 .pdfs here. Here’s Editor Othman Haj Mohammed’s inaugural editorial:

This day is a dream come true for the many people who have worked on this project since its inception two years ago.

Today you are looking at the first edition of the Palestine Times, an English-language daily newspaper registered with both the Palestinian Authority and in Israel. We are also completing a contract with the largest distributor in Israel, whose details will be announced soon.

It is time that Palestinians had a daily newspaper of their own, to show a world obsessed with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that our life is more complex than this. We are building and growing. We have a rich history and ancient traditions. We also have a bright future.

Some might ask why this project took two years to plan and implement. But we needed to lay out all the right ingredients.

First, the Palestine Times must be independent. Our competition includes some of the best newspapers in the world, employing the highest standards of journalism.

Second, to achieve this high quality, we had to attract some of the best journalists—those who can meet those standards. It is our good fortune that there are many talented and experienced Palestinian journalists working for us.

This independence is perhaps our greatest challenge, but we must set the bar high. The news we publish must be quality news, or it is not worth our investment.

We will depend on advertising for our revenue, and we hope that Palestinians and international supporters of Palestinians will aid us in this goal.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have already helped to make this vision a reality, and those individuals out there who are ready to help the Palestine Times become a leader in Palestinian news.

Best of luck, ostez Othman. Those who wish to support the project by taking out an ad should contact ads [at] times [dot] ps.

[tags]Palestine Times, Palestine, Israel[/tags]

317 ‘Something is about to explode, unfortunately.’

Don’t miss today’s great article from Anthony Shadid on a brilliant, but perhaps ill-conceived, ad campaign in Lebanon satirizing that country’s sectarian divides.

Part provocation, part appeal — with a dose of farce that doesn’t feel all that farcical — advertisements went up this month on 300 billboards across the Lebanese capital and appeared in virtually every newspaper in the country. Thousands of e-mails carried the ads across the Internet to expatriates. Each offered its take on what one of the campaign’s creative directors called a country on the verge of “absurdistan” — cooking lessons by Greek Orthodox, building for sale to Druze, hairstyling by an Armenian Catholic, a fashion agency looking for “a beautiful Shiite face.” At the bottom, the ads read in English, “Stop sectarianism before it stops us,” or, more bluntly in Arabic, “Citizenship is not sectarianism.”

The campaign, designed for free by an ad agency and promoted by a civil society group, has forced Lebanon to look at itself at a time when the country is spiraling into one of its worst political crises in years. The timing was coincidental, the message universal, in a landscape with ever dwindling common ground: The forces that dragged Lebanon into one civil war are threatening another.

Full story…

[tags]Lebanon[/tags]

316 Stepping Back from the Brink

The tensions in Lebanon following Gemayel’s assassination have been reflected in the Lebanese blogs over the past week. One post from Mustapha, in particular, struck me as particularly timely given King Abdallah’s warnings about civil wars in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq today:

I have my strong opinions and convictions. So do my political opponents.

But unlike many observers believe (or perversely seem to wish for), neither my camp nor the opposite one wants a civil war. In fact, every single person in this country saw enough bloodshed to last a lifetime, and we do not wish to see another war in the near or far future, thank you very much.

My opponents and I also have a common belief: An external force is bent on fighting with our bodies. I believe it’s Syria, my opponents believe it?s The US and Israel. We are both convinced that the ?foreign villain? is intent on using the tense situation to cause mayhem in this country.

Wisdom demands that we both watch what?s happening in Iraq today and learn our lessons very well.

Nice sentiment, Mustapha.

Taking a cue from the spirit of Mustapha’s post, I should also note Olmert’s encouraging gesture today, and the U.S. diplomatic efforts that the BBC credits with prompting it. I’ve wasted a lot of breath bitching about Israeli policies in the region and the Bush administration’s halfhearted attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So it’s nice to see some motion in the right direction on both fronts.

The Israelis and the United States have made it clear that Abbas is their partner in negotiations. Abbas’ position will be strengthened vis Hamas’ if he can bring real concessions back from the Israelis. The Israelis and the Americans would presumably view this as among the positive outcomes of dialogue. The ball is now in Hamas’ court. They have two options: play the spoiler, or outflank Abbas by presenting a comprehensive peace plan that addresses their concerns about the current situation and the details of the final agreement. I’d like to see them choose the second. I think we can all agree that the current situation serves no one’s interests, that no military solution to this problem (short of ethnic cleansing) exists, and that we could all use a little peace and quiet.

Come to think of it, the same could be said of Lebanon or Iraq today…
[tags]Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Abbas[/tags]

315 As-Seyassah on Gemayel’s Assassination

Kuwait’s daily As-Seyassah, no friend to the Syrian government, has this priceless item. The paper cites an unnamed source who works at a pro-Syrian Lebanese newspaper as saying that an editor at Syria’s government news agency, SANA, called him at 3:05 p.m. on Tuesday to inquire about the details of Pierre Gemayel’s assassination… 55 minutes before it happened. Ten minutes later, As-Seyassah reports, the Syrian editor called back to apologize for the misunderstanding.

The Skeptic wonders: Is this a joke? If so, there are multiple punchlines. SANA, for its part, quotes Egypt’s official Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar as blaming the Mossad for the assassination. One for the Department of a7a! and for the Rumors of Questionable Provenance Department…

[tags]Syria, Lebanon, Gemayel[/tags]

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