Marine jailed for war crimes released

A US marine convicted of war crimes in Iraq has been released from prison pending an appellate court’s review of his case. Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins was sentenced to 11 years in prison for killing an Iraqi civilian in the town of Hamdania in 2006.

But a military appeals court in Washington has ruled that Hutchings did not receive a fair trial, because his lead defense attorney left the case shortly before it went to trial. The US navy is now appealing that ruling to a higher court; Hutchins will remain free until a verdict is issued, which could take until next year.

Hutchins was convicted of leading his seven-man squad in a plot to kidnap and kill the Iraqi man, whose name was not listed in the charges against Hutchins. The squad placed an AK-47 assault rifle and shovel near the man’s body, to make him look like an insurgent planting a bomb. The other members of Hutchins’ squad received short jail sentences, all of them less than 18 months.

Ray Mabus, the secretary of the navy, told a US newspaper last year that he believed Hutchins was the leader of the plot, and that he should serve his full sentence. Hutchins claims he was not with the squad at the time of the murder.

Turks and Kurdish rebels clash

On Saturday 19 June, Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey attacked a military post in a far eastern town, killing 8 soldiers and wounding at least 14. In response, Turkish warplanes pounded the border region, which in summer is often populated by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. At least 12 Kurdish militants were killed in a land and air operation around Hakkari, and inside northern Iraq, according to a statement from the military.

The New York Times reports that, according to the military, tensions have been escalating along Turkey’s border with Iraq. This escalation may be due to the dissatisfaction of Turkey’s Kurdish population (more than 12 million on a total of 70 million inhabitants) towards the government. Although the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party have initiated further democratic and cultural rights for Turkey’s Kurdish population, they have dismissed some of their demands, like constitutional recognition of their ethnic identity and a general amnesty for the militants.

Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, however, disputed such claims, arguing that attacks are rather an effort by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and arms lobbies to derail his government’s democratization efforts.

Terror suspect wanted in US released in Kosovo

On Friday 18 June, a EU judge ordered the release of an ethnic Albanian man arrested just one day earlier at the request of the Unites States government.

Federal prosecutors in North Carolina charged Barjam Asllani, a 29-year-old from the divided town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, with “providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad.” According to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Asllani conspired with seven men who were arrested in North Carolina last July and charged with planning to commit “violent jihad.”

Serb press agency B92 reports that Asllani, who was arrested by Kosovo police, KPS, under the supervision of EULEX Special Prosecutor and five agents of the U.S. Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI), had maintained regular contact with the North Caroline-based Jihad.

The New York Times reports that a spokesperson for the E.U. police and justice mission said on Friday that although Mr. Mr. Asllani was released by a European judge, it remains up to the government of Kosovo to decide whether or not to extradite him to the United States.

(h/t to Georgetown SLB)

106 NGOs send letter to European Commission opposing data retention directive

106 NGOs have signed a letter addressed to the European Commission opposing the EU Directive 2006/24 on mandatory data retention. The Directive enforces the gathering and retention of communications data on all phone-calls, faxes, mobile phone-calls (including location) and internet usage right across the EU:

“We believe that such invasive surveillance of the entire population is unacceptable. With a data retention regime in place, sensitive information about social contacts (including business contacts), movements and the private lives (e.g. contacts with physicians, lawyers, workers councils, psychologists, helplines, etc) of 500 million Europeans is collected in the absence of any suspicion.”

As representatives of the citizens, the media, professionals and industry we collectively reject the Directive on telecommunications data retention. We urge you to propose the repeal of the EU requirements regarding data retention in favour of a system of expedited preservation and targeted collection of traffic data as agreed in the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime.

Philippines will not meet deadline to crush rebels

The Philippine military announced Sunday that it could not meet a deadline this month to eradicate the Maoist rebellion, but said the number of rebels is at a historic low.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had ordered troops to crush the Maoist rebellion by the end of her term on June 30, but the military said about 4,000 New People’s Army guerrillas remain in five key regions nationwide. The military justified the failure by saying that the troops were also needed in other places. The Philippine army, despite being one Asia’s weakest, has also been battling Muslim guerrillas and al-Qaida-linked militants in the country’s south. Troops were also deployed to secure the May 10 presidential and local elections.

Peace talks between the rebels and the government brokered by Norway collapsed in 2004 after the rebels accused Arroyo’s administration of instigating their inclusion on U.S. and European terrorist blacklists.

Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world failed

The latest report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project (click here to read full report) indicates that opinions towards US remain negative in many Muslim nations. In particular, Muslims in the Middle East are less impressed with Mr. Obama now than they were when he first delivered his message of hope and change to Cairo last year.

Obama’s administration undertook a series of changes in the outreach policy, in the attempt of showing proper respect to the people of the region and, in so doing, distancing itself from the George W. Bush administration. For example, The Washington Times reports that the phrase “Islamic radicalism” was banned from the lexicon, and “war on terrorism” has been replaced by “overseas contingency operation”.

This approach has failed to get the benefits expected. While many countries, particularly in Europe and Africa, express high confidence in Mr. Obama (he enjoys 95 percent approval in Kenya, for example), in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and South Asia, disapproval ranges from 56 percent to 65 percent.

The Pew report also notes that Mr. Obama “receives overwhelmingly low ratings from publics in predominantly Muslim countries for his job performance on Iraq and Afghanistan.” Approval ratings ranged from 4 percent to 22 percent, with disapproval ranging 53 percent to 84 percent. Low ratings of support are also encountered among pro-Iran Shia population in Lebanon, and Jewish Israelis and Muslims on the Israelian/Palestinian issue.