* GAO: Abu Bakr al-Filistini was one of Yazid Sufaat’s assistants helping with the anthrax project
Posted by DXer on June 4, 2013
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CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 
DXer said
Did Al-Barq aka Abu Bakr al-Filistini die in the Israel prison?
DXer said
Here is a Frontline/PBS report.
What the CIA Did to Its Detainees
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-the-cia-tortured-its-detainees/
Year Captured: 2003
Days Held by CIA: Approx. 80 Days
What Was Done
Before his questioning began, al-Barq was subjected to what would become a standard procedure for several detainees. He was subjected to sensory deprivation — shaved, exposed to loud noise in a white room with bright lights, kept naked in the cold and shackled, according to the CIA records, “hand and foot with arms outstretched over his head (with his feet firmly on the floor and not allowed to support his weight with his arms).” Under interrogation, he was subjected to near-constant questioning, sleep deprivation, a liquid diet and continued sensory deprivation, according to the Senate report. According to CIA records, at one point during his questioning, Barq told interrogators, “We never made anthrax,” but was told that they wouldn’t stop until he “told the truth.” Crying, Barq said, “I made the anthrax.” The interrogators asked if he was lying, and he said he was. They then “demonstrated the penalty for lying,” and Barq replied, “I made the anthrax,” but then recanted. Two days later, CIA records say, Barq said he lied about making anthrax “only because he thought that’s what the interrogators wanted.”
What Came Next
Al-Barq said he was given $1,000 by an Al Qaeda operative to buy a house in Karachi where biological weapons could be produced. He also talked about the group’s ambitions to build a biological weapons program, but the Senate report said: “Neither of these reports is cited in CIA records as providing new or unique information.” A Palestinian, Barq was sent to Jordan, and ultimately to Israel, where he reportedly remains in detention.
DXer said
Yazid Sufaat’s assistant, Samar al-Barak, has been indicted for possessing biological weapons and planning to train others in their use
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.572471
Israel indicts Palestinian for working with Al-Qaida, holding biological weapons
According to the charges in military court, Samar al-Barak aimed to train others to use biological weapons.
By Chaim Levinson | Feb. 4, 2014 | 8:08 PM
A Palestinian has been indicted in a military court on suspicion of being anAl-Qaida activist who possessed biological weapons and planned to train other Palestinians in their use.
Samar al-Barak was indicted after spending more than three years in administrative detention without trial – a detention the state defended before the High Court of Justice on the grounds that it was essential for security reasons.
Al-Barak, born in the West Bank town of Qalqilyah in 1974, studied microbiology in Pakistan. In 1998 he underwent military training in Afghanistan, court documents said, and three years later he was recruited into Al-Qaida. In August 2010 he was arrested when he tried to return to the West Bank via the Jordanian border.
“Over the years, [al-Barak] acquired a lot of knowledge and experience in the field of non-conventional weapons, with an emphasis on biological weapons, and he was in contact with senior members of the terrorist organization Al-Qaida during his stay outside the region,” a High Court brief filed by the state last year said.
It said al-Barak had agreed to pass his knowledge of poisons on to others for use in committing terror attacks. At one point, Israel tried to deport him, but no other country would take him.
Last November, al-Barak’s detention became public knowledge when he petitioned the High Court against it, but the court turned him down. “We were convinced that at this time there is no less-harmful method that would nullify the danger” posed by al-Barak, Justice Edna Arbel wrote for the court.
“The material before us, and especially the latest material, gives no basis for assuming that the petitioner intends to abandon either the path of religious extremism or the path of terror as a vehicle for advancing it. The latest material, coming on top of the petitioner’s background and past, indicates that at this time his release would entail a real and significant risk to the security of the region and public. Therefore there are no grounds for our intervention.”
Last week, however, another method of detaining him was found: The military prosecution indicted him for exactly the same offenses that had initially been used to justify his administrative detention.
The indictment charges him with undergoing military training, contacting the enemy and conspiring to commit murder. It said he practiced killing dogs with poisons and was tasked with developing biological weapons by the head of Al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He learned to use the botulinum toxin and agreed to train other Palestinians to use it, the indictment said.
DXer said
Here is a picture of Samer Al-Barq. (I’ll be varying the spelling until there comes to be a greater consensus).
DXer said
In late 2012, the Israelis reportedly were prepared to transport him to Egypt in an ambulance after his health deteriorated due to a hunger strike. Then perhaps that didn’t happen because of a change in the political landscape in Egypt. I don’t know. But it seems that one argument has always been that he was entitled to his day in court. I don’t his father’s view on the current news but it may be that he sees it as a step forward — having charges made and tested.
Samer reportedly was arrested by the Pakistani authorities on July 15, 2003. Detained in Jordan, then Israel. The extent to which he has cooperated about Al Qaeda’s anthrax program is unclear to me.
DXer said
Here is one version of his biography of Yazid Sufaat’s assistant, Samar Al-Barq — indicted for holding botulinum toxin and intending to use — put forward by Addameer, a prisoner rights group.
http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=512
“Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.”
Now that he is being publicly charged and not held in secret detention, the evidence against him can be set forth and he can defend.
DXer said
GAO: For further information on Abu Bakr-al-Filistini please refer to TD- 314/43889-05 and TD-314/24678-04.
DXer said
Here are some of the documents on botulinum that Dr. Relman and Dr. JB Petro in an article in SCIENCE on the perils of scientific openness noted were seized from among Ayman Zawahiri’s papers in Afghanistan. Other documents remain classified.
Roberts, TA. (1965). Sporulation of Clostridium botulinum type E in different culture
media. J. Appl. Bacteriol 28(1):142-146.
Roberts, TA, and Ingram, M. (1965). The resistance of spores of Clostridium botulinum
type E to heat and radiation. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 28:125.
Hodgkiss, W, and Ordal, ZJ. (1966). The morphology of the spore of some strains of
Clostridium botulinum type E. J. Bacteriol. 91:2031-2036.
Riemann, H. (1969). Botulism Types A, B, and F in Foodborne Infections and
Intoxications. Edited by H Rieman. Academic Press, New York.
I’m not a scholar of the koran or hadiths — or any religion — but I’ve read some scholars who say that use of such poison violates the koran and hadiths and thus under Dr. Zawahiri’s belief system would prevent his soul from going to the paradise of his belief system.
At the very least, it would cause him to lose the PR battle. Did Abu Ghayth come to realize this? I haven’t read his book due to its unavailability.
DXer said
http://www.columbiacupid.org/6/post/2013/06/-hunger-strike-ontology-torture-of-palestinian-prisoner-samer-al-barq.html
Hunger Strike Ontology: Torture of Palestinian Prisoner Samer Al-Barq
06/02/2013
Sepideah Mohsenian-Rahman is entering her second year at CUSSW focusing on International Social Welfare. She is a graduate of American University’s School of International Service, where she earned a concentration in International Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Abstract
This paper explores the hunger strike of Samer Hilmi Abdullatif Al-Barq in protest to his seventh consecutive administrative detention in Israel’s military prisons. Administrative detention is validated under Israeli Military Orders Regarding Security Provisions (Judea and Samaria) No. 1651, 5770-2009. It highlights the violations of the United Nation’s International Bill of Human Rights’ Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Samer’s solitary confinement, threats of force-feeding, beatings and intimidation are tantamount to torture as a violation of International Law. This paper also includes examples of case law from the European Court of Human Rights and from a complaint currently filed to the California Supreme Court.
Keywords: administrative detention, human rights, hunger strike, International Law, Israel, military order, Palestine, protest, solitary confinement, torture
Samer Hilmi Abdullatif Al-Barq, a 38-year-old Palestinian male, entered his 140th day of renewed hunger strike on October 31, 2012. This is following his 30-day hunger strike which began on April 15th and ended with the conclusion of Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike on May 14, and his 125-day hunger strike which began on May 21, 2012 and ended on September 23, 2012 as Israel and Egypt had agreed that Al-Barq would be transferred from Israeli Military Detention to exile in Egypt (Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, 2012a, para. 5). The exile failed to materialize and Al-Barq is still in Israeli custody, mobilizing his most recent renewed hunger strike (The Alternative Information Center, 2012; Sherwood, 2012).
The United Nations’ International Bill of Human Rights’ Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, highlights the illegality to which Samer Al-Barq has been treated in Israeli military detention centers whilst on his hunger strikes. According to Article 1 of the Convention,
[T]orture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as…punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. (United Nations General Assembly, 1984)
Multiple violations of Samer’s human rights, especially in regards to his hunger strike as a tool of resistance are highlighted below.
Al-Barq’s hunger strikes are in protest to being held in administrative detention as ordered by Israeli State and Military orders. Administrative detention of prisoners does not include the intent to prosecute with a criminal trial. Although it is not entirely banned from international law, it is only prescribed under the most outstanding circumstances (Amnesty International, 2012a, p. 11). Administrative Detention of prisoners is legal under an Israeli Military Order that is rooted British Mandate Laws on Authority in States of Emergency that where first implemented in 1945 before the State of Israel was created. The specific military order is the Order Regarding Security Provisions (Judea and Samaria) No. 1651, 5770-2009(B’Tselem The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, 2012). Samer’s extended administrative detention and the fact that neither he nor his lawyer know the “nature and charge against him” is a direct violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’ 14th Amendment, which guarantees detainees the right to fair trial without “undue delay” (United Nations General Assembly, 1966). According to Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there were 212 administrative detainees as Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons as of September 1, 2012 (Addameer, 2012b).
This is Samer Al-Barq’s seventh consecutive administrative detention order. Military orders may extend a period of administration detention from its initial six months to six additional months. However, the Order Regarding Security Provisions does not specify a maximum cumulative period for administratively detaining an individual. The enables the prisoner to be in custody indefinitely without due process rights (B’Tselem, 2012).
After receiving his Master’s Degree in Science in Pakistan, Al-Barq applied for his PhD in Islamic Studies in Islamabad. Samer was arrested by Pakistani authorities on July 15 2003, and handed over to US authorities after 14 days. Al-Barq was detained in a secret US detention site outside of Pakistan for over three months where he alleged that he “suffered numerous forms of inhumane torture during that period” (Amnesty International, 2012b). On October 26, 2003, Samer was handed over to Jordanian intelligence, after eight months of detention he was re-leased and re-arrested after two days. After his re-arrest, Samer was in Jordanian administration detention for four and half years, three of which he was in solitary confinement. Samer was never charged or tried while in Jordanian custody. According to a private interview with Al-Barq conducted by Amnesty International, he said that he “was tortured physically and mentally” and “hidden from human rights groups, [and not] allowed to contact [his] family” (Amnesty International, 2012b). Samer was released in 2008 and re-arrested in April 2010. On July 10, 2010, Samer was transferred to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) via the Allenby Bridge border crossing in-between Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). At the Ofer Prison, near Ramallah, Al-Barq was given his first administrative detention order based on “secret information” collected by Israeli authorities. Although this information is available to the military judge, it has never been made available to Samer or his lawyer (Addammeer, 2012a, para. 5). Since his very first arrest, Samer has been denied of even his minimum right to due process under international law. Such extradition between Pakistan, the United States, Jordan and Israel is a repeated violation of Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which states that “no State Party shall…extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture” (United Nations General Assembly, 1984).
On April 17, 2012, over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners launched into consecutive hunger strikes, demanding an end to the long-term isolation of prisoners; and improvement of detention conditions; an end to the ban of family visits; and an end to the policy of administrative detentions. Samer al-Barq was amongst the hunger strikers, having himself begun on April 15th. The mass hunger strike came to an end on May 14th after an agreement between the hunger strikers’ committee and the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) was reached through Egyptian mediation (Addameer, 2012a, para. 1). In May 2012, there were 308 Palestinian prisoners being held in administrative detention and the drop to 212 prisoners by September can be attributed to the fact that the IPS agreed that those held in administrative detention at the time of the May mediation, would not have their orders renewed (Addameer, 2012b). In regards to renewed hunger strikes that are in protest to the mediated agreements not manifesting, including Samer’s, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Israel and the Occupied Territories Juan Pedro Schaerer stated that “These people are going to die unless the detaining authorities find a prompt solution” (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2012).
Throughout the course of his hunger strike, Samer al-Barq’s health has dramatically deteriorated and he is near death. Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, which has consistently been denied access to Al-Barq, was granted a visit in September. PHR reported, “IPS medical staff was extremely hostile in its conduct with PHR Israel’s independent doctor, and did everything within its power to withhold medical information and intimidate the doctor.” PHR-Israel reiterated their severe concern for Al-Barq and two other prisoners on hunger strike, and reported that the condition of the prisoners’ points to maltreatment and neglect by IPS doctors.
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel’s independent doctor specifically reported that Samer al-Barq “suffers from extreme weight loss, muscle weakness, significant decline in gross motor strength and loss of muscle tissue; severe dizziness; daily bleeding in oral cavity; Unable to carry out simple daily activities like showering and other tasks; extreme low blood pressure; slow pulse; blurred vision; suffered from several incidents of dizziness and fainting that caused falling” (Physicians for Human Rights, 2012).
Prisoner Support group, Addameer, in conjunction with Physicians for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross reports that during Samer’s hunger-strike, the IPS repeatedly acted with intimidation, threats and maltreatment. Prisoners who had witnessed the events below presented the evidence to a visiting Addameer lawyer. Nearly all examples below highlight violations of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
During Samer’s transfer from Ramleh Detention Center to Ofer military court on July 31, 2012 the Nashon special IPS regiment forced Samer to walk. When he told them that he did not have the strength, as it was well past his 50th day without food, they beat his legs. He was eventually brought a wheelchair, but was made to wheel it himself.
While Samer was in Assaf Harofeh hospital for one night, he was shackled to the bed with three limbs. During this time his heart-rate had dropped to 35 beats per minute. He was also suffering from signs that indicate peripheral nerve damage such as: vertigo, drastic weight loss, and involuntary shivering of the legs. Guards have consistently been threatening Samer and other hunger-strikers that they will force them to break their protest by force-feeding them; an act that is against regulations of the World Medical Association. Samer recalled that this night, as he was shackled to his hospital bed, the threats of force-feeding were much more than usual. On October 5, 2012, Dr. Mukesh Haikerwal, Chair of the WMA, said in regards to the Palestinian Hunger Strikers in Israel: ‘The WMA’s position on hunger strikes is quite clear. The Declaration of Tokyo states that ‘where a prisoner refuses nourishment and is considered by the physician as capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially.'” And the Declaration of Malta declares that forcible feeding is never ethically acceptable and that coercion is a form of inhuman and degrading treatment (World Medical Association, 2012; Kenny, M. Silove, D., & Steel, Z., p. 237).
In Ramleh, Samer was put in a 1.5 by 1.8 meter isolation cell with fellow prisoner Hassan Safadi. The cell has no windows or isolation, and is not large enough for use by both prisoners in their wheel chairs for everyday activities, i.e. shower, use the toilet, etc. (Addameer, 2012a, para.10). Perhaps the most violent attack that Samer has received from Israeli Prison Services thus far occurred in this cell on August 13, 2012. IPS guards entered the isolation cell and announced that they were going to transfer the protestors to another section of the medical clinic. Samer and the other prisoner refused transfer, as it would have meant that they would have to share a room with prisoners who would be eating in front of them on a regular basis. Samer and the other prisoner were attacked in response to the refusal. Samer’s cell-mate had his head slammed against the iron door of the cell. He fell to the ground, unconscious. He was then dragged through the prison hall as an example to all other prisoners.
Samer Al-Barq clearly has many immediate and long-term problems that relate to a large host of International Laws and codes of ordinances of various International Non-Governmental Organizations. His struggle is unique in gravity, but not wholly unlike the reality of many other prisoners. In the United States, prisoners also use hunger strikes as a means to gain leverage within the prison system and advocate for their rights and needs. Upwards of 7,000 prisoners throughout California’s prison system participated in a hunger strike in resistance to extended use of solitary confinement within the prison system of California, specifically at Pelican Bay State Prison (Ashker, Castellanos, Dewberry, & Guillen, 2012). The fact that prisoners are held solitary confinement in an 8 x 10 cell without windows for years, is a direct violation of Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Cohn, 2011, p. 61). Neither the State of California, nor the United States, has legal reference that identifies solitary confinement as torture. On May 31 2012, the Center for Constitutional Rigths filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at being held in isolation at “California’s Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit (“SHU”) for an unconscionably long period of time without meaningful review of their placement. Plaintiffs have been isolated at the Pelican Bay SHU for between 11 and 22 years. Many were sent to Pelican Bay directly from other SHUs, and thus have spent even longer – over 25 years – in solitary confinement (Ruiz et. al., v. Brown, E., Cate, M., Chaus, A., & Lewis, G. D., 2012, p. 2)”.
In regards to solitary confinement in the United States, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez stated that, “Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit…whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique” (United Nations, 2011, para. 2). Most recently, the European Union has begun to avoid extradition of European born or foreign-born naturalized citizens to the United States for fear of violation of Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Babar Ahmad, Mastafa Abu Hamza, Haroon Rashid Aswat, Syed Tahla Ahsan have been accused of numerous acts of terrorism in the United States and the United Kingdom. Currently detained in the UK, the European Court of Human Rights refused their extradition to the United States based on the torturous conditions they would be held in the U.S. (Case Of Babar Ahmad And Others v. The United Kingdom, 2012).
Of immediate concern for the purpose of this case-study, is Samer Al-Barq’s mistreatment under the auspices of the Israeli Prison Services as a violation of the United Nation’s International Bill of Human Rights. Specifically as noted by the “Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”, to which Israel, Jordan and the United States are all ratified signatories of (UN General Assembly, 1984, p. 13-17). International Law and relevant case law points to degrading and violent conditions that Samer Al-Barq has been subject to, which tantamount to torture. Under the Israeli Military Order that validates administrative detention, commanders may validate the detention for no more than six months, however, the order does not specify a maximum culminate period for administratively detaining an individual (B’Tselem, 2012). Of further concern is the reality that Samer is not the only captive subject to such mal-treatment. Scores of prisoners throughout the United States, Occupied Palestine and arguably most other nations are victim to such blatant violations of self-determination and human rights.
DXer said
In the past, I have described the role of secret renditions played in the past in connection with Amerithrax.
For example, in addition to Barq and his colleague from Sudan, another microbiology student, Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, age 27, was flown off to Jordan on October 23, 2001. He was helping with procurement of equipment in Karachi.
Anthrax: Details of Possible US Biodefense Insider Connection
Ross Getman19 maart 2007 – 21:09
It was 1 a.m. in the morning on October 23, 2001. Parts of the airport runway were pitch black. Masked Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence (“ISI”) agents in a rented white Toyota sedan sped up with a shackled and blindfolded man. In the empty corner of the Karachi airport, a soldier with his face covered filmed the transfer of Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, age 27. Two weeks earlier a postal worker had died in the US from exposure to mailed anthrax. Authorities were rounding up the usual suspects — using a Gulfstream V jet registered to people in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. who existed only on paper. Mohammed had first come to Karachi in 1993 from Yemen’s capital city, Sana’a, and had recently been studying microbiology at the University of Karachi.
After the September 11 attacks, Pakistani intelligence agents started checking on Arab university students in the area. Mohammed’s teachers told investigators that they had not seen him on campus since late August. Agents staked out his apartment in Karachi and nabbed him upon his return. Mohammed was wanted in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole. In 1996, Pakistani authorities officials had arrested Mohammed in connection with the November 1995 bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad. That attack was financed by the Canadian islamist and charity worker, Khadr and his charity Mercy International, a charity funded by Osama Bin Laden’s late brother-in-law Khalifa and founded by Saudi dissident Sheik Al-Hawali. Ayman Zawahiri, speaking for the military wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, known as the Vanguards of Conquest, claimed responsibility for the bombing. Mohammed was released without being charged. Mohammed re-enrolled at university in 1999. He was one of at least two microbiologist lab technicians who were rendered by the CIA. Saeed Mohammed was not particularly expert — and spent most of his time in Karachi procuring equipment. Washington announced Saeed had been rendered, but senior Pakistani officials continued to deny that the transfer had taken place. ***
http://www.indymedia.be/index.html%3Fq=node%252F8004.html
DXer said
Dr. Ayman was going to war with the brothers he trusted. But the anthrax program was even more compartmentalized and elite than the chem program.
So the question in profiling has always been: Who did Dr. Ayman know? Who did he trust?
Who do you know? Who do you trust?
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
http://www.beeper.tv/video/700382,redlight-king-born-to-rise
DXer said
In September 2005, I summarized what was publicly known about the Amerithrax case. This was before the final team of investigators took over.
http://www.newruskincollege.com/maxweber/id20.html
DXer said
Fast forward to 2013…
If Ali (A.M.H. @ alimhaider ) were paddling a canoe with you, he would always have a paddle in the water both pulling the canoe forward and keeping it on course.
Below is a discussion he is having on his twitter feed.
He writes “Sufaat was culturing anthrax spores, but that’s a far cry from what was used in the attacks here.”
Let’s bear down on what is known and what is not known.
Some of the equipment at the Kandahar lab was destroyed. Some had been removed. Plans were to decontaminate the lab regularly. The traces relating to Ames anthrax were as described by the Vice Chairman of the NAS panel David Relman in his essay in SCIENCE.
Yazid in an interview has said he intentionally withheld information from his interrogators because he felt betrayed. He told me that he could work “magic” and pled the Fifth Amendment in connection with the anthrax mailings.
Rauf Ahmad, who infiltrated the anthrax conferences sponsored by Porton Down attended by the USAMRIID experts (which included Ivins and his colleagues), gave his statement to FBI Agent Borelli over tea and cookies. Agent Borelli had expected it to lead to court prosecution but then realized that they were in an age of secret prisons instead.
We’ve only heard Barq’s false denials secondhand from his loving mom. Barq was Sufaat’s assistant.
What I heard from a Gitmo interrogator was unflattering of the skill level of Sufaat’s assistants.
But that was before Barq was shipped to Jordan… and then Israel.
Might the detainees have concealed and lied about the extent of their processing accomplishments?
Given state bioweapons program training, and infiltration of the suite of the leading DARPA funded Ames researchers, might it be unsound to underestimate AQ’s know-how?
Whether processed in Afghanistan or the US, Alibek has always said that a sophisticated product can be accomplished through simple means.
Note that isotope ratio analysis (as to location of processing) was inconclusive. Indeed, scientists might compare the range in Kandahar and the Northeastern United States.
After sending Barq off to Jordan, might it have been awkward for the US to reveal that AQ had the know-how and capability without help from Saddam?
Tzvi Zucker @TzviZucker17h
@alimhaider so weaponizing anthrax spores isnt as hard as it seems…?
Expand
• A.M.H. @alimhaider17h
@TzviZucker remains on United 93, but evidently there were also negative results as well. Who knows …
• Tzvi Zucker @TzviZucker17h
@alimhaider you think the planes were meant to be anthrax delivery systems? or just that the hijackers had infected themselves already?
Expand
• A.M.H. @alimhaider17h
@TzviZucker And I’m open to just about any answer on that question … ***
• A.M.H. @alimhaider16h
@TzviZucker Prior to becoming a jihadist, Sufaat was employed in Malaysia’s covert bioweapons program. Or so he is now claiming.
8:59 AM – 19 Nov 13 · Details
• Tzvi Zucker @TzviZucker17h
@alimhaider thinking out loud here…letters hit the mail a week after 9/11, right? what if it was the same hijackers who were behind it?
A.M.H. @alimhaider17h
@TzviZucker It seems to be that the anthrax letters were an attempt at deterring a U.S. military response to the 9/11 attacks.
Expand
A.M.H. @alimhaider17h
@TzviZucker Sufaat was culturing anthrax spores, but that’s a far cry from what was used in the attacks here. This is +
DXer said
In the 2005 essay, I describe the particulate mixer delivered to a 1/2 block of Atta and Nawaf were booking their 9/11 ticket.
http://www.newruskincollege.com/maxweber/id20.html
DXer said
In 2007, I was emphasizing that Sufaat’s work with Barq and Wahdan was further along than some commentators seemed to appreciate, but that forensics (isotope ratios) pointed to the Northeastern United States as the location of processing. But then the FBI then found the isotope ratio data inconclusive:
“The documents publicly available show Ayman planned to move the lab every 3 months. Rauf Ahmad’s lab predated Yazid Sufaat’s lab. So were there in fact two labs “competing”? Or was there just a lab that had been moved for either convenience, security or other reasons. (I don’t know). If I were Sufaat, I’d want to start fresh at an unknown location. Rauf Ahmad was helping Ayman in 1999 and 2000. Sufaat didn’t start helping until 2001. Sufaat wrapped things up in the Summer of 2001, according to Tenet, and briefed Hambali and Zawahiri over the course of a week. (pp. 278-279) Tenet says the anthrax planning was done in parallel with 9/11 and that Ramzi Binalshibh had a CBRN role.
I haven’t yet even seen any evidence that Rauf Ahmad was even a microbiologist rather than an ecotoxicologist.
The assistants captured in 2003, a Sudanese and Egyptian, were both on Sufaat’s team prior to 9/11. Barq and Wahdan.
Professor Hoffman perhaps has seen documents beyond those uploaded here. They are correspondence from Rauf Ahmad to Ayman about planning for the lab. The handwritten one is first chronologically; the typed one was second.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze43v8m/letters.html
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze43v8m/letters2.html
The analysis in an article this month in a journal Professor Hoffman edits was not updated to include these documents or critical developments in 2003 that were disclosed last year.
http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com
The attack anthrax was grown in the Northeastern United States.
The Faithful Spy: Amerithrax Spoiler Alert
Monday, 23 April 2007
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00371.htm
The best defense from an anthrax attack is to explaiin to Ayman and his supporters that such an attack, if against civilians, would violate the hadiths. (As it would). Zawahiri, the grandson of the famous “Pious Ambassador” and President of Cairo University, is reserving himself a spot in a bad place by reason of his botched analysis of the hadiths and teachings of Mohammed governing warfare (no women, children, noncombatants etc.) The same principles prohibit attacking livestock, crops or wells.
4 posted on May 23, 2007 12:34:05 PM EDT by ZacandPook”
DXer said
Israel Rejects Bid to Free Suspected Qaeda Operative
By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: November 19, 2013
They stated that Mr. Barq had been involved in what they described as a Qaeda biological weapons project and had even led it.
The documents said Mr. Barq had been arrested and questioned at some unidentified date by the American authorities and was later arrested in Jordan, where he spent about five years in prison. In July 2010 the Jordanian authorities sent Mr. Barq back to the West Bank, where he was detained by the Israelis.
DXer said
18 November 2013, 16:36
Al Qaeda’s top germ warfare expert secretly held in Israeli jail
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_11_18/Al-Qaeda-s-top-germ-warfare-expert-secretly-held-in-Israeli-jail-2147/
After spending about a year at Gitmo and six years in a jail in Jordan, al-Qaeda’s top germ warfare expert, 38-year-old Palestinian-born Samer Hilmi Abd al-Latif al-Baraq has also spent three years in a secret jail in Israel.
His story did not come to light until this Monday when he complained to Israel’s Supreme Court about being held without charge.
Mr Al-Baraq obtained a degree in microbiology at a Pakistani university and received training in al Qaeda camps in northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many believe he met with Osama bin Laden a couple of times.
Comment:
Yazid Sufaat will have reason to be bummed if he loses the top spot in history to Al-Baraq.
I still venture that Baraq was a no-talent in comparison to Yazid who had a state bioweapons training (or even maybe Muklis Yunos). I believe it was Yunos, Hambali’s lieutenant, who once was bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax and travelling with papers signed by Dr. Ayman.
DXer said
Family Al Qaeda Terrorist Held by Israel Denies Charges
Terrorist’s mother claims son ‘just wanted to study microbiology’; officials say he planned to release anthrax into urban center.
By Tova Dvorin
First Publish: 11/19/2013, 11:31 AM
Illustration: Islamist fighters in N. Africa
Reuters
The mother of Samer Halmi Abdel Latif Al-Barq, the Senior al-Qaeda terrorist revealed to have been held in Israel for the past three years, has insisted in an interview with Israeli media that her son was “never” involved in building biochemical weapons.
Al-Barq, 39, was detained by security forces as he attempted to enter Israel from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge. He faces allegations of planning a large-scale biological weapons attack against Jews via Jordan, and officials say he had elaborate plans to recruit a suicide bomber to release anthrax in a major urban center.
Al-Barq’s family – Kuwaiti nationals – lives in the Palestinian Authority settlement of Jayyous, near Qalqiliya. While reports have been surfacing across the nation of her son’s capture, Al-Barq’s mother vigilantly denies his involvement, Channel 10 / Nana revealed Monday.
“I know my son,” Al-Barq’s mother claims. “If he only got the chance to say his side of the story, there would be no reason to continue the administrative detention he is in now.”
Al-Barq’s family claims that the terrorist’s odyssey from Arab country to Arab country was a quest to learn the best biology at local universities – nothing more. In his youth, he left Kuwait for Pakistan, ostensibly to study, then continued to Afghanistan.
There, officials say, he began to prepare biochemical weapons. Al-Barq has reportedly told Israeli investigators that he performed initial tests in Afghanistan, using nerve gas on a dog. “Within seconds, the dog died,” he told them coolly. “I began talking to friends about possible plans to go back to the West, and use weapons like this against Israel.”
Al-Barq also described how he was recruited into the terror organization, Nana reports, by the organization’s leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri. “I met him in Afghanistan. He said I should be in touch with him to learn about producing anthrax,” al-Barq stated. “We talked about the possibility of a suicide attack by releasing anthrax into a major urban center.”
While he has yet to be charged with a specific crime in Israel, al-Barq can be legally detained indefinitely if shown that he poses a threat. On Monday, the State told the High Court that the terrorist must remain in jail for the time being.
DXer said
At 1:16 of this interview of his Samer Barq’s father, I believe that would be a school diploma pictured up close. In the interview, his concerned father discusses his son’s successive hunger strikes.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/19/267498/palestinian-prisoner-renews-his-hunger-strike/
DXer said
State of Israel Ministry of Justice, December 31, 2012
Click to access SamarHalmiAbdelLatifAlBarq311212.pdf
Dear Sir/Madam, Re: Mr. Samar Halmi Abdel Latif Al Barq
…
5) An administrative detention order is limited to six months, and many of the administrative detention orders are issued for shorter periods of time. It may be extended, but any such extension requires a substantive reevaluation of the relevant intelligence material and an assessment that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the individual continues to pose a threat to security. Extension of the order is also subject to further judicial review and right of appeal, as detailed above. As such, extension of the order is never done automatically.
6) Petitioners may be represented by counsel of their choice at every stage of the proceedings and have a right to examine the unclassified evidence against them. The judicial organs reviewing each and every order carefully examine whether the criteria outlined in case law and legislation are fully met.
7) In order to limit unnecessary recourse to administrative detentions, and in accordance with the Israeli Supreme Court’s guidelines, where the evidence against an individual is deemed sufficient for such purpose, provided that such evidence is admissible and non-confidential the policy is to file criminal charges, rather than to seek administrative detention. Conversely, administrative detention may only be used as a last-resort, when the evidence in existence is clear, concrete and trustworthy, but for reasons of confidentiality and protection of intelligence sources, cannot be presented in ordinary criminal proceedings. Furthermore, administrative detention is only used in cases where there exists corroborating evidence as to the threat posed by the individual.
9) Mr. Al Barq was detained by an administrative detention order on August 25, 2010, for being an “Al Qaeda” operative which poses a threat for the security of the West Bank. The order against him was extended several times
3
The Human Rights and Foreign Relations Department
10) In a judicial review of the previous order against Mr. Al-Barq that was held on June 20, 2012, the Court affirmed the order for its entire duration. The Court stated inter alia, that “the respondent is imbued with extreme salafi ideology, which in its foundation does not only denies the existence of the State of Israel […] but also other regimes of rulers of enemy states to Israel or even Arab states which are at peace with them. The respondent was recruited to “Al Qaeda” organization and was in contact with its senior leadership, while accumulating knowledge and experience in the field of non-conventional weapons, including biological weapons. When he stayed in Jordan, he was requested and agreed to assist in training and producing poisons for three Palestinians with the aim of conducting terrorist activities In Israel. The respondent was arrested, interrogated and even served imprisonment of five years in the Jordan until 2008, in which he was releases and continued to spread his salafi -Jihad Ideology in Jordan”. The Court added that since no other appropriate alternative that will prevent the threat posed by the respondent was found, it have np other choice but to affirm the additional order against the detainee.
12) It should be noted that several attempts were made to transfer Mr. Al Barq to several Arab countries, however up to date no Arab country has agreed to accept him. Note that Mr. Al Barq was represented by a lawyer in the legal proceedings in his regard.
Cc: Hila Tene-Gilad, Adv.
Yours Sincerely, Assaf Radzyner, Adv.
DXer said
State: Al Qaeda Terrorist We’re Holding Still a Major Threat
Samer al-Barq, the Al Qaeda terrorist Israel has been holding for 3 years, needs to remain in jail, the State told the High Court on Monday
By David Lev
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/174171#.UoqDQ80VdkI
Authorities reportedly had agreed to release him to Egypt in exchange for ending his hunger strike.
http://samidoun.ca/2013/06/samer-al-barqs-administrative-detention-renewed-yet-again-as-occupation-forces-continue-to-violate-agreement-with-long-time-hunger-striker/
Samer al-Barq’s administrative detention renewed yet again as occupation forces continue to violate agreement with long-time hunger striker
4 MONTHS AGO
Previous long-term hunger striker Samer al-Barq’s administrative detention was renewed for another six months on June 27, despite the previous agreement of the occuation to release him to Egypt in exchange for ending his hunger strike. Samer Al-Barq has been held by the occupation forces since July 11, 2010, when he was deported by Jordanian […]
The occupation authorities violated their promise and instead renewed his administrative detention. He launched a new hunger strike that lasted for 120 days and which was once again suspended when the occupation promised to apply the agreement, which they again violated. He went on a third hunger strike for 43 days, which he ended after a health crisis.
DXer said
Prosecutor today in urging that Sufaat’s assistant, Al Barq, continue to be held without charges:
“This man’s level of danger is proven by the fact that he has been in detention for three-and-a-half years.
Huh? That constitutes circular reasoning.
Saleh Mahamid, Al-Barq’s attorney, told the court on Monday that his client could not be dangerous, since he had been released from arrest by the Americans after just three months in detention in Pakistan in 2003.
[Translation: the US handed Al-Barq over to the bad-ass Jordanians.]
Al-Barq argued that he was handed over to the Israeli authorities by the Jordanian intelligence in 2010 and questioned by the Shin Bet before his arrest.
My source tells me that Al-Barq is not very talented. But Yazid Sufaat tells me it was Yazid who could do “magic”, having been trained in the since abandoned Malaysian biological weapons program.
But let’s start with some basics. Al-Barq was vaccinated and working with virulent anthrax. What strain were they using?
Al-Qaeda terror suspect appears in Israeli courtSamer Al-Barq poses ‘high danger to regional security,’ argues Israeli military prosecutor, requesting he remain in detention
ELHANAN MILLER AND STUART WINER November 18, 2013, 8:40 pm
An Israeli military prosecutor requested the Supreme Court on Monday extend by six months the administrative detention of a Kuwaiti Palestinian suspected of terrorist affiliations with al-Qaeda and held secretly in Israeli detention since 2010.
The hearing was the first official confirmation that Israel is holding Samar Halmi Abdel Latif Al-Barq, who was arrested in July 2010 as he crossed the Allenby Bridge from Jordan into Israel.
His arrest was first reported by Channel 2 on Sunday.
Responding to Al-Barq’s appeal to the Supreme Court to be released, the Israeli military prosecutor admitted that an administrative detention lasting three-and-a-half years is indeed long — but justified, given the danger Al-Barq poses to regional security.
“We argue that the danger posed by the petitioner to regional security is greater than the period of his arrest,” argued attorney Aner Helman. “This man’s level of danger is proven by the fact that he has been in detention for three-and-a-half years. We may well ask for another extension.”
Al-Barq was born in 1974 and in 1997 traveled to Pakistan to learn microbiology. According to court documents, Al-Barq underwent military training in 1998; in 2001, he was recruited into al-Qaeda by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who now heads the global terror organization.
According to the report, Al-Barq was involved in planning attacks on Jews and Israelis in Jordan and also planned to teach Palestinian terrorists how to manufacture poisons.
Al-Barq was arrested by US authorities in Pakistan in 2003 for terrorist activities and questioned for three months before being released to Jordan, where he was promptly imprisoned for five years. Following his release, he spent another two years in Jordan before trying to make his way to Israel.
Saleh Mahamid, Al-Barq’s attorney, told the court on Monday that his client could not be dangerous, since he had been released from arrest by the Americans after just three months in detention in Pakistan in 2003.
Al-Barq argued that he was handed over to the Israeli authorities by the Jordanian intelligence in 2010 and questioned by the Shin Bet before his arrest.
DXer said
GAO, “For further information on Abu Bakr al-Filistini (Samer Al-Barq) please refer to TD-314/43889-05 and TD-314/24678-04.
Here is a September 2012 report from Amnesty International on Yazid’s assistant Samer Al-Barq:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/israel-must-hospitalize-or-release-palestinian-hunger-striker-verge-death–0
6 September 2012
Israel must hospitalize or release Palestinian hunger striker on verge of death
The Israeli authorities must release or admit to hospital Palestinian hunger striker Samer al-Barq, who has been held without charge or trial since July 2010, Amnesty International said.
Samer al-Barq, 37, who is currently held in the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) medical centre in Ramleh prison, has been on hunger strike since 15 April this year apart from eight days in mid-May – a total of 139 days.
“Samer al-Barq, who has never been charged with any offence, is on the verge of death in prison and must be released immediately if he is not to be charged and fairly tried. At the very least he must urgently be admitted to a civilian hospital,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
“He urgently needs specialised medical care that can only be administered in a civilian hospital and must therefore be admitted to one by the prison authorities, or released so that he can seek the medical care he needs himself.”
Samer al-Barq’s lawyer said Samer is on a drip, but has not received or been told he will receive the specialised medical treatment he requires.
Prior to his transfer to Assaf Harofeh public hospital on 27 August for two days, he was suffering from liver problems and had a low pulse rate and low blood pressure.
An initial judicial review was held at the hospital on 28 August. According to the lawyer who was present there, Samer Barq was shackled to his hospital bed.
The lawyer said that, during the review, Samer had great difficulty in speaking and was probably not even fully aware of his surroundings during the proceedings, which have been postponed to 6 September.
He was returned to the IPS medical centre the next day and held in an isolation cell along with fellow administrative detainee Hassan Safadi, whose life is also in grave danger as a result of his second hunger strike which he began on 21 June.
“Israel’s denial of proper access to medical treatment for someone as close to death as Samer al-Barq – and their shackling of him in his hospital bed – amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Israel’s international human rights obligations,” said Ann Harrison.
According to a lawyer who visited the medical clinic on 30 August, al-Barq was too weak to meet him and could not get out of bed.
The IPS has granted permission for local NGO Physicians for Human Rights – Israel to visit al-Barq and other hunger strikers on Monday 10 September, but it is feared that may be too late.
Samer al-Barq originally staged a hunger strike for 30 days earlier this year, ending it on 14 May.
But he resumed it eight days later on 22 May after his detention order was renewed yet again.
Background:
According to al-Barq’s brother, Samir Helmi al-Barq, Samer left Jordan in 1996 and went to study in Pakistan where he received a Masters degree in Science.
But he was arrested by the Pakistani authorities on 15 July 2003 and held for 14 days after applying to study for a PhD in Islamic Studies in Islamabad.
Al-Barq does not know the reason for his arrest.
He was then handed over to the US authorities and kept for an additional three months in a secret prison in an unknown location outside Pakistan.
He alleged, in a private statement received by Amnesty International, that he “suffered numerous forms of inhumane torture during that period”.
Al-Barq said he was handed over to the Jordanian authorities on 26 October 2003, who kept him in detention for over four years, without charging him or telling him why he was being held.
He said he “was tortured physically and mentally” and “hidden from human rights groups, [and not] allowed to contact [his] family”.
After being transferred several times between prisons, he was released on bail in January 2008.
The Jordanian authorities arrested him again in April 2010 and handed him over to the Israeli authorities three months later.
DXer said
In the past, Al Barq has spent time in the hospital. Sufaat in Fall 2001 told KSM that he, Al-Barq and the other lab tech were vaccinated to protect them in their use of virulent anthrax.
GAO, what anthrax strain does Al-Barq say that they were using?
http://www.imemc.org/article/64256
Detainee Al-Barq Moved To Hospital
Tuesday September 18, 2012 by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies
Head of the Legal Unit at the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), Jawad Boulos, stated on Monday evening that hunger striking detainee, Samer Al-Barq, was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the Israeli Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, after suffering a sharp deterioration in his health condition.
Boulos said that Al-Barq suffered a sharp decrease in his blood sugar level, and that his general health condition is gradually collapsing.
DXer said
“Every minute matters” for gravely ill hunger striker Samer al-Barq, says father
Submitted by Shahd Abusalama on Fri, 09/07/2012 – 18:55
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/shahd-abusalama/every-minute-matters-gravely-ill-hunger-striker-samer-al-barq-says-father
Al-Barq’s told an interview that his son had a masters degree in science analysis.
When I returned home from the beach, I phoned Samer al-Barq’s family in Jayyous, a small village near Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank — a place I cannot visit from the Gaza Strip.
My hands shook when I spoke to Samer’s father. I thought he would appreciate a call from Gaza. He did, but in my heart, I felt useless and ashamed that my call came late, as he is expecting to hear the news of his son’s death any moment. I knew, though, that my words would be useless. I tried to pull myself together and not to cry as I told him, “I pray for your strength, and that you will hug your son alive and victorious soon, inshAllah,” but I wasn’t strong enough to control my shaking voice.
Every minute, if not second, can make a difference in Samer’s life now. He began a hunger strike two days before the mass strike started on Prisoners’ Day, 17 April, to protest his administrative detention. An end to administrative detention was one of the mass hunger strike’s demands. In exchange for its end, an agreement was reached on 14 May between the Israeli Prison Service and the higher committee of the hunger strike, with Egyptian mediation, to meet our detainees’ demands.
According to the Palestinian human rights group Addameer, “The agreement included a provision that would limit the use of administrative detention to exceptional circumstances and that those held under administrative detention at the time of the agreement would not have their orders renewed.”
Accordingly, Samer ended his strike. But a week after the 28-day mass hunger strike ended, he discovered that his administrative detention order had been renewed. That pushed him to resume his hunger strike to protest this violation of the agreement. His renewed hunger strike has lasted 110 days.
“Since Samer started his hunger strike, we have been banned from seeing him,” his father told me on the phone. “To pressure him to end his hunger strike, the IPS [Israeli Prison Service] denied his right to family visitations. We have heard nothing from him since then, only from the International Committee of the Red Cross.”
I asked his father if I could speak to Samer’s mother. “His mother barely speaks at the moment,” he replied. “She is traumatized and depressed by what her son is enduring. She weeps over Samer all day. She stops only when she falls asleep. She was hospitalized a few times. Pray for her strength!”
I stayed silent for seconds, unable to say anything. I couldn’t imagine how painful it is for a mother to witness her son’s slow death. But he resumed angrily, “It drives me mad to see my son detained until now for no reason.”
“Nothing at all was found against him?” I interrupted.
“Not at all, except him being a religious man with a beard who lived in Pakistan, earned his master’s degree in science analysis, and taught science in its universities,” he added. “He married there to a Pakistani woman, but barely lived a year in peace with her for unknown and mysterious reasons” before he was arrested and his ordeal began.
Arrested in Pakistan, detained in Jordan and delivered to Israel
The details of Samer’s arrest are not entirely clear, but what is known is that Samer has been subjected to arrest and detention by multiple countries without charge or trial.
Amnesty International reports that according to Samer’s brother, Samir Helmi al-Barq, Samer was “arrested by the Pakistani authoritie on 15 July 2003 and held for 14 days after applying to study for a PhD in Islamic Studies in Islamabad.”
mnesty adds:
He was then handed over to the US authorities and kept for an additional three months in a secret prison in an unknown location outside Pakistan.
He alleged, in a private statement received by Amnesty International, that he “suffered numerous forms of inhumane torture during that period”.
Al-Barq said he was handed over to the Jordanian authorities on 26 October 2003, who kept him in detention for over four years, without charging him or telling him why he was being held.
He said he “was tortured physically and mentally” and “hidden from human rights groups, [and not] allowed to contact [his] family”.
After being transferred several times between prisons, he was released on bail in January 2008.
The Jordanian authorities arrested him again in April 2010 and handed him over to the Israeli authorities three months later.
Though some of the details differ from Amnesty’s account, Addameer also reports that Samer was held for more than four years in Jordan without trial or charge, adding that he spent three of these years in isolation.
Though some of the details differ from Amnesty’s account, Addameer also reports that Samer was held for more than four years in Jordan without trial or charge, adding that he spent three of these years in isolation. Addameer adds:
Samer was eventually released in January 2008 and then settled in Jordan where he began working in a medical laboratory, while he wife joined him from Pakistan. During this time Jordanian intelligence continued to target Samer and subjected him to intensive interrogation which lasted for periods of a few days to a number of months. His last detention lasted from April 2010 to 11 July 2010.
On 11 July 2010 Samer was brought by Jordanian intelligence to Allenby Bridge, the border crossing between Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territory, where he was handed over to Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF). Samer was then taken to Ofer Prison, near Ramallah, where an Israeli military court issued him with an administrative detention order. As a result, Samer has been held for almost 800 days – without trial or charge – based on secret information.
Samer’s father explained to me that since his detention by Israel, Samer’s “administrative detention order has been renewed seven times. The last was on 22 August, after more than three months of his hunger strike. His rapidly deteriorating medical condition didn’t stop the merciless IPS from extending his detention.”
Samer’s time in detention in Jordan was very tough. When he was arrested by Israel, he endured even more brutality, especially during his hunger strike. Trying to pressure him to end his strike, the IPS transferred him to Ramleh prison hospital, or the “slaughterhouse,” as many ex-detainees describe it when recalling the medical neglect, humiliation and discrimination they endured there.
DXer said
To follow past reporting of Al-Barq’s hunger strikes on Twitter, see #SamerAlBarq
I’ve got a novel idea. Why not put Al Barq on trial for any alleged crimes and prove the charges or not?
Why allow scientists working for Al Qaeda get the upper hand in the PR department?
When did the Department of Justice stop being about justice — to instead be about CYA?
DXer said
As previously explained on this blog, Al-Barq was vaccinated for his work with virulent anthrax alongside Yazid Sufaat.
Yazid’s assistant, Al-Barq, according to a court document al-Baraq was once detained and arrested by the United States in 2003 in Pakistan and was later jailed in Jordan for five years. The FBI could not tell you about Al Qaeda’s anthrax program because the Bush Administration had shipped Al-Barq to Jordan.
Yazid, as I recall, I first told readers about your assistant Al-Barq in Fall 2004 or so. There is no point in not cooperating with officials — at least to the point of telling them what Al-Barq told US interrogators. (I’m told Al-Barq is not nearly as talented as you despite his credentials). I think the thing that distinguishes your family is a work ethic. Genius is 99% perspiration.
Al-Qaeda biological weapons expert held in Israel for three years
Al-Barq considered a danger due to concerns he will establish local terror infrastructure; other Arab countries refuse to take him in
BY STUART WINER November 18, 2013, 2:07
JERUSALEM: Israel has secretly detained a suspected al-Qaeda biological weapons expert for more than three years, court documents disclosed on Monday, after the man appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to free him.
Samer al-Baraq studied microbiology in Pakistan, underwent military training in Afghanistan and was recruited in 2001 to al-Qaeda by Ayman al-Zawahri, who is the group’s leader today, Israeli prosecutors said in documents seen by Reuters.
They said he was planning attacks against Israelis.
But Al-Baraq, 39, has not been charged and has been held since 2010 in administrative detention, a policy by which Israel jails suspected militants without trial, based on evidence presented in a closed military court.
Israel says the practice pre-empts militant attacks against it while keeping its counter-intelligence sources and tactics secret. In October, Al-Baraq appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court to end his military detention.
Asked if his client denied the allegations against him, al-Baraq’s lawyer, Mahmid Saleh, told Army Radio: “If he is such a senior terrorist, then why hasn’t he been prosecuted? There is no evidence against him.”
According to a court document al-Baraq was once detained and questioned in the United States and was later jailed in Jordan for five years. He was arrested in 2010 when trying to enter Israel from neighbouring Jordan.
In its response to al-Baraq’s appeal, Israel’s prosecution said letting the detainee go would endanger the entire region. The Supreme Court was due to hold a hearing in the case later on Monday.
In al-Qaeda-trained terrorist and biological weapons expert has been held in administrative detention in Israel for three years due to the danger he poses if allowed to walk free, Israeli media revealed Sunday.
Samar Halmi Abdel Latif Al-Barq, a Kuwaiti citizen of Palestinian descent, was arrested in July 2010 as he crossed the Allenby Bridge from Jordan into Israel, Channel 2 reported.
On Monday, the Supreme Court is due to review an appeal by al-Barq asking to be released to the Palestinian territories — a request the state opposes, arguing that if allowed to go free, he could establish a terror infrastructure in the area. The suspect has appealed for his release several times.
In a document dated December 31, 2012 and signed by the Ministry of Justice’s Human Rights and Foreign Relations Department, it is noted that “several attempts were made to transfer Mr. Al-Barq to several Arab countries, however up to date no Arab country has agreed to accept him.”
Al-Barq was born in 1974 and in 1997 traveled to Pakistan to learn microbiology. According to court documents al-Barq underwent military training in 1998 and then in 2001 was recruited into al-Qaeda by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who now heads the global terror organization.
According to the report, al-Barq was involved in planning attacks on Jews and Israelis in Jordan and also planned to teach Palestinian terrorists how to manufacture poisons.
“He has great knowledge in the field of unconventional weapons, with a focus on biological [weapons],” the State Attorney wrote in his response to the court against al-Barq’s release. “The army command is convinced that his release at this time will be a point of no return for the development of a significant global jihadist infrastructure in the area.”
Al-Barq was arrested by US authorities in Pakistan in 2003 for terrorist activities and questioned for three months before being released to Jordan where he was promptly imprisoned for five years. Following his release, he spent another two years in Jordan before trying to make his way to Israel.
Al-Barq’s attorney, Mohammed Salah, told Channel 2 that he doubts the court will grant his release. He noted that while al-Barq doesn’t deny meeting with al-Qaeda leaders in the past, he insists it was only for the purposes of social activities.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-18/238153-israel-secretly-holding-suspected-al-qaeda-man-over-three-years.ashx#ixzz2kzlipDEk
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
DXer said
Years ago, I would regularly post Barq’s name, along with Sufaat’s other assistant, because it seemed pretty silly for folks to be acting if as Al Qaeda did not have virulent anthrax given that Sufaat, Barq and his other assistant had all been vaccinated precisely so that they could use virulent anthrax. As I recall, I first published Barq’s name the day President Bush referred to Sufaat and his two assistants in the State of the Union address. I first identified Sufaat as Al Qaeda’s anthrax guy in March 2002 when I began inquiring about Yazid’s and Chomel’s days at Sac State on Sac State alum boards. In “connecting the dots” most analysis is open source even in an age of secrecy and massive privacy invasion. It helps to translate local press accounts from their original language.
20. We only have the great work by USG and foreign forces in capturing KSM, Hambali, Sufaat, Ahmad, Barq, Wahdan and others to thank for the information …
[ Hatfill v. US – DOJ and FBI Statement of Facts (filed Friday) – http://www.freerepublic.com ]
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
evidence of al Qaeda 2001 anthrax plot released – CASE CLOSED …
caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/…/evidence-of-al-qaeda-2001-…
Aug 26, 2009 – Are we really so sure that all of al Qaeda’s anthrax attack plots were unsuccessful ? …. he wanted to do his doctorate in pathology at the University of Karachi. ….. The identity of the lab techs were Barq and Wahdan, a man from …
DXer said
Yazid Sufaat, in a published and filmed interview, has said that his two assistants had PhDs. What were the details of Samar Halmi Abdel Latif al-Barq training and credential in microbiology? What do his school chums say?
International Business TImes =
http://www.ibtimes.com/israel-detains-al-qaeda-linked-biological-weapons-expert-without-trial-3-years-claims-he-poses
Israel Detains Al Qaeda-Linked Biological Weapons Expert Without Trial For 3 Years; Claims He Poses Danger To Region And Because No Arab Country Is Willing To Accept Him
By Sreeja VN
on November 18 2013 7:27 AM
A right-wing demonstrator holds an Israeli flag as he walks to a protest in support of Israel at the entrance to Jerusalem on June 1, 2010. Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
Israel has detained an al Qaeda-trained biological weapons expert for the last three years, stating that he’d be a threat to the region if allowed to walk free, even as attempts to transfer him to an Arab country have failed because no country is ready to accept him, Israeli media reported Monday.
Samar Halmi Abdel Latif al-Barq, 39, a Kuwaiti citizen of Palestinian descent, has been held in administrative detention — a policy that allows Israeli authorities to jail suspected militants without trial — since Aug. 25, 2010.
According to a document signed by Israel’s Ministry of Justice’s Human Rights and Foreign Relations Department, al-Barq was detained “for being an Al Qaeda” operative which poses a threat for the security of the West Bank.” The detention order — normally granted for a maximum period of six months — against him was extended several times.
Al-Barq studied microbiology in Pakistan and underwent military training in Afghanistan, according to the document, before being recruited into al-Qaeda by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who now heads the terrorist organization, the document said, adding that al-Barq has accumulated vast knowledge and experience in the field of non-conventional weapons, with a focus on biological weapons.
Al-Barq was arrested as he attempted to enter Israel from Jordan on July 2010. He was first detained by U.S. forces for questioning and was later released in Jordan, where he was arrested and sentenced to jail for five years for terrorist activities.
The prosecution, responding to a plea filed by al-Barq in October requesting to be freed, said that such a move could endanger the entire region because he is capable of establishing a terrorist network in the region.
“The army command is convinced that his release at this time will be a point of no return for the development of a significant global jihadist infrastructure in the area.” the State Attorney wrote in his response to the court against al-Barq’s release, the Times of Israel reported.
According to the Israeli ministry, the practice of military detention helps the nation pre-empt terrorist strikes, Reuters reported. However, al-Barq’s lawyer, Mahmid Saleh, countered allegations that his client poses a danger to the nation.
“If he is such a senior terrorist, then why hasn’t he been prosecuted? There is no evidence against him,” Saleh told Army Radio. However, according to Saleh, al-Barq does not deny meeting al-Qaeda leaders in the past, but claims that the meetings were only social in nature.
According to the Ministry of Justice’s document, Israeli authorities had made several unsuccessful attempts to deport him to other Arab countries.
“It should be noted that several attempts were made to transfer Mr. Al Barq to several Arab countries, however up to date no Arab country has agreed to accept him,” the ministry’s document said.
DXer said
Or did Barq just have a Masters Degree. Turning to the interview conducted before he was rearrested, I see that Sufaat reports that his assistants had PhDs and Masters’ degree holders:
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/192563
“Shrugging as he says this, the father of four who was released from ISA detention in November 2008 after seven years – five of which were in solitary confinement – wears the title almost like a badge of honour.
“They (the accusers) call me that [the CEO of anthrax] because I only have a cabok (simple) Bachelor of Science but my students were PhDs, Masters’ degree holders,” he told Malaysiakini in an extensive interview at his home last week.
His “students” are now inmates in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay, which he discovered when the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed him photographs of them during questioning at the Kamunting detenion centre where he was held.
“I am Yazid Sufaat. I am not going to hide myself, my face, my name. Why should I? I am handsome, no?” asked the 48-year-old Johor native, laughing.”
DXer said
The case Ex-ISA detainee Yazid Sufaat has been transferred to High Court but the legal procedure is all Greek to me.
If they were to release him and he could write a book, I think it would be riveting.
It was very uninformed for commentators to argue Yazid was not working with virulent anthrax even after Wikileaks caused the leaking, for example, of KSM’s detainee assessment which confirmed that he was. See also WMD Commission report in 2005 about “Agent X.”
Kes Yazid Sufaat dipindah ke Mahkamah Tinggi
Harakahdaily,
07 Jun 2013
KUALA LUMPUR: Kes membabitkan bekas tahanan ISA Yazid Sufaat dan pembantunya Muhammad Hilmi Hasim yang dituduh terlibat sebagai anggota kumpulan pengganas Tanzim Al-Qaeda Malaysia dipindahkan ke Mahkamah Tinggi.
Menurut Bernama, Majistret Ayuni Izzaty Sulaiman membuat keputusan itu selepas membenarkan permohonan Timbalan Pendakwa Raya Mohd Farizul Hassan Bakri bagi memindah kes itu, bagaimanapun tiada tarikh ditetapkan.
Yazid dan Muhammad Hilmi didakwa pada 27 Mei lalu atas tuduhan menjadi anggota kumpulan pengganas Tanzim Al-Qaeda Malaysia.
Beliau dan yang juga pengusaha kafeteria di Kompleks Mahkamah Jalan Duta dan pembantunya itu didakwa melakukan kesalahan itu di sebuah rumah beralamat DL 11, Taman Bukit Ampang, Lorong Mutiara 2, Lembah Jaya antara 1 Ogos 2012 dan 7 Februari lepas.
Beliau didakwa mengikut Seksyen 130KA Kanun Keseksaan (Akta 574) yang membawa hukuman penjara seumur hidup dan boleh dikenakan denda, jika sabit kesalahan.
DXer said
Abu Bakr al-Filistini was also known as Samir Hilmi al-Barq
Was this the same Barq the Samir Hilmi al-Barq that was detained by Jordan from 2006 to 2008 and available to members of the Amerithrax Task Force to interview?
Human Rights Watch Concludes Visit to Prisons, Intelligence Detention Center. August 30, 2007
http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/08/29/jordan-rampant-beatings-prisons-go-unpunished
Was he the Samir Barq then re-arrested on April 25, 2010 by Jordan? Was he then deported to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 11, where he was arrested? Was he the Samir Hilmi Barq charged by an Israeli military court with membership in and training with an enemy organization and planning terrorist attacks?
If so, did AUSA Lieber interview him? Did AUSA Kohl interview him? I realize Samir might not have known why the panties taken from Dr. Ivins basement were stained but he might know the details of anthrax lab and planning, to include whether the strain he was using was the Ames strain.
Yazid would not tell me in Facebook chat but maybe Samir Hilmi al-Barq has addressed the issue during his detention in Jordan or his detention in Israel.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Rn8f02dV8_AC&pg=PA545&lpg=PA545&dq=%22Samir+al-Barq%22++Jordan&source=bl&ots=toF1qB-KEh&sig=m2XAeJHWBYaGnWY3RlCpLmPJaIw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IRtvT-C9K8Lg0QGcv5zjBg&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Samir%20al-Barq%22%20%20Jordan&f=false