British Muslims Receive 12+ Years for Syria Travel

December 11, 2014 by TMO 

Editor’s note: Karin Friedemann is a TMO Columnist. Any opinions expressed here are her own.

A lack of funds has forced the United Nations to stop providing food vouchers for 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on December 1.   REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, both 22, were arrested at Heathrow Airport in January 2014 as part of a government crackdown on “radicalized jihadists.” These days, this term could mean anyone who went to Syria including for humanitarian reasons. In May, the two pled guilty to one count of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorism acts contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act. 

Ironically, the Guardian reports that police did not know the men had travelled to Syria, where they spent eight months, until one of their mothers contacted detectives in May last year, shortly after the pair had left, reporting her son missing. She had found a note written by her son saying he had gone to fight and wished to “die as a martyr.” Instead of receiving help in locating her son, police raided her home and arrested her son when he tried to return home.

The mother of Yusuf Sarwar, in a press release distributed by CAGE, insisted that her son had “not committed any offenses, killed anyone or fought against any armed forces. He has simply secured areas, dug graves, fasted and given food to areas which were in need of dire help… I feel prison is not the answer, neither is my son radicalized neither is he a terrorist.”
Farooq Siddiqui, of the Prevent programme, is calling for the UK to stop criminalizing young Muslims who travel to Syria to fight against Bashar al-Assad. Mr Siddiqui asked why the government has threatened to arrest British Muslims who return from Syria while it allows young people to fight for Israel and other countries with impunity. And yet there is no enforcement of prison for those British that join IDF.

“They willingly, enthusiastically and with a great deal of purpose, persistence and determination embarked on a course intended to commit acts of terrorism,” Judge Michael Topolski said. “Both of these defendants are fundamentalists who are interested in and deeply committed to violent extremism.”

In an interview with Sky TV, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg said the pair had been branded “terrorists” despite having “no intention of harming anyone.” He also believes the two appear “bewildered by their situation” and that they probably went to Syria out of a feeling of moral duty to help. In the end, Begg said that they came back because they were frustrated by all the infighting amongst the rebel groups.

“I spent several months in prison with these two men and I do not consider them to be a threat to the British public in any way, just in the same way the police that arrested them said they posed no threat whatsoever,” Begg stated in the interview. He also questioned Ahmed and Sarwar’s sentence and accused the judge of maintaining a double standard when handling cases involving Muslims and terrorism. “How can it be that former soldier Ryan McGee, who was found with a bomb with 187 pieces of shrapnel and evidence of a hate ideology was given 2 years and described as a misguided teenager, while these men have been given over 12 years and branded as terrorists despite them having no intention of harming anyone,” asked Begg, who has demanded that the case be appealed.

British security forces have stepped up surveillance and arrests of terrorism suspects in recent months, and lawmakers are set to toughen anti-terrorism laws in a bid to stem the flow of Britons joining Islamic State (IS) jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq. An estimated 500 Britons are reported to have travelled abroad to become jihadists and officials fear the return of battle-hardened and radicalized fighters.

The controversial anti-terrorism powers, which are being widely used to harass and gather intelligence on Muslims traveling to and from the UK, are being challenged by several human rights organizations. Schedule 7, which forms part of the Terrorism Act 2000, allows police to hold someone at a UK port for questioning for up to nine hours about whether they have been involved with acts of terrorism. Anyone detained must “give the examining officer any information in his possession which the officer requests” or face arrest. Police need to have no reasonable suspicion to stop, interrogate or detain anybody.

Matanov Gets New Lawyer, New Prison

TMO 

Editor’s note:  Karin Friedemann is a TMO columnist.  Her opinions are her own.

The imprisoned Quincy, Massachusetts cabdriver from Kyrgyzstan, Khairullozhon Matanov prevailed in a motion hearing to fire his attorney on November 20, 2014. Judge Young kindly granted his request for permission to retain his former immigration attorney to represent Matanov, as he faces trial in June 2015 on charges of lying to the FBI and obstructing justice. The attorney switch went smoothly and politely between Edward Hayden, who was his court-appointed attorney, and Paul Glickman, his replacement, because Hayden agreed to step down voluntarily. Judge Young had denied an earlier request from Matanov to retain Glickman, but accepted the request upon appeal.

Glickman explained to reporters after the hearing that he was not originally appointed because he is not on the “CGA List.”

“I am on the appeals list but not the general list.”

However, pubic sympathy may have also softened the judge’s heart towards the defendant, who made headlines in October after being kicked in the head and teargassed by prison guards at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, who played the US National Anthem repeatedly and called him “Muslim terrorist.”

“Matanov has told supporters in letters that he has been beaten by corrections officers, ridiculed and harassed, and he watched another inmate attempt suicide,” reported Milton Valencia in the Boston Globe.

“Some guards were trying to say that National Anthem of USA was not played at all, thankfully some brave inmates said indeed it was played for three times. I want the video of I am getting beat up should be released for public, so this way everybody know about their crimes. Already two more people told me about their torture and I am sure once it is gonna come out, there are a lots of people whom themselves experienced such a thing, will speak up,” wrote Matanov in his most recent letter to a supporter.

Several people wrote letters to the judge asking for mercy, which ended up in his docket. Some letters mentioned that the government asked the young immigrant to become an informant in exchange for his freedom but he refused.

Matanov was suddenly moved to Wyatt, a federal prison in Central Falls, Rhode Island, shortly before he appeared in court.

Entering the courtroom, Matanov kept his eyes downcast but did not look terrified or despairing as he had appeared in previous hearings, shortly after he was arrested by a SWAT team that came to his home. Despite having no history of violence, political activism or any criminal record, he has been kept in solitary confinement since May 2013. His hair is now longer, and he appeared somewhat unkempt, with beard stubble. He looked both tired and tired of this long ordeal. His head is likely still throbbing from the concussion, which he claims has not received adequate medical attention. Matanov wore olive green prison clothes, which were thin like hospital garments.

Judge Young began by saying to Matanov: “I don’t want a discussion of what happened between Hayden and you, or the charges against you: Why don’t you want Hayden as your attorney?”

“I have been working before with Glickman. I felt more confident while working with him,” answered Matanov.

“Mr. Matanov has been a perfect gentleman during these difficult times at prison. He has been respectful and appreciative despite the circumstances. I couldn’t do anything to alleviate his conditions,” explained Hayden humbly. He called Matanov a “star client.”

Judge Young asked Hayden why there has been no progress on this case. Hayden had not filed any motions or seemingly done much of anything to prepare for trial.

“Mr. Matanov was not a problem client. This is not a complex case. It is not difficult to get ready for this case,” said Hayden. “Because of the high notoriety of this case, I had to go to Plymouth two or three times to put out fires.”

Judge Young seemed to sympathize with the defendant. “This young man has the right to a speedy trial. I am ready to give him a prompt trial.”

Young asked Glickman, who was in attendance in the courtroom, if he would take the case. Glickman agreed. He assured the judge that he has been following the case and that there would be no delay if he were to take over the job.

“There can only be one attorney,” said Judge Young to Hayden. “I do thank you for everything you have done under these unique circumstances.”

Hayden said he did not oppose the assignment of a new lawyer.

At that point the judge allowed Matanov’s motion to withdraw his attorney. “I mean no disrespect. You have been ably defending your client.”

“The Plymouth conditions are deplorable. I think it’s fair to say that he may not have been treated well. There have been three suicides. The information the client gave is not unreasonable,” Glickman told reporters after the hearing, assuring them about how prepared he was for trial and implying the lack of any behind the scenes plea deal.

Matanov is not accused of playing any role in the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing but he had dinner with Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the night of the bombing. He faces up to 15 years for downplaying his relationship with them, after he went to the police to identify the Tsarnaev brothers when their faces came on television.

Judge Young presided over the trial of the notorious “shoe bomber,” Richard Reid in 2003.

Palestinian Woman’s US Citizenship Revoked

TMO 

Karin Friedemann is a TMO columnist.  Her opinions are her own.

“When she was 21, in 1969, Rasmea Odeh was arrested in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers at her home, and for twenty-five days her interrogators tortured her,” Charlotte Silver reports in the Nation. “She was beaten from head to toe with sticks and metal bars; her body, including genitalia and breasts, was subjected to electric shocks after she was forced to watch a male prisoner tortured to death in this very way. All the while, she was told she would die if she did not confess. But it was not until they brought in her father, threatening to force him to rape her, that she agreed to sign a confession stating that she had helped orchestrate two explosions in West Jerusalem that killed two civilians. Even then, her torturers raped her with a thick wooden stick.

“Standing before a military court less than one month later, Odeh renounced the confession. But the panel of judges ignored that, and Odeh was sentenced to ten years plus life in prison. Ten years later, she was released in a prisoner exchange, along with seventy-five other Palestinians.”

45 years later on October 22, 2013, Odeh, 67, was arrested by Homeland Security at her suburban Chicago home. She was accused in federal court later that day of responding incorrectly to a question on her naturalization application ten years ago. In front of a courtroom packed full of supporters on November 10, after just two hours of deliberation, the jury declared Odeh guilty of “unlawful procurement of citizenship.”

The case against Odeh centers on her failure to disclose on her US immigration papers her 1969 conviction in an Israeli military court. The US Judge Gershwin Drain absolutely refused to allow the jury to hear Odeh mention the circumstances of her false conviction by torture. Odeh insisted that she’d always believed questions she’s been accused of answering falsely were asking about her time in the US, not Palestine.

“If I knew it was about Israel, I would have said, “ Odeh explained. “It’s not a secret that I’ve been in jail. Even the embassy knows.” The US embassy in Israel became involved in the initial arrests because her father was a US citizen.

Odeh was then detained as a “flight risk” awaiting sentencing to take place on March 10, 2015. Her attorneys refuted the government attorneys’ assertions that she was a flight risk. Odeh rejected a plea deal that would have seen her deported without serving jail time. She chose to fight to remain in the US where she has strong community ties.

University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) professor Nadine Naber, who first met Rasmea back in 2006, testified to Rasmea’s work changing the lives of hundreds of Arab immigrant women by creating a collective space for them. She testified about Rasmea’s character, a truthful person and community mentor.

Judge Drain told Odeh she would not be allowed to speak about her Israeli torture experience, stating he did not want to “retry the case” of 1969.

“It’s my life. I have a right to talk about the things that happened to me!” she responded.

The judge restated that testimony referring to torture or her forced confession was inadmissible. Rasmea nevertheless delivered a heartfelt testimony to the court, detailing her family’s history through the Catastrophe of 1948, the 1967 war, and the 1969 raid on her home. But when Odeh told the court that she spent 45 days in an “interrogation center, prosecutor Jonathan Tukel objected. Judge Drain sustained the objection.

Defense attorney Deutsch asked her if she was convicted.

She answered, “They convicted me falsely.”

The government objected and the judge sustained the objection. Judge Drain barred Rasmea from using post-traumatic stress disorder as a defense.

Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) told the Electronic Intifada, “This was not a full or fair trial.”

“Palestinian people around the world are doing effective work; we’re getting stronger and stronger and Israel is on the ropes. And when Israel is on the ropes, the US government cracks down,” he added.

This horrifying, targeted federal prosecution seems to be linked to a federal investigation of Chicago area Palestinian and Colombian human rights activists led by Assistant US Attorney Barry Jonas in 2010, in which the FBI conducted simultaneous raids on the homes of seven community members in the Chicago area, seizing their computers with search warrants that stated they were looking for hints of “material support for terrorism.” Twenty-three other activists were subpoenaed by grand jury, as well as a subpoena of AAAN records.

Jonas, who also prosecuted the secret government case against the Holy Land Foundation, was seen actively consulting with the assistant US attorney that presented the case against Odeh, reported the Detroit Free Press in an article written by former political prisoner, Angela Davis.

“As a person with first-hand knowledge of the devastation wrought by politically motivated prosecutions — during the era of COINTELPRO, I was falsely charged with three capital offenses — I see Rasmea Odeh’s case as a continuation of the embarrassing history of decades of suppression of social justice activists in the U.S.

The courts are being used to retaliate against Palestinian activism,” wrote Davis.

Odeh told her tear-filled supporters that filled the courtroom: “I don’t want to be weak in this situation. I am strong and I ask you all to be strong.”

Khairullozhon Matanov Brutalized in Prison

“I feel unsafe in PCCF, and I have a great fear for my life,” wrote Khairullozhon Matanov, 24, in a letter to this author postmarked November 1, 2014. Matanov is awaiting trial for allegedly lying to the FBI in an effort to downplay his relationship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, accused Boston bomber who was killed by police in April 2013.

Matanov was severely beaten by guards after flooding his cell in protest against the constant Islamophobic harassment at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility (PCCF). The incident was reported in a letter from Matanov to a friend postmarked October 24, 2014 and also by a sympathetic fellow inmate, who has since been moved to another unit. The remaining inmates taunt him in a hostile manner. 

“They harass me so much, I don’t know what to do, they couldn’t see that I was being so peaceful, now even some ignorant inmates say bad things, and when they do it, the guards play the US National Anthem, it is awful,” writes Matanov.

The US National Anthem was also blasting on the night of October 22, when seven correctional officers sprayed tear gas into his cell. Unable to breathe, Matanov tried to get some air from under the door but was sprayed in the face. After allowing them to handcuff him, he collapsed. 

“When I was like half dead not moving at all they jump on me so badly. One of them stick his finger into my right eye (it’s swollen right now full of blood). After, the same person start saying, “You [expletive] Muslim terrorist” and kick my head... I pass out from pain, then I woke up when one of them twist my hand.”

Khair reports that he heard one of them say, “We have to take him out walking.”

“They took me out... the end? No! Horror just started. They put me in that chair with the spray all over my face and hands, left me for two and half hours in one room. I was crying and asking for help with my eye (literally burning with the pain). Ruthless human beings, I thought I am about to die. Fortunately for me it was not my time. I survived with lots of pain... No justice in this place.. If they will have an argument with me, they play national anthem, by the way when they came to get me in their suits they played the national anthem of USA. It is so awful, they are pulling USA down... I could hear and now I see they really really enjoyed this awful terror which they did against me.”

A week later, Matanov wrote, “Trying to get better, after all of this pain, but my eyes and my head is still not good, I can’t see properly, and I can’t read. If I do so my head goes crazy. They did not give me good medical care, even though I was beaten nearly to death.”

A former client of Matanov’s taxi service wrote in an email, “This is unbelievable. Months ago an officer told me the FBI sent him there so he would be safe...yeah right!”

Supporters contacted a number of agencies as well as the Consulate of Kyrgyzstan. It is hoped that the Kyrgyzstan ambassador to the US will visit Matanov as he did last Ramadan, after Matanov mentioned in a letter dated July 8 that he was not given any food for four days.

This is not the first time Matanov was punished for flooding his cell in protest of being singled out for harassment. In a letter postmarked August 21, he described another incident where he was stripped naked and taken to “Q5” - a cold, rubber room usually used for suicidal prisoners. He was left there without clothes, normal food or toilet for four days. 

“Now I told this to my lawyer, guess what, it was better to tell to a wall so I could hear the echo.”

Matanov’s court appointed attorney, Edward Hayden told Boston Magazine that “the injuries did not appear as extensive as what was described in the letter... He had a black eye, he had scrapes, bruises, and that’s what I saw…some of these letters and Tweets make it seem like he was beaten to an inch of his life, and that’s not true.” This was not the first time that Matanov’s lawyer undermined his case.

Bruce Gellerman tweeted on November 6 that Matanov filed a motion to withdraw his attorney Edward Hayden. There will be a closed hearing on November 20.

The government is putting Matanov under intense pressure because they want to break his resolve to maintain his innocence. He was offered his freedom if he would become an FBI informant as he wrote on July 15. When he refused, he was then offered a shorter sentence of seven years if he would plead guilty, he wrote on July 24.

The day after the attack on Matanov, an inmate at the same prison, Marcus Czaja, 32, was found dead in his cell while on November 3, Steven Wayne Roderick, 34, died at PCCF. Both deaths were ruled suicides. 

Government Aggressively Seeks Defendant’s Associates; Defense Fears Intimidation

TMO 

Editor’s note:  Karin Friedemann is a TMO Columnist.  Her opinions are her own.

Demonstrators held signs in front of Boston’s federal courthouse on October 20, 2014 during the last hearing for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was accused of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Arina Montag of Haverhill, Massachusetts told reporters she believes Tsarnaev and his late brother are being unfairly prosecuted.

“I believe the boys have been set up,” she said. “I haven’t seen any actual evidence against them. I mean I’ve seen circumstantial evidence. Nothing that actually links them to what they are allegedly being accused of doing.”

Elena Teyer, the mother-in-law of Ibragim Todashev, was one of the seven people speaking out against the justice system. Her daughter’s husband was shot seven times and killed in his Florida home by federal agents from Boston in May 2013. Teyer held a collage of his autopsy photographs.

“I am dead because I knew Tsarnaevs. I knew the truth,” her sign read.

Teyer told reporters about the email between FBI agents after they killed Todashev. It says, “Good work. A job well done.” The email congratulated the FBI team for their success! It did not say, “Well that turned uglier than we had planned.” This can only imply that they were sent from Boston to Orlando to murder a potential witness.

“They came from Boston to kill my son-in-law. I know that for sure.”

“We are all here for justice,” said Teyer, detailing to reporters the holes and inconsistencies in law enforcement’s account of Todashev’s death.

The news story of the alleged Todashev confession – that he and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were involved a drug-related 2011 triple homicide in Waltham, Massachusetts – was originally leaked to the media by reporter Michelle McPhee. There is a bloodstained note partially written, never signed. Todashev apparently had refused to continue with this forced confession, and paid with his brains splattered next to his front door.

Government prosecutors mentioned this unsigned confession letter in a previous court filing as if it were indeed undisputed fact. Defense attorneys have since tried repeatedly without success to compel the government to give some more details about these murders, which seem to be unrelated to the Boston Marathon bombing.

On October 24, 2014, four days after the hearing, US prosecutors filed with the court their opposition to Tsarnaev’s Fourth Motion to Compel [Discovery]. In order to avoid having to hand over any evidence to the defense, US prosecutors now suddenly admit:

“The government has no evidence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev actually participated in the Walham murders.”

J.M. Lawrence, who writes for Bloomberg and the Boston Globe, tweets: “If US ‘has no evidence’ Tamerlan murdered 3 in Waltham, was the Todashev ‘confession’ in FL false? Lots of unanswered questions.”

McPhee’s most recent article in Newsweek entitled “Twisted Sisters” took heat inside the courtroom. The Islamophobic article painted a negative picture of the Tsarnaev family and contained a number of factual errors. McPhee’s article states that she was tipped off by a high ranking law enforcement official. McPhee is also the source of other erroneous stories related to the Boston Marathon bombing like the “note in the boat.”

Media leaks are very serious, because the TV version of events is extremely absent from the actual court proceedings – but heavily weighs the jury’s mindset against the defendant. Tsarnaev’s motion to address leaks “requests that the Court hold a hearing, and direct government counsel to produce the supervising law enforcement officers with access to information about this case including both federal and state supervising agents or officers – to testify about their instructions and efforts to investigate and stop unauthorized communications with news media.” 

The other big issue is the government intimidation of witnesses. The government wants the defense to reveal the names of Jahar’s old friends and relatives long before the trial. This is something that is not normally done, and the defense is not going along with it, because they fear for the safety of these people and they also fear that these people once the FBI starts harassing them, will cease to become defense witnesses.

“Defense counsel have described the unusual and severe obstacles they have encountered in their efforts to interview and secure testimony from potential witnesses who knew the defendant, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and other members of his family prior to April 15, 2013… A substantial part of these difficulties stems from the aggressive, persistent and pervasive law enforcement presence in the lives of many potential defense witnesses, and the atmosphere of fear and intimidation that has necessarily followed…”

“Given the virtual certainty that the FBI will descend on each of the non-expert witnesses to interview them (and in most cases, to re-interview them), the defendant has a well-founded concern that in the very unusual context of this case, defense witnesses whose identities are disclosed to the government prior to trial will quickly cease to be defense witnesses. For this reason, the defense does not agree to a witness disclosure requirement that is not mandated by statute or rule.”

1,000 potential jurors will be screened for Tsarnaev’s trial, District Judge George O’Toole said at Monday’s hearing. The process of picking the 12 jurors and six alternates who will hear the case against Tsarnaev is expected to begin on November 3, 2014.

Exciting Developments in Tsarnaev Case

"The government has no evidence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev actually participated in the Walham murders."

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1574.htm


On October 20, 2014, Tsarnaev's most recent status conference hearing took place. Seven demonstrators spoke to the flock of reporters reminding them about their legal obligation to promote the presumption of innocence.

"I haven't seen any actual evidence against [the Tsarnaev brothers]. I mean I've seen circumstantial evidence. Nothing that actually links them to [the bombings]," stated demonstrator Arina Montag.

Elena Teyer is the mother in law of Ibrahim Todashev, who was shot 7 times in his Florida home by Boston FBI in May of 2013. Elena drove for three days, sleeping in her car in order to be present at this demonstration. Her brave diligence was noted.

Associated Press' Denise Lavoie reported, "Elena Teyer held a placard with photos of son-in-law Ibragim Todashev. 'I am dead because I knew Tsarnaevs. I knew the truth,' the sign read in part."

"'We are all here for justice,' said Teyer, pointing to Ibrahim's autopsy photos, explaining what she believes to be holes and inconsistencies in law enforcement's account of Todashev's death," reported Morgan Rousseau in the Boston Metro.

"They came from Boston to kill my son-in-law. I know that for sure."

Elena mentioned to reporters the email between FBI agents after they killed her daughter's husband. It says, "Good work. A job well done." It did not say, "Well that turned uglier than we had planned." The email congratulated the FBI team for their success! This can only mean that they were sent from Boston to Orlando to murder the potential witness.

Meanwhile, inside the courthouse, defending attorneys complained of media leaks. In particular, a recent Newsweek article by Michelle McPhee, entitled "Twisted Sisters," painted a negatively biased picture of the Tsarnaev family. It was Islamophobic and contained a number of factual errors. McPhee's article states that she was tipped off by a high ranking law enforcement official. McPhee is also the source of other weird stories related to the Boston Marathon bombing like "the note in the boat."

This is very serious, because the TV version of events is extremely absent from the actual court proceedings but heavily weighs the jury's mindset against the defendant. Four days after the courthouse protest, on October 24, attorneys filed three very interesting documents: Tsarnaev's defense team filed their Third Motion for a Hearing to Address Leaks by Law Enforcement, and a Memorandum Regarding Scheduling, which addresses government intimidation of witnesses. The government filed its opposition to Tsarnaev's Fourth Motion to Compel [Discovery].

Tsarnaev's motion to address leaks "requests that the Court hold a hearing, and direct government counsel to produce the supervising law enforcement officers with access to information about this case including both federal and state supervising agents or officers - to testify about their instructions and efforts to investigate and stop unauthorized communications with news media."

The next illuminating document discusses government intimidation of witnesses. The defense argues that they are not legally obligated to disclose the names of Jahar's friends, as the government demands.

"Defense counsel have described the unusual and severe obstacles they have

encountered in their efforts to interview and secure testimony from potential witnesses who knew the defendant, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and other members of his family prior to April 15, 2013... A substantial part of these difficulties stems from the aggressive, persistent and pervasive law enforcement presence in the lives of many potential defense witnesses, and the atmosphere of fear and intimidation that has necessarily followed. This problem, and the consequent slowing of the pace of the defense mitigation investigation, was one of the reasons why defense counsel sought a continuance of the trial date to September 2015..."

"These same concerns make it impossible for the defense to voluntarily agree to disclose to the government the names of non-expert witnesses long before they are to be called. Given the virtual certainty that the FBI will descend on each of the non-expert witnesses to interview them (and in most cases, to re-interview them), the defendant has a well-founded concern that in the very unusual context of this case, defense witnesses whose identities are disclosed to the government prior to trial will quickly cease to be defense witnesses. For this reason, the defense does not agree to a witness disclosure requirement that is not mandated by statute or rule."

In the government's response to defense requests for more information about Todashev's alleged confession regarding the triple homicide in 2011, in order to avoid having to hand over any evidence to the defense, US prosecutors now suddenly admit:

"The government has no evidence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev actually participated in the Walham murders."

J.M. Lawrence, who writes for Bloomberg and the Boston Globe, tweets: "If US 'has no evidence' Tamerlan murdered 3 in Waltham, was the Todashev 'confession' in FL false? Lots of unanswered questions."

The Todashev confession news leak also came from, surprise! McPhee. Government prosecutors mentioned Ibrahim's confession in an earlier court filing as fact. This is a common practice in shady politics: leak news report, then refer to news report in legal case. But if Todashev is now suddenly considered innocent, why did he write a blood-stained confession note?

1,000 potential jurors will be screened for Tsarnaev's trial, District Judge George O'Toole said at Monday's hearing. The process of picking the 12 jurors and six alternates who will hear the case against Tsarnaev is expected to begin on November 3, 2014.

Web of Chaos in Syria

TMO 

Shocking photos have been leaked of the Syrian regime’s 215 Intelligence Branch in Damascus, where detainees are sent to die. Many are summarily executed without any formal charges or military trial.

The Violation Documentation Center in Syria has published satellite photography of the regime’s detention centers near Damascus, documenting the growth of cemeteries and “irregular digging.” The report states that “many of the locals testified about the burying operations that required bulldozers and about the arrival of big refrigerated lorries (fruits and vegetables refrigerator trucks).” This led to the VDC’s confirmation of mass graves.

According to VDC collected eyewitness statements on Assad’s detention centers, “most of the death cases happen almost exclusively in the first ten days of the detention.”

A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman denounced the Iranian regime for siding with Assad, saying, “Iran should remain silent out of shame over its support for Damascus which is the true terrorism,” according to the Anatolia News Agency.

Assad forces and Shiite militias fiercely attacked the al-Waer neighborhood in Homs, in order to control the city last week. Al-Waer neighborhood is currently a haven to more than three hundred thousand civilians. The neighborhood, which is crowded with displaced persons who fled there to escape fighting in other neighborhoods of Homs, is experiencing ongoing fierce shelling after the violent attack a week ago. Al-Waer has become a daily target for the missiles, artillery and explosive barrel bombs from Assad forces and allied sectarian militias. Within 3 days last week, more than 24 civilians were killed, most of them women and children.

The western media is focusing only on “Kobanî,” a Syrian town near the Turkish border where armed Kurds, including many women fighters, are battling against ISIS.

“US air strikes have hit ISIS targets near the town in recent days but do not appear to have stopped the militants’ advance,” reports the Independent.

The Free Syrian Army, which reportedly represents 90% of the rebels against the regime, is also present in Kobani. The FSA is at odds with ISIS as well as the Kurds, who are using this situation to split off and form an independent Kurdistan, while the FSA wants to keep Syria as one nation.

However, activists in Homs, condemning the silence of the international community, insist that “people’s lives in Al-Waer are as precious as those of Kobanî.” The residents of Al-Waer have been suffering under siege for more than a year. The activists insisted that the international community should intervene to save civilians regardless of their race or origins.
TMO interviewed 22 year old Mahmoud Allouz in Homs about the situation. The young man, who identifies with the Free Syrian Army, said that “Homs is the capital of the Syrian revolution.”
He explained that the first neighborhood in Homs to be destroyed in 2011 by Assad was Baba Amr. The military campaign continued for months in the southern countryside. The violent battles were “dominated by the help of the Lebanese Hezbollah after [Baba Amr] was destroyed,” stated Allouz. “They want to serve their project [of] sectarian Shiite fighting. They brutally destroy and commit crimes. There are fighters from Iran who are also taking part in the ranks of the Assad regime.”

Although anti-government rebels fought long and valiantly, as of May 2014, the city of Homs is now completely under control of the government, whose snipers continue to shoot civilians including children in a sadistic manner. For example, some video footage was recently released of a dead or dying person, who was just laying in full view on the road, but because of all the sniper shooting, no one could go collect him. Assad’s soldiers take these videos as trophies to brag about their accomplishments.

Al Waer neighborhood “gets the daily massacres,” said Allouz. However, “The countryside north of Homs is still under the control of the rebels,” he explained.

When asked about the rumored opium fields, Allouz stated that they are located mostly in the middle of Syria and are now under the control of ISIS.

“Who do you think ISIS are?” TMO inquired.

Allouz stated that they are a “takfiri criminal gang” whose murders are “working in favor of the Assad regime.” He observed that ISIS is more interested in fighting other rebels than against the regime. “More [ISIS] battles were against the FSA, trying to control the positions held by FSA and the oil fields and assaults on civilians… They are battling the Free Syrian Army, and slaughtering Syrian civilians as does the Assad regime.”

I asked him, “Do you think ISIS is a local movement or are they foreign employees?”

He answered that the gang is not being paid by any country but is “self-financing” through seizure of oil fields, theft of territory and stealing money. They are “trying to lure poor people with money to join them, placing ideas in their mind” about committing “criminality and murder.”

Al Jazeera however put ISIS into context, reporting this week that Mexican drug cartels have murdered exponentially more people than ISIS including 57 journalists and almost 300 Americans visiting Mexico. They have beheaded hundreds of people and displayed mutilated corpses in public squares and on social media in order to intimidate detractors. It is truly astonishing how Americans are more concerned about criminal gangs in Syria than violence happening next door.