UK Lawmakers Debate Israeli Detention of Palestinian Children

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UK Lawmakers Debate Israeli Detention of Palestinian Children

A Palestinian child raises chained hands during a protest in Gaza. | Photo: Reuters

The debate comes as Israel has been increasing the detention of Palestinians since violence broke out in the occupied territories in early October.

Members of the United Kingdom Parliament held a special session to discuss for the second time the issue of child prisoners and detainees in Israel-occupied Palestinian territories.

In 2012, the British Foreign Office sponsored a visit by distinguished lawyers to assess Israel’s efforts to improve its record following the publication of the report, “Children in Military Custody,” by a team led by the former British attorney general, Baroness Patricia Scotland.

The debate also came as Israel has been increasing the detention of Palestinians since violence broke out in the occupied territories in early October. Since then, Tel Aviv’s armed forces and police have detained over 1,200 children, according to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

“The detention of Palestinian children by the Israeli occupation forces is a crime against humanity. What kind of threat would children pose to the Israeli soldiers,” said teleSUR Correspondent Naser Saadat, a Gaza citizen.

ANALYSIS: Is International Palestine Solidarity Just a Symbolic Gesture?

In February 2014, Israel announced the introduction of a pilot program to issue written summonses instead of arresting children, the move followed the international condemnation on the arbitrary arrests of minors, However, Tel Aviv has not stopped its campaign, according to human rights organizations. Israel also tortures about 95 percent of the Palestinian prisoners it holds in prisons, including minors, women and even ill detainees.

Meanwhile, the U.K. government has continued its unconditional support for Israel. Since 2007, the British multinational security company G4S has provided security for major prisons in Israel where political prisoners are held without trial.


In a challenge to the U.K. government and G4S, considered the world's largest security company, a global network of grassroots activist groups and members of the British Parliament launched the hashtag "Stop G4S," demanding the United Nations cancel its contracts with the security company.

India 'covering up abuses' in Kashmir: report

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India 'covering up abuses' in Kashmir: report

Kashmiri rights group documents structure of impunity and violence, including killings and enforced disappearances.

Indian-administered Kashmir has seen an increase in violence over the past two months [AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan]

The Indian government has covered up hundreds of cases of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances in the disputed territory of Kashmir, a new report has alleged.

Khurram Parvez, programme coordinator of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, told Al Jazeera on the release of the report, titled Structures of Violence: The Indian State in Jammu and Kashmir, that the Indian government had allowed systemic violence to take root in the Himalayan region hit by more than two decades of conflict.

Parvez, co-author of the mammoth 800-page report, released on Wednesday, said the International Peoples' Tribunal and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons had documented more than 1,080 extrajudicial killings and 172 enforced disappearances, as well as cases of sexual violence that go back to the early 1990s. The report took two years to compile.

The document details 333 case studies of human rights violations and names some 972 alleged perpetrators responsible for the crimes. These include 464 army personnel, 161 paramilitary personnel, 158 Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel and 189 "government gunmen".

"These crimes were happening with the full knowledge of higher level officers in the Indian government ... they must be all held accountable by international law," Parvez said.

'Structure of violence and impunity'

The allegations detailed in the report are supported by official records and testimonies and Parvez said that prosecution should not be limited to the individuals.

"We acknowledge that these are individuals forming part of a structure of violence and impunity that allows a massive institutional cover-up here in the valley," he said.

The report calls for the UN Human Rights Council to appoint a Special Rapporteur to investigate the crimes and appeals to the UN Security Council (UNSC) to exercise its power to refer the cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC). India is not a signatory to the ICC but the UNSC has the power to refer situations to the court.

Both Lieutenant Colonel N N Joshi, India's army spokesperson in Srinagar and Colonel Rohan Anand, India's army spokesperson in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera they had yet to see the new report and were therefore unable to comment.

Likewise, Naeem Akhtar, spokesperson for Government of Jammu and Kashmir state told Al Jazeera that he hadn't read the report yet and described the allegations leveled at the Indian government as a "generic statement".

"We are already looking into cases of human rights violations in Kashmir and we will give justice to the people"

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir state, said the party was looking into the claims made in the report.

"There have been some human rights violations in Kashmir ... and it is a fact [that] mistakes have been made on both sides and ultimately Kashmiris have suffered," Waheed-Ur-Rehman, spokesperson for the PDP, told Al Jazeera.

"We are trying our level best to provide justice to the people who have suffered in the past. Justice can never be anti-state, people will get justice," he said.

But Gautum Navalkha, a human rights activist and editorial consultant to the Economic and Political Weekly magazine in New Delhi, described justice as "a rarity" in the disputed region.

"Because of the militancy, Jammu and Kashmir is considered a 'disturbed area' [...] and there are two types of laws: one for common Indians and another for the 'disturbed areas'."

"There is no possibility of justice in Kashmir under these circumstances," Navalkha told Al Jazeera.

Indian-administered Kashmir has seen an increase in violence over the past two months, prompting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to raise concerns in August at rising tensions along the de-facto border between India and Pakistan.

At the time, the UN chief urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and take all steps to ensure the protection of civilians who continue to bear the brunt of hostilities between the two nations over their claims to Kashmir.

'Serious abuses'

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since both countries gained independence in 1947. Both nations claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety, with Kashmiris still staking a claim to self-determination. Since 1988, the Indian military has deployed hundreds of thousands of security forces to quell an insurgency against Indian rule.

In July, Amnesty International accused the Indian government of refusing to prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses in the region.

According to Amnesty, more than 96 percent of all allegations of human rights violations pitted against India's personnel in the disputed territory have been declared as "false or baseless".

"Till now, not a single member of the security forces deployed in the state has been tried for human rights violations in a civilian court. This lack of accountability has in turn facilitated other serious abuses," Minar Pimple, a senior director of global operations at Amnesty said.

In a rare deviation from the norm, a military court sentenced five Indian soldiers to life imprisonment for the murder of three Kashmiri men in 2010. Omar Abdullah, the then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, described it as a "watershed moment".

Amnesty welcomed the move but cautioned that "for justice to be consistently delivered, security force personnel accused of human rights violations should be prosecuted in civilian courts".


Over the past two decades more than 60,000 people have been killed in the insurgency, and the dispute remains a perilous red herring in India-Pakistan relations.

Nine things you probably didn't know about Yakub Memon

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Nine things you probably didn't know about Yakub Memon

The 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts accused had moved SC challenging the death warrant contending that all his permissible legal remedies have not been exhausted.

As Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a Mumbai-based chartered accountant and younger brother of 1993 Mumbai serial blast mastermind, awaits final conviction in the case to commute death punishment to life term imprisonment, here's what you need to know about him.

#1. Surrendered voluntarily in Nepal: As part of the secret operation executed by B Raman, a 1961 batch IPS officer, Yakub Memon handed himself to the Indian government to assist with their investigation on the case and return to his homeland with dignity. B Raman further describes in his article how Memon cooperated with the investigative agencies in India and did not deserve capital punishment. He writes, "There is not an iota of doubt about the involvement of Yakub and other members of the family in the conspiracy and their cooperation with the ISI till July 1994. In normal circumstances, Yakub would have deserved the death penalty if one only took into consideration his conduct and role before July 1994. But if one also takes into consideration his conduct and role after he was informally picked up in Kathmandu, there is a strong case for having second thoughts about the suitability of the death penalty in the subsequent stages of the case".

#2. Family returned to start afresh: Yakub's family returned to India in three batches to aid the investigative agencies in their probe and protect their property at home. It was Yakub Memon, himself, who insisted that his family should come out of their hiding in Pakistan and return to their homeland to start afresh and cooperate with the Indian authorities. Soon after, they found themselves slapped with charges of their alleged involvement in terrorist activities and all including daughter-in-law and parents were thrown behind the bars.

#3. Diagnosed with schizophrenia: Plagued by this serious mental condition, Memon has been suffering for some 20 years. In usual circumstances, a person suffering from this ailment is exempted from execution.

#4. The only death row convict in the case: According to the petition seeking "Stay Against Imminent Execution of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the TADA Court convicted 100 persons and awarded death penalty to 11 persons. In appeal, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences of all the convicts except Yakub Memon". And those whose death sentence was commuted were trained for handling arms and played a direct role in planting explosives.

#5. Differential treatment: As per the text of the petition seeking clemency for Yakub Memon, he has already spent more than two decades behind the bars, while his trial took 14 years to arrive at a conclusion. While the apex court commuted death sentence of the other ten accused, he has been retained and his pleas been rejected time and again.

#6. Good conduct in prison: Memon who cracked the competitive chartered accountancy examination in 1990, completed two post-graduate degree programmes while in prison. As part of the distance learning programme organised by the IGNOU, Memon received a PG degree in English literature in 2012 and passed the exam for another PG programme in 2014.

#7. Ethnicity: Yakub Memon hails from the Memon community in the Kutch area of Gujarat. He ran a chartered accountant company in partnership with Chetan Mehta in Mumbai.

#8. Petition after petition: After his curative petition was rejected last week, Yakub Memon filed for a fresh mercy petition before the state court. Besides this, several political leaders, judges, academicians and people from the film industry have signed a petition seeking clemency for Memon. This includes Shatrughan Sinha, Mani Shankar Aiyar, KTS Tulsi, Naseeruddin Shah and Mahesh Bhatt. However, it is today that the Supreme Court will give a hearing to his plea for a stay on the judgement of capital punishment.

#9. Death sentence announced in haste: The petition requesting stay against Yakub's execution clearly states that he "was not given advance notice of the death warrant hearing and as a result of which he and his lawyers could not participate and contest the issuance of the death warrant. Lack of hearing makes the present death warrant void in light of the Supreme Court decision in Shabnam v Union of India & Ors, Writ Petition (Criminal) No 88 of 2015 (decided on May 27, 2015)."

Why a Dalit basti in Mathura has been a ghost town for last three days

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Why a Dalit basti in Mathura has been a ghost town for last three days

It was here on July 28 that a mob lynched Lalua alias Shyam, a Dalit, for allegedly raping and killing a 12-year-old upper caste girl Lali.

Empty Dalit houses in Mathura’s Parkham village after the murder of a 12 year-old girl.

The Valmiki Basti in Parkham village, about 10 km from the Mathura refinery in western Uttar Pradesh, has been a ghost town for the last three days.

At the front is the house of Lalua with household items lying strewn across the floor and cots turned upside down — with no people to drive them away, chickens and dogs have laid claim to everything inside.

It was here on July 28 that a mob lynched Lalua alias Shyam, a Dalit, for allegedly raping and killing a 12-year-old upper caste girl Lali. Sonu, the other man that the mob attacked that day, is lying on a hospital bed in Agra with both his legs and an arm covered in bandages. “It was Lalua, I did no wrong,” he said.

Today, the tension in the village is so high that about 20 families living in the basti have fled their homes fearing for their safety. And the Parkham railway station, where the girl was last seen talking to Lalua and which acted as a border on each side of which the Thakurs and the Valmikis lived, is now guarded by about 20 to 25 armed policemen deployed to keep peace.

Groaning in pain on his hospital bed, Sonu said, “Not one villager wanted to save my life. Had the police not arrived in time I would have been dead, too, like Lalua.”

The deceased girl’s father Mukesh Singh, who belongs to the Thakur community, is an agricultural labourer. His family is in mourning and he is agitated about his daughter’s “brutal murder”.

“Anybody who would have seen the condition in which my daughter’s body was found, would have wanted to kill those two men right there. She was raped, her face was disfigured and she was dumped in the shrubbery near the railway track. What the villagers did to those two men is absolutely right. Had I handed them over to the police, I would have never got justice,” Singh, now a father of five, told The Indian Express.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said the UP police have registered two FIRs — one in the rape and murder of Lali, naming Lalua and Sonu as accused, and the other in Lalua’s death against unknown persons.

Singh added that they will investigate the case further after Sonu, who is under treatment at the Sarojini Naidu government hospital, is fit to give a statement.

“This (the mob attack) is not lawlessness but a sudden reaction to the incident. In a charged mob, even unknown people participate. A mob does not intend to kill but such things happen in society. It cannot be justified legally. They have taken the law into their hands and they will be arrested and sent to jail,” said the officer.

Following the lynching, Inspector Tejbir Singh, Constable Pradeep Kumar and the local chowki in-charge Nepal Singh were suspended, Singh added.

Mukesh said his daughter took her cow for grazing near the railway station at about 2.30 pm on July 27 and did not return. “At night there are no lights in village. We looked for her with our torches but did not find her,” he said.

The next morning, the Thakurs confronted Lalua after Brijesh, Mukesh’s neighbour, said that he had seen Lali talking to him near the railway station.

According to the FIR, the villagers “sternly asked” Sonu and Lalua about Lali following which the two confessed and led them to the spot in the dense shrubbery where she was raped and killed.

The outraged villagers then decided to take the two to the police chowki, it added.

Police said Lalua, however, made an attempt to flee and was chased down. The villagers then took the two to a spot 4 km away from the chowki and allegedly thrashed them, it added.

“As soon as we got information about the incident, we rushed there and took both of them to the hospital. But Lalua did not survive,” said Singh.

Sonu, who worked as a sweeper at the railway station, said he was combing his hair at his home when the agitated villagers reached there.

“Lalua had done wrong. He had two similar cases pending against him. He used to go to Mathura for court dates. When the villagers confronted him he took my name and that of two others — Arjun and Rajkumar. I could have run away but I had no fear because I did no wrong,” he said.

Sonu’s father Shyamlal had been a sweeper with the Railways for 30 years. The family hails from Agra but has been living in Parkham due to Shyamlal’s job which Sonu took over. Sonu said his wife is mentally ill and two of their children died soon after birth.

“The Thakurs took us near a canal. They hit my head repeatedly with a lathi. Then they hit my feet and then broke my legs. I can’t remember all the faces. There were about 50 to 60 people,” Sonu alleged.

On Wednesday, Sonu’s parents waited by his bedside along with two police officers posted at the hospital for his protection. “My son took over my job because I was too old to work,” Shyamlal said.

Sonu’s mother Ramsinghi broke down when asked about her son. “We will never go back to Parkham. We are too scared. My son has a sick wife, both his children died and now he is on a hospital bed,” she said. “We don’t know where the rest of the Valmikis in the village went. All we know is we can never go back,” Shyamlal said.

Yakub Memon’s last call to his daughter Zubaida

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Yakub Memon’s last call to his daughter Zubaida

Nagpur Central Jail allowed Yakub his last wish — a phone call to his 21-year-old daughter, Zubaida.

The jail staff dialed Zubaida’s number and handed the phone to him. Sources present said Yakub broke down on hearing his daughter’s voice. Zubaida too couldn’t hold back her tears. Both remained silent for a few moments before Yakub regained enough composure to talk.

“I wanted to see you getting married and settling down happily, but now I won’t be there to see that moment. I am sorry. I haven’t done anything which will bring shame to our family. I was never involved in anything. Take care of your mother,” Yakub managed to say before hanging up for the last time.


He, however, managed to leave a will, which sources said mentions Zubaida alone. It is not known if this will was handed over to his brother Suleiman or given to the police. Yakub also bid farewell to his fellow convicts and apologized to them for any indiscretion on his part. According to the police, he was heard telling them that he has no hope now. “Ab toh Allah hi malik hai,” he said. A part of his last hours were spent recollecting the time when he lived in Mahim with his family, and how he landed in trouble because of his brother Mushtaq ‘Tiger’ Memon. “Allah usey kabhi maaf nahi karega. Kaash ki woh mera bhai na hota,” he said.

40% OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN DETAINED BY ISRAEL ARE SEXUALLY ABUSED; VIRTUALLY ALL ARE TORTURED

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40% OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN DETAINED BY ISRAEL ARE SEXUALLY ABUSED; VIRTUALLY ALL ARE TORTURED

40% of Palestinian Children Detained by Israel Are Sexually Abused; Virtually All Are Tortured 

According to a new report by the independent, non-governmental, human rights organization the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC), at least 600 Palestinian children have been arrested in Jerusalem alone in the past five months. Of these, roughly 40% were sexually abused.

PPC attorney Mufeed al-Haj notes that this horrific, grotesque abuse is not the only crime of which the Israeli military is guilty. Israeli Occupation Forces are not supposed to engage in night and predawn raids, but they regularly conduct them.


Israeli law says that minors undergoing investigation are supposed to be accompanied by their guardians, yet Israel virtually never allows this. As should be the case with any “democracy,” authorities are also legally “required” to have warrants for the arrest of Palestinians; they rarely do. Kidnapping is a common, everyday crime. In the first 3 weeks of November 2014 alone, Israel kidnapped at least 380 Palestinians from across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Sexual abuse and rape are indeed a form of torture. Palestinian children, illegally detained by Israel without charge, are also tortured by authorities in other ways. In a June Mondoweiss article, “New Testimonies from Palestinian Children Tortured by Israeli Authorities,” I summarized a report by the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah). The report stated that:

[Israeli] Investigators threatened children with beatings, isolation, torturing their fathers and raping their mothers and sisters; children were denied food for dozens of hours unless they confessed to the charges against them.

I also noted that, in its 2013 review of Israel’s child rights record, the UN Committee on the Rights of Children (CRC) expressed “its deepest concern about the reported practice of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children arrested, prosecuted and detained by the military and the police, and about the State party’s failure to end these practices in spite of repeated concerns expressed by treaty bodies.”

The CRC corroborated testimonies recalling Israel’s systematic use of:

• physical and verbal violence,
• humiliation,
• painful restraints,
• hooding of the head and face in a sack,
• death threats,
• physical violence,
• sexual assault against them or members of their family, and
• restricted access to toilet, food and water.

The CRC report also explained that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has used Palestinian children as human shields multiple times.

The following is a collection of points made in the children’s testimonies, as I outlined in my article on Adalah’s report:

• The majority of arrests were made during late-hour night raids.
• Palestinians’ homes were “violently broken into by dozens of soldiers who intimidated both the children and their families.” In 100% of the testimonies, children said they were bound and blindfolded, before being transferred hundreds of meters away in military vehicles.
• In many of the testimonies, children revealed that soldiers went into their rooms, “aggressively woke them up, and shackled their hands and feet while they were still in bed.”
• In one testimony, a child who had been sleeping in his bed when the “brutal kicks of the soldiers” woke him up, had to have his finger amputated. Israeli soldiers ignored his wounded finger, tying up his hands and feet, for over 12 hours, leading to an inoperable infection.
• When family members inquired as to why exactly their young children were being harassed, assaulted, bound, blindfolded, and taken away in the middle of the night, Israeli soldiers often replied by beating and insulting them.
• In the preponderance of the arrests, neither children nor their families knew why they were being taken away. Family members would not be allowed to accompany the minor, and they would not be informed as to where Israeli authorities would be taking them.
• While soldiers were transferring the detained children to interrogation sites, soldiers regularly “used extreme physical and verbal abuse against them, including beatings, smashing the child’s head against a wall, threats of violence, and threats of sexual assault and rape.”
• In one testimony, a child was separated from his family so that soldiers could interrogate him. When finished, the soldiers ordered in four of the child’s friends, to see their peer being beaten before their eyes. In this torturous event, the detained child “confessed” that he, along with his friends, had thrown stones. Later, however, the same child admitted he had only confessed in order to stop the beatings, and he withdrew his “confessions.”

This is what Israeli officials do to Palestinian children who they think threw a few stones.

Adalah’s press release also notes that Israeli investigators, at interrogation and detention sites, regularly employed interrogation techniques that are forbidden under international law:

• 100% of the detained children’s interrogations lasted many hours. A majority said they were denied food, water, and access to a toilet. In some cases, children, who had been denied food for dozens of hours, were told they would only be fed if they confessed.
• 100% of the detained children “were left handcuffed on both their hands and feet while seated on a low chair.”
• Most of the detained children were stripped naked and strip-searched numerous times. Those “who refused to be strip-searched while naked were violently assaulted by the wardens.”
• 0 of the investigations were conducted in the company of a lawyer or relative, in flagrant violation of Israeli law.
• When children asked to meet with a lawyer, investigators told them it was “forbidden.”
• 100% of children were held in solidarity confinement for multiple days, and in some cases even weeks. One child testified that he had been held in uninterrupted solidarity confinement for 28 days.
• 100% of children “described their cells as being in very poor conditions.” Cells were windowless and incredibly small; they held only a small mattress and a foul-smelling toilet. It was not permitted that children lean on the rough walls. The cells were also lit 24 hours per day by a bright light. This light “hurt the children’s eyes” and made it difficult for children to fall asleep; from this forced sleep deprivation, children lost a sense of time, and presumably suffered from other ailments associated with sleep loss.

SC slams Modi govt for 'spurious' case against Teesta Setalvad

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SC slams Modi govt for 'spurious' case against Teesta Setalvad

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Gujarat government for initiating a probe against social activist Teesta Setalvad for her alleged role in a case of illegal exhumation of the bodies of the 2002 riot victims, saying it is a "spurious" case to victimise her.

"This is a hundred percent spurious case to victimise the petitioner (Setalvad)," said a bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai.

While criticising the state government for beginning the probe against Setalvad, it added, "this type of case does no credit to the state of Gujarat in any way."

"This case is hundred percent spurious. In other cases against petitioner, there may be something," the bench said.

Besides this case, the Gujarat government has also lodged criminal proceedings against her in other riot-related cases.

The bench was of the view that it was not correct on the part of the Gujarat government to go ahead with the case.

It asked senior advocate Pradeep Ghosh, who appeared for the Gujarat government, to go through the First Information Report (FIR) of the case and advise the government not to proceed with it.

"You advise your client not to proceed with this type of case. You should show some responsibility and tell the government not to proceed with the case," the bench said.

While posting the matter for March 23, the bench asked the senior counsel to go through the FIR "passionately" and tell the court what he felt about it.

The bench also asked Gujarat government's standing counsel Hemantika Wahi to go through the FIR.

The bench was hearing a petition by Setalvad against the May 27 order of the Gujarat High Court, which had refused to quash the FIR registered against her at a police station in Panchmahal district of the state on exhumation of the bodies from a graveyard near river Panam.

While making the critical remarks against the Gujarat government for initiating the probe against Setalvad in the body exhumation case, the bench said its interim stay, imposed on July 29, 2011 on criminal proceedings against Setalvad in the case would continue till the next date of hearing.

"Interim stay to continue till the next date" it said.

Responding to the apex court notice, the state government had in its affidavit justified its probe against Setalvad in the case saying she actually planned and executed the digging of the graves without any permission in 2006.

It had claimed that during the probe into the case, it has emerged that "Teesta Setalvad, the petitioner herein, was the main accused, who actually planned and executed this operation of digging of graves near Pandarwada through her staff."

The government had said the other accused have claimed innocence and had blamed Setalvad for instigating them to carry out the exhumation, which is a penal offence.

"Exhumation of the dead bodies without prior permission of the competent authorities constitutes an offence under sections 192 (fabricating false evidence), 193 (punishment for false evidence, 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120-B criminal conspiracy), 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 297 (trespassing on burial places) of IPC," the affidavit had said.

It was alleged that in 2002, about 28 unidentified bodies of the riot victims from Pandarwada and surrounding villages in Khanpur taluka were buried in the graveyard.


Earlier, the high court had declined to scrap the FIR, but had quashed the summons, which had termed her as absconding.

Nearly 40% of African-American children living in poverty – study

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Nearly 40% of African-American children living in poverty – study

A new study found the percentage of American children living in poverty has declined slightly since 2010 as the economy has improved, but the rate for African-American children remains extremely high, at nearly 40 percent.

More than 45.3 million people are considered to be living in poverty in the United States, given a poverty line of $24,000 for a family of four. Some 14.7 million of these, or 20 percent, are children.

READ MORE: 20% of US school children living below poverty line, report says

While that figure has declined from 16.3 million in 2010, it still comprises one-fifth of the total number of American children under 18, and one-third of Americans living in poverty, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.

Pew said that for the first time since the US Census starting collecting data in 1974, the number of African-American children living in poverty outnumbers the number of white children. Poverty rates declined for white children from 4.9 million in 2010 to 4.1 million in 2013, but for African-American children it only decreased from 4.4 million in 2010 to 4.2 million in 2013.

While Pew said the difference is not statistically significant, it is still notable since white children outnumber African-American children by three to one, with two out of five African-American children living in families with total income below the poverty line.

There are also stark differences for Latinos. In 2013, one out of three Latino children, or 30.4 percent of the 18 million Hispanic children in the country, was living in poverty, compared to 1 out of 10 white and Asian children, according to Pew.

READ MORE: Over 14 million low-income older Americans are food insecure - gov’t report

The poverty rate for African-American children can be explained, in part, by the employment status and level of income of their parents, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center. Blacks are more likely to be unemployed and earn less than people of other races.

“The labor market has recovered, but the recovery has been uneven,” Lopez told CNN.

Last month, the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate for African-Americans was 9.5 percent, compared to 6.6 percent for Hispanics, 4.6 percent for whites and 3.8 percent for Asians.


“Even though many black parents may be working they may not necessarily be earning as much as their white or Asian counterparts,” Lopez said.

Demonstrations across country in solidarity with Teesta Setalvad

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Demonstrations across country in solidarity with Teesta Setalvad

New Delhi: Outraged by “blatant misuse of state machinery to hound and persecute a group of courageous human rights defenders” – Teesta Setalvad, Javed Anand and others – scores of intellectuals, academicians, students, artists, activists, teachers and even ordinary people held demonstrations in solidarity with the activists on Thursday in different cities across India.

“The latest raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into their home and offices in Mumbai on July 14, 2015 are continuation of the undeclared policy of first, the Gujarat government, and since May 2014, of the Central government to harass and demoralize them by foisting false cases of financial irregularity,” a statement by the activists in solidarity said.

Organisations such as All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), Anhad, Jana Natya Manch, Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association, NFIW, NOMORE Campaign, Shahri Adhikar Manch, Begharon Ke Saath and United Christian Forum among others, during the dharna demonstration at Jantar Mantar here on Thursday, demanded that the false cases, flimsy cases which have been used as a pretext to hound Setalvad, her colleagues and their organization be withdrawn and that the CBI must, with immediate effect, end its misinformation campaign which is absolutely contrary to facts and truth.

“Ever since the registration of the malicious FIR against the couple and their organization in 2014, they have been cooperating with the Gujarat police – and now with the CBI – by providing them with full documentary evidence of audited accounts and all other financial dealings. Nonetheless, the intention of the Gujarat police has been to somehow secure the custody of Setalvad and Anand. Frustrated in their attempts by the intervention of the Supreme Court, the Gujarat government has now mobilized the Ministry of Home Affairs, which has in turn unleashed the CBI on the activists,” they alleged.

“It is appalling that while multi-million scams and the ruling party’s coziness with scamsters awaits investigation, the Central government is witch hunting activists. The reasons are obvious: Setalvad and others must be made to pay for the relentless pursuit of justice in the 2002 massacre of Muslims,” a statement from the organisers said.

It is well-known that Teesta Setlavad and Javed Anand have been fearless in charging the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently the country’s Prime Minister, with direct criminal culpability for post-Godhra Gujarat riots in 2002. For this, they have assisted Zakia Jafri, the widow of a former MP who was slaughtered in the carnage, to fight a brave court battle in which the first accused is Modi as the then CM. They are also appealing against court orders to free on bail prominent political leaders of the BJP convicted of the worst massacre in Naroda Patiya, Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi.

It is no surprise therefore that the latest round of raids comes just before the Zakia Jafri case begins its final hearings on July 27 2015 and when the Naroda Patiya appeals (Kodnani and Bajrangi) were to be heard in the Gujarat High Court, the statement claimed.

CBI Raid Part of Vendetta Against Us: Teesta

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CBI Raid Part of Vendetta Against Us: Teesta

Teesta Setalvad is a widely respected rights activist known for her pioneering work for the Gujarat 2002 victims. She has been the spirit behind the group, Citizens for Justice and Peace and co-editor of Communalism Combat.

Activist Teesta Setalvad with Zakia Jafri whose husband Ehsan Jafri, a former MP and Congress leader, who was hacked and burnt alive during the 2002 pogrom.

Eminent human rights activist responds to the CBI raid on her residence and office arguing the premier intelligence agency is being used by the government to target her and her husband

TEESTA SETALVAD

As I write this, the search is still not concluded. It is shocking that while over a dozen members of the Central Bureau of Investigation are still in our premises conducting the search, their Delhi spokesperson is misleading the public and our vast supporters by a series of misinformation and official tweets.

In our view, and we repeat, no laws have been broken by us. This is a continuation of the persecution and witch hunt first launched by the Gujarat police in 2014 then under the dispensation that rules Delhi. The CBI has taken the same documents that we had voluntarily on inspection given the Ministry of Home Affairs (FCRA Department).

Over 25,000 pages of documentary evidence has been given to the Gujarat Police. When they could not succeed with the bizarre and desperate attempts to gain custody (February 2015), it was the Gujarat Government’s Home Department that wrote to the MHA and the current round of the persecutions began.

This is nothing but shameful political vendetta. The Zakia Jafri case begins its final hearing on July 27 2015. The Naroda Patiya appeals (Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi) are being heard in the Gujarat High Court tomorrow (July 15). This is nothing but a bid to subvert the cause of public justice and ensure that no justice happens in these cases.

We had written to the CBI offering our full cooperation. The so-called offences relate to documentary evidence. This search is nothing but an attempt to intimidate and humiliate us. India should be ashamed that when scams like Vyapam are unfolding with over 50 persons dying, witnesses in the Asaram Bapu case are dying; CBI is not appealing in critical cases related to crimes by politicians; the agency is being unleashed on human rights defenders standing up for the rights of Survivors of Mass Violence. It is worse than the British Raj. Pathetic!

I repeat Sabrang Communications has broken no law(s).

One: Section 3 of FCRA, 2010 bars certain ‘persons’ (political parties and its office bearers, government servants and those associated with registered newspapers and those involved in the production and broadcast of news) from receiving foreign donations.

However, the very next section, Section 4 which is subtitled ‘Persons to whom section 3 shall not apply’ states: “Nothing contained in section 3 shall apply to the acceptance, by any person specified 3 in that section, of any foreign contribution where such contribution is accepted by him, subject to the provisions of section 10- (a) by way of salary, wages or other remuneration due to him or to any group of persons working under him, from any foreign source or by way of payment in the ordinary course of business transacted in India by such foreign source;”

Sabrang Communications and Publishing Pvt. Ltd Co. which published the monthly ‘Communalism Combat’ signed a Consultancy Agreement with Ford Foundation in 2004 and 2006 “to address the issues of caste and communalism” through a clearly defined set of activities which had nothing whatsoever to do with Communalism Combat or remuneration to Javed Anand or Teesta Setalvad towards discharging editorial/managerial functions.

The Consultancy was signed by Sabrang Communications only after advice from eminent legal counsel that such an agreement was covered under the exclusion stipulated under Section 4 of the Act and therefore the consultancy fees (not grant or donation) received would not be in violation of FCRA 2010. Ford Foundation in fact deducted TDS with every installment of consultancy fees it paid to Sabrang Communications. The activities undertaken and the expenses incurred were in accordance with the agreement. Activities and Financial Reports were submitted annually to the satisfaction of Ford Foundation.

Two, Sabrang has kept records and provided copies of the same to the FCRA during the inspection visit of FCRA team in Mumbai on June 9 and 10, 2015, Additional documents as required were also posted to FCRA department.

Three: Deliberately or otherwise, the FCRA team is confusing the well- known lobbying that is part of the political process in the USA with advocacy initiatives whereby NGOs, civil society activists engage with the government of the day to draw their attention towards the legitimate issues of women, children, Dalits, religious or linguistic or sexual minorities, differently-abled persons etc. It is ridiculous to equate such advocacy initiatives with lobbying.   Sabrang Communications therefore denies all the allegations.

Four:  While believing in the rule of law and due process, we believe that the State has innumerable devices at its disposal to simply throttle dissent, intimidate and through these crass techniques try to ensure coercive compliance.

Teen Rape Survivor Used as ‘Bait’ by Police in India Raped Again

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Teen Rape Survivor Used as ‘Bait’ by Police in India Raped Again

MUMBAI –  The police in Maharashtra have admitted that a 17-year-old rape survivor in Jalna town was raped again because she was sent as bait to catch her assaulters. The police officers who sent the girl back to her alleged rapists are being investigated, reported NDTV.

The teenager was allegedly raped at knife-point the first time on July 7, when she had gone to meet a male friend whom she had met on Facebook. The accused allegedly shot a video on her cellphone and tried to threaten and blackmail her.
The next day the police, in an attempt to lay a trap, sent the girl back to the same spot. It “failed” as police vehicles were following too closely, said Vishwas Patil, Inspector General of Police, Aurangabad district.
A day later, the police made a second attempt to trap the rapists but a “miscommunication” meant that the girl was assaulted once again. “The girl was put through the injustice again. It is wrong to use a victim, especially a minor victim, as bait,” Mr Patil said.

Police officers involved in the operation say the teen left to meet the accused without informing them and apparently thought that a police vehicle was following her.

The alleged rapists were arrested hours later from a railway station; the police claim they had received a tip-off.
Vinod Ejjapwar, the police officer who allegedly led the operation to use the rape survivor as bait, has been suspended. An inquiry report on him is expected within 20 days.

The government has been guarded in its response. “The facts of the case are different. The Superintendent of Police will clarify soon,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday.


Police sources say preliminary medical reports have failed to establish the first rape.

Revoke controversial law in disputed Kashmir - Amnesty

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Revoke controversial law in disputed Kashmir - Amnesty

Rights group says special law continues to feed a cycle of impunity for human rights violations in region.

Local rights activists like Parveena Ahanger says that the Indian military courts are “unreliable” and “dishonest”

India has not taken any member of its troops deployed in India-administered Kashmir to court for human rights violations, right body Amnesty International has said.

The London-based human rights organisation said  in a new report released on Wednesday that 25 years after the introduction of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the disputed region, “the law continues to feed a cycle of impunity for human rights violations.”

“[The] 5 of July 2015 will mark 25 years since the AFSPA in effect came into force in Jammu and Kashmir [or India-administered Kashmir],” said Minar Pimple, Senior Director of Global Operations at Amnesty International, while recommending the withdrawal of AFSPA in Kashmir.


“Till now, not a single member of the security forces deployed in the state has been tried for human rights violations in a civilian court. This lack of accountability has in turn facilitated other serious abuses.”

Politician Naeem Akhtar's PDP party promised the law would be revoked during the 2014 election

Often described by activists as 'draconian', AFSPA, a controversial law gives India’s soldiers impunity in battling rebellion in the country's northeastern states and disputed Kashmir.

Local politicians and rights activists, including Amnesty, have for long sought its withdrawal from the Himalayan region. However, the Indian army says the withdrawal or amendment of what it calls an “enabling” law allows its army to carry out effective counter-rebellion operations in the region.

The report titled "Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir", documents that obstacles faced in the pursuit of justice in the region.

“The current Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, was the Union Minister for Home Affairs when the AFSPA was enacted by the Indian Parliament in 1990,” said Minar Pimple of the global watchdog, adding “He [Sayeed] now has a historic opportunity to work to remove this oppressive law.”

Complete or partial revocation of the controversial law was the major poll promise of regional People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014 when it formed a regional government with rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads the federal government.

But there has been no headway on the issue between the uneasy coalition partners with New Delhi on Tuesday saying the last word on the issue should come from its army.

“…I seriously believe the last word on this should not come from political functionaries but from security experts and security agencies,” said Jitendra Singh, a senior BJP leader in New Delhi.

Indian army spokesperson Colonel Nitin Nihar Joshi told Al Jazeera that the issue of withdrawal of the AFSPA from Kashmir has to be decided by the regional and federal governments only.


“We don’t have any say on it. We don’t dictate policies. Army will only follow what both the state and the central governments decide,” he said.

Immediately after the release of Amnesty’ report, politician Naeem Akhtar told Al Jazeera that the

removal of AFSPA continues to be his party’s “major thrust”.

“Our position is that it [AFSPA] is untenable in a democratic system,” the minister from The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said.

 “Its partial withdrawal is a necessity for revival of shrinking space and confidence of people and the functioning of democracy in Kashmir,” Akhtar said.

The Act remains a key debate for the region, fatigued by 26 years of armed conflict between Indian soldiers and about a dozen rebel groups fighting for independence or merger of the entire region with Pakistan.

Though the armed rebellion has ebbed since 2003 when the Asian nuclear rivals announced ceasefire, dissent in Kashmir gets mostly exhibited in sporadic gun fights and street protests.

The report reveals New Delhi has denied permission, or ‘sanction’, to prosecute under section 7 of the AFSPA in every case brought against members of the army or paramilitary, or in a small number of cases, has kept the decision pending for years.

The report quoting Mohammad Amin Magray, uncle of 17-year-old Javaid Ahmad Magray, who was killed in April 2003 by the troops saying: “If the [Indian] army knew they would be charged, and will have to go to court and be prosecuted, they will think ten times before they pull their triggers on an innocent…The AFSPA is a like a blank cheque from the government of India to kill innocents like my nephew”.

Local rights activists like 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Parveena Ahanger says that the Indian military courts are “unreliable” and “dishonest”.

“India has martyred one lakh people (100,000) in Kashmir. More than 8000 disappeared in the custody of army and state police. No one has returned so far. Without this act soldiers involved in the crimes could have been tried in local courts instead of Indian military courts we don’t trust.”

Her son, Javaid Ahmad (16 then), was picked up by armed forces in 1990 and since then she continues to lead peaceful protests seeking independent international probe in the cases of disappeared.

“Many parents have died while seeking whereabouts of their sons... No money or compensation will substitute the lives of our dear ones,” said Ahanger, who also leads one chapter of the rights body Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in the India-administered Kashmir.

Domestic violence In India: A Ticking Time Bomb

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Domestic violence In India: A Ticking Time Bomb

Used, abused and left alone, the tale of Indian women in domestic violence

Domestic violence/abuse is prominent in India

anki Devi, 45, stands up and slowly makes her way into her bedroom. She returns with an old black and white photograph, a souvenir of her marriage, covered with a thin layer of dust.

It shows Devi wearing a saree, a popular South Asian female garment, and her husband a kurta, a collarless long shirt. The flower garlands are festooned around their necks.

Softly, she runs her palm on the photograph, clearing years' old dust off it. And then suddenly tears flow from her eyes; a drop falls on the photograph, turning particles of dust into thin, little mud.

"I left him three years ago and have been living in this village with my sons," Devi says, sitting in a corner of the smoky kitchen at her rented two room house in Tigaon, a village in Faridabad district of northern Indian state of Haryana.

Originally a resident of Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh, Devi came to Faridabad, with her two sons, after her husband, Param Anand, threw her out and brought home a new woman.

"He would always hurt me and call me 'badsoorat raand' (ugly whore)," she says, wiping tears with the hem of her saree.

"But for the sake of my kids I would tolerate him."

Keeping a pan on a mud hearth to boil vegetables, Devi narrates her grim tale.

"He would come home drunk, shout at me and beat me up over trivial things," she says.

"I do not remember a single day when I have gone to bed without crying."


Devi is a victim of domestic violence in India, a cruel, unchecked phenomenon that involves men and in-laws beating or torturing brides after marriage.

The house where domestic violence victim, Janki Devi, lives now.

Like Devi, thousands of women in India experience this kind of life.

Across India, 2,44,270 cases of crime against women were registered in 2012, according to a report by National Crime Records Bureau or NCRB, a government agency responsible for collecting and analyzing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code or IPC.

In 2013, the report states, 3,09,546 cases were registered.

According to the report, the crimes against women have increased by 26.7 percent in 2013. The rate of domestic violence by husband or relatives stood up at 5.9 percent per 100,000, the report showed.

Incidents like homicide for dowry, rape, marital rape or forced abortion fall under the crime category of domestic violence.

Despite laws, there has been an increase in crimes like these in India.

Over the period of more than 18 years, Devi says, her husband inflicted grave wounds on her.

"I have scars all over my body," she says, showing few on her left arm.

"I would always apply 'Haldi' (turmeric powder) on the wounds to fight the pain."

Before Devi got married, she had wished, like every other girl, to get the best man in the world as her husband, she recalls.

But days after her marriage, she says, all her dreams shattered.

"I was forced to satisfy his lust every single night," she narrates.

"I still wonder whether that man ever loved me or just spent his nights considering me as a whore as he would call me."

This lasted for more than 18 years, Devi says.

And one fine day, her husband walked in with a new woman, she says.

"He threw me out of the room we had shared for 18 years along with my two kids."

Santosh Soni, a social worker from Haryana, says every fifth day he comes across a case of domestic violence.

"I have seen women getting ruthlessly beaten up by their husbands," she says.

Putting an end to domestic violence in India is difficult, Soni says.

"No government is able to educate the poor of this country as schemes are not implemented at grassroots level," she says.

Domestic violence will always remain an issue in villages unless people are educated, Soni opines.

Cases of domestic violence mostly get unreported, according to Indian police.

"Because of hesitation, many victims do not get their cases registered," says Inspector Rajdeep Mor of Tigaon police station in Faridabad.

Domestic violence was recognized as a specific criminal offence in India in 1983; section 498-A of Indian Penal Code deals with cruelty by a husband or his family towards a married woman.

The Domestic Violence Act of 2005 was introduced to prosecute perpetrators of crime in domestic violence cases.

A decade ago, Devi didn't know how to file a case of domestic violence. Even now, she has no idea about it.

"What can be done about it as it has happened," Devi says.


"I do not feel the pain anymore."

I Couldn’t Even Tell Them I Was 5 Months Pregnant Because Their Feet Were on My Mouth

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I Couldn’t Even Tell Them I Was 5 Months Pregnant Because Their Feet Were on My Mouth

My Story

“All the 4 men of my family were killed brutally. The women were stripped naked and raped by many men. They caught me too. My 3-year old daughter, Saleha, was in my arms. They snatched her and threw her into the air with all their might. My heart broke as her little head shattered on the rocks. Four men caught me by the arms and legs and many others entered me one by one. When satisfying their lust, they kicked me and beat my head with a rod. Assuming that I was dead they threw me into the bushes.

Four or five hours later I regained my consciousness. I searched for some rags to cover my body, but couldn’t find any. I spent a day and a half on a hilltop without food or water. I longed for death. Finally I managed to find a tribal colony. Declaring myself as a Hindu I sought shelter there.

Those men were using such foul language, I can’t repeat it ever. In front of me they killed my mother, sister and 12 other relatives. While raping and killing us, they were shouting sexual abuses. I could not even tell them that I was five months pregnant because their feet were on my mouth and neck.

The conviction and imprisonment of my rapists do not mean the end of hatred. But it does mean that somewhere justice can succeed. I have known the men who raped me for many years. We sold them milk. They were our customers. If they had any shame, they would not have done this to me. How can I forgive them?”


– Bilkis Bano, 2002 Gujarat riots victim, who fought for ten years on her own, to ensure that her rapists were convicted

Saudi airstrikes violate ‘unconditional humanitarian pause’ in Yemen

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Saudi airstrikes violate ‘unconditional humanitarian pause’ in Yemen

A man and a boy walk at a site hit by a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen's capital Sanaa

The second UN-brokered humanitarian pause in Yemen has been violated by Saudi-led air strikes less than an hour after the truce came into effect. According to reports at least three cities witnessed bombardment.


The airstrikes first hit the country’s third-largest city of Taiz, after a UN-declared truce kicked in after midnight Friday, official sources on the ground confirmed to Reuters and the Associated Press.

Collateral damage: Yemeni man loses 27 family members in 1 Saudi airstrike

Witnesses on the ground said that fighting engulfed the city prior to the bombardment, with both sides placing the blame for truce violation on each other. At least three airstrikes hit Houthi fighters positions in Taiz.

In Sana’a, a number of strikes were targeting the presidential residence in the city center, while in Aden a number of Houthi positions came under attack, a security source in the Aden Governorate told Sputnik early on Saturday.

Member of the Houthi rebels’ political council Hamza al-Husi told Sputnik that air-strikes began just 40 minutes after the start of the humanitarian pause.

Witnesses also reported that Saudi-led air strikes had increased across the country in the hours before the truce was to take effect.

The UN-declared truce began after midnight Friday and was meant to offer a humanitarian window of assistance for the conflict-torn country. It was scheduled to last through the end of the holy month of Ramadan which ends on July 17.

More than 3,000 people, mostly civilians have been killed since the coalition started their bombing campaign in March, aiming to get rid of anti-government Houthi rebels and restore the rule of the exiled Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Saudis resume airstrikes on Yemen following five-day humanitarian ceasefire

Yet despite Saudi intervention there has not been any significant progress, as Yemen’s army units, which are loyal to the country’s previous president and Houthi ally Ali Abdullah Saleh, are putting up a stiff fight.

The Saudi-imposed blockade of its neighbor and air campaign created a humanitarian catastrophe for Yemen, with UN warning that the Arab world’s poorest country is “one step” from famine.

According to UN more than 80 percent of Yemen’s roughly 25 million residents now require some form of aid. Another one million civilians were displaced by the conflict. The first humanitarian pause, advocated by Russia and the UN was allowed to take place for five days in May, but did not bring much relief as the air campaign continued shortly afterwards.

NIA ‘asking’ Salian to go soft: I am a criminal lawyer, not stupid to say this without proof

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NIA ‘asking’ Salian to go soft: I am a criminal lawyer, not stupid to say this without proof

Says she wanted 9 Muslims (in Malegaon 2006) to be freed but NIA silent.

Ever since her statement on being told to go “soft”, it has emerged that 18 witnesses have turned hostile in two other blast cases

Days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) denied her statement to The Indian Express that she had been asked to go “soft’’ on the 2008 Malegaon blast case, special public prosecutor Rohini Salian said she had given her statement a lot of thought.

“I am a criminal lawyer. I am not stupid to make these allegations without having the evidence to back them,” Salian told The Indian Express. She said she kept quiet when she was approached by an NIA officer last year because “it was the first indication, the time was not right to talk about it… I waited until I had enough evidence of their intention, and that came during the course of the year.”


Salian also disclosed that she wanted to seek discharge of nine Muslims, arrested and chargesheeted by the Maharashtra ATS and CBI for a 2006 blast in Malegaon, but the NIA did not respond to her suggestion.

Ever since her statement on being told to go “soft”, it has emerged that 18 witnesses have turned hostile in two other blast cases — 15 in the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case and three in the 2007 explosion on board the Samjhauta Express. In a third case, the 2008 Modasa explosion, a closure report has been filed. All these cases were with the NIA and alleged Hindu extremists were

Salian said in the 2006 Malegaon blast case, she suggested discharge of the nine arrested by the ATS. “Since there are two sets of accused, both distinct and with no connection between them, the court would ask me to justify it. I had suggested to the NIA that they allow me to exercise powers given to the prosecutor under Section 321 of the CrPC to try and convince the court that some error had crept in on part of one of the investigating agencies which should be rectified by the court, “ she said.

“I had suggested that they give it to me in writing to allow me to make an application and try to make a discharge application. I had not promised anything, but told them I would try my best.”

“Initially, one level in the NIA accepted, then the second level accepted. But finally, there was no response to my suggestion. They just filed a chargesheet against four new accused. After that, I said I don’t want to appear in the matter,” she said.

NIA officers who did not wish to be named said the case was a “further investigation” and not a “re-investigation”, and probes conducted by the Maharashtra ATS and CBI could not be simply wiped out.

“It is a further investigation, and previous chargesheets filed in the case by earlier investigation agencies cannot be discarded as they have been placed before the court. It is for the court to decide who to discharge. We simply present a chargesheet to the court,” a senior NIA officer said.

The special NIA court in Mumbai has issued notices to the NIA, Maharashtra ATS and the CBI to adduce evidence regarding their chargesheets, before it takes a call on how the case should progress.

On September 8, 2006, four bomb explosions rocked Malegaon, killing 31 people and leaving 312 injured. Nine Muslim youths were arrested by the Maharashtra ATS for their alleged role in the blasts. On December 21, 2006 the ATS filed a chargesheet in the special MCOCA court against the nine accused and four others on the run.

Following protests from Muslim groups, the CBI took over the case in July 2007. The CBI, in its initial investigation, backed the ATS stand and filed a chargesheet against the same accused on February 11, 2010.

The case was handed to the NIA on April 6, 2011. Prior to this, Swami Aseemanand was said to have made a confession in the Mecca Masjid blast case that accused Sunil Joshi had told him that the bomb blasts at Malegaon were the handiwork of his boys. In his statement, Aseemanand said a meeting was held in June 2006 at the house of Bharat Rateshwar in Valsad, during which he (Aseemanand) suggested that Malegaon, where 86 per cent of the population is Muslim, may be chosen first for a bomb blast. During the NIA probe, all nine accused chargesheeted by the ATS and CBI retracted their confessions, alleging these were secured under duress.

On May 22, 2013, the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet against four accused — Sunil Joshi, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Ramesh Venkat Mahalkar and Sandeep Dange — before the NIA special court in Mumbai. Subsequently, the nine Muslim accused, chargesheeted by the ATS and CBI, moved court for bail, which was granted without opposition from the NIA.

'US beating drums of war against Russia to increase European defense spending'

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'US beating drums of war against Russia to increase European defense spending'

Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford testifies during the Senate Armed Services committee nomination hearing to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 9, 2015.

European leaders know that the US wants to get them to spend money on military equipment which will be purchased from the US, says Brian Becker of the anti-war Answer Coalition. But Europe knows the dangers from the experience of two world wars, he added.

Several senior American officials say Russia is the greatest threat to their country's national security. First it was Secretary of the Air Force Deborah James, then General Joseph Dunford at his confirmation hearing for the position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called Russian actions “nothing short of alarming.”


RT: Several senior American officials say Russia is the greatest threat to US national security. Why is such rhetoric being employed by senior American officials?

US military leaders call Russia ‘greatest threat’, demand more funding

Brian Becker: We have to understand this rhetoric and these presentations first by the Air Force Secretary Deborah James and Major General Joseph Dunford, soon to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both of whom pose the presentation that Russia is an existential threat and the greatest threat to America.

They also say, and this is very interesting, that it requires the 28 NATO members to step up and do their part to spend at least two per cent of their GDP on military spending in NATO, and only four of the 28 members of NATO are doing it so far. What the US military officials are basically telling NATO is: “Get in line, this is an existential threat, you have to spend more of your money, money that is being drained from other parts of the economies of Europe." A lot of that money will go to US war contractors. So the ABCs of the war propaganda Russia is an existential threat is that it is very good, very necessary in fact for the biggest war contractors, the biggest parts of the military industrial complex in America. That is one part of the story.

RT: What is calling Russia 'the biggest threat'' and lumping it in with Islamic State going to lead to?

BB: It doesn’t just lump Russia in with ISIS, it says “Russia is a greater threat to the US and to the West, and to world peace than ISIS.” Now you see the US’s government right now is at war, endless war with IS because purportedly it poses an existential threat. But if the existential threat posed by Russia is even greater than IS, you can make the case, and I think it’s absolutely true, that the US military is preparing the American public for military confrontation, conflict of some type with Russia, which would seem to all people to be absolute madness.

Nonetheless, they must be doing this to prepare the population to allow greater and greater military threats to go against Russia. Now, once the Pentagon claims the escalation ladder, carries out massive war exercises on Russia’s border, Russia will be compelled to meet that threat. That’s how conflicts go from small conflicts to bigger conflicts, and even possible global conflicts.



RT: European officials have been so far reluctant to boost military spending for NATO. Do they not fear any imminent threats that the US is citing?

BB: The European powers know absolutely that this is hogwash. They know with certainty that the US is beating the drums of war in order to get them to spend more of their money on military equipment, much of which will be purchase from the US. And they also know that it’s easy for American politicians, and the Generals in America are just politicians in uniform before they become big businessman when they circulate back into corporate America, they know that they are playing with fire. It is very easy for American officials to talk tough against Russia. But Europe knows all too well, the dangers of real war, the danger of WWI and WWII which is 70 years over this year. They don’t take lightly to the fact that the Pentagon is playing with fire. And of course it will be the European people who will be on the frontlines, not Americans.

RT: US military officials said that they knew Europe was facing tough economic challenges, but NATO commitments should still be a priority. Is this talk of threats a way to secure NATO funding?

BB: Yes, that was my point. I think a lot of this is to keep the alliance together. They know that Germany and France, and other major European powers could start to have very warm and good relations - economic, political, and even possibly military relations with Russia. They are trying to keep the discipline of the alliance, and they are also trying to make sure that those countries pay their fair share to the war effort, to the NATO war effort, which, as I said, benefits US war corporations.

Units from NATO allied countries take part in the NATO Noble Jump 2015 exercises, part of testing and refinement of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) in Swietoszow, Poland June 18, 2015.

US Secretary of the Air Force and United States Marine Corps general not diplomats

Paul Heroux, Middle East expert also commented on Deborah James’s and General Joseph Dunford’s statements that Russia is the greatest threat to US national security saying that “Their job is to bring to attention what, in their point of view, is going to be a big threat.”

RT: European officials have been so far reluctant to boost military spending on NATO. Why do you think that is?

Paul Heroux: There could be a number of reasons. The crisis in Greece right now is putting pressure on other European counties because there is maybe a need for a debt bailout. But at the same time we don’t want to go back to the old ways of huge deficit spending on the military. I would like to think we’ve progressed a lot more and we’re going to do more diplomatic solutions.

RT: You talk about diplomatic solutions... Is it diplomatic to call Russia 'the biggest threat' to American security?

PH: No, I don’t think it is. But I also think that was made by somebody whose job is not to be a diplomat, somebody who is either a general or secretary of one of the branches of our [US] armed forces. Their job is to bring to attention what, in their point of view, is going to be a big threat.


We also have other people in the US saying that the biggest threat to US security is cyber terrorism, or cyber security; other people say it might be global warming; other folks might say it’s ISIS or terrorism, and some might even say the nuclear program in Iran.

RT: Does calling Russia "the biggest threat" suggest the deterioration in relations between Moscow and Washington? Is that the sign there is no real hope for dissent dialogue in the next coming weeks and months?

PH: Deterioration has been going on for a number of years, that’s right. From the point of view of the US, Russia is the problem, from the point of view of Russia; it’s probably the US that’s the problem. The important thing is that they keep working together. What we need to do is basically take baby steps, small, realistic goals that can be achieved rather than trying to change the whole landscape of the negotiations and the state of affairs between the two countries. Small realistic baby steps will help develop a sense of trust and a sense of shared interest. And I think that’s the direction we should be going in.

‘Artificially hostile atmosphere’: Moscow blasts US claims of Russian threat

RT: Why has the trust deteriorated so badly, do you think on the both sides since the so-called reset?

PH: I think it could be a number of issues. Just the interest of the US and Russia. Russia, for example, is trying to reclaim its former kind of Eastern superiority, and that may sometimes complete with some US interests or some of NATO’s interests. Other times the US is also trying to keep ourselves from sliding into place where other countries don’t want to work with us, and it’s a difficult balance. Also it largely could be just the personalities of different leaders. We see that with Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu; we saw that starting with Vladimir Putin and George Bush. So personalities do play a large role in these negotiations and discussions.