Friday, June 10, 2005
Amnesty Int'l Aided 9/11 Plotter
The human rights group Amnesty International - which accuses America of running a "gulag" at Guantanamo Bay - apparently aided in the escape of a key al-Qaida member who's suspected of helping plan the 9/11 attacks.
Just two months after the World Trade Center was destroyed, Amnesty issued one of its "URGENT ACTION" reports on behalf of Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, who was then being detained by Jordanian security forces in connection with a planning session for the 9/11 attacks.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amnesty complained that Shakir was being held in "incommunicado detention and is at risk of torture or ill-treatment." Saddam Hussein - the only Mideast leader to publicly praise the 9/11 attacks - also weighed in on Shakir's behalf.
"Pressure from Amnesty and Saddam Hussein worked," the Journal said. "Mr. Shakir was released and hasn't been seen since."
Shakir was present at a January 2000 al-Qaida summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the 9/11 plot was reviewed. Two of the actual 9/11 hijackers were also at the same meeting.
When he was arrested in Qatar not long after the 9/11 attacks, Shakir had telephone numbers for the safe houses of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.
But for the intervention of Amnesty International, Shakir might be in Guantanamo today - undergoing grilling by U.S. interrogators about al-Qaida's plans for the next 9/11.
The human rights group Amnesty International - which accuses America of running a "gulag" at Guantanamo Bay - apparently aided in the escape of a key al-Qaida member who's suspected of helping plan the 9/11 attacks.
Just two months after the World Trade Center was destroyed, Amnesty issued one of its "URGENT ACTION" reports on behalf of Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, who was then being detained by Jordanian security forces in connection with a planning session for the 9/11 attacks.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amnesty complained that Shakir was being held in "incommunicado detention and is at risk of torture or ill-treatment." Saddam Hussein - the only Mideast leader to publicly praise the 9/11 attacks - also weighed in on Shakir's behalf.
"Pressure from Amnesty and Saddam Hussein worked," the Journal said. "Mr. Shakir was released and hasn't been seen since."
Shakir was present at a January 2000 al-Qaida summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the 9/11 plot was reviewed. Two of the actual 9/11 hijackers were also at the same meeting.
When he was arrested in Qatar not long after the 9/11 attacks, Shakir had telephone numbers for the safe houses of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.
But for the intervention of Amnesty International, Shakir might be in Guantanamo today - undergoing grilling by U.S. interrogators about al-Qaida's plans for the next 9/11.
