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<p>NewsletterShare Close this Share Box154 Comments | Post Comment.Wed Dec. 1, 2010 2:47 PM PST In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies the that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. A "confidential" April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department—one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks—details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.</p>

Police in Hamburg shut down the notorious al-Quds mosque, renamed the Taiba mosque in 2008, led by German-Syrian national and voluntary imam Mamoun Darkazanli. Darkazanli (a.k.a. Abu Ilyas al-Suri) has been a suspected al-Qaeda operative, primarily as a financier and logistician, in the European Union for close to two decades. Long active in al-Qaeda circles, Darkazanli first surfaced on the radar of Western intelligence agencies when he purportedly helped procure a cargo ship named “Jennifer” for Osama bin Laden as early as 1993 (Hamburger Abendblatt, October 16, 2004). Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA- Federal Criminal Police Office) admitted that it had been...

On April 19th, The New York Times published an editorial titled "An Injustice in Spain" which dealed with the proceedings against judge Garzón related to the Law of Historical Memory. The next letter [...] was sent on April 19th to the American newspaper. It has not been published yet. To the editor of the Editorial Page, The New York Times Sir:According to the editorial “An Injustice in Spain”, published on April 9th, if the crimes Judge Garzón tried to investigate were “as seems likely…crimes against humanity under international law, Spain’s 1977 amnesty could not legally absolve them”. If the so...

Spain's most high-profile judge, Baltasar Garzon, is reportedly to stand trial for overreaching his powers over an inquiry into the Franco regime. Mr Garzon launched the investigation into atrocities committed during the four-decade rule of General Francisco Franco in October 2008. But it was shelved amid opposition from prosecutors and other judges. Mr Garzon is famous for targeting international figures including Augusto Pinochet and Osama Bin Laden. The case against the judge originates from a complaint by a right-wing group, Manos Limpias (Clean Hands). It claimed Mr Garzon had knowingly exceeded his official remit in launching an investigation into tens...

Madrid - By an overwhelming majority, Spain's parliament Tuesday evening approved a bill to curb the country's judges' controversial role in pursuing human rights cases worldwide. The vote was 339 in favour to 8 opposed to a bill to curb the powers of the National Court's to pursue human rights violations around the world. The reform bill stipulates that in the future, the court should only act on cases when Spanish nationals are affected. The huge majority for the bill came after the Socialist government and the conservative opposition had agreed on the text of the reform. The vote comes...

Critics of the Bush administration have long charged that it condoned “torture” through its interrogation and detention policies in the War on Terror. Those arguments have yet to sway the Obama White House, which has been reluctant to pursue charges against its predecessor. In Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, however, the Bush administration’s foes have found a man who is willing to turn their allegations into a criminal case. ...The officials are accused of creating a legal framework that justified “torture” in defiance of the Geneva Conventions and the 1984 Convention Against Torture. However, the officials are not accused of engaging...

Baltasar Garzón is the activist Spanish magistrate who recently asked a Spanish prosecutor to bring criminal charges against former U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzalez, Douglas Feith, and other Bush officials because "The Spanish magistrate apparently believes that it can be a crime for American officials to offer the wrong kind of advice to a president of the United States and, furthermore, it can be a crime punishable by a Spanish court." In other words, Mr. Garzon takes the position that Spain can prosecute foreign nationals for alleged actions that did not take place in Spanish territory and that did not involve...

Judge Baltasar Garzón, an ambitious Spanish jurist, last month ordered prosecutors to investigate six men who served in the Bush Administration on criminal charges related to "torture." None of the prospective defendants are accused of torturing or ordering the torture of anyone -- only of arguing for legal positions of which Judge Garzón disapproves. He asserts that the principle of "universal jurisdiction" gives him the authority to try U.S. officials for alleged violations of international law. At a State Department briefing last week, a reporter asked Gordon Duguid, the acting deputy department spokesman, for the Obama Administration's position. His reply:...

For generations in Western culture, legal jurisdiction over people and events within a nation's borders rested only with that nation's government. In recent years, however, human rights activists have pushed the concept of "universal jurisdiction," by which judges in one country can assert authority to prosecute any offense regardless of where it took place. The zealots have found their champion in one Baltasar Garzon, a judge on the Spanish National Court. A socialist activist as a college student, Garzon at age 32 became the youngest magistrate on the court. Now 53, he has spent many of the intervening years practicing...

This week we got delicious moments of chavismo ridicule, and of all reasons, a fight against Spain and Spaniards. It seems that the days of love and ideological lust of the early days of the Zapatero government are a thing of the past. It all started with some concern expressed over the RCTV closing by Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister who has presided over a recent warming up of Spain's icy cold relations with the US (most links in English, for a change). Chavez totally miffed said that he was taking distance from Spain even if "it hurt". Ah! The...

Terrorist involved in Madrid and 9/11 bombings released by German court July 18, 2005 German-Syrian Mamoun Darkazanli Germany says terror arrest illegalMIM: If the Germans don't want to hand over one of their citizens, why don't they start proceedings to strip him of his citizenship instead of releasing him to continue his terrorist activity with the use of a German passport?http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/18/germany.extradite/BERLIN, Germany -- Germany's high court has ordered the release of a Syrian-born German man whom Spain wanted extradited in connection with the 2003 Madrid bombings.The Federal Constitutional Court ruled Monday it would be illegal to extradite Mamoun Darkazanli, a...

The Associated Press MADRID, Spain Sept. 18 — Police have arrested several suspects on orders of a Spanish judge who is investigating al-Qaida links, the government said Thursday, a day after he issued the first known indictment against Osama bin Laden in the Sept. 11 attacks. The Interior Ministry said the arrests were made in the southern region of Andalusia and elsewhere in Spain, but it gave no details. News agencies and the Web site of the El Pais newspaper said three men were detained and that they are linked to Tayssir Alouni, a journalist for the Arabic-language TV station...

MADRID, Spain - Spain's leading investigating judge issued the first known indictment against Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) in the Sept. 11 attacks on Wednesday, accusing al-Qaida of using the country as a base to plot the devastating strikes on New York and Washington. Investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzon indicted 35 people for terrorist activities connected to bin Laden's al-Qaida network. In a nearly 700-page document, Garzon wrote that Spain served "as a place or base for resting, preparation, indoctrinating, support and financing" of al-Qaida. The indictment charged bin Laden and nine others with membership in a terrorist organization...

The Boogeyman of the MightySpanish Investigative Judge Baltasar Garzón is preparing to go after Bush & Co The draft of the indictment is already done. It appeared on the op-ed page of Spanish daily El Pais and bore the title "Attack of the Clone Warriors". Baltasar Garzón, the author, had just returned from viewing the Hollywood blockbuster together with his son. Inspired by the tale of galactic intrigue, the highflying Madrid judge drew an analogy to the imminent battle in Iraq. According to him, George W. Bush is the "Lord Cancellor" mustering a "great army of clones" willing to die...

Contacts: Jesús Permuy, Unidad Cubana Tel.: 305-3796088 Fax: 305-3796698 / Dr. Luis A. Figueroa, Unidad Cubana Tel.: 305-4420303 Miami FL Judge Garzón urged to probe Spanish investors in Cuba Unidad Cubana, a federation of Cuban organizations in exile, denounces the system of "slave workers" and "serfdom" which the regime rents to foreigners.

MADRID, Spain, Dec 29, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Spain's top anti-terrorism judge accused U.S. President George W. Bush of supporting international crime by rejecting the International Criminal Court and curtailing legal rights of people accused of terrorism. "Bush says no to the International Criminal Court but says yes to international crime," Baltasar Garzon said in an interview published Sunday in the Madrid daily newspaper El Pais. The Spanish judge complained that the Bush administration has curtailed the rights of detainees being held at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. About 600 men at Guantanamo have not...

<p>Garzon has gained international fame for his human rights cases.</p> <p>MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's top anti-terrorism judge has accused President Bush of supporting international crime by rejecting the International Criminal Court and curtailing legal rights of people accused of terrorism.</p>

Al-Qaida suspects who videoed American landmarks that intelligence agencies believe were used to prepare for 11 September attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were freed on bail by Judge Baltasar Garzon, who is noted for his pro-Castro and anti-American views. Garzon also set bail at $US146,550 for two other Al-Qaida suspects who have yet to make the bail payment. Garzon has close ties to left-wing “human rights” activist groups and is admirer of the late Marxist-Leninist Allende. Garzon first came to prominence for his prosecution of Spanish security officials who ran undercover operations against Basque terrorists. It seems...