UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The United Nations plans to boost its security staff in Afghanistan after Taliban militants' deadly attack on a U.N. guesthouse earlier this week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday.
The additional security units were needed in Afghanistan to meet the "dramatically escalated threat to U.N. staff now widely considered to be a soft target," Ban told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors.
He declined to say how many more security officers would be needed, though he said it was likely that both U.N. and private security would be sent to protect staff in Afghanistan, where five U.N. workers were killed on Wednesday when Taliban militants attacked a U.N. guesthouse in Kabul.
"Increasingly, the U.N. is being targeted, in this case precisely because of our support for the Afghan elections," he said, referring to the Nov. 7 run-off presidential election. He said that Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan had become the most dangerous place on the planet for the United Nations' civilian staff.
"Not counting peacekeepers, 27 U.N. civilian personnel have lost their lives to violence so far this year, more than half of them in Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said. Among the short-term measures that would be implemented in Afghanistan, Ban said, is to consolidate U.N. workers spread across the country.
Ban said he asked for and received the Security Council's support. He added that he would urge the U.N. General Assembly on Friday to approve his request for additional security, which diplomats said would require extra funding.
The secretary-general said he spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who assured him that security would be tightened for the United Nations in Afghanistan. He also appealed to the U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan for help.
"Primary responsibility for the safety and security of U.N. staff falls on the Afghanistan government," said Ban. "But at the same time we need support from the Afghanistan security forces as well as the international community." Ban said he would meet on Friday with the heads of all U.N. funds and agencies to review the "evolving security environment" at all of the world body's facilities.
Earlier on Thursday, Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas was asked if there was a possibility that Afghanistan's Nov. 7 vote could be postponed, Montas said: "As far as I know, no." "We're still continuing our electoral support," she said.
The resurgent Taliban have vowed to disrupt the Afghan run-off election as U.S. President Barack Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years.
2. TALIBAN VIOLENCE THREATENS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
KABUL (AP) – The Taliban's brazen attack on U.N. election workers undermines the U.N.'s ability to help steer Afghanistan through a runoff election in only 10 days.
Although the U.N. insists it will not be deterred by the assault, another big attack could derail its limited ability to assure a credible vote and remain in the country. Most of the U.N.'s international staff in Afghanistan were ordered to stay home Thursday, a day after militants stormed a residential hotel housing U.N. employees, killing five of them, including one American. Six other people died, including the three attackers.
The lockdown does not apply to the 140 U.N. personnel helping the Afghans prepare for the Nov. 7 presidential runoff, according to U.N. spokesman Dan McNorton. Time is running out to arrange a ballot that already faces threats ranging from Taliban violence to possibly early winter snow.
"They're going to warehouses or meetings, or the airport to check on logistics," McNorton said of U.N. election workers. He said technical advisers will be sent to the provinces in time for the vote, although all assignments will be reviewed to make sure the staff is reasonably safe. "Yesterday was obviously a disruption, but the work and the support that we're providing remains strong and is working," he said.
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for more security personnel to protect U.N. staff and facilities in Afghanistan, especially in the run-up to next week's election. Ban said he urged members of the 15-nation Security Council on Thursday to provide additional security units and would make a similar appeal Friday to the 192-member General Assembly.
Wednesday's attack was only the latest in a series of setbacks suffered by the U.N. mission assisting the Afghans in running an election on their own for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion brought down the Taliban government in late 2001.
The top-ranking American in the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan was fired after a public dispute with the mission's Norwegian chief over whether he had been bullish enough in preventing fraud in the Aug. 20 first-round vote.
The fraud allegations seriously undermined the credibility of President Hamid Karzai's election, forcing him into the runoff. Still, the Afghan election commission brushed aside a U.N. recommendation to reduce the number of polling stations to curb cheating and decided Thursday to open even more in the November ballot.
The Taliban regards the election as a Western plot. A credible result would do much to undermine its claim to be the only valid form of government for the nation of some 30 million. The U.N. presence, which includes several hundred foreign staff, is essential to ensure the election meets an acceptable standard of fairness.
Without that, the government's legitimacy as a credible partner with the U.S. and its allies in the fight against the Taliban would be in doubt. U.N. officials were quick to quell speculation that the threats might drive out the world body.
"Just because somewhere is difficult and dangerous doesn't necessarily mean we will not be able to be there," McNorton said. Nevertheless, Wednesday's daring daylight attack in the heart of Kabul has sent shock waves through the city's international community, which has generally enjoyed a freer life than their counterparts in Baghdad.
In addition to the guest house attack, Taliban militants fired rockets at the Serena, the country's most luxurious hotel. No one was hurt but dozens of Westerners and well-heeled Afghans fled into the basement when the lobby filled with smoke.
"Our work continues, and in terms of the elections, preparations are already well advanced," said Aleem Siddique, another U.N. spokesman. "But the impact this will have needs to be evaluated over the coming days, and it's too early to make any judgments."
Some Westerners said they are weighing whether Afghanistan has become too risky. They would not allow their names to be used for security reasons – and to avoid alarming their families back home. The Taliban have in the past staged attacks against Western civilians, among the most dramatic the January 2008 assault against the Serena's gym. Six people, including a Norwegian journalist and two attackers, were killed.
Still, most attacks had been followed by long periods of calm in the capital, reinforcing a sense that Kabul was removed from the violence that grips other parts of the country. This time may be different. Wednesday's assault was the fourth major attack in Kabul since a suicide car bomber struck Aug. 15 near the front gate at NATO headquarters, killing at least seven people and wounding about 100.
That blast was followed by a suicide attack Sept. 17 that killed six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians, and a suicide car bombing Oct. 8 at the Indian Embassy in which 17 died. Another major attack ahead of the election – with large loss of life among U.N. and other international personnel – could well change the security equation.
The August 2003 truck bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello, prompted the U.N. to shut down operations in Iraq for years.
So far, the U.N. has not ordered a general evacuation of its international staff, but those not working on the election have been encouraged to take vacations or work outside the country until the runoff is over. An internal U.N. memo ordered restrictions on movement for the rest of the week and said U.N. departments would review lists of critical and nonessential personnel, suggesting some people may be moved to safety outside the country.
Threats against aid groups are also on the rise. The Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an umbrella group of more than 100 local and international agencies, said attacks on its member organizations are at their highest in six years, with at least 23 workers killed this year, and many groups have had to restrict operations.
One agency, the U.N. women's fund, evacuated most of its international staff before the first round of voting on Aug. 20, brought them back and then sent them out again following Wednesday's attack, McNorton said.
The Geneva-based U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it was assessing the impact of Wednesday's attack on its work. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization will remain in Afghanistan "as long as the security situation would permit," spokesman Erwin Northoff said in Rome.
3. IRAN WANTS BIG CHANGES TO DRAFT ATOM DEAL WITH POWERS
TEHRAN, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Iran will seek major revisions to a U.N.-draft nuclear fuel deal, including shipping abroad its low-enriched uranium (LEU) in stages rather than all at once, a progovernment newspaper reported on Thursday.
Without giving a source, the newspaper Javan also said Iran wanted a "simultaneous exchange", receiving higher-enriched uranium to run a Tehran research reactor at the same time as it ships LEU abroad for conversion into fuel for the same purpose.
The conditions were likely non-starters for Western powers which suspect the Islamic Republic is covertly seeking to develop nuclear weapons capability. Tehran rejects the charge, saying it is enriching uranium only for electricity.
Under the draft brokered by the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief in talks last week with Iran and three big powers, Tehran would transfer about 75 percent of its known 1.5 tonnes of LEU in one consignment to Russia for further enrichment by the end of this year, then to France for conversion into fuel plates. These would be returned to Tehran to power the reactor that produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
The U.S. role in the deal would entail upgrading safety and instrumentation at the plant, Iranian officials said. But Iran's proposed amendments were likely to be rebuffed by the powers because they wanted the plan to reduce the stockpile of Iran's LEU below the threshold needed for conversion into highly-enriched uranium for an atom bomb.
This would buy about a year of time for negotiations on halting enrichment in Iran in exchange for benefits to forge a long-term solution to a standoff over its nuclear ambitions. The powers will see Iran's counter-offer as problematic because current U.N. sanctions ban trade in sensitive nuclear materials, which included enriched uranium, with Tehran. Iran's view is that such sanctions are illegal and unjust.
IRANIAN REPLY
Iran has formally presented its response to the fuel deal to the head of the International Atomic Energy Organisation (IAEA), Iran's state al Alam television reported on Thursday, giving no details.
Iran had missed an Oct. 23 U.N. deadline for a reply.
World powers have complained of Iranian stalling and obfuscation on proposals meant to defuse a long standoff over its disputed nuclear aspirations. Iran will risk rekindling demands for harsher sanctions without movement on the fuel plan and other nuclear transparency measures before the end of the year, Western diplomats said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated on Thursday that Iran would not retreat "one iota" on its right to a sovereign nuclear programme. But, "fortunately, conditions have been prepared for international cooperation in the nuclear field," he said in a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
"We welcome cooperation on nuclear fuel, power plants and technology and we are ready to cooperate." He did not say whether Iran would accept the deal or demand changes. Iran's IAEA ambassador, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, declined to say what Iran's position was other than that it was "positive". "We expect that our technical and economic concerns will be taken into consideration when dealing with the modalities of supply of nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor."
The draft fuel deal was hammered out by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei in follow-up talks to an Oct. 1 meeting between Iran and six world powers in Geneva, where Iran also agreed to open a previously secret enrichment site for U.N. inspections.
Four senior IAEA inspectors returned to Vienna on Thursday after a first visit to the site and the team chief said "we had a good trip" but would not elaborate. Details are likely to come in the IAEA's next quarterly report on Iran in mid-November.
"We visited the Fordo enrichment plant. Now we are going to analyse the data," team leader Herman Nackaerts told reporters. A senior diplomat close to the IAEA said the four inspectors "carried out a full visit" to the nascent plant, which Iran expects to start operating at the end of next year.
The inspectors wanted full access and documentation to verify that the site under construction bunkered beneath a mountain was designed to enrich uranium only to low purity needed for electricity, not the high level suitable for bombs.
4. IRAQI ELECTION DELAY COULD STALL US TROOP PULLOUT
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. troops could leave Iraq later than currently planned if the fragile nation's elections are delayed, the Defense Department said Thursday.
Military commanders have said they want to keep the 117,000 soldiers now in Iraq in place for about two months after the scheduled Jan. 16 elections to ensure security during the government transition.
With a political deadlock in Baghdad over how to register voters in the northern oil-rich Kirkuk province, however, the balloting could be delayed. "That's why we are hanging on to as large a force as we are in Iraq," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters at a news briefing.
"Obviously, we'll make judgments and assessments based upon how far it's delayed and whether or not we need to retain this certain force level for longer," he added. Under a Jan. 1 security agreement, the United States will withdraw all its troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. President Barack Obama also has set an Aug. 31, 2010, deadline to end U.S. combat missions in Iraq, in part by sending home all but 50,000 soldiers.
But Sunday's bombings at government ministries in Baghdad, which killed 155 people, underscore the security threats and vulnerability in a nation where some U.S. officials have declared the war is all but over. Morrell said the "horrific and deplorable" suicide bombing attacks have not "caused anybody to reevaluate or reassess or reconsider the drawdown plan, nor has it prompted the Iraqis, for that matter, to ask for our forces to come back into Baghdad to assist in the aftermath of this attack."
Iraqi authorities have detained dozens of security officials responsible for protecting the area where the bombings happened and are investigating whether they had roles in the attack.
Tensions between Arabs and Kurds, a struggle at the heart of the Kirkuk voter registration dispute, in part illustrates that Iraq "is years away from achieving lasting security and stability," warned Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"The recent bombings in Iraq have shown that the Iraq war is scarcely over," Cordesman wrote in a report released Thursday. "It is far too early to say that Iraq can achieve lasting security and stability, maintain a pluralistic form of government, or avoid becoming caught up in another violent round of internal or regional power struggles."
5. PASSPORTS LINKED TO 9/11 FOUND ALONG AFGHAN BORDER
SHERWANGAI, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani soldiers battling their way into a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border have seized passports that may be linked to 9/11 suspects, as they confront an enemy skilled in operating in a mountainous terrain with endless ways to wage a guerrilla war.
The military on Thursday took foreign and local journalists for a first look inside the largely lawless territory since it launched a ground offensive here in mid-October. The U.S.-backed operation is focused on a section of the tribal region where the Pakistani Talibans are based and are believed to shelter al-Qaida.
Soldiers displayed passports seized in the operation, among them a German document belonging to a man named Said Bahaji. That matches the name of a man thought to have been a member of the Hamburg cell that conceived the 9/11 attacks. Bahaji is believed to have fled Germany shortly before the attacks in New York and Washington.
The passport included a tourist visa for Pakistan and a stamp indicating he'd arrived in the southern city of Karachi on Sept. 4, 2001. Another passport, from Spain, bears the name of Raquel Burgos Garcia. Spanish media have reported that a woman with the same name is married to Amer Azizi, an alleged al-Qaida member from Morocco suspected in both the 9/11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
Her family in Madrid has had no news of her since 2001, according to Spanish media. Her passport included visas to India and Iran, and the army displayed a Moroccan document with Burgos Garcia's photo and other information.
It was impossible to determine whether the passports are genuine, and German and Spanish officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the army's chief spokesman, said he had not realized the passports matched any prominent names, and declined further comment other than to say European militants were sprinkled throughout the area.
The U.S. has maintained for years that South Waziristan and other parts of the rugged frontier have sheltered Osama bin Laden and his senior lieutenants. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visiting this country on Thursday, said Pakistan squandered opportunities over the years to kill or capture al-Qaida leaders responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton said in an interview with Pakistani journalists in Lahore.
"Maybe that's the case. Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."
Although the military spent months using airstrikes to soften up targets in South Waziristan, nearly two weeks into the ground offensive it has captured only a few areas, none with significant strategic value. The army has seized weapons but is still trying to secure the main roads and regularly comes under rocket fire.
"It's a long-drawn haul," Abbas said. "They are offering resistance, and we are also striking them hard." Pakistan's tribal belt, a semiautonomous stretch of land where the government has long had little influence, is usually off-limits to foreigners. In recent years, as the militants' influence has spread, even many Pakistanis dare not venture here.
The tribal regions are some of the poorest, most underdeveloped areas in the world and have long been guided by traditional codes and councils. The Taliban have slaughtered hundreds of tribal elders in their rise to power.
In Sherwangai, a sparsely populated district along one of the offensive's three major fronts, army commanders said they had killed 82 insurgents and lost six soldiers in their attempt to secure the area, where the hills are covered in brush, rocks and dust and strong winds whip high ridges. Many battle-hardened Uzbek militants are believed to have taken shelter here.
The military is slowly capturing isolated hamlets as it encircles the small town of Kaniguram, its next target in the push forward. But even where the army has taken control, much of the area remains dangerous, filled with land mines and roadside bombs.
After an initial surge of resistance, many militants have been fleeing. Because the army has sealed off the main passes, "they will not be able to go out in a major way," said Maj. Gen. Khalid Rabbani, a top battlefield commander.
Yet, he added, "If somebody chooses even to cross Mount Everest, he will be able to do it. So there are going to be a few, changing their disguise – taking care of their beards and long hair – they will be able to get out." In addition to the passports, the military displayed papers and dozens of weapons and large amounts of ammunition it said it had recovered from Sherwangai.
Civilians were nowhere to be seen during Thursday's trip – some 155,000 have left the region in the past few months. South Waziristan normally has about 500,000 people. At one military outpost, in a large mud compound in Sherwangai, smoke could be seen rising in the distance from villages under army fire. Officials assured reporters the civilians had left those areas.
The military previously estimated that the South Waziristan offensive would take at least two to three months, and officials were hesitant Thursday to give a deadline. They also declined to give a time frame for how long troops would have to stay to prevent militants from returning.
It also is unclear whether Islamabad has any plans for how to govern the territory effectively and prevent the insurgency from again taking root. The army has deployed three divisions – about 30,000 troops – to take on some 5,000 to 8,000 militants, Abbas said, lowering a previous estimate of 10,000 militants.
His estimate included up to 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them Uzbeks. Afghan fighters are also reportedly filtering in from across the border.
This is the fourth major offensive the Pakistani army has launched in South Waziristan since 2004, and this time the military has promised a fight to the finish. The previous operations ended in setbacks or peace deals that left the militant groups even stronger.
6. CLINTON CITES PAKISTANI INACTION ON AL-QAIDA HAVEN
ISLAMABAD (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that Pakistan squandered opportunities over the years to kill or capture leaders of the al-Qaida terrorist network responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
While U.S. officials have said they believe Osama bin Laden and senior lieutenants have been hiding in the rugged terrain along the border with Afghanistan, Clinton's unusually blunt comments went further as she suggested that Pakistan's government has done too little to act against al-Qaida's top echelon.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton told Pakistani journalists in Lahore. "Maybe that's the case. Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."
With the country reeling from Wednesday's devastating bombing that killed at least 105 people in Peshawar, Clinton also engaged in an intense give-and-take with students at the Government College of Lahore. She insisted that inaction by the government would have ceded ground to terrorists.
"If you want to see your territory shrink, that's your choice," she said, adding that she believed it would be a bad choice. On Clinton's flight to the capital, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said Clinton's remarks to the Pakistani journalists approximate what the Obama administration has told Pakistani officials in private settings.
"We often say, `Yes, there needs to be more focus on finding these leaders,"' Patterson said.
"They other thing is, they lost control of much of this territory in recent years and that's why they're in South Waziristan right now." The army began an offensive Oct. 17 against Taliban forces in a portion of the tribal areas near the Afghan border.
Patterson noted that al-Qaida is mostly in that region. In Lahore, Clinton told university students that their government had little choice in taking a tougher approach. Dozens of students rushed to line up for the microphone when the session began. Their questions were not hostile, but showed a strong sense of doubt that the U.S. can be a reliable and trusted partner for Pakistan.
One woman asked whether the U.S. can be expected to commit long term in Afghanistan after abandoning the country after Russian occupiers retreated in 1989. "What guarantee," the woman asked, "can Americans give Pakistan that we can now trust you – not you but, like, the Americans this time – of your sincerity and that you guys are not going to betray us like the Americans did in the past when they wanted to destabilize the Russians?"
Clinton responded that the question was a "fair criticism" and that the U.S. did not follow through in the way it should have. "It's difficult to go forward if we're always looking in the rearview mirror," said Clinton, on the second day of a three-day visit, her first to Pakistan as secretary of state.
The Peshawar bombing in a market crowded with women and children appeared timed to overshadow her arrival. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2007. She likened Pakistan's situation – with Taliban forces taking over substantial swaths of land in the Swat Valley and in areas along the Afghan border – to a theoretical advance of terrorists into the United States from across the Canadian border.
It would be unthinkable, she said, for the U.S. government to decide, "Let them have Washington (state)" first, then Montana, then the sparsely populated Dakotas, because those states are far from the major centers of population and power on the East Coast.
Clinton was responding to a student who suggested that the U.S. government was forcing Pakistan to use military force on its own territory. During her hour-long appearance at the college, Clinton stressed that a key purpose of her trip was to reach out to ordinary Pakistanis and urge a better effort to bridge differences and improve mutual understanding.
"We are now at a point where we can chart a different course," she said, referring to past differences over an absence of democracy in Pakistan and Pakistani association with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But her tough comments about Pakistan's will to take on al-Qaida leaders might not sit well among Pakistanis who long have complained about American demands on their country. Clinton has ruffled feathers before with blunt comments on her trips. On her first visit to Asia in February, she discussed the possibility of a succession crisis in North Korea and suggested the U.S. would not press China that hard on human rights.
On a later trip, she drew criticism from Israeli leaders for talking about a "defense umbrella" for Arab Gulf states to protect them from a potential nuclear threat from Iran. Despite her comments during the town hall event in Lahore, Clinton declined to touch on the sensitive issue of missile attacks from U.S. drones against on militants inside Pakistan.
The subject has stirred some of the strongest feelings of anti-Americanism in the country, but the U.S. routinely refuses to acknowledge publicly that the attacks are taking place. "There is a war going on," Clinton said, saying only that the U.S. wants to help Pakistan be successful.
The United States has provided Pakistani commanders with video images and target information from its military drones as the army pushes its ground offensive in Waziristan, U.S. officials said this week.
The U.S. in recent months has rushed helicopters and other military equipment to the country as Islamabad began offensives in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan. "We've put military assistance to Pakistan on a wartime footing," Lt. Col. Mark Wright, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday.
7. U.S JUDGE SENTENCES AL QAEDA AGENT TO 100 MONTHS
PEORIA, Ill., Oct 29 (Reuters) - An accused al Qaeda sleeper agent, who was labeled an "enemy combatant" and held in isolation in a U.S. Navy brig, was sentenced on Thursday to 100 months in prison, with the judge worrying he might return to the terror group.
Ali al-Marri, a 44-year-old with dual citizenship in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda. Judge Michael Mihm of the U.S. District Court in Peoria sentenced al-Marri to eight years and four months -- about half the 15 years sought by prosecutors. Mihm reduced the sentence by the 5-1/2 years that al-Marri served in the U.S.
Naval brig in South Carolina and by another nine months for the harsh treatment he received there. With two years of the sentence already served, al-Marri may be released in five or six years.
"The risk of reassociating with those that brought you here is high," Judge Mihm said in passing sentence. "I believe you do not truly reject what you did and you would do it again after you go home -- whether here or somewhere else, that remains to be seen.
Al-Marri's plea agreement called for a 15-year sentence, but his attorneys said he was a "lowlevel lackey" in the conspiracy, had suffered terribly in U.S. custody, and was needed by his family whom he had not seen in eight years since his arrest Dec. 12, 2001.
A video aired in court during the two-day sentencing hearing showed al-Marri blindfolded and wearing ear muffs, shackled at the wrists and legs and the chains bolted to the floor while at the Navy brig. This treatment lasted more than 15 months while he was being interrogated by the Defense Intelligence Agency, his attorneys said.
NEVER HARM AMERICANS
Al-Marri gave a tearful statement to the court, vowing he would never again wish harm on Americans and pleading to be reunited with his family and his frail parents. An Air Force psychologist from the Naval brig testified on Wednesday that al-Marri was likely to engage in hostile acts against the United States if released. Major Deborah Sirratt said she interviewed al-Marri and found him to be manipulative and strongly opposed to U.S. involvement in Middle East affairs.
In his guilty plea, al-Marri said he trained at al Qaeda camps and was instructed to return to the United States, where he had previously been a student. He arrived the day before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The head of the brig, Commander John Pucciarelli, said al-Marri was a fitness buff and read hundreds of books on Islam and other topics. His first two to three years at the brig were spent in near total isolation, with his captors forbidden to speak to him.
Another video from the brig showed him pacing his barren cell. Guards often took away his Koran and eyeglasses and he was denied a mattress and other comforts. Al-Marri was initially charged with fraud based on credit card and other information found on his computer, but those charges were later dropped in 2003 and then-President George Bush declared him an enemy combatant.
Legal experts have said his case was considered a preview of how the administration will handle detainees at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which is slated to be closed.
8. SOMALI PIRATES MOVE BRITISH COUPLE TO CONTAINER SHIP
MOGADISHU, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Somali pirates moved two British hostages from their hijacked yacht on Thursday to a captured container ship now moored near a pirate haven.
Paul and Rachel Chandler, both in their 50s, had left the Seychelles on their 38-foot yacht Lynn Rival and were believed to be sailing to Tanzania when they were hijacked on Oct. 23. "After we understood the British navy might attack us, we took the hostages off the yacht into the Singaporean ship to bring them safely here," a pirate called Hassan told Reuters by telephone from the coastal town of Haradheere.
"They are close to Haradheere. We will be holding them in the Singaporean ship along with that ship's crew. We decided not to take them to shore. They are exhausted and they need rest."
Hassan was referring to a Singaporean container ship, the Kota Wajar, which was seized by Somali gunmen earlier this month along with its 21 crew.
Earlier on Thursday, the European naval force said a Spanish helicopter had spotted the yacht. A spokesman for the force said the boat was empty and it had no information about the couple. Britain's ITV news said it had managed to speak to Paul Chandler aboard the container ship by telephone and that he said no ransom had yet been demanded.
"Not officially -- they kept asking for money and took everything of value on the boat. They haven't asked formally for money yet. That's what they want, we know," Chandler said.
THAI SHIP SEIZED
The Seychelles coastguard sent aircraft to search for the Chandlers' yacht after receiving a distress signal on Friday, while naval forces from the NATO alliance, European Union and United States had also joined the search.
"We will be using all the mechanisms at our disposal to try to ensure that there is the safe return of these two British hostages," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. Pirates have plagued busy shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia for several years. Foreign warships from 16 nations are in the area to try and prevent hijacks, but the sea gangs are now hunting for ships far into the Indian Ocean.
The gangs -- some made up of former fisherman angered by the presence of foreign fishing fleets in Somali waters -- and their backers within Somalia and abroad have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms. Also on Thursday, pirates boarded a Thai-flagged fishing boat, the Thai Union 3, and were taking it to Somalia, the EU naval force said.
Asia's biggest canned tuna exporter, Thai Union Frozen Products, confirmed one of its ships had been taken by pirates. The company said it had 25 crew members on board, none of them Thais. It did not give their nationalities. The hijacking of the Thai vessel took the number of ships being held by pirates on the Somali coastline to eight.
Foreign warships from 16 nations are patrolling the area to try and prevent hijacks, but the sea gangs now hunt for ships far into the Indian Ocean, as well as the strategic shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia through the Gulf of Aden. While hundreds of sailors have been held captive by the Somali pirates over the past few years, most have been released unharmed -- once a ransom has been paid.
9. SOMALI PIRATES SAY RANSOM AGREED FOR GREEK SHIP
MOGADISHU, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Thursday they had agreed a ransom for a Greek ship hijacked in May and expected to release the vessel soon.
"We've agreed to take a $3.5 million ransom to release a Greek ship. We are just waiting for the money," pirate Hassan told Reuters by phone from the coastal town of Haradheere. "We shall get down from the ship in the coming 48 hours, if not earlier. That is, as soon as we get the cash. The crew is safe and the negotiation is over, although it has taken a long time."
The Ariana was seized on May 2 north of Madagascar en route to the Middle East from Brazil with 24 Ukrainian crew aboard. The ship, flying a Maltese flag, belongs to All Oceans shipping in Greece. Pirates have plagued busy shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia for several years.
Foreign warships from 16 countries are in the area to try to prevent hijackings. Eight vessels are being held off the coast of Somalia.
10. QUAKE HITS AFGHAN, PAKISTAN; NO CASUALTY REPORTS
ISLAMABAD (AP) – A strong earthquake hit Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains Thursday, shaking large areas of the country and neighboring Pakistan, officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake, which struck at 10:14 p.m. (1744 GMT) and was centered in a remote part of the Hindu Kush mountains, about 160 miles (250 kilometers) north of Kabul. Given the area's isolation it could take many hours for such reports to emerge.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.0, though Pakistani officials said it was 6.1. Tremors were felt in Kabul, in Pakistan's northwest and in its capital, Islamabad, causing some buildings to shake. Chaudhry Qamaruz Zaman, chief of Pakistan's meteorological office, said the temblor struck about 125 miles (200 kilometers) underground in the quake-prone region, so it was unlikely to have caused significant damage.
11. LIFE SENTENCE FOR RWANDAN CONVICTED OF WAR CRIMES
MONTREAL (AP) – A Rwandan man who was the first person convicted under a law allowing people in Canada to be tried for war crimes committed abroad has been sentenced to life in prison.
Desire Munyaneza, 42, was found guilty in May of seven charges, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the 1994 rape and slaughter of at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda. He will not be eligible for parole for 25 years.
"The accused, an educated man from a privileged background, chose to kill, rape and pillage in the name of his ethnic group's supremacy," Justice Andre Denis said as he issued the sentence.
"The sentence I am imposing is severe because the law considers the crimes committed by the accused to be the worst in existence."
Munyaneza, a Hutu, was convicted of trying to destroy the Tutsi ethnic group in Butare and the surrounding area. He was the first defendant to be tried under Canada's 7-year-old War Crimes Act. Munyaneza was living in Toronto and was arrested in October 2005 after reports that he had been seen circulating in Canada's Rwandan community.
At the time, African Rights, a Rwandan group that has documented the genocide, linked Munyaneza to key figures indicted by the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. During his trial, more than 66 witnesses testified in Montreal, and in depositions in Rwanda, France and Kenya, often behind closed doors to protect their identities.
Many accused Munyaneza, who was 27 at the time, of being a ground-level leader in a militia group that raped and murdered dozens. Emmanuel Muhawenimena, who said he lost 70 family members in the genocide, said he was satisfied with the sentence.
"It's very important and sends a strong message to other killers hiding somewhere," he said.
Jean-Paul Nyilinkwaya, a Rwandan who lives in Montreal and whose father was killed in the genocide, said survivors have been looking forward to the sentencing. "The fact that he was found guilty is a very big boost for the survivors. Everybody there is desperate for justice," he said.
Nyilinkwaya, who was instrumental in Munyaneza's capture in Canada, said the sentence allows victims to believe humanity still exists.
Prosecutor Pascale Ledoux said the sentencing sends a message to the international community. "It underlies the importance of the fight against inhumanity and the application of law wherever the persons are, she said. Defense lawyer Richard Perras argued last month that the sentence should be closer to 20 years. He is also appealing the conviction. Canada denied Munyaneza refugee status in September 2000 and he has since lost several appeals.
