Church: Pope Had Role in Moving Molesting Priest

Pope knew priest was paedophile but allowed him to continue with ministry (Times)

Pope will struggle to survive abuse scandal (Irish Independent)

Benedict’s involvement ‘shows extent of cover-ups’ (Irish Independent)

Sinead O’Connor: I’d help Jesus to burn down the Vatican (Irish Independent)

RIGHTS-GERMANY: ‘Catholic Church Protects Paedophile Priests’ (IPS)

Child abuse claims sweep Catholic Church in Europe (AP)


pope-benedict-xvi
Pope Benedict XVI prays in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on May 15, 2009. Photographer: Yannis Behrakis/Pool via Bloomberg News

March 12 (Bloomberg) — Pope Benedict XVI, during his tenure as archbishop of Munich, played a role in a decision to move a priest accused of sexual molestation to his diocese to undergo therapy, the church said today.

The priest was later reassigned by another church official and committed more abuse, the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising said in a statement on its Web site. Benedict, at the time Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, “was involved” in a 1980 decision to move the priest, identified only as “H.,” from a church in Essen, Germany, to a rectory in the Munich region for treatment, the diocese said.

A former vicar-general in the church administration, Gerhard Gruber, subsequently allowed the accused priest to continue pastoral duties, during which he committed abuse and was convicted by a court in 1986. Gruber said in the statement that the decision to re-post “H.” was his alone.

“The repeated employment of ‘H.’ in pastoral duties was a serious mistake,” Gruber said. “I take full responsibility for this and I deeply regret that this decision led to offenses against youths — I apologize to all those who were harmed by this.”

A wave of allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests has emerged in Germany this year, beginning at an elite Jesuit high school in Berlin, Canisius-Kolleg. The head of the German Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, last month issued an apology to more than 100 pedophilia victims, echoing Benedict’s statement that such abuse is a “heinous crime.”

Read moreChurch: Pope Had Role in Moving Molesting Priest

BBC Scotland Investigative Reporters Threatened To Stop Documentary Or Get Sacked; Reporter Robert Green On The Hollie Greig Abuse Case And The Aberdeen Paedophile Ring

YouTube has now removed all 5 videos I had posted before!

That was fast. I have found replacements.

Please leave a comment, if any video doesn’t work anymore.


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Robert Green RELEASED update here :
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Arti…

REGULAR UPDATES FROM HOLLIE’S BLOG HERE : http://stolenkids-hollie.blogspot.com/

UPDATE ON ROBERT GREEN ARREST HERE : http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Arti…

Earlier report on Hollie Greig’s abuse case here : http://www.ukcolumn.org/2010/02/02/ch…

In the October 2009 print edition of the UK Column, we reported in our article BBC Hides Truth of Girls Sexual Abuse Ordeal the shocking ordeal of Downs Syndrome girl, Hollie Greig, who was horribly abused by an Aberdeen paedophile ring, over a period of ten years. After investigating and planning a documentary, the BBC abruptly dropped the case, despite admitting that Hollie was a reliable and accurate witness. It is important to stress that both the police and qualified medical experts have described Hollie as a competent and entirely honest witness.

From the age of just six, Hollie was repeatedly sexually abused by her father, Denis Charles Mackie. Later, Mackie began sharing his daughter with a gang of paedophile swingers that has been operating in Aberdeen for many years. The identities of a further seven child victims are already known. There is no question that the gang are well-connected, efficiently organised and totally ruthless. Our frightening story is that they are protected by individuals of high standing within the Scottish establishment.

In 2000, after 14 years of terrified silence, Hollie eventually told her mother, Anne, about the abuses. Formal statements were made to Grampian Police, providing all the horrifying details and the names of the abusers. They included a senior Scottish Sheriff, a policeman, social workers, a nurse, a solicitor, an accountant, a fire officer, married couples and others. Some of the rapes were carried out at the homes of these individuals, including that of the Sheriffs sister. Other children were sometimes involved, including children of the paedophiles themselves.

The latest chapters in this astonishing and horrifying story about Hollie, and the seven other abused children, have taken place over the past few weeks. The key issues are a continued refusal by Grampian police to fully investigate the overwhelming evidence for the paedophile rapes, and a wall of silence by the Scottish establishment.

Whilst there has been some general Scottish media coverage, notably in The Firm and the Aberdeen Press and Journal, the media has been largely silent on what must be one of Scotlands worst top level paedophile scandles. A key figure in the press silence is the Lord Advocate, in her former role as Procurator Fiscal in Aberdeen, when in 2000 she is alleged to have effectively buried the case. Was this to prevent her associate and most influential member of the paedophile ring, Sheriff X, from being investigated, along with the other named members of the fifteen-strong rape gang?

Read moreBBC Scotland Investigative Reporters Threatened To Stop Documentary Or Get Sacked; Reporter Robert Green On The Hollie Greig Abuse Case And The Aberdeen Paedophile Ring

Shock Study: 12% of Children Sexually Abused in Government Custody

sexabuseyouthdetention

Some 12 percent of minors held in government custody are sexually abused, and in some facilities the rate reaches a stunning one in three children, says a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The first-ever National Survey of Youth in Custody found that no less than 10 percent of the 26,550 juveniles being held in detention facilities in the US are abused by staff at the facility, while another 2.6 percent report abuse at the hands of other inmates.

Among the facilities studied were six identified to have rates of sexual abuse as high as three in 10. According to the Associated Press, those six facilities are Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana; Corsicana Residential Treatment Center in Texas; Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Maryland; Samarkand Youth Development Center in Eagle Springs, North Carolina.; Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in Pennsylvania; and the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center, Long Term, in Mitchells, Virginia.

“The widespread sexual abuse of children in juvenile facilities shows that public officials either aren’t paying attention or can’t be bothered to do the right thing,” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch. “The high rates of victimization are powerful testimony to the failure of governments to safeguard the boys and girls in their care.”

The study was mandated by a 2003 law, the National Prison Rape Elimination Act, which also created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. Human Rights Watch notes that six months ago the commission set out “comprehensive, effective standards for the prevention, detection, and punishment of prison rape,” but the Justice Department has yet to act on those recommendations.

“Every day Attorney General Eric Holder fails to promulgate national prison rape elimination standards is another day in which kids and adults are being abused behind bars,” Fellner said. “The attorney general already has on his desk proposed standards that reflect the best thinking and effective practices to end this widespread scourge. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or to delay moving forward.”

The survey found that gay youth were at higher risk than heterosexual youth, with one in five reporting abuse at the hands of a staffer or fellow inmate. Males were more likely to report being abused than females (10.8 percent to 4.7 percent). And 95 percent of those abused by staff reported that the abuser was female. But that number may be influenced by the fact that 91 percent of youth in custody are male.

The AP reports:

Although advocates said the level of abuse wasn’t surprising, the prevalence of sexual abuse by staff, particularly female workers, was shocking, said Linda McFarlane, deputy executive director of Just Detention International, which fights to end sexual abuse of those who are detained.

“Many of these are already the most vulnerable and traumatized youth from all of our communities and they’re placed for custody because they’re considered to be a danger,” she said. “If sexually abused in those very institutions that are supposed to help them prepare for life in the community, then it’s just an incredible travesty.”

Read moreShock Study: 12% of Children Sexually Abused in Government Custody

80 new cases of child abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland: Inquiry

“What You Have Done Unto The Least of These, You Have Done Unto Me”

What you have done unto these children, you have done unto me.

The Catholic church abused, raped and murdered people through all the centuries.

Why are you still giving your power and your children away to those criminals?

“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

… or by their (hand-) signs  …


pope_ratzinger_handsign2-20-09
Pope Benedict XVI remained silent over the devastating abuse report

Eighty files are to be sent to the Republic’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by a garda team investigating fresh complaints of clerical child abuse.

The complaints were made after publication in May of the Ryan report, which detailed horrific physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by members of religious orders.

The revelation comes as gardai turn their attention to investigating priests in the Dublin Archdiocese who are the subject of the Murphy report, which was published this week.

Bishops who served in the Dublin Archdiocese while children were being sexually abused were desperately resisting calls for their resignations last night.

Pope Benedict XVI remained silent over the devastating abuse report, which accused the Church of “denial, arrogance and cover-up”, with survivors saying there was no regard within the Catholic Church for child welfare.

The Pope’s representative in Ireland gave an assurance to the Irish public that Pope Benedict was committed to rooting paedophile priests from the ranks of the Irish clergy.

Read more80 new cases of child abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland: Inquiry

Girl gang-raped outside California high school as onlookers laughed and took photographs

A 15-year-old girl was gang raped by up to 10 teenagers outside a California high school homecoming dance as others laughed and took photographs.


In a crime that has shocked America up to two dozen passers-by were said to have seen the crime happening and failed to report it as the girl was subjected to an ordeal lasting two-and-a-half hours.

Police Lieutenant Mark Gagan said a “mob mentality” had taken over. He said: “This was a barbaric act. I still cannot get my head around the fact that numerous people either watched, walked away or participated in her assault.

“These suspects are monsters. I don’t understand how this many people capable of such atrocious behaviour could be in one place at one time.

Many of the students feel like the people who committed such an awful crime are still among them in class.” Five suspects, aged from 16 to 21, have been arrested over the attack at Richmond High School, near San Francisco, over the weekend.

The crime was only discovered when a woman at a nearby party telephoned police to say that two of the suspects were bragging about their role in the attack, which was still going on.

Read moreGirl gang-raped outside California high school as onlookers laughed and took photographs

KBR: Corporate supremacy above gang raped human being

‘Corporatocracy’ rules America or better the elite that controls those corporations rules America. That is (economic) fascism. And this is not about Republicans vs. Democrats, because they are just two wings of the same bird, puppets controlled by the elite. There is no ‘change’ or ‘hope’ in sight with the Obama administration.

Related articles:
KBR wins Pentagon contract despite criminal probe of deaths
Halliburton accused of supplying rotten food to U.S. forces
KBR, Partner in Iraq Contract Sued in Human Trafficking Case
US Troops in Iraq talk about Halliburton & KBR (Flashback)
Whistleblower says Pentagon putting KBR over soldiers
Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir
BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions
Rehired KBR driver in Iraq caught with child porn — again
Former workers accuse employees of improper activity, including the stealing of weapons, artwork and gold
DynCorp Manager Used Armored Car To Transport Hookers in Iraq
KBR Named In Report On Soldier Illnesses
Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore
10-Year U.S. Strategic Plan For Detention Camps Revives Proposals From Oliver North

Jamie Leigh Jones (born 1984)[1] is a former KBR employee who claims that seven KBR employees drugged and gang-raped her on July 28, 2005 at Camp Hope, Baghdad, Iraq.[2][3][4] She has filed a lawsuit against the company and the employees.

She is the founder of the Jamie Leigh Foundation, an advocacy agency for victims of sexual assault.

Jones began working for KBR as an administrative assistant in 2004 when she was 19, and started her contract of employment with Overseas Administrative Services, Ltd. in Houston, Texas on July 21, 2005.

Incident

According to Jones, on July 28, 2005, several of her fellow KBR employees offered her a drink containing a date rape drug, of which she took two sips. The men then allegedly engaged in unprotected anal and vaginal gang-rape upon her while she was unconscious. She was able to name one of her attackers based on his confession to her, but was unable to identify the others due to her unconsciousness. Further, the lawsuit filed by Jones’ attorneys cites the following: “When she awoke the next morning still affected by the drug, she found her body naked and severely bruised, with lacerations to her vagina and anus, blood running down her leg, her breast implants ruptured, and her pectoral muscles torn – which would later require reconstructive surgery. Upon walking to the rest room, she passed out again.”[5] Jones’ account was confirmed by U.S. Army physician Jodi Schultz.[6] Schultz gave the rape kit she used to gather evidence from Jones to KBR/Halliburton security forces, after which the rape kit disappeared. It was recovered two years later, but missing crucial photographs and notes. [7]

Jones was confined by armed guards to a shipping container containing only a bed, under the orders of her employer, KBR. She says she was denied food, water, and medical treatment. After approximately one day, says Jones, a sympathetic guard gave her a cell phone and she called her father, Tom, who in turn contacted Representative Ted Poe (RTX) who contacted the State Department. Agents were dispatched from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and removed Jones from KBR custody.[citation needed]

In May 2007, a State Department diplomat recovered the rape kit from Halliburton and KBR. However, notes and photographs taken by Schultz (of Jones the morning following her rape) were missing, undermining any chances of bringing the case through the criminal courts.[8]

Source: Wikipedia


post-human

We are fast approaching the time of the next great battle over evolution. The Neo-creationists will be corporations, and they will argue that they could not possibly be descended from human beings.

This isn’t science fiction. Just the other day 30 Republicans voted in the U.S. Senate to deny justice to a human victim of rape in order to protect the so-called sovereign rights of corporations.

I’m not much for slippery slope arguments, but when we’re buried in mud at the bottom of a slope, it might be prudent to see what we slipped on. In this case, as Thom Hartmann and others have pointed out, it was a court reporter’s memo attached to an obscure 1886 Supreme Court case. The memo summarized the court’s alleged opinion that the 14th Amendment applied to corporations. Corporations were people, too.

The rape case of Jamie Leigh Jones was just a logical step forward in the long-standing Republican effort to lock Americans out of the nation’s courthouses, an effort undertaken on behalf of corporate supremacy.  A woman is gang-raped by her fellow employees at government contractor KBR. The company says her contract prohibits her from seeking justice in court.

Thirty Republican U.S. senators voted to safeguard corporations from lawsuits in rape cases. You read that right the first time. The amendment they voted against, by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, would withhold government contracts from corporations that block employees from going to court when raped or sexually assaulted on the job.

The case – and the vote – stirred a little outrage, but not enough.

Read moreKBR: Corporate supremacy above gang raped human being

Supreme Court Refuses to Block Release of Catholic Church Sex Abuse Papers

In all of history the Catholic Church was more like a whorehouse and a place of abuse and rape then a place of contemplation and that is documented and proven.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Whenever the truth (‘Teachings of the masters of all ages’) got lost those left behind created a religion and as always those in positions of power abused their power.

The masses never really understood things like:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me
(Not Jesus, but the Christ, which is a very high level of consciousness that can be attained by each human being), the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.”

People could do greater works than Jesus, when he had reached ‘Christ Consciousness’, but instead people chose to be the sheep of outdated, backward, criminal institutions like the Roman Catholic Church.

If you are happy worshiping, then you will never become a master. Never.

If people never take responsibility for their entire life, then they will always be victims.

Jeshuah ben Joseph (Jesus) is just one of many masters that have walked the face of the earth. From most of them you haven’t even heard their names.

The following books are not about religion, sects, cults, gurus or new age channels:
Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, Vol. 1 Price: $8.76
Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, Vol. 2 Price: $10.95
Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, Vol. 3 Price: $10.95
In German:
Leben und Lehren der Meister in Fernen Osten. Band 1-3 Preis: EUR 12,95

Proof that miraculous abilities are indeed real:
China’s Super Psychics (At the moment this book (in English) is only available at ridiculous prices.)
In German:
Indigo-Schulen: Trainingsmethoden für medial begabte Kinder Preis: EUR 8,95

The German title is complete BS.

‘Super Psychics’ is a lot better, but would you have guessed that this includes healing abilities, teleportation, biolocation and manifesting out of thin air etc.?

My Tai Chi and Qi Gong teachers can also do the miraculous. (For them it’s normal and everybody could do it in their eyes.)

But since they don’t want to be publicly known, here are some great YouTube videos:
Ling Kong Jing (Empty Force) Demo by Master Shr on Bill Moyers Special
Qigong master (Realy cool Must see! ): (This master appears to be mentally unstable but he has great abilities.)
Qigong Master Boils Water With His Hands Pyrokinesis

True power, greatness, love, freedom and happiness wait to be found within yourself.


The justices on Monday turned down a request by the Roman Catholic diocese in Bridgeport, Conn.

upcoming-events-for-scouts
Catholic Scouting (Source: Diocese of Bridgeport)

The Supreme Court has refused to block the release of documents generated by lawsuits against priests in Connecticut for alleged sexual abuse.

The justices on Monday turned down a request by the Roman Catholic diocese in Bridgeport, Conn.

Several newspapers are seeking the release of more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against six priests.

The records have been under seal since the diocese settled the cases in 2001. Courts in Connecticut have ruled that the papers should be made public.

The high court also refused to make a decision Monday on whether to hear arguments from a group of Chinese men who have been imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for more than seven years.

The justices reviewed the case last week, but made no announcement about how they will move on the petition from the Uighurs — whose relocation has been part of a larger headache for the Obama administration, which is trying to meet its self-imposed pledge to close Gitmo by January.

Read moreSupreme Court Refuses to Block Release of Catholic Church Sex Abuse Papers

Study: 1 in 3 teenage girls tell of sexual abuse by their boyfriends

Learn to defend yourself.

Ming Liu (Chinese Staff) – 1998 World Series of Martial Arts



Chris Cloke of NSPCC tells Mike Duran about a survey of teenage sexual relationships Link to this audio

  • Sexual exploitation rife in relationships, says NSPCC
  • Quarter of young women are beaten up, poll shows

One in three teenage girls has suffered sexual abuse from a boyfriend and one in four has experienced violence in a relationship, according to an in-depth study published today.

The survey, by the NSPCC and Bristol University, found that of the 1,353 teenage girls and boys questioned across the UK, nearly 90% of girls aged 13 to 17 had been in an intimate relationship. A similar number of boys had been in relationships.

A quarter of girls had suffered physical violence, including being slapped, punched or beaten by their boyfriends, according to the study.

As part of the research, 91 young people were questioned at length. Of the girls, one in six said that they had been pressured into having sex and one in 16 claimed to have been raped.

Read moreStudy: 1 in 3 teenage girls tell of sexual abuse by their boyfriends

Final report: Endemic rape and abuse of more than 30.000 Irish children in Catholic care

Beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children, Ryan report states


Henry McDonald on the long-awaited report on abuse in Ireland’s schools

Rape and sexual molestation were “endemic” in Irish Catholic church-run industrial schools and orphanages, a report revealed today.

The nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic, while government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation.

The high court judge Sean Ryan today unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland’s commission into child abuse, which drew on testimony from thousands of former inmates and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions. Police were called to the news conference amid angry scenes as victims were prevented from attending.

More than 30,000 children deemed to be petty thieves, truants or from dysfunctional families – a category that often included unmarried mothers – were sent to Ireland’s austere network of industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and hostels from the 1930s until the last facilities shut in the 1990s.

Read moreFinal report: Endemic rape and abuse of more than 30.000 Irish children in Catholic care

Afghans Rape Children On Canadian Military Base

Such atrocities are ‘normal’ on planet earth: Pakistani women buried alive for choosing husbands
Human beings do net respect themselves, they do not respect others and they do not respect their planet.
This is the perfect recipe for the ultimate disaster.
_______________________________________________________________________

Dec 14, 2008 04:30 AM
Source: The Star

Chaplain says senior officer aware of rape by Afghans

Soldier recalls cries from boy brought onto Canadian base

The boy was no more than 12. He wore a wig, lipstick and perfume and was dressed in a flowing robe when an Afghan interpreter escorted him to the entrance of the Canadian base in remote Afghanistan.

It was June 2006 and it was one of Tyrel Braaten’s first days at Forward Operating Base Wilson, about 30 kilometres outside Kandahar.

Braaten watched as the local interpreter, who worked for the Canadians, ushered the boy through the security checkpoint and led him inside a nearby building.

The bombardier was bewildered. He asked another interpreter standing next to him who the boy was. The interpreter shrugged that the boy was one of “the bitches.”

“I said, `What do you mean?’ and he made the motion with his hips, like you know,” said Braaten, 24. “I remember saying, `Are we on Mars? Does this s— go on all the time?'”

The native of Saskatchewan is the latest soldier to come forward alleging in detail how young Afghan boys during his tour in Afghanistan in 2006 were regularly sodomized by Afghan interpreters and soldiers working alongside Canadian soldiers.

For the past four months, the Canadian Forces’ National Investigation Service, an arm’s-length military investigatory body with the power to lay criminal charges, has been probing claims that Canadian commanding officers ignored the complaints of lower-ranking soldiers about the alleged rapes.

Some soldiers have told military chaplains and medical personnel that they were instructed to disregard the sodomy because of a “cultural difference” between Canada and Afghanistan.

In a new development, Maj. Kevin Klein, a high-ranking chaplain, told the Star that a senior officer confided to him in 2007 that his soldiers were struggling to cope with the rapes. Klein has told his story to NIS investigators.

Read moreAfghans Rape Children On Canadian Military Base

Female Soldiers More Likely to Be Raped than Killed in Action, Says Rep.

DOD Official Set to Testify Today at Hearing, Despite Not Showing Up in July


“You serve your country and then destroy your life because the guy in the next bunk or the next foxhole becomes a sexual predator,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) of the females who have been sexually assaulted or raped while serving the country.

A House subcommittee is set to shed new light on the problem of sexual assault in the military today, when it will hear testimony on sexual assault numbers, prevention and response as part of its ongoing investigation into the issue.

“A woman who signs up to protect her country is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), who introduced a bill this summer to increase and encourage the investigation of prosecution of sexual assault and rape cases in the military and is attending today’s hearing.

It will be the second such hearing this summer but is highly anticipated because Dr. Kaye Whitley, the director of the defense department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, will testify. Whitley was a no-show at the session July 31, even though the committee had subpoenaed her to attend.

Read moreFemale Soldiers More Likely to Be Raped than Killed in Action, Says Rep.

NIGERIA: Trafficking of girls, abuse worsening


Children in Makoko, a slum of houses on stilts in central Lagos, Nigeria. Some 15,000 people live here in the most basic conditions imaginable

KANO, 7 July 2008 (IRIN) – The trafficking of girls from villages to cities in Nigeria is increasing and the state is powerless to stop the trade, officials told IRIN.

“The business of recruiting teenage girls as domestic help in rich and middle-class homes is booming despite our efforts to put a stop to it”, Bello Ahmed, head of the Kano office of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), told IRIN.

Girls aged 12-17 are regularly trafficked from villages and brought to the city to work as maids for an average monthly wage of 1,500 naira (US$13) which they usually send back to their parents who are caring for several of their siblings, according to Ahmed.

“Apart from being denied access to education, these girls are in many cases raped and beaten by their employers and this is why we keep a dormitory to rehabilitate them”, Ahmed said.

“Bringing in girls from the villages to the city to work as house helps continues unabated. In fact it is on the rise”, agreed Mairo Bello, head of Adolescent Health Information Project, a Kano-based non-governmental organisation (NGO).

As well as poverty, trafficking in girls and women is driven by the extreme income inequality which exists in Nigeria, and gender inequality. The problem is prevalent all around the country.

The dangers

Saudatu Halilu, a 16 year-old girl who moved to Kano from a rural village to work as a maid, has been a victim of the trade’s dangers.

Saudatu was brought to Kano from Nassarawa State in central Nigeria 10 months ago to work as a domestic help, but she said her master forced her into sleeping with him and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

“I was too scared to tell my mistress or anyone what happened for fear of what my master would do to me and I did not realise I was pregnant until a medical check after I began to show some signs which attracted the attention of my mistress”, Halilu told AFP.


Ruth, 13, doing her homework. From the age of five to nine she was denied the right to go to school and had to work selling water at a market in Gabon, after having been trafficked from Nigeria

Poverty

Read moreNIGERIA: Trafficking of girls, abuse worsening

Guantanamo detainees were tortured, medical exams show


An Afghan detainee is carried on a stretcher before being interrogated by military officials at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002. A study of former Guantanamo detainees has unearthed evidence that they were tortured and abused.
(Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)

Medical examinations of suspected militants formerly held by the U.S. military at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba showed evidence of torture and other abuse that resulted in serious injuries and mental disorders, according to a human rights group.

The study, considered the most extensive medical check of former U.S. detainees published so far, also tracked former suspects held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, with similar findings.

For the study, Physicians for Human Rights had doctors and mental health professionals examine 11 former prisoners of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

The U.S-based human rights organization says it found evidence of U.S. torture and war crimes, and it accuses U.S. military health professionals of allowing the abuse of detainees, denying detainees medical care and providing confidential medical information to interrogators that was then exploited.

Physicians for Human Rights did not identify the 11 former prisoners to protect their privacy. Seven were held in Abu Ghraib between late 2003 and summer of 2004, a period that coincides with the known torture of prisoners at the hands of some of their U.S. jailers. Four of the prisoners were held at Guantanamo beginning in 2002 for one to almost five years. All 11 were released without charges being laid.

Those examined reported being tortured or abused, including sexually, and described being shocked with electrodes, beaten, shackled, stripped of their clothes, deprived of food and sleep, and spit and urinated on.

Prisoner subjected to electrical shocks 3 times a day

The Associated Press has obtained a report outlining the treatment of two Iraqi prisoners. One, identified only as Yasser, reported being subjected to electric shocks three times and being sodomized with a stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking. He would not allow a full rectal exam.

Another Iraqi, identified only as Rahman, reported he was humiliated by being forced to wear women’s underwear, was stripped naked and paraded in front of female guards, and was shown pictures of other naked detainees. The psychological exam found that Rahman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had sexual problems related to his humiliation.

The Physicians for Human Rights report came as the U.S. Senate’s armed services committee revealed documents showing military lawyers warned the Pentagon that methods it was using following the Sept. 11, 2001, airplane hijackings violated military, U.S. and international law. Those objections were overruled by a top Pentagon lawyer.

U.S. President George W. Bush said in 2004, when the prison torture was revealed, that it was the work of “a few American troops who dishonoured our country and disregarded our values.” Bush and other U.S. officials have consistently denied that the U.S. tortures its detainees.

The degradation of some prisoners by their U.S. captors is well documented by the government’s own reports. Once-secret documents show that the Pentagon and Justice Department allowed, at least for a time, forced nakedness, isolation, sleep deprivation and humiliation at its military prisons in Guantanamo Bay and at Abu Ghraib.

Health of detainees prior to detention not known

Physicians for Human Rights’ medical examiners did not have access to the 11 patients’ medical histories prior to their imprisonment, so it was not possible to know whether any of the prisoners’ ailments, disabilities and scars pre-dated their confinement. The U.S. military says an al-Qaeda training manual instructs members, if captured, to assert they were tortured during interrogation.

However, doctors and mental health professionals stated they could link the prisoners’ claims of torture while in U.S. detention to injuries documented by X-rays, medical exams and psychological tests.

“The level of the time, thoroughness and rigour of the exams left me personally without question about the credibility of the individuals,” said Dr. Allen Keller, one of the doctors who conducted the exams, in an interview with the Associated Press.

“The findings on the physical and psychological exams were consistent with what they reported.”

All 11 former detainees reported being subjected to:

  • Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.
  • Prolonged isolation and hooding or blindfolding, a form of sensory deprivation.
  • Threats against themselves, their families or friends from interrogators or guards.
  • Ten said they were forced to be naked, some for days or weeks.
  • Nine said they were subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation.
  • At least six said they were threatened with military working dogs, often while naked.
  • Four reported being sodomized, subjected to anal probing, or threatened with rape.

Read moreGuantanamo detainees were tortured, medical exams show

GM Seeds Still Active in Soil 10 Years Later

Scientists discovered seeds from certain genetically modified crops can endure soil for at least 10 years in some cases.

A field planted with experimental oilseed rape a decade ago found transgenic specimens were still growing there despite intensive efforts over the years to remove the seeds, according to researchers in Sweden.

This is the first time a genetically modified crop has endured so long and critics say it shows that genetically modified organisms cannot be contained once released.

Tina D’Hertefeldt and a team of researchers from Lund University searched a small field that hosted the GM trial 10 years ago looking for “volunteers” – plants that have sprung up spontaneously from seed in the soil.

“We were surprised, very surprised,” said D’Hertefeldt. “We knew that volunteers had been detected earlier, but we thought they’d all have gone by now.”

Read moreGM Seeds Still Active in Soil 10 Years Later