Michael Campbell was secretly recorded trying to buy weapons for terror group and was arrested in sting operation A suspected member of the Real IRA who was arrested in an elaborate MI5 sting operation has been found guilty of attempting to buy a cache of arms and explosives designed to equip the dissident terror group for a new bombing campaign. Michael Campbell was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a judge in Lithuania who had seen secretly-recorded videos of the 39-year-old negotiating a deal to buy weapons unaware that he had been set up by the UK intelligence agency, working alongside Lithuanian authorities. The court was told that Campbell had paid up to €10,000 (£8,700) for the cache, which included rocket-propelled grenades, detonators, a high-powered sniper rifle and 12kg of Russian-made explosives. He thought he was buying the shipment from a Lithuanian arms dealer, but the episode was a sting set up by undercover MI5 and Lithuanian agents in an operation that had been going on for four years. Campbell, who was arrested in January 2008, was convicted of three charges – attempting to buy weapons, attempting to smuggle them, and providing support for a terrorist group. The chief prosecutor, Irmantas Mikelionis, said: “The evidence acquired during the investigation proves that the weapons and explosives would have been used for terrorist attacks and [the] killing of innocent people in the UK. “There was also a plan to organise, in Lithuania, the training of Real IRA members on how to use the weaponry.” He said that the investigation was “unusual and complicated”, and added: “They planned to use this weaponry against the UK police or military officers or their vehicles. The information we have proves that the explosives could have been used for bombing in London. If we failed to stop Michael Campbell, we would put in danger the lives of innocent people.” The court was told that alleged members of the Real IRA had asked a businessman with interests in eastern Europe whether he knew anyone who could supply arms. They were unaware that this go-between, who was called Robert Jardine in court, was an MI5 agent who had been recruited in 2002. Jardine introduced alleged members of the Real IRA to contacts in Lithuania who said they could supply the guns and ammunition they were looking for. All the contacts were either undercover British or Lithuanian “role players”, and many of their meetings were recorded. Campbell was sent to Lithuania to negotiate the deal on behalf of the dissidents, the court heard. He was filmed discussing the terms. The judge, Arunas Kisielius, was shown footage in which Campbell asked about whether certain detonators could be used for boobytrap car bombs and said he wanted the weapons to target “Brits”. Prosecutors said Campbell was particularly keen to buy a Barrett sniper rifle with a range of more than a mile. Asked to reveal which organisation he represented, Campbell replied: “IRA.” During the trial, the first anti-terror case brought in Lithuania, 11 Lithuanian and British undercover agents gave evidence via videolink. Gedgaudas Norkunas, prosecuting, said: “All the evidence we have makes us think that this was not entrapment. If these criminal acts had not been discovered in a timely way, weapons would have been acquired from other sources and used for terrorist purposes.” The court was told that Campbell was intending to buy the weapons on behalf of his older brother, Liam, said to be one of the founders of the Real IRA. Liam Campbell was one of four men found liable in a civil trial of being involved in the 1998 Omagh bombing in which 29 people were killed. He is currently in custody in Belfast, battling attempts to have him extradited to Lithuania. In his defence, Michael Campbell, from Dundalk, Co Louth, insisted he was not a member of the Real IRA and said he had been entrapped by British, Irish and Lithuanian intelligence agencies who had initiated the arms deal. He admitted being in Lithuania to buy weapons, but said they were not intended for use by terrorists. He pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted arms smuggling, supporting a terrorist group and illegal possession of weapons. His lawyer, Ingrida Botyriene, said: “He would never be involved in arms deals and would never go to Lithuania for such an affair if he had not been provoked by secret agents.” Campbell could appeal against the conviction. Having served three years in prison, he may be freed in four and a half years. Lithuania Global terrorism Europe Real IRA UK security and terrorism Northern Ireland Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
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• What role did Nato play in Gaddafi’s death? • Confusion still surrounds fate of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi • Nato meets to discuss ending the bombing campaign • Q&A on Gaddafi’s death and what happens next 12.06pm: Anti-government protesters in Syria have been celebrating the death of Gaddafi and warning Bashar al-Assad that he will be next. In the town of Taftanaz in northern Syria protesters waved flags of the Libyan interim government . In this video , also from the northern province of Idlib, a placard is held up an showing cartoon images of Gaddafi and Assad with an equals sign in between. 12.04pm: The Associated Press has more on the delayed burial of Muammar Gaddafi’s body. Libyan officials told the news agency the burial would be delayed until his death could be further examined and a decision had been made about where to inter the body. The NTC had said it would bury the body today, in accordance with Islamic tradition. However, they seem to have changed their minds, perhaps in the face of questions from the UN human rights office and others over exactly how Gaddafi died. Mahmoud Shammam, the NTC’s information minister, said the body was still in Misrata, where it was taken after he was found in his hometown of Sirte. Shammam said revolutionary forces were discussing where it should be buried. Shammam’s account of Gaddafi’s death echoes that of Mahmoud Jibril, the prime minister ( see 8.19am ). It is thought Gaddafi’s convoy was hit by a Nato air strike near Sirte and Gaddafi and others escaped to a drainage pipe. Jibril said Gaddafi was taken out, shot in his right arm “when we started moving him”, and put in a truck, which moved away, at which point he was “caught in crossfire between the revolutionaries and Gaddafi forces” and shot in the head. He died before reaching hospital, Jibril said. Shammam also said the former leader was killed by a bullet to the head and died in an ambulance on the way to a field hospital. He was already injured from battle when he was found in the drainage pipe in Sirte, Shammam said, adding: It seems like the bullet was a stray and it could have come from the revolutionaries or the loyalists. The problem is everyone around the event is giving his own story. If Jibril and Shammam’s version is true, it is unclear at what point Gaddafi, still alive, was manhandled onto the bonnet of a car, and paraded around by a crowd of fighters, apparently in Sirte, before his body was rolled around in the street, and then paraded on a car through Misrata, as mobile phone video footage shows. 11.45am: We reported earlier that Abdullah Senussi, Gaddafi’s intelligence chief, had been captured. Reports differ, with some sources telling Sky News Senussi has escaped to Niger. 11.34am: Al-Jazeera’s James Bays reports that the NTC says it will announce “national liberation” on Saturday . He says the announcement will be made from Benghazi, the base for the NTC throughout the civil war. The council had said that they would declare the liberation of Libya after Sirte fell . 11.34am: Activists say protesters pouring into Syria’s streets are cheering the death of Gaddafi. This morning security forces at a checkpoint shot dead two people in the central city of Homs, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The death of Gaddafi appears to have reinvigorated Syria’s protesters, who say President Bashar Assad’s regime will be the next to unravel. Protesters carried signs that read: “We congratulate Libyan rebels for the victory.” Dozens also were seen marching in the Damascus suburb of Douma, chanting slogans calling on Assad to resign. The Local Co-ordination Committees, which monitor protests in Syria, said a “massive demonstration” in Daraa today was “congratulating Libyans” and calling for the toppling of the Assad regime. 11.22am: A Nato official has told the Associated Press that commanders were not aware that Muammar Gaddafi was in the convoy that was struck yesterday by missiles fired from a French warplane, after which Gaddafi was captured and then killed. “The convoy was a clear military target,” said the official. “We later learned that Gaddafi was in the convoy. Therefore the strike likely contributed to his capture.” 11.19am: Saif update from Reuters: Flash: Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam fleeing south towards Libya’s border with Niger – NTC 11.17am: Sky News is reporting that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is heading south towards Niger. 11.16am: Reuters has more on the Nato meeting today expected to phase out the alliance’s mission in Libya now Gaddafi is dead and his last stronghold Sirte has fallen. Nato officials and diplomats told the news agency that a decision to gradually wind down the mission was expected to be taken at a meeting of ambassadors of the 28 Nato nations in Brussels starting at 3.30pm BST. The decision would be based on recommendations from Nato military commanders. One Nato diplomat told Reuters: It’s likely they will decide to end the operation, but they will probably decide to do that over the next two weeks or so. But a Nato official said some air operations would continue for the time being. “Certainly surveillance will continue as we need to continue to monitor the situation.” Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said today: “Clearly the operation is coming to its end.” William Hague, the British foreign secretary, said yesterday Gaddafi’s death brought the end of the operation “much closer”, but added: “I think we will want to be sure there are not other pockets of pro-Gaddafi forces still able to threaten the civilian population.” Philip Hammond, the British defence secretary, said today the mission seemed to have come to an end but no one could say their might not be a few pockets of resistance here and there. “If the cause of the threat to the civilian population in the form of Gaddafi is out of the picture, or if his forces no longer control any part of Libyan territory, that would normally mean that operations should stop,” said Francois Heisbourg, chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies thinktank. “It certainly would be very difficult to sustain them vis-a-vis the UN security council resolution … in this case it would become impossible to justify.” 11.06am: Gaddafi’s death does not seem to have done much to unify the various political factions in Libya. Middle East commentator Sultan al-Qassemi has been tweeting details of an interview given by Sabri Malek of the Libyan Democratic Party to BBC News on Friday morning, in which Malek had strong words for Mahmoud Jibril, the interim president. Here are some of the quotes: The NTC is set up by Mahmoud Jibril, ally of Gaddafi for ten years, he’s not a democrat The Libyans don’t trust him. He was imposed on us by the west. Mahmoud Jibril should resign today but he doesn’t want to resign. The last sentence is a reference to his assertions that he would step down. Tensions had already been brewing for a while. The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Julian Borger, has written about the potential for splits between the victorious factions that brought about Gaddafi’s downfall . Abdel Hakim Balhaj, the leader of the Tripoli Military Council, has previously warned that Islamists should not be excluded from political process in the new Libya. And Jibril had already been the subject of some unrest . 11.03am: Middle East expert Juan Cole, who was opposed to the Iraq war but backed Nato’s Libya campaign, is optimistic about the post-Gaddafi era despite the inevitable factionalism and power struggles. In a post on his blog he writes: Those who expect Libya now to fragment, or to turn into a North African Baghdad, are likely to be disappointed. It is improbable that Gaddafi’s cult will long survive him, at least on any significant scale. Libya has no sectarian divides of the Sunni-Shiite sort. Almost everyone is a Sunni Muslim. It does have an ethnic divide, as between Arabs and Berbers. But the Berbers are bilingual in Arabic, and are in no doubt as to their Libyan identity. The Berbers vigorously joined in the revolution and more or less saved it, and are very likely to be richly rewarded by the new state. The east-west divide only became dire because Gaddafi increasingly showed favouritism toward the west. A more or less democratic government that spreads around the oil largesse more equitably could easily overcome this divide, which is contingent and not structural. Libyan identity is not in doubt … Oil states most often generate enough employment not only for their own populations but for a large expatriate work force as well. Just as the pessimists were surprised to find that post-Gaddafi Tripoli was relatively calm and quickly overcame initial problems of food, water and services, so they are likely to discover that the country as a whole muddles through. 10.46am: The BBC’s Caroline Hawley, in Tripoli, reports that the Libyan fighters who captured Gaddafi (and possible killed him depending on which version of events you believe) are refusing to hand over his body to the NTC. The NTC have come under pressure to hold a full autopsy , amid the controversy surrounding the circumstances of his death. 10.25am: As Nato meets to consider the future of the Libya campaign , France said it considers the mission completed. AFP quoted foreign minister Alain Juppe as saying: I think we can say that the military operation is finished, that the whole of Libyan territory is under the control of the National Transitional Council and that, subject to a few transitory measures in the week to come, the Nato operation has arrived at its end. The operation must now conclude because our objective, which was to accompany the forces of the National Transitional Council in the liberation of their territory, has now been reached. 10.16am: The UN’s human rights office is now also calling for an investigation into Gaddafi’s death, AP reports. A spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights says shaky amateur videos showing a captured Gaddafi first alive, then dead, were “very disturbing”. Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva on Friday that an existing UN panel investigating human rights abuses in Libya would likely examine the death. He says it might recommend a national or international probe. Colville says the victims of Gaddafi’s despotic 42-year-rule deserve to see proper judicial procedures followed and perpetrators of abuses brought to trial. Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have also called for an investigation. Meanwhile, a doctor who examined Gaddafi’s body said he was killed by a bullet in his intestines, Reuters reports. “Gaddafi was arrested while he was alive but he was killed later. There was a bullet and that was the primary reason for his death; it penetrated his gut,” doctor Ibrahim Tika told Al-Arabiya television. “Then there was another bullet in the head that went in and out of his head.” Tika, who also examined Gaddafi’s son Mutassim after he was killed on Thursday, said his findings indicated he had died after his father. “[As for] Mutassim, there was an injury, a big opening in the area above his chest and directly under his neck. There were three injuries from the rear in his back and at the back of his leg and there was a shrapnel but it was a few days old in his leg,” Tika said. 10.09am: Where is Saif al-Islam? Reports surrounding the fate of Gaddafi’s most recognisable son, wooed by some in the west for his perceived reformist credentials prior to the war, remain confused. He earned notoriety during the civil war for a number of vituperative messages aimed at his father’s opponents . Here is a summary of the various reports concerning his fate. He was attempting to flee Sirte and was being encircled by government fighters , National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters on Thursday. Another NTC official, Abdelmajid Saif al-Nasr, told al-Jazeera on Thursday that Saif was last known to have been in the area of Bani Walid and was believed to be “in the desert” around the town. Saif was wounded as he tried to flee Sirte and was detained by NTC fighters, an al-Arabiya correspondent reported. But earlier al-Arabiya reported that he had been killed on the same day as his father. He was left seriously injured by an RAF Tornado bombing strike on Sirte , the Daily Mail suggested. At one point on Thursday, Channel 4 News’s Jonathan Rugman tweeted that Saif was killed in a Nato airstrike near Bani Walid “a few days ago” , citing a Whitehall source. But the tweet was later taken down. 9.50am: There’s been an interesting reaction among leading figures in Zimbabwe and South Africa, where Gaddafi enjoyed some support, David Smith in Johannesburg points out. He forwarded this statement from the Congress of South African Trade Unions condemning what it sees as “imperialist triumphalism”. The Congress of South African Trade Unions condemns the way in which the world’s media is displaying gruesome images of the dead body of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. This triumphalism is an example of imperialist barbarism at its worst. And, the GlobalPost quotes retired major Cairo Mhandu, an MP for Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, as saying: This is a sad day for the people of Africa. This is the beginning of a new recolonisation of Africa. Through the forces of Nato and the west, we have lost one of our brothers. Muammar Gaddafi won elections and was a true leader. It is foreigners who toppled him, not Libyans. Gaddafi died fighting. He is a true African hero. 9.39am: Libya’s new government may be heeding that call for a full autopsy . Reuters tweets: FLASH: Burial of slain Libyan leader Gaddafi has been delayed “for a few days” – NTC official Earlier officials indicated that Gaddafi would be buried today in line with Islamic tradition . 9.29am: Like the Guardian, many of the world’s newspapers carried graphic images of Gaddafi’s dead body on their front pages today, as our new gallery shows. Roy Greenslade reviews how the British papers covered the story . It is one of those days when a single story dominates the news agenda – the death of Libya’s ruler, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. And it is therefore fascinating to see how the national newspapers’ front pages – the choice of picture, headline and overall presentation – reflect their own agendas. Most editors chose big images of a badly injured and bloodied Gaddafi moments before his death, though the Daily Express and Daily Star – counter-intuitive as usual – used only small pictures. The Independent (and its sister, i) tried that most difficult of tricks by running four video grabs to illustrate the drama of Gaddafi being dragged from a truck. Headline: “End of a tyrant.” The Daily Telegraph and The Sun selected the same picture of Gaddafi on top of the truck. But the headlines were very different. The former chose “No mercy for a merciless tyrant” while the latter preferred the more personalised and vengeful “That’s for Lockerbie.” 9.20am: Libyan authorities are planning a secret burial of Gaddafi within the next few hours , according to the BBC. Amnesty International has called for an investigation into Gaddafi’s death amid widespread disbelief at the National Transitional Council’s claim that Gaddafi was caught in crossfire . Human Rights Watch has also called for an investigation . It said: The [National Transitional] Council should also investigate the circumstances leading to the death of Gaddafi, including whether he was killed while in detention, which would constitute a serious violation of the laws of war. Human Rights Watch called on the NTC to set up an internationally supervised autopsy to establish Gaddafi’s cause of death. 9.06am: New footage of Gaddafi’s son Mutassim appears to show that he too was very much alive after being captured. The clip shows his vest stained with blood as he touches a wound on his neck. A later video [warning: graphic content] showed Mutassim’s dead body on a stretcher. 9.01am: Warning: graphic content. New footage from the Global Post shows a bloodied Gaddafi clearly alive after his capture. Those around him can be heard shouting, “Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him! We need him alive!” throughout the footage, it says. 8.19am: Welcome to Middle East Live on the first day of the post-Gaddafi era in Libya. To take stock of what has happened, we start with a Q&A on the killing of Gaddafi, what it means for Libya, and what happens next? How did Muammar Gaddafi die? Gaddafi was trying to flee Sirte in a convoy of cars when it came under attack from French Nato jets . The convoy was then caught in a gun battle with fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council. Wounded in the shoot-out, Gaddafi was reported to have crawled into a drain. He was then attacked by fighters loyal to the new government, one of whom beat him with a shoe. Video emerged [warning: graphic content] which appeared to show him alive. Later photographs [warning: graphic content ] appeared to show his corpse with a bullet wound to his temple. Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who accompanied Gaddafi’s body in an ambulance as it was taken from Sirte, said he died from two shots, to the head and chest. Libya’s interim prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said Gaddafi died from a bullet wound to the head received in crossfire between government fighters and his own supporters after he had been captured in Sirte. Gaddafi had been alive when he was taken from Sirte but died a few minutes before reaching hospital, he claimed. Where is Gaddafi’s body? The body was taken to Misrata. DNA samples have been taken. Who else was killed? One of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, died of multiple bullet wounds. Jibril said Mutassim was wounded in the head, and had five bullets in the back and one in the neck. Abu Bakr Yunis, Gaddafi former Libyan defence minister, was killed in the attack on the convoy. Who is still at large? Confusion surrounds the fate of Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam. Some reports say he has been killed, some say he has been injured, others say he is still on the run. Who has been captured? Mansour Dhou, Gaddafi’s military commander, who led the defence of Sirte, is recovering in hospital in that city after being shot in the stomach. Other senior figures reported captured include: Moussa Ibrahim, Gaddafi’s spokesman; Ahmed Ibrahim his cousin and education minister; and Abdullah Senussi, Gaddafi’s intelligence chief. How will Gaddafi be remembered? The Guardian’s obituary of Gaddafi says: Once the hurricane of the Arab democratic revolution began to blow, nothing seemed more obvious – or fitting – than that he, cruellest, most capricious and ruinous of Arab dictators, should be among the first three to be swept away. What has been the reaction to his death? Mahmoud Jibril, Libya’s acting prime minister : “We confirm that all the evils plus Gaddafi have vanished from this beloved country. I think it’s for the Libyans to realise that it’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya, one people, one future.” Barack Obama : “The dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted”. Hillary Clinton ‘s initial reaction caught on video: “Wow.” David Cameron : “People in Libya today have an even greater chance, after this news, of building themselves a strong and democratic future.” Ban Ki-moon , UN secretary general: “Clearly this day marks a historic transition for Libya. Yet let us recognise immediately that this is only the end of the beginning. The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges.” What happens now? The death of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte opens the way for national elections scheduled to take place eight months after “full liberation” had been achieved. Nato is meeting today to discuss ending its campaign over Libya. Gaddafi’s death leaves Libya at a crossroads , writes the Guardian’s foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall: The post-Gaddafi road ahead for Libya is fraught by any estimate. Tens of thousands may have died in the war; the numbers could take years to verify. Many more again have been wounded, both fighters and civilians caught up in the violence. Already these maimed survivors are attacking the NTC for its failure to bring them speedy relief. A power struggle now threatens to destabilise Libya , writes our diplomatic editor, Julian Borger: The bigger threat now is likely to be the prospect of splits among the victorious factions – the NTC leaders who first raised the banner of revolt in Benghazi at the start of the year, the Misrata militia who did much of the fighting, lost the most people and see themselves as the deserving “Spartans” of the new Libya, and the fighters from the Nafusa mountains in the west, who tipped the balance against Gaddafi in August. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Nato US foreign policy Middle East Tunisia Arab and Middle East unrest Matthew Weaver Paul Owen Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk
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Suspected ‘mother ship’ believed to have been involved in the hijacking of an Italian cargo ship earlier this month A “pirate mother ship” believed to have been used as a base for attacks on merchant vessels off Somalia has been captured by the Royal Navy. An assault was launched on the wooden dhow vessel after Royal Navy ships tracked it down in the Indian Ocean, the Ministry of Defence said. The boat, which had been hijacked along with its 20-man Pakistani crew, is suspected to have been used as a base for attacks. The MoD said that four men allegedly involved in hijacking an Italian cargo ship, the Monte Cristo, on 11 October, surrendered and a cache of weapons and stolen equipment was recovered. Royal Marines and Navy personnel from HMS Somerset and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort Victoria were involved in the operation, the MoD said. The four suspects surrendered and were later handed to Italian authorities on suspicion of involvement in the attack on the Monte Cristo, which was rescued by British, US and Italian forces. Captain Rod Yapp, who commanded the boarding party, said there were indications that more hijackings were being planned. “I think that if we hadn’t disrupted this group of suspected pirates, it is quite possible that they would have attacked another merchant vessel.” Somali pirates have been involved in numerous attacks on shipping off the Horn of Africa over the past decade, often demanding multimillion pound ransoms to free vessels and their crews. Piracy at sea Somalia Africa Barry Neild guardian.co.uk
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Work and pensions secretary says the problem must be tackled when children in problem families have not even been born Britain’s gang, gun and crime culture has to be tackled at the point when children in problem families are still in their mothers’ wombs, Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said on Thursday as he trailed what is likely to be a landmark report on youth violence drawn up after the summer riots. The report, being prepared by Duncan Smith and the home secretary, Theresa May, will combine proposals for better parenting with tough measures to deglamorise gang membership, including increased sentences for specific offences if the perpetrator is a known gang member. Duncan Smith was speaking at briefing given by Karyn McCluskey, joint head of the violence reduction unit of Scotland, set up within Strathclyde police, and Andrew Ward, head of the Merseyside Matrix unit, responsible for fighting gun and gang crime. Both forces have cut gang crime over the past four years by an approach that brings in health visitors, social services, schools and tough law enforcement. On Merseyside the approach has been so tough that car bombs have been put outside police stations in retaliation. The work of the two forces in fighting gangs would form the kernel of the report, Duncan Smith said. Duncan Smith said solutions lay in earlier intervention with identifiable problem families, more male role models in schools, a requirement by politicians to own up that they have a gang problem, and enforcement disrupting the lives of gang leaders. He is also pressing for the Department of Health to co-operate more with other agencies, since health visitors are often among the few state agents who can get through the doors of some of the most troubled families. Duncan Smith said: “I am talking about intervening when the child is conceived, not even when born. The kids we are talking about – half of them are unable to speak, cannot form sentences, they have no sense of empathy, they cannot share toys at school, they watch their mums get beaten up regularly and sexually abused. “It is about knowing which child is at risk and then matching the child to the programmes available that we know work. “The gangs are the epicentre of the problems we face. They are the result of all this social breakdown, and they are also the drivers of it. “Kids will not cross postcode areas for work because they think they might get stabbed. You will get kids carrying knives to school who are not members of gangs, so they see a knife as a safety measure. You get massive levels of violence against women. This is the untold story of gangs – the attacks on women that treat women just as tools for men to use.” Duncan Smith said the solution did not lie in extra state spending but in much better co-operation between agencies. “There is a lot of money being spent on families and estates but it is dysfunctional money that goes to solve only short-term problems.” Calling for tougher sentences for gang membership, Ward said: “We have had a look at the US, where you can double the sentence by proving someone is part of a gang. “I think that is incredibly powerful because the people will not want to wear gang membership as a badge of honour. If we were to say that in interview you said were a member of the Crocky Crew and you have just added another five years to your gun crime offence, that would have a big impact, I tell you.” McCluskey said: “We have to have this uncomfortable conversation and say this is going to take a long time and not change policy and strategy every year, but have some bravery and set course for a long time. This is going to take 10 to 15 years. Government has got a role in saying parenting is the most important job you can do, and some mothers just don’t have skills.” She also called for “swift, visible justice that makes people own up to their behaviour. We show them the intelligence, we visit them at their house, tell them what we know about them. We get the chief in and he says to them: ‘The violence stops as of tonight. It’s over. In the next month when we catch one of you, we are going to take out your whole group, and we are going to make your life really difficult. I have got 9,000 cops and I am so powerful I can have them all outside your front door if you so wish.’” Gangs Communities Young people Iain Duncan Smith Theresa May Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Prosecutors claim Michael Campbell, caught in sting operation, was planning to buy firearms and explosives A judge in Lithuania will deliver a verdict on Friday in the case of an alleged member of the Real IRA who has been accused of trying to buy firearms, ammunition and explosives from Lithuania. Prosecutors said 39-year-old Michael Campbell was caught in a sting operation involving MI5, the Garda and the Lithuanian authorities. He has been charged with trying to buy weapons including a high-velocity sniper rifle, rocket-propelled grenades, detonators, timers and explosives. The judge, Arunas Kisielius, was told that Campbell was arrested when Lithuanian officers posing as arms suppliers met him in Vilnius in January 2008. The court heard that the operation had been set up with the help of an MI5 agent known as Robert Michael Jardine, who took Campbell to Lithuania as part of the undercover plot. “If these criminal acts had not been discovered in a timely way, weapons would have been acquired from other sources and used for terrorist purposes,” Gedgaudas Norkunas, prosecuting, said. Kisielius heard that Campbell paid €10,000 (£8,700) for the haul of weapons, which included 10kg of high explosive. Campbell has denied all the charges, including that he was attempting to provide support to a terrorist group. He admitted to the court that he was interested in buying arms, but denied they were for the Real IRA. His lawyers said British and Lithuanian intelligence agencies were guilty of entrapment. They claimed Jardine initiated the arms deal, and that Campbell was not involved in terrorism. Giving evidence, Campbell, of Co Louth, told the court: “During my entire stay in Lithuania, when I was recorded 24 hours a day, the prosecutor did not even get one recording where I was talking with anybody about terrorist acts.” He said he had been joking when a recorded conversation seemed to show he was planning to use the weapons in London. “To make a big story about a joke is really unfair,” he told the court. “I am not a member of the Real IRA.” Real IRA Lithuania Europe Northern Ireland Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
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October 21, 2011 No Comment
Social network will be audited by Irish data protection commissioner after Austrian law student registers 22 complaints Facebook could face a fine of up to €100,000 (£87,000) after an Austrian law student discovered the social networking site held 1,200 pages of personal data about him, much of which he had deleted. Max Schrems, 24, decided to ask Facebook for a copy of his data in June after attending a lecture by a Facebook executive while on an exchange programme at Santa Clara University in California. Schrems was shocked when he eventually received a CD from California containing messages and information he says he had deleted from his profile in the three years since he joined the site. After receiving the data, Schrems decided to log a list of 22 separate complaints with the Irish data protection commissioner, which next week is to carry out its first audit of Facebook. He wrote to Ireland after discovering that European users are administered by the Irish Facebook subsidiary. A spokeswoman for the commissioner confirmed its officers would be investigating alleged breaches raised by Schrems as part of the audit. If the commissioner decides to prosecute and Facebook or any employees are found guilty of data protection breaches, the maximum penalty is a fine of €100,000. Among the 1,2000 pages of data Schrems was sent were rejected friend requests, incidences where he “defriended” someone, as well as a log of all Facebook chats he had ever had. There was also a list of photos he had detagged of himself, the names of everyone he had ever “poked”, which events he had attended, which he hadn’t replied to, and much more besides. The information was broken down into 57 categories, including likes, log-ons (a list of when he logged on and which IP address he used) and emails, which included some email addresses Schrems had never personally uploaded to the site but which he assumes were discerned from another user’s profile. “I discovered Facebook had kept highly personal messages I had written and then deleted, which, were they to become public, could be highly damaging to my reputation,” said Schrems in an interview between law lectures on Thursday. “I’m not saying there was anything criminal or forbidden there, but let’s just say that, as someone wanting to work in law, there was stuff which could make it pretty impossible for me to get a job.” By holding on to data its users assumed was deleted, Facebook was acting like “the KGB or the CIA”, said Schrems. “Information is power, and information about people is power over people. It’s frightening that all this data is being held by Facebook. “Of course, they are not misusing it at the moment, but the biggest concern is what happens when there is a privacy breach, either from hackers or from someone inside the firm?” A spokesman for Facebook said in a statement: “Facebook provided Mr Schrems with all of the information required in response to his request. “It included requests for information on a range of other things that are not personal information, including Facebook’s proprietary fraud protection measures, and ‘any other analytical procedure that Facebook runs’. “This is clearly not personal data, and Irish data protection law rightly places some valuable and reasonable limits on the data that has to be provided.” Facebook says any user can download their “personal archive”. But Schrems, on the campaigning website he has set up to encourage others to follow his lead, claims that: “This tool only offers access to a fraction of the data Facebook holds. “It even falls short of providing the amount of data we already received from Facebook.” Facebook Data protection Privacy Austria Social networking Internet Europe Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
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Leaked documents claim Sir Bob Geldof, Kofi Annan and Lord Patten have shown interest in EuropaBio outreach programme • Read the executive summary of the programme • Read the draft emails to potential ambassadors Europe’s largest and most influential biotech industry group, whose members include Monsanto , Bayer and other GM companies, is recruiting high-profile “ambassadors” to lobby European leaders on GM policy. Leaked documents from a PR company working for Brussels-based EuropaBio claim to have “had interest” from Sir Bob Geldof ; the chancellor of Oxford University and BBC Trust chairman, Lord Patten ; former Irish EU commissioner and attorney general David Byrne , and “potentially” the involvement of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and pro-GM science writer Mark Lynas . The 10 or more ambassadors will not be paid directly, but the lobbyists have offered to write, research and place articles in their names, arrange interviews and speaking engagements with the Financial Times and other international media, and secure for them what could be lucrative speaking slots at major conferences. In addition, EuropaBio says it will introduce them to the highest-level European bureaucrats and MEPs in order for them to make the case for GM within EU institutions. Several people named in the documents denied all knowledge of EuropaBio. A spokesman for Annan said: “Mr Annan is not an ambassador for EuropaBio and has no intention of promoting the use of GMOs.” Geldof told the Guardian: “I have no recollection of having any knowledge of EuropaBio and have no recollection of ever being asked to be an ambassador. GM, subject to all the known and usual caveats, does have a place for instance in the fight against starvation. The trick is to ensure that this technological advance is not simply a business opportunity but a human one to the benefit of the world’s rapidly increasing population.” A spokeswoman at Oxford University said: “Lord Patten was approached about the EuropaBio outreach programme. He made it absolutely clear that given his position as chairman of the BBC Trust, he could have nothing to do with it. It would have been wholly inappropriate.” “I have never had any contact of any sort with EuropaBio, nor any ‘Christopher Flores’, who seems to have written this letter. I have not been asked to be an ambassador, nor would I accept such a request if asked,” said Mark Lynas . Flores told the Guardian: “These confidential documents should not have landed on your desk. We are exploring different options with different people. We identified people we thought could help us reach out to a broad international audience.” The six-month campaign, which will culminate in a dinner and meetings with the EU in May, will start next month when 10 ambassadors are expected to sign a letter to be placed in the Financial Times. A draft of the letter reads: “We need to shake off the complacency and embrace best farming and food production processes. We must seize the potential of all available technologies to enable us to do so, and no technology should be rejected on the basis of an initial emotional reaction or misinformation – including agricultural biotechnology. We want to produce more food in Europe, look after the environment and help our neighbours in other parts of the world, [so] isn’t it time to think again about GM?” In a briefing document sent to potential ambassadors, Christopher Flores, a senior consultant working with Aspect Consulting in Brussels, says EuropaBio wants to distance itself from the ambassadors in order to give the industry arguments more credibility. “The most important factor in terms of ensuring the legitimacy and impact of this programme is the quality of the ambassadors and the breadth of positions represented and numbers involved. Provided that a sufficiently strong pool of ambassadors is established – we are very confident that this will be the case – then it will be very difficult for anybody to make the claim that these ambassadors are somehow ‘in the pocket’ of the agricultural science companies.” The document also seeks to persuade ambassadors that their position is widely shared. “Industry, the scientific community and NGOs are already playing an important role in making the case for GM. For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been supporting and advocating the use of GM crops and recently outlined six reasons for them doing so. However, more needs to be done from an advocacy and communications perspective if significant and timely progress is to be made in relation to GM crops.” The lobbyists appear to want to split the green movement in Europe which has been traditionally been sceptical of the claims of the biotech companies. “A number of senior environmental NGO activists are very critical of the dogmatic and extreme position taken by much of the environmental NGO world in relation to GM. We will bring a panel of pro-GM environmental NGO activists to Brussels for a stakeholder event focused on GM sustainability,” it says. Green MP Caroline Lucas said: “This brazen attempt by EuropaBio to recruit covert ‘ambassadors’ to ‘change the debate’ on GM is yet further proof that the powerful GM lobby will stop at nothing to push its hugely unpopular and unnecessary products onto European citizens. We need far stronger regulation on corporate lobbyists across the EU to prevent this kind of insidious behind-the-scenes manoeuvring from seriously undermining our democratic system.” David Byrne could not be reached. GM Food Farming European Union Europe Lobbying John Vidal guardian.co.uk
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Scotland Yard contacts IPCC over claims that officer took part in criminal trial under false name Scotland Yard will call in the police watchdog over allegations that an undercover officer took part in a criminal trial under a false name. Jim Boyling, a specialist operations detective constable with the Metropolitan police, is accused of maintaining an alias throughout court proceedings after being arrested following a demonstration in 1996. Scotland Yard contacted the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on Thursday with a view to making a formal referral to them on Friday, a Metropolitan police spokesman said. The spokesman said the decision to contact the IPCC “follows consideration of allegations relating to historic covert police deployments”. The allegations forced the postponement of the publication of a review of the future of undercover policing. The review was scheduled for Thursday and was compiled by the new Scotland Yard commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, before he took the force’s top job last month. The defence solicitor Mike Schwarz, of the law firm Bindmans, said he had discovered that he represented Boyling, under the name Jim Sutton, along with other protesters. The undercover officer went on trial for public order offences with other activists from the pro-cycling campaign group Reclaim the Streets following a demonstration at the headquarters of London Underground in 1996. The lawyer said the revelation raised concerns about the “confidentiality” of discussions between the officer’s co-defendants and their legal representatives. He told the Guardian: “This case raises the most fundamental constitutional issues about the limits of acceptable policing, the sanctity of lawyer-client confidentiality, and the integrity of the criminal justice system. “At first sight, it seems that the police have wildly overstepped all recognised boundaries.” John Jordan, an activist who was convicted of assaulting a police officer and given a conditional discharge after being arrested with “Jim Sutton”, is appealing against the verdict following the allegations. He told the BBC’s Newsnight: “It was totally outrageous what happened. I’m a lecturer, I have a job where I’m working with students, and to have assault of a police officer on your record was pretty difficult.” On Thursday, Scotland Yard admitted the allegations were “serious matters” but added: “We are confident that the current legislative and regulatory framework governing the deployment of undercover officers ensures that all such deployments conducted now are lawful and appropriately managed.” In January, Boyling was placed on restricted duties and an investigation was launched by the Directorate of Professional Standards following allegations that he married an activist he was supposed to be spying on. Police said the inquiry was ongoing. The latest allegations led to the delay of the findings of a review into what went wrong after the case against six protesters accused of planning to invade the second largest power station in the UK collapsed in January. They claimed an undercover officer offered to give evidence on their behalf. Mark Kennedy, who spent seven years posing as Mark “Flash” Stone, a long-haired drop-out climber, also had sexual relationships with at least two women during the operation. He has since said he fears for his life, describing the world of undercover policing as “grey and murky” and adding: “There is some bad stuff going on. Really bad stuff.” The review, launched by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in January, was reportedly set to rule out tough judicial oversight of the deployment of undercover officers – a measure wanted by some police chiefs. It was also expected to find that a failure of supervision contributed to the problems and that police chiefs should ensure undercover officers are not left on covert assignments for too long in future. Questions were raised about the proportionality of covert tactics and of such a lengthy and costly operation targeting green campaigners planning to invade Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station near Nottingham. The policing minister, Nick Herbert, told MPs in January it was clear something had “gone very wrong” with Kennedy’s operation. Police Independent Police Complaints Commission Metropolitan police London Protest Activism guardian.co.uk
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Varying accounts claim former Libyan leader was caught in crossfire, died from earlier wounds or was shot in head at close range Muammar Gaddafi is set to be buried at an undisclosed location on Friday as Nato meets to discuss the end of the military campaign that hastened the end of his 42-year rule over Libya. Authorities from the National Transitional Council (NTC), the interim authority which led the revolt against Gaddafi and ultimately supplanted him, reportedly remain uncertain about where and when the funeral should take place. Gaddafi’s death on Thursday – which, according to conflicting reports, ultimately came when he was caught in crossfire , bled to death from earlier wounds or was executed at close range – is likely to bring an imminent end to the Nato aim campaign, which decisively turned the military campaign in the NTC’s favour. The French foreign minister, Alain Juppe – whose country’s planes, operating under the Nato remit, are believed to have attacked Gaddafi’s convoy as it fled his besieged home town of Sirte – said on Friday that the operation was over. “I think we can say that the military operation is finished, that the whole of Libyan territory is under the control of the National Transitional Council and that, subject to a few transitory measures in the week to come, the Nato operation has arrived at its end,” he told Europe 1 radio. Nato chiefs are due to gather in Brussels to discuss arrangements for the end of the campaign. The organisation’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. has said only that it will be halted “in co-ordination with the United Nations and the National Transitional Council”. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, has said this should only happen once the alliance is certain that no significant pockets of Gaddafi support remain. While Gaddafi’s death has brought global reactions ranging from jubilation to quiet relief, little is certain about how the 69-year-old met his end other than that he was alive when first held by NTC forces near Sirte. Shakily filmed mobile phone video footage shows a dazed, bloodied but conscious Gaddafi being dragged off the bonnet of a vehicle as someone shouts: “Keep him alive!” Other footage, also broadcast around the world, shows his lifeless body, drenched in more blood, being paraded through the nearby city of Misrata. What happened between is the subject of several contradictory versions. A reasonably coherent and consistent account has emerged of what led Gaddafi to the moment of capture. It seems that early on Thursday morning, as it became clear that forces protecting the former leader could not hold out much longer, a convoy of vehicles carrying him, his army chief, Abu Bakr Younis Jabr, and a few dozen bodyguards, drove out of the blockade and headed west. Soon after leaving Sirte, the convoy was devastated by a Nato raid carried out by French fighter jets. Reporters who witnessed the aftermath of the attack saw more than a dozen burned-out armed pickup trucks, with up to 50 bodies lying in or near the vehicles. It seems Gaddafi was caught up in this strike, but survived. One of his personal bodyguards, Mansour Daou, told al-Arabiya television that the survivors “split into groups and each group went its own way” after the attack. He added: “I was with Gaddafi and Abu Bakr Younis Jabr and about four volunteer soldiers.” Daou said he did not know what eventually happened to Gaddafi, as he had been wounded and knocked unconscious by a shell blast. It seems Gaddafi and his dwindling band of protecters ran through trees and sheltered inside a pair of rubbish-filled drainage pipes, where they were attacked by NTC forces. “At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use,” one NTC fighter, Salem Bakeer, told Reuters. “Then we went in on foot. “One of Gaddafi’s men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting “surrender”, but as soon as he saw my face, he started shooting at me. Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. ‘My master is here, my master is here,’ he said. ‘Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded.’ “We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying: ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’ Then we took him and put him in the car.” By this time, the deposed dictator had gunshot wounds to his leg and back, Bakeer added. The confusion comes next. According to an official version of events by the interim prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril , the vehicle transporting Gaddafi to hospital was “caught in crossfire” as NTC and pro-Gaddafi forces fought further. A post-mortem report showed that the fatal shot had hit Gaddafi in the head, Jibril said, adding that it was not clear which side had fired the bullet. However, Fathi Bashagha, a spokesman for the Misrata Military Council, which commanded the fighters who captured him, said Gaddafi died from his wounds as an ambulance took him the 120 miles (193km) to Misrata. Another NTC official, Abdel Majid Mlegta, said: “He was bleeding from his stomach. It took a long time to transport him. He bled to death.” A further NTC official, who asked not to be named, told the agency: “They (NTC fighters) beat him very harshly, and then they killed him. This is a war.” In yet another possibility, the New York Times said later photographs of Gaddafi dead showed what forensic experts said appeared to be wounds to the head caused by bullets fired at close range, indicating that he might have been executed in this way. Amnesty International has urged the NTC to carry out “a full, independent and impartial inquiry to establish the circumstances of Colonel Gaddafi’s death”. As yet, there has been no similar pressure from world leaders. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, speaking in Islamabad, said Gaddafi’s death “has brought to a close a very unfortunate chapter in Libya’s history”. She continued: “It also marks the start of a new era for the Libyan people, and it is our hope that what I saw in Tripoli on Tuesday first hand, the eagerness of Libyans to building a new democracy, can begin in earnest.” Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Libya Middle East Africa Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Overall crime levels are flat or starting to nudge upwards, British Crime Survey and police figures appear to show The 16-year fall in overall crime in England and Wales seems to have been halted by the impact of cuts and rising unemployment, with an apparent 10% rise in household burglary. Overall crime levels appear to have remained flat or started to nudge up, with the latest British Crime Survey (BCS) showing a 2% rise and police recorded crime figures a 4% fall over the 12 months to this June. The quarterly crime figures, which cover the 12 months to the second quarter between April and June, do not include the summer riots. But they show a 13% rise in “other household theft”, which covers thefts from gardens and sheds, the apparent 10% rise in burglary, according to the BCS, and rises in robbery (3%) and the most serious sexual offences (2%) on police figures. The police figures, however, show continuing falls in most other categories of crime, including a 12% drop in criminal damage, 8% falls in violence against the person and car crime, and a 3% fall in domestic burglary. All categories of BCS crime rose except for vandalism, which dropped by 9%. Home Office statisticians were cautious about the figures, saying that, taken together, the two measures – BCS and police figures – show crime to have been stable in the 12 months to June with no statistically significant change in the crime rate. The Home Office said the apparently alarming 10% rise in burglary on the BCS was not statistically significant and came alongside a 3% fall in police recorded burglaries. “The latest figures suggest it is still too early to be confident there has been a real change in the medium-term trend for BCS burglary, which has been relatively stable since 2004-05,” the crime figures bulletin says. However, the statisticians said there was evidence of an increase in lower-level offences such as pickpocketing, shoplifting and theft of unattended property. Police recorded “other theft” rose by 5% and BCS “other household thefts” are up 13%. The 2% rise in serious sexual offences follows increases in reporting and recording such crime since 2009, but this rate of increase seems to be slowing. Provisional statistics show that gun crime fell by 16% on the police figures. Public confidence in the ability of the police and local councils to deal with antisocial behaviour in their area rose from 52% to 54%. Paul McKeever, the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “The latest crimes statistics show that burglary and robbery continue to rise and, unfortunately, this comes as no surprise to us. “Of particular concern is the rise in knife-related crime by some 7%. The statistics collated across England and Wales support a trend we were already seeing in London. “We have warned again and again that property crime and robbery will rise during times of economic hardship, and today’s figures paint a bleak picture. “The government simply must heed the warnings and reconsider the planned 20% cuts to policing. We can only protect the public if we have enough police officers on our streets. Therefore the prospect of losing 34,000 officers and police staff by 2015 cannot be ignored.” Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “These figures are a worrying sign that crime is now increasing after years of coming down. It shows this is a terrible time to cut 16,000 police officers. “Figures for the last nine months show police recorded crime going up with wider increases, too. “And it is extremely concerning that robbery offences involving a knife or sharp instrument are up 7%, yet there is not a squeak from the Home Office about rethinking the huge cuts to police forces across the country. “Crime fell by over 40% while Labour was in government, – but people want it to fall further, not go back up again.” She said people were “seeing evidence of crime rising under this Tory-led government”, adding: “They need to take urgent action to cut crime instead of just cutting police.” But the crime and justice minister, Nick Herbert, said: “Today’s crime figures show a mixed picture, with differences across offences and police force areas. “The police do a fantastic and difficult job, and we want to support them. We know the police want to be out in their local communities stopping crime, catching criminals and helping victims. “That’s why we have swept away central targets and red tape to help police forces focus on their one core mission – to cut crime. “And it is why we are shifting power from Whitehall to local communities, through elected police and crime commissioners and the publication of local crime data online, to make policing more accountable and responsive to local concerns.” Jon Murphy, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the increase in robberies at knifepoint was partly driven by demand for mobile phones. “While there were falls in most police recorded crime and particularly in violence against the person, the increase in robbery and robbery with knives is a cause for concern,” he said. “We believe this is in part driven by demand for mobile phone handsets, which can fetch more than double their worth on the black market abroad. “Worryingly, a large proportion of phone owners still do not have passcodes on their phones, leaving them vulnerable to possible ID theft and fraud. Phone owners are encouraged to set passcodes and look into anti-crime phone functions such as remote wipe technology. “Police forces will want to focus actions to combat these offences and offer crime prevention advice.” Crime Police Yvette Cooper Public sector cuts Public finance Emergency services Unemployment Liberal-Conservative coalition Labour Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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