C M Y K A8
DAILY 03-02-10 MD SU A8 CMYK
A8 TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010
S KLMN
Dubai cracks down on Israelis
after Hamas figure’s slaying
enlarging diplomatic problem for according to descriptions of the
Members of spy agency
Israel. chemical on medical Web sites,
Agents from Britain’s Serious could also contribute to respirato-
used fake passports
Organized Crime Agency are in ry failure.
to enter, officials say
Israel investigating the use of Israel has maintained a steady
forged British passports by peo- silence in the case — in contrast
ple who Dubai officials allege with the government’s quick re-
by Howard Schneider were part of an assassination buttal to other perceived diplo-
squad run by Israel’s Mossad spy matic slights. The country is fac-
jerusalem — In Israel’s quest agency. The 27 members of the ing what some officials regard as
for normal ties with the Arab group used European or Austral- a deep image crisis, stemming in
world, the United Arab Emirates ian passports — some forged — to part from the stalled Israeli-Pales-
has been among the few countries enter Dubai, officials say. In sever- tinian peace process and from
to offer a slight opening. It al- al cases, the names and other in- criticism that the country used
lowed an Israeli cabinet minister formation on the passports excessive force in a three-week
to attend an energy conference, matched those of Israeli citizens war a year ago in Hamas’s strong-
let an Israeli tennis star play in a who hold dual nationality and hold, the Gaza Strip.
recent tournament, and offered a who claim that their identities Mabhouh, a founder of the mil-
wink and a welcome to Israelis ar- were “borrowed” by those in- itant group’s armed wing, was in-
riving with U.S., European or oth- volved in the operation. volved in the killing of two Israeli
er third-country passports. Two SOCA agents will inter- soldiers in the 1980s and more re-
That window closed a bit on view the 10 British-Israelis who cently is suspected of being a key
Monday as Dubai officials — an- were affected and issue them new conduit of arms to Gaza.
gered about the killing of a Ha- passports, a British Embassy Israel has adopted a “policy of
mas operative, which they blame spokesman said. According to Is- ambiguity” when it comes to con-
on Israeli undercover agents — raeli news reports, Australian in- firming or denying suspicions
said they would now be on the vestigators are planning a similar about its Mossad spy agency. The
lookout for Israelis, regardless of visit. The European Union last organization has a documented
what travel documents they hold. week condemned the use of record of using the passports of
Gen. Khalfan Tamim, the emir- forged travel documents in the other countries in its undercover
ate’s police chief, told reporters at killing of Hamas commander operations — a virtual necessity
Somali ex-minister says he sho
a security conference that Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, without given the inability of Israeli pass-
“among the things we will train mentioning Israel specifically. port holders to enter many Arab
our people [to do] is to identify Is- Tamim and other Dubai offi- countries. The United Arab Emir- lawsuit from A1 does not mention individuals, tionalist hero being scapegoated.
raeli names, accents as well as cials have used a series of news ates maintains no diplomatic re- such protection is the “practical He’s a demon. He’s an Abraham
features.” conferences to sustain focus on lations with Israel and does not The case before the justices is equivalent” of immunity offered Lincoln.
“We knew Israelis from their the case in Israel and interna- honor Israeli passports. not about whether Samantar is a to a state. The U.S. Court of Ap- To understand that divide, So-
accents, but when they used Eu- tionally — releasing photos of the When Israeli officials have war criminal, but whether his ac- peals for the 4th Circuit in Rich- malis say, you must know a Soma-
ropean passports to come here, suspects and video from security commented on Mabhouh’s case, cusers, with no viable legal alter- mond overturned the lower li’s clan and how that clan fared
we accepted that and we treated cameras, diagramming their con- they have tended to focus on what natives in their homeland, can court, pointing to the law’s si- when Samantar and the brutal re-
them as Europeans,” Tamim said. vergence in Dubai from points they consider the strategic benefit sue to make him answer their al- lence on individual immunity. gime of Mohamed Siad Barre
“But after this day, if they have around the world and their exit to of his death. legations. The question to be de- Samantar’s attorney, Michael were in power — from 1969, when
dual citizenship, we will exert ex- disparate locales, and this week “What is there to criticize cided, which has potentially pow- Carvin, says that a decision the generals took over a weak and
treme caution.” disclosing toxicology reports here?” cabinet member Binyamin erful policy implications for the against Samantar would open corrupt government in a blood-
Tamim continued to publicly showing that Mabhouh had been Ben-Eliezer told Israel’s Army Ra- United States and its foreign rela- U.S. officials to lawsuits in other less coup, to 1991, when they fled
detail evidence in a case that be- injected with a muscle relaxant dio on Sunday. “I see only one tions, centers on immunity. countries. and the country devolved into the
gan as a cloak-and-dagger tale in- before being suffocated. The fast- simple thing here: whether he is Samantar says he has immuni- The accusers’ attorney, Patricia violent anarchy that has reigned
volving fake beards and wigged acting drug succinylcholine alive or dead.” ty under the Foreign Sovereign Millet, says that Congress and the since.
assassins but has grown into an would have weakened him and, schneiderh@washpost.com Immunity Act, which protects executive branch “have expressly To understand the lawsuit, So-
foreign states from lawsuits. His determined that” it is in the Unit- mali experts say, one must under-
lawyers argue that, although that ed States’ interest to deny “for- stand the history, from the 19th-
law does not mention individuals, eign officials who engage in tor- century colonial division of the
Iranian board shuts down 2 media outlets
it protects his official actions just ture and killing a safe haven with- country into northern and south-
the same. His accusers, in a suit in the United States.” ern pieces ruled by Britain and
first filed in federal district court Italy, to the 20th-century Cold
to the board, the magazine was Monday. in Virginia in 2004 by the San
A hero or a criminal?
War dynamic, in which super-
Daily newspaper,
“not committed to the constitu- Activists Ali Hekmat and Beh- Francisco-based Center for Jus- Talk to Somalis about Mo- powers propping up friendly re-
tion,” ISNA reported. rang Tonekaboni were also freed tice and Accountability, say the hamed Ali Samantar and the law- gimes averted their glance from
weekly magazine had
The detained journalists who late Sunday, as was retired Teh- law does not shield individuals, suit, or cruise through Somali human rights abuses.
criticized government
were released Sunday included ran University law professor Mo- especially those who’ve been out chat rooms on the Internet, and In 1977, Somalia went to war
Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, Ab- hammad Sadegh Rabbani, who of office for years. you will find vehement, dizzying- with Ethiopia seeking to annex
dolreza Tajik and Mohammad Ja- had been detained for two The case has divided courts. A ly divergent opinions. Samantar’s an area where a Somali clan
by Thomas Erdbrink vad Mozaffar, the Bahar daily months. federal judge in Alexandria ruled a war criminal who should be called the Ogaden lived. When
and other newspapers reported erdbrinkt@washpost.com that even if the immunity law brought to justice, or he’s a na- thousands of Ogaden refugees
tehran — Iran closed a lead-
ing newspaper and magazine
critical of the government on
Monday, further silencing dis-
senting voices in the Islamic re-
public after months of anti-gov-
ernment demonstrations.
The high-profile closures came
a day after six journalists and op-
position activists held for sus-
pected involvement in the coun-
try’s post-election turmoil were
released on bail, Iranian news
media reported. Dozens of others
remain in jail, opposition sourc-
es said.
The daily newspaper Etemaad,
or Trust, and the weekly maga-
zine IranDokht were banned un-
til further notice by the Press Su-
pervisory Board, a media watch-
dog council led by the Ministry of
Culture and Islamic Guidance.
The board closed Etemaad for
going beyond “the limits of the
press,” the semiofficial Iranian
Students News Agency (ISNA) re-
ported. Although the board said
the paper was “temporarily
banned,” previous such closures
in practice have dragged on in-
definitely.
Etemaad, which often criti-
cized President Mahmoud Ah-
madinejad’s administration, was
loosely affiliated with the politi-
cal opposition, which advocates
more individual rights for Irani-
ans. It had a high circulation and
was widely seen as the most in-
fluential, semi-independent
news source still allowed to pub-
lish.
According to the board’s rul-
ing, the paper violated a part of
the country’s press code that,
among other things, prohibits
media from mentioning ethnic
differences, accusing officials or
insulting Islamic sanctities.
Etemaad’s editor, Elias Haz-
rati, said the deputy minister of
culture and Islamic guidance,
Mohammad Ali Ramin, had been
attempting to close the news-
paper for weeks.
“He hinted on numerous occa-
sions that our paper propagates
secularism and is not faithful to
the principles of the revolution,”
Hazrati, a former member of par-
liament, said in an interview.
Etemaad had been publishing for
eight years, unusual in a country
where newspapers that criticize
authorities are often closed.
A court must now legalize the
council’s decision, potentially a
lengthy process. Meanwhile, the
paper is not allowed to publish.
The Press Supervisory Board
also closed IranDokht magazine
by revoking its publishing li-
cense. The magazine’s license is
held by the wife of Mehdi Kar-
roubi, one of the leaders of the
political opposition. According
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