As far as MSM (and, thus, most of the world) are concerned, Jack Idema remains an ‘American inmate, […] who was arrested in July 2004 and convicted of running a private prison in Kabul.’ What Big Media routinely fail to point out, however, is that Jack and his team were found Not Guilty on all charges when their case went to appeal over two years ago. Since then, Jack has been held, illegally, at the behest of the US State Department and sections of the Afghan administration under President Karzai.

Over the last few weeks, of course, the US State Department’s involvement in Jack’s imprisonment has been coming under intense scrutiny from Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the US. This has caused the State Department to issue a series of increasingly bizarre reasons for their inability to produce Jack in Judge Sullivan’s courtroom. (Two of their odder claims have been: ‘Jack has been released, but refuses to leave prison’ and ‘Jack has been ordered deported, but refuses to collect his passport from the Embassy’.)

Today, it seems, the pressure for Jack’s release has also started to build in Afghanistan, with the release of an audio intercept in which Judge Noor, who is the Chief Religious Judge of the NDS Appeals Court in Kabal, talks about Jack’s innocence:

This conversation happened back in May 2005, shortly after Jack and his men were found not guilty on appeal. Courtesy of Cao’s Blog, here are the highlights of what Judge Noor had to say about Jack’s case:

• “All men are completely innocent of all charges…”
• “They are completely innocent…they did nothing wrong…”
• “Jack and his men were oppressed by the foreign hand…the foreigners…the American Embassy did this”
• “I will keep fighting every day to release Jack and his men…”
• “we know Jack and his men are innocent”
• “the foreigners and the press are the problem telling lies”
• “I swear to God I am repeatedly saying Jack Is innocent…It is clear from me like the Sun…”

It is, perhaps, easy to bristle when Judge Noor uses language like ‘the foreigners … are the problem’, but, in this case, he really does have cause for grievance. It can’t be exactly pleasant, as a high-ranking Judge, to discover that when you order the release of prisoner, the US State Department can simply step in and overturn your ruling.

So that’s one thing. Another is the fact that both the State Department and Karzai government continue to insist that Jack Idema is being held on the say-so of the very legal system which ordered his release over two years ago. It’s small wonder, then, that Judge Noor sounds so irate.

[The above clip, from the movie Shakur Shaitan is used with kind permission from the attorneys, CTG, HaftShir Films and 5 Lions Films.]

Said RottyPup @ 9:12 pm | Permalink   

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