Whitehall_Bin_Men
Trustworthy Freedom Fighter
Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 3205
Location: Westminster, LONDON, SW1A 2HB.
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Whitehall_Bin_Men
Trustworthy Freedom Fighter
Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 3205
Location: Westminster, LONDON, SW1A 2HB.
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 Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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German terror suspect Jaber al-Bakr's jail death a scandal, says lawyer
13 October 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/37641263
Pictures of a person believed to be Jaber al-Bakr released by German police
Image caption Police released pictures of the suspect after Saturday's raid on his flat
The death in a prison cell of a Syrian refugee suspected of planning a bomb attack in Germany is a judicial scandal, his lawyer has said.
Jaber al-Bakr, 22, strangled himself in a jail in Leipzig with his shirt and the government has demanded an immediate inquiry.
His lawyer said the prison was aware Bakr was a suicide risk after he was captured on Monday.
However, regional authorities said he had not been considered an acute risk.
Jaber al-Bakr was detained on Monday on suspicion of plotting to bomb an airport in Berlin, possibly in the coming days.
When police raided his flat in the eastern city of Chemnitz early on Saturday, they found 1.5kg of TATP, a home-made explosive used in the deadly jihadist attacks in Paris last year and in Brussels last March.
What went wrong at the jail?
Sebastian Gemkow, justice minister in the eastern state of Saxony, told reporters a psychological assessment of the prisoner had been made and safety measures had been taken. And the head of the prison described Bakr during the day as "calm and on an even keel".
"It shouldn't have happened, but it did," the justice minister said, adding that he took responsibility for the suicide but would not resign.
Prison officials rejected reports that Bakr was only being checked on an hourly basis.
Leipzig prison
Image caption Prison officials said the regular checks on Bakr had been reduced to every 30 minutes
Originally, he was given top-level supervision, involving 15-minute intervals, but a panel of experts agreed hours before he died to lower the regular checks to every 30 minutes.
There is no video monitoring of prisoners held in remand cells in Saxony, said prison governor Rolf Jacob. A guard stationed outside the cell door would have been more appropriate, he acknowledged.
Jabr al-Bakr's body was found at 19:45 (17:45 GMT) on Wednesday evening, 15 minutes after a regular check, the prison governor said. Attempts to resuscitate him failed.
Correctional facility in Leipzig, Germany, where Syrian terror suspect Jaber al-Bakr has been found dead. 12 Oct 2016
Image caption Jaber al-Bakr was under round-the-clock surveillance at the prison in Leipzig
A hearse leaves the prison in Leipzig, eastern Germany, in the early hours of October 13, 2016
Image caption Bakr's body was found at 19:45 on Wednesday and was taken away hours later
Defence lawyer Alexander Huebner was adamant his client was a risk as he had already broken light bulbs and tampered with power sockets. He had also been refusing food and drink.
The prison governor said later that the damage had been assessed as vandalism rather than an indication of potential suicide.
"How could this happen?" Mr Huebner asked. "He must have been the best-guarded prisoner in Germany."
How serious is the blow to German intelligence?
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere demanded a "rapid and comprehensive inquiry".
He told German TV that Bakr's death had made the task of investigating the possible Berlin airport bomb plot much harder.
Centre-right CDU politician Wolfgang Bosbach said it was a tragedy to lose such an important source of intelligence.
Leading centre-left SPD politician Burkhard Lischka blamed the Saxony authorities for the death in custody and said years of underfunding were to blame.
Family Affairs Minister Manuela Schwesig simply tweeted: "What on earth's going on?"
Who was Jaber al-Bakr?
Granted asylum last year after coming to Germany in February 2015, he had been under surveillance for months on suspicion of being linked to jihadist group Islamic State.
But when police raided his flat early on Saturday, he escaped. Police fired a warning shot but were wary of harming neighbours.
After a two-day manhunt Bakr made his way to Leipzig, where he asked three Syrian asylum seekers for help.
The three told police they had heard about the manhunt and tied him up while one of them knelt on him.
Bild newspaper tweet from 11 Oct
Image caption Bild newspaper on Tuesday hailed the men who handed Bakr to police as heroes. "They tied up the terrorist Jaber al-Bakr: 'We couldn't let him do anything to Germans'."
One of the men took a photo of the captive to a police station, and he was detained in the early hours of Monday.
Widely hailed as heroes in Germany, the three men were apparently implicated by Bakr in the bomb plot, German media reported, citing security officials in Leipzig.
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'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com
http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing." |
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