Page Update: 8/31/05

Verdict Issued !
March 31, 2005
Justice Denied By US-
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UPDATE:

September 19, 2005
Afghan TOLO TV calls for resignation of Chief Judge Shinwari and arrest of Taliban Judge Abdul Bakhtyari for keeping innocent men in jail and taking bribes.  TOLO TV Special Report airs FIVE days in a row.  Other judges allege law-breaking, bribe taking, and murder threats by Afghan judges.

Khawar vs. Globe International, Inc, 10 CAL 4th 254 (1998) cert. denied, 526 U.S. 114 (1999)

Note: "U.S." as in; United States Supreme Court

Note 2: Pizzulli also won an injunction from the court, and had 50,000 books delivered to Khawar's Farm, where they held a bonfire picnic and burned all 50,000 books.

Recent News:

TORTURE CHARGE DISMISSED
FOR ACTUAL INNOCENCE

February 27, 2005
Kabul, Afghanistan

In a closed secret appeals court hearing in the new trial ordered in December 2004, a six judge panel, twice the judges normally sitting on the court, including two senior religious judges has found ALL of the SuperPatriots INNOCENT of all torture charges after a covertly obtained video of Taliban Judge Mawlawi Sidiq was played in court. 

According to sources, and confirmed by Jack, Judge Sidiq stated during the surreptitiously recorded tape that he "was never tortured, hung upside down, doused with water, or even slapped."  In fact, the Taliban Karzai appointee admitted that his ONLY complaint was that the SuperPatriots did not allow him to use the bathroom for more than twelve hours and this violated Islamic Law.  The court also privately viewed pictures of Sidiq meeting with one of the world's top terrorists, Gulbideen Hekmatyar, along with one of Sidiq's brothers, Malikyar, the original terrorist Task Force Saber/7 was hunting.

Hekmatyar is best remembered for his bloody siege on Kabul and killing more than 20,000 civilians, women, and children with Russian Katucha rockets and tank shells.  According to Peter Bergen, one of the world's foremost authorities on terrorists, and author of HOLY WAR, INC based on his meeting with Osama bin Laden, Hekmatyar is an "ultra-Islamic Taliban" who once "slaughtered 36 men under the Command of Ahmad Shah Massoud... in July 1989," and later killed "thousands of civilians in Kabul..." from 1992 onward (quoted from page 76, Holy War, Inc., cover photo courtesy of Peter Bergen).

According to the SuperPatriots, and a US Embassy Official, the court was more than shocked by the pictures of Mawlawi Sidiq meeting with Hekmatyar long after he was placed on the Most Wanted Terrorist List.  They were also moved by a PowerPoint show on Jack's exploits in Afghanistan for the past three years, and pictures proving Jack had personally worked with President Karzai and both Vice-Presidents on anti-terror operations.

That means that three charges have now been dismissed; Illegally Entering the Country, Operating a Private Jail, and Torture.

Hearings are still in progress and expected to continue for one more month.

UNITED NATIONS ISSUES
SCATHING INDICTMENT AGAINST TALIBAN JUDGE IN SUPERPATRIOTS CASE

February 11, 2005
Kabul, Afghanistan

On February 11, 2005, M. Cherif BASSIOUNI, the Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights On the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, issued an initial United Nations report on the Afghan court and justice system.

Drafted for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the report was called a scathing indictment by the Afghan news services.  However, it is not new news, or unexpected news.  Everyone knows the Afghan justice system is simply broken.  Run by judges with no formal education in law, and administered by people without a high school education, former Taliban officials and al-Qaida linked terrorists, have made their way back into Karzai's government in a variety of areas, most importantly the legal arena.  As a result, terrorists are going free every day to kill again.  In the past 12 months more than 900 al-Qaida and Taliban fighters captured in 2001 and 2002 who's defeat was paid for with the blood of American Special Forces and Special Operations troops, have been released by former Taliban Karzai officials.  This is old news. 

What is new, is the United Nation's blistering attack on one specific judge, Abdul Baset Bakhtyari.  In fact, the report was so damning that Bakhtyari, who relishes publicity, called a Press Conference in Kabul to denounce the United Nations' report.  The "former" Taliban Judge has been specifically accused of ignoring the law, taking bribes from terrorists, and running the National Security Court as though it was still the era of the Taliban.

The UN Report also slammed the NDS (National Security Court) for directly engaging in and authorizing torture, refusing to allow access to prisoners by the UN, and running a house of horrors.  Interestingly enough, NDS is run by an American citizen, who holds secret dual citizenship, and is funded by the American FBI, NOT the CIA.  Through this secret court and the secret SADERAT interrogation facility, the FBI is able to "render" subjects.  Rendering is the removal of a suspect from US custody to foreign custody where they can be tortured by proxies of an American agency.  While the CIA and Special Forces recently have been  accused of this, the evidence shows that "rendering" has only been done to high-level foreign al-Qaida threats deemed to be an immediate and serious threat to US security interests and with immediate potential to inflict casualties on US citizens through imminent acts of terror.  On the other hand, the FBI has engaged in rendering, through the Afghan NDS, and with the assistance of US Citizen Hamid Karzai (he did not give up his US Citizenship when he assumed the elected presidency, and secretly remains a US citizen with a special waiver from the US State Department).

The FBI's use of rendering to interrogate suspects, especially low-level soldiers, may be one of the future targets of the UN special commission.

Mr. Bassiouni, and a large entourage of attorneys and investigators met with Jack and the other task Force Saber/7 members just ten days before the special initial report was issued.  Lt. Banderas asked only one question during the lengthy meeting but it got everyone's attention in the room, and brought virtual silence.

"Excuse me sir, may I ask, how is it that I fought the Taliban and terrorists my entire adult life, and followed the way of Commander Massoud, only to be tortured and sent to prison by a Taliban Judge? How is that sir, can you please explain that to me?"

Mr. Bassiouni did not have an immediate answer, but Jack did:

"Zorro, that's why Mr. Bassiouni is here today, that's why he is here..."

John Edwards Tiffany, Esquire,
is a powerhouse attorney from Bloomfield, NJ that specializes in federal criminal defense cases.  He has represented international criminal and civil clients of notoriety in the US, Haiti, Africa, and other countries.  His father is a former US Marine.  He is very much involved in cases involving National Security interests.  A native New Yorker, he lost friends in on 9/11, and Tiffany's strength is his tenacity and resilience.

Where others might cringe at the thought of taking on a US Ambassador or the FBI, Tiffany relishes the idea.  Tiffany has made it clear to just about everyone, that he believes in the complete innocence of Jack and his men.  John Tiffany's most important attribute may be the most dangerous thing opponents have to fear–  loyalty.

Francis C. Pizzulli, Esquire, is a longtime attorney of Jacks.  He specializes in civil litigation, copyright claims, and liable.  He is the lawyer that won the famous Khawar v. GLOBE International case based on a reporter falsely identifying a man as the real killer of Robert F. Kennedy.  Pizzulli successfully took the case to the California Supreme Court and won a verdict against the Globe for republishing erroneous information they failed to adequately, and independently investigate. 

That case laid the groundwork for every case since based on a reporter reprinting an incorrect statement based on another article or story.  Sounds like Mr. Pizzulli will be one of the lead attorneys in Jack's cases against Flogging the Simian, New York Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, Donald Trump, and a few others.

Hamid Karzai, et al:
The Case Against Them

Karzai has personal involvement in the case, and complicity in the illegal acts against the SuperPatriots.  Karzai knew Jack from the 2001/2002 war and had personally authorized Jack to conduct a variety of operations during that time.  One of the most visible was Jack's participation in Nahrin Rescue Operation in March/April 2002, when Karzai provided him with a government helicopter. 

Amrullah Saleh also has personal involvement in the case.  Saleh was an interpreter for an NGO in Pakistan when the war broke out in 2001.  When the war wound down, Saleh, found himself with lots of contacts, dual citizenship (he had lived in the US), and political ambition.  In 2003, the FBI, hot to break into the Afghan counter-terrorist ops club, started setting up shop in Kabul by throwing around lots of money.  They aligned with Amrullah, used their State Department contacts to get Engineer Araf (a Massoud man and high-ranking member of the Northern Alliance) fired.  Karzai, with the help of the FBI, now had control of the country's intelligence service, and that meant he could decrease Panshir power and protect his Pashtun "former" Taliban appointees.   Saleh is alleged, and significant evidence exists to support it, to have personally beaten Jack and Lt. Banderas to unconsciousness while handcuffed, in his office, while FBI agents stood in the hallway laughing.

Judge Bakhtyari not only sanctioned and authorized extensive torture of the men, but fully refused to follow the law.   He is already under fire for more than 100 violations of the 26 most important articles of the Afghan Criminal Code.  NOT ONCE were the accused able to examine any court or evidence file.  The files were waved in the air at the accused, shown to the press, shown to alleged victims, and were repeatedly promised to the accused.  But still, after fifteen court appearances in eight months, the files have never been seen by the accused. 

However, the NDS files have been sold to the press by the Primary Court Prosecutor, Saranwal Nahim Dawari.  Furthermore, the NDS files were given to reporters by Dawari to review overnight and therefore the chain of evidence was violated and broken.  The files are no longer inviolate, and therefore are tainted evidence.  Add this into Dawari's brutal interrogations of witnesses, destruction of exculpatory evidence, and links to the Taliban, and you have a solid case for abuse of process and the concealment of terrorist acts.

Sherzai, one of Jack's house staff,  testified twice under oath during the new Appeals Court trial, that he was beaten, that he is illiterate, that he refused to sign a statement against Jack, and that he was then given Valium, rendered semi-conscious and his thumbprint forcibly placed on a statement he never read or made.  Fatah is alleged to have authorized this, along with the extended torture of the other men, and electrocution of Northern Alliance Commando Major Ezmerai Amin.  In recent months, Fatah has tried to coerce Northern Alliance officials to withdraw protection of Jack in Pulacharke Prison and to "apply additional pressure on top of them."  Basically, in Afghan talk, that means reinstitute torture in order to obtain confessions now that Fatah's case against Task Force Saber 7 has fallen apart and four men already ordered released by the Appeals Court.

Recent Archived News
In The SuperPatriots' Case-

ANTI-TERRORIST FIGHTERS RELEASED

FOUR MEMBERS OF TASK FORCE SABER/7 ORDERED FREED IN NEW TRIAL

December 9, 2004
Kabul, Afghanistan

Four of Jack's Team were declared innocent of all charges by the Afghan Second Court, which granted a trial de novo (a new trial) and three of Jack’s men were ordered to be released immediately by the Appeals Court after hearing evidence from Afghan government police officers and learning that the FBI was present during torture sessions and seized evidence in the case for the second time.

Three American Prisoners Found Innocent of
First Charge Heard by Court

Three of Idema’s anti-terrorist team were Ordered released in the controversial case of Jack Idema and six other men alleged to be hunting terrorists, including Osama bin Laden.

As the result of closed door hearing testimony, according to Afghan Appeals Court judges, it is now undisputed that it was Idema’s men who were tortured, not the original terrorist detainees arrested by Idema‘s group. Furthermore, that FBI Agents are alleged to have authorized and/or been present for the torture of Idema and his men in NDS custody. Sometimes the FBI Agents were present in the room, sometimes in the next room passing messages and questions during the interrogations and torture.

On December 1, 2004, the Court of Appeals of the Islamic Transitional Government of Afghanistan conducted a closed hearing in the case of the three Americans and four Afghans who were convicted of running a private prison, illegally arresting and torturing suspected terrorists, and secretly entering Afghanistan with forged Indian passports to begin their hunt for al-Qaida terrorists.

Evidence Surfaces That First Trial Conducted by Former Taliban Officials

In what had been a highly publicized trial in the first Court all seven men, who claimed they were operating as Task Force Saber/7 with full knowledge and support of the Afghan and US Governments, were given prison sentences of up to ten years. The men’s repeated requests for Geneva Convention Prisoner of War status have been ignored by the Afghan government, which alleged they were not part of the coalition, but, in the words of Primary Court Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari, “part of the resistance forces.” Bakhtyari had announced to the international press his intention to find the men guilty before the trial even began. It is now being alleged by the defense, that Idema’s first Judge, Bakhtyari was a former Taliban Judge, the prosecutor, that Mohammed Nahim Dawari was a former Taliban prosecutor, and that the government appointed interpreter was in fact a former member of the anti-American Soviet backed government. There is no dispute, even by journalists present, that the interpreter consciously misinterpreted on regular basis, provided advice to the Judge against the defense, and often refused to interpret Idema’s and the defense attorney’s statements.

The case is now in the Afghan Court of Appeals. On a motion by Idema and the other defendants, the Appeals Court excluded the press corps from the hearing based on Idema’s assertion that evidence presented would affect the national security interests of both countries, and divulge the identities of covert agents.

Idema Lawyer Wants FBI Prosecuted
After Seizing Evidence in Case for the Second Time

During the hearing, Idema, a Green Beret and former US Army Special Forces soldier, who had been allowed to represent his four Afghan men requested an inspection of the evidence room and the introduction of videotape evidence seized in the raid of their Kabul compound. The Court allowed Ed Caraballo, a four-time Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist, and Brent Bennett, a former 82nd Airborne Tactical Air Controller, to go to the evidence room to gather their audio, video, and written evidence for use in the closed hearing. However, when Caraballo and Bennett returned to the Court’s chambers, they informed the Chief Judge that all of the video, audio, and photographic evidence was missing.

The Court summoned members of the NDS (Afghan Security Service) to chambers and inquired about the evidence. It was then disclosed that agents of the FBI had covertly removed all of the video, photographic, and audio evidence, including the team’s computers which the men would need to defend themselves, without notifying the Court. Tiffany says, “this was the second time the FBI has interfered in their defense by taking and destroying evidence in the case.”

Caraballo’s first lawyer, Michael Skibbie, originally accused the FBI of taking evidence during the initial series of hearings in August. The defense’s claims were later proven true when the FBI, under orders of the Afghan Ministry of Justice, returned hundreds of documents and videotapes in the middle of an August trial. Still much of the evidence was still missing.

The Appeal Court’s latest inquiry disclosed that the FBI had again taken the evidence just six days prior to the December 1st hearing. Tiffany said that, “without the evidence the defendants would be unable to mount any defense whatsoever.” Defense lawyers said that this is an intentional interference with justice and the destruction of exculpatory evidence by the FBI which has no jurisdiction in the case.

FBI Agents Should Be Arrested and Prosecuted

Attorney John Tiffany is demanding that “any FBI agents involved in the taking of evidence in the Idema Case be arrested, brought up on criminal charges, and prosecuted for unlawful interference with an ongoing judicial process over which they have absolutely no legal authority or jurisdiction.”

According to Tiffany, just moments before the hearing continued, a sealed Federal Express package was delivered containing confidential documents and videotapes sent by John Tiffany to Afghanistan. Using the evidence enclosed Idema represented each of the defendants and began their defense. It was the first time ever the Court allowed the defense to call witnesses.

Four of Idema’s Anti-Terrorist Team Declared Innocent by Court of Appeals

During the hearing, Sherzai Ahmadi, one of Idema’s men, testified that he was beaten and drugged by NDS agents and “foreigners” at which time he woke up with purple ink on his thumb, indicating he had signed a statement. Ahmadi told the Court that he thought it was a dream. Ahmadi says he was given three blue tablets, believed to be Valium, for his torture injuries, then rendered incapable of resisting his fingerprint on a false statement.

Major Ezmerai, Idema’s close protection officer, testified that he was electrocuted, and showed the court the electrical burns on his palms, which were still present five months later. Even after repeated electrocution, Major Ezmerai, a Ministry of Defence employee and 15 year veteran of the Panshir Army and Northern Alliance, refused to sign any statement against his American co-defendants. Idema claims that the torture of his men occurred in the presence of American FBI agents and with the knowledge of the “highest levels of the FBI in Washington.”

Afghan Police Officer Testifies
Idema Treated Detainees Well

The court was shown videotape evidence of secret US Military meetings with the group, meetings with US intelligence officers, Ministry of Defence officials, and even Marshall Mohammed Fahim, the Minister of Defence. But even more compelling, according to Court Officials was the testimony of a government police official that was present at the arrest of admitted terrorist Ghulamsaki (whose brother Mohammed Asef is in GITMO Detention, Cuba).

Karzai’s Bodyguard Present
During Terrorist Arrest by Idema’s Team

The police official, who’s identify has not been disclosed, testified that he witnessed members of President Karzai’s Protective Detail present at the arrest and coordinating with the Presidential Palace.  He also testified that Idema’s treatment of suspected persons, women, children, and prisoners was exemplary and in full conformance with Islamic law. This was corroborated by video showing female Afghan National Police Detectives present during Idema’s searches and raids.

The result of the four hour closed hearing? A new trial de novo was granted, as was a bifurcated trial allowing the charges against the Afghans to be heard first, and then the issue of the Americans illegally entering the country on forged Indian passports. By the end of the hearing, the Afghan Court of Appeals had declared all four Afghans innocent of all charges.

Three of Idema’s Team Released From Afghan Prison on Court’s Order

Members of Idema’s team, including Major Ezmerai Amin, a commissioned officer in the Afghan Ministry of Defence were ordered released, as was Sohail Shohabi, a translator, and Sherzai Ahmadi, a house worker.

Lieutenant Wahid Rasuli, who the group refers to as “Zorro,” and is also a Ministry of Defence employee, refused to be released without Idema and the rest of the team, requesting the judges allow him to stay in prison with the Jack Idema and the two other Americans until the trials were completed. Rasuli told the judges, “in this group there is only one thing I have learned above all else, leave no man behind. I request to stay.” The judges granted his request. The Release Order frees the other three men with time served, which was apparently drafted with the idea of preventing future litigation for false imprisonment.

Attorney John Tiffany, who represented Jack Idema, the team’s leader, said, “the first trial was a sham. No prosecution witness gave testimony under oath, no cross-examination or questions of any kind were allowed, no defense witnesses were allowed, there was no discovery, and poor often completely erroneous, sometimes non-existent translation of the trial. The three Americans barely knew what was happening, and neither did their lawyers.”

Caraballo Lawyer Threatened
With Arrest in First Court

In the final trial Bob Fogelnest represented Ed Caraballo, who was filming a documentary about the War on Terror when Caraballo was arrested with the other men on July 5th, 2004. Fogelnest attempted to read their joint defense statement in the initial phase of the Primary Court trial and was promptly threatened with arrest by Judge Bakhtyari if he continued to read it. Only the first paragraph of the 21 page defense statement was entered into evidence.

Fogelnest, a well-known international defense lawyer that practices before the Hague in War Crimes trials, has repeatedly stated that that the first hearings and trials were the worst example of international justice he has ever seen or heard of.

According to Fogelnest, “the prosecution presented not one shred of evidence against any of the men, using news articles from Associated Press and other hearsay statements to make their case. It is not only unheard of, but in violation of both Afghan and international law.”

Tiffany added, “the only person allowed to testify in the first trial was Idema, who basically created such a disturbance after I argued with Chief Judge Bakhtyari, that they had to let him make a statement. Unlike the prosecution witnesses, Idema also demanded to testify under oath on the Koran, which resulted in cheers from the courtroom.”

First Charge Dismissed Against the Three American Prisoners

Reviewing videotape of the three Americans entering Kabul and being greeted by a contingent of high-ranking Afghan authorities, including the Commander of the Border Police, the Airport Manager, and even one of President Karzai’s brothers, the Court saw three US passports being handed to Afghan government officials, customs forms being filled out, and National Police officers carrying the American’s bags through customs.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the entry into Afghanistan had been legal and the charge was dismissed. The Court agreed to hear the other charges in a separate hearing scheduled for a future date.

Attorney John Tiffany says that the FBI has been running roughshod over the Afghan judicial process at the expense of his client’s liberty and due process interests in an attempt to avoid the Bureau’s own shortcomings in the war against terror.

Tiffany applauded the action of the Appellate Court saying, “I commend them for having the courage to do the right thing and look at the evidence, not baseless unsupported allegations.”  High-Ranking Afghan Judicial and Military officials have privately called the men heroes for their actions in Afghanistan.

While much still remains unclear in this convoluted case, one thing continues to punctuate it– what the defense has maintained from the outset consistently proves to be true at each turn of the proceedings.

-For Further Information, Contact
Attorney John Tiffany 973/566-9300.
-For Photos, Contact Kelly Price at
Polaris Images 212/967-5656.
 

You’ve Been Served!^SM

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad: SERVED !

Khalilzad didn't find himself on the lawsuit radar screen until this past Christmas when he refused to allow Christmas presents to be exchanged between the POWs and their families.  The US Consul took packages from the men, with confidential family letters and cards, and told them they were mailed home.  Forty days after Christmas they returned the ragged boxes, searched, torn and tattered, and unsent.  The FBI took custody of the Christmas packages, and then ordered a complete ban on all mail out of Pulacharke.  It should be noted that the Afghan government has placed NO RESTRICTIONS on incoming or outgoing mail or packages, thanks to the Northern Alliance.

Right now Khalilzad is a Respondent in a Habeas Corpus 28 U.S.C. §2241 case.  But, the illegal search, seizure, and ban on mail and packages, has also gotten Khalilzad notice of an upcoming SECOND lawsuit under Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971).  There is no doubt that Khalilzad is liable, as are the US Consul officers, and FBI Agents involved.  The Bivens case paved the way to sue government officials for their interference, denial, or obstruction of constitutional rights, and that especially includes the FBI.

Khalilzad is about to be seeing the judge in federal court very soon if that stack of mail in the graphic above doesn't stop making the loop from Task Force Saber/7 to the FBI to the US Consul and back again.

Jack's Case Against Chris Thompson, et al
Set For Hearings in Cumberland Country Superior Court

Chris Thompson, a friend of "Sir" Ed, and his cohorts, were to go to trial in April 2005, charged with embezzlement of charity monies, theft, conversion, theft of intellectual property and a host of other torts.  Thompson has been a prime source against Jack in the press since July 2004.  The case is now going to be re-set for the fall of 2005.

 Flogging & Blogging: You're About To Be Served

Floggin the Simian faces civil prosecution for fraud, and copyright infringement, but most of all they face significant criminal prosecution for theft of mail, interception of mail, criminal conspiracy, electronic eavesdropping (illegally accessing email), extortion- based on threats made to Jack's wife in an attempt to get information (they even admit this on their site now), and some other crimes which we have been asked not to divulge yet.  Rumor has it papers are on the way to their internet provider.  To find out more visit the SuperPatriots page- The Truth About Flogging:

To See What The SuperPats Say About The Journalists and Publications on The Docket and Bound For Court, Follow These SuperPat Links:

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With the exception of Magazine covers or News Logos or headline photos, or graphics depicting news
and blogging sites being sued by the SuperPatriots, ALL information on this site is
copyrighted by the authors, CTG, The SuperPatriots, and/or Caraballo Video/Ed Caraballo.
It may not be used without permission, nor reprinted in any way. News agencies and licensed educational institutions and/or universities may link to this site without permission.  No Blog or Blogger may link to this site in anyway without written permission.  No news organization involved in litigation with any one of the SuperPatriots may link to or quote from this site, specifically including; Columbia Journalism Review, New York Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, or Associated Press.
Any violation, regardless of how small, will be met with litigation under the
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UNDER US COPYRIGHT LAW AND THE BERNE CONVENTION

All sections about the past and ongoing criminal case in Afghanistan were built with the assistance
of the American & Afghan Prisoners of War in Pulacharke Prison.
It was assembled and created as a public service by citizens concerned with truth and accuracy in the media.
 The world's press have already told the other side more than a thousand times, and rarely truthfully. 
This site is differs from all other reports because it is based on fact, not fiction.

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