Scott Horton Interviews Katherine Hughes
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Civil liberties activist Katherine Hughes discusses her article “Anatomy of a ‘Terrorism’ Prosecution: Dr. Rafil Dhafir and the Help the Needy Muslim Charity Case;” the 22-year prison sentence Dr. Dhafir received for defying the Iraq sanctions and sending food and medical aid to malnourished Iraqi civilians; shutting down Muslim charities as part of the War on Terror; and the growing gap between law and justice in America.
MP3 here. (26:00)
Katherine Hughes has been passionate about the defense of civil liberties since seeing a documentary of the Allies going into Bergen-Belsen as a teenager 35 years ago. In the post-9/11 period, she became alarmed at the demonization of Muslims and it was this that prompted her to attend Dhafir’s 14-week trial. She took notes every day and filled eight notebooks. Her web site is: www.dhafirtrial.net





Anonymous
February 8th, 2012 at 12:14 am
loved her dialect! so much so that I forgot to listen to what she was saying and just enjoyed the melody first time around.
thank you Scot(t) and Katherine
John Ellis
February 8th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
JURY DUTY — CLASS WAR
President Obama won election by only 26% support of the population, as half of the voters refused to show up at the polls. As democracy is a monopoly that is always ruled by the 51% most educated and wealthy, as my laboring-class lower half of society is not so fool as to vote for our next set of dictators.
And so, as those on a jury are selected from a list of those who voted in the last election, namely the 51% most wealthy and greedy, if the defendant appears to in anyway be a danger to the upper half of society, especially if defendant in anyway opposes their excessive wealth or ability to maximize greed, guilty as charged is the defendant unless he can prove himself innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt.
DhafirTrial » Katherine was interviewed on Antiwar Radio
February 9th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
[...] Monday, February 6th, Katherine was interviewed about here article by Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio. [...]
Jeanne DeSocio
February 9th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
This trial was set at a time when the U.S. had demonized all the Iraqi people who lived under Saddam Hussein. These were the people in Iraq who were neglected by the other charities because donors would not donate to Saddam's area. Rafil Dhafir did not discriminate and served everyone who was needy and could be reached . According to a P.S. article the prosecution called him a national security concern and pointed out how he helped the Iraqis who were then fighting U.S. soldiers( at the time of the trial). During the sanctions this was the area that was under-served and needed the most help. The young Iraqi fighters defending their families, were probably starving children when they received aid from HTN. As an American I never thought that the U.S. would ever attack Iraq again How was Dhafir to know the unthinkable would happen? Were the prosecutors saying that America was starving the Iraqi children to make it easier and safe for U.S. troops when Bush invaded Iraq after the first war and thirteen years of economic sanctions?The President, Governor and Attorney General were all falsely smearing Dhafir as connected to terrorist. Rafil Dhafir did not stand a chance of receiving justice with the American mind set and all the lies regarding Dhafir and lies about Iraq having Weapons of mass destruction threatening the U.S..
John Ellis
February 10th, 2012 at 3:02 am
News as lady of intelligent middle-class sees it — News as laboring man sees it
Jeanne DeSocio
“This trial was set at a time when the U.S. had demonized all the Iraqi people…
lies regarding Dhafir and lies about Iraq having Weapons of mass destruction.”
John Ellis
The more wealth people have all the more do they feel deserving of wealth, so quite natural was it for the voting majority of America, the 51% most educated and wealthy, to order their government to invade Iraq and take possession of the world’s largest reserves. The perfect solution being to not allow the 25% most wealthy to vote and bar them from all politics, as this would give the impoverished lower half of society half the vote and equal control of government.
LIGHT
So, as news is something new that gives us insight into the root cause and solution to world problems, why is it that Jeanne gave us only the bloody effects of the problem, saying not one world about the root cause or solution to any problem? Well, is that not how mainstream media teaches us to rationalize all problems?
Anatomy of a "Terrorism" Prosecution: Dr. Rafil Dhafir and the Help the Needy Muslim Charity Case
February 10th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
[...] [...]
Should I stay or should I go? | Peace, Bruv
February 10th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
[...] also gave a 30 minute interview to an online radio station which I also encourage you to listen [...]
MoT
February 11th, 2012 at 4:18 am
John, this 51% rant of yours is getting old. And it's such bollocks. The fact of the matter is that most people simply don't understand what in the hell they're doing. And to say that they're all clamoring to steal someones resources to line their pocket is patently absurd. Yes there are most certainly those who see nothing wrong with that but they're the minority. A powerful and well connected elite but certainly not the majority of anything. Those poor sods who voted and then get corralled into the rigged jury system are usual led by their nose rings by judges and lawyers who "direct" these sheep. That's why jury nullification irks these overlords to no end. An honest man or woman can still derail leviathan should they have the guts to do so.
MoT
February 11th, 2012 at 4:20 am
I'm all for getting more wealth, thank you. And that's not being greedy but caring enough for those who count on me to feed them.
@JohnEllis02
February 11th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Its not what you earn — But how you earn it
MoT
“I'm all for getting more wealth, thank you.
And that's not being greedy, but caring enough
for those who count on me to feed them.”
A man is said to have a conscience if he has no desire for what belongs to those less wealthy. For though it is healthy and normal to have a high achievers drive to self-actualize, “To Be All You Can Be” and to earn all you can earn, not healthy is it to have a conviction that gives you a guilt-free conscience as you strive to enrich yourself upon the misery of those less wealthy. For that is what greed is all about and how a dead conscience comes about.
@JohnEllis02
February 11th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
For example, to keep from starving a migrant family must put their 4 year old kids to work in the blistering hot and dusty fields, slaving away from dawn to dusk and being paid less then minimum wage. So, anyone who has more wealth then that migrant family, who saves at the grocery store because of it, or who makes a penny profit off of it, are they not enriching themselves upon the misery of it?
As to what you do with wealth after you earn it, that is an entirely separate matter. As to having excessive wealth when over a billion humans suffer hunger, and to do nothing that eases the hunger, that is a matter of conscience and how to bring to life a dead conscience.
@JohnEllis02
February 12th, 2012 at 11:42 am
DARKNESS
MoT
“John, this 51% rant of yours is getting old.
And it's such bollocks.”
LIGHT
Yes of course, and the physical fact that 51% of people in Empire USA all have great jobs, terrific homes and deluxe homes, this has nothing to do with 49% parents not having the $35 needed to get a sick kid into a doctor’s office.
@JohnEllis02
February 12th, 2012 at 11:43 am
DARKNESS
MoT
“The fact of the matter is that most people simply don't understand
what in the hell they're doing. And to say that they're all clamoring
to steal someone’s resources to line their pocket is patently absurd.”
LIGHT
No man enriches himself upon the misery of another in ignorance, for no man wants the same corruption happening to him. Comes now the most wealthy 51% voting majority the world has ever known, they who have an absolute ability to control an Empire that has the most brutal imperialism that ever plundered the earth, and surely it must be concluded that, not ignorance, but greed, is the lubricant that gets things done.
@JohnEllis02
February 12th, 2012 at 11:44 am
DARKNESS
MoT
“Yes there are most certainly those who see nothing wrong
with that but they're the minority. A powerful and well
connected elite but certainly not the majority of anything.”
LIGHT
Yes of course, the 1% most wealthy are totally satanic, ungodly and corrupt, while the other 99% are good and godly but acting in ignorance. And MoT really, honestly and truly believes this. And my great grand mother loves to wear combat boots.
@JohnEllis02
February 12th, 2012 at 11:45 am
DARKNESS
MoT
“Those poor sods who voted and then get corralled into
the rigged jury system are usual led by their nose rings
by judges and lawyers who "direct" these sheep.”
LIGHT
The court system in America is a property dictatorship, where all the lawyers, judges and jury members love to ingratiate themselves with the party most wealthy. The political aspirations of the judges depends on it, the future income opportunities of lawyers is expanded by it, and who knows what great job opening a jury member may gain in it.
DARKNESS
MoT
“That's why jury nullification irks these overlords to no end.
An honest man or woman can still derail leviathan should
they have the guts to do so.”
LIGHT
A hung jury in greedy America, not one in ten thousand.
@JohnEllis02
February 12th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Western democracy — Greatest fake morality known to man
LIGHT
Hello Kitty
“Me just find it funny when, “Go for democracy Syria” say such countries as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, etc. Syria being the only country in the region, which could extend such "freedom" almost to European levels, American being lower than European democracy. Surely Syria has a democratic potential even higher than that of Turkey, yet all these of feudal Islamist dictatorships decided to teach democracy to Syria?
LIGHT
Greece was the birthplace of democracy, by a statesman named Cleistheses in 509 B. C., with some help from Socratics and Plato. Only men of the upper half of society were allowed to vote, as slaves, and women were not considered citizens. Before each democratic vote pigs were sacrificed to the gods and of course, food and drinks had to be served.
Socratics and Plato — Founding fathers of democracy
“It is permissible to lie,
if it is beneficial.”
@JohnEllis02
February 12th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
“Beneficial” being anything that enhanced the wealth and glory of those who rule democracy, the 51% most educated and wealthy. The illusion being that the highest achievers have the highest morality. Comes not Empire USA to be the ultimate corruption of such a fake morality, to wit:
DEMOCRACY USA
(1) 51% most wealthy all have great jobs, terrific homes and deluxe healthcare.
(2) 49% least wealthy have not the $35 needed to get a sick kid into the doctor’s office.
(3) Republican Party fights for the 25% most wealthy, Democrat Party fights for the 26% educated middle-class. And the Liberal Party, including the Occupy Wall Street movement, they fight for those at the low end of the 51% most wealthy.
(4) 51% most wealthy always vote for the politicians best qualified to by brutal imperialism plunder the world.
(5) 49% least wealthy, we never vote, as were not so stupid as to vote for our next set of dictators.
@JohnEllis02
February 13th, 2012 at 9:09 am
Democracy — Dictatorship by the 26% most wealthy
So long as most everyone feels that they deserve to enrich them self upon the misery of anyone less wealthy, the governments of men will never be anything more then a dictatorship ruled by the upper half of society. And in a democracy where only the 51% most wealthy go to the polls, the 26% most wealthy always rule over all of government. And the most corrupting part of democracy is the way it fools the impoverished lower half of society into thinking that no other form of government could be more fair and just.
So, what we need do is enlighten the lower half of society what there is a better way, namely a —
MORAL DEMOCRACY
The 25% most wealthy must NOT be allowed to vote or have any involvement in politics. As this would give the impoverished lower half of society 50% of the vote, half the control, and prevent the 51% most wealthy from having a monopoly on government. Also it would stop the rich ruling class from hoarding 80% of the wealth.
@JohnEllis02
February 13th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Marine Sgt. Loggins — Murdered in cold blood by Sheriff Deputy
Last Friday Marine Sgt. Loggins was in his parked car with his two daughters, in the parking lot of San
Clemente high school, when a Sheriff Deputy walked up to the vehicle and thru the driver side window shot dead the father in front of his two terrified daughters.
First the Orange County Sheriff’s office said that the officer feared for his life, then the next day the Deputy killer changed his mind and said that he gunned down the unarmed Marine because he feared the father would harm his daughters. In all probability when law enforcement does such a complete reversal of testimony its to cover-up wrong doing by an officer.
@JohnEllis02
February 13th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Problem is, the deputy did not have the authority to make such a judgment call. For in doing so, the Deputy became the father of the children, the judge and jury of a split second trial, and the executioner to administer capital punishment. Far better if the Deputy had let the father take his daughters home and arrested the driver after the children were out of harm’s way. The Deputy had the vehicle license number, and the Deputy knew the oldest daughter was enrolled in the high school.
Standing next to the vehicle it would have been just as easy for the Deputy to shoot holes in the tires. Comes now the reality that the Deputy was white, his victim was black and shoot to kill is the automatic response if a Deputy has the slightest excuse.
Mrs Eberle
February 14th, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Anybody who followed Rafil's episode from the beginning could testify to the fact that the continuous modification in the reason for his arrest is self explanatory!
@JohnEllis02
February 15th, 2012 at 5:11 am
Marine shot dead, gunmen a Sheriff Deputy — Nationwide news blackout
The killing of Marine Sgt. Loggins in the parking lot of San Clemente high school, it was six days ago and still not one word of it by AP or any nationwide news media. Why? And why is it that everyone in Iran who follows the news at Press TV is fully aware of it? And everyone in Russia that follows RT News, why do they know all about it?
@JohnEllis02
February 15th, 2012 at 5:19 am
“BREAKING:
“Psycho OC, CA Sheriff's Deputy murders unarmed USMC who was getting HIS Kids into HIS Car”
“This is getting insane.
“MURDER, plain and simple.
“Literally, no probable cause, no warning, no discussion, a cop-thug MURDERS an UNARMED vet simply because the moron perceived Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr. was "appeared to be acting irrationally — was about to drive off with the girls."
“So now in post-NDAA America, a mere irrational suspicion is enough to kill us all?
“You MURDERED the wrong Marine, Orange County Sheriff Dept., for he was a "deeply religious" man whom many looked upon as a "mentor" and a "father figure."
“Nice try.
.
.http://www.dailypaul.com/213914/breaking-trigger-happy-occa-sheriffs-deputy-murders-an-unarmed-usmc-while-getting-his-kids-into-his-car