Suspected pirates fight with U.S. Navy

The USS Nicholas statement taking fire from an alleged pirate skiff shortly after midnight local time west of the Seychelles, the statement said. The Nicholas speedily returned fire & began pursuing the skiff, which was finally disabled. A boarding team arrested 3 people.

The team revealed bullets & some cans of fuel aboard the skiff, which was later ruined by the Nicholas. Additional 2 suspected pirates were captured on a take away "mother ship".

Last week, 1 pirate was killed & several others were keeping in custody after a security team thwarted an attack against a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, the MV Almezaan.

Sky begins online 3D-ready pub finder

Sky will launch 3D broadcasts to pubs for the Premier League clash among Manchester United & Chelsea on Saturday.

Around 1,500 pubs & clubs in the UK have previously signed up to receive the service, & customers can log on to the '3D pubs' section on Sky's website to track down a participating venue in their area.

In a report, Sky said that its installers have been "working well to make sure the vast majority of pubs on the finder have been supplies out with 3D TVs & 3D glasses in time for the match". After the April 3 transmission, Sky plans to show the minimum of 5 more Premier League games in 3D before for the current season ends on May 9.

Irish Genealogy Toolkit Update

If you're curious to know more about Irish surnames, you'll find the three pages I've just added to my website fascinating.

You can find out how the Mac/Mc and O' prefixes evolved, learn how many of the best-known Irish last names in fact originate in France and how very few evolved from placenames. Some of the most quoted myths about the surnames of Ireland are also debunked.

Getting more specific, you can also find out about the 20 most common surnames (in 1890) as well as 10 randomly-chosen but well-known family names.

Find out more about Irish names

Chicago House 2009-2010 season Ray Johnson

Chicago House 2009-2010 season Ray Johnson

It was nice that the last lecture of the season was Ray as I really admire the work they do in Luxor and how accessible they make their publications. Indeed he opened his lecture by announcing that yet another publication was available FREE DOWNLOAD.

There are over 100 titles on the Oriental Institute website that available free in low resolution PDF’s and they are pleased that rather than seeing a drop of sales it has actually resulted in an increase. The link is here http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/ and if you look you can see a dollar sign or a downward arrow. The downward arrow gives you the free PDF. They are looking to get everything n online and are thankful for donations that have made scanning possible.

This year they were working at Medinet Habu, TT107, and Khonsu and Luxor temples

Medinet Habu
They have just published MH IX The 18 dynasty temple Part 1 the inner Sanctuaries. At Habu they are planning volume X the Ambulatory. In 29th dynasty Akons added doorways that blocked the Tuthmosis III inscriptions. However these were hollow so sue Osgood who is small and thin has crawled inside and managed to document them. There has been an ARCE/SCA field school on recording methodologies; there are a lot of different methods depending on the situation of the inscriptions. They made a new block yard and moved 1200 blocks into it making a total of 2000. There is a ‘hospital’ area and different platforms have different periods. Outside of this block yard there is an open display area with 40 blocks. There are some 40 blocks that have appeared from nowhere and were found south of Armant. There was a Sobek cult place which had a tack made of reused blocks which contained the status of Amenhotep III and Sobek which is in the Luxor Museum.

TT107
The owner was Nefersekheru Steward of Amenhotep III at Malkata Palace. Tombs are not usually their thing but they have held this concession for 40 years. At Malkata the SCA are building a wall around it which is quite an undertaking as the site is 5km and requires a 10km wall. Cultivation was encroaching on the site and at Amarna this has destroyed three quarters of the site as this is now under cultivation. They do not want this to happen at Malkata. It is in poor structural condition and although it uses sunken relief the quality is as good as Ramose.

Khonsu
So far there are three publications the first court, the hypostyle hall and the rooftop graffiti. It was built by Ramses III out of at least 3 previous temples that were at the site. The floor area has Seti I blocks, they used aluminum foil to get a rubbing and then traced the foil. Because of the position of the blocks they cannot photograph so have had to develop a new methodology. They hope that they can put the inscriptions back together on paper. The blocks reference Khonsu so there was an XVIII dynasty temple on the site that Ramses III destroyed. It is a challenge to document Ramses usurpation of Horemheb's original, there were 144 in situ blocks and 315 block fragments
Luxor Temple
There is a new focus on Roman Luxor Temple, under Diocletian it was a Roman fort. Medieval Luxor came out of this. They have been working on the Roam cestrum wall and clearing the bastion, these are in poor condition. There is a 6th centenary church which is the largest and oldest to be documented. They are going to do some educational panels like those at Karnak temple in English and in Arabic. They are have almost finished creating a block yard museum which opened on Monday. Lots of these blocks have been published. They have landscaped the area to the east of the temple where they are allowing the public to view. The blocks will be behind a chain link rope to protect them from being touched. Fragment groups have been assembled, intervening mortar has had connecting loins drawn which whilst not replicating anything gives the public and sense of what is going on. This has already been done to great effect on the Khonsu barque wall. Where blocks have been reassembled this has been done by wrapping the blocks in plastic to protect them from the wet mortar and not bonded. This means they can be unassembled should this be required. The blocks have been put into chronological groups as well as subject groups. Lightening has also been donated so that they can be viewed at night as well when the temple is lit and open. The block yard will also encourage traffic flow away from the narrow door in the apse as well as being educational. The walkway starts at the barque sanctuary and leads along past Amenhotep III, Senuseret I, Tuthmosis IV Hatshepsut, Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep IV/Akhenaton, Tutankhamen, Horemheb, Ramses II, Seti I, Ramses III, Egyptian creatures Nectanebo, all of the Ptolemy’s, animals incl female baboons with skirts, Roman Christian, /Islamic. It is not set in stone but things can be moved and replaced. There is also a viewing area for the Roman gate. It then leads back to the sun court.

Sadly this is the last lecture, roll on the autumn

Hamas Set to Carry Out Executions

Rights groups call on the de facto Gaza government to halt the announced hangings.

A number of Palestinian and international human rights groups have called on Hamas not to go through with over a dozen executions recently announced by senior officials in the de facto government in the Gaza Strip.

The executions would be the first judicially sanctioned ones to be carried out by Hamas since it took over the Gaza Strip in a bloody coup three years ago. While approved, the death sentences have been held up by in-fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

The Hamas-run government in Gaza is known to have sentenced a total of 16 people to death, 14 of them in 2009 and two this year. Of the 16 prisoners pending execution, 15 have been convicted of treason in military courts for "collaboration" with Israel, and one was convicted of murder in a civilian court.

While human rights groups have accused the Hamas governments of killing dozens of Palestinians in extrajudicial executions, the Hamas-led government has not carried out a judicially sanctioned execution since the Islamist group took military control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

On March 23, however, the de facto government's Minister of Interior Fathi Hammad told a Gaza radio station that the executions would be carried out soon. Two days later the Gaza government's Attorney General Mohammed Abed announced that earlier this year the General Prosecution Office began ratifying the death sentences of those convicted of treason and murder. Then on Sunday the government's General Prosecution Office announced that it was a legal duty to ratify the pending death sentences.

“Hamas must not start carrying out executions. That would be a profoundly retrograde step and go against the emerging trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions,” Malcolm Smart, the Middle East Director of Amnesty International said in a statement, adding that there was reason to believe the executions may be carried out in the next few days. “It would be especially abhorrent to execute prisoners who, as in these cases, were sentenced to death after proceedings which failed to meet international fair trial standards.”

Fawzi Barhum, a Hamas spokesperson, said the government was simply following the law.

"Everything is ruled by the basic law," he told The Media Line. "These collaborators killed several Palestinians and committed crimes against civilians. They have been in court several times and Hamas supports the government's implementation of the law, both in the cases of the death penalty and in general, in order to maintain the security and safety of the civilians."

The executions seem to have been held up by the complex inter-factional tensions between the two main Palestinian political parties, Fatah and Hamas.

Since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, the narrow coastal strip has been governed by a de facto administration under Isma’il Haniyeh, while the West Bank has been led by a caretaker government appointed by Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian law requires that death sentences be ratified by the President before they are carried out. However, since Abbas' term ended in January, 2009, Hamas has not recognized his legitimacy as president.

"There are many court decisions sentencing people to death, and they could do it, but it might be a little bit difficult for them," Issam Younis, Director of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza told The Media Line. "The President needs to endorse a death sentence and as you know they do not consider Abbas to be the legitimate elected President, so there is no one with the authority to ratify a death sentence."

The last judicially sanctioned executions in Gaza were carried out in the summer of 2005, prior to the Hamas takeover of the strip, when four men were hanged in Gaza's central prison and one was killed by a firing squad at Gaza's police headquarters.

Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza in the summer of 2007, Hamas set up a law enforcement and judicial apparatus that has been repeatedly criticized by local and international human rights organizations for lacking accountability mechanisms and trained personnel.

"We do not feel that these people were given a fair trial in these courts for a number of reasons," Bill Van Esveld, a local researcher with Human Rights Watch told The Media Line. "What we hear is that you are not provided access to a lawyer in the military judicial system until after you have been interrogated, so one of many concerns is that evidence can be obtained through coercion. Also, eight or nine of the 16 who have been sentenced to death are Fatah-affiliated, and we haven't seen any Hamas people convicted on the same charges."

"The last time they legally executed anyone was in 2005 and Hamas has never judicially executed anybody," he said. "So this would be a real step backwards."

The Palestinian death penalty is based on the PLO Revolutionary Penal Code of 1979. Palestinian human rights groups have argued that the code is unconstitutional as it was never approved by a democratically elected body, and international human rights groups point to the code's vague wording.

Article 165 of the code, for example, calls for the death penalty for "any crime that incites people or harms the prestige or reputation of the Palestinian revolution."

"How could you defend yourself against such a charge?" said Van Esveld. "Nobody knows what it means."

Late last year the Gaza government adopted an Egyptian law that would permit the execution of convicted drug dealers

"We have the right to hasten the execution of those who are willing to kill their own people," Attorney General Mohammed Abed said of the change in a public statement.

Issam Younis, Director of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza, argued that Hamas was unlikely to carry out the executions.

"I don't see it happening in the foreseeable future," he told The Media Line. "There is a major international focus on human rights issues in Gaza. In addition, according to the law the President has to ratify a death sentence and so far beyond an interview on the radio we have not seen any formal document or decree from the Gaza government's Ministry of Interior saying they plan to execute someone. So we don't have any real information and I doubt that they will actually go through with it."

Source: The Media Line, April 1, 2010

NEW HELL HOLE NEWS #22 (March 15, 2010), by Henry "Hank" Skinner

March 15, 2010

Hey y'all,

I received a letter from a student in Florida that I wanted to share you with as well as my reply to him.

Hank

999143 Polunsky Unit

H W Hank Skinner

3872 FM 350 South

Livingston TX 77351-8580

http://www.hankskinner.org/

hwskinner@yahoo.com

h.w.skinner@gmail.com

February 17th, 2010

Inmate Henry Skinner (TDCJ 999143)

C/O TDCJ Polunsky Unit

3872 FM 350 South

Livingston TX 77351

Dear Mr. Skinner,

My name is Kevin S. I am a student at the University of West Florida. This semester I am taking a course on capital punishment. Our class project is to write letters to persons on death row in order to understand what life on death row is like for them.

I sent you an earlier version of this letter but in the event you did not receive it, I am resending. I hope you will help me understand what life on death row is like. Before I proceed, I would like to reassure you that I am not a journalist nor am I affiliated with the media in any way. I also want you to know that I am not involved with the state’s prosecution and that I do not work for the Texas criminal justice system. I am merely a college student who is trying to learn more about life on death row than what is written in a textbook. As you can see, your insights are invaluable to my research for this project, so I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to share some aspects of your life with me.

I want you to know that we only have from January through March to collect the information we need for our projects. As a result, I would like to correspond with you on a regular basis so that I can learn as much from you as possible during this time.

That being said, I hope you will respond to the following list of questions. I have included a self-addressed envelope so that you may send your answers back to me. If you don’t mind, I will write to you again once I have received the letter. Initially we were told we could send stamped self-addressed envelopes. We now know that the policy has changed so our self-addressed envelope is not stamped. I hope that will not deter you from writing me.

- What should we, as a class, know and understand about the death penalty from your point of view?

- What kind of sentence would you propose for those convicted of major crimes like homicide?

- Does the waiting and the lengthy appeal process bother you or do you see it to your advantage?

- Some people have said that the appeal process itself constitutes “cruel and unusual” punishment. Would you agree?

- What changes have you seen on death row since you’ve been there?

- How do you feel right now – what is it like to live on death row status?

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Kevin.

Here is my reply:

March 11, 2010

Kevin,

I had an execution date February 24th, which is why I didn’t answer your first letter. After a lot of diligent and tedious work, we got that date modified to March 24th. So I’ve got a little breathing room, but not much. So I’ve got little time and less patience, but I’ll make time to tell you a few things. First of all, prisoners do not like to be addressed as “inmate”. In bucolic/colloquialism terms of prison parlance, “inmate” ranks just one click above “snitch” or “chester”. Snitches tell it to the man, chesters rape kids. An inmate is one who was rescued from under a bridge and glad to have 3 hot meals and a cot. Most of ‘em got some form of Stockholm syndrome.

A convict is someone who has a little honor, integrity and backbone, knows how to do is time, minds his own biz, will help another convict if asked, won’t snitch and is stand-up i.e. peckerwood. That term denotes a hard dick. That’s a good thing to be, in here. I call myself Sthanakvas!

In short, my address should be written exactly as I have it, above. Thanks in advance for the respect you’ll show by doing it that way.

It would take me many months, if not years, to explain what the public as a class, much less a student class, should know about the death penalty. In Texas, it is fraught with bias, prejudice, coerced confessions, coerced witnesses, all manner of prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct and all kinds of other cheating, subterfuge and other corrupt bullshit.

In Texas, D.A.’s are elected and they get re-elected by promising the public to get tough on crime and keep the streets safe for Grandmas and children. When some big murder case breaks, the D.A. sees it as a perfect opportunity to cement his legend and make it appear to the public that he is making good on his promises, etc. Once he decides to go for the death penalty against a defendant, the landscape change. Lie, cheat, steal or sell his mama to the Arabs. He’ll do anything to win a conviction and secure a death sentence.

Fabricating evidence, threatening or enticing witnesses to lie, offering leniency to jailhouse snitches if they give them the testimony the state needs to convict – usually they just make it up or, the D.A. will give them a prepared script as was done in my case.

My case has been all over the news of late. Don’t you watch the news or check it out on the Internet?

http://www.texastribune.org/ - “Case Open”

http://www.hankskinner.org/ - Read my Hell Hole News, in the death row news section, particularly #13, #15 & #20. I am innocent. I was framed.

Channel 10 News website out of Amarillo, TX. Reporter Ben Briscoe just interviewed me.

http://www.medillinnocenceproject.org/ - they have an extensive presentation about my case.

My website http://www.hankskinner.org/ has all the documentation about my innocence and briefs, evidence, DNA reports, affidavits, etc, etc.

I am a writ writer. In the world, I worked as a paralegal for the pre-eminent criminal defense attorney in the Texas Panhandle, James Marion “Rowdy” Bowers. He was hung in his garage by the D.A. who prosecuted me. That D.A’s successor was arrested in the courtroom at docket call two years ago with an ounce each of coke, meth and ecstasy plus two automatic illegal weapons. Then, subsequent searches of his home and office by the D.E.A. turned up 36 more illegal weapons, child porn, snuff films, all manner of drug paraphernalia, marijuana and other stuff. The D.E.A. had a hidden camera in the bedroom of an apartment he’d originally rented for an assistant D.A. but when that assistant quit and the D.A.’s wife threw him out for continually using meth, he moved into this apartment and used it for assignations with his secretary and her daughter. He was caught on camera sitting up nude in the middle of the bed injecting his penis with a combo of meth and levitra. When it stood up he said “look at that! I’m gonna patent this shit!”. I could go on and on.

Enclosed is a Huffington post article by retired Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin about my case. CNN & 48 Hours maybe doing exposés about my case soon. I’m on YouTube, on Al Jazeera English News in an hour long exposé.

To answer your second question, I propose no sentence for homicides. That’s not my job. It is up to the public, the legislature and the courts to determine penalty ranges for capital crimes.

Waiting is part of the process. I think it’s a damn shame I’ve lost 15 years in the prime of my life for a crime I didn’t commit, but them’s the breaks. Sometimes shit happens. Sometimes it happens to you.

No, the appeals process itself does not constitute cruel or unusual punishment but the conditions one is forced to endure during that time can easily violate the 8th amendment. As for myself, I’ve actually been tortured – “sweated” in a “hot box” cell until I lost consciousness and was so dehydrated I had salt crusted all over my body and it took a medical team 45 minutes to revive me after I had a heatstroke – were it not for the intervention of a revolutionary prisoner who was a Black Panther, I’d have died for sure. I’ve been beaten bloody by a rogue Sgt and his goons, had my neck crushed, cheekbone broken, etc. in “cell extractions”. “Excessive use of force”, EUOF, is the legal term for it. The Sergeant was fired. My attorneys are about to file an 8th amendment suit/claim on these very issues and much more.

The changes I’ve seen since I got here. It’s just gotten worse and worse, overly restrictive. We have no privileges anymore, can’t have our crafts to pass the time, etc, etc. Incessant and destructive shakedowns – it’s like a Gestapo POW camp, it thrives on terrorizing prisoners. Mostly due to a bunch of punitive minded anal retentive asshole Republicans and their constituency, who think it is their duty to mistreat and abuse any lesser class: prisoners, poor, Backs, Hispanics, anyone who’s disadvantaged and fair game.

How do you feel right now? Got my B.P. checked this morning, it’s 169/97. Let someone tell you, “you’ll die on this date” and see what it does for you. The stress is off the charts. It’s really impossible to explain to someone like you because you simply have no life experiences by which to compare it with. So, having no references for it, you really cannot even begin to truly comprehend it. I’ve watched as men I knew to be innocent were summarily slaughtered by the State without a thought or care. In the 15 years I’ve been here, Texas has killed over 350 men and three women. With every one they kill, they’re one more closer to me. Virtually every friend I had here has been killed. Regardless of what they did or didn’t do out there, in here, they’re just people.

All the crap you hear about “super predators”, “sociopaths”, “psychopaths” is mostly hype. Life happens. Sometimes it goes horribly wrong. I’ve known one or two who was seriously mentally deranged but for the most part it’s just ordinary Joes caught up in extraordinary circumstances, sometimes of their own making, sometimes not.

Since I’ve come to death row in 1995 conditions have gone to hell in a hand basket. Ever more restrictive and constitutionally violative. The courts’ attitude toward prisoners in general and death row in particular is purely hate filled, retributive, antagonistic.

As to how I feel right now, Jackyl’s “I stand alone today” and “when will it rain” about sums it up. Today they are killing one of my last few friends here. Joshua Maxwell. I just said goodbye to him. I have a date in 13 days. 03.24.10.

Best regards

Hank

Mr. Skinner's March 24 execution was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court minutes before he was to be put to death. More information and updates on Hank Skinner's case here and here. Please sign the petition in the top left corner of this page and circulate it widely.

Click here for recent pictures of the Polunsky Death Row Unit and the "living" conditions there, annotated by Texas DR prisoner Thomas Whitaker. Click here to visit Mr. Whitaker's blog "Minutes Before Six".

Amnesty International Urges Lebanese Authorities to Intervene to Halt Expected Saudi Arabia Execution

Amnesty International today urged Saad Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister, to intervene to help halt the possible imminent execution of a Lebanese national in Saudi Arabia, after the organization received reports that an execution is scheduled for tomorrow.

Amnesty International fears that former television presenter 'Ali Hussain Sibat (pictured with 2 of his 5 children), convicted on charges of "sorcery" in Saudi Arabia, may be the Lebanese national facing execution.

On March10 a Saudi Arabia court upheld the death sentence against 'Ali Hussain Sibat, after he was convicted in November 2009 on charges of "sorcery", for giving advice and predictions about the future on a Lebanese satellite TV show.

"'Ali Hussain Sibat appears to have been convicted solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression," said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program.

"We urge the Lebanese authorities to do all they can to prevent this execution," said Smart, "and we are calling on King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia not to let this or other executions go ahead. It is high time the Saudi Arabian government joined the international trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions."

'Ali Hussain Sibat was arrested by the Mutawa'een (religious police) in May 2008 while he was visiting Saudi Arabia on a form of Muslim pilgrimage, the 'umra.

His lawyer believes that the TV presenter was arrested because members of the Mutawa'een had recognized him from his show, which was broadcast on the Sheherazade TV station.

The police asked 'Ali Hussain Sibat's to write down what he did for a living, reassuring him that he would be allowed to go home after a few weeks if he complied.

The defendant was convicted after the statement he wrote was presented during the trial as a "confession."

He was sentenced to death by a court in Madina on November 9, 2009 following secret hearings where he was given no legal representation or assistance.

In January 2010, the Court of Appeal in Makkah accepted an appeal against the TV presenter's death sentence, on grounds that it was a premature verdict.

The Court of Appeal said that all allegations made against 'Ali Hussain Sibat had to be verified, and that if he had really committed the crime he should be asked to repent.

But on March 10, a court in Madina upheld the death sentence. The judges said that he deserved to be sentenced to death because he had practiced "sorcery" publicly for several years before millions of viewers and that his actions "made him an infidel."

The court also said that there would be no way to verify that his repentance, if he should repent, would be sincere and that imposing the death sentence would deter other people from engaging in "sorcery" at a time when, the court said, there is an increase in the number of "foreign magicians" entering Saudi Arabia.

The crime of "sorcery" is not defined in Saudi Arabian law but is used to punish people for the legitimate exercise of their human rights, including the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, belief and expression.

The Saudi Arabian authorities arrested scores of people for "sorcery" in 2009, and have continued to arrest people on the same charges this year.

The last known execution for "sorcery" was that of Egyptian national Mustafa Ibrahim, on November 2, 2007. He had been arrested in May 2007 in the town of Arar, where he worked as a pharmacist, and accused of "apostasy" for having degraded a copy of the Qur'an.

At least 158 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2007 and at least 102 in 2008. In 2009, 69 people are known to have been executed, including 19 foreign nationals. Since the beginning of 2010, at least 8 people have been executed.

Amnesty International called on the authorities to release 'Ali Hussain immediately and unconditionally if he has been convicted solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

Source: Amnesty International, April 1, 2010