Are we getting madder? Shoot to kill? Shoot to kill is the biggest stupid stick that will only kill innocents... no one would be safe from the police anymore. Wear brown pants if your face looks a bit suss... It seems the SMH has gone totally far right-loco apart from a dwindling number of its scribes and the letter page that would be full of red necks comments if they could find enough of them who could write...

Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead (shot 7 times in the head at point blank range), was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police, his cousin said yesterday.

 

The Guardian

As more information has come to light on the circumstances surrounding the assassination of the unfortunate Brazilian, it is abundantly clear that from the moment he stepped out of his apartment building in Tulse Hill to go to his job as an electrician, Menezes was a dead man.

 

Death Of A Brazilian

‘SIR IAN Blair, the embattled head of the Metropolitan Police, was last night forced to defend himself over the fatal shooting of an innocent man on a Tube train, as members of London's police authority raised doubts about his force's conduct.

 

As the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said Sir Ian had tried to block its investigation into the killing, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes yesterday repeated their call for a full public inquiry into the events that led police officers to kill the 27-year-old as a suspected suicide bomber.

 

Ominously for Sir Ian, that call was echoed by members of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which oversees his force. Several members of the authority called for a full public inquiry into the killing, while others criticised the Met for either propagating misinformation about Mr de Menezes or, at least, failing to correct untruths.’

 

 

Met Watchdog Joins Critics Of Shooting

From Al Jazeera...

Morocco Islamists get royal pardon
Saturday 20 August 2005, 22:33 Makka Time, 19:33 GMT
King Mohammed VI of Morocca has granted pardon to seven Islamists on the occasion of his birthday, Aljazeera's correspondent in Morocco reports.
The seven were convicted and sentenced to jail terms ranging between two and 16 years after the 16 May attacks in Casablanca in which 45 people were killed.
The pardons come following the king's recent statements on supposed excesses committed during the trials of Moroccan Islamists under the antiterrorism law, Aljazeera's correspondent added

The UK Police crisis continues to run out of control, whilst Tony Blair continues his Caribbean holiday.

 

 

The latest revelation that critical CCTV footage of the shooting of Jean Menezes was found to be “blank

from the SMH

TV preacher urges US assassination of Chavez
August 24, 2005 - 1:26AM

US religious broadcaster Pat Robertson urged the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whom he called a "dangerous enemy," in an episode of his television show The 700 Club....

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson, 75, said in a live broadcast on Monday from Christian Broadcasting Network headquarters in Virginia Beach, Virginia

etc...

Now staff at Stockwell tube station have denied police reports that closed-circuit television cameras were not working when an innocent man was shot dead by police hunting potential suicide bombers.

 

Senior officers are reported to have told the independent investigation into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes that they had no footage from inside the carriage or the platform as all five cameras were not working.  

 

But the Tube workers have challenged the police claim, reportedly telling investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission that three of the four cameras covering the platform were definitely working on the morning of July 22.

 

Staff say they do not know why the camera inside the carriage would not have filmed the moments when the Brazilian electrician was shot by police.

 

Police Lying Over Tube Death Video

 

 

‘Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has a new best friend this morning: television evangelist Pat Robertson.

 

With his astonishing call for the left-wing leader's assassination last night - "I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it...We have the ability to take him out" -Robertson will have surely made Chavez an even more popular anti-yanqui icon in Venezuela, Latin America and around the world.

 

Like his mentor Fidel Castro, Chavez thrives on threats from the U.S., real or perceived. He has long insisted that his foes are plotting to kill him, and this summer had armed civilians training with the Venezuelan military to prepare for what he says is an imminent U.S. invasion.

 

A public effort to whack him, offered from the right-wing Christian establishment so closely aligned with President Bush, is just what Chavez needs to keep his approval ratings soaring as high as the price of the Venezuelan oil he controls, the largest crude reserves in the hemisphere.’

 

Pat Robertson's Statements Help Hugo Chavez

What chance this neanderthal would get locked-up under our new anti-terrorist laws?

 

Notice the reference to Chavez being a dictator, ignoring the fact that he was democratically elected (which is more than Bush can claim), as well as the most important reason for advocating his murder: oil.

 

A Little Fundamentalist Christian

Jon Stewart comments on Pat Robertson’s fatwah against Hugo Chavez.

 

Comedy Central

 

And on a more serious note, Ron Jacobs from Counterpunch asks:

 

“Who would Jesus Assassinate?

From Chávez taunts US with oil offer

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela hit back vigorously at calls by an ally of President George Bush for his assassination by offering cheap petrol to the poor of the US at a time of soaring fuel prices.

Getting up the hairy nostrils of the ecclesiastical hierarchy is one thing, but by offering to interfere with the prices of oil, the man has signed his own death warrant. Peter Pentecostello could call on any one of thousands of inner suburban voters to do the job, personally. How would we like it, if the price of petrol goes up any further, due to shenanigans by this jumped-up dago, who is certainly a communist? Liberation theology - bah! It's hard enough, ploughing through narrow streets in the Urban Assault Vehicle and being expected to concentrate on the road while attending to the hair and the phone, without having to worry about the prospect of $200 for a tankful.

Mr Robertson apologises and says he was misinterpreted re the elimination of Mr Chavez which everybody understood as assassination... he'd meant kidnapping Mr Chavez...

So this claim makes Robertson a LIAR, as well as a lunatic, fundamentalist Christian. 

 

His actual statement was: "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.

It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

The proposal that Chavez, the head of state of another sovereign nation, should be assassinated is direct & explicit. 

 

By lying about it, Robertson also effectively confirms his status as a dishonest coward.

 

New US Ambassador To Venezuela

‘London Police marksmen and army surveillance teams following Jean Charles de Menezes onto a Tube train could not receive orders in the vital moments before he was shot dead because their radios did not work underground.’

Army & Police War Of Words

 

Steering away from the Commandant Dick situation, we all know about the fragility of CCTV evidence. Every other episode of The Bill, and every other British cop show, has a crooked (or just "helpful") plod mucking about with the tapes. 

... PCs Honey Harman and Tony Stamp ... decide to destroy any CCTV evidence of the attack. 

Last Sunday's Background Briefing ( What's the Data?) referred to the problem of inter-agency conflicts.

The issues thrown up by Able Danger: lack of information sharing between intelligence agencies, the need to cross-reference large classified databases with publicly available information, are also hot topics in Canberra.. 

Related to surveillance is the monumental task of indexing images.

Brian Lovell: Well labelling is very difficult for pictures, because you don’t know what label to use, and also labelling at present has to be done by humans, and just the sheer rate at which we are accumulating video data, we’ve got, say in Brisbane on Cable TV, there’s 128 channels delivering television on Cable TV all the time. You could store that, but how could you search through it? How could you find information? And you have to employ people and pay large wages for them to classify it all. And a picture paints a thousand words. If you had a red ball, would that be classed as a geometric object, a toy, sports equipment? I mean what label would you use?

I can see a bright future for people who will be happy to sit in dark rooms for 7.5 hours a day, watching CCTV footage.

Ahhh, but plenty of politicians would be ideally suited to such a task.

Simply substitute the mirrors into which they lovingly & continuously gaze !!

As one of the world's largest arms exhibitions opened yesterday in London, elsewhere in the city the family of Mr de Menezes heard police chief Sir Ian Blair insist the shoot-to-kill policy would remain in place.  

 

 

'Shoot-To-Kill' Is Our Least Worst Option   

 

 

New evidence has emerged that armed police officers fired at innocent Brazilian terror suspect Jean Charles de Menezes for more than 30 seconds when they killed him on the London underground.

 

A witness statement made to independent investigators said that ten or eleven shots were fired by the police at Stockwell Tube Station.

 

Witness Tells Of 30-second Shooting

 

The investigation into the police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes will not release a report on the incident for months, it was revealed yesterday.

 

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it would finish its inquiry into the Brazilian's killing by Christmas but the report would not be published until any potential criminal proceedings against the police marksmen were completed.

 

No Report On Police Tube Killing Until Next Year

 

 

 

 

‘Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, suggested a change in the law in the wake of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes so that he would not have to provide information to an independent inquiry, it emerged yesterday.  

 

On the day the Brazilian electrician was shot dead by police, Sir Ian said in a letter to Home Office permanent secretary, Sir John Gieve, that revealing information to external investigators could compromise police tactics and intelligence sources & put lives at risk.’  

 

Sir Ian's Letter Against Probe

 

and ….

 

Celso Amorin in The Guardian says that the Menezes killing is a reminder that human rights cannot be a stick to beat the developing world.

 

‘I can understand the shock the July bombings caused in Britain. I have lived in London, and we want to show solidarity in the fight against terror. But in Brazil we were also shocked that an innocent Brazilian could be mistaken for a terrorist and shot dead by the police. I want to avoid strong words, but this was a tragic mistake, to say the least. It was a case of summary execution of the wrong person.

Even when you are dealing with someone accused of a crime, that person has a right to defend his or her case before the law. Jean de Menezes was not even accused of anything - he was simply the wrong man.’

 

 

A Summary Execution

 

 

To the small band of loyal YD readers - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share in a remarkable technological solution to the greatest problem of our time. A small, but vibrant and enthusiastic, biotech start-up was funded by the Bracks-Brumby initiative. Cutting edge science has produced a management tool that will be sought by all governments. Buy into this company now - when this discovery is announced to the world, you will not be able to buy this stock, for love nor money. This is your ticket to future happiness, prosperity and security. 

This patented process combines two technologies into the ultimate in pest control. No more embarassing Menezes or Wolfgang moments. No more idiotic outbursts from the likes of Cindy Sheehan, Clare Short and Bob Brown. With fine-tuning, even future whistleblowers and passive non-conformists can be prevented.

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The second groundbreaking technology is a portable high-potency laser, developed by the US military for use against Iraqi insurgents. This special tool can be targeted on a woman's ovaries by our patented sensor , and without any pain whatsoever, she can be instantly relieved of the inconvenience of conception.

Prototyping has proved the two tools can be combined at a biometric scanning booth. When citizens are passing through the barrier, the detection and correction beams activate and do their work in just five seconds.

Informed consent? No problem. Ruddock's new anti-terrst laws will contain an obscure clause that permits the operation to be carried out on anyone who approaches an area that is controlled by federal authorities.

 

‘The two police marksmen who shot dead an innocent Brazilian in the belief that he was a suicide bomber will escape criminal charges for murder or manslaughter, sources close to the inquiry believe. 

 

Senior Scotland Yard officers and Whitehall sources are convinced prosecutors will accept the defence of the marksmen who shot Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year old electrician, at Stockwell Tube station on July 22.  

 

The two were said to have been interviewed last week by investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). They are thought to have used the defence that they “honestly believed

‘At least one passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 924 maintains the federal air marshals were a little too quick on the draw when they shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar as he frantically attempted to run off the airplane shortly before take-off.  

 

"I don't think they needed to use deadly force with the guy," says John McAlhany, a 44-year-old construction worker from Sebastian, Fla. "He was getting off the plane." McAlhany also maintains that Alpizar never mentioned having a bomb.’ 

 

Eyewitness: "I Never Heard the Word 'Bomb''

‘An internal review by the Metropolitan Police has found two officers followed correct procedures when they shot dead the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at a Tube station, it emerged yesterday.’  

 

Tube Shooting: Police Officers Cleared By Internal Met Inquiry

 

‘The family of Jean Charles de Menezes last night called for those responsible for the fatal shooting of the 27-year-old on the London Underground to face "real justice" in a court of law, as a police watchdog delivered its long-awaited report into his death to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). 

 

The Brazilian's family said they remained in the dark after being refused permission to see the full report.’ 

 

Demand For Justice As Tube Shooting Report Goes To CPS

 

 

‘Campaigners yesterday called for a report into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was gunned down by police six months ago, to be made public.  

 

They also urged prosecutors to make a swift decision on whether to take action against officers following the independent investigation into the shooting.  

 

Call for CPS To Make de Menezes Report Public

 

‘Undercover police tried to change a surveillance log to hide the fact they had mistakenly identified the 27-year-old electrician as a suspected suicide bomber, in the wake of the attacks on London last July.’  

 

Police Cover-Up Claim In Killing Of de Menezes

The Editor,

The Scotsman.                                                                                   February 1, 2006. 

 

Sir Ian Blair is a disgrace (‘Chief admits de Menezes ‘error”, Scotsman, January 31). 

 

Attempting to excuse the behaviour of his officers, by suggesting that they were “transfixed” by the events of the London bombing, is plainly dishonest. The fact that the police consciously decided to issue misleading reports to cover their negligence in the tragic death of Charles de Menezes, before knowingly trying to conceal the fact, is clear evidence of deliberate criminal deceit & the existence of a corrupt police culture. 

 

Further, the refusal of authorities to make public the report of the investigation into this dreadful affair not only casts serious doubts on the efficacy of the decision not to bring charges against the police concerned but also on the reputation of the entire London Metropolitan police force. 

 

Shame Sir Ian, shame.

 

Anne & John Richardson

‘Police officers are facing criminal charges over
allegations that they tampered with evidence after shooting dead an innocent
Brazilian at a London Underground station, The Independent on Sunday can
reveal.  

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
officials investigating the killing of 27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes plan
to charge the officers who oversaw the operation with attempting to pervert the
course of justice. 

The disclosure comes three weeks
after reports that undercover police deliberately attempted to blame firearms
officers for the shooting.’

Charges For
Police In Tube Shooting

Next on Four Corners: The
tragic chain of errors that led British police to identify an innocent man as a
terrorist, then shoot him dead.   

All of London was on edge when a
young electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, headed off for work on 22 July last
year. The previous day, four would-be suicide bombers had attacked the
transport system. A fortnight earlier, a series of suicide bombings had killed
52 people. 

De Menezes’ journey lasted just
33 minutes. He never knew he was being watched and followed… from the moment he
left his flat to when he entered Stockwell station, bought a paper and boarded
his train. Seconds later, police stormed his carriage and shot him seven times
in the head at close range.     

Police had identified de Menezes
as one of the attempted bombers from the previous day. In the hours after the
shooting they claimed he had refused to obey police instructions and had looked
and acted suspiciously. Only much later did they admit that they had made a
horrific mistake. 

This report from BBC’s Panorama
program examines why Jean Charles de Menezes became the innocent victim of a
controversial shoot-to-kill policy known as Operation Kratos. It follows the
last moments of the young man’s life and reveals the inside story of a plan to
stop a suicide bomber – a plan that went tragically wrong. 

Reporter Peter Taylor tests the
shoot-to-kill policy and, with help from Israeli security specialists, asks if
this is the best way to deal with suspected suicide bombers. 

As western countries, including
Australia, react to the terror threat by adopting increasingly stringent
security measures, this report poses timely and provocative questions.

"Stockwell – Countdown to Killing" on Four Corners, 8.30 pm Monday
24 April, ABC TV.

This program will be repeated about 11 pm Wednesday 26 April; also on
ABC2 digital channel at 7 pm and 9.30 pm Wednesday.

from tonight’s 4 Corners
program.…… 

“Stockwell:
Countdown To Killing”

Recounting the events that led to
the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes. 

Peter Taylor, BBC Panorama: 

The killing was so controversial
not just because he was innocent but because he died so violently with seven
shots to the head. Those who devised Kratos and those now responsible for its
implementation have always recognised how extreme its climax may be. 

When you strip everything else
away, Operation Kratos, in the end, is about a shoot to kill policy, isn't it,
because the point is, you've got to kill the suicide bomber. 

Assistant Commissioner, Steve House, Central Operations,
Metropolitan Police:

No, I can't agree with that. 

Taylor:

But you've got to take out the
suicide bomber. The only way you can take out the bomber is by blowing his head
off. 

House:

What we train our officers to do
is what we call immediate incapacitation. I understand why it is. 

Taylor:

Which is aiming for the head. 

House:

Which is aiming for the head. I
understand why it is that people say that's a shoot to kill policy but it is
not a shoot to kill policy. We do not recruit and train our officers to shoot
to kill, and that's not what police firearms officers do. They shoot to
incapacitate. 

Taylor:

But in the end, confronted by the
suicide bomber, if the threat is believed to be real, the instructions are to
shoot to kill to stop the bomber. In that sense. 

House:

No, that's not correct, no. 

Taylor:

But that's the end.. that's what
Operation Kratos can result in at the extreme if the officers believe they are
confronting a suicide bomber, they have to kill him, therefore, isn't that in
extremis, a shoot to kill policy? 

House:

Well I think you're mixing up two
concepts there which is it can end in the person's death, yes, because they are
shooting at someone's head. But the instruction is not shoot to kill, the
instruction is to immediately incapacitate the person. 

Taylor:

And in the case of a suicide
bomber, immediate incapacitation means shooting him in the head. 

House:

Shooting in the head, yes. 

Read the full transcript here
Stockwell:
Countdown To Killing

---------------------------------

JR says …. 

Assistant Commissioner, Steve House, Central
Operations, Metropolitan Police, must be the only police officer on the planet
who believes that training police officers to shoot people in the head is not
about training them to shoot to kill.

The Commissioner is either stupid & incompetent in
attempting to defend the indefensible, or simply a bald-faced liar. Either way,
if this policy, sanctioned by the British government, is not abandoned, then
every innocent person in the UK faces a serious risk of being killed by the
Police. 

Jean Charles de Menezes was
“incapacitated” by 7 bullets fired into his head at point blank range: he was
executed ….. assassinated ….. murdered, as a result of an appalling policy
& incompetent policing.

The most disturbing feature of
Assistant Commissioner, Steve House’s claims is that they reflect a deliberate
& wilful refusal by the Metropolitan Police & the British government to
acknowledge the clear lessons of this tragedy, to abandon their misconceived
policy & be accountable for their actions.         

In the face of such official
intransigence, justice will never be served. 

I wonder what the police
“policy” is in Australia?

‘A lawyer for one of two brothers
arrested during an anti-terrorist operation yesterday disputed claims that
police officers were not responsible for a firearm being discharged.  

Whitehall sources reportedly claimed yesterday
that Mohammed Abdul Kahar was wounded when his brother Abdul Koyair made a grab
for a police firearm.  

It was suggested that the gun went off and a
bullet hit Kahar in the shoulder.’  

Pair Arrested In
Anti-Terrorist Raid Dispute Shooting Claims

‘Senior counter-terrorism
officials now believe that the intelligence that led to the raid on a family
house last Friday in a search for a chemical device about to be used to attack
Britain was wrong, the Guardian has learned. 

Counter-terrorism officials were under pressure last night
after days of meticulous search of the house in east London failed to produce
anything to link the two men they arrested to a chemical plot. But a senior
police officer said they had been left with "no choice" but to force
entry into the house because there was specific intelligence of a threat to
public safety. 

One official, with knowledge why
police acted and what had been found from days of searching, said the
intelligence had been acted on correctly, but added last night: "There is
no viable device at that house. There is no device being constructed, or
chemicals. There does not appear to be anything there or anywhere else."’ 

Intelligence
Behind Raid Was Wrong, Officials Say

‘Two brothers arrested following a
controversial anti-terror raid during were last night released without charge.  

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and Abul Koyair, 20,
had been held in connection with an alleged chemical bomb plot after an armed
operation at their home in Forest Gate, east London, last week.  

Mr Abdul Kahar was shot and wounded during the
raid.  

Questions were last night raised about the
actions of police and intelligence services after they were released.  

The pre-dawn raid came after MI5 assessed as
"credible" that a terrorist attack using chemical weapons was being
prepared.  

A spokesman for Scotland Yard last night
confirmed that both men had been freed and that officers had completed their
search of the raided property in Lansdown Road.  

He said: "We appreciate the police
operation has caused inconvenience and disruption to the occupants of the
house.’  

Muslim Anger After
Terror Raid Brothers Found To Be Innocent

What the heck …. people know it was all an innocent
misunderstanding. So, someone got shot, their property was trashed, they were “detained”
& “interrogated” in response to unsubstantiated “intelligence”, traumatised
& terrorised …. it could happen to anyone these days ….. surely that’s the
point?

‘Scotland Yard warned MI5 it had serious reservations
about the credibility of the source whose information triggered the Forest Gate
anti-terrorism raid only hours before police stormed the suspects' house in
east London. 

Whitehall sources told The
Observer last night the reservations were passed up the chain of command to
senior officials in the office of Sir Richard Mottram, the government's
security and intelligence co-ordinator, but despite the concerns the police
were ordered to go in. 

'It wasn't the fact that the
information was based on a single source, it was more that the police doubted
the credibility of that source,' said a Whitehall official. 'The intelligence
was doubtful. On the Thursday night [hours before the raid] there were
contradictions about how strong the intelligence was. 

'There came a point when
officials in the Cabinet Office were made aware that the police believed they
were being placed in difficulty because of the quality of this intelligence.'' 

Yard
Told MI5 Of Terror Tip Doubt 

Meanwhile, Sir Ian Blair's job as Britain's top police
officer looked increasingly precarious, after the police minister refused to
publicly guarantee his long-term survival.  

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has been
under fire since last July when his officers shot dead an innocent Brazilian
man as part of an anti-terror operation in south London.  

Hours after the shooting of Jean Charles de
Menezes, Sir Ian appeared to suggest publicly that his officers had intercepted
a suicide bomber. He later said the Met only discovered Mr de Menezes was
innocent the day after the shooting.  

Yesterday, a leak from the Independent Police
Complaints Commission inquiry into the shooting appeared to confirm that
Scotland Yard knew Mr de Menezes was innocent only hours after the shooting.  

But Sir Ian was not kept informed by his
operational commanders, the IPCC has found. It also listed a string of flaws in
the running of the surveillance operation that led to the shooting.

‘A man shot in the chest during a dawn raid on his home by anti-terror police told yesterday how he feared his family were going to be killed "one by one".   

 

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, broke down in tears as he described being wakened by his younger brother's screams as 250 police stormed his house in Forest Gate, London, on 2 June.   

 

"I thought, one by one they're going to kill us. At that time, I thought I was going to die," he told a news conference.   

 

He said he was shot and kicked in the face, before police officers dragged him downstairs and outside, slapped his face and told him to "shut the f*** up". He was then taken to hospital where he was given morphine and where he said surgeons were "pressured" by police to release him.   

 

Speaking about his ordeal for the first time, Mr Kahar, a Royal Mail driver and part-time supermarket worker, described being hit in the chest by a bullet as he and his brother set off downstairs to investigate what they thought were armed robbers.  

 

"I saw an orange spark and a big bang," he said. "There was blood coming down my chest. The first words I said to them was 'I can't breathe', and the first words they said to me were 'shut the f*** up'." 

 

I Feared They Were Going To Kill Us All

‘The police officers involved in the shooting of the innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes could face a private prosecution after the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not be bringing charges against any officer.

A report by the CPS yesterday cleared individual officers of wrongdoing over last year's shooting at Stockwell Tube station in London, but recommended the Metropolitan Police be sued under health and safety regulations.

Mr de Menezes' family expressed outrage at the findings and said they would fight for "as long as it takes" to bring the police to justice.

Members of the Metropolitan Police Authority were equally dismayed by the decision and said it would create "uncertainty" as it tried to protect the public from terrorism.’

Tube Shooting 'Is Health & Safety Case' But Police May Face Private Action

‘Officers involved in the fatal shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes took part in another police operation which led to a man being shot dead, it emerged last night.

The men were part of Scotland Yard's specialist CO19 firearms unit which supported Flying Squad detectives as they attempted to stop a suspected armed robbery.’

Menezes Unit In New Death

‘The family of Jean Charles de Menezes yesterday argued there was evidence police officers who shot the Brazilian dead were "lying" when they said they suspected him of being a suicide bomber "about to act".’

Menezes Case Police 'Liars' Say Relatives

 

‘The family of Jean Charles de Menezes accused the Metropolitan Police of "getting away with murder" yesterday after 11 officers escaped punishment over his death.

The officers who mistook the Brazilian for a suicide bomber and shot him will not be disciplined, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said.

But the threat of a disciplinary tribunal still hangs over four senior officers, including Commander Cressida Dick, who authorised the shoot-to-kill policy.’

Police Accused Of 'Getting Off With Brazilian's Murder' As 11 Officers Escape Punishment

British police shot dead an innocent Brazilian man at point-blank range having decided "an instant killing was the only option," a coroner said on Monday, opening an inquest into the 2005 shooting. 

The family of Jean Charles de Menezes will for the first time hear evidence from the two police marksmen involved in the shooting, which came in the wake of several suicide bombings on London transport that killed 56 people, including the four attackers. 

De Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was shot seven times in the head at close range in a London underground train by police on July 22, 2005, after he was apparently mistaken for on-the-run suicide bomber Hussain Osman. 

Menezes Killing 'Was The Only Option' 

whilst locally ….. 

The Haneef inquiry emerged briefly into daylight yesterday to hear the former chief justice Sir Gerard Brennan express concern that security laws are causing "too great an erosion of our fundamental rights". 

Sir Gerard was speaking at a forum examining what he called the "novel" and "drastic" anti-terrorism laws used to detain and interrogate the Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef for 12 days in July last year. 

Sir Gerard listed three areas of concern: "Unjustified discrimination, which drives a wedge between elements of our society; excessive interference with human rights, and absence of judicial supervision which exposes individuals to oppressive exercises of power." 

The former chief justice spoke of lack of transparency in the detention process and lack of effective access to the courts.

He asked: "Is it possible to devise an effective pathway to legal advice and to a court exercising habeas corpus jurisdiction, casting on the Commonwealth authorities the burden of justifying detention, compulsory questioning and isolation of individuals from contact with family and friends?" 

Concern Over Anti-Terrorism Laws

Sir Ian Blair has resigned as Britain's most senior police officer after being forced out of office by Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. 

The Scotland Yard chief, who had been dogged by controversy during his three years in charge, said he could not continue in the job because Mr Johnson had lost faith in his leadership. 

His sudden resignation threatens to further unsettle the Metropolitan Police, which is responsible for royal and diplomatic protection and counter-terrorism, at a time when it is already in a state of turmoil. 

Sir Ian, 55, had been under siege on several fronts and arrangements for his departure had been in place for weeks, with speculation rife that he would be forced out following the inquest into the fatal shooting of the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. However, yesterday it became clear that Mr Johnson was not prepared to wait. 

London's Mayor Knifes Police Chief

Jean Charles de Menezes was effectively a dead man as soon as he left his London home on the morning of 22 July, 2005, a jury ruled yesterday.

The jury accepted the evidence of the passengers, rejecting police claims that they shouted "armed police" before opening fire.

They also rejected the claim that Mr de Menezes had moved towards the first officer who opened fire.

The officers who have more questions to answer

CRESSIDA DICK

Cressida Dick was responsible for the entire botched operation. She was questioned for more than two days about her decisions. Ms Dick, since promoted to deputy assistant commissioner, told the hearing: "If you ask me whether I think anybody did anything wrong in the operation, I don't think they did." The jury found the views of the surveillance officers regarding identification were not accurately communicated to the command team and the firearms officers.

SIR IAN BLAIR

Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police commissioner, quit in October, just under two weeks into the inquest, when Boris Johnson, the new London mayor, made it clear he had withdrawn his support. He had blocked independent investigators from the scene. Sir Ian had held out through a series of independent inquiries, a health and safety conviction and a vote of confidence. The botched shooting was seen as one of the major factors in his resignation.

OWEN

A MET officer known only as "Owen" is already being investigated by the PCC after admitting tampering with his own evidence during proceedings. The Special Branch officer deleted words from his notes before appearing as a witness, describing how deputy assistant commissioner Cressida Dick said Mr de Menezes could "run on to Tube as not carrying anything". Owen told the inquest it was "wrong and gave a totally false impression".

CHARLIE 2 and CHARLIE 12

Two specialist firearms officers – known only as Charlie 2 and Charlie 12 – fired the shots that killed Mr de Menezes. They were taken off front-line duty while the Crown Prosecution Service considered charges against them and later put back on full duties when the CPS decided not to charge them. The jury dismissed their claims that a warning was shouted before they opened fire. Passengers sitting in the same carriage told the hearing they heard no warning.

Revelations about a month that changed UK history

The inquest turned up fresh revelations about a month that changed the course of British history.

The dark atmosphere of July 2005 was relived by those at the centre of the investigation into the 7 July suicide bomb attacks.

Jurors heard how Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead on a day much like any other for the Brazilian electrician's mate from south London. At the time, counter-terrorist officers were locked in a desperate and unprecedented manhunt for a team of suicide bombers.

It was revealed that those at the very top of government were aware of Sir Ian Blair's decision to block independent investigators from the shooting scene. Chief Inspector Stephen Costello, a post-incident manager, revealed Tony Blair, then prime minister, was consulted over the controversial decision.

It also emerged fears of further attacks were so great a number of landmark locations were locked down and army units put on standby across Britain.

Peter Clarke, then head of counter-terrorism operations, said no-one was allowed to leave Buckingham Palace, Parliament or New Scotland Yard for 90 minutes on 12 July 2005.

The move followed the discovery that day of the terrorists' Leeds bomb factory and an abandoned car at Luton train station. Detective Superintendent Jon Boutcher disclosed soldiers were on alert in other cities, including Birmingham and Manchester.

Family cries 'whitewash' as firearms police face demands for perjury inquiry

The family of Jean Charles de Menezes branded the inquest into his death a "whitewash" after the open verdict into his shooting was delivered.

While the Metropolitan Police accepted "full responsibility" for his death, relatives launched a stinging attack on the coroner. Sir Michael Wright, was said to have "failed on every count".

The two police officers who claimed to have shouted warnings before the shooting face demands that they be investigated for possible perjury. The jury dismissed their claims there were shouts of "armed police" before they opened fire and disputed that Mr de Menezes walked towards officers before he was killed.

Another counter-terrorism officer admitted changing evidence to the inquest and will face a police investigation. He deleted a line from computer notes quoting deputy assistant commissioner Cressida Dick. Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times at Stockwell Tube station in south London on 22 July, 2005 after being mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.

The jury ruled that six factors caused his death:

• A failure to give the surveillance team better photographic images of the terror suspect.

• A police failure to ensure Mr de Menezes was stopped before he reached public transport.

• The fact that the views of the surveillance officers regarding identification were not accurately communicated to the command team and the firearms officers.

• The fact that the position of the firearms officers' cars was not accurately known to the command team as they were approaching Stockwell Station.

• There were significant shortcomings in the communications system as it was operating on the day between police teams on the ground and New Scotland Yard.

• A failure to conclude, at the time, that surveillance officers should still be used to carry out the stop of Mr de Menezes at Stockwell Station even after it was reported specialist firearms officers could perform the stop.

Sir Paul Stephenson, acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said: "The death of Jean Charles de Menezes was a tragedy. He was an innocent man and we must and do accept full responsibility for his death.

 

"For somebody to lose his life in such circumstances is something the Metropolitan Police Service deeply regrets.

 

"In the face of enormous challenges faced by officers on that day, we made the most terrible mistake. I am sorry."

The Association of Chief Police Officers said lessons had been learned, but insisted the firearms officers believed their actions would protect the public.

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