Reporters Without Borders, of course, is outraged that a journalist–a journalist!–is being detained. After all, aren’t all journalist–journalists!–immune from any and all suspicion?
To be honest, this may be one time (finally) that Reporters Without Borders has something intelligent to say (maybe). I have Taliban phone numbers and plenty of Taliban propaganda on my computer. Granted, I’ve never actually given Zahidullah Mujahid or Qari Mohammad Yousuf a phone call, but still I have them. Our friends at the NEFA Foundation have. They certainly aren’t rooting for the Taliban.
I’m not a fan of media types doing interviews with the Taliban, but it’s common practice. AP, AFP, & Reuters routinely quote Qari Mohammed Yousef.
But it’s really the context of the contacts with the Taliban that matters in this case. If Ahmad served as a surrogate propagandist for the Taliban, then he’s a combatant and his detention is justified. Enemy propagandists are just that: enemies, and should be treated as such.
Having journalistic credentials is not some magical immunization from suspicion. There’s no reason why one cannot be a willing or tacit Taliban agent and be a member of the media.
Another problem would be if Ahmad not only called local Taliban commanders but actually met with them. By not disclosing the location of illegal enemy combatants who routinely commit war crimes, Ahmad would be assisting in the commission of those war crimes–journalistic credentials or not.
Can CTV’s Jawed Ahmad, 22, who is also known as Jojo Yazemi, have Taliban Jack Layton or Denis Coderre’s telephone number on his computer file as well as Zahidullah Mujahid or Qari Mohammad Yousuf numbers?
Just wondering.
Perhaps CTV should try and coninvince the US to trade Lisa Laflamme and Mike Duffy for Jawed Yazemi alias (Jojo Yazemi).
On a related note, I came across this jehadi propaganda website.
theunjustmedia.com/
It basically is a noticeboard of how the wonderful jehadis have killed more crusader soldiers, canadians included.
For example,
A remote controlled car bomb destroys 1 tank of Canadian Christian kafirs terrorists occupation military in Kandahar
A whois lookup returns this interesting information :
Registrant Contact:
Khurram Siddiqi
Khurram Siddiqi ()
954-340-3527
Fax: 954-340-3539
PO BOX 90560 Markham Eglinton po
Scarborough, ON
CA
Imagine that, a Canadian posting hate propaganda against Canadian soldiers.
How does one get this information tothe appropriate authorities ?
This story about the reporter is four months old….who “discovered” it now?
Well those diligent ‘journalists’ who people seem to think they can rely on for up to date and factual information.
Has anyone been able to find ANY material this clown has posted to his masters in the MSM??
If he has no stories on record then just what was he doing?
Sanwin … there are thousands of sites that contain all sorts of Islamic anti-western BS …. If you think this one is something special … email CSIS.
Well of course reporters without borders are against this. How can they expect to keep spreading their propaganda if one of them is exposed for what they really are…Islamofacist supporting socialists.
OR…perhaps the Canadian Talibanvision station is afraid they might be really outed!!
While we’re getting potentially subversive journalists into custody, is there any way we could get the US military to pick up Owl Oliver and Giggles Taber? And why would we restrict ourselves to journalists? What about subversive academics and politicians? Aren’t they doing the Taliban’s work as well?
I was looking for the free speech advocates. Must have got the URL mixed up.
Having alleged ties to the Taliban, the people killing Canadian soldiers, amongst others, is a free speech issue?
A pity Rusty’s “not a fan” of interviews with the Taliban. It’s a totalitarian claim to tell people whom they can get their information from. As for the ‘crime’ of meeting with the enemy and not reporting it, the confidentiality of sources is a basic tenet of journalism, and strongly protected by law in Canada and the US.
The arrest is a military right, but by making it secret and denying his rights to due process it makes a mockery of the beliefs we claim to be fighting for.
You must have the wrong URL, Mark. This post is about an individual being detained in a war zone as a possible Taliban collaborator.
They’re the declared enemy, last time I checked.
Furthermore your characterization of the quoted material is a little off. I think Rusty was pretty balanced, actually.
I support the right to life and good health of all Canada’s military personnel over the right of some reporter to interview the enemy and flit back and forth between both sides.
And spare me the “confidentiality of sources” bit; this is taking place on the battlefield where Canadian lives are at stake.
If I was reporting from Afghanistan, I’d try to interview the Taliban, just as Dan Pearl tried to interview bin Laden. It’s not treason.
and here’s the add for a webinar being presented by a BC post secondary school. No bias or brainwashing here.
”
Saturday Feb 23, 2008 – 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (Pacific Time) BUSH’S WAR ON THE RULE OF LAW Presenter: Professor Marjorie Cohn
Since 11 September 2001, the Bush administration has used the “war on terror” as an excuse for the illegal invasion other countries, torture, illegal spying on Americans, summary executions and willful killing, the Guantánamo Gulag and refusal to execute the law. Professor Cohn will analyze the six major ways the Bush gang has violated U.S. and international law. Professor Cohn will also discuss political responses and explain legal remedies. ”
Dilettante…
Wrong …. this tool JoJo was arrested 4 months ago and nothing about it was secret.
He’s being held under a security warrant and I’m pretty sure that if he had an excuse Reason for doing what he did there’d be no story now…. the only news here is that the brotherhood of journalists getting all upitty after 4 Months.
The implication of Reporters Without Borders that this is a widespread or common occurrence is BS. The number that the US has detained is exactly three and that’s out of hundreds of stringers, freelancers and hired employees of news agencies. So get a grip because if this ass got himself arrested he was for sure doing something that really stood out from the crowd.
Further it’s completely moronic when NONE of the groups that NATO or the US have any compunction at all about murdering reporters they find suspect. Or just because they feel like it.
Tenets of journalism! They are not laws that bind authorities. Ask any journo who’s been jailed for withholding information against court orders.
BTW _ we are still waiting for ANYONE to provide an example of work submitted by Ahmad….
But if you conspired with the Taliban against the Canadian military, it would be treason.
In this particular case it’s whether the guy is an enemy combatant or not.
You’ll notice that not * all * reporters – even those with visions of Taliban interviews dancing in their heads – are being detained.
Correction
NONE of the groups that NATO or the US .. ARE FIGHTING … have any …..
sanwin – put your case together and contact the Ontario Provincial Justice department. Tell them what you have and that you want to launch a complaint against the person to whom the website is registered to. They will let you know how to proceed. Also make a copy of absolutely all the evidence you have and how you got and give it to your MP. This is the kind of thing he/she should be taking up with the Justice Department of the Federal Government. We do have hate laws and this kind of hate needs to be looked into and I don’t mean by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
OMMAG, he hasn’t been charged with anything, and neither have most of the people in Gitmo (some after four or five years.) If he were held for good reasons, why hasn’t he been charged?
As for the “tenets of journalism”, it requires a court order to reveal an informant because that information is legally protected otherwise; the court must be convinced that the particular case merits an extraordinary suspension of a journalist’s rights.
And OMMAG, now that I can read what you wrote about NATO and the US, what kind of nonsense is that?
So what if they behead and torture? That’s what makes this war about ideals and values and not land or money; that’s the difference between our society and theirs. We can claim to be better because we refuse to do those things.
Lots of very effective weapons are banned, and fantastic torture techniques too–that’s why we aren’t terrorists.
Dilettante, your comments regarding our legal system and your opinion on what should or should not be are not the least bit relevant. Stop attempting to play international and military lawyer….you don’t know what you are talking about. And as for what goes in a war and what doesn’t, I’d suggest you get your head out of the sand. You have no concept of the realities that exist in war zones so I’d suggest you take your nonsensical theories elsewhere.
Attack the ideas, not the person, unless you can’t.
You claim to know better? I want to learn!
Western MSM consorts/meets with the Taliban continuously.
The MSM/CTV is a mouthpiece for the murderous Muslim Taliban, aiding and abetting the enemy, while Canadian and other NATO soldiers die.
Ahmad is more than a stringer.
Ahmad’s “colleagues”, Workman and Hurst, met with Ahmad in Kandahar. Why?
This is suspect. Why have CTV’s lawyers met with AP’s lawyers? What has spooked CTV?
…-
[CTV’s] “Hurst recalled spending a day with Ahmad and CTV correspondent Paul Workman during a visit to Kandahar.”
“CTV lawyers travelled to the AP’s headquarters in New York for a briefing on how to handle such a sensitive case, Hurst said.”
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/305123
…-
“Mysterious arrest
Ahmad also told the Committee to Protect Journalists that his brother was arrested when he went to Kandahar airport for what he thought was a meeting with his CTV colleagues.
But it’s unclear who called him. CTV correspondent Paul Workman was in Kandahar at the time but had not planned on meeting with Jawed Ahmad that day, the Canadian network said.”
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/02/19/ctv-journalist.html?ref=rss
Dilettante…..I was in Vietnam and I know what war looks like and how it is waged and I also know the deceit that comes out of reporters. You don’t. Your theoretical world is a long, long way from reality.
Really?
It would be more productive if you actually read what was said than trying to interpret what you think it meant. Why does plain English baffle some people so thoroughly?
OMMAG….you aren’t the only one waiting for a link to ANY of his articles
“But if any one can find a story or two written by Jawed Ahmad, who also goes by the alias “Jojo Yazemi”, please leave a link. How those articles present the …
mypetjawa.mu.nu/
They are still waiting. And I noticed one of the trolls here (Dilettante) posted there,but he/she was outed as the leftard it is…heh
To date I have searched web archives and CTV archives …. I’ll try AP’s ….
Lefty Tells – 101
That tendency to to conflate things that are not related to the topic at hand with selected bits of relevant information in order to push an argument.
He’s lucky he’s being held by the Americans.
Other options are not so pleasant.
Sanwin at February 21, 2008 12:32 PM
* * On a related note, I came across this jehadi propaganda website.
theunjustmedia.com/
A whois lookup returns this interesting information :
Registrant Contact:
Khurram Siddiqi * *
=========================
Looks like your Canadian boy is from Pakistan.
http://www.ittoolbox.com/profiles/khurmi79
PS: Better not to visit those sites unless you set browser to deny / prevent cookies.= TG
If this is the same person. He is a member of the Pakistan Muslim League.
http://pmlusa.org/memberDetails.php?mID=1011
= TG
Profile:
Khurram Siddiqi is a
* * a strong follower of Mr.Nawaz Sharif, My favorite Politician is Mr.Nawaz Sharif, I am in Private (Multinational) Service. * *
==========================
Well let*s look at the Sharif brothers . . .
Corruption references against Sharifs: AC adjourns hearing till March 28
RAWALPINDI: Accountability Court (AC) No-IV Judge Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood on Thursday adjourned the hearing of Ittefaq Foundry, Hudaibiya Paper Mills and Raiwind corruption references against Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), till March 28.
dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C02%5C22%5Cstory_22-2-2008_pg7_20
========== Daily Times.com.pk
Interesting … the usual Pakistan / Afghanistan affliction. = TG
Should we question what ‘Jawed Ahmad’ is up to if there are no reports from him? Has ‘Jojo’ got a Seinfeld kinda job?
Free Speech? Is it only Canadians right and not the right of the rest of the world? What the hell are we in Afghanistan for…..to serve under-nourished Afghanis some Timmy’s?
Absolute-fucking-moronic-comments.