The Blackguards at Sea - Liberation Theology kick-starting a Nagaland Insurrection at South India?

~~~Aron

27/10/2013: The Firm as all avid readers of pulp fiction know is slang for the Central Intelligence Agency. A mysterious ship called Sea Guard is discovered with a considerable Cargo of Heavy Weaponry and explosives and that it had no authorisation or papers that it should have in possession is the least mysterious of this Newsflash.

It had been there with such a shipment for a month already afloat in Indian Territorial Waters and had not bothered to put things in order all the while or intimate the Port authorities.

The tale becomes murkier further when it is found the vessel had called several ports previously in a half a dozen countries and it had no valid papers for those calls.

Frederick Forsyth could not have penned a better plot starter.

A quick hush up by the Indian authorities and official downplaying to an equally mysterious complacent media should perhaps be left to a novelist like Forsyth to throw some light for the clueless reader.

Even less talented novelists could convincingly make enough intrigue and connecting dots to present a murkier tale that could have devastating portends to National Security.

A vessel belonging to an alleged private Security Firm AdvanFort professing now on paper to provide ‘security cover’ for merchant ships appears on Indian territorial waters and after three days afloat on Indian Waters on August x 2013 berthed herself at Kochi Port.

 It did not care to reveal that its cargo included heavy arms and ammunitions and cared less to have any Valid Papers permitting her to carry them when finally it was found to attract the Tamil Nadu Maritime Police Guards’ attention- appearing and disappearing.

On the late evening of October 11th a tracker vessel tailed and cornered the vessel near Tuticorin port.

Before this chance discovery- the ship had sailed to Arab Waters and called port at Sharjah. In mid September the ship flying a Sierra Lone flag atop her mast then returns to Indian Waters when finally Indian Coast Guards spots and boards her.

Media reports indicate this rogue vessel has been roaming the high seas and spotted repeatedly inside Indian waters, for some unknown reason it was never approached for a check- she was violating the maritime laws with impunity all the while.

Finally when the maritime cops embarked on board a huge catchment of heavy arms and ammunitions were discovered for without valid papers and promptly confiscated. There were 35 assault rifles and 5000 rounds besides other weapons. 

Some 35 crew men including 25 alleged Guardsmen on deck were arrested and an FIR was filed and case transferred to the Q Branch, and that was when shit hit the fan-

The weird and evasive apologia for this behaviour of the vessel flouting every single Maritime Law in the Book raised even questions that went begging for answers as they started blurting evasive answers.

THE KAIO MARU THAT BECAME SEAMAN GUARD

The ship bore the name Kaio Maru before rechristened as Seaman Guard, and the company AdanFort Ohio registered her as a Merchant Vessel at Sierra Leone.

The Company spokesman in typical American corporate brush off informed the press very casually that it was thankful for all the above listed irregularities and violations that the vessel had been found to be safe!

Safely found with arms and ammunitions that had no papers and safely ignoring the mandatory laws in a Nation that had just announced that it was expecting a sea borne attack like at Mumbai and was on high alert against Terrorist incursions.

The company rolls out a fantastic plausibility that this strange ship behaviour was quite in line with its proffered business- that of providing merchant vessels with Security Cover against Somalian pirates. That is if you could believe guarding against sea pirates takes being Sea pirates?

Another amazing ready excuse of irregularities that this company wants us to believe seriously is that Security cover against Sea Pirates at distant Somalia, lead her to this dangerous behaviour triggered by the Phalin Storm –while her charted course was no where even close to that area.

As this smoky mishap drew more media attention, and raised eyebrows of breach of National Security and lapse in swift entry of the national Intelligence Agency that had issued a high alert just recently against sea borne terror strike, fresh reports make out a clear lag in retrieving the Vessel’s Black box and Communication equipments.

What this means is the rogue ship and her crew and the company were provided a window of over two weeks to tamper with the ‘evidences’ and cover tracks.

As if all this isn’t enough as a fiasco, Indian Officials began a Down Playing of the Confiscation of weapons and ammunitions in a rogue ship with blurred log book- when simultaneously the company was making out a case of a trivial lapse- that such a small private security firm and her vessel should make the American embassy to rush to her release off the hook.

WHO OR WHAT IS BEHIND THE ROGUE SHIP?

The quick Indian compliance to American arm-twisting to downplay the incident, the delay in involving immediately the NIA and making out in full the Public Prosecutor’s Report all indicate incompetence and a callous negligence to hush and cover up the alarming security breach.

This also makes a speculation of the ship being a part of some Covert operations run by the infamous CIA.On the company’s payroll are former Special Forces Operatives from NATO, U.S and United Kingdom. The Obama administration is zealously supplying arms all over the place to several civil wars. Many former CIA men have written tomes on its modus operandi- gun running using cover of legal businesses and shell companies.

In our analysis on Homeland Security at Haindavakerelam we have already indicated that Liberation Theology movement is seeking a revival of the LTTE and a Nagaland like insurrection at South India.

Besides the Maoist- Church nexus the link up with Islamist terror groups have also been collaborating in expanding their bases made out by experts like B R Haran. The possibility of LTTE regrouping in the South has been briefed by him and other Counter Terrorism analysts.

The Urban encirclement phase of Maoists holed up in the Tribal hinterland may require such a close coming together of Urban Guerrilla groups such as regrouped Al Umma and the LTTE.

Were the arms and ammunitions part of this crazy Obama administration’s policy of covert supplying arms to even Al Qaeda like at Syria where photos of Al Nusra front gunmen sporting American heavy weapons in American aid tents?

Instead of standing firmly with the Secular Arabs at Egypt, the American frustration with Egyptian military regime has coincided with a sudden escalation of attacks at Sinai by the Islamists – that the Brotherhood had been receiving American weaponry needs no guessing?

When we see these arms supplies by Obama administration, to even its avowed enemies such as the Al Qaeda and Brotherhood, we can see how this adventurism can lend the same to a Liberation Theology movement that requires a regrouping of the LTTE and a Nagaland like insurrection to be kick started at South India.

So the Blackguards caught at sea violating our sovereign waters need more thorough investigation and the Indian Government must vigorously pursue the Seaman Guards who have behaved more like pirates and gun runners.

COUNTER TERRORISM EXPERTS MUST PAY ATTENTION TO LIBERATION THEOLOGY 

Counter Terrorism experts must make note of our previous analysis at Haindavakerelam of Liberation Theology as a global movement sponsoring armed insurrections, under a Jesuit Pope himself a Liberation Theologian should be actively getting involved in such adventurist dares.

We have traced the Eco-Liberation theological inspiration behind the anti-nuclear anti-koodankulam reactor agitation.

Our prediction that this movement in seeking to expand the political base would strive towards a Caste Conflagration to abuse the fallout as proof of Dalit Oppression to enhance its insurrectionist rationale.

We could also make out then an alliance of Liberation theology with defunct Islamist extreme groups like Al Umma providing them the wherewithal as at Syria and the Egyptian Sinai. 

The open arming of Islamist groups all in the name of an Arab Springs is now an acknowledged part of the American foreign policy.

The much hailed Arab Springs are now a fount of Islamist bloodbaths in a dozen countries since then -our warning also turned out true that Islamists waiting in the wings to take over the script.

A similar horrendous adventurism by western Imperialism could be the rearming and regrouping of the LTTE to bring to knees the Lankan regime. 

Together this grand alliance with Islamists enables the Urban encirclement of Maoists to be fulfilled in that long sought subversion of India.

The Seaman Guards from company that has Special Ops men from Western Super powers could be charting the destination that Liberation theology has laid out for South India supplying an insurrection front in tandem with the insurrections at Nagaland and Mizoram at North East India. 

Update- Dr Subramaniam Swamy BJP leader has twitted that there is now enormous pressure brought upon the Tamil Nadu government to circumvent the Law and have the culprits and violaters of national security quietly releeased.

Going by his tweet it seems Jayalalitha governement is ressisting the pressure.

Since Resolution 1 has already highlighted politcal considerations has lead to compromise by her on internal security and murders of Hindutva leaders, thanks to hobnobbing with Islamist proxy parties, this new resolve by her should be a welcome change in tune with the RSS resolutions.  

Courtesy: Haindava Keralam

Manna Dey’s family upset with Mamata, refuses funeral in Kolkata

~~Aparajita Ray

Oct 24, 2013: BANGALORE: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called the late Manna Dey's younger daughter Sumita Deb around 11am on Thursday, asking to allow her government to host a grand funeral for the legendary singer.

She sent her representative, Kalyan Banerjee, MP from Kolkata, to pay tribute to the music maestro who had made Bangalore his home for two decades, and convince the bereaved family to allow the cremation to be performed in Bengal.

However, sources said Manna Dey's family ignored the Bengal CM's request and continued the rituals and cremation at the Hebbal crematorium here. Sumita was also not willing to talk to the West Bengal CM, they added.

The family was said to be upset with the apathy shown by the Mamata government in helping the singer's family during his five months of stay in hospital.

Sumita Deb told reporters the family had pleaded with the chief minister and Kolkata police commissioner to help them, when the funds set aside for his treatment were allegedly siphoned off by Dey's nephew. However, there was no response from them.

She said she hadn't rejected the offer to take the body to Kolkata but only decided to go ahead with the cremation, as everything had been arranged. "He was a simple man with great ideals, and would have preferred it this way."

Manna Dey's family had alleged that his nephew had withdrawn Rs 12 lakh from the joint account he shared with his uncle, jewellery and a watch valued at Rs 15 lakh from a locker.

"She didn't come forward to show any concern for the family which was going through a tough time in the five months and 10 days when he was undergoing treatment," Sumita said.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Iran: Man sentenced to death survives hanging and is pardoned

A 37 year old man from Iran who was hung for drug smuggling last month and did not die – will not be hung a second time, so announced the Minister of Justice

Back from the dead: An Iranian citizen who was sentenced to death by the court survived hanging and as a result he will not be hung again – announced the Minister of Justice in the Islamic republic.

According to Iranian news agency ISNA, the Justice Minister said that there “is no need” to hang Eliraza, the 37 year old man, who was sentenced to death for drug smuggling, again. The man was hung for 12 minutes – after which he was declared dead.

His family, who went to transport his body from prison the next day, was surprised to discover him alive and breathing. They quickly called for rescue services, who took him to the nearby hospital where he slipped into a coma while under police guarding.

Last week international organization “amnesty” called for the authorities in Iran to spare Eliraza’s life, while senior jurists debated whether he should be subjected to hanging a second time. Today the decision was made to pardon him, despite of the punishment system in the country being known for its lack of tolerance towards drug related offences.

Courtesy: Jerusalem Online 

Syrian snipers ‘shooting pregnant women in the stomach to win cigarettes’

~~By Connor Sephton  

This image appears to show a fully-grown foetus
with a bullet lodged in its skull
(Picture: Syria Relief)

Saturday 19 Oct 2013: Armed fighters in Syria are shooting pregnant women in the stomach to kill their unborn babies, a British surgeon has claimed.

The militants working for the Assad regime are allegedly awarded with cigarettes if they ‘hit the correct targets’.

Dr David Nott, who has been volunteering in the war-torn country, described the deliberate attempts to hurt women as ‘hell beyond hell’. The snipers would target expectant mothers who support rebel forces.

X-ray images released by the Syria Relief charity appear to show a fully-grown foetus with a bullet lodged in its brain.

Dr Nott, a vascular specialist at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, told The Times: ‘The women were all shot through the uterus, so that must have been where they were aiming for. I can’t even begin to tell you how awful it was.

The fighting continues in Syria. Here, rebel forces take cover after they are attacked by supporters of president Bashar al-Assad (Picture: Reuters/Mohamed Abdel Aziz)

‘Usually, civilians are caught in the crossfire. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this. This was deliberate. It was hell beyond hell.’

More than 100,000 civilians have died in the Syrian civil war, with more than one million people fleeing to neighbouring countries.

Courtesy: Metro

Texas Executes Lubbock Man Who Killed Parents

Michael Yowell
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

HUNTSVILLE, Texas October 10, 2013: A Texas man was put to death Wednesday evening for killing his parents at their Lubbock home 15 years ago during a drug-influenced rampage that also left his 89-year-old grandmother dead.

Michael Yowell, 43, told witnesses, including his daughters and his ex-wife, that he loved them.

"Punch the button," he told the warden.

He took several deep breaths, then began snoring. Within about 30 seconds, all movement stopped.

His daughters and ex-wife hugged as they watched through a window in the death chamber.

Yowell was pronounced dead 19 minutes later at 7:11 p.m. CDT.

Yowell tried to delay his execution, the 14th this year in the nation's most active death penalty state, by joining a lawsuit with two other condemned prisoners that challenged Texas prison officials' recent purchase of a new supply of pentobarbital for his scheduled lethal injection.

The punishment was delayed briefly until the U.S. Supreme Court, in a brief ruling, rejected the appeal.

The prisoners argued use of the sedative could cause unconstitutional pain and suffering because the drug, replacing a similar inventory that expired at the end of September, was made by a compounding pharmacy not subjected to strict federal scrutiny. Texas, like other death penalty states, has turned to compounding pharmacies that custom-make drugs for customers after traditional suppliers declined to sell to prison agencies or bowed to pressure from execution opponents.

The lawsuit sought an injunction to delay the execution and gain more time to ensure "the integrity and legality" of the drug and be certain its use was within constitutional protections.

Attorneys for the inmates took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court after lower federal courts ruled that the drug appeared adequate and that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did nothing wrong in acquiring it.

Yowell's reaction to the drug was similar to the 23 other Texas inmates put to death since last year when the state began using pentobarbital as the lone lethal drug for executions.

Yowell's lawyers said the execution was a disappointment and characterized the use of compounded drugs as "a dramatic change from prior practice — making the need for oversight, now and in the future — that much more important."

"Surely this is not the way we want our government to carry out its most solemn duty," Maurie Levin and Bobbie Stratton said in a statement.

Yowell's parents, John, 55, and Carol, 53, were found dead in the wreckage of their home following an explosion on Mother's Day weekend in 1998. Yowell's 89-year-old grandmother, Viola Davis, who was staying there, died days later of injuries suffered in the blast.

Yowell already was on probation for burglary and drug convictions. He was arrested on federal firearms charges and charged with his parents' slayings after authorities determined his mother had been beaten and strangled and his father was shot. Prosecutors showed John Yowell was killed when he caught his son stealing his wallet. Yowell then attacked his mother, opened a gas valve and fled. The home blew up.

"At some point he's looking his mom in the face, beating her and wrapping a lamp cord around her neck," Lubbock County District Attorney Matt Powell, who prosecuted the case, recalled Tuesday. "I think always there are some unanswered questions. You want to know how somebody is capable of doing that to their parents."

Evidence showed Yowell had a $200-a-day drug habit he supported by stealing. Evidence also showed he burned some of his bloody clothes and hid a blood-stained jacket and the murder weapon in the crawl space of a friend's house. Defense attorneys unsuccessfully tried to show Yowell was insane.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review appeals that contended Yowell received shoddy legal help at his 1999 trial and in the early stages of his appeals.

Courtesy: ABC News

Torture on Death Row

~~Vincent Warren

Vincent Warren

9 October, 2013: It is inhumane, fallible, expensive, and an ineffective crime deterrent. It is also no secret that the death penalty in the United States is carried out in a racially discriminatory manner. African Americans and Latinos make up over half the people on death row while comprising about a quarter of the U.S. population. Looking at the race of the victim, in the last 30 years, only 20 white on black murders have resulted in execution, compared with 261 black on white. You probably can't recall the last time the State of Louisiana executed a white person for a crime against an African American. That's because it last happened in 1752.

What remains largely unseen is how, beneath a misleading veneer of due process and legal protocol, thousands of death row inmates are often subject to conditions that constitute torture, sometimes for decades on end, while waiting to be executed or exonerated. These conditions, as much as the death penalty itself, constitute violations of established international human rights law as well as the constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment.

In 1972, the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, declaring that its application was so arbitrary as to be unconstitutional. Although many believed that this marked the end of capital punishment in the U.S., state legislatures responded by rewriting their death penalty laws in order to convince the Court that the death penalty could be made impartial and compatible with a basic concept of human dignity. In 1976, the Supreme Court ended the de facto moratorium on U.S. executions and, since then, has tried to delineate a "modern" death penalty by calling for a better appellate process and outlawing the penalty for certain offenses and categories of people, including juveniles and people with mental disabilities. Given that the standard for mental disability is non-existent, that line has been crossed many times.

But no constitutional window dressing can legitimize state-sponsored murder or humanize the system that administers it. More than three decades after the Supreme Court reversed its stance on capital punishment, conditions on death rows across the country remain nothing short of barbaric. The Court's demand for a better appellate process has mostly extended the time death row prisoners spend in these conditions -- thereby paradoxically deepening the human rights violations -- and research continues to show that race is the dominant factor in explaining who is sentenced to death in this country.

In May of this year, I traveled to Louisiana and California to document conditions of confinement on death row together with colleagues at the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Florence Bellivier, president of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, there representing the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on the mission. California has the largest number of people on death row in the country and Louisiana is infamous for the harsh conditions prisoners suffer. Our findings are published here.

In Louisiana's notorious Angola prison, home to all men on death row in the state, those sentenced to death spend their final years locked in their cells alone for 23 hours each day. During summer, death row inmates are kept in their cells even though the heat index regularly exceeds 110 degrees. The prison does not provide them with clean ice or cool showers, but it does provide the public with tours of death row and the lethal injection table.

At night, in an effort to keep cool, the men at Angola sleep on the floor where they are exposed to fire ants. When they "misbehave," they are moved to cells in the hottest tiers. Men have lived up to 28 years on Louisiana's death row, and most spend at least a decade in these dehumanizing conditions waiting for court appeals to go through. That is their due process.

In California, where minorities make up 65 percent of death row, the wheels of justice turn so slowly that new death row inmates will spend approximately 20 years on death row, and some over 30. Others will spend decades locked inside their cells in solitary confinement for minor infractions committed years ago, without access to a telephone and without feeling the touch of a family member for the entire length of time in solitary. Their due process while on death row? Wait an average of 3-5 years before a lawyer is even appointed to appeal the sentence, then an additional 8-10 years following the conclusion of their appeal for another lawyer to be assigned to handle a state habeas petition. In the meantime, the stress and anxiety of not knowing when they will be executed or when they will even receive the assistance of a lawyer will cause severe mental anguish for long decades, and will lead some prisoners to commit suicide rather than endure the long waiting process ahead.

And that's a glimpse of what the "modern" death penalty in the U.S. looks like in two of the states that retain it. The Supreme Court tried to sanitize a brutal practice, but it is impossible to legitimize the indefensible. The only morally and legally tenable response to the death penalty is its complete abolition. Yet while we continue to work for that day, we must also work to address the human rights violations that send people, disproportionately people of color, to death row and then torture them there before the final act of killing.

Vincent Warren is the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a national legal and educational organization dedicated to advancing and defending the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Vince oversees CCR’s groundbreaking litigation and advocacy work which includes combating the illegal expansion of presidential power and policies such as illegal detention at Guantanamo, rendition, torture and warrantless wiretapping; holding corporations and government officials accountable for human rights abuses; and, challenging racial injustice and mass incarceration. 

Vince has spearheaded a public campaign, “Beyond Guantanamo: Rescue the Constitution” coinciding with CCR’s landmark Supreme Court victory in Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush, which held that the detainees at Guantánamo Bay have a constitutional right to the writ of habeas corpus.

Courtesy: Huff Post World

Prices of goats to be sacrificed on Eid touches Rs.50,000

~~Shailee Dogra

[Editor: Last year there were media reports that, Saif Ali Khan' and 'Kareena Kapoor' were in for "grabs" for a whopping Rs.4 lakh (Rs.400,000). Not the celebratory couple, but a pair of goats being sold at old Delhi's Jama Masjid bazar ahead of Eid-ul-Zuha. Interestingly, both the two-year-old goats wre males! CLICK HERE. In 2010, there were also, news of a "Divine Goat" which was offered be sold in the goat bazaar at Jama Masjid, old Delhi, with a price tag, of a whopping Rs.4.5 lakh. “The goat’s back has a natural pattern which reads like ‘Allah’ and ‘786′,” its owner Danish Abbas Qureshi told IANS. He expected a price of at least Rs.4.5 lakh. This shows how faith can be used to jack-up prices of things. 

The goat named Saif Ali Khan was put
for sale at Rs.2.5 lakh, 2010.

Now the text says, "EId-ul-Zuha or Bakr-EId is celebrated by Muslims throughout the world at the traditional end of Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca". So one has to resort to ANIMAL TORTURE, to get the blessings of ALLAH? The point is that: it is difficult to change the food habits all of a sudden, but either one can stive to become at least semi-Vegetarian or should give minimum torture to animals before they are killed for human consumption (as Food). But what is going on in the name of a Religion is pure barbarism and sadism. Now, what is interesting in this context is that, according to http://www.siasat.com, the Vice President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari has greeted citizens (Indians) on the auspicious occasion of Id-ul-Zuha, which will be celebrated tomorrow. "I extend my greetings and good wishes to all our citizens on the auspicious occasion of Id-ul-Zuha. The festival celebrates the treasured ideals of compassion, sharing and sacrifice," Vice President Ansari said in his message. Now questions is: can torturing of animals by slowly  suffocating and bleeding them to death, be terms as an act of COMPASSION by any standard? 

I do not want to question the caste of the Vice-President of India, but this is what Wikipedia says: Some of the backward or lower-caste Muslim caste include Ansari, Kunjra, Dhobi and Halalkhor. The upper caste Muslim caste include Qureshi, Syed, Pathan, Turk, Sheikh and Mallik. Genetic data has also supported this stratification. 

I thought to bring this topic to the notice of some of you because, when former President of India, K. R. Narayanan (A Hindu), got elected as the ninth Vice President in 1992 or when he (Mr.Narayanan) went on to become President in 1997, a section of Indians started to speak about his caste (His family belongs to the Paravan caste, whose members are assigned the task of plucking coconuts as per the caste system). Therefore, the question is: why does the people not do the same in case of the present Vice-President of India? Is it aimed at, to make people believe that Muslims do not have any caste system?]

Chandigarh, October 15, 2013: As the city gears up to celebrate the Muslim festival of sacrifice, Eid-ul-Zuha, on Wednesday, prices of goats to be sacrificed have touched half a lakh of rupees. Depending on the size and the breed, you may have to shell out anywhere between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 50,000 for a goat in the tricity.

Every year, about 4,000 goats are sacrificed as part of the festival in Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar. These goats are available mainly in Manimajra, Burail and Sector 26 for Chandigarh and Panchkula, while in SAS Nagar they are sold in Phase 6, Shahimajra and Kharar too. Sellers say the minimum price at Manimajra is Rs. 5000 going up to Rs. 50,000, while in SAS Nagar the price ranges between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 18,000.

EId-ul-Zuha or Bakr-EId is celebrated by Muslims throughout the world at the traditional end of Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. The story behind it is that to show his loyalty, prophet Ibrahim had agreed to sacrifice anything at the will of Allah, even his eldest son. But when Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his son, God said that he had already fulfilled the vision, and in place of Ismail, his son, a lamb was sacrificed. It was seen as a test of faith; so Muslims sacrifice a beloved animal in the name of Allah on Bakr-Eid.

Mohiuddin, a resident of Sector 56, said, "Traditionally, one is required to nurture the goat for a year before the sacrifice, as the festival symbolises the sacrifice of a loved one."

"Also, as per the ritual, no bargaining is allowed. The goats are not weighed as such; but an estimate is made by looking at it carefully. Only those people who are earning and are free from debt can sacrifice an animal, says the ritual," added another seller at Manimajra, who identified himself only as Zira, Mohammad Surabuddin, who had come from Pinjore to sell goats at Manimajra, told HT, "A black goat is considered to be of good breed, and if the animal has a moon or a star formation on its hide, the rates shoot up."

Naseer Ahmed, a resident of Burail, who paid Rs. 10,000 for a goat, said, "The animal should not be injured or ill. The meat is divided into three portions - one for self, another distributed among friends and family, and the rest is for the poor." 

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

Finally, Kolkata sex workers get their own Durga puja

Photo: www.durbar.org

09th October 2013: Durga puja this year will be a monumental event for the sex workers in Kolkata's Sonagachi - said to be the largest red light area in Asia.

Elated at being able to organise the puja for the first time, the organisers have lined up a host of events during the next five days.

A Calcutta High Court directive of September allowed the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Samiti(DMSS) - a sex workers' collective - to hold its own Durga puja within Sonagachi.

Some 3000 sex workers have pitched in to put up a small pandal with a six feet high goddess Durga clay idol brought from Kumartuli - the traditional potters' quarters here.

"We are extremely happy that we got the permission...our budget was around Rs.2 lakh and we have arranged functions across the five days," DMSS secretary Bharati Dey told IANS while inaugurating the pandal Wednesday.

The five-day festival, that begins Oct 10 with Sashthi and the subsequent four days - Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami - translates into frenzied pandal-hopping in new clothes, meeting friends and family.

The organisation has scheduled cultural programmes on Sashthi and Saptami. On Ashtami, the workers will feed several hundred old people. 

Courtesy: The New Indian Express

Madonna Practicing Islam? Singer Reveals She's Studying Muslim Holy Text

October 10, 2013: Madonna made waves in the mid-1990s when she began studying the Kabbalah, a Jewish esoteric tradition that draws from the mystical and prophetic visions described throughout the Torah. Now she's causing uproar with the news that she's begun studying the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, joining celebs like Janet Jackson, Dave Chappelle, and Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), who reportedly also practice Islam. Is this a Madonna-worthy publicity stunt or an earnest attempt to deepen her spirituality?

Madonna is no stranger to scandal, from her famous cone bra to the Britney Spears kiss to her highly sexualized music and performances. It's little wonder her religious beliefs would catch the public's attention too, but perhaps Madonna's fame isn't the only ingredient in this buzz. Sure, she's a mega celebrity and her every move will be of interest to the media. But religion is a divisive topic, and, unfortunately in a post-9/11 U.S., Islam is a particularly sensitive faith to discuss.

Observers might criticize Madonna for having a casual relationship to her faith or they might say her interest is inspired more by romance than by belief (her boyfriend, Brahim Zaibat, apparently practices Islam, as well). But viewed in a more forgiving light, Madonna's statement might be an important step toward religious literacy and tolerance.

In an article for Harper's Bazaar, Madonna writes:

 I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Qur'an. I think it is important to study all the holy books. As my friend Yaman always tells me, a good Muslim is a good Jew, and a good Jew is a good Christian, and so forth. I couldn't agree more. To some people this is a very daring thought.

She goes on to say the "idea of being daring has become the norm for me," which suggests that, a) Madonna believes Islam is inherently "daring" or b) she knows any major life change or conversion she undergoes will naturally seem daring to her audience. Either way, it's a bold statement that we hope Madonna carries through with the utmost tact and respect for the 1.5 billion practitioners of Islam worldwide.

Courtesy: HuffPost Celebrity

Execution slated for oldest Ariz. death-row inmate

Oct. 9, 2013: FLORENCE, Ariz. — Arizona intends to execute the oldest person on its death row Wednesday, nearly 35 years after he was charged with murdering a Bisbee man.

About two hours before the scheduled execution of Edward Harold Schad Jr., 71, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday morning denied his final appeals. Schad's lawyers earlier failed to get lower courts to block the execution.

Schad was on parole for the accidental 1968 strangulation death of a male sex partner in Utah when he was accused of killing Lorimer "Leroy" Grove, 74.

He was arrested in Utah while driving Grove's Cadillac several weeks after Grove's body was found on Aug. 9, 1978, south of Prescott. There was a rope knotted around Grove's neck.

Authorities say Schad drove Grove's car across the country, used Grove's credit cards and forged a check from his bank account.

Schad was convicted in Grove's death in 1979 and again in 1985 after the previous conviction was thrown out.

The conviction was upheld by the state Supreme Court in 1989 but since has been tied up in a series of federal court appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court in June lifted a stay put in place by an appeals court, ordering the court to issue the execution authorization.

Schad has maintained he didn't kill Grove, but he told the state's clemency board at a hearing last week that he has accepted his fate.

"I'm 71. I don't have many years left, but I would like to keep what I've got and maybe get a few more, experience some of the green grass outside maybe," Schad said while asking the board to commute his sentence to life in prison. "If we have to go down that road on Oct. 9 ... I'll get my last rites. I'll go through that. I mean, I have no fear."

A top Yavapai County prosecutor told the clemency board that juries have twice rejected Schad's assertion of innocence.

"He doesn't take any responsibility for what he did," Chief Deputy County Attorney Dennis McGrane told the board. "Accidents two times, died of strangulation? I don't think so."

Schad is set to be killed by injection at the state prison in Florence. His execution would be Arizona's 35th since 1992. 

Courtesy: U~T San Diego

Narendra Modi has united the rank and file of BJP: Chidambaram

October 8, 2013: After terming Narendra Modi's claims on growth during the NDA regime as a "fake encounter of facts", Finance Minister P Chidambaram again targeted BJP's prime ministerial candidate, saying the hype surrounding him was "largely media created". But the minister, in an exclusive interview to news agency Reuters, also conceded that the Gujarat Chief Minister had "gained some traction among the urban youth", while also managing to unite "the rank and file of BJP"

Here are the some of the highlights of the interview:

• I don't know if he (Narendra Modi) is gaining any momentum
• I concede he (Narendra Modi) has united the rank and file of BJP... leaders are divided but the rank and file have been united... He has been able to unite the rank and file
• That will be a gross exaggeration that people are not worried about his position, policies, past and his track record... It will be a gross exaggeration to say that he (Narendra Modi) is sweeping the countryside, gross exaggeration to say he will win in every state... All this is largely media created
• In 2004, nobody gave us a chance... people said Mr Vajpayee will be back in power... don't think Narendra Modi is bigger than Vajpayee in terms of image and acceptability
• Mr Vajpayee was sitting PM seeking re-election... his party lost... we had not even named a PM candidate at that time
• Don't write us off early... we aren't facing a Vajpayee today, facing a Narendra Modi who has a very, very checkered track record
• Gujarat ranks only 12 in this country according to the Raghuram Rajan committee report
• I don't think that Narendra Modi is a stronger candidate than either Vajpayee or Advani
• I don't deny that corruption is an issue. But it is an issue in Chhattisgarh, MP, was an issue in Karnataka, is an issue in Gujarat
• There is a slowdown today but there was a slowdown in 2009 also
• They criticise us for introducing a bill... look at the bill they have passed in the Gujarat assembly, completely shutting out the chief justice

We (Congress) haven't joined them (BJP) in debate yet, debate will not take place in Hindi alone... Debate will happen in Tamil, Telegu, Assamese, Bengali... and then you will see the difference. 

Courtesy: NDTV Ltd

To hang or not? Courts struggle with death sentence

New Delhi, October 09, 2013: Thirty-three years after the Supreme Court propounded the doctrine of ‘rarest of rare’ limiting the scope for awarding death penalty to murder convicts, courts continue to struggle to objectively apply it while choosing between life imprisonment and capital punishment.

The Supreme Court verdict commuting Tandoor murder case convict former Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma’s death penalty to life imprisonment only highlights the dilemma faced by the courts.

Both the trial court and the Delhi High Court had held that Naina Sahni’s murder fell within the category of rarest of rare.

But the SC disagreed saying, it can’t be said that the convict can’t be reformed.

It was in Bachan Singh’s case in 1980 that the Supreme Court came out with the rarest of rare doctrine drawing from rationale behind Section 354(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that requires a judge to record special reasons for awarding death sentence.

There is no statutory definition of rarest of rare. It depends upon facts and circumstances of a particular case, brutality of the crime, conduct of the offender, previous history of his involvement in crime, chances of reforming and integrating him into society, etc.
The generally applied test is whether the survival of an orderly society demands extinction of life of the person, who has committed the murder and whether failure to impose death sentence on him would bring to naught the sentence of death provided under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

Pre-planned, heart-less, brutal, cold-blooded and sordid nature of the crime, without giving any chance to the victim are generally taken into account to decide whether a particular case falls within the parameters of rarest of rare.

“Death penalty should be imposed when collective conscience of the society is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre to inflict death penalty irrespective of their personal opinion as regards desirability of otherwise of retaining death penalty,” the SC said in Bachan Singh Vs. State of Punjab.

The crime has to be viewed from various angles — manner of commission of murder, motive for commission of murder, anti-social or socially abhorrent nature of crime and magnitude and personality of victim of murder.

But the manner in which the doctrine has been applied by various courts raises many questions. In the recent past, the apex court also refused to award death penalty in many cases raising eyebrows from various quarters.

In 2004, the SC sent Dhananjoy Chatterjee to the gallows for rape and murder of a minor in Kolkata.

But in the Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case, the SC in 2009 commuted the death penalty of convict Santosh Singh holding that mitigating factors outweighed aggravating factors.

Is it all about the judges’ legal acumen interpreting the law and applying it to a given set of facts or has to do something with his personal philosophy? The question remains unanswered.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

Tandoor murder: Ex-Delhi politician Sushil Sharma's death sentence commuted to life, he can appeal to be freed

October 08, 2013: The Supreme Court today commuted the death sentence of former Congress politician Sushil Sharma - convicted of murdering his wife and trying to burn the body in a tandoor in 1995 - to a life term.

Sharma, who has spent almost 18 years in jail for what became notorious as the 'tandoor murder case', can be released if the Delhi government grants him remission.

"It is not a crime against society but a crime committed due to (Sharma's) strained relationship with his wife," the top court said, adding that the murder did not fall in the category of rarest of rare crimes.

A trial court in 2003 convicted Sharma of shooting his wife Naina Sahani on July 2, 1995, in a fit of rage at their home in central Delhi, on the suspicion that she was having an affair with another Congress worker.

Sharma was found guilty of chopping up the body and trying to burn it in a tandoor - or open clay oven - in a popular restaurant, with the help of the manager, who was his friend.

The crime was detected when the thick smoke from the tandoor alerted cops patrolling the area. Sharma ran, but surrendered a week later.

In 2007, the Delhi High Court upheld the conviction and death sentence, describing the crime as an "act of extreme depravity that shook the conscience of society".

Sharma had argued in court that his conviction was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. But the Delhi Police maintained in every court that the gruesome killing falls under the rarest of rare category of crimes.

Courtesy: NDTV Ltd

Tandoor murder case: SC commutes death sentence of Sushil Sharma to life

October 8, 2013: The Supreme Court commuted death sentence on Tuesday, of former Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma to life imprisonment in the 1995 Naina Sahni murder case, popularly known as the 'tandoor' case.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice P Sathasivam held that the murder was an "outcome of an estranged personal relationship" and Sharma's chances of reformation could not be completely ruled out. The bench, also comprising Justices Ranjana P Desai and Ranjan Gogoi said that brutality of the murder or the subsequent attempt to destroy the evidence would alone be not sufficient to uphold death sentence for Sharma and that he could still be reformed and rehabilitated. 

The bench noted that it was 'difficult to say that the appellant (Sharma) was remorseless' after the murder. The court however also clarified that life term would mean imprisonment for life. During the final arguments, Sharma's counsel Jaspal Singh had said the case did not fall in the rarest of rare category warranting capital punishment.

He submitted that the conviction was entirely based on the circumstantial evidence and that death penalty cannot be awarded to Sharma.

However, the prosecution said the case falls in the category of the rarest of rare and the trial court and the Delhi High Court were justified in awarding the death sentence.

The arguments in SC had commenced five years after Sharma filed an appeal against the Delhi High Court judgment confirming the conviction and death penalty awarded to him for murdering his wife Naina on suspicion that she was having an extra-marital affair.

The trial court had on November 7, 2003, sentenced sharma to death for killing his wife at their residence in Gole Market area in Central Delhi on the intervening night of July 2-3, 1995 and disposing of her body by burning it in a tandoor .

In his petition filed in 2007, Sharma contended that the High Court had erroneously concluded that the offence committed by him falls under the rarest of rare category, warranting capital punishment.

The high court had on February 19, 2007, confirmed the death penalty awarded to him by the trial court saying the offence was an act of extreme depravity that it shook the conscience of society. 

Courtesy: The Indian Express

Lay judge ruling to hang said wrong, overturned

October 9, 2013: Calling the sentence an “error,” the Tokyo High Court has overturned a death penalty handed down by a lay judge panel to a man found guilty of the 2009 murder of a female college student, imposing life imprisonment instead.

This was the second time that a high court has abrogated a death sentence rendered by a lay judge panel. The first was in June. In both cases, Hitoshi Murase was the presiding judge in determining they should be overturned.

In the latest case, Tatsumi Tateyama, 52, was accused of robbing and killing Yukari Ogino, 21, a student at Chiba University, in her apartment in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, in October 2009.

“There has been a tendency in precedents not to select the death sentence when there was only one victim killed in a robbery-murder and it was not premeditated,” Murase said in overturning the death sentence.

He acknowledged that Tateyama broke in and threatened Ogino with a knife to rob her of cash after she came home but ruled the slaying was not premeditated.

“He did not have any intent to kill when he demanded money and valuables, while circumstances just before the killing and his motive remain unclear,” Murase said.

The panel of lay judges, who were assisted by professional judges, at the Chiba District Court took into account Tateyama’s criminal record, including cases of robbery, assault and rape.

Murase concluded this factor should not have warranted capital punishment.

“While it was a result deliberated on by lay and professional judges, (the sentence) has to be overturned so long as the penalty chosen was an error,” he said.

Lay judge panels were introduced in May 2009 for serious crimes such as robbery resulting in injuries, reckless driving and murders.

Courtesy: The Japan Times News

Changes considered for Neb. death penalty protocol

LINCOLN, Neb,  October 4, 2013 — Attorney General Jon Bruning says state officials have discussed changes to Nebraska's lethal injection protocol, now that a key drug is becoming scarce.

Bruning told the Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/1ga9GA1 ) that he would support a change to ensure that the state can carry out executions. Bruning says he has spoken with Gov. Dave Heineman and state prison officials, and he considers that option to be on the table.

The state's three-drug protocol calls for a dose of sodium thiopental to render an inmate unconscious, followed by another drug that causes paralysis, then a third to stop the heart.

Sodium thiopental has become nearly impossible to buy, and Nebraska's supply expires in December.

Courtesy: SF Gate

ONLY 2% OF COUNTIES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE NATION’S DEATH PENALTY, NEW REPORT FINDS

Capital Punishment Costs are Shifted from the Few Jurisdictions that Use it the Most to the Majority that Barely Use it At All

WASHINGTON, DC – Contrary to the assumption that the death penalty is widely used in the U.S., only a few jurisdictions employ capital punishment extensively, according to a new report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). Only two percent of the counties in the U.S. have been responsible for the majority of cases leading to executions since 1976. Likewise, only two percent of the counties are responsible for the majority of today’s death row population and recent death sentences.

“Eighty-five percent of the counties in the U.S. have not had a single case resulting in an execution in over 45 years,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s Executive Director and author of the report. “The relatively few prosecutors who drive the death penalty create enormous burdens for those outside their district. The rest of the country is paying a high tariff on behalf of the small percentage of the counties that are actually using the death penalty.”

The top ten counties among the two percent of counties responsible for more than half of the nation’s death row population are: Los Angeles County, CA; Harris County, TX; Philadelphia County, PA; Maricopa County, AZ; Riverside County, CA; Clark County, NV; Orange County, CA; Duval County, FL; Alameda County, CA; and San Diego County, CA.

The top ten counties among the two percent of counties responsible for over half of the executions since 1976 are: Harris County, TX; Dallas County, TX; Oklahoma County, OK; Tarrant County, TX; Bexar County, TX; Montgomery County, TX; Tulsa County, OK; Jefferson County, TX; St. Louis County, MO; and Brazos County, TX.

Just four counties in Texas (out of 254) account for almost half of all executions in the state. Three counties in California produce more than half of the state’s death row - the largest in the country.

The report noted that those counties that use the death penalty the most have some of the highest reversal rates and egregious examples of injustice:

 Maricopa County, Arizona had four times the number of pending death penalty cases per capita as Los Angeles or Houston. The district attorney responsible for this aggressive use was recently disbarred for his overall misconduct.

Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania has the third largest number of people on death row in the country, but it has ranked lowest in the state in paying attorneys representing death penalty defendants. Capital convictions are frequently reversed on appeal and later reduced to life sentences because the county did not provide adequate representation to many defendants.

During the tenure of one district attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana, four death row inmates were exonerated and freed because of prosecutorial misconduct, bringing a stinging rebuke from four Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The report concludes that the death penalty campaigns of relatively few counties impose lasting obligations on the entire state: “This peculiar exercise of discretion results in enormous expenses being passed on to taxpayers across the state. Moreover, the correlation between the high use of the death penalty and a high rate of error means that courts in these states will be occupied for years with costlyappeals and retrials. Some states have recently chosen to opt out of this process, at great savings to their taxpayers.”

Contact:
Elaine de Leon, Communications Coordinator
Phone: 202-289-2275
Email: edeleon@deathpenaltyinfo.org
Twitter: @DPInfoCtr

Courtesy: Death Penalty Information Centre

Miami killer Marshall Lee Gore is executed at the Florida State Prison

October 1, 2013 -- Marshall Lee Gore, the notorious Miami rapist and murderer, was known for his outrageous courtroom antics: insulting lawyers, storming off the witness stand and howling at a guilty verdict.

But after more than two decades on Florida’s Death Row, Gore displayed no insolence in his final moments.

Instead, on Tuesday night, as he lay strapped in a gurney awaiting death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison, he refused to open his eyes.

“Inmate Gore, do you have a last statement you’d like to make,” a prison official asked just past 6 p.m.

Gore, 50, his jowls quivering side-to-side slightly, said not a word.

A lethal cocktail of drugs began coursing into his veins through tubes hooked into both arms. Moments later, his mouth opened in a deep labored breath, then stayed agape as color drained from his ruddy face.

From behind a thick pane of glass, four rows of observers, including relatives of victims Robyn Novick and Susan Marie Roark, leaned forward in their chairs as minutes ticked away. A white-smocked doctor walked in. He pried Gore’s eye lids open, shining a light in. No response. At 6:12 p.m., the prison official pronounced Gore dead.

“I thought that was quite ironic, that he had nothing to say at the end,” said retired Miami-Dade Detective Dave Simmons, who investigated Gore’s slew of rapes. “He played the system for years faking insanity, saying outlandish things to judges and witnesses, and in his moment of truth, he had nothing to say for himself. He was the ultimate coward in the end.”

As the relatives filed out of the gallery, Novick’s sister, Pamela Novick, winked at journalists. Gore stabbed and beat Robyn Novick to death in March 1988, leaving her discarded corpse in a trash heap near Homestead.

Pamela Novick recalled her 30-year-old sister’s “heart of gold” and “zest for life” and the horror of her body dumped “as if one was throwing out garbage.”

Novick read a statement after the execution lamenting that Gore had lived for so long after her sister’s death.

“My sister Robyn wasn’t given a choice of how or when she wanted to die,’’ she said. “She was violently murdered by a serial killer with no mercy and no appeals.’’

Novick’s elderly mother, Phyllis Novick, who lives in Ohio, did not attend Tuesday’s execution. Neither did her father.

“Our dearest father, Alvin, had hoped to see this day. Unfortunately, he passed away too soon,” Pamela Novick said.

Gore’s execution was ultimately quick and drama-free, unlike the 25 years of legal wrangling since he murdered the two women and nearly killed another. It had been Gore’s fourth scheduled execution in recent months. Twice before, courts halted executions as Gore’s lawyers sought to stave off his death because of questions about his sanity.

Then, in a move roundly criticized, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi rescheduled a September execution date so she could attend a political fundraiser; she later apologized. Bondi’s decision still riled many involved in the case.

“It was a slap in the face, not only for the law enforcement officers involved but for the families who have waited 25 long years,” said retired Columbia County Sheriff’s Lt. Neal Nydam, who investigated the Roark murder and attended Tuesday’s execution. Nydam said afterward: “It’s been a roller coaster. But finally, it’s over.”

 Nydam attended the execution with former Columbia prosecutor Bob Dekle, who also put away serial killer Ted Bundy. Former Miami-Dade prosecutor Flora Seff also witnessed the execution.

Authorities arrested Gore in 1988 after he kidnapped a stripper Tootsie’s Cabaret in North Miami-Dade. After raping the woman, he slit her throat, bashed her head in with a rock and left her to die in an isolated stretch near Homestead. The woman lived, alerting police officers that Gore had made off with her car, with her 2-year-old son in the back seat. The child was later found alive.

Officers looking for the boy stumbled across Novick’s remains. She was last seen with Gore leaving a tavern.

Novick, originally from Cincinnati, was a General Motors credit services representative who met Gore during a brief stint moonlighting as a dancer at Solid Gold in North Miami-Dade.

Suspicion soon fell on Gore for the disappearance of Tennessee college student Susan Marie Roark, who had disappeared two months earlier. She was last seen in his company. In April 1988, Columbia County deputies found Roark’s body, reduced to almost a skeleton, off a forest road.

In all, Gore was suspected of at least 15 sexual assaults, the attempted murder of a girl in Broward and the two murders.

After he was convicted in a slew of trials, Gore’s lawyers claimed the convicted killer was mentally ill. His execution, they said, would violate a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In documents penned himself, Gore tried to prove his insanity by claiming he was being executed as a “human sacrifice” and for “organ harvesting.”

Ultimately, court after court rejected Gore’s claims. Late Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to give Gore a final stay.

“I think the system is set up in a way that makes it very difficult for everybody involved, especially the victim’s families,” former prosecutor Seff said. “Despite that fact so much time has passed, the execution brought some peace to these people.”

Courtesy: Miami Herald

Bangladesh sentences 7th opposition lawmaker to death

Photo: The Daily Star

DHAKA,  Oct 1, 2013: Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal sentenced a senior opposition leader and lawmaker to death on Tuesday in the seventh such verdict by the body set up to probe abuses during the country's bloody struggle for independence.

Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a legislator from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was found guilty of torture, rape and genocide during the war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The process has been denounced by opposition parties as politically motivated ahead of polls due by January. More than 100 people have been killed in protests against the war crimes verdicts since the start of this year.

The 64-year-old Chowdhury was charged with killing some 200 civilians and collaborating with Pakistan's army to kill and torture unarmed people, as well as other crimes.
Bangladesh deployed security forces in the capital, Dhaka, and in Chowdhury's home city ahead of the verdict. 

Courtesy: The Times of India

'Would you visit me in prison?' The creepy dating profile of James Holmes revealed as he heads back to court today

• James Holmes set up profiles on two adult dating websites in the weeks leading up to the shooting
• Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to shooting 12 people dead in a Denver movie theater
• Holmes is charged with 160 counts, including murder and attempted murder in massacre during midnight Dark Knight Rises premiere

7 October 2013: James Holmes is returning to court later today for two weeks of hearings focusing on what evidence prosecutors can use against him in the Colorado theater shooting case.

Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 others in 2012. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Some of the evidence in dispute comes from two dating websites where Holmes set up accounts before the shootings.

Prosecutors say that in his website profiles on Match.com and AdultFriendFinder.com, Holmes asked, 'Will you visit me in prison?'

Prosecutors say they plan to use that to show Holmes knew the shootings were wrong, undercutting his insanity plea.

Holmes is accused of opening fire in a crowded Aurora movie theater during a midnight show on July 20, 2012. He faces 166 counts, including murder and attempted murder.

According to the judge's summary of the arguments, Holmes' created the Match.com account in April 2012 and the AdultFriendFinder.com account just 15 days before the shooting on July 20. Both were last accessed two days before the shooting.

Photos posted to both accounts showed Holmes with the orange-dyed hair made infamous in his first court appearance after the shooting.

The titles associated with Holmes' postings on both sites were, 'Will you visit me in prison?

Holmes created the profile on AdultFriendFinder.com on July 5, just two weeks before the shooting and included a picture of himself with reddish, orange hair.

Holmes, who used the screen name classicjimbo included a cryptic message on the top of the profile which read, 'Will you visit me in prison?'

In his profile, he described himself as he's 6'0" and single with an athletic body.

He said he was a 'light/social drinker', however in the section where he's asked if he smokes or does drugs, he answered, 'I'd prefer not to say.'

A reasonable inference may be drawn that the user of the accounts posted the question because he anticipated doing something that he was aware would warrant prison time,' Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour's wrote.

The judge also wrote that evidence from both dating sites could be used in the trial in relation to the identification, sanity, intent, deliberation and culpable mental state of the suspect.

Samour overruled several distinct objections defense attorneys made in their attempt to have this evidence barred. That included objections about online dating posts' relevance, timing and the direct connection to the suspect.

The judge has already rejected one defense attempt to suppress the website evidence.

Lawyers for the shooter, James Holmes, have challenged the admissibility of almost all the key evidence in the case — from photos found on Holmes' iPhone to explosives seized in his apartment to statements he made to police after his arrest.

Defense attorneys argue that investigators seized the evidence without establishing a proper legal foundation, initially entered Holmes' apartment without a warrant and questioned Holmes after he asked for an attorney.

Prosecutors contend the evidence was seized properly and that their methods were justified by ongoing fears for the public's safety even after Holmes was arrested.

The judge's decision on the evidence could impact prosecutors' ability to argue that Holmes knew what he was doing was wrong — a key element in disproving Holmes' insanity plea.

A trial is scheduled for next year.

Courtesy: Mail Online