[R-G] British Press Gagged Over MI6's £100,000 bin Laden

[DavidMcR at aol.com]

<< 
 Supposedly, MI6 gave £100,000 to bin Laden and Al-Qaeda to assassinate the
 Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, in 1996. This comes from a renegade Brit
 agent being tried for treason. The British government has barred the press
 there from reporting details of the trial. This account discusses it.
 
 at
 http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0210/S00061.htm
      
British Press Gagged Over MI6's £100,000 bin Laden
Wednesday, 9 October 2002, 10:24 am
 
Unanswered Questions: Thinking For Ourselves
Presented by... http://www.unansweredquestions.org/

SHAYLERGATE:
British Press Gagged on Reporting MI6's £100,000 bin Laden Payoff
By Paul Joseph Watson
From: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/shayler_gate.html

Tony Blair has tonight ordered a D-Notice on British media reporting
 government officials signing court gag orders. This regards the case of
 former MI5 officer David Shayler, who has evidence to prove MI6 gave
 £100,000 to bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, arms to Iraq and had prior knowledge of
 several terrorist attacks on London in the 1990's.

The original articles stated that top Labour MP's had signed gag orders,
 whereby upon mention of this evidence in court, media have to immediately
 leave the trial. Newspapers all over the country, including the Guardian,
 the London Evening Standard and the Scotsman have either completely removed
 or amended their articles. This evidence is damning. The British government
 is trying to bury the story before it buries them.

I first noticed that the Guardian article I had earlier posted on my website
 had disappeared. Already aware that Blair may well have ordered a D-Notice
 to eliminate these reports, I immediately started searching on Google for
 some more. In Britain, a D-Notice is where the government order a gag on a
 particular breaking story. 

I came across a very similar London Evening Standard report and immediately
 put it on my web site. Low and behold, five minutes later the link was dead!
 Amazingly, I still had the article up on my screen on a different browser
 window. I tried to archive the page to my desktop but to no avail. I did
 manage to print out a copy which I have scanned and linked below.

This story is massive because Shayler has them on the wracks on a number of
 different issues, from colluding with bin Laden, to arms deals with
 questionable characters. This could be particularly embarrasing for Jack
 Straw, who I, using mainstream reports, have identified as a key placeman in
 hawking arms to Pakistan, India and even Iran. 

Bilderberg member Peter Mandelson is also trying to cover his dirt by
 gagging these reports. The London Times reported how his new 'think tank'
 was being bankrolled by the Rothschilds two weeks ago. The Rothschilds
 control the BBC, who haven't even mentioned that the trial has started,
 never mind the accusations Shayler raises.

The original London Guardian report was entitled 'Ministers issue gag orders
 for MI5 trial' and was located at
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/shayler/article/0,2763,806009,00.html - as you
 will see if you click on the link, it's disappeared down the memory hole.
 The text I extracted from the report for my original link to it is as
 follows...

"Ministers issue gag orders for MI5 trial: They appear to be worried that he
 will make further allegations about MI5 and MI6 knowledge of a plot to
 assassinate the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, in 1996. A book, Forbidden
 Truth, published this summer claims that British intelligence was in contact
 with "Osama bin Laden's main allies" who were opposed to Colonel Gadafy."

The London Evening Standard article was entitled 'Calls for secret Shayler
 trial' and was at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/1488303 -
 again, it has now been removed. [maybe not; see below] Luckily I saved the
 text to a Word file and printed the article: 

Before you read this, it is important to understand the issue at hand. We're
 talking about MI6 cooperation with bin Laden, arms to Iraq and, as reported
 today in the Scotsman, claims that, 'secret services ignored warnings that
 might have prevented bombings in the London in 1993 and 1994.' Shayler has
 evidence that MI5 wilfully failed to stop the bomb attack on Israel's London
 embassy in 1994 and the IRA's 1993 Bishopsgate bombing, which killed one
 person. 

Here it is in Shayler's own words plus the actual MI6 Gaddafi plot document
 - MI6 Plot to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi: Police enquiry confirms Plot is
 not "fantasy" - http://cryptome.org/shayler-gaddafi.htm

Here is the London Evening Standard report I managed to rescue.

Update! Take a look at the scans of the article I printed off - why was it
 removed? Judge for yourself...(click on the images for big versions)

 

This article has now been replaced with a shorter, watered down, version of
 this story. It does not mention MI5's £100,000 transfer to Al-Qaeda. Yet
 more evidence of a top down cover-up - read the new whitewashed piece here
 and compare it to my scanned original that was pulled along with all the
 others!
 
 [he may be wrong. I clicked on it and got the longer version he says was
 watered down. I'll patch it in here.]
 
 at
 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/1488303?version=1
 or
 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/til/jsp/modules/Article/print.jsp?itemId=14883
 03
 
This is
LONDON
07/10/02 - News and city section

Calls for secret Shayler trial 
By Patrick McGowan, Evening Standard

The Government has been accused by lawyers of trying to interfere in the
 trial of former MI5 officer David Shayler by insisting that part of the
 proceedings are held in private. 

Ministers are demanding that trial judge Mr Justice Alan Moses agree in
 advance that the case go into private session without saying why and without
 hearing arguments to the contrary from the defence. 

Shayler's trial, on charges under the Official Secrets Act, was beginning at
 the Old Bailey today. He is being prosecuted following newspaper interviews
 he gave five years ago and the trial is expected to last for at least four
 weeks. 

On Friday Home Secretary David Blunkett and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
 signed identical public interest immunity certificates under which the press
 and the public will have to leave court if sensitive security issues are
 raised. 

The certificates do not specify what information they are trying to keep
 secret on the grounds that to do so would cause the very damage the
 Government is seeking to avoid. 

They claim: "Publication of information of the kinds referred to would be
 likely to assist those whose purpose it is to injure the security of the
 United Kingdom and whose actions in the past show that they are willing to
 kill innocent civilians, both inside and outside the UK, in pursuance of
 their aims." 

Mr Blunkett and Mr Straw also claim present and future intelligence
 operations would be compromised. 

PII certificates signed by Conservative ministers were controversially used
 during the arms-to-Iraq trials in the Nineties. 

Normally the judge in a trial would read documents in the case and, after
 hearing arguments from both sides, decide whether they should be disclosed.
 Now he is being asked to make his decision in advance. 

Shayler, 36, faces three charges. They allege he disclosed information,
 disclosed information obtained by interception of communications and 

disclosed documents. The Crown Prosecution Service has already given notice
 that it will apply for some parts of the trial to be held in camera. This
 will apply to evidence on "sensitive operational techniques of the Security
 and Intelligence Services". 

It is expected that the court will also be asked to keep the identities of
 MI5 agents secret and allow them to give evidence from behind screens. 

Today Geoffrey Robertson QC, representing civil rights group Liberty, will
 oppose the Government's move. Michael Tugendhat QC, appearing for various
 national newspapers, is expected to argue that the Government has provided
 no evidence that national security will be threatened by the trial and will
 underline the importance of open justice. 

During the arms-to-Iraq cases Mr Justice Moses was prosecuting counsel and
 Mr Robertson was counsel for the defence when three directors of the machine
 tool company Matrix Churchill were accused of selling equipment to the Iraqi
 regime. 

Shayler will be defending himself during the trial. He is expected to claim
 that British secret service agents paid up to £100,000 to al Qaeda
 terrorists for an assassination attempt on Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffy in
 1996. He is seeking permission to plead a defence of "necessity" - that he
 acted for the greater good by revealing wrongdoing by the security service. 

Although much of the trial may end up being held in camera, the arguments
 about which parts should be kept secret will be held in public. Only after
 they are concluded is the jury expected to be sworn in so the trial proper
 can begin. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [now back to Paul Joseph Watson]
------------------------------------

The Scotsman also released a report which remains online but both the title
 and the article have been amended!!! The new article talks about new MI5
 head Eliza Manningham-Buller, only mentioning the Shayler case in passing.
 It certainly does not include information concerning the Labour MP's
 involved and government prior knowledge of terrorist bombings in London.

http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1113312002 is the amended version
 - I archived the original at
 http://www.propagandamatrix.com/renegade_mi5_agent_to_face_jury.htm. The
 report was originally entitled 'Renegade MI5 agent ready to face jury' it is
 now called 'Has MI5 really emerged from shadows?' This is the report with
 the most damning information (the one they erased).

Here is the full text of the original Scotsman article.

*************

Renegade MI5 agent ready to face jury
KAREN MCVEIGH

DAVID Shayler, the former M15 officer branded a traitor by the government,
 is due to take on the legal establishment today, as his trial opens at the
 Old Bailey in London. 

The renegade agent, who faces six years imprisonment for breaching the
 Official Secrets Act after making a number of sensational revelations about
 M15 to a national newspaper in 1997, will represent himself for part of the
 landmark case. The trial will centre around a number of allegations made by
 Shayler about M15 holding files on prominent politicians, including former
 cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary. He
 also claimed the secret services ignored warnings that might have prevented
 bombings in the London in 1993 and 1994. 

Shayler, 36, faces two charges under section one of the Official Secrets Act
 for disclosing documents and information about the work of M15 and another
 under section four, for disclosing information about telephone taps. 

He has failed so far to win his argument that his revelations were in the
 public interest. The High Court, Court of Appeal and the House of Lords,
 have all ruled that he cannot claim he disclosed information in the public
 interest or out of necessity. They also ruled out the main plank of
 Shayler's defence - that the Officials Secrets Act is incompatible with the
 Human Rights Act. 

Shayler, who made other allegations for which he was not charged, including
 a claim that M16 was involved in a plot to assassinate the Libyan leader,
 Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, will argue that he is only guilty of "exposing
 wrongdoing". 

"I aim to persist in my argument that the Official Secrets Act as it
 currently stands is totally incompatible with the Human Rights Act," he told
 a newspaper yesterday. 

Some of the hearing is expected to be taken up by an application by
 newspapers objecting to plans to hold parts of the trial in secret. 

The prosecution applied for hearings to be held in camera after its concerns
 that Shayler will make fresh allegations to the jury to back up his public
 interest defence. 

Shayler's decision to defend himself, against the advice of his legal team,
 for part of the trial was prompted by the belief that he will be freer to
 argue his case than his barrister, Geoffrey Robertson, QC, whose hands are
 tied by earlier court rulings.

***************

Even local papers such as the Leicestershire Mail and the Derby Evening
 Telegraph have removed the story from their websites! The original stories
 were here and here respectively. They were entiled ''SHAYLER AT OLD BAILEY
 FOR TRIAL' and 'SHAYLER ARRIVES FOR TRIAL.' As you can see by clicking the
 links, they are gone. As is a London Independent article that was entitled
 'MI5 faces accountability test as new chief takes reins.' 

***************

UPDATE: It is now confirmed that all details relating to the Shayler case
 cannot be reported. The UK government have successfully gagged the cowardly
 pathetic mainstream media, but I will continue to track this story.

The Guardian reports - 'Shayler hearing'


'An Old Bailey court yesterday heard legal arguments relating to the trial of
 David Shayler, the former MI5 officer charged with breaking the Official
 Secrets Act. The judge ruled that they cannot be reported. Mr Shayler's
 trial is now expected to be heard before a jury next week.'
- Richard Norton-Taylor

Read this tiny blurb at
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,806640,00.html (until they
 remove that too)

http://www.propagandamatrix.com

***************

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