Abdul Azeez - North America
The "Virgin Island Five" are group of activists
accused of murdering eight people in the US
Virgin Islands. The murders took place during a
turbulent period of rebellion on the Islands.
During the 1970's as with much of the world, a
movement to resist colonial rule began to grow
in the U.S. occupied Virgin Islands. From 1971
to 1973, there was a small scale Mau Mau
rebellion taking place in the Islands. This
activity was down-played by the media, for fear
it would damage the tourist industry, which the
island's survival depends on.
Then on September 6th, 1972, eight American
tourists were gunned down at the
Rockefeller-owned golf course on the island of
St. Croix. Quickly the colonial authorities picked
up over one hundred blacks for interrogations,
and the U.S. colonial troops carried out a series
of repressive acts of violence against the black
community. The F.B.I. and the United States
Army led a 300-man invasion force into the
islands and used strong armed tactic to conduct
house to house searches of the low income
areas.
The island was put under virtual martial law, and
eventually five men, Ismael Labeet (Ishmail Ali),
Warren Ballentine (Abdul Aziz), Meral (Malik)
Smith, Raphael (Kwesi) Joseph, and Beaumont
Gereau (Hanif Shabazz Bey) who were
apprehended and then charged with the attack.
All the men were known supporters of the Virgin
Island independence movement.
-2-
Island independence movement.
The five were charged after being subjected
to vicious torture in order to extract
confessions. They were beaten, hung from
their feet and necks from trees, subject to
electric shocks with "cattle prods", had
plastic bags tied over their heads and had
water forced up their noses by the
"defenders of the law".
According to one report, Labeet was given a
pocket knife by a guard and told to run.
Labeet know that if he took one step he
would be shot in his tracks. The guards
were trying to find any justification to kill
Labeet and his fellow Virgin Island Five
political prisoners.
The judge (Warren Young) overlooking the
case prior to being placed on the federal
bench worked as Rockefeller's private
attorney and even handled legal matter for
the Fountain Valley Golf Course.
Eventually, the five went to trial in what
became known as the "Fountain Valley"
murder trial. This was an obvious Kangaroo
Court and a mockery of any sense of a fair
trial. On August 13, 1973, each of the five
men were convicted and sentenced to eight
(8) consecutive life terms.
Abdul Azeez (Warren Ballentine) #1415430
Wallens Ridge State Prison
PO Box 759
Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Bradley Manning - North America
On April 4, 2010, whistle-blowing website
WikiLeaks published a classified video of a
United States Apache helicopter firing on
civilians in New Baghdad in 2007. The video,
available at www.collateralmurder.com, shows
Americans shooting and killing 11 individuals
who do not return fire. Two of those killed were
Reuters’ employees, including 22 year old
Reuters’ photojournalist Namir Noor-Eldeen and
his driver, 40 year old Saeed Chmagh.
The video includes an audio recording of the
internal commentary by the American soldiers
before, during and after the shooting. The
soldiers repeatedly request and are granted
permission to open fire, encourage one another
and joke about the dead and dying civilians.
(Full transcript available here - www.
collateralmurder.com/en/transcript.html)
A total of 11 adults were killed. Two children,
passengers in a van that arrived on the scene
after the first bout of gunfire had ceased, were
seriously injured when the Apache helicopter
opened fire on their van.
In 2007, Reuters called for an investigation into
the attack. In response, a spokesman for the
multinational forces in Baghdad stated: “There is
no question that coalition forces were clearly
engaged in combat operations against a hostile
force.”
No charges have been filed against the
American soldiers in the Apache helicopter who
shot and killed the civilians in the video.
In late May 2010, Private First Class Bradley
Manning, an intelligence analyst with the US
-2-
Army in Baghdad, was arrested. On June 6,
2010, he was charged with 2 counts of
violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice,
including eight criminal offenses and four
noncriminal violations of Army regulations.
The full charge sheet is available at www.
bradleymanning.org/3163/charge-sheet-html.
His arrest was precipitated by an alleged
online chat confession to well-known hacker
and journalist Adrian Lamo.
Manning is currently imprisoned in the brig at
US Marine Corps Base Quantico in
Quantico, Virginia, awaiting trial. If convicted,
Manning faces up to 52 years in prison,
dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay
and benefits and unspecified fines.
Since his arrest, Bradley Manning has issued
no formal public statements. Daniel Ellsberg,
the famed whistleblower behind the
Pentagon Papers, has heralded Pfc. Bradley
Manning as a hero.
In late July 2010, the U.S. Military alleged
that Manning was the chief suspect in the
“Afghan Diaries” leak of U.S. Military combat
and incident reports from the occupation of
Afghanistan. The Afghan Diaries is the
largest collection of leaked intelligence
records in U.S. history, and details what
Wikileaks and others have described as
“countless war crimes” by U.S. and NATO
forces.
Inmate: Bradley Manning
3247 Elrod Avenue
Quantico, VA 22134
Malik Smith - North America
The “Virgin Island Five” are group of activists
accused of murdering eight people in the U.S.
Virgin Islands. The murders took place during a
turbulent period of rebellion on the Islands.
During the 1970′s, as with much of the world, a
movement to resist colonial rule began to grow in
the U.S. occupied Virgin Islands. From 1971 to
1973, there was a small scale Mau Mau rebellion
taking place on the islands. This activity was
down- played by the media, for fear it would
damage the tourist industry, which the island’s
survival depends on.
Then on September 6th, 1972, eight American
tourists were gunned down at the Rockefeller-
owned golf course on the island of St.Croix.
Quickly the colonial authorities picked up over
one hundred blacks for interrogations, and the U.
S. colonial troops carried out a series of
repressive acts of violence against the black
community. The F.B.I. and the United States
Army led a 300-man invasion force into the
islands and used strong armed tactics to conduct
house to house searches of the low income
areas.
The island was put under virtual martial law, and
eventually five men, Ismael Labeet (Ishmail Ali),
Warren Ballentine (Abdul Aziz), Meral (Malik)
Smith, Raphael (Kwesi) Joseph, and Beaumont
Gereau (Hanif Shabazz Bey) who were
apprehended and then charged with the attack.
All the men were known supporters of the Virgin
Island independence movement.
-2-
Island independence movement.
The five were charged after being subjected
to vicious torture, in order to extract
confessions. They were beaten, hung from
their feet and necks from trees, subject to
electric shocks with “cattle prods”, had
plastic bags tied over their heads and had
water forced up their noses by the
“defenders of the law.”
According to one report, Labeet was given a
pocket knife by a guard and was told to run.
Labeet knew that if he took one step he
would be shot in his tracks. The guards were
trying to find any justification to kill Labeet
and his fellow Virgin Island Five political
prisoners.
The judge (Warren Young) overlooking the
case prior to being placed on the federal
bench worked as Rockefeller’s private
attorney and even handled legal matters for
the Fountain Valley Golf Course.
Eventually, the five went to trial in what
became known as the “Fountain Valley”
murder trial. This was an obvious Kangaroo
Court and a mockery of any sense of a fair
trial. On August 13, 1973, each of the five
men were convicted and sentenced to eight
(8) consecutive life terms.
MALIK SMITH
#295945
P.O. Box 759
Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Wallensridge Supermax
Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar - North America
A Palestinian nationalist who has fought for the
liberation both in Palestine and here in the US.
Jurors acquitted Ashqar of racketeering
conspiracy, but was still sentenced to 11 years
and 3 months in prison for refusing to testify
before a grand jury that was investigating money-
laundering and non-profits funding “terrorist”
organizations. These charges are broad
sweeping and are the same types of charges
being brought against Dr. Dhafir.
http://www.free-ashqar.org/
ABDELHALEEM HASAN ASHQAR
#41500-054
FCI PETERSBURG LOW
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 1000
PETERSBURG, VA 23804