A. Loewenstein Online Newsletter

The multinational security company hired by the government to deport refused asylum
seekers was warned repeatedly by its own staff that potentially lethal force was being
used against deportees, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal.
Details of how some G4S guards developed a dangerous technique for restraining deportees
by bending them in aircraft seats is disclosed in official testimony drawn up by four whistle-
blowers from the company.
Their evidence was secretly submitted to the home affairs select committee in the aftermath of
the death of Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan man who died while being forcibly restrained on a
flight from Heathrow in October.
The previously unseen testimony reveals that G4S managers were repeatedly alerted that
refused asylum seekers who became disruptive on flights were being “forced into submission”
with their heads placed between their legs.
The technique, which is strictly prohibited because it could result in a form of suffocation known
as positional asphyxia, was nicknamed “carpet karaoke” by G4S guards.
The whistle-blowers also allege that staff were not trained properly, criticised for showing
compassion to refused asylum seekers, particularly children, and ostracised if they ever voiced
concerns. They state that some guards went years without receiving official Home Office
accreditation.Their evidence contradicts testimony given to parliament by senior G4S executives
who were summoned to appear before the home affairs select committee following Mubenga’s
death.
One senior G4S official
told MPs during a the hearing in November that he was “not aware” that his staff had ever raised
concerns about any aspect of the removals process.
 
The contract will be taken over in May by a rival security firm, Reliance. Under European
employment regulations, Reliance has been compelled to offer employment to all G4S staff
involved in removals.
Meanwhile G4S continues to hold contracts with several government departments estimated
to be worth £600m. It manages four prisons, three immigration removal centres and escorts
around half of all prisoners to and from court.

The chief spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday he had visited Britain incognito and under guard for fear of being targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters.

The fact that Brigadier-General Avi Benayahu, the public face of the military during the Gaza war of 2008-2009 and the bloody seizure of a Turkish aid flotilla last year, used an alias showed the depth of Israelis’ discomfort at popular campaigns to pillory their dignitaries while abroad.

Britain has been of special concern for Israel given local laws allowing private citizens to secure arrest warrants for visiting foreign officials they accuse of war crimes.

“I was also in London, not long ago, with an assumed identity and a bodyguard … Me, who did not attend the officers’ academy and never fired a shot in my life,” Benayahu told the Herzliya Conference, an annual Israeli security forum.

He said organizers of the visit “explained to me that the moment they notice me, spot me at the hotel, thanks to the social network, there’s a demonstration in front of the hotel in an hour. And you don’t know how a demonstration will unfold.”

“One doesn’t want a provocation,” said Benayahu, a former journalist and publicist who received an honorary military rank when he became spokesman.

Benayahu’s office did not give more details of his visit.
Benayahu is familiar to Israelis thanks to his distinctive girth and booming voice. But he has shunned the international media, delegating such appearances to deputies who speak foreign languages.
 After several Israeli politicians and military brass canceled trips to London out of concern they could be arrested, the British government promised legislation to curb British magistrates’ “universal jurisdiction” powers.

At least one Tamil detainee has been seriously injured on Christmas Island as overcrowding in the tension centre has seen a series of fights erupt over the past three days.
It is understood that the Tamil man has spent at least 24 hours in the medical centre after some of his teeth were knocked out in an assault inside one of the compounds two days ago.
There are also reports that a Serco guard was slightly injured in one of the altercations.
Last (ie Tuesday) night, Serco locked down blue 2 compound to try and prevent any repeat incidents.
“The lock down is just more example of the crisis management that characterises Christmas Island. It is not a solution,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“It seems that the overcrowding is producing something of a gang culture among some of the detainees inside the detention centre. The overcrowding, the boredom, the delays and the misery is turning the detention centre into a hot house of frustration
“Facilities inside the detention centre are strained to the limit. Former recreation areas have been turned into dormitories and asylum seekers are living in tents. People are being held for months with nothing to do. In this environment, the smallest incidents can become a flashpoint for the tensions, and incidents become fights.”
According to the latest official statistics, there are over 2000 detainees inside Christmas Island’s main detention centre.

“Some asylum seekers have been waiting over 18 months for security clearances after being told they have been accepted as refugees. Justice delayed really is justice denied in these cases. The delays cause more frustrations and hardship for the asylum seekers and their families.
“The delays and the overcrowding are recreating the conditions that resulted in the “riot” inside the detention centre in October 2009. There is no reasonable explanation for the delays. Serco and the immigration department blame ASIO but that is no comfort for someone who has been told the government has found them to be a refugee.
“The Commonwealth Ombudsman recently reported a ‘…lack of appropriate accommodation, education and recreation activities, [and] the need for more and correct interpreters, and providing community detention on mainland Australia.’ Christmas Island should be closed,” said Rintoul.

The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show.
The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom’s crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%.
The revelation comes as the oil price has soared in recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel on global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect that the Saudis and their Opec cartel partners would pump more oil if rising prices threatened to choke off demand.
However, Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, met the US consul general in Riyadh in November 2007 and told the US diplomat that Aramco’s 12.5m barrel-a-day capacity needed to keep a lid on prices could not be reached.
According to the cables, which date between 2007-09, Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12m barrels a day in 10 years but before then – possibly as early as 2012 – global oil production would have hit its highest point. This crunch point is known as “peak oil“.