An Army officer charged with killing an Iraqi general during an interrogation suggested guidelines for questioning detainees were being broken "every day" in Iraq, a secret witness testified at the officer's court-martial.
The witness, who testified late on Wednesday from behind a screen to cloak his identity, said he spoke with Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. on Nov. 25, 2003, the day before Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush's death at an Iraqi detention camp.
The witness said he asked Welshofer if he was aware of a memorandum from Welshofer's commanding general that required authorization for the use of certain interrogation techniques.
"He said he was aware of them, but said he was pretty sure they were breaking those rules every day," said the witness.
The dramatic testimony was opened to the public at the request of the media, though the judge did allow another witness to testify behind closed doors. Two witnesses also testified in secret on Tuesday.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
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A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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