US spy rearrested by security agencies in Pakistan

[dartman]

LOL yeah he came to visit his kid and wife...

Pakistan spy suspect Matthew Barrett jailed in Huntsville on drug trafficking charges

Barrett was living in Pakistan trying to obtain an American visa for his wife, Binosche, when he was arrested as a suspected spy. His wife said Barrett took a wrong turn while looking for car parts and ended up near a sensitive Pakistani military nuclear facility. Binosche Barrett fought for her husband's release in court and conducted an email campaign to bring his case to the attention of American reporters.

This guy has a history of getting in trouble. Not only in Pakistan, but also in his home country. He just walked nearby a nuke facility in Pakistan. We are all just supposed to buy this crap time and time again. Especially if its an American. First Raymond Davis and now this.

Sigh. What else can we do anyways?

The standards are always set by the strong.

 

[Solomon2]

Sigh. What else can we do anyways?

The standards are always set by the strong.

WTF? Calling him a "spy" was ludicrous in the first place - there's no evidence he did anything other than take a wrong turn while shopping, or else Pakistani courts wouldn't have released him in 2011 on his wife's say-so. Expelling him from Pakistan seems to have been a face-saving device for those who first accused him of being a spy. If this had happened to YOU, would you let a little thing like an ill-founded blacklist keep you from seeing your wife and kids for five years? What would you think of yourself if you did?

So yes @Kaptaan , it looks more like a case of illegal immigration than anything else...

LOL yeah he came to visit his kid and wife...

If proven guilty, hang this SOB

Chop.off his balls....That would keep him away from fateh jang...

...trade this spy for Aafia Siddique...

...expose and counter the particular network..

Binosche Barrett, Matthew's wife, with their two children. [2011]

...Stopped before the forbidding sign, Barrett realised he had a problem. He phoned his wife, Binosche, for help. They had met four years earlier, during Barrett's travels across Asia; now they lived in a smart Islamabad suburb with their two young children. Speaking in Urdu, Binosche asked a guard at a nearby checkpost to direct her husband back to Islamabad. "He said 'don't worry, your husband is our guest'," she recalls. But according to Barrett, in an account smuggled from prison and obtained by the Guardian, the situation quickly soured.

An intelligence official turned up, firing a barrage of questions. The official confiscated Barrett's passport, then his phone and finally the keys to his car. Barrett was taken into a nearby building where, he says, intelligence officers accused him of being a CIA spy, made "racist comments" about Guantánamo Bay, and attempted to cuff him and place a black hood over his head. Barrett resisted, kicking one man in the behind and mocking his captors as they beat him.

Barrett was released after five hours, hobbling back to Islamabad in a damaged car (the Pakistanis had ripped open the driver's door, apparently in search of espionage devices). Then the real trouble started. Stories surfaced in the press, attributed to the military's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, accusing him of "scoping out nuclear facilities". The interior ministry cancelled his visa and declared he had been blacklisted. Finally, in early June, nine police officers burst into Barrett's home, pushed past his wife and screaming children, and led him off to jail -

So, guys, are you still so pitiless as to want to "chop his balls off", etc.?

 

[dartman]

WTF? Calling him a "spy" was ludicrous in the first place - there's no evidence he did anything other than take a wrong turn while shopping, or else Pakistani courts wouldn't have released him in 2011 on his wife's say-so. Expelling him from Pakistan seems to have been a face-saving device for those who first accused him of being a spy. If this had happened to YOU, would you let a little thing like an ill-founded blacklist keep you from seeing your wife and kids for five years? What would you think of yourself if you did?

So yes @Kaptaan , it looks more like a case of illegal immigration than anything else...

Indeed. I am obliged to agree with you since you hail from a superpower, which automatically grants you the authority to define the standards of right and wrong.

So, my exalted sire, if it does not disturb your peace of mind, may I obediently present the case of Mr raymond davis, who was keeping an illegal firearm inside Pakistani territory, murdered two men without any provocation and then a car coming to rescue him (somehow running on the opposite side of the road) ran over a 3rd man? Since he too, like you, sire, hailed from God's Own Country, we lowly mortals were obliged to drop all charges against him and allow him to return in all grace and dignity.

May I even be so audacious as to humbly request how an insolent little Pakistani would be treated by the magnificent, learned members of NSA if he took a wrong turn and ended up near a nuclear plant in God's Own Country? Considering how humanely and honorably you demigods are treating Dr Aafia Siddiqui, there can be no doubt the erring infidel would be treated equally humanly and honorably.

 

[Solomon2]

Indeed. I am obliged to agree with you since you hail from a superpower, which automatically grants you the authority to define the standards of right and wrong...my exalted sire -

Granted, centuries of authoritarian rule have ill-prepared Pakistanis for the fair play of a free society, but that doesn't excuse you from making the effort today, does it?

 

[dartman]

Granted, centuries of authoritarian rule have ill-prepared Pakistanis for the fair play of a free society, but that doesn't excuse you from making the effort today, does it?

Oh, of course it does, sire! How dare can I compare to the demigods dwelling in God's Own Country?

I am, but a lowly mortal and my country too, has been apparently forsaken by God.

 

[war&peace]

Binosche Barrett, Matthew's wife, with their two children. [2011]

...Stopped before the forbidding sign, Barrett realised he had a problem. He phoned his wife, Binosche, for help. They had met four years earlier, during Barrett's travels across Asia; now they lived in a smart Islamabad suburb with their two young children. Speaking in Urdu, Binosche asked a guard at a nearby checkpost to direct her husband back to Islamabad. "He said 'don't worry, your husband is our guest'," she recalls. But according to Barrett, in an account smuggled from prison and obtained by the Guardian, the situation quickly soured.

An intelligence official turned up, firing a barrage of questions. The official confiscated Barrett's passport, then his phone and finally the keys to his car. Barrett was taken into a nearby building where, he says, intelligence officers accused him of being a CIA spy, made "racist comments" about Guantánamo Bay, and attempted to cuff him and place a black hood over his head. Barrett resisted, kicking one man in the behind and mocking his captors as they beat him.

Barrett was released after five hours, hobbling back to Islamabad in a damaged car (the Pakistanis had ripped open the driver's door, apparently in search of espionage devices). Then the real trouble started. Stories surfaced in the press, attributed to the military's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, accusing him of "scoping out nuclear facilities". The interior ministry cancelled his visa and declared he had been blacklisted. Finally, in early June, nine police officers burst into Barrett's home, pushed past his wife and screaming children, and led him off to jail -

So, guys, are you still so pitiless as to want to "chop his balls off", etc.?

Mate, I said it should be investigated and if found guilty, then he must be punished. But if not of course he should be freed and his family should not suffer.

 

[Indika]

WTF? Calling him a "spy" was ludicrous in the first place - there's no evidence he did anything other than take a wrong turn while shopping, or else Pakistani courts wouldn't have released him in 2011 on his wife's say-so. Expelling him from Pakistan seems to have been a face-saving device for those who first accused him of being a spy. If this had happened to YOU, would you let a little thing like an ill-founded blacklist keep you from seeing your wife and kids for five years? What would you think of yourself if you did?

So yes @Kaptaan , it looks more like a case of illegal immigration than anything else...

Binosche Barrett, Matthew's wife, with their two children. [2011]

...Stopped before the forbidding sign, Barrett realised he had a problem. He phoned his wife, Binosche, for help. They had met four years earlier, during Barrett's travels across Asia; now they lived in a smart Islamabad suburb with their two young children. Speaking in Urdu, Binosche asked a guard at a nearby checkpost to direct her husband back to Islamabad. "He said 'don't worry, your husband is our guest'," she recalls. But according to Barrett, in an account smuggled from prison and obtained by the Guardian, the situation quickly soured.

An intelligence official turned up, firing a barrage of questions. The official confiscated Barrett's passport, then his phone and finally the keys to his car. Barrett was taken into a nearby building where, he says, intelligence officers accused him of being a CIA spy, made "racist comments" about Guantánamo Bay, and attempted to cuff him and place a black hood over his head. Barrett resisted, kicking one man in the behind and mocking his captors as they beat him.

Barrett was released after five hours, hobbling back to Islamabad in a damaged car (the Pakistanis had ripped open the driver's door, apparently in search of espionage devices). Then the real trouble started. Stories surfaced in the press, attributed to the military's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, accusing him of "scoping out nuclear facilities". The interior ministry cancelled his visa and declared he had been blacklisted. Finally, in early June, nine police officers burst into Barrett's home, pushed past his wife and screaming children, and led him off to jail -

So, guys, are you still so pitiless as to want to "chop his balls off", etc.?

This is typical in subcontinent , officials to save their *** will try to invent some thing new. Those ppl in power will can make or break ppl's life. If there is any such encounter with such ppl its simply better to lie low than to point out the truth. We often avoid police , even if there is theft it is not reported. simply bcos of the fact that we will end up paying more to police than value of the goods stolen!

 

[Solomon2]

Mate, I said it should be investigated and if found guilty, then he must be punished. But if not of course he should be freed and his family should not suffer.

Maybe he is guilty of violating the "blacklist". Considering his family situation, it seems like the admirable thing to do, doesn't it? Is there no way he can appeal to a judge about the cruelties and absurdities he's been subject to?

This is typical in subcontinent , officials to save their *** will try to invent some thing new. Those ppl in power will can make or break ppl's life...

That's authoritarianism. Democratic rights and norms have to be asserted in order to break it. Be complacent and your freedoms wither away...

 

[war&peace]

Maybe he is guilty of violating the "blacklist". Considering his family situation, it seems like the admirable thing to do, doesn't it? Is there no way he can appeal to a judge about the cruelties and absurdities he's been subject to?

No laws are laws and he should have sought for legal ways.

 

[Solomon2]

No laws are laws and he should have sought for legal ways.

"He"? Wasn't it Pakistani authorities who violated Pakistan's own laws, both in fact and in spirit?

 

[Indika]

That's authoritarianism. Democratic rights and norms have to be asserted in order to break it. Be complacent and your freedoms wither away...

official represents the govt and you cannot fight the govt. They are all one and the same. You file case against one of them they will gang up and you are done for. Democracy & rights are theoretically good but practically hard to practice. As I said you are better of walking away to live another day.

 

[war&peace]

"He"? Wasn't it Pakistani authorities who violated Pakistan's own laws, both in fact and in spirit?

And they have been arrested as well. Did you read whole news?

 

[Solomon2]

And they have been arrested as well. Did you read whole news?

I meant the ones who deceived and arrested Barrett in 2011, then tossed him out before he could finish his appeals and complaints against them.

 

[fitpOsitive]

WTF? Calling him a "spy" was ludicrous in the first place - there's no evidence he did anything other than take a wrong turn while shopping, or else Pakistani courts wouldn't have released him in 2011 on his wife's say-so. Expelling him from Pakistan seems to have been a face-saving device for those who first accused him of being a spy. If this had happened to YOU, would you let a little thing like an ill-founded blacklist keep you from seeing your wife and kids for five years? What would you think of yourself if you did?

So yes @Kaptaan , it looks more like a case of illegal immigration than anything else...

Binosche Barrett, Matthew's wife, with their two children. [2011]

...Stopped before the forbidding sign, Barrett realised he had a problem. He phoned his wife, Binosche, for help. They had met four years earlier, during Barrett's travels across Asia; now they lived in a smart Islamabad suburb with their two young children. Speaking in Urdu, Binosche asked a guard at a nearby checkpost to direct her husband back to Islamabad. "He said 'don't worry, your husband is our guest'," she recalls. But according to Barrett, in an account smuggled from prison and obtained by the Guardian, the situation quickly soured.

An intelligence official turned up, firing a barrage of questions. The official confiscated Barrett's passport, then his phone and finally the keys to his car. Barrett was taken into a nearby building where, he says, intelligence officers accused him of being a CIA spy, made "racist comments" about Guantánamo Bay, and attempted to cuff him and place a black hood over his head. Barrett resisted, kicking one man in the behind and mocking his captors as they beat him.

Barrett was released after five hours, hobbling back to Islamabad in a damaged car (the Pakistanis had ripped open the driver's door, apparently in search of espionage devices). Then the real trouble started. Stories surfaced in the press, attributed to the military's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, accusing him of "scoping out nuclear facilities". The interior ministry cancelled his visa and declared he had been blacklisted. Finally, in early June, nine police officers burst into Barrett's home, pushed past his wife and screaming children, and led him off to jail -

So, guys, are you still so pitiless as to want to "chop his balls off", etc.?

Either chopping balls or and an innocent pigeon capture, both perspectives are biased, based on either hate or love.

 

[war&peace]

I meant the ones who deceived and arrested Barrett in 2011, then tossed him out before he could finish his appeals and complaints against them.

He must have explored the legal options since no one can be denied access to justice so even if he was thrown out of Pakistan, he could have appealed through some legal mechanism and get support from US govt.