Cambell testifies she received dirty 'stones'

[cory777]

Source: AP

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands – Model Naomi Campbell testified at the war crimes trial of former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor on Thursday that she received a gift of "dirty-looking stones" after attending a dinner with him — but stopped short of saying they were diamonds or that she was given them by Taylor himself.

Campbell was being questioned about claims made by actress Mia Farrow that Taylor gave the model an uncut diamond or diamonds after a dinner party hosted by Nelson Mandela they all attended in South Africa in 1997.

Prosecutors say Campbell's testimony could provide evidence he received diamonds from Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for weapons during that country's 1992-2002 civil war.

The British model said on ths stand she was awakened in the middle of the night by two black men at her door who offered her a pouch they said was a gift for her. She said she didn't look at it until the following morning.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_en_ot/war_crimes_taylor_naomi_campbell

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Breaking Activist News! http://activistnews.blogspot.com

[JI7]

1. someone famous like her just getting up in the middle of the night and opening her door ?

[truthisfreedom]

2. Paid off the hotel.

[robinlynne]

15. really. I wouldn't open my door in the middle of the night to strangers.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Naomi Campbell to testify at Charles Taylor's war crimes tribunal

Source: Telegraph

Naomi Campbell to testify at Charles Taylor's war crimes tribunal
Naomi Campbell is due to appear as an unwillingly witness at UN war crimes tribunal today to answer questions over an alleged "blood diamond" gift from Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president.

By Bruno Waterfield in The Hague
Published: 7:33AM BST 05 Aug 2010

The former African leader is being tried on 11 counts of war crimes in Sierra Leone, including charges of murder, rape and sexual slavery, in a trial that has already lasted two years.

Judges have ordered special security measures for the British supermodel, ruling that she must be protected from intense press scrutiny at the normally sleepy UN court, which occupies the former sports centre of the Dutch secret service in a residential suburb.

Mr Taylor, 62, is accused by prosecutors of trading in "blood diamonds" to fund a brutal and bloody war carried out by rebels in Liberia's neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Critical to their case is the allegation that his staff gave Miss Campbell, 40, a large uncut gem as a present after they met at a star studded gala banquet hosted by Nelson Mandela in 1997.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/7927579/Naomi-Campbell-to-testify-at-Charles-Taylors-war-crimes-tribunal.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. U.S. televangelist Pat Robertson's ties to Charles Taylor

From his Wiki:

~snip~
Business Interests

~snip~
According to a 2 June 1999, article in The Virginian-Pilot,<23> Robertson had extensive business dealings with Liberian president Charles Taylor. According to the article, Taylor gave Robertson the rights to mine for diamonds in Liberia's mineral-rich countryside. According to two Operation Blessing pilots who reported this incident to the state of Virginia for investigation in 1994, Robertson used his Operation Blessing planes to haul diamond-mining equipment to Robertson's mines in Liberia, despite the fact that Robertson was telling his 700 Club viewers that the planes were sending relief supplies to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda. In response to Taylor's alleged crimes against humanity the United States Congress passed a bill In November 2003 that offered two million dollars for his capture. Robertson accused President Bush of "undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country." At the time Taylor was harboring Al Qaeda operatives who were funding their operations through the illegal diamond trade.<24> On February 4, 2010, at his war crimes trial in the Hague, Charles Taylor testified that Robertson was his main political ally in the U.S., and that he had volunteered to make Liberia's case before U.S. administration officials in exchange for concessions to Robertson's Freedom Gold, Ltd., to which Taylor gave a contract to mine gold in southeast Liberia.<25> In 2010, a spokesman for Robertson said that the company's arrangements - the Liberian government got a 10 percent equity interest in the company and Liberians could purchase at least 15 percent of the shares after the exploration period - was similar to many American companies doing business in Africa at the time.<26>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson

http://www.waynebesen.com.nyud.net:8090/uploaded_images/pat-750386.jpg

http://media.hamptonroads.com.nyud.net:8090/images/news/2006/06jun/pat440x345.jpg

Rev. Robertson "pressing" 2000 lbs.

Pat Robertson And Diamonds

Televangelist Robertson's Humanitarian Planes Used For Diamond Mining Firm

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -Airplanes sent to Zaire by evangelist Pat Robertson's tax- exempt humanitarian organization were used almost exclusively for his diamond mining business, say two pilots who flew them.

Three airplanes were flown to Zaire in September 1994 by Operation Blessing. However, chief pilot Robert Hinkle said only one or two of the roughly 40 flights during his six months in the country could be considered humanitarian. All the rest of the flights were mining-related, he told The (Norfolk) Virginia-Pilot.

Robertson's spokesman first denied the accounts by Hinkle and a co-pilot, Tahir Brohi of England. Later, Gene Kapp, vice president for public relations at Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, said the planes turned out to be unsuitable for medical relief and that Robertson reimbursed Operation Blessing for their use.

"Without Mr. Robertson's generous overture, Operation Blessing would have incurred further expenses with its aircraft," he said.

Robertson refused to be interviewed directly, the newspaper said in Sunday's editions. Calls to his office on Sunday were not answered.

Hinkle, from Chandler, Ariz., said he had assumed the flights would be for humanitarian work.

"We hauled medical supplies one time," Hinkle said in a telephone interview. "It might have been about 500 pounds at the most. It was a very minimal amount." The planes were capable of carrying about 7,000 pounds, he said.

Notes that Hinkle kept during most of the flights contain entries for 36 flights, the newspaper said. Of the 17 that mention the purpose of the trip, 15 are related to diamond mining.

Robertson's company, African Development Co., based in the Zairian capital of Kinshasa, sought to dredge diamonds from a remote jungle riverbed. Robertson is the president and sole shareholder of the company.

More:
http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0043.htm

[Judi Lynn]

5. Charles Taylor: Pat Robertson was my man in Washington

Charles Taylor: Pat Robertson was my man in Washington
Posted By Colum Lynch Thursday, February 4, 2010 - 8:14 PM

http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com.nyud.net:8090/files/robertsontaylor.jpg

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, testifying in his own war crimes trial today, said that the American conservative evangelist Pat Robertson was awarded a Liberian gold-mining concession in 1999 and subsequently offered to lobby the Bush administration to support his government.

The revelations came in the midst of a U.N.-backed trial of Taylor at The Hague on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's 1990s civil war. Taylor is accused of directing a Sierra Leone rebel group, the United Revolutionary Front (RUF), in a campaign aimed at securing access to the country's diamond mines. The rebel movement stands accused of committing mass atrocities in the late 1990s in the West African country, including the mutilation of thousands of civilians.

The international prosecutors contend that Taylor offered concessions to Western individuals in exchange for lobbying work aimed at enhancing his image in the United States. The prosecution maintains that Taylor also spent $2.6 million on lobbying firms and public relations outfits in the hopes of influencing the policies of former President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Under cross-examination, Taylor said that Robertson had volunteered to make Liberia's case before U.S. administration officials, and had spoken directly to President Bush about Taylor. He also confirmed that Robertson's company, Freedom Gold Limited, signed an agreement to exploit gold in southeastern Liberia, but that it never generated any profit.

More:
http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/05/charles_taylor_pat_robertson_was_my_man_in_washington

[bulloney]

7. If Taylor's testimony is accurate about Robertson's actions,

how will that affect Robertson's 700 Club's tax status?

Is it tax-exempt on religious grounds? If it is, then the exemption should be revoked. Robertson should be exposed for the charlatan and RW hack that he is.

[hedgehog]

6. Where's the diamond now? I can't believe she just tossed it into the back of a drawer.

[woodsprite]

11. She said she gave the 'stones' to a person to be used

to benefit Mandela's charity, and to this day she said the person still has them.

[tabasco]

18. The charity said they never got 'em.

Something stinks here.

[DailyGrind51]

8. She didn't look at it until the following morning?

Two guys hand you a pouch in the middle of the night and you don't want to see what's in it until morning? Come on, Naomi!

[Mojorabbit]

12. That was my thought too

That is an absolute lie.

[Soylent Brice]

9. K&R

[Schema Thing]

10. probably had actual blood on them

[Blue_Tires]

13. I'd LOVE to see Pat Robertson called to trial

He and Taylor were joined at the hip during the 90s...Nice, lucrative business arrangements for Pat and his affiliated churches (i.e., John Gimenez with the Rock Church) in the name of 'spreading the gospel'...

Not only that, but years ago, some fundie state politicians and church leaders who couldn't find Africa on a globe invited Taylor to Virginia to honor him like some kind of diplomatic hero like Mandela until people started raising a fuss about human rights issues -- Of course by then everyone tried to play dumb.

[Lightning Count]

14. What exactly is Naomi Campbell doing having dinner with Nelson Mandela?

This is another crime in itself.

[superconnected]

16. Cambel's being an ASS and helping someone commit war crimes. She does know a diamond or can at

least say she saw something that looked like diamonds although she's no jeweler to tell if they're authentic. Instead she's protecting this war criminal.

"She had declined to cooperate with prosecutors until judges last month ordered her to appear or face a possible seven years in jail for contempt.

Entering the courtroom fashionably late — several minutes after she was first summoned to take the stand — Campbell was calm and composed as she answered questions from prosecutor Brenda Hollis for nearly two hours.

"I didn't really want to be here," she said. "I just want to get this over with and get on with my life, this is a big inconvenience for me."
.
.
.
"Taylor armed, trained and commanded Sierra Leone rebels who murdered and mutilated thousands of civilians across the border"
-------------------

So this Bimbo is inconvenienced! How about the thousands of civilians that were MURDERED? Instead she's helping their murderer not be prosecuted for war crimes.

I really DON'T like Campbell now, I hope she goes to prison for not cooperating.

[dipsydoodle]

17. Mandela charity official 'received Campbell diamonds'

The former head of Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, Jeremy Ractliffe, has said he did receive uncut diamonds from the model Naomi Campbell.

He issued a statement after her testimony at the war crimes trial of ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor.

>

Mr Ractliffe, who is still a trustee of the fund, said he took the diamonds as he thought it might be illegal for her to take them out of the country.

"In the end I decided I should just keep them," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10891195

The plot , like the gravy , thickens.