Pakistan grabs Code Pink protesters

The Washington Times ^ | 12/4/2007 | S.A. Miller

[mmanager]

Pakistan police today arrested the leader of the feminist U.S. antiwar group Code Pink, who was in Lahore for a student peace rally, according to a spokeswoman for the group.

Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the group, was arrested by plainclothes police with guns drawn and taken to a police station in Lahore, spokeswoman Dana Balicki said.

Police also arrested Tighe Barry, a longtime Code Pink activist, who was participating with the student rally outside the Lahore Press Club.

The students were protesting the emergency rule imposed Nov. 3 by President Pervez Musharraf.

Police told Ms. Benjamin and Mr. Barry they had to leave the country because their visas had expired, Ms. Balicki said, adding that their visas were valid.

"The government agents grabbed Barry by the arm and tried to hold him. Benjamin got help from some journalists, who managed to escort the two activists inside the club," Ms. Balicki said.

She said that when Ms. Benjamin and Mr. Barry left the club, the plainclothes police on three motorcycles followed the car through the city and then, with guns drawn, arrested the pair.

[mmanager]

Hey Pinko's, your not in Kansas anymore!! This is sooo rich!

[NeoCaveman]

We don’t want her back!

[sheik yerbouty]

A whore on Lahore..

[rightinthemiddle]

“Don’t behead me, bro.”

[rocksblues]

HA HA!

[domenad]

Oh maaaaaaaan, I want to be so nasty but I won’t. I hope they come home safely. No I do. I’M SERIOUS!

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Please tell me that we don’t have an extradition treaty with Pakistan....

[2banana]

Welcome to islam you infidel whore...this is not the Christian west...

[donnab]

This made my day. Welcome to the real world Pinkies.

[reagan_fanatic]

Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the group, was arrested by plainclothes police with guns drawn and taken to a police station in Lahore

Throw her in prison with the male population - she'll be safe there!

[ArrogantBustard]

Is “Medea Benjamin” satire ... or real?

[AU72]

I remember seeing Pakistan police on "Cops".
They have some effective interrogation techniques.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Too bad Cindy Sheehan wasn’t there with them.

[Phantom Lord]

Maybe they can volunteer their services as human shields and then bitch when placed at military installations and weapons plants.

[firebrand]

pink jumpsuit ping

[mmanager]

They need to airlift them to the Afgan/Pak border, drop them off and let the Taliban protect them.

[NeoCaveman]

Is “Medea Benjamin” satire ... or real?

She's real.

Maybe the Paki military will hand her over to Al Qaeda.

[Allegra]

Oh, I'm just loving this.

[basil]

I believe you. No I do. I’M SERIOUS!

[rocksblues]

haha!

[Tijeras_Slim]

You ought to find this amusing.

[AppyPappy]

Oh please be true, oh please, oh please.....

Wait, we must show compassion

[Just another Joe]

Is “Medea Benjamin” satire ... or real?

That is her legal name.

[darkwing104]

"It's a sad state of affairs when the Pakistani government — a government that is trying to portray itself to the West as democratic — tries to harass and deport U.S. human rights activists," Ms. Benjamin said at the press club before her arrest. "If they do this to us, who have the protection of being U.S. citizens, imagine what they do to their own citizens."

Hey Nitwit! its their country and the U.S. Constitution does not apply to you or them outside of the U.S.

[Doogle]

..into each life some rain must fall..hope you brought your bumble-shoot...*guffaw guffaw*

[JamesP81]

This is rich

[mmanager]

Wonder what Pakistan’s position is with water-boarding? /s

Make them wear green instead of pink. The horror, the horror!

[theDentist]

Medea Benjamin... was arrested by plainclothes police with guns drawn

... No shots fired?
(heavy sigh)

[My Favorite Headache]

Best news I heard all week...and it is only Tuesday!

[ari-freedom]

Police also arrested Tighe Barry
-

“T-I—guh-eh, which spells Tighe.”

[MplsSteve]

I want to see her degraded like many other Muslim women are.

She should be forced to wear a veil or burkha too - just so she can see how the “religion of peace” treats women.

In her court appearance (if she even gets one), I want her to be told to “Shut Up!” by a judge who feels that women don’t have the right to speak on their own behalf.

Then, and only then, should she be released.

[Ramius]

"It's a sad state of affairs when the Pakistani government — a government that is trying to portray itself to the West as democratic — tries to harass and deport U.S. human rights activists," Ms. Benjamin said at the press club before her arrest. "If they do this to us, who have the protection of being U.S. citizens, imagine what they do to their own citizens."

What hypocrisy, to wrap herself in the flag now, after what she's done to it. What a vile pig she is.

It would seriously be fun to hear that she's just sent off to some Pak prison to rot. Maybe then she'll appreciate what America is all about.

[elhombrelibre]

Maybe some of their sisters should join them and continue the protests. I’m sure they could all get arrested. That would probably change the world.

[Brad from Tennessee]

These bubble heads may finally get an education of the cruel world that lies beyond U.S. borders.

[Deut28]

Sure it does. Look what Constitutional rights have been granted to enemy combatants overseas.

[Dead Corpse]

Assuming she survives, I wonder if this might not serve to wake her up to a few “realities” her group otherwise ignores...

[svcw]

Well they got their comeuppance.

[subterfuge]

Ms. Benjamin said at the press club before her arrest. "If they do this to us, who have the protection of being U.S. citizens, imagine what they do to their own citizens."

Hold on just a cotton-pickin' minute there Miz Benjamin. I thought you didn't want the "U.S." going around being the 'police of the world'? I think you should be released to al Queda myself. You're on the same side, right?

[domenad]

I can definitely get behind that. A little taste of the society she’s defending might do absolutely nothing to change her dubiously stable mindset, but it would certainly score highly on my entertainment meter.

[goldstategop]

Good for Pakistan kicking out the Code Pink Commies!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[jazusamo]

Medea ping!!

LOL! Looks like Medea forgot she wasn’t in the good ole US of A.

[Allegra]

She should be forced to wear a veil or burkha too - just so she can see how the “religion of peace” treats women.

In her court appearance (if she even gets one), I want her to be told to “Shut Up!” by a judge who feels that women don’t have the right to speak on their own behalf.

And then maybe...just maybe...if she has two brain cells that are firing properly (and that's debatable), she just might understand why we are at war with the terrorists.

[peggybac]

“Police told Ms. Benjamin and Mr. Barry they had to leave the country because their visas had expired...”

Man, why’d they have to go and do that????????

[Wacka]

Her real name is Susie. having met her face to face, I am surprised they didn’t behead her right there.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Hey, I think this is a great thing. Protesters in the US should be routinely encouraged to protest in other countries just to get some cross-training and introduction to new and exciting people in exotic cultures, no?

[Doogle]

[tiredoflaundry]

[Darksheare]

They can keep the terrorist funding and pandering attention whore!

[mnehring]

Multi Cultural Experience?

[keat]

UPDATE: Medea Benjamin and Tighe Barry, US Human Rights activists have been released from ISI (Pakistani intelligence agencies) custody, they are safe though quite shaken up.

The two have had their visas revoked and are being forcibly removed from the country on an early morning flight (in just a few hours Lahore time). They are available for comment/interview at 011 92 308 204 2346 for the next few hours.

The reason for their forcible deportation is that under emergency rule, protests are illegal, therefore Benjamin and Barry have been participating in illegal acts punishable by deportation.