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S^en^MiratsKy jj Thursday, February 16, 1995 Page 2 Human rights activist arrested by PLO police GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The knock on the door, in the middle of the night, came for Raji Sourani just two days after he criticized PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Sourani, a human rights activist, said he was asleep in his villa at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday when the plainclothes policeman arrived and told him to come to the city jail. “It’s an order from the leader ship,” the officer said, according to Sourani’s wife Amal. On Monday, Sourani had publicly denounced Aiafat for ordering the establishment of special military courts that will try Islamic militant opponents of PLO rule. The incident raised new questions about how the PLO chief deals with dissent and came amid fresh reports of beatings and humiliation of de tainees in Gaza’s police lockups. Over the weekend, the New York based Human Rights Watch said in a report that Arafat’s government of ten acted in a “repressive fashion.” It complained of arbitrary arrests, jailhouse beatings and the lack of due process. Palestinian officials acknowledged Wednesday that there have been some transgressions by the security forces but denied there was a policy of sys tematic abuse. “No one is more concerned about safeguarding Palestinian human rights than we are,” the chief Pales tinian prosecutor, Khaled Kidreh, told The Associated Press. “Human rights organizations should deal with us as a sovereign, democratic state and not as our custo dians.” Arafat has been under growing pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to arrest and try Is lamic militants involved in a rash of deadly attacks on Israelis. Rabin told Arafat last week that he would not negotiate a troop withdrawal from the West Bank until he complied. Israel has complained that previ ous arrest sweeps in which security forces rounded up scores of militants were ineffective because detainees were usually released after a few days. The sweeps have created an atmo sphere of paranoia and tension in Gaza. This is compounded by a growing number of secret service agents who belong to eight different agencies cre ated by Arafat. The agents lack a clear mandate and often cause resent ment because of what many Gazans perceive as a high-handed attitude. Recently, a reporter saw a secret service agent spit at a taxi driver in Gaza City. The agent cursed the driver because he didn’t make way quickly enough for the speeding secret ser vice van. Many Palestinian hesitate to file There have also been reports of beatings and humiliation in police lockups. Dressmaker Hind Hathat, 39, said she was detained in November and told by police that her brother Allam had confessed in detention that she was a collaborator and prostitute. When she pleaded with the war den at the Gaza City jail to have a doctor examine her to prove she was a virgin and thus lessen the charges, none was provided. Instead, a female officer did the examination herself, pronounced her a “whore” and beat her, Miss Hathat said. Miss Hathat and her brother were released after 30 days and no charges were filed. Five days after getting out of jail, her brother was found strangled. His killers have not been found. Sourani, the human rights activ ist, was released Wednesday evening. The 41-year-old lawyer said he was questioned by Kidreh about a report in which his Gaza Center for Rights And Law criticized the new military courts and warned they would under mine the independence of the judi ciary. Hacker’s electric trail ends RALEIGH, N.C. — A notori ous fugitive hacker once accused of breaking into a top secret defense system was arrested Wednesday and charged with computer fraud and violating probation. “He’s a computer terrorist,” Jus tice Department spokesman John Russell said. Kevin D. Mitnick, 31, was ar rested at his apartment and jailed pending a hearing Friday, U.S. Attorney’s spokesman John Bowler said. Mitnick has been a fugitive since 1992, when he allegedly violated probation on a previous hacking conviction. He has been accused of stealing thousands of data files and at least 20,000 credit card numbers from computer systems nationwide, The New York Times reported Thurs day. He has allegedly used his skill to break into many of the nation’s telephone networks and vandalize government, corporate and univer sity computer systems. Most re cently, he had become a suspect in a rash of break-ins on the global Internet computer network, the Times said. One victim, computer security specialist Tsutomu Shimomura of the San Diego Supercomputer, used his own expertise to help authori ties track down Mitnick, the Jus tice Department said. Shimomura was robbed of security programs he had written when his computer was broken into on Christmas Day. Shimomura was able to deter mine Saturday that Mitnick was operating through a computer mo dem connected to a cellular tele phone somfewhere near Raleigh. Shimomura and investigators were then able to close in on Mitnick, the Times said. In 1989 in Los Angeles, federal prosecutors portrayed Mitnick as a brilliant youth obsessed with junk food and computers who used the code name “Condor” to infiltrate computer systems in the United States and England. They suggested he might have gained access to National Security Agency computers, but such charges were never brought. At one time, they considered him so dangerous they wouldn’t let him near a telephone for fear he might access computers. In exchange for a year in prison, he admitted infiltrating Digital Equipment Corp.’s computer sys tem and stealing a program. He also admitted stealing 16 MCI tele phone codes and using them to make free long-distance calls. Mitnick began hacking in high school, where he accessed the school district’s main computers. Eventu ally, he allegedly broke into a North American Air Defense Command computer in Colorado Springs, Colo., several years before the movie “War Games,” about a hacker who nearly starts a war after getting into defense computers. Mitnick, who took his alias from the Robert Redford CIA movie “Three Days of the Condor,” once reprogrammed a phone to misdi rect federal agents trying to trace his call, sending them barging into the home of a Middle Eastern im migrant watching television. Third abortion facility starts on fire SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A suspected arson fire destroyed a Planned Parenthood center early Wednesday, the state’s third suspi cious blaze in a week at facilities where abortions are performed, au thorities said. The FBI and the Bureau of Alco hol, Tobacco and Firearms were in vestigating all three fires along the coast as probable arson, Justice De partment spokesman Jim Russell said. Their findings will go to the department’s task force on anti-abor tion violence, he said. The task force is using a grand jury to probe anti-abortion violence around the country, but authorities said it Was too soon to know ifthe three fires were connected. The fire that gutted the Planned Parenthood center near downtown was reported at about 1:50 a.m. and took about an hour to extinguish. A week ago, a fire caused $1,000 damage at the Family Planning Asso ciates Medical Group clinic in Ventura. Small containers of a flam mable substance were placed in a tire and ignited. A similar fire broke out Saturday at a Santa Barbara doctor’s office where abortions are performed. That fire did little damage, said Frank larossi, supervising agent at the FBI ’ s Santa Maria office. : 4 ,/ It wasn’t known if a tire was set afire at the Planned Parenthood cen ter, and the two earlier fires shared some similarities not found in the latest fire, investigators said. On Feb. 1, federal agents inves tigated an arson fire at a business complex housing a Planned Parent hood office in Modesto. No abor tions are performed at that clinic and investigators said they weren’t sure if Planned Parenthood was tar geted. Abortion rights advocates had little doubt that the fires of the last seven days were connected. “We think it’s a conspiracy and anti-abortion terrorists are behind it,” said Pamela J. Maraldo, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, j: Police throughout the area said they would increase patrols near women’s health centers. O.J. blood samples will be re-examined By Linda Deutsch The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Hoping to demolish claims that police planted evidence to frame O.J. Simpson, prosecutors won approval Wednes day to retest blood from his home and the crime scene. Judge Lance Ito granted ap proval for the emergency testing by the FBI as a prosecutor said Simpson’s blood was found on a gate in the alley at the condominium where his ex-wife and her friend were slashed to death. Prosecutors say if police planted blood that had been drawn ffom Simpson or from Nicole Brown Simpson’s corpse, it would have contained a common lab preserva tive called EDTA. If the preservative is absent, that will exonerate the investigators, prosecutor Rockne Harmon said during a hearing held without the jur resent. e new round of tests, to be done Monday, will involve, among other things, the blood on the gate 'and a sock found in Simpson’s bedroom stained with what pros ecutors said was hisex-wife’s blood. The blood on the gate was iden tified as Simpson’s by recently com pleted tests, Harmon said Wednes day. Legal experts said the testing “ for EDTA may be unprecedented and ultimately less than definitive. Harmon, in fact, noted in court that EDTA also is present in laundry detergent and many foods, and Simpson trial update Wadaesiiay, fab* 15,1995 ► A prosecutor said O.J. Simpson's blood was found on a gate at Nicole Brown Simpson's home. The blood was matched to Simpson’s during a recent DNAtest. ► The FBI will conduct additional blood tests on the blood on the gate, socks found in Simpson’s bedroom and other evidence. ► Rumors spread about possible juror misconduct. Sources said one juror had a map of Chicago in his room; jurors are not supposed to investigate the case on their own. AP could be present on Simpson’s socks. After the hearing, testimony resumed and the defense contin ued its campaign to suggest police overlooked or botched evidence. Sgt. David Rossi, a watch com mander who was worked over Tues day by defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, returned to the stand and insisted he was careful not to oblit erate any evidence by walking on it. jjJJfJ News... wP* in a Minute First win in breast implant lawsuits HOUSTON—A woman in a breast implant injury case was awarded $4.23 million today by jurors who also decided that her husband should get $1 million. The $5.2 million verdict for retired nurse Gladys Laas and her husband calls for Dow Chemical Co. to pay for damages for the first time ever in a breast implant lawsuit. Jurors found that another plaintiff, Army Dr. Jennifer Ladner of El Paso, should receive nothing. Lass, a nurse from Bellville, and Ladner, claimed that their faulty silicone implants caused a range of ailments, from simple fatigue to nerve damage. Lardner also said the implants caused her lupus. The cases were separate from a $4.2 billion worldwide settlement of most breast implant cases that was approved by a judge in Alabama last year. Although Dow Corning was the main defendant in the Houston trial, experts said the inclusion of its half-owner, Dow Coming, made the case significant. Boy saves 14 from fire PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Flames were melting a mobile home around him “like a marshmallow” when Steven Hines rushed inside to see if anyone was trapped. The 17-year-old boy — who has a delinquency record — roused them and singlehandedly carried them outside. He saved a dozen children ages 4 to 13 and their two adult babysitters, both in their 70s. It wasn’t until hours later that he realized what he had done. “I got scared then,” he said. Hines said he was riding his bicycle home from a grocery store Saturday night when he spotted flames from the house’s chimney. Authorities said the fire started near a wood-burning stove. Nebraskan Editor JeffZeleny Night News Editors RondaVlasin 472-1766 Jamie Karl Managing Editor Jeff Robb Damon Lae FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Daily NebraskanfUSPS 144-080 is published by the UNL Publications Board. Ne . braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during summer sessions. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board. For information, contact Tim Hedegaand, 436-9258. Subscription price is $50 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1995 DAILY NEBRASKAN