16 June 2016

Who Are You?

Imposters and mistaken identities.

by Neil Tidmarsh

Last week, a policeman in Israel offered shelter to a fleeing civilian after a terrorist attack on a market in Tel Aviv.  He let the man into his home and then hurried to the scene of the atrocity.  Four Israelis had been killed and five others had been wounded by two Palestinian gunmen. One of the terrorists had been arrested. Where was the other one?

The policeman noticed that the arrested terrorist was distinctly dressed in a smart dark suit and tie.  To his horror, he remembered that the man he had left in his own house was identically dressed.  He rushed back home.  The second terrorist was still there, and the policeman promptly arrested him.

Some of the most interesting stories in the news this week have been about imposters and mistaken identities.

From Bolivia, a true story worthy of the most far-fetched Latin American soap operas:

Episode one. Seven years ago, President Morales (who is unmarried) fathered a son with a mistress, Gabriella Zapata.  But the child died soon after birth. Or at least, that’s what President Morales said he was told by Ms Zapata.

Episode Two. Earlier this year, Mr Morales launched a referendum to increase the President’s term of office.  The attempt failed, not least because a number of scandalous rumours emerged to discredit him.  First of all, it appeared that Ms Zapata had been given a top job with a Chinese construction company which received government contracts worth millions of etc etc etc.   Second, that her son with Mr Morales was still alive…

Episode Three. This rumour seemed to come from Ms Zapata’s family.  The President challenged them to prove it, to bring the boy forward and have the question settled in court by DNA testing.  The family insisted that the boy was indeed alive but seemed reluctant to produce him.  They said they couldn’t trust the President not to tamper with the results.  The President threatened to sue them…

Episode Four. This week the Bolivian police arrested five people and charged them with conspiracy, people trafficking and obstructing the execution of government obligations.  The police claim to have uncovered a plot by the five people – all close to Ms Zapata’s family – to persuade a boy to pretend that he was President Morales’ son.  According to the prosecutor, the conspirators had promised to reward the imposter’s parents with land and thousands of dollars, and to pay for his education…

Episode Five. Coming next week. Who can guess what it has in store for us?

Also this week, security officials in Britain and Italy proudly announced that they had arrested Mered Medhanie, an Eritrean accused of being the boss of a huge people-smuggling operation which has trafficked hundreds of thousands of people across the Mediterranean, and which is allegedly at least partly responsible for the deaths of the 350 migrants who drowned when their boat capsized off the island of Lampedusa two years ago.  The National Crime Agency and GCHQ followed a trail of telephone calls, e-mails, social media communications and tip-offs from the world of illegal migrants to Khartoum, in Sudan.  They alerted Italian security officials who were also conducting an anti-people trafficking operation, and the Italians issued an arrest warrant.  The arrest was made by Sudanese police in Khartoum, and the suspect was extradited to Italy.

No sooner had the announcement been made, however, than a stampede of friends, relatives and associates of the man being held in custody came forwards from all across Europe and Africa and said “You’ve got the wrong man. This man’s name is Medhanie Tesfamariam Kidane, not Mered Medhanie.  He’s an innocent 27 year old Eritrean refugee, not the big time boss of a huge people-smuggling criminal organisation.”  When the man appeared before a judge at Rebibbia jail in Rome, he came out with exactly the same story.

The British and Italian authorities and the Sudanese police are busy throwing this potentially embarrassing hot potato from hand to hand amongst themselves while experts and prosecutors and defence lawyers argue over the validity of voice recognition tests to establish the facts of the matter.

A judge will announce a decision on the man’s identity next week.

Meanwhile, Western-backed government forces in Libya and Iraq are driving Isis from the cities of Sirte and Fallujah.  Tens of thousands of civilians are being freed as the militants are pushed back street by street; ten of thousands of civilians are streaming from the fighting.  Isis fighters are deserting by the hundred, shaving off their beards and donning t-shirts and baseball caps to melt into the innocent crowds.  How will the Libyan and Iraqi authorities separate the innocent from the guilty?  Will the innocent suffer if the attempt to separate the two is too vigorous?  Will the guilty escape if the attempt is too lax?

In 1209, the Pope’s army captured the town of Béziers in Languedoc, southern France, during its crusade against the Cathar heretics. The inhabitants were rounded up so the heretics among them could be singled out and executed. But how to identify between Cathars and Catholics? The crusaders put the question to their commander, Arnaud Amalric, Papal legate and Abbot of Citeaux. “Caedite eos” he said. “Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.” Kill them all. God will recognise his own.

But that was then, this is now. Let’s hope that medieval atrocities have no place in the Middle East now that Isis appears to be on the retreat.

 

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