Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Calls for justice are growing over the death of a Black man killed by security guards outside a Milwaukee hotel, whose death has drawn comparisons to George Floyd’s.
A ferry capsized on Wednesday as it was crossing a river in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon and eight people, including a school student and two women, were missing, rescue workers and residents told Radio Free Asia.
The small ferry was carrying 17 people during the morning rush-hour when it overturned, apparently after an accident with a tugboat, in the fast-flowing Hlaing, or Yangon River, a rescue worker said.
“Maritime police, firefighters, rescue teams and ferry boat drivers are all searching for the missing people,” said the rescue worker, who declined to be identified.
He held out little hope that any of the missing would be found alive.
“We’re trying to search for the bodies where we think they might wash up on shore,” he said.
Photographs posted on Facebook showed a small pile of what appeared to be children’s school bags on a dock, while a distraught women stood on a jetty by the river, swollen by recent heavy rain.
The ferry and the tugboat crashed about 200 meters from the river bank in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing township.
Survivors, including two children, the boat’s driver and six other passengers, were pulled from the water, another rescue worker said.
“Three of the victims who were in very bad health were sent to the emergency department of Yangon General Hospital,” the second rescue worker said.
“The other five did not have life-threatening injuries and were given medical treatment at Bargayar Jetty,” said the worker who also declined to be identified for fear of reprisals in light of junta media crackdowns.
Residents of the area said one boy and two young women were among the missing. Police were questioning the boat driver who was not hurt, rescue workers said.
The Hlaing River where the boat was, seen from Bargayar Jetty in Yangon’s Kyeemyindaing township on July 10, 2024. (RFA)
RFA telephoned the Yangon region’s junta spokesperson, Htay Aung, for more information about the accident and search, but he did not respond.
The Myanmar Fire Brigade said that it would continue the search and rescue operation for the missing people.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
As Israel’s war on Gaza enters its 10th month, we speak with Mohammed Abu Hashem, a Palestinian American who ended a 22-year career in the U.S. Air Force after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed his aunt in October. “It was clear to me that I needed to step away,” says Abu Hashem, who served as a first sergeant in the 316th Civil Engineer Squadron of the U.S. Air Force. He recently co-signed a letter with 11 other former U.S. officials who rsesigned over the Biden administration’s policy toward Gaza, Palestine and Israel. “The American people deserve to have a government that follows ethical and moral standards,” says Abu Hashem, who also talks about briefly meeting Aaron Bushnell before the airman died by self-immolation in February to protest U.S. support for Israel.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
On July 8, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 25 human rights organizations in urging Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa to immediately release blogger Abduljalil Alsingace and ensure he receives urgent medical care.
The statement was issued to mark three years since Alsingace—an award-winning academic, blogger, and human rights defender—began a hunger strike on July 8, 2021, after prison authorities confiscated his manuscript on Bahraini dialects of Arabic, which he spent four years researching and writing.
Alsingace, who has a disability, has been detained since 2011 and reportedly tortured.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
President Joe Biden, in a letter to congressional Democrats, stood firm against calls for him to drop his candidacy after his dismal debate performance.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump distanced himself from Project 2025, which has been described as a blueprint for autocracy.
Texas officials said restoring electricity would take days after Beryl came ashore Monday as a Category 1 hurricane and knocked out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses.
Istanbul, July 8, 2024—Jordanian authorities must immediately drop all charges against journalist Ahmed Hassan al-Zoubi, release him from jail, and stop using the Cybercrime Law against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
On July 2, Jordanian authorities arrested al-Zoubi, a satirical journalist and publisher of the Sawalif news website, 11 months after he was fined 50 dinars (US$70) and sentenced to one year in prison for a Facebook post criticizing the government’s position on a controversial December 2022 transportation workers’ strike, according to multiplemediareports and al-Zoubi’s lawyer, who spoke to CPJ.
Al-Zoubi is now in Marka prison in the capital, Amman, his lawyer, Khaled Jit, told CPJ via messaging app.
“Jordanian authorities are stepping up censorship and arrests of journalists instead of allowing them to express themselves freely,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Jordanian authorities must immediately release journalist Ahmed al-Zoubi, drop all charges against him, and stop using cybercrime laws to punish journalists.”
Al-Zoubi was convicted under Jordan’s Cybercrime Law of “the crime of performing an act that led to provoking conflict between the elements of the nation.”
Al-Zoubi’s lawyer told CPJ that there were procedural errors during the trial and asked the court to consider an alternative punishment to prison.
Khaled Qudah, a member of the Jordanian Journalists’ Syndicate, told CPJ that the organization respects the judiciary and its decisions, but that legal decisions and procedures regarding freedom of speech needed revision.
Al-Zoubi’s arrest comes weeks after the Soloh Court in Amman sentenced journalist Heba Abu Taha to one year in prison after convicting her of violating the Cybercrime Law for “inciting discord and strife among members of society” and “targeting community peace and inciting violence.”
The arrest also follows a decision in May to shutter the Al-Yarmouk TV channel in Jordan, where al-Zoubi worked years earlier.
CPJ’s email to Jordan’s Ministry of Justice for comment did not immediately receive a response.
Since June 10, 2024, Syrian journalist Jomaa Akash, a correspondent for the Saudi state-owned broadcasters Al Arabiya and Al Hadath, has received threats of violence on social media, according to statements by the independent Syrian Journalists Association (SYJA) and Syrian Kurdish Journalists Network, and the journalist who spoke to CPJ.
The threats followed Akash’s June 9 Al Hadath report about a growing problem of drug trafficking in the northern city of Raqqa, which included interviews with local women who had been exploited by the trade and victimized by drug consumption. The report also explained how the ongoing conflict in Syria pushed this illegal trade to the forefront in Raqqa, which was previously occupied and controlled by the militant Islamic State group.
Akash told CPJ that his report was taken out of context and was interpreted as if it was targeting the reputation of Raqqa, its residents, and its women when the report highlighted the dangers of the growing drug business amid economic collapse.
The leader of Al Afadila, one of Raqqa’s largest and oldest clans with considerable local authority in the city, posted a video to Facebook on June 11 of four clan leaders addressing Akash, threatening him with violence if he entered Raqqa, and banning him from the city.
The leaders also called for “holding the journalist accountable and suspending him from work,” and demanded that the channel issue an apology from the city’s residents and delete the report. The news channel broadcasted the right of reply from Raqqa city, without agreeing to remove its report.
“After one of the clan representatives appeared in that video threatening me with violence and banning me from entering Raqqa, people followed his lead online, and the amount of threats I have received doubled.” Akash told CPJ. “I tried to explain to my attackers that the report was taken out of context, but the power the clans have on the ground in Raqqa makes it harder to argue against,” Akash added, saying that clans are a trusted entity in Raqqa and he fears that their threats might translate into real violence against him.
Akash told CPJ that he contacted the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Autonomous Authorities of the North and East Syria Region, two entities responsible for maintaining safety in the autonomous region, to protect him in accordance with the law because he is a licensed media worker, but so far, they have not taken any action to ensure his safety.
CPJ’s messages to the Autonomous Authorities of the North and East Syria Region and Syrian Democratic Forces requesting information about Akash’s case did not receive a response.
Clan representatives who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity said Akash’s report had accurate information and many truths but also had some exaggerations. They told CPJ that the threats Akash is facing are unacceptable and no journalist should be threatened for doing their job.
Villagers in southern Myanmar recovered the bodies of four civilians, days after junta soldiers arrested them in a raid, an anti-military group told Radio Free Asia on Friday.
Residents said troops took eight people into custody after storming Khaung Pyan village in the southernmost Tanintharyi region on Monday, but only the bodies of four men had been found.
Three women and a man were still missing, according to the Democracy Movement Strike Committee Dawei District, a group opposed to the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup.
The four bodies were found beside a nearby creek, with their hands tied behind their backs and “many stab wounds,” an official from the group said.
“Villagers were arrested when a junta column raided Khaung Pyan. They were arrested on July 1 and villagers found four dead bodies on July 3 and 4,” he said, declining to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Residents identified the four dead men as Kyaw Sein, Aung Zaw Win, Thar Thar and Naing Naing, who were aged between 40 and 60 and all from Khaung Pyan village in Yebyu Township.
Tanintharyi region’s junta spokesperson, Thet Naing, did not respond to a request from RFA for comment on the deaths.
Junta troops have occupied Dawei Special Economic Zone in Tanintharyi’s capital since Monday, causing residents in neighboring Yebyu township to flee.
Fighting in Tanintharyi increased when the Karen National Liberation Army, an ethnic minority insurgent group battling for self-determination captured several junta bases in the region in April.
Berlin, July 3, 2024—Kosovo authorities should conduct a quick and thorough investigation into the threats of physical violence made against the staff of the online investigative newspaper Insajderi, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure the journalists’ safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
The Insajderi newsroom received around 10 phone calls from various numbers on June 24 and 25, threatening its journalists with physical violence if they did not remove a June 24 article, according to reports and recordings of the calls by the outlet and a statement by the local trade union Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK). The article identified a Kosovo man who was arrested on several charges, including money laundering and fraud, at the request of Swiss authorities.
Insajderi’s editor-in-chief, Visar Duriqi, told CPJ that the callers presented themselves as family members of the detained man and threatened the newspaper with an arson attack unless they removed the article. The callers also said the family “made a mistake by keeping you alive.”
In an email to CPJ, a press official for the Public Prosecutor Office of Pristina, Laureta Ulaj, confirmed an ongoing criminal investigation that identified one alleged perpetrator. Prosecutors have ordered that person’s arrest.
“It is a welcome development that Kosovo authorities reacted quickly to the threats made by unknown individuals to the editorial staff of the newspaper Insajderi,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Authorities must bring all perpetrators to justice, take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the journalists working there and demonstrate that threats against journalists do not go unpunished.”
Duriqi told CPJ that Insajderi journalists had received many threats of physical violence since their founding in 2016, including death threats against former editor-in-chief Vehbi Kajtazi in 2021. In February 2021, masked assailants attacked and injured Duriqi outside his home.
Duriqi told CPJ that police have not made progress in these cases.
A joint international press freedom mission to Kosovo in 2022 noted that the safety of journalists and impunity for crimes against journalists continue to pose challenges. While physical assaults remain rare, journalists are often targeted with smears and threats of physical violence and death. The judicial process in criminal and civil cases remains slow, and journalists expressed concern over the lack of prosecutions.
Berlin, July 3, 2024—Kosovo authorities should conduct a quick and thorough investigation into the threats of physical violence made against the staff of the online investigative newspaper Insajderi, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure the journalists’ safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
The Insajderi newsroom received around 10 phone calls from various numbers on June 24 and 25, threatening its journalists with physical violence if they did not remove a June 24 article, according to reports and recordings of the calls by the outlet and a statement by the local trade union Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK). The article identified a Kosovo man who was arrested on several charges, including money laundering and fraud, at the request of Swiss authorities.
Insajderi’s editor-in-chief, Visar Duriqi, told CPJ that the callers presented themselves as family members of the detained man and threatened the newspaper with an arson attack unless they removed the article. The callers also said the family “made a mistake by keeping you alive.”
In an email to CPJ, a press official for the Public Prosecutor Office of Pristina, Laureta Ulaj, confirmed an ongoing criminal investigation that identified one alleged perpetrator. Prosecutors have ordered that person’s arrest.
“It is a welcome development that Kosovo authorities reacted quickly to the threats made by unknown individuals to the editorial staff of the newspaper Insajderi,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Authorities must bring all perpetrators to justice, take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the journalists working there and demonstrate that threats against journalists do not go unpunished.”
Duriqi told CPJ that Insajderi journalists had received many threats of physical violence since their founding in 2016, including death threats against former editor-in-chief Vehbi Kajtazi in 2021. In February 2021, masked assailants attacked and injured Duriqi outside his home.
Duriqi told CPJ that police have not made progress in these cases.
A joint international press freedom mission to Kosovo in 2022 noted that the safety of journalists and impunity for crimes against journalists continue to pose challenges. While physical assaults remain rare, journalists are often targeted with smears and threats of physical violence and death. The judicial process in criminal and civil cases remains slow, and journalists expressed concern over the lack of prosecutions.
A senior reporter for the nonprofit newsroom New York Focus said he was “ejected” from an event held by Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York City on June 23, 2024, after she declined to answer questions from him about a controversial congestion pricing program.
Journalist Sam Mellins was attending Hochul’s speech at the Latino Pastoral Action Center and Sanctuary in the Bronx, where he repeatedly asked her about the program, which would have charged drivers higher tolls to enter Manhattan during peak hours but was abruptly blocked by Hochul earlier in June.
After @GovKathyHochul refused to answer my questions about her plans to fund the MTA, I was ejected from her event yesterday.
Meanwhile, Senator @LizKrueger says the that the governor has offered "no proposal" to replace congestion pricing.https://t.co/WIpUvMQgrs
According to a published account by Mellins, Hochul went into a side room where security personnel barred the reporter from following. Mellins was told to leave the building and instructed to wait outside to ask questions of her there.
Hochul then apparently left by another exit, skirting him, as her security and press staff also left the building, Mellins wrote.
Mellins added that Hochul spokesperson Liam Buckley apologized for the ejection, saying it “shouldn’t have happened.”
Neither Mellins nor Hochul’s press office responded to a request for additional information from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
On what would have been assassinated Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba’s 99th birthday, we speak with author and analyst Vijay Prashad, who has just published a lengthy article on Lumumba and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s ongoing struggle for control over its own resources. Sunday marked the 64th anniversary of Lumumba’s historic speech marking his country’s independence from Belgium, in which he delivered a blistering critique of colonialism. Lumumba’s rise to become the first elected prime minister of Congo came after decades of brutal violence under Belgian rule and the extraction of vast wealth in rubber, ivory and other commodities from the country. Lumumba was assassinated soon after taking office in a plot involving the CIA and Belgium, leading to decades of dictatorship under Mobutu Sese Seko, wars, poverty and resource exploitation that continues to ravage the country to this day. “The issue of control over resources is fundamental,” says Prashad, director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. “The Congolese have never been able to put forward a national project around how to unite the people. … This has always been suborned by external intervention.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Chinese-language posts have circulated a claim that the United States issued a level 4 travel alert, the highest level, to its citizens traveling to China after four Americans were attacked there in June.
But the claim is false. The U.S. travel alert for China has remained at level 3, the second highest level, since April.
The claim was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on June 12.
“The United States issued a Level 4 travel warning for the assassination of four citizens in the Chinese Communist Party,” the claim reads in part.
The claim was shared alongside a screenshot of what appears to be a travel warning issued by the U.S. Department of State.
Users on X and Telegram recently claimed that the U.S. issued a level four travel alert to China following an attack on U.S. citizens in Jilin. (Screenshots/X and Telegram)
The claim began to circulate online after four American teachers were assaulted by a man wielding a knife at a park in the Chinese city of Jilin on June 10.
All of the teachers survived the incident and Chinese authorities took the assailant into custody.
U.S. officials expressed concern over the incident, while the Chinese Foreign Ministry commented that the attack “will not affect the normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the US.”
The same screenshot with a similar claim was also shared on X and Telegram.
But the claim is false.
U.S. travel advisory on China
The U.S. Department of State issues four levels of travel alerts to citizens, based on the varying levels of risk in different countries. These alerts range from level 1, advising to “exercise normal precautions,” to level 4, warning “do not travel.”
In April 2024, the U.S. travel advisory for China was updated to level 3, advising citizens to “reconsider travel.” This rating remains in effect.
The most recent revision of the U.S. travel advisory for China was on April 12, 2024, following the passage of new national security legislation in Hong Kong. Several English- and Chinese-language media outlets reported on this change at the time.
The advisory urges U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel” due to the potential for “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” and the “risk of wrongful detentions.”
Old alert
Keyword searches found a screenshot of the U.S. travel advisory shared in social media posts in fact taken from the old alert issued on Jan. 25, 2020.
The purported screenshot of a recent advisory was actually an archived image of an unrelated travel alert to China issued following the outbreak of COVID in January 2020. (Screenshots /Google and U.S. State Department Archives)
The Chinese text seen in the screenshot shows that the alert was issued following the breakout of COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan and advised travelers not to enter Hubei province, of which Wuhan is capital.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Zhuang Jing for Asia Fact Check Lab.
Chinese-language posts have circulated a claim that the United States issued a level 4 travel alert, the highest level, to its citizens traveling to China after four Americans were attacked there in June.
But the claim is false. The U.S. travel alert for China has remained at level 3, the second highest level, since April.
The claim was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on June 12.
“The United States issued a Level 4 travel warning for the assassination of four citizens in the Chinese Communist Party,” the claim reads in part.
The claim was shared alongside a screenshot of what appears to be a travel warning issued by the U.S. Department of State.
Users on X and Telegram recently claimed that the U.S. issued a level four travel alert to China following an attack on U.S. citizens in Jilin. (Screenshots/X and Telegram)
The claim began to circulate online after four American teachers were assaulted by a man wielding a knife at a park in the Chinese city of Jilin on June 10.
All of the teachers survived the incident and Chinese authorities took the assailant into custody.
U.S. officials expressed concern over the incident, while the Chinese Foreign Ministry commented that the attack “will not affect the normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the US.”
The same screenshot with a similar claim was also shared on X and Telegram.
But the claim is false.
U.S. travel advisory on China
The U.S. Department of State issues four levels of travel alerts to citizens, based on the varying levels of risk in different countries. These alerts range from level 1, advising to “exercise normal precautions,” to level 4, warning “do not travel.”
In April 2024, the U.S. travel advisory for China was updated to level 3, advising citizens to “reconsider travel.” This rating remains in effect.
The most recent revision of the U.S. travel advisory for China was on April 12, 2024, following the passage of new national security legislation in Hong Kong. Several English- and Chinese-language media outlets reported on this change at the time.
The advisory urges U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel” due to the potential for “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” and the “risk of wrongful detentions.”
Old alert
Keyword searches found a screenshot of the U.S. travel advisory shared in social media posts in fact taken from the old alert issued on Jan. 25, 2020.
The purported screenshot of a recent advisory was actually an archived image of an unrelated travel alert to China issued following the outbreak of COVID in January 2020. (Screenshots /Google and U.S. State Department Archives)
The Chinese text seen in the screenshot shows that the alert was issued following the breakout of COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan and advised travelers not to enter Hubei province, of which Wuhan is capital.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Zhuang Jing for Asia Fact Check Lab.
The Dalai Lama was discharged from a New York City hospital Saturday after undergoing successful knee replacement surgery, hospital staff said.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, who turns 89 on July 6, has experienced health problems for years. His knee issues required medical attention outside northern India where he has lived in exile for 65 years following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet.
After being discharged, he went to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, where he is staying.
“He is expected to make a full recovery and was discharged Saturday morning, June 29th,” said Dr. David J. Mayman, chief of the adult reconstruction and joint replacement service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
“His Holiness’s personal medical team and office were in constant communication with the surgical and medical staff at HSS,” Mayman said. “We are grateful for their trust and assistance.”
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrives at his hotel in New York on June 23, 2024. (Reuters/Jeenah Moon)
The Nobel Prize winner enjoys strong support in the United States, especially among prominent lawmakers who have spoken out about human rights issues in Tibet, despite objections by China which views him as a separatist and bristles at his interactions with foreign officials.
Tibetans and well-wishers gathered outside the hospital and the Park Hyatt to greet His Holiness, holding khatas – Tibetan white scarves – and flowers, offering their blessings for his swift recovery.
“First of all, I am so happy to hear about the success of His Holiness’s surgery,” said Chemi Youdon, waiting outside the hotel to welcome the Dalai Lama with a bouquet in hand.
“Secondly, this is his visit to the United States after such a long time. And thirdly, though I had a glimpse of him at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey when he first arrived, as a Tibetan, you never get enough of his blessings.”
Pema Sonam, waiting outside the Park Hyatt in New York, said the surgery highlighted the importance of the Dalai Lama’s health. “It’s a blessing that His Holiness has visited the U.S., allowing us to receive his blessings after so many years. I want to thank the attending doctor and his team, staff, and everyone involved for doing such a wonderful job.”
No public engagements are planned for the immediate future, as His Holiness focuses on his health and well-being.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Tibetan.
The alleged murder of an 11-year-old boy over a property dispute in the town of Barasat, about 25 km north of Kolkata, has fuelled completely unsubstantiated rumours of child kidnapping and organ trafficking on social media, resulting in widespread panic and violent vigilantism. At least five incidents of mob assault on innocent people have been reported in the last five days in areas adjoining Barasat in the North 24 Paragans district of West Bengal.
So far, 34 people have been arrested in connection with these cases, including four for false social media posts stoking rumours. “There has not been a single incident of child kidnapping in Barasat police district. All the claims viral on social media in this regard are false”, Barasat SP Pratiksha Jharkhariya told the press on June 19.
The rumours, however, keep spreading powered by Facebook posts. The SP told Alt News on Monday, June 24, that 55 such Facebook posts had been identified by police, of which 51 were taken down.
Missing 11-year-old Boy Found Dead
The decomposed body of an 11-year-old boy from Barasat’s Kajipara was found hanging inside a long-unused lavatory in a neighbour’s house on June 13, four days after he had gone missing. The preliminary autopsy report suggested that he had been strangled to death.
Barasat Police cracked the case in about a week and arrested the boy’s uncle, Enger Nabi, on June 20. According to police, Nabi confessed to killing the boy over a financial dispute with the latter’s father.
The accused had tried to mislead the cops several times. He had allegedly poured a red liquid on the walls of the neighbour’s house to give the impression that residents of the house had killed the boy. “A forensic team had collected samples from the walls of the neighbour’s house. It wasn’t human blood. He tried to mislead us several times. But his statements kept changing and we kept questioning him. He finally broke down and told us that he had killed the boy as an act of revenge,” Jharkhariya told The Telegraph.
The successful investigation, however, brought little relief for the cops as rumours of child kidnappers and organ traffickers on the prowl had already spread like wildfire.
The Rumours
According to SP Jharkhariya. the rumours were begun by Nabi himself when the boy had gone missing. He works as a muezzin in a local mosque and has considerable sway over the locals. On June 12, a day before the boy’s body was found, he told them that a woman child-lifter had been in the area. He also made an announcement on this using the mosque’s public address system and urged people to protest against child kidnappers.
Alt News spoke to a primary school teacher in Barasat who said that the rumours had begun transmitting orally but before long, someone made a Facebook post on this.
One post led to many and the social media rumour attained a life of its own. People also started forwarding WhatsApp texts warning each other against child lifters on the prowl.
After the child’s body was found, it added fuel to the fire. A disturbing image of the decomposed corpse started circulating. The school teacher said he had received a collage of two images on WhatsApp — the child’s photo and that of the body — with an appeal to share it as much as possible. “It was so graphic, I deleted it immediately,” he added.
Alt News accessed one such Facebook post which is now deleted. It contained a collage of photos of the 11-year-old boy and his decomposed body recovered by police. The post talked about the involvement of an organ trafficking racket in the Kajipara incident.
The post said: “The image on the right had side is taken before he went missing. The point is… Several children have gone missing in the last few days and they remain untraced. Only this kid has been found. Surprisingly, the big news channels are not showing this. I personally suspect that there is a big racket (mis-spelt in Bengali as racked) behind this, some big shots are involved because removing the kidney is not as easy task. Only experienced doctors can do that. Storing a kidney is not an easy task either…”
There are several schools in the 1 km radius of Kajipara. Once rumours spread to the WhatsApp groups of the parents of young students, they stopped sending their children to school. Triggered by the rumours, a woman was beaten up by locals in Chakdah, about 40km away, on June 10, on the suspicion of being a child-lifter. Visuals of the incident went viral on Facebook, some of which are still live.
A local news outlet named News 24 Bangla Live did a report on this describing the woman as the mastermind of the child kidnapping gang. Several users shared it on community Facebook pages.
On being informed about the incident, Barasat police officers went to Chakdah. The SP told Alt News, “The woman is a resident of Chakdah. We traced her whereabouts. She begs from door to door. We did a thorough check and found that she was not involved in any wrongdoing. She had no antecedent or criminal record.”
Trying to dispel the rumours, Barasat Police put out a video with SDPO Vidyagar Ajinkya Anant stating that the post-mortem surgeon had confirmed that no organ was missing from the child’s body and organ trafficking had nothing to do with the child’s ‘killing’.
The user, Adhara Purkayastha, is an actor-influencer with a large following. She later shared another post apologizing for her earlier post and acknowledging that the news of child theft was fake.
All of the above posts carried the same image which contained the name Injamul Haque. Police told Alt News that Haque was the first person who shared posts regarding child kidnapping and organ trafficking on social media.
We traced his X handle (@InjamulOfficial) where most of his posts contained the same name art as the one in the Facebook post. On X, Haque mostly shared news updates related to Bengal and the Trinamool Congress. He also attacked the BJP on various issues.
His Facebook page has either been deleted or made private.
Four Facebook Users Arrested
In a rare move, police arrested four persons in connection with false social media posts fueling rumours about child kidnapping. They were identified as Pritam Mistry, Abdul Karim Khan, Payel Talukdar and Sheikh Mijanur Rehman.
Barasat Additional SP Sparsha Nialngi told Alt News that in the suo motu case that was initially registered, they had been charged under IPC 505 and 506. However, while interrogating the people arrested for mob assault, it came to light that these four were names came up as instigators of the violence. “Their names have been added to the case related to the assaults,” she said.
“As administrators of Facebook pages, or as individual users, they were posting stuff, particularly videos, and spreading rumours that a gang of child kidnappers was on the prowl in Barasat. When we commented under those posts from the official handle, they took down our comments to ensure that the rumours did not stop,” Jharkhariya told Alt News.
Asked why there had been no action against Injamul Haque, Addl. SP Nilangi said, “Injamul Haque is not a resident of Barasat. He’s from Barrackpore. When we contacted him and informed him that it’s fake news, he deleted it. This was on June 18 when no assault incident had occurred (other than the one he posted aboout). He deleted it on the 18th itself. On the 19th, when two incidents of happened, we noticed some social media groups or pages related to Barasat posted the same fake news. When we tried to contact them and asked to take down posts, they did not take them down. Besides, since they’re from Barasat, local people saw their posts and reacted by assaulting others.”
Vigilantism Results in Mob Assaults in Adjoining Towns
Several incidents of mob assault on innocent people based on rumours of child kidnapping were reported in a span of five days.
On the same day, a man and a woman were assaulted near the Central Modern School while boarding an auto-rickshaw. When police intervened, the mob ran riot and damaged police vehicles. The two victims were hospitalized.
Local councilor Sameer Talukder told Anandabazaar Patrika, “There is no basis to the rumours. Poeple are being beaten up just on suspicion. Two persons were severely badly beaten up till they were bleeding profusely. Some social media users are making unverified news about child kidnapping viral. Police are taking action against them. They are spreading the panic.”
On the 24th, another incident was reported from Thakurpalli, Bangaon. Locals thrashed a vagabond on the suspicion of child kidnapping. He was rescued by police and admitted to the sub-divisional hospital.
‘Stunned by Criminality, Mob Mentality’
“These assaults were the direct outcome of baseless social media posts. We traced 55 such posts and tried to reach out to the users one by one. Most of these are now deleted. Some of these were posted on coummunity pages like ‘Amar Sahar Barasat’ and ‘Barasat Online’ with 80 to 90,000 followers. We found that people from Barasat living abroad had also shared them without trying to verify their authenticity,” Jharkhariya told Alt News.
“Wherever an unknown face is seen, if he/she looks suspicious, people are tagging him as a child-lifter. In most cases, these people are vagabonds, drug addicts and beggars. In one instance, the person was mentally unstable. They were all beaten up. The violent vigilantism has reached a monstrous proportion,” she added.
The IPS officer said she was stunned by the propensity of people to turn violent. “As if, they did it for fun. It is an eye-opener for us as law enforcers. In a Dattapukur incident, everyone knew the victim as a vagabond living near the rail station for six to seven years. Still she was attacked. The criminality was always there inside. Once the rumours spread, it found an avenue to erupt.”
Abortion rights were a key focus of Thursday’s CNN debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the first to be held since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump took credit for nominating the conservative justices who helped overturn the law, and falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions “even after birth.” “We have no examples of that whatsoever,” says Michele Goodwin, professor of constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown University. “There is no such thing as abortion after birth.” Goodwin says that while “Americans support reproductive freedom,” Biden’s messaging was weak in the debate.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The first 2024 presidential debate between President Biden and former President Trump was held on Thursday night. It marked the first time a sitting president debated a former one. It also marked the two oldest candidates ever to run for president, with a combined age of 159. The 90-minute discussion hosted by CNN was more of an incoherent debacle than any substantive debate. Biden was halting and disjointed. He was hard to hear, muffled his lines and often appeared to lose his train of thought. Meanwhile, Trump repeatedly lied — his false claims not challenged by CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. “Joe Biden really failed to rise to this moment,” says Chris Lehmann, D.C. bureau chief for The Nation. “I expected nothing great, but it was so much worse.”
We also speak with Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and the co-founder of RootsAction.org, which sponsors the “Step Aside Joe!” campaign. He says Biden’s performance in the debate showed “he is clearly impaired” and unable to defeat Trump, which is “a gift to the extreme right wing.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Dakar, June 27, 2024 — Malian authorities should urgently investigate the disappearance of journalist Yeri Bocoum and account for his whereabouts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
Bocoum, director of the Facebook news page YBC-Communication, was last seen by his family outside his home in Kati, a district in the western region of Koulikoro, on the afternoon of June 8, according to a statement by his outlet and a person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. That person, who has spoken to the journalist’s family, told CPJ that Bocoum’s disappearance had been reported to the local police and gendarmerie, and the family has not received any updates as of June 27.
The day before Bocoum disappeared, he covered a banned demonstration by the opposition political group “Synergie pour le Mali” in Bamako, the capital. That evening, the journalist posted on the outlet’s Facebook page that “malicious individuals” riding two motorcycles had tried to “intercept” him while he was going home.
“The disappearance of Malian journalist Yéri Bocoum is alarming, raises serious concerns for his well-being, and sends a chilling message to the Malian media community,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “It is imperative that Malian authorities do everything necessary to find Bocoum, ensure that he returns home unharmed, and is able to safely resume his work.”
Regional authorities banned the June 7 demonstration, citing an earlier April 10 directive by Mali’s transitional government, which took power following a 2021 military coup. The directive outlawed all political party activity after several opposition parties called for presidential elections.
On April 11, the country’s media regulator High Authority for Communication (HAC)ordered journalists to stop covering political activities.
HAC President Gaoussou Coulibaly told CPJ in April 2024 that the HAC would investigate violations of the directive and that those found in contravention would face sanctions, including the closure of their media outlets. Coulibaly told CPJ in June that Bocoum’s work did not fall within HAC’s remit as he was not affiliated with a media outlet approved by the regulator.
In a June 13 report, the French public broadcaster Radio France Internationale cited a “Malian security source” and said Bocoum was being held by Malian state security services, which operate under the direct authority of the President. CPJ could not independently verify the RFI report.
CPJ’s calls and messages to Baba Cissé, head of the Malian presidency’s communications unit, and the national gendarmerie’s publicly listed number were unanswered. CPJ’s call to the publicly listed number for the Malian national police was answered by a person who declined to give his name but said to ask the family to contact the Kati police station to find out the status of the investigation.
