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Israel and the United States have both strongly condemned the International Criminal Court’s decision to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges, calling it “outrageous” and seeking support from other allies in opposing the court’s moves. On Monday, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan outlined specific charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “extermination.” The ICC also sought arrest warrants for three leaders of Hamas — Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif — for war crimes including extermination and murder, the taking of captives, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence. The warrants for Israel’s top leaders, which must still be approved by a panel of ICC judges, are “a watershed event in the history of international justice,” says war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. “This is the first time that a Western or pro-Western leader is [the] subject of an indictment request.”
We also speak with Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, who says Israel’s strident response to the ICC prosecutor is no surprise. “This is the kind of Israel we have in 2024. It doesn’t care about international law. It doesn’t care about international opinion,” says Pappé.
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The Committee to Protect Journalists and nine other organizations representing news media titles, journalists, and campaign groups, urged U.K. authorities on Tuesday to urgently repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which could force publishers to pay the costs of people who sue them — even if the outlet wins.
Section 40, which has never been brought into force, was drawn up following the Leveson Inquiry into British media ethics in 2012 after journalists were found to have hacked the phones of celebrities and a murdered schoolgirl.
CPJ and others called on the U.K. to repeal Section 40, as promised in 2023 via provisions in the Media Bill, as it risks forcing news publishers to sign up to state-backed regulation.
Read the full statement below:
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash along with several other officials and crew. Wreckage of the helicopter was found early Monday in a mountainous region of the country’s northwest following an overnight search in blizzard conditions. Raisi was returning from inaugurating a new dam built jointly with Azerbaijan along the two countries’ border. Raisi, 63, was elected in 2021 in a vote that saw the lowest-percentage turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history after major opposition candidates were disqualified from taking part. Analyst Trita Parsi says the president’s death will have little impact on the Islamic Republic’s policies, including barring dissident candidates from running for office. “Now the regime is going to have to try to whip up and mobilize voters and excitement for an election within 50 days,” he says. “And it has to make a decision: Is it actually going to allow other candidates to stand, or is it going to continue on the path that it has set out for itself in which these elections increasingly become rather meaningless in terms of actual democratic value?”
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Istanbul, May 17, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday called on Syrian authorities to release detained Syrian journalist Mahmoud Ibrahim immediately and to disclose his location and that of all imprisoned journalists.
On February 25, Syrian government forces arrested Ibrahim, an editor with Al-Thawra newspaper, which is published by the ruling Baath party, after he attended a court hearing at the Palace of Justice in the western coastal city of Tartus, according to news reports and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
Earlier that day, Ibrahim said in a Facebook post that he was going to attend a first hearing on charges of supporting armed rebellion, violating the constitution, and undermining the prestige of the state. Ibrahim said that he was not guilty and continued to support the “peaceful movement” in the southwestern city of Sweida, where protesters have been calling for President Bashar al-Assad’s departure since August.
CPJ was unable to determine Ibrahim’s whereabouts or health status since his arrest.
The journalist’s family were worried about his health as he required medication for several conditions, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported.
“CPJ is appalled that Syrian authorities have arrested yet another journalist for commenting on news events in their own country. Mahmoud Ibrahim should not be criminalized simply for expressing his opinion,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Syrian authorities must inform Ibrahim’s family of his whereabouts, grant him access to medical care, and release him and all other journalists unfairly jailed for commenting on the government of President Bashar al-Assad.”
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it believed Ibrahim was arrested under the 2022 Anti-Cybercrime Law. In an August 25 Facebook post, the journalist sent “peace and a thousand peace” from Tartus to Sweida, with heart emojis and photographs of city skylines.
The Sweida demonstrations were initially against inflation but shifted focus to criticize the government, including attacks on the offices of Assad’s Baath party.
In his February Facebook post, Ibrahim said that an unnamed journalist in Tartous had written a security report about him to the authorities, which led to the lawsuit being filed against him in September, as well as the termination of his job contract and a ban on his employment by government institutions.
Ibrahim also said that he had responded in December to a summons by the Tartus Criminal Security Branch, which was investigating him.
On January 1, Ibrahim said on Facebook that his employer had stopped paying his salary and the newspaper’s director did not give him an explanation.
CPJ’s email to Al-Thawra newspaper requesting comment did not receive any response.
CPJ’s email to Syria’s mission to the United Nations in New York requesting comment on Ebrahem’s case, whereabouts, and health did not receive any reply.
Syria held at least five journalists behind bars when CPJ conducted its most recent annual prison census, which documented those imprisoned as of December 1, 2023. CPJ was unable to determine where any of those journalists were being held or if they were alive.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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A video has been circulating on social media showing some men taking out ballots from several Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines and placing them into a black bag. The claim accompanying this video suggests that the footage is related to the first phase of polling in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, held on April 19, 2024. Users have also claimed that ballots were being stolen from VVPAT machines by BJP functionaries.
A user named Sandeep Varma tweeted the video, alleging that after the elections on April 19, ballots were being stolen from VVPAT machines kept under tight security, and the BJP was carrying out the exercise.
*बहुत हम वीडियो है आप इसको जरूर देखिए 19 तारीख में जो चुनाव हुआ चुनाव के बाद एवं जहां फुल सिक्योरिटी में रखी जाती है वहां एवं से वीवीपीएटी से पर्ची चुराई जा रही है और भारतीय जनता पार्टी अपनी पर्ची डलवा रही है।
* pic.twitter.com/yzZxh9QeHj— Sandeep Verma (@SandeepV4966) April 21, 2024
A user named Jennifer Fernandes tweeted the video, questioning the Election Commission and asking why these machines were being tampered with.
A user named Kiran Patnaik also raised questions while tweeting the video, asking where the ballots were being taken without them being counted.
Fact Check
Alt News performed a reverse image search using one of the frames from the viral video on Google. This led us to the original video, which was uploaded by a user on December 13, 2022. In other words, the video is old and has no connection to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Collector of Bhavnagar had also issued a reply from their official handle, stating that as per the Election Commission’s guidelines, after the completion of counting, the ballots were removed from the VVPAT machines, placed into a black envelope, and sealed for future elections. He added that the entire process was videographed, with one copy stored in a strong room and another kept with the relevant district election officer.
Landslide Victory In Gujarat.
Scene From One Of The Strong Rooms In That State
Bhavnagar Constituency. pic.twitter.com/GO1Q27DVk3— Shenaz (@WeThePeople3009) December 13, 2022
To sum up, several social media users shared an old video of the routine process of removing ballots from VVPAT machines, falsely linking it to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and making the false claim that ballots were being stolen from the machines by BJP workers.
The post Video showing VVPAT slips being taken out after counting falsely viral as BJP tampering with EVMs appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Abhishek Kumar.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Revealed: Party refused to disclose what personal information it has on ex-supporter whose mother was killed in Gaza
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Two political prisoners in Vietnam’s Gia Trung Prison have finally been given health checkups after almost a year of requests, their families told Radio Free Asia.
Luu Van Vinh is serving a 15-year sentence for “activities aimed at overthrowing the government” while Huynh Minh Tam is serving eight years for “conducting anti-state propaganda.”
Vinh’s wife, Le Thi Thap, said her husband told her the two were only allowed to be examined at Gia Lai Provincial General Hospital because no other prisoners had applied.
She said examination results showed her husband had bone and joint disease, while Tam needed treatment for toothache.
Vinh told his wife prisoners’ health was suffering because of the harsh conditions in the prison. He said inmates refused to eat the pork served at mealtimes because it smelled bad. He added the detention areas had no shade and the tiny cells were only cooled by small fans, which made the summer heat unbearable.
RFA Vietnamese called Gia Trung Prison to verify the information but no one answered the phone.
Tran Thi Ngoc Xuan (left) and Huynh Thuc Vy. (Family photographs/RFA edit) Female prisoners at Gia Trung also complained about the conditions, saying they had to live with the smell of raw sewage.
Two of the women, Tran Thi Ngoc Xuan and Huynh Thuc Vy, share a cell, with Xuan serving a 13-year prison sentence for subversion over her involvement in the U.S.-based Dao Minh Quan exile organization. Vy was sentenced to 33 months for “insulting the national flag.”
During a visit from relatives this month, Xuan said her cell was heavily affected by the smell from a nearby wastewater pipe.
“During a recent meeting with Xuan at Gia Trung Prison, I noticed that her health was not very good, her skin was pale,” said a relative who didn’t want to give their name for fear of reprisals.
“She said the cell was near a wastewater discharge point and the stench was so unpleasant that she couldn’t sleep at night. During the day, whenever possible, she had to leave the cell to go to a place with fresher air.”
The relative said the two prisoners have been reporting the problem for two years but the prison had done nothing about it.
Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Vietnamese.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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A Uyghur activist living in Paris has been moved to a secure location after a group of unidentified men appeared on her doorstep last week and called for her to let them in, according to the president of the European Uyghur Institute.
On the morning of May 8, eight unidentified people emerged from a black van with tinted windows outside the Paris home of Gulbahar Jelilova, a Uyghur businesswoman from Kazakhstan who spent 18 months in a Xinjiang internment camp, said Dilnur Reyhan, president of the institute.
At the time of the incident, Jelilova was away from her apartment, but neighbors told her the unidentified people repeatedly buzzed her unit — though the bell does not list her name, Reyhan said. They also called her cell phone several times.
As the group gathered in front of the building, Reyhan posted a photo on X, saying Jelilova was “terrified” by their presence.
“Gulbahar herself saw the Chinese men when she reached the turn leading to her house and took a photo of them. She was scared and called me,” Reyhan told Radio Free Asia.
“Their decision to ring the doorbell may have been intended to intimidate her, to send a message, or perhaps they had a specific purpose,” she said, adding that the car resembled “vehicle used for kidnappings.”
A May 8, 2024 post on X by Dilnur Reyhan, president of the European Uyghur Institute, shows men and women dressed in black standing near a van outside the residence of Gulbahar Jelilova. (@DilnurReyhan via X) Reyhan said she called the police, who arrived and were told by the group they had come to see a Japanese rock garden they heard was in the building.
She said “trusted sources” later reported all eight were Chinese nationals and that her group was helping prepare a court complaint against the group. RFA could not confirm their identity or nationality.
Reyhan said such acts of intimidation had grown more common, and that she herself had been regularly followed by a car in recent months.
Jelilova could not be reached, and the French police did not respond to requests for comment from Radio Free Asia.
‘Tomorrow this could be me’
Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a Uyghur detained in China’s “re-education” camps for two years but who now lives in France said the incident at Jelilova’s apartment had unnerved many.
“Because China is so ruthless, in the back of my mind I always think that one day they’ll bring about harm towards me,” she said. “For example, yesterday it was Gulbahar, tomorrow it could be me.”
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Tibetan, Uyghur protesters greet Xi Jinping in Paris
Pro-Beijing ‘thugs’ tormented Xi protesters, activists say
The incident took place one day after Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his two-day state visit to France, his first stop on a three-country European visit. His arrival was greeted by several protests from Tibetan, Uyghur and Chinese activists – including Jelilova.
While such demonstrations have in the past been met, sometimes violently, with pro-Beijing counter-protests, there was little sign of that in Paris.
But at a May 5 protest at Madeleine Square, which is located close to the French president’s residence, Uyghur activists were met by a small group of French-speaking counter-protesters.
A video posted to Facebook shows about eight young men, all wearing masks and none of whom appear to be of Chinese descent, holding up letter-sized photos of World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa with a mark across his face.
As the crowd of protesters approach them, they shout “liar” and “they are bulls–ing us” in French, before running away as police pursue them for unknown reasons.
Isa told RFA that he suspected the protests were the “result of the Chinese government’s arrangements, funding, or organization.”
The Chinese Embassy in Paris did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Abby Seiff and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Nuriman Abdureshid for RFA Uyghur.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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The police fatal shooting of Win Rozario, a 19-year-old Bangladeshi teen who lived in Queens, New York, has set off protests and demands for justice from the family. Rozario had called 911 in late March asking for help as he experienced a mental health crisis, but two New York police officers who arrived at the family’s home shot him at least four times within minutes after entering the Rozario residence. The NYPD claimed Rozario “came at” the officers with a pair of scissors when they fired at him, but police body-camera footage shows he was standing on the other side of the kitchen, several feet away from the officers, as his mother desperately tried to shield her son. “He needed help, and what they did instead was kill him,” says New York City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who represents the city’s 39th Council District. She also discusses progressives’ ongoing efforts to pass a ceasefire resolution at City Council to demand an end to the war in Gaza, as well as Mayor Eric Adams’s crackdown on asylum seekers.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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We speak with civil rights attorney Ben Crump about the police killing of Roger Fortson, a Black 23-year-old Air Force member who was fatally shot by a Florida police officer mere moments after opening the door of his apartment. Fortson’s family says the police had arrived at the wrong home and that Fortson had grabbed his legal firearm as a precaution. Police body-camera footage shows Fortson answered the door with his gun at his side, not posing an imminent threat to the officer, who immediately shot Fortson six times. “The Second Amendment applies to Black people, too,” says Crump, who has represented victims of police violence in many high-profile cases. The police claim that officers were responding to a domestic dispute is contradicted by the fact that Fortson was home alone, Crump says. “They need to go ahead and admit that it was the wrong apartment and quit trying to justify this unjustifiable killing.”
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Stockholm, May 10, 2024—Georgian authorities should thoroughly investigate widespread harassment and threats against journalists covering a bill that would designate media outlets as “foreign agents” and Parliament should reject the draft law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
Since May 7, more than 30 journalists covering the bill “on transparency of foreign influence” and public protests against it have been targeted with anonymous abusive and threatening phone calls, journalists from 10 different independent news outlets told CPJ.
On May 9, Nino Zuriashvili, head of Studio Monitor, which makes investigative documentaries, and Gela Mtivlishvili, editor-in-chief of the independent website Mountain News, told CPJ that unknown individuals covered the entrances to their offices with posters and graffiti denouncing them as “foreign agents.”
Tamta Muradashvili, director of independent broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi, told CPJ that more than 10 of her colleagues had received threatening and abusive calls. She said she believed it was “very clear that the campaign is coordinated by government agencies,” given its scale, the callers’ access to government-held personal data, and the lack of response from the authorities.
“Increasing threats and intimidation against journalists in Georgia are deeply concerning and demonstrate that the ‘foreign agent’ bill not only unjustly restricts and stigmatizes journalists but also makes them more unsafe,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York.
“With the eyes of the world on Georgia over this bill and the country’s hopes of joining the European Union, the authorities should know their reputation is on the line if they don’t conduct a swift and convincing investigation into acts of intimidation against journalists and ensure media workers’ safety.”
Hundreds of critics of the bill reportedly received threatening phone calls, offices of numerous organizations were targeted with posters, and at least six prominent opposition politicians and activists were beaten this week.
The bill would require media outlets and nonprofits receiving more than 20% of their income from abroad to register as “organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” Parliament is expected to pass the bill in a third and final reading by May 17.
‘No place in Georgia for agents’
Zuriashvili told CPJ that a man called her from an international number on May 7, asked if she was from Studio Monitor, swore at her, and asked why she was critical of the foreign agent bill.
Zuriashvili posted a photo on Facebook of her office door, showing graffiti that she found on May 9, written “agents’ HQ” and printed posters showing her face, name, and Studio Monitor’s logo, with the words, “There is no place in Georgia for agents.”
On May 10, unknown individuals plastered dozens of posters on the façade of Zuriashvili’s apartment and graffitied her car with obscene images and the phrase “agent who sold themselves for money,” the news website Netgazeti reported.
Mountain News also posted images of dozens of similar posters and graffiti that were found to have been plastered on the walls of Mtivlishvili’s home and the outlet’s office on May 9.
On May 8, Natia Kuprashvili, founder of independent broadcaster TOK TV, said on Facebook that an unidentified caller recited her address and said they were waiting for her at her apartment.
Zuriashvili, Mtivlishvili and several other journalists told CPJ that they believed they were targeted for their vocal opposition to the foreign agent bill and for their outlets’ critical coverage of the bill and Georgian authorities.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on May 8 that authorities would create a public online register of individuals who were “involved in violence, other illegal actions, threats and blackmail, or publicly approve of such actions.” Muradashvili said such a register would likely be used against critics of the bill and that the authorities’ announcement of the register amid the intimidation campaign demonstrated their repressive direction.
CPJ also spoke to journalists at the independent broadcasters TV Pirveli and TV Formula and at the news websites JAMnews, OC Media, Netgazeti, Batumelebi, and Georgian News who all said that their staff had been targeted with threatening calls.CPJ’s emails requesting comment from the ruling Georgian Dream party, and email and Facebook message to the Special Investigation Service, which investigates allegations of crimes against journalists, did not immediately receive any replies.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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A Uyghur official from Ghulja county in northwest China’s Xinjiang region who went missing after opposing development on local farmland is serving a prison term for incitement, Radio Free Asia has learned.
News of the arrest and jailing of Abdumanap Hakimjan, deputy head of the Ghulja County Natural Resources Department, comes amid ongoing tensions over land in the county, where residents say Chinese developers are forcing them to hand over their farms for little or no compensation.
Hakimjan, who is in his 50s, was arrested and imprisoned in 2019, and is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Karabugra Prison in Kunes county, Ghulja county police officers and an anonymous official told RFA, when questioned about his status.
“You won’t be able to contact him,” claimed one officer, who said her police station is located next to the Natural Resources Department where Hakimjan used to work. “He has been sentenced and taken to Kunes.”
The officer who, like others interviewed for this report, declined to be named due to security concerns, told RFA she was unaware of the reason for Hakimjan’s arrest and referred further questions to higher-level authorities.
An officer who answered the phone at the Jelilyuz City Police Department in Ghulja confirmed that Hakimjan is serving time at a prison in Kunes. “He is currently serving a sentence near Karabugra,” he said. “He was arrested due to political issues. I heard he was sentenced to 10 years.”
‘Development measures’
Beginning in the 2000s, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang instituted “development measures” carried out under the banner of “concentrating land in the hands of agriculturalists.”
In practice, the policy permitted the appropriation of Uyghur farmland by migrants from China, leaving Uyghur farmers without a primary means of livelihood and forcing them to work as laborers on land they once tilled for themselves.
The situation prompted some Uyghur cadres in the Chinese Communist Party to protect the interests of the people they served, to the displeasure of their Chinese counterparts.
An undated photo of a building being demolished in Kasghar’s Old City. (Courtesy RFE/RL) 
An anonymous official with knowledge of the situation told RFA that in 2013, during Hakimjan’s tenure as deputy head of the Ghulja County Natural Resources Department, a Chinese company sought to purchase farmland along the Kash River to develop a tourist site that included office buildings and staff quarters.
The Uyghurs who owned the land met with Hakimjan to express their reluctance to sell it and frustration over the pressure they were facing to do so.
‘Two-faced’ official
In response, Hakimjan refused the Chinese company’s land acquisition proposal, citing legal provisions that prohibited the construction of housing on farmland, the official said.
He assured the farmers that their concerns were valid and advised them to also report the situation to the head of the Natural Resources Department.
Hakimjan’s refusal angered Chinese leaders with close connections to the company, but they were unable to present an argument as to why his decision should be overruled.
Speaking to RFA, a disciplinary inspection officer with the Natural Resources Department confirmed that Hakimjan’s decision was justified, stating that “it is absolutely forbidden to build residential buildings on cultivated land.”
Nonetheless, the official said, Hakimjan’s actions ultimately led to his placement in a “re-education camp” in 2017, when authorities began conducting mass arrests of Uyghurs deemed to be opponents of Chinese rule, and his eventual sentencing in 2019.
Hakimjan was viewed as having condoned and encouraged “disruptive collective behavior,” which was used at his court judgment as evidence of his “two-faced” nature – a term used by the Chinese Communist Party to describe officials or party members who are either corrupt or ideologically disloyal to the party.
Ghulja land dispute
Confirmation of Hakimjan’s whereabouts follows the circulation on social media last month of a video showing unidentified people purportedly harvesting farmland belonging to Uyghur residents of Ghulja’s Baytoqay and Chighliqmazar villages.
In the video, a woman claims that the land is “being seized without the farmers’ consent” and without compensation.
Residents of the two villages, situated along the Ili River, say they have garnered interest from Chinese companies since the 2000s. A surge in tourism development in the Uyghur region in recent years has brought several developers to the picturesque location, they say.
A dog is chained next to the site where a now demolished mosque used to stand in Karakax outside Hotan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, April 29, 2021. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)
RFA Uyghur spoke with a source with knowledge of the situation who said that when residents saw their land being confiscated last month, they promptly reported it to the Ghulja County Natural Resources Department. But the source, who declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, said officials “seemed indifferent to their concerns.”
When RFA contacted the Ghulja County Natural Resources Department, an official confirmed that “we did receive some complaints regarding farmland in Chighliqmazar,” but said the matter was “not under our jurisdiction.”
However, the official said that the Land Administration Bureau, which investigates such cases, had refrained from intervening because the land in question “is owned by Chinese companies.”
Sold without consent
The source with knowledge of the situation told RFA that Chinese authorities had instructed residents to sell their land to the Chinese companies, promising them greater profitability than farming, but the residents had refused, saying it was integral to their livelihoods and identity.
Nonetheless, he said, village cadres confiscated the farmland and sold it to the Chinese companies at a reduced price, without obtaining consent from the residents.
A security officer on duty in Baytoqay, who said he had been stationed in the area “to protect the land,” confirmed that it had indeed been expropriated.
He said residents were being compensated, although he acknowledged that there was “a dispute over the price.”
“The land is being utilized regardless of their consent,” he said, adding that the Chinese companies “have to proceed urgently.”
The security officer said residents will receive 30,000 yuan (US$4,150) for their wheat fields and 60,000 yuan (US$8,300) for fields growing produce.
Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Shohret Hoshur for RFA Uyghur.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Kinshasa, May 10, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the acquittal and release of journalist Blaise Mabala after more than four months in detention and calls for authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to swiftly reform their laws to prevent the criminal prosecution of journalists for their work.
“The acquittal and release of journalist Blaise Mabala in the DRC are welcome developments, but the four-and-a-half months he spent in detention and the legal harassment he endured remain a grave injustice,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “DRC authorities must make significant reforms to advance press freedom in the country and ensure journalists are protected, not prosecuted, for their work.”
A court in Kinshasa, the capital, acquitted Mabala, coordinator of the privately owned Même Morale FM, on May 3, but only made their decision public on May 6, Mabala’s lawyer, Christian Mwamba, told CPJ via messaging app.
Mwamba said Mabala was not freed from detention until Friday, May 10, due to administrative formalities.
The acquittal followed an April 17 court hearing during which the prosecutor requested that Mabala be convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison. Mabala was arrested on October 20, 2023, and accused of insulting Rita Bola, governor of the western province of Maï-Ndombe, in a radio program. Mabala was released on bail on November 7 but re-arrested on December 29 on the same charges.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Washington, D.C., May 9, 2024—Iranian authorities should immediately release economic journalist Shirin Saeedi from prison, drop all charges against her, and cease jailing members of the press for doing their jobs, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday.
Saeedi entered pre-trial detention on December 23, 2023, on charges of “colluding and assembling against the national security.” On May 1, the journalist was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Abolqasem Salavati of Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, according to news reports and a source familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to the fear of government reprisal.
Saeedi, who has appealed the sentence, is waiting for the court to set a date for an appeals trial and is hopeful that her sentence will be reduced, according to the source.
“Iranian authorities must free journalist Shirin Saeedi immediately and unconditionally and cease the practice of arbitrarily locking up members of the press,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna in New York. “The lack of transparency about Saeedi’s arrest and her lengthy pre-trial detention show once again how the Iranian regime feels free to act with impunity against the country’s press.”
Saeedi attended an international journalism workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September 2022 and later traveled to Lebanon to participate in a similar program before returning to Tehran. Iranian authorities took issue with the nature of these workshops, according to the source.
CPJ’s email to Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York requesting comment on Saeedi’s arrest and imprisonment did not receive any reply.
In addition to Saeedi’s case, there have been several other cases against journalists and obstructions of the work on the press in Iran in recent weeks:
On April 24, the office of Tehran’s General Prosecutor filed a lawsuit against Bahnam Samadi, a freelance economic reporter, in connection with an article he wrote about political tensions in the region between Iran and Israel, and the Israel-Gaza war, HRANA reported.
On May 1, the judiciary blocked the news website Didbaniran.ir without any explanation or prior notice, HRANA reported. According to a source who spoke to CPJ about on the condition of anonymity due to the fear of reprisal, authorities blocked Didbaniran.ir due to its daily coverage of national political issues, and as a result many journalists were laid off.
On May 2, Marzieh Mahmoudi, the editor-in-chief of the state-run TejaratNews economic site, was summoned by Tehran’s Media court. According to a report by HRANA, the summons did not include any information about her potential charges.
Several other Iranian journalists, including Asal Dadashlou, Hadi Kasaeizadeh, Mohammad Parsi, have been indicted and summoned by authorities for their coverage of international political issues, according to news reports.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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North Korean authorities have arrested workers at an orphanage where seven infants died earlier this year after investigators found that caregivers “systematically stole” food supplies the government had provided for infants and toddlers, a provincial health official said.
When an outbreak of a coronavirus-like disease left seven children dead in February at an orphanage in Hyesan city, party officials in northern Ryanggang province began an investigation into how the orphanage was being run, a provincial resident told Radio Free Asia.
“They found that the children’s nutritional conditions were serious and ordered a judicial agency to investigate,” said the resident, who requested anonymity for personal safety.
“During that investigation, mismanagement of children began to be revealed one by one,” he said. “As a result, the investigation was expanded to include all orphan care facilities.”
This undated picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on June 2, 2014, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visiting a Pyongyang orphanage to celebrate International Children’s Day. (KNS KCNA AFP) They found that infants and toddlers at the Hyesan orphanage were fed a difficult-to-digest concoction of corn flour and sugar instead of milk, the resident said.
Residents of the province are shocked that babies were fed this combination – and they’re angered by the deaths, he said.
“They fed the powder to breastfeeding-age infants. Children less than a year old were fed corn porridge,” he said. “Even adults have difficulty digesting that.”
Investigators also found that caregivers had taken rice, sugar, cooking oil and flour, and had regularly bribed supply officials, the resident said. North Korea regularly suffers from food shortages.
Judicial provincial authorities detained the heads of the accounting department and the medical department at the center on April 27, the provincial health official said. Four nutritionists at the center were also arrested, and the number of arrests is expected to increase, the resident said.
This handout photo released on July 30, 2008, from the World Food Programme shows malnourished children sitting on the floor of an orphanage in Chongjin City in North Korea’s North Hamgyong province on June 20, 2008. (World Food Programme/AFP) The director of the orphanage and the orphanage’s party secretary haven’t been arrested, the resident added.
Since 2015, North Korea has built childcare centers and orphanages in every provincial capital, Pyongyang and several other cities. Some of the centers focus on newborns to 3-year-olds, while others are designated for children between 3 and 6 years old.
“From the first day of operation, childcare centers and orphanages had many problems due to poor nutrition management for children,” said the provincial health official, who also requested anonymity for personal safety.
North Korean orphans watch a TV program as a foreign delegation visits their orphanage in the area damaged by recent floods and typhoons in North Hwanghae province Sept. 29, 2011. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) “In 2021, Kim Jong Un ordered that those children be fed dairy products – and nutritional care for orphans greatly improved,” the official said.
Milk from farm cows in each province is supplied to children in orphanages, he said. The centers also receive regular shipments of rice powder and sugar, which are used to make rice porridge.
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Moon Sung Hui for RFA Korean.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
