Lusaka, April 8, 2025—Zimbabwean authorities should stop their victimization of broadcast journalist Blessed Mhlanga, who, after 43 days in jail, was denied bail for the third time on Monday, and must ensure that charges against him are dropped immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Mhlanga, a journalist for privately owned Heart and Soul Television, has been detained since February 24 on incitement charges for interviewing a war veteran who called for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s resignation.
“The repeated denial of bail is yet another example of the injustice that Blessed Mhlanga has been forced to endure for simply doing his job as an independent journalist covering all sides of Zimbabwe’s political story,” said CPJ Africa Regional Director Angela Quintal in New York. “Zimbabwean authorities should stop hounding Blessed Mhlanga and withdraw the charges against him, so that he can be free to report the news.”
The journalist has been behind bars over offenses allegedly committed in his interview in November 2024 and further coverage in January 2025 of Blessed Geza, a veteran of Zimbabwe’s war for independence from white minority rule, who also accused Mnangagwa of nepotism, corruption, and failing to address economic issues.
On February 28, the Harare Magistrates Court denied Mhlanga bail. After several delays, the High Court dismissed an appeal of the bail ruling on March 21. Mhlanga’s lawyer, Chris Mhike, renewed the bail application in the magistrates court on April 4, but Magistrate Donald Ndirowei dismissed the appeal on Monday. Mhike told CPJ they will appeal the latest ruling.
Zimbabwe’s government, in an effort to silence the press, has been jailing independent journalists and introducing laws to restrict freedom of expression, according to a recent CPJ report.
Award-winning Cambodian journalist Mech Dara, who was charged with incitement to provoke disorder over his social media posts, was released on bail on Thursday, media reported.
The case against Mech Dara, known for his hard-hitting reporting on cyber-scam compounds and human trafficking, drew significant condemnation from human rights groups and foreign governments.
The CamboJA News media outlet said a court in Kandal province near the capital, Phnom Penh, released Mech Dara on bail and it published pictures of him being driven away in a vehicle. Other details of his legal status were not immediately clear.
Mech Dara, a journalist, was released on bail from Kandal provincial prison on Thursday at 12 noon, after his apology last night to Senate president Hun Sen and Prime Minister Hun Manet. (CamboJA/Pring Samrang) pic.twitter.com/gl7p6qkbjj
Mech Dara was arrested on Sept. 30 and charged a day later with “incitement to provoke serious social disorder” under articles 494 and 495 of the criminal code, facing up to two years of prison.
On Wednesday, a media outlet friendly to the government published a video of Mech Dara apologizing for his social media posts and asking for forgiveness after he was brought to court for five hours of questioning.
The outlet, Fresh News, also posted photos of three handwritten, thumb-printed pages – letters it said Mech Dara wrote to Senate President Hun Sen and his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet.
The letter to Hun Sen outlined the contents of five posts in which Mech Dara purportedly mocked progress and development in Cambodia; compared how the perpetrators of traffic accidents were treated in Australia as opposed to Cambodia; and said that a quarry operation had destroyed stairs to a popular tourist destination called Ba Phnom.
He wrote that his posts were “fake news affecting the social order and the government leadership.”
In his letter to the prime minister, Mech Dara wrote that he “regrets and admits the mistakes and promises to stop posting any content that may affect the society and damage the reputation of Cambodia. I request your leniency and amnesty.”
Cambodia has seen a significant erosion of media freedom in recent years, with journalists regularly facing harassment and independent news outlets increasingly shuttered by fiat or pressure.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, visited Cambodia and announced more than US$50 million in funding for demining programs, tuberculosis treatment, and a range of programs for the environment, media, civil society and more.
At a press conference on Wednesday evening, Power told journalists the U.S. government was following Mech Dara’s case “very closely” and said she had raised it and other cases during talks with Hun Manet.
“We have emphasized our support for finding positive resolutions,” she said.
Edited by Mike Firn
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Staff.
A Cambodian court denied a request for bail by freelance journalist Mech Dara, who his lawyer and others say is suffering from health issues and is in jail awaiting trial on “incitement” charges.
Dara, 36, was arrested on Sept. 30 and charged a day later with “incitement to provoke serious social disorder” over unspecified social media posts.
If found guilty, he faces six months to two years in prison.
“I do not know the reason behind the denial because I had asked for an explanatory warrant, but he did not give one to me, he just gave me a letter of notice,” defense lawyer Rim Bora said of the notice he received Oct. 18 from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
Dara had been suffering from physical and mental health problems that have worsened since being sent to pre-trial detention at Kandal provincial prison, said Am Sam Ath, director of operations at human rights group Licadho.
“If we speak of the conditions of the request for bail, it should be reasonable enough to allow him on bail, according to the criminal code,” he said.
Dara was previously a reporter for The Cambodia Daily, Phnom Penh Post and Voice of Democracy. Last year, he received the State Department’s annual human trafficking “Hero” award for his reporting, which brought the issue to international attention.
His arrest has drawn condemnation from a range of foreign governments, press freedom organizations and human rights groups.
A prolific journalist, Dara is best known for his groundbreaking reporting on cyber-scam compounds in Cambodia, where criminal groups abduct, torture and enslave people into carrying out phone scams.
The State Department “has engaged with [the Cambodian government] at a number of different levels and made clear our concerns and called for his release,” spokesman Matthew Miller said at a daily State Department press briefing last week.
In a post to Facebook on Friday, the Australian Embassy in Cambodia said that Ambassador Derek Yip had raised concerns over Dara’s arrest at a meeting last week with Senior Minister and Human Rights Committee President Keo Remy.
Edited by Abby Seiff and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.
New Delhi, October 8, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Kashmiri journalist Sajad Gul on bail—after more than two years of arbitrary detention on multiple charges — and calls on authorities in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to immediately end all prosecution against him.
“The release of Kashmiri journalist Sajad Gul on bail is long overdue,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi on Tuesday. “The collapse of press freedom in Kashmir in recent years is stark. With elections over, the newly elected local government must immediately free other Kashmiri journalists behind bars and allow the media to report freely without fear of reprisal.”
Gul, a trainee reporter with the now-banned news website, The Kashmir Walla, was granted bail July 8 by a court in the northern Bandipora district of Kashmir, the details of which have not been made public, according to sources who told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. The bail was related to one of the three cases Gul faces, over charges of rioting, attempted murder, and actions prejudicial to national integration.
Gul was first arrested January 5, 2022, from his home in Bandipora in connection with a video he posted on X, showing women protesting the killing of a local militant leader, according to news reports. The journalist was detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, which allows for a maximum two-year detention, before a Jammu and Kashmir High Court quashed his detention under the law in November 2023, stating that there was no concrete evidence or specific allegations proving his actions were prejudicial to the security of the state.
Prior to his July release, Gul was granted bail in two other cases in connection with the video, in which he faced chargesof criminal conspiracy, assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their duty, and endangering life or personal safety, according to those sources.
Jammu and Kashmir voters went to the polls last month for the first time since India unilaterally revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status in 2019, which prompted a rapid decline in press freedom. An opposition alliance is set to form government after votes were counted on October 8.
New Delhi, May 15, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday welcomed Indian court decisions to grant bail to journalists Aasif Sultan, Gautam Navlakha, and Prabir Purkayastha, who are being held under anti-terror laws, and called on the authorities to release all three men and immediately drop charges against them.
“The Indian courts’ decisions to grant bail to journalists Aasif Sultan, Gautam Navlakha, and Prabir Purkayastha are welcome news. We urge the Indian authorities to respect the judicial orders and immediately free these journalists, who should never have been imprisoned in the first place,” said CPJ India Representative Kunāl Majumder. “In all three cases, we have observed how authorities have tried to keep these journalists behind bars at all costs, particularly Sultan who has been arbitrarily detained for almost six years in a cycle of release and re-arrest. The Indian government must not target journalists for their critical reporting.”
Sultan was released on Tuesday, May 14, after he was granted bail on May 10 by a court in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, according to a copy of the bail order, reviewed by CPJ, and two sources familiar with the case who spoke with CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.
Sultan, India’s longest imprisoned journalist, was first arrested under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2018 on charges of “harboring known militants” after he published a story about a slain Kashmiri militant. Sultan was granted bail in 2022 but authorities held him at a police station for five days before rearresting him under preventative custody. In December, a court quashed that second case and he was freed in February, only to be rearrested hours after he returned home on a prison riot charge.
In a separate ruling, India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Purkayastha, founder and editor-in-chief of the news website NewsClick on the grounds that the police failed to inform him of the reasons for his arrest before taking him into custody, according to newsreports. Purkayastha has been held since October under the UAPA and the Indian Penal Code on charges of raising funds for terrorist activities and criminal conspiracy.
The same court on Tuesday granted bail to Navlakha, a columnist at NewsClick, who has been under house arrest under the UAPA since November 2022, on accusations that he was part of a group who were responsible for violence that erupted in 2017 in the Pune district in the western state of Maharashtra, and of having links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
CPJ research shows that since 2014, at least 15 journalists have been charged or investigated under the UAPA.
The signing of a “nickel pact” to salvage New Caledonia’s embattled industry has not been signed by the end of March, as initially announced by French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire.
Le Maire had hinted at the date of March 25 last week, but New Caledonia’s territorial government President Louis Mapou wants to have his Congress endorse the pact before he signs anything.
The Congress is scheduled to put the French pact (worth hundreds of millions of euro) to the debate this Wednesday.
The pact is supposed to bail out New Caledonia’s nickel industry players from a grave crisis, caused by the current state of the world nickel prices and the market dominance of Indonesia which produces much cheaper nickel in large quantities.
The proposed aid agreement, however, has strings attached: in return, New Caledonia’s nickel industry must undertake a far-reaching reform plan to increase its attraction and decrease its production costs.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Abuja, February 2, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Thursday’s release on bail of Nigerian journalist Saint Mienpamo Onitsha and calls for authorities to drop all charges against him and reform the country’s laws to ensure journalism is not criminalized.
“Saint Mienpamo Onitsha was detained for nearly four months simply for doing his job, which should never be considered a crime,” said CPJ Africa Head Angela Quintal in New York. “While we welcome Thursday’s release of Onitsha, we repeat our call for Nigerian authorities to swiftly drop all charges against him and reform the country’s laws to ensure journalists do not continue to be jailed for their reporting.”
In October 2023, police arrested Ontisha, founder of the privately owned online broadcaster NAIJA Live TV, and charged him with cyberstalking under section 24 of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act and defamation under the criminal code. The charge sheet cited a September report about tensions in the southern Niger Delta region.
On December 4, a court in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, heard Onitsha’s bail application and on January 25 the court granted him bail with a condition that he provides two sureties—persons willing to take responsibility for any court decisions made if Onitsha fails to meet bail obligations—with a bond of 10 million naira (US$8,372), according to copies of the court ruling, reviewed by CPJ, and Onitsha’s lawyer, Anande Terungwa, who spoke by phone with CPJ.
The court also ordered the residence of the sureties must be verified by the court registrar and that the sureties must submit documents proving they own a landed property in Abuja, as well as their recent passport photographs, according to those same sources.
Onitsha’s next court date is March 19. If convicted, he faces a 25 million naira (US$20,930) fine and/or up to 10 years in jail on the cyberstalking charges—as well as potential imprisonment for two years for charges of defamation and the publication of defamatory matter under the Criminal Code Act, according to Terungwa and a copy of the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ.
Terungwa told CPJ that the delay between Onitsha being granted bail on January 25 and his release on February 1 was due to a prolonged verification process among officials and prosecution lawyers on the conditions of Onitsha’s bail.
Onitsha appeared in CPJ’s 2023 prison census, which documented at least 67 journalists jailed across Africa as of December 1.
Former President Donald Trump was booked Thursday at Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail on 13 felony charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. He paid $20,000, or 10% of his $200,000 bond, through a local bail bondsman, allowing him to be released after about 20 minutes at the jail. He is expected to face trial as early as October. In Atlanta, we speak with two guests: Carol Anderson…
Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he is planning to surrender himself to arrest in Fulton County, Georgia, on Thursday, as part of his indictment regarding his attempts to overturn the 2020 election in the state. “Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Attorney, Fani Willis,” Trump wrote on his social media network…
Residents in Atlanta shattered the record for turnout at a city council meeting Monday, as thousands lined up to voice their opposition to the construction of a massive police training facility known as Cop City. Ultimately, the Atlanta City Council voted 11-4 to approve $30 million in additional funding for the project, bringing the total to $67 million — more than double the original estimate. The contentious vote comes after a SWAT team raided the Atlanta Solidarity Fund last Wednesday and arrested three people who had been raising money to bail out protesters opposed to Cop City, charging them with money laundering and charity fraud. Forty-two protesters still face charges including domestic terrorism for opposing Cop City, and activists continue to demand answers over the fatal police shooting of environmental activist Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán in January. For more on Cop City, we speak with Reverend James Woodall from the Southern Center for Human Rights, who spoke at the City Council meeting, as well as Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizer Marlon Kautz, one of the three people arrested in last week’s SWAT raid. Kautz says the charges are “malicious political prosecutions” with the intent to “suppress a political movement.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
We get an update on the armed police SWAT team raid and arrest of three organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has been raising money to bail out protesters opposed to the construction of a massive police training facility known as Cop City in the Weelaunee Forest, one of the city’s largest green spaces and the former site of a prison farm. Marlon Kautz, Adele Maclean and Savannah Patterson were charged with money laundering and fraud. The arrests come as 42 protesters face charges including domestic terrorism for opposing Cop City and just days before the Atlanta City Council is set to vote on the project. These new and unprecedented arrests are a clear attack on “the infrastructure of the movement,” says Kamau Franklin, founder of the organization Community Movement Builders and a vocal Cop City opponent. He joins us from Atlanta for the latest on the protests and the state repression campaign against them.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
A farming activist and two of his associates were freed on bail Tuesday after they made a public apology to Prime Minister Hun Sen for seeking to “topple the government.”
The case involving Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, has drawn the attention of rights groups who say it undermines the work of civil society and is part of a “crackdown” on the opposition in Cambodia ahead of the July 23 general election.
On May 17, authorities in Kratie province arrested Savoeun and 16 of his colleagues for “inciting social unrest” and “conspiracy to commit treason.”
The local rights group ADHOC said they were simply advising farmers on their constitutional rights.
The detentions of the activists had prompted some 200 farmers – mostly women – from various provinces to travel to the Ministry of Interior in Phnom Penh to demand their release, claiming that they had provided assistance and done nothing illegal.
Undated photo of Theng Savoeun, President of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community. The case involving Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, has drawn the attention of rights groups who say it undermines the work of civil society and is part of a ‘crackdown’ on the opposition in Cambodia ahead of the July 23 general election. Credit: Theng Savoeun via FaceBook
On Tuesday, the Ratanakiri Provincial Court released all three men after they apologized to Hun Sen for seeking to “overthrow the government” in a video later published by pro-government media outlet Fresh News.
“I, Theng Savoeun, would like to acknowledge the kindness of Samdech, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng and the court in forgiving the three of us and releasing us on bail so we can rejoin our families after we mistakenly listened to foreigners and opposition party extremists, leading us to gather and incite people to stand up and topple the government,” he says in the video, using an honorific term to refer to Hun Sen.
Savoeun’s colleagues Hach and Pheap, as well as his wife and mother, appear in the video praising Hun Sen for the release.
‘Not from the heart’
The Cambodian Farmers’ Community Association has vehemently denied allegations that its members were sowing the seeds of revolution, saying it only instructed farmers on agricultural laws and techniques.
The group, which claims to have a membership of around 20,000 people across Cambodia, was founded in 2011 to assist farmers from 10 communities who say their land was encroached on.
Farmers and group officials welcomed the release, but said they believe Savoeun and his colleagues were “forced to confess” and make statements blaming Hun Sen’s political opposition.
“His confession didn’t come from the heart,” said farmer activist Det Hour. “If he committed a crime he would have confessed on Day One of his arrest.”
A Cambodian land rights protester lays on the ground in front of police during a protest in Phnom Penh Oct. 17, 2013. Credit: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP
But Sok Ey San, spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, denied that Savoeun was pressured to apologize.
“If the individuals made the confessions, it means they were true,” he said.
Another activist named Ma Chetra called Savoeun “a victim of the justice system” in Cambodia, adding that his confession “can’t be regarded as real.”
“He chose to apologize so he can take care of his elderly parents,” he said.
The trio’s release comes three days after Hun Sen accused unnamed officials from the opposition Candlelight Party of “wanting to kill” him and “seize power through undemocratic ways” during a meeting with workers in Phnom Penh.
Illegal land grabs by developers or individuals are not uncommon in Cambodia, where officials and bureaucrats can be bribed to provide bogus land titles. Disputes over land are one of the major causes of social disturbances throughout Southeast Asia.
Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.
A farming activist and two of his associates were freed on bail Tuesday after they made a public apology to Prime Minister Hun Sen for seeking to “topple the government.”
The case involving Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, has drawn the attention of rights groups who say it undermines the work of civil society and is part of a “crackdown” on the opposition in Cambodia ahead of the July 23 general election.
On May 17, authorities in Kratie province arrested Savoeun and 16 of his colleagues for “inciting social unrest” and “conspiracy to commit treason.”
The local rights group ADHOC said they were simply advising farmers on their constitutional rights.
The detentions of the activists had prompted some 200 farmers – mostly women – from various provinces to travel to the Ministry of Interior in Phnom Penh to demand their release, claiming that they had provided assistance and done nothing illegal.
Undated photo of Theng Savoeun, President of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community. The case involving Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, has drawn the attention of rights groups who say it undermines the work of civil society and is part of a ‘crackdown’ on the opposition in Cambodia ahead of the July 23 general election. Credit: Theng Savoeun via FaceBook
On Tuesday, the Ratanakiri Provincial Court released all three men after they apologized to Hun Sen for seeking to “overthrow the government” in a video later published by pro-government media outlet Fresh News.
“I, Theng Savoeun, would like to acknowledge the kindness of Samdech, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng and the court in forgiving the three of us and releasing us on bail so we can rejoin our families after we mistakenly listened to foreigners and opposition party extremists, leading us to gather and incite people to stand up and topple the government,” he says in the video, using an honorific term to refer to Hun Sen.
Savoeun’s colleagues Hach and Pheap, as well as his wife and mother, appear in the video praising Hun Sen for the release.
‘Not from the heart’
The Cambodian Farmers’ Community Association has vehemently denied allegations that its members were sowing the seeds of revolution, saying it only instructed farmers on agricultural laws and techniques.
The group, which claims to have a membership of around 20,000 people across Cambodia, was founded in 2011 to assist farmers from 10 communities who say their land was encroached on.
Farmers and group officials welcomed the release, but said they believe Savoeun and his colleagues were “forced to confess” and make statements blaming Hun Sen’s political opposition.
“His confession didn’t come from the heart,” said farmer activist Det Hour. “If he committed a crime he would have confessed on Day One of his arrest.”
A Cambodian land rights protester lays on the ground in front of police during a protest in Phnom Penh Oct. 17, 2013. Credit: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP
But Sok Ey San, spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, denied that Savoeun was pressured to apologize.
“If the individuals made the confessions, it means they were true,” he said.
Another activist named Ma Chetra called Savoeun “a victim of the justice system” in Cambodia, adding that his confession “can’t be regarded as real.”
“He chose to apologize so he can take care of his elderly parents,” he said.
The trio’s release comes three days after Hun Sen accused unnamed officials from the opposition Candlelight Party of “wanting to kill” him and “seize power through undemocratic ways” during a meeting with workers in Phnom Penh.
Illegal land grabs by developers or individuals are not uncommon in Cambodia, where officials and bureaucrats can be bribed to provide bogus land titles. Disputes over land are one of the major causes of social disturbances throughout Southeast Asia.
Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is pleased that a Sydney magistrate jailed protester Deanna “Violet” Coco on Friday. But he is out of step with international and Australian human rights and climate change groups and activists, who have quickly mobilised to show solidarity.
On Monday, protests were held in Sydney, Canberra and Perth calling for the release of Coco who blocked one lane of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for half an hour during a morning peak hour in April.
She climbed onto the roof of a truck holding a flare to draw attention to the global climate emergency and Australia’s lack of preparedness for bushfires. Three other members of the group Fireproof Australia, who have not been jailed, held a banner and glued themselves to the road.
“Free Coco” protesters at Sydney’s Downing Centre. Image: Zebedee Parkes/City Hub
Coco pleaded guilty to seven charges, including disrupting vehicles, possessing a flare distress signal in a public place and failing to comply with police direction.
Magistrate Allison Hawkins sentenced Coco to 15 months in prison, with a non-parole period of eight months and fined her $2500. Her lawyer Mark Davis has lodged an appeal which will be heard on March 2, 2023.
Unusually for a non-violent offender, Hawkins refused bail pending an appeal against the sentence. Davis, who will again apply for bail in the District Court next week, said refusal of bail pending appeal was “outrageous”.
Climate change protester sentenced to jail over Sydney Harbour Bridge protest. Video: News 24
‘People shouldn’t be jailed for peaceful protest’ In Sydney, about 100 protesters gathered outside NSW Parliament House and then marched to the Downing Centre. The crowd included members of climate action groups Extinction Rebellion, Knitting Nannas and Fireproof Australia but also others who, while they might not conduct a similar protest themselves, believe in the right of others to do so.
One of the protest organisers, Knitting Nanna Marie Flood, was unable to attend due to illness. Her message called for the release of Coco and an end to the criminalisation and intimidation of climate activists.
It was read by another Knitting Nanna, Eurydice Aroney:
“Nannas have been on Sydney streets protesting about gas and coal mines for about 8 years now. Over that time we’ve had lots of interactions with the Sydney Events police, and not a lot of trouble.
“You could say we are known to the police. We were amused and surprised at the recent climate emergency rally at town hall, when one of the police said to some Nannas that he thought we’d fallen in with the wrong crowd!
“Looks like we better clear some things up.”
Knitting Nannas protesters Helen and Dom at a previous protest. Image: Environmental Defenders Office/City Hub
“We ARE the crowd who knows that climate action is urgent and it starts with stopping new gas and coal. We know the importance of public protests to bringing about social and political change.
“We will stand up against any move to take away the democratic right to protest. What is happening to Violet Coco is a direct result of the actions of the NSW government with the support of the ALP opposition.”
The message ended with a call to all climate activists: “Now is the time to BE THE CROWD — we can’t afford to fall for attempts to divide the climate movement. We all want to save the climate, and to do that we need to protect democracy.”
The Knitting Nannas have launched a challenge to the validity of the protest laws through the Environmental Defenders’ Office.
Snap rally at NSW Parliament and a march to the courts at the Downing Centre where climate activist Violet Coco was sentenced to 15 months in prison last week.
We demand repeal of the draconian anti-protest laws, an end to new fossil fuel projects and serious climate action now! pic.twitter.com/F1Yxs8L0DG
One of those attending the protest was Josh Pallas, president of NSW Council for Civil Liberties. Civil Liberties has been defending the right to protest in NSW for more than half a century.
In a media release, he said: “Peaceful protest should never result in jail time. It’s outrageous that the state wastes its resources seeking jail time and housing peaceful protesters in custody at the expense of taxpayers.
“Protesters from Fireproof Australia and other groups have engaged in peaceful protest in support of stronger action on climate change, a proposition that is widely supported by many Australians across the political divide and now finding themselves ending up in prison.
“Peaceful protest sometimes involves inconvenience to the public. But inconvenience is not a sufficient reason to prohibit it. It’s immoral and unjust.”
Deputy Lord Mayor and Greens Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore told the crowd that they had the support of the City of Sydney which recently passed a unanimous motion calling for the repeal of the NSW government’s draconian anti-protest laws.
“If you are a group of businesses in the City of Sydney and you want to close the street for a street party, this state government will give you $50,000. If you are a non-violent protester who cares about climate change and you are blocking one lane of traffic for 25 minutes, they will give you two years [in jail].
“We know these laws are designed to intimidate you… Thank you for being the front line in the fight. you are the ones to put your bodies on the line to protest about issues we all care about, ” she said.
Amnesty International support for democracy
Amnesty International spokesperson Veronica Koman emphasised how important it was to see the defence of democratic rights from a regional perspective. She said that Amnesty was concerned that severe repression of pro-independence activists in West Papua was spreading across to other parts of Indonesia.
She fears the same pattern of increasing repression taking hold in NSW.
Human Rights Watch researcher Sophie McNeil, who has won many awards for her journalism, was another person who was quick to respond.
“Outrageous. Climate activist who blocked traffic on Sydney Harbour Bridge jailed for at least eight months” she tweeted on Friday.
Since then she has followed the issue closely, criticising the ABC for failing to quote a human rights source in its coverage of the court case and speaking at a protest in Perth on Monday.
Today she posted this tweet with a short campaigning #FreeVioletCoco video that has already attracted nearly 13,000 views:
Authorities in #Australia are disproportionately punishing climate activists in violation of their basic rights to peaceful protest
Violet Coco has been sentenced to 15 months in prison
‘If you’re reading this, you’ll know I am in prison’
In jailing Coco, Magistrate Hawkins went out of her way to diminish and delegitimise her protest. She described it as a “childish stunt’ that let an “entire city suffer” through her “selfish emotional action”.
Coco has been involved with climate change protests for more than four years and has been arrested in several other protests. On one occasion, she set light to an empty pram outside Parliament House.
Rather than fight on technicalities, she chosen to plead guilty, knowing that if the magistrate was hostile, she could be taken into custody at the end of Friday’s hearing.
Several steps ahead of her critics, she made a video and wrote a long piece to be published if she went to prison.
The piece begins: ”If you are reading this, then I have been sentenced to prison for peaceful environmental protest. I do not want to break the law. But when regular political procedure has proven incapable of enacting justice, it falls to ordinary people taking a stand to bring about change.”
She describes how her understanding of the facts of climate science and the inadequacy of the current response led her to decide to give up her studies and devote herself to actions that would draw attention to the climate emergency.
“Liberal political philosopher John Rawls asserted that a healthy democracy must have room for this kind of action. Especially in the face of such a threat as billions of lives lost and possibly the collapse of our liveable planet.
“But make no mistake — I do not want to be protesting. Protest work is not fun — it’s stressful, resource-intensive, scary and the police are violent. They refuse to feed me, refused to give me toilet paper and have threatened me with sexual violence.
Jailed Australian climate protester Deanna “Violet” Coco . . . “Protest work is not fun — it’s stressful, resource-intensive, scary and the police are violent.” Image: APR screenshot
“I spent three days in the remand centre, which is a disgusting place full of sad people. I do not enjoy breaking the law. I wish that there was another way to address this issue with the gravitas that it deserves.”
She describes how she has already been forced to comply with onerous bail conditions:
“I was under 24 hour curfew conditions for 20 days in a small apartment with no garden. After 20 days effectively under house arrest, my curfew hours changed — at first I could leave the house for only 5 hours a day for the following 58 days, then 6 hours a day under house arrest for the following 68 days.
“This totalled 2017 hours imprisoned in my home for non-violent political engagement in the prevention of many deaths. Cumulatively, that is 84 days or 12 weeks of my freedom.”
Premier Perrottet says he does not object to protest so long as it does not interfere with “our way of life”.
If it does, individuals should have the “book thrown at them.”
His “way of life” is one in which commuters are never held up in traffic by a protest while endlessly sitting in traffic because of governments’ poor transport planning.
A way of life in which it is fine for governments to take years to house people whose lives are destroyed by fires and floods induced by climate change, to allow people to risk death from heat because they cannot afford air conditioners, open more coal and gas operations that will increase carbon emissions and turn a blind eye to millions of climate refugees in the Asia Pacific region.
It involves only protesting when you have permission and in tightly policed zones where passers-by ignore you.
Labor still backs anti-protest laws
Leader of the Opposition Chris Minns also says he has no regrets for supporting the laws which he says were necessary to stop multiple protests.
But laws don’t target multiple actions, they target individuals. He has not raised his voice to condemn police harassment of individual activists even before they protest and bail conditions that breach democratic rights to freedom of assembly.
There was no visible Labor presence at Sydney’s rally.
Perrottet and Minns may be making right wing shock jocks happy but they are out of line with international principles of human rights.
They also fail to acknowledge that many of Australia’s most famous protest movements around land rights, apartheid, Green Bans, womens’ rights, prison reform and environment often involved actions that would have led to arrest under current anti-protest laws.
They display an ignorance of traditions of civil disobedience. As UNSW Professor Luke Macnamara told SBS News: “[V]isibility and disruption have long been the hallmarks of effective protest.”
He believes disruption and protest need to go hand in hand in order to result in tangible change.
“There’s an inherent contradiction in governments telling protesters what are acceptable, passive, non-disruptive means of engaging in protests, when the evidence may well be that those methods have been attempted and have proven to be ineffective,” he said.
“It’s not realistic on the one hand to support the so-called ‘right to protest’, and on the other hand, expect the protest has no disruptive effects. The two go together.”
Wendy Bacon was previously a professor of journalism at the University of Technology Sydney and is an editorial board member of Pacific Journalism Review. She joined the protest. This article was first published by City Hub and is republished with the author’s permission.
Abuja, February 4, 2022 — In response to the release on bail Thursday of Luka Binniyat, a Nigerian freelance reporter for the U.S.-based news outlet TheEpoch Times, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for the charges against him to be dropped:
“While Nigerian journalist Luka Binniyat’s release on bail is a welcome development, he never should have been detained in the first place, and the charges against him should be dropped without delay,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “His ongoing prosecution on cybercrime charges and the stringent requirements for his bail are stark examples of how journalism continues to be criminalized in Nigeria.”
Authorities detained Binniyat on November 4, 2021, as CPJ documented at the time. He is facing charges under Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act for allegedly distributing false information.
For his bail, Binniyat was required to provide a bond of 1 million naira (US$2,402) and two sureties by people who live in and own land in Kaduna state, which were approved by the prosecutor’s office, according to the journalist and his lawyer, Ehizogie Imadojemu, both of whom spoke to CPJ via messaging app and in phone interviews.
If convicted, Binniyat could face up to three years in prison and a fine of 7 million naira (US$17,049), Imadojemu said.
Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki says drive-in swabbing will be done at Wharekawa Marae in Whakatīwai.
The government is due to announce any possible alert level changes this afternoon and it is unclear how the development in Waikato will affect its decision.
‘Irresponsible,’ says mayor
Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said the prisoner should never have been bailed outside Auckland to the area where cases of covid-19 have now been discovered.
The prisoner spent more than a week there on electronically-monitored bail.
The infections were discovered after the man returned to prison in Auckland and tested positive for the virus.
Sanson told RNZ Morning Report it was “totally irresponsible” to send a prisoner on bail outside the lockdown boundary and into the small community.
“There needs to be questions asked as to why it actually happened,” he said.
“I would have thought if you were bailing somebody you would have bailed them into Auckland, and not out of the Auckland area.
“They don’t let anyone else out of Auckland into a level 2 area without them having tests now, so what’s the difference with this? This person’s been in the community for well over a week.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Eager to resolve a federal civil rights lawsuit, Texas’ most populous county over the past two years has stopped requiring most people accused of low-level crimes from putting up cash to get out of jail on bond.
Tens of thousands of people accused of misdemeanors not involving some specific circumstances, like domestic abuse or previous bond violations, have been freed without cost while awaiting trial.
Letting them out does not appear to increase the chances they will be arrested for new crimes, according to researchers who have been tracking changes made to the Harris County misdemeanor bail system. In fact, the percentage of defendants arrested for new crimes within a year of their original arrest went down after the county changed its bail practices.
On January 13, the Illinois legislature passed the Pretrial Fairness Act (as part of HB 3653 SFA2). Once signed, this bill will make the state the first to completely eradicate the use of money bail.
Once fully implemented in 2023, the Pretrial Fairness Act will make Illinois’s pretrial system a national model. In addition to ending money bail, a variety of other provisions will improve the fairness of the state’s pretrial system and ensure that the vast majority of people are released before trial. The bill creates a limited detention eligibility net and mandates pretrial release in the majority of cases; reforms the way people are treated when they miss court dates; ensures sentencing credit for time spent and movement permissions for people on electronic monitoring; regulates the use of risk assessment tools, such as Cook County’s Public Safety Assessment; and ensures transparency and accountability through mandatory data collection and publication. Together, these changes move the state’s orientation toward a real presumption of pretrial freedom and an understanding that public safety comes from investment and resources rather than incarceration.
The passage of this historic legislation was made possible by long-term community organizing, but catalyzed by last summer’s uprisings in response to the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. While lifting up the cries to defund police and refund communities, movement leaders demanded a new vision of community safety that relies not on militarized policing and violent punishment, but instead on resources like living wage jobs and fully funded schools and social services. The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus understood the protests as a mandate to bring sweeping changes to the state’s criminal legal system.
Over the past 40 years, courts have jailed increasing numbers of people — disproportionately Black — who are awaiting trial and presumed innocent, simply because they cannot afford to pay money bail. This pretrial incarceration often lasts for months or even years, making it much harder for accused people to fight their cases, increasing pressure to accept plea deals, and leading to longer sentences. Pretrial jailing can lead to the loss of jobs, homes and even custody of children. By destabilizing people’s lives, pretrial detention makes us all less safe.
We used a variety of strategies in our organizing, ranging from courtwatching, data analysis and report writing, and direct actions, such as the one in which TPL and SOUL occupied the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building for five hours in an act of civil disobedience. Media and art were also essential tools in our campaign. CCBF led this effort, working with volunteers, videographers and graphic designers to produce compelling, original educational materials like videos, animations and infographics. Our policy experts wrote legislation that became the Pretrial Fairness Act and talked to dozens of legislators about how courts could achieve their goals while respecting the presumption of innocence and freeing the vast majority of people before trial.
Uplifting the voices of people directly impacted by money bail and pretrial incarceration was a core element of Coalition activities. CCBF paid bail regularly for people and supported them in processing and analyzing their experiences. Many of them went on to share their stories with media, decisionmakers and community leaders. In Illinois, personal testimonies from members of CCBF, SOUL, TPL and others were key to changing the public conversation about wealth-based incarceration. Advocates can state hard facts until they are blue in the face, but personal stories from people impacted by pretrial incarceration move legislators, media and others without personal experiences in a completely different way. Over the past five years, the Coalition made money bail a widely understood and unpopular policy failure — and a litmus test for candidates and officials claiming to support racial justice.
At several key points, The People’s Lobby and other groups used electoral organizing to move the campaign forward. In 2016, reform candidate Kim Foxx defeated incumbent Anita Alvarez in an election for Cook County state’s attorney with a platform that included bail reform and a broader repudiation of “tough-on-crime” policies. Robert Peters, TPL’s political director and former Coalition organizer, was appointed and then elected to the Illinois Senate, where he became a leading champion for bail reform. These elections showed widespread public support for ending money bail, changed the political calculus for other elected officials and added important new voices to decisionmaking bodies.
Passing state legislation required uniting a diverse and statewide base of support. In 2019, the Coalition recruited dozens of additional organizations to form the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice (INPJ), of which our organizations have served as anchors. Together, we then engaged thousands of people to take action in Chicago, its suburbs, and throughout the rest of the state. To build this broad base, we centered Black leadership because Black people are by far the most impacted by money bail. At the same time, we also pushed people in other communities to recognize that we all have a stake in ending white supremacy and the criminal policies that perpetuate it.
By early 2020, the Coalition had secured Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s support in ending money bail, but the COVID-19 pandemic quickly brought the 2020 legislative session to a halt. The Black Lives Matter uprisings that began in May agitated and inspired a broader array of legislators to make criminal legal reform a priority. Soon, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, led by Sen. Elgie Sims and Rep. Justin Slaughter, began working on a package of reforms to policing and incarceration. Senator Peters and Representative Slaughter, the sponsors of the Pretrial Fairness Act, advocated for the Black Caucus to include ending money bail in this package.
Meanwhile, we built relationships with key organizations working to end domestic and sexual violence and negotiated their support for the Pretrial Fairness Act. Faith leaders organized through The People’s Lobby, Community Renewal Society, SOUL, A Just Harvest, Trinity United Church of Christ, United Congregations of Metro East, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism of Illinois and Believers Bail Out also played an important role in lifting up the voices of members impacted by bail, moving a number of legislators outside Chicago, and securing media coverage at key moments. Ultimately, INPJ members organized thousands of people to call and email their legislators in late 2020 and early 2021.
Immediately upon its passage on January 13, Governor Pritzker congratulated the sponsors and the Coalition, and is expected to sign the bill.
Our organizing has not always gotten everything right. Our actions were often too centered in Chicago, and we need to increase our power-building efforts in the suburbs and across the state. There were times when very specialized discussions of legal policy questions took over our coalition meetings, and the grassroots organizers and leaders did not always feel empowered to fully participate. The process of our movement building, however, elevated and centered the voices of directly impacted people, built a powerful and united statewide network, laid the groundwork for significant divestment from jails — starting with a $26 million reduction in the budget of the Cook County Sheriff in 2021 — and won the farthest-reaching overhaul of pretrial systems in the country.
Our push to end money bail is not over. Police, prosecutors and their allies have shown that they are going to fight these reforms and attempt to stoke the kind of backlash that has rolled back efforts in places as diverse as New York, Atlanta, Alaska and California. The Pretrial Fairness Act will ramp up over a two-year period, so we’re going to need to keep up the fight and push hard to make sure the state follows through on the ambitious goals set by the bill’s passage.
Illinois organizers have sent a resounding message to the rest of the country that we must bring an end to the criminalization of poverty and the targeting of Black communities. The passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act signals a new era in how we must continue to reimagine safety and justice in our communities: by providing people with resources instead of caging them for ransom. In Illinois, we have shown that when movements open new windows of possibility, community organizing can push through transformational changes.
