Lawyer for Philippines' Nobel Prize winner Ressa 'confident' about Oslo trip

By AFP
Published December 3, 2021

The former CNN correspondent is on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case -

 Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Ernesto Distefano

A lawyer for Philippine Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa, who faces multiple court cases, said Friday he was “confident” the journalist would be allowed to travel to Oslo to collect the award in person.

Ressa, co-founder of news website Rappler, and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were given the award in October for their efforts to “safeguard freedom of expression”.

The former CNN correspondent, who is on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case, applied to three courts for permission to travel to Norway for the December 10 ceremony.

The Court of Appeals, which is handling the cyber libel case, on Friday gave her the green light after rejecting government lawyers’ claims that she was a “flight risk”.

Ressa has already received permission from a regional trial court hearing another case, according to Francis Lim, one of her lawyers.

She is still waiting for the Court of Tax Appeals to rule on her travel application, but Lim said: “We are confident that it will be granted.”

Ressa has been a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his government’s policies, including a drug war that has killed thousands.

Since Duterte was swept to power in 2016, Ressa and Rappler have endured what media advocates say is a grinding series of criminal charges, investigations and online attacks.

She faces a total of seven court cases, including the appeal against a conviction in the cyber libel case, for which she faces up to six years in prison.

Ressa, who is also a US citizen, returned to the Philippines on Thursday after a court-approved trip to the United States.

Chinese people dodge censors to discuss Peng Shuai case online


ByAFP
Published December 3, 2021

Peng Shuai alleged that former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex. — © AFP

With coded references to “eating melons” and “that person”, Chinese social media users are getting creative to discuss tennis star Peng Shuai online as censors race to scrub all mentions of her sexual assault allegations.

When Peng last month posted that former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex, censors were quick to scrub the message and obvious discussion of Peng from social media.

The 35-year-old’s allegations spread on Twitter — which is blocked in China but accessible using special Virtual Private Networks — and sparked an international outcry.

And many found ways to get around the censorship inside the Chinese firewall, initially using Peng Shuai’s initials in English, “PS”, to refer to the former world doubles number one online.

Messages including those initials were soon censored.

“Eddie Peng is too handsome,” read one since-deleted post, according to screenshots — in an apparent reference to the Taiwanese actor. The characters for the movie star’s surname and “handsome” make up Peng Shuai’s name in Chinese.

On pop culture review site Douban, some users turned to a mix of English and Chinese.

“Her WB id no le,” one user wrote in a screenshot of a now-deleted Douban forum thread, referring to the disappearance of Peng’s official Weibo account from the platform’s search function.

“I hope her ping’an,” another user said, wishing for the tennis player’s safety.

Douban is considered a more liberal platform, often drawing discussion pushing the political boundaries of the Chinese internet.

Some took to the “Tennis” topic page on Weibo to post obliquely about a “big melon” that had exploded in the world of tennis overnight.

In Chinese internet slang, the phrase “eating melon” means to consume gossip.

“Even when I’m asleep I must wake up to eat melon,” one Weibo user wrote in a now-deleted post, after Peng’s allegations were posted late one evening, describing Zhang — or the “person involved” — as “too politically sensitive”.

The authorities have been quick to catch up, swiftly identifying and deleting new coded posts related to Peng — even blocking the Douban page for the Korean drama “Prime Minister & I”, where users had retreated to discuss Peng’s claims against Zhang.

But the sheer volume of comments means that some linger, especially those made on remote parts of social media unrelated to Peng Shuai.

“I support WTA” and “please respect every woman”, commenters wrote on a Weibo post by the Women’s Tennis Association listing 2021 tournament winners.

Some online users starred out some letters from “WTA” to avoid censors, with one asking on Weibo if the “*TA” move on Wednesday to cancel tournaments in China was “because of that person?”

WTA chief Steve Simon sticks to his guns in Peng Shuai case

Steve Simon's standoff with China in the Peng Shuai affair has earned the head of the Women's Tennis Association praise as an innovative leader with the courage of his convictions.

© ROSLAN RAHMAN Steve Simon has decided to suspend all the WTA's tournaments in China over the Peng Shuai affair

Since taking over as WTA chair and CEO in 2015, Simon had made China the main source of revenue for the women's circuit, signing a lucrative 10-year contract in 2018 to make Shenzhen the host of the traditional end-of-season tournament for the women's game.

Giving that event to a country which already had nine other tournaments for a total of 30 million dollars (26.4 million euros) did not look like a risky strategy at the time.

But three years on the financial interests of the WTA could be considerably weakened by the consequences stemming from Peng, an ex-doubles world number one, who went missing after claiming on social media that a former senior Chinese Communist Party official coerced her into sex.

After threatening to cancel tournaments in China, the WTA on Wednesday announced "the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong".

"We're definitely willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it," Simon warned after Peng's disappearance, insisting the issue was "bigger than business".

While the International Olympic Committee has been criticised for failing to hold China to account two months before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the WTA's stand has earned Simon praise, including from tennis legend Billie Jean King, who founded the WTA organisation in 1973.

"I applaud Steve Simon & the @WTA leadership for taking a strong stand on defending human rights in China & around the world," King wrote on Twitter.

"The WTA is on the right side of history in supporting our players. This is another reason why women’s tennis is the leader in women's sports."

Former men's world number one Andy Roddick also praised the WTA's action: "There are a lot of organizations who can afford to do something like this a lot more than the WTA can ... Respect. Doing the right thing is a lot easier when there aren’t associated costs."

- 'Thoughtful and respectful' -

Simon, a 66-year-old American, first entered tennis in 1989 in a sales role at the Indian Wells tournament after six years at sportswear giant Adidas, taking over the direction of the tournament in 2004 and turning it into the "fifth Grand Slam".

He stood out for his innovations -- the tournament was the first to adopt "hawkeye" technology on all courts -- and his personality.

Serena Williams praised Simon as "thoughtful and respectful" on his appointment as WTA chief in November 2015, recalling his decisive role in convincing her to return to play in Indian Wells a few months earlier, after boycotting it for 14 years because of racism from spectators.

"Steve couldn't have been more helpful, professional and supportive. I know how much he cares about the opinions of the players. He's a good listener, he has our best interests in mind," said the 23-time Grand Slam winner.

King agreed that Simon was "the right person for this job", praising a "thoughtful, respectful" man.

"Steve Simon is the right person for the job," King said. "His track record is marked by success. He is thoughtful, respectful and he has excellent business judgement.”

Speaking about his new role as head of the WTA, Simon said advocating for change was "the right thing to do".

nip/ng/ea/gj

#LEGALIZEDRUGS

Thousands of addicts lost their lives in 2020 when they should have been saved

By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published November 30, 2021

Germans queue up at a Covid vaccination centre in Berlin - Copyright INDONESIA FOREIGN MINISTRY/AFP Handout

Recently released data, presented in the London Evening Standard, reveals that of the 275,896 people who accessed treatment for their drug and alcohol addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic, a staggering 3,726 lost their lives. This is based on the UK population.

Further, the number of addicts who lost their lives whilst already in the treatment process in 2020 rose by a staggering 27 percent compared to the previous year. 2020 saw a rise in the proportion of people dying while in treatment in all substance groups. Those seeking treatment for opiate addiction but who instead lost their lives rose by 20 percent, and those in treatment for alcohol addiction but who instead died rose by a sharp 44 percent.

Drug and alcohol addiction treatment experts UKAT blame treatment services closing their doors to addicts during the pandemic.

Nuno Albuquerque, Head of Treatment for the UK Addiction Treatment Group tells Digital Journal: “The start of the coronavirus crisis was extremely frightening and uncertain. But drug and alcohol treatment is critical care intervention and cannot be simply put on pause. We know that a concerning number of facilities closed their doors to addicts who were already in the treatment process and although it was such a difficult time, it cannot be a coincidence that more people have subsequently lost their lives when they were in fact trying to save it.”

Albuquerque explains that the figures go on to reveal that people in treatment for alcohol alone make up the second largest group (28 percent) after those in treatment for opiates. The number of people who started treatment for alcohol addiction in 2020 rose by 3 percent compared to the previous year- from 74,618 to 76,740 (based on UK government statistics).

Although the numbers are relatively low, there was an increase in adults entering treatment in 2020 to 2021 with ketamine problems (from 1,140 in 2019 to 2020 to 1,444 this year). This is a 27 percent rise in one year and is part of a trend in rising numbers entering treatment over the last 7 years.

The rise in people suffering with mental health illness alongside a substance addiction is also revealed. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of those who started treatment for all substance groups needed mental health treatment as well, but a quarter of them (25 percent) who had a mental health need were not receiving any treatment to meet this need.

Unfortunately, Albuquerque adds, there are still thousands of people suffering with drug and alcohol dependency who aren’t getting the treatment they need.

The new data reveals that there are an estimated 602,391 adults with alcohol dependency in need of specialist treatment, but only 107,428 of them were in treatment for alcohol in 2020/21. This means that an estimated 82 percent of adults in need of specialist treatment for alcohol are still not receiving it.

The story is much the same for those needing help for opiate and crack use. The proportion of estimated opiate users who are not in treatment has continued to rise from 41 percent in 2014 to 2015 to 47 percent in 2019 to 2020. The proportion of crack users who are not in treatment is 58 percent.

Albuquerque clarifies further: “Report’s like these are frightening because each figure is a person, each figure could be your mother, father, grandparent, colleague or friend. Reports like these should be being discussed by Government as a priority, but instead we get radio silence.”

In terms of action taken, Albuquerque outlines: “We have been lobbying for the Government to reinforce ring fenced, protected budgets for drug and alcohol treatment and prevention for some time. The decision to remove these protected budgets back in 2012 has been the catalyst for disaster. It’s time they admitted that and make the change required to help those who need it.”

DW exclusive: Belarus dissident Maria Kolesnikova speaks from jail

Maria Kolesnikova, a leading figure in the Belarus opposition movement who has been jailed in Minsk, has given DW an exclusive interview. She talks about her trial and the ongoing struggle against Lukashenko.

Maria Kolesnikova was handed a 11-year jail term


Leading Belarus opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova has been held behind bars for over a year in a Minsk penitentiary. In 2020, Kolesnikova coordinated Viktor Babariko's election campaign in the run-up to the country's presidential race. When Babariko, a prominent banker, was arrested, Kolesnikova joined the Belarusian opposition's Coordination Council, which backed anti- Lukashenko mass protests across the country. Demonstrations erupted after it was announced in August 2020 that incumbent leader Alexandr Lukashenko had been re-elected as president. Many countries refuse to accept the election result.

Maria Kolesnikova at a Minsk protest on August 30, 2020

Maria Kolesnikova — a professional flutist who spent years working as a cultural manager in the German city of Stuttgart — soon rose to become one of the country's most prominent women dissidents. In September 2020, Belarus authorities attempted to force her into exile. She would not budge, however, and was arrested. One year later Kolesnikova and fellow laywer Maxim Znak were tried for "inciting action aimed at harming national security" and "extremism." They were handed jail terms of 11 and 10 years, respectively.

International observers have called the trial a farce. Germany has repeatedly demanded Kolesnikova's release.

Kolesnikova will appeal the verdict on December 24.
Life behind bars taking its toll

DW succeeded in sending Kolesnikova a range of questions concerning her trial, life behind bars and expectations. Kolesnikova tells DW that life in custody means being deprived of "everything: air, the sun, my flute, letters, conversations, and a shower." But, she added, "knowing what you live for means that does not matter."

While her mail correspondence has been restricted, she nevertheless feels "the care and love of people in Belarus and the whole world." That, she said, gives her "colossal support and energy."

German singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann — once a prominent East German dissident — and Green politician Claudia Roth have been campaigning for her release.

Kolesnikova says jail terms handed down to her and Maxim Znak are "absurd, because neither of us are guilty." She said it was "only one person who seized state power," and refuses to ask for a pardon, saying "that is out of the question." How, she writes, is she supposed to confess to something she has not done?
No regrets

Together with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronika Tsepkalo, Kolesnikova made up a trio of prominent dissident woman who have come to represent the Belarus opposition movement. Tikhanovskaya and Tsepkalo have been forced into exile. Indeed, Tikhanovskaya recently said she could work more effectively from abroad, as a return to Belarus could land her in jail, too.


DEFIANT POSTER ART BY BELARUSIAN ARTISTS
Three symbols of Belarusian resistance
An exhibition at the Museum Folkwang in Essen shows how artists from Belarus are defending themselves against the regime in the digital realm. This picture by Antonina Slobodchikova shows the symbols of the strong trio of women who stood up to Lukashenko: Maria Kolesnikova's symbol is the heart, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's is the fist, and the victory sign represents Veronica Tsepkalo.
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Kolesnikova tells DW she does "not regret" remaining in the country. She says that "jails are crowded with honest, courageous Belarusians, who waste no time thinking about giving up, despite the phenomenal pressure [they are under]." She adds that "it is an honor to join my people on this journey towards peace and change; everyone plays a [unique] role in this story."

Kolesnikova writes that she has plenty of plans for when she gets out of jail. "I have many ideas for music and arts projects; one of them is transforming the remand center into a cultural hub." She also intends to set up a "center for resocializing and rehabilitating women who have been imprisoned."
Will Lukashenko be toppled?

DW also asked Kolesnikova about a new constitutional draft proposed by Lukashenko, as well as a recently signed deal between Belarus and Russia. She writes that "nobody has seen the new conditional draft, or the 28 union state programs [road maps that are intended to bind the two countries more closely together]." The dissident writes she finds it hard to believe civil society and the media are being "destroyed" in the country, while at the same time effort is being made to "democratize" the constitution and "get away from authoritarianism."

She also urged all Belarusians in exile not to forget about their fellow compatriots at home. And she says "I admire all those who were forced to emigrate and still keep fighting for Belarus; everyone is putting in their share working towards a common goal." She goes on to say that "it is important not to get detached from reality, and to realize that the situation is rather serious and that it will take a while until a solution is reached."

She tells DW "over a year" had already been lost in the struggle to remove Lukashenko. But she is certain his departure is "merely a matter of time, that is the price Belarusians will pay." She writes that everyone — including Lukashenko and his allies — loses out the longer he remains in power. "Nothing lasts forever, and there are forces [within the government] open to constructive steps and dialogue," she tells DW. "The lives of Belarusians, our shared future, our shared home — those are our core values; and they compel us to seek a way out of this crisis."

Pok ta Pok: Mayan ball game is serious business

Alejandro Sanchez
Fri, December 3, 2021



Pok ta Pok: Mayan ball game is serious businessPlayers have to contort their limbs to strike a heavy rubber ball with their hips (AFP/Hugo BORGES)


With little regard for joints or bones, bare-chested men hurl their bodies at a hard floor and contort their limbs to strike a heavy rubber ball with their hips.

They are practitioners of the ancient sport of Pok ta Pok, sometimes translated as Mayan ball, and have been competing in the game's very own World Cup.

Participants, mostly indigenous Mayans from three Mexican states, as well as Guatemala, Panama and reigning champions Belize, vied for the world title in the Mexican town of Merida.

Belize won the championship once again, defeating Mexico in the final on Friday.

But unlike ancient Pok ta Pok athletes, these competitors were not playing for their lives, merely pride.

In pre-Columbian times, the outcome could be worse than defeat: players risked being sacrificed, usually by decapitation.

The tradition varied over the centuries, researchers say: sometimes, it was the winners who were killed, which was considered an honor. Sometimes the losers were the ones to pay the ultimate price.

The game was banned by the Spanish conquistadors shortly after their arrival in Mexico in 1519.

Like in most ball team sports, the aim of Pok ta Pok is to get the ball through the opposing team's defenses to score.

Four members per team play in two halves of 13 minutes each, and may touch the solid rubber ball weighing more than two kilos (4.4 pounds) only with their hips.

If another body part gets involved, points are deducted.

Each team can strike the ball only once before the turn passes to their opponents.

And while lives are no longer at stake, the game is not without risk.

"I come to bless the players so they don't twist a foot, so they don't break a bone, (tear) a tendon or something," said Tiburcio Can May, a Mayan healer who blew on a shell and shook smoke at participants in a pre-games ceremony.

"In order for them to be able to run well on the field, we have to ask the lord of the underworld, Xibalba, we have to ask the 13 gods, we have to ask the lord of the Universe, Mother Earth, because they are going to play a very sacred game."

For France Novelo, a player from Belize, Pok ta Pok is "a way to rescue culture in our country."

Jose Manrique, president of the Central American and Caribbean Association of the Ancestral Sport of the Mayan Ball, added: "We have to honor the memory of our grandparents, we have to honor our Mayan gods. That is why the ball game continues to be a ceremony for us."

The previous games were held in Chichen Itza, Mexico, in 2015, Guatemala in 2017 and El Salvador in 2019.

For now, it is an all-men event.

str-mlr/jfx

Pakistan teen climber confronts mortality and history on K2 summit

Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif faced many dangers climbing the planet's tallest peaks, but his toughest moment came when he passed the corpse of his hero on the savage slopes of K2.

© Arif ALI Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif plans to become the youngest person to climb the world's 14 highest mountains

Kashif was 19 years and 138 days old when in July he became the youngest person to summit both Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, and K2, the second-highest.

© Lakpa SHERPA Kashif summited Everest, which at 8,849 metres (29,032 feet) is Earth's tallest peak, in May

It was on K2, just below the infamous stretch known as the Bottleneck, that he passed the bodies of Iceland's John Snorri, Chile's Juan Pablo Mohr and Pakistani climbing legend Ali Sadpara.

© Arif ALI Kashif was first entranced by the mountains as a child when he spotted the scenic 3,885-metre Himalayan peak Makra

"The most emotional moment for me was going on past those climbers, the dead body of Pakistan's national hero," Kashif told AFP in an interview.

Many Pakistanis have crucial roles as high-altitude porters, but Sadpara was one of the few to break into the elite ranks of mostly Western climbers who have long dominated headlines in mountaineering.

He was declared missing along with Snorri and Mohr on February 5.

It was more than five months before their bodies were found, on July 26, and Kashif made his summit push as dawn broke the next morning.

© Arif ALI Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif became the youngest person to climb both the world's two highest mountains

"I got emotional, thinking that they had come with the same passion I had," Kashif said.

"But then I thought, why not fulfil their unfulfilled dream? And I took their dream with me."

- Savage Mountain -

This month, the Guinness Book of World Records officially declared him the youngest person to climb K2 and the youngest to climb both the world's two highest mountains.

Kashif summited Everest, which at 8,849 metres (29,032 feet) is Earth's tallest peak, in May.

But the 8,611-metre K2 -- known as the "Savage Mountain" and located near Pakistan's border with China -- is the more brutal summit.

They are "poles apart", Kashif said, calling K2 a "beast".

In winter, winds can blow at more than 200 kilometres (124 miles) per hour and temperatures can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit).

Kashif suffered snow blindness and frostbite -- and said he was lucky his big toe was not amputated.

"My energy was too low, it was a difficult time... One wrong step and you are history," he told AFP from his home in Lahore, the sub-tropical, low-altitude Punjabi city where he was born.

- 'Blessings of God' -

Kashif was first entranced by the mountains at 11 years old when he spotted the scenic 3,885-metre Himalayan peak Makra while on holiday with his father in northern Pakistan.

"It all started there," he said.

While standing on top of the world he felt "chosen" -- a feeling that he described leaving on the peak, "so others coming behind you can also feel it".

Now, he said, Everest and K2 are not enough.

He plans to become the youngest person to climb the world's 14 highest mountains, the only peaks on the planet that are above 8,000 metres.

All lie in Asia, in the Himalayas or the Karakoram range, and five are in Pakistan.

Only around 40 people in history are believed to have climbed all 14. But it can be difficult to verify summit claims and some experts said there could be even fewer.

The youngest is Mingma Gyabu "David" Sherpa, of Nepal, who the Guinness Book of World Records said summited them all by age 30.

Kashif still has 10 to go.

He has also climbed Manaslu in Nepal and Broad Peak in Pakistan, the eighth and 12th highest mountains respectively -- and has given himself until 2024 to summit the rest.

He is well aware of the dangers.

Pakistan mourned the loss of Sadpara but Kashif also lost a friend, Pakistani-Swiss climber Abdul Waraich, on Everest in May.

Still, he refuses to contemplate an urban life at sea level.

"I think mountains are blessings of God," he said.

"I feel tired looking at all these concrete buildings, garbage and pollution.

"I just go where I feel most alive, and I feel mountains are the most suitable place for me."

zz/st/fox/dva/lb

Maximum jail time for murderous Panama CHRISTIAN sect

A court on Friday handed down sentences of up to 50 years for nine members of a sect who killed six children and a pregnant woman in an "exorcism" last year, prosecutors said.

 

© Luis ACOSTA In January 2020, investigators unearthed a mass grave with seven bodies in a remote indigenous area near to where they had raided an obscure religious sect the day before

In January 2020, investigators unearthed a mass grave with seven bodies in a remote indigenous area near to where they had raided an obscure religious sect the day before.

Six of the victims were minors aged between one and 17, and the seventh a woman who was between four and six months pregnant. She was the mother of five of the minors.

A court found the sect members guilty of tying up the victims and killing them with sticks, bibles and machetes in a so-called "exorcism" ceremony.

The woman had been killed in front of her five children and a sixth minor, who were then themselves slaughtered as sect members looked on.

Several other people were injured but managed to flee the scene. They alerted the police, who later found 15 people including several children held hostage at the sect's church.

A court in Changuinola in Panama's northeast gave the maximum prison sentence of 50 years to seven of the accused, and 47 years each to two others, the prosecutor's office said.

AFP

ZIONIST HACKS

Pegasus Maker Probes Reports Its Spyware Targeted US Diplomats

By AFP News
12/03/21 

The Israeli spyware maker in the Pegasus surveillance scandal said Friday it was investigating reports the firm's technology was used to target iPhones of some US diplomats in Africa.

Apple has begun alerting people whose phones were hacked by NSO's spyware, which essentially turns handsets into pocket spying devices and sparked controversy this year after reportedly being used on activists, journalists and politicians.

"On top of the independent investigation, NSO will cooperate with any relevant government authority and present the full information we will have," the firm said in a statement.

NSO said it has not confirmed its tools were used, but opted to "terminate relevant customers' access to the system" due to the seriousness of the allegations reported by Reuters and the Washington Post.


The Post reported that Apple alerted 11 US diplomats that their iPhones were hacked in recent months, citing people familiar with the notifications who said the attacks focused on officials working in Uganda or east Africa.

NSO Group's spyware has been engulfed in scandal since reports that Pegasus was used by foreign government clients to target the phones of human rights activists, embassy employees and others.

Apple sued the firm last month seeking to block NSO from using the Silicon Valley giant's services to target the over one billion iPhones in circulation.

The Israeli spyware maker NSO says it is probing reports it technology was used to target US diplomats in Africa 

Photo: AFP / JOEL SAGET

Reuters, citing four people familiar with the matter, said nine American diplomats were targeted and added the intrusions represented the widest known hacks of US officials using NSO technology.

Apple declined to comment on the reports.

Just weeks before the Apple lawsuit, US authorities blacklisted NSO to restrict exports from American groups over allegations the Israeli firm "enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression."

Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into surveillance devices, allowing the user to read the target's messages, look through their photos, track their location and even turn on their camera without them knowing.

Concern over Pegasus spyware further grew after Apple revealed in September it had patched a weakness that allowed NSO's spyware to infect devices without users even clicking on a malicious message or link.

The so-called "zero-click" attack is able to silently corrupt the targeted device, and was identified by researchers at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization in Canada.

Apple said at the time it filed the lawsuit in a California federal court that it would notify the "small number" of users that it discovered may have been targeted by those types of attacks.

Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.

ONLY BLACKBERRY IS ENCRYPTED TO AVOID THIS PROBLEM

Peru's Fujimori Can't Be Tried Over Forced Sterilizations, For Now

By AFP News
12/03/21 

A Peruvian judge ruled Friday that former president Alberto Fujimori cannot for now be prosecuted over alleged forced sterilizations that happened during his administration, because the allegation was not included in his extradition request.

The disgraced ex-leader who is serving a 25-year prison sentence over human rights violations and corruption is being investigated over the forced sterilization of hundreds of thousands of poor, mostly indigenous women during his final four years in power.

In 2007, Chile granted extradition of the ex-president, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000.

Judge Rafael Martinez in his ruling said Fujimori can only be prosecuted over the sterilizations if authorized by the Chilean Supreme Court, which previously green-lighted his extradition.

Activists demonstrated in Lima, Peru for the thousands of women victims of forced sterilizations in the country between 1996 and 2000 under a program authorized by now-jailed former president Alberto Fujimori

 Photo: AFP / Cris BOURONCLE

Prosecution is prevented at present "as these facts are not included among the crimes for which his extradition was authorized," Martinez said.

Martinez was tasked with deciding whether the 83-year-old Fujimori could be brought to trial by the 1,317 plaintiffs in the sterilization case, which began in 2002 but has been shelved and reopened several times.

An estimated 270,000 Peruvians, many of them indigenous people who did not speak Spanish, underwent surgery to have their fallopian tubes tied as part of a family planning program implemented under Fujimori.

The program sought to reduce the birth rate and boost economic development. The surgeries resulted in the death of 18 women, according to official data.

The judge has not yet ruled on the other six co-defendants in the case including three former ministers of health.

Twitter Admits Policy 'Errors' After Far-right Abuse


By Joshua MELVIN
12/04/21

Twitter's new picture permission policy was aimed at combating online abuse, but US activists and researchers said Friday that far-right backers have employed it to protect themselves from scrutiny and to harass opponents.

Even the social network admitted the roll out of the rules, which say anyone can ask Twitter to take down images of themselves posted without their consent, was marred by malicious reports and its teams' own errors.

It was just the kind of trouble anti-racism advocates worried was coming after the policy was announced this week.

Their concerns were quickly validated, with anti-extremism researcher Kristofer Goldsmith tweeting a screenshot of a far-right call-to-action circulating on Telegram: "Due to the new privacy policy at Twitter, things now unexpectedly work more in our favor."

"Anyone with a Twitter account should be reporting doxxing posts from the following accounts," the message said, with a list of dozens of Twitter handles.

Gwen Snyder, an organizer and researcher in Philadelphia, said her account was blocked this week after a report to Twitter about a series of 2019 photos she said showed a local political candidate at a march organized by extreme-right group Proud Boys.

Rather than go through an appeal with Twitter she opted to delete the images and alert others to what was happening.

"Twitter moving to eliminate (my) work from their platform is incredibly dangerous and is going to enable and embolden fascists," she told AFP.

In announcing the privacy policy on Tuesday, Twitter noted that "sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person's privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm."

But the rules don't apply to "public figures or individuals when media and accompanying Tweets are shared in the public interest or add value to public discourse."


By Friday, Twitter noted the roll out had been rough: "We became aware of a significant amount of coordinated and malicious reports, and unfortunately, our enforcement teams made several errors."

"We've corrected those errors and are undergoing an internal review to make certain that this policy is used as intended," the firm added.

Members of the Proud Boys march in Manhattan against vaccine mandates in New York City 

Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA via AFP / STEPHANIE KEITH

However, Los Angeles-based activist and researcher Chad Loder said their account was permanently blocked after reports to Twitter over publicly-recorded images from an anti-vaccine rally and a confrontation outside the home of a former Vice journalist.

"Twitter is saying I must delete my tweets featuring photographs of people at newsworthy public events that did indeed get news coverage, or I will never get my account back," Loder told AFP, adding it was the third report of their account to Twitter in 48 hours.

"The current mass-reporting actions by the far-right are just the latest salvo in an ongoing, concerted effort to memory-hole evidence of their crimes and misdeeds," Loder added, using a term popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.

Experts noted that Twitter's new rules sound like a well-intentioned idea but are incredibly thorny to enforce.

One reason is that the platform has become a key forum for identifying people involved in far-right and hate groups, with internet sleuths posting their names or other identifying information.

The practice of so-called "doxxing" has cost the targets their jobs, set them up for intense public ridicule and even criminal prosecution, while the activists who post the information have faced threats or harassment themselves.

A major example was the online effort to track down people involved in the violence at the US Capitol, which was stormed in January by Donald Trump supporters seeking to block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

Even the US Federal Bureau of Investigation regularly posts images on its feed of as-yet unnamed people it is seeking in connection with the violence.

"Twitter has given extremists a new weapon to bring harm to those in the greatest need of protection and those shining a light on danger," said Michael Breen, president and CEO of advocacy group Human Rights First, which called on Twitter to halt the policy.

The new rules, announced just a day after Parag Agrawal took over from co-founder Jack Dorsey as boss, wander into issues that may be beyond the platform's control.

"It gets complicated fast, but these are issues that are going to be resolved probably in our courts," said Betsy Page Sigman, a professor emeritus at Georgetown University. "I'm not optimistic about Twitter's changes."