Philippine Senate orders Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s arrest over sexual abuse allegations

BenarNews staff
2024.03.05
Manila

Supporters of Apollo Quiboloy, founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, hold a prayer rally at a park in Manila, March 4, 2024, as the Philippines said it would file sexual abuse charges against the pastor, who is wanted in the United States on suspicion of child-sex trafficking.

 Ted Aljibe/AFP

The Philippine Senate on Tuesday ordered the immediate arrest of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s spiritual adviser to face questions over allegations of widespread sexual abuse, after the pastor again failed to show up for testimony before lawmakers.

Apollo Quiboloy, a Filipino televangelist preacher and founder of a mega-church who is already wanted in the United States on suspicion of sexual trafficking and fraud but who has enjoyed a certain amount of political protection in his home country, was held in contempt by a Senate committee investigating alleged criminal acts by his sect.

Quiboloy had been summoned to appear on Tuesday before the committee, which is chaired by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, one of foremost President Duterte’s staunchest critics.

But the pastor, who refers to himself as the “appointed son of God,” failed to appear. It was the second time in six weeks that Quiboloy did not show up in response to a committee summons. 

“It is within the Senate’s power to make anyone who refuses to obey the power of the Senate to be held accountable. This includes the refusal to a senate investigation despite a valid subpoena,” Hontiveros told reporters.

“It is very simple. The power of the Senate to conduct investigations in aid of legislation has long been settled by the Supreme Court,” she said.

Hontiveros said that Quiboloy’s legal counsel had sent a letter saying his client had other pressing matters to attend to and that the Senate would be violating the pastor’s constitutional rights by compelling him to testify.

“[I] cite in contempt Apollo Carreon Quiboloy for his refusal to be sworn or to testify before this investigation,” Sen. Hontiveros said, referring to Senate rules. 

“This committee requests the Senate President to order his arrest so that he may be brought to testify.”

Quiboloy founded the Kingdom of Jesus Church in 1985 in the southern Philippines, after claiming he had discovered spiritual salvation in the mountains. In all his religious pamphlets, he claims that God came to his mother as a cloud to declare him as his own.

The church grew in numbers – about 4 million in the Philippines and 2 million abroad, including in the United States – and with it, Quiboloy’s political clout. The sect, and his name, grew in national prominence when his friend, Rodrigo Duterte, was elected president of the Philippines in 2016. 

When the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced in November 2021 that it had launched an investigation on Quiboloy, Duterte, who was an anti-U.S. president, defended him. 

Quiboloy’s media arm, the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), acted as a propaganda vehicle for Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022. The ex-leaders once publicly admitted that he had received expensive cars and property from Quiboloy when he was mayor of Davao, although he claimed to have returned them.

Pastor Apollo Quiboloy (second from right) prays with then-presidential hopeful Rodrigo Duterte (to Quiboloy’s right) at a birthday celebration during a thanksgiving worship service in Lingayen, a town in Pangasinan province, northern Philippines, March 27, 2016. [Jojo Riñoza/BenarNews]

In Manila this week, Philippine Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla  ordered the filing of sexual abuse charges against Quiboloy.

“Upon reevaluation, it has been determined that there exists probable cause against Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy for the crime of sexual abuse of a minor … as well as against Quiboloy and co- respondents for qualified human trafficking and other acts of child abuse,” the Philippine Department of Justice said in a statement.

A separate human trafficking case would be filed before a Pasig court, according to Remulla. He said that the prosecutor’s office in Davao – Duterte and Quiboloy’s bailiwick – had earlier thrown a case against the pastor.

“(But) upon closer examination, we have seen that the reason is indeed significant,” to pursue the case, Remulla said.

Quiboloy has rejected the allegations and went on the lam in February. But in a taped message, he alleged that these accusations had been concocted by U.S. security agencies together with President Ferdinand Marcos, and said they were plotting to kidnap him and eliminate him. The claim has been denied by Philippine security agencies.

“I am under surveillance in the Philippines by the CIA and the FBI. In my own country I am hiding because they can pick me up just like that,” Quiboloy said in a 36-minute voice recording uploaded on YouTube and Facebook last month. 

The allegations against him surfaced publicly in 2021 when a federal grand jury in the U.S., as part of a 42-count indictment, charged Quiboloy on suspicion of orchestrating a sex-trafficking operation that coerced girls as young as 12 to have sex with him or risk “eternal damnation.”

Under the charges brought against him by U.S. authorities, Quiboloy faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of sex-trafficking, and five to 20 years if convicted of fraud and money laundering. But the Philippines has yet to extradite him to face the charges in a U.S. court, and it is believed that Quiboloy is at large in the Southeast Asian country.

In December 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against Quiboloy, accusing him of raping women and children. 

Jeoffrey Maitem and Mark Navales contributed to this report from Manila and Cotabato City, southern Philippines.

UK

Why Tories Are Spouting Conspiracy Theories

Tory politicians are resorting to conspiracy theories to paint themselves as outsiders and deflect attention from their record in power.

BY ADAM KOPER

MARCH 5, 2024

Suella Braverman, whose party has been in power for the past 14 years, claimed in a Telegraph article that Islamists are in charge of the whole country.

(Image Credit: UK Government)


Conservative MPs seem increasingly willing to use the rhetoric of conspiracy. Recently, Liz Truss claimed that her brief tenure as prime minister had been ended by the deep state — shadowy forces within the British establishment and the media.

A few days later, Lee Anderson, the Conservative Party’s former deputy chairman, asserted that London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, is being controlled by Islamists. He was adding his own twist on a similar conspiracy theory put forward by former home secretary Suella Braverman, who claimed in a Telegraph article that Islamists are in charge of the whole country.

Why do politicians make conspiracy claims like these? It seems strange for MPs whose party has been in government for almost 14 years to imply that they aren’t really in control and that power is wielded by hidden actors.

Maybe Truss and Anderson mean what they say, and say what they mean. But even if they do believe that Britain is governed by a deep state or Islamist plotters, knowing a bit about rhetoric can help us to see that there is more going on when politicians use the language of conspiracy.

Context Matters

A good politician will adapt what they say to fit the moment and their audience. For example, Truss’s deep state comments were made at CPAC, a conference for American conservatives. She was speaking in part to promote her new book, Ten Years to Save the West, and so had little reason to do anything other than give her audience what it likes. Conspiracy theories have become prominent in American conservatism (think QAnon and the claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen), so echoing the rhetoric is an obvious way for a CPAC speaker to ingratiate themselves with an audience.

Anderson, though, was speaking in the United Kingdom, where conspiracist language is more unusual. His comments were seen by many as deliberately divisive and Islamophobic, and quickly landed him a suspension from his party. That said, government ministers were evasive when asked why his comments were wrong and whether they were Islamophobic.

Part of the Brand

Courting controversy carries risks, as Anderson’s suspension shows. But it can also thrust a politician into the limelight, giving them a chance to speak to a broader audience and potentially gain new supporters. Much of the time, politicians make their own character — or ethos, as it is known in classical rhetoric — part of their pitch.

In her comments alleging a deep state conspiracy, Truss took on a populist tone. She portrayed herself as an anti-establishment figure fighting for the British people against the elites. She didn’t mention her party’s long period in government in charge of the civil service that allegedly made her tenure so impossible. Nor did she refer to the economic problems brought about during her fleeting administration.

Speaking to an audience that is likely to be less familiar with her political career, Truss was able to present herself as the protagonist in a David and Goliath narrative — albeit one in which David is defeated.

Similarly, Anderson used the controversy around his comments to present himself as a man of the people. Rather than giving any evidence to back up his claims about Islamists controlling Khan, Anderson instead justified his views by citing the positive reaction he had received from his constituents. When told in an interview with Channel 4 News that people were puzzled by his refusal to back down, Anderson replied: “If you go and speak to people in Ashfield [Anderson’s constituency] and ask them if they’re puzzled about it, no they’re not.”

In the aftermath of the controversy, Anderson told GB News: “When I went into pubs in Ashfield at the weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I got a round of applause when I went in. And these are normal working-class people.”

Such comments can be seen as part of a broader trend. Politicians have learned to cite the opinions of ordinary people in order to justify spurious claims. Rather than explaining anything about how he came to view Islamists being in charge of London, Anderson’s response to questions has been to use them as an opportunity to present himself as an outsider to the political establishment — a man in tune with what voters really think.


Pitting ‘Us’ Against ‘Them’

This focus on presenting a certain persona and using it to justify baseless comments tells us something important — that identity is a key ingredient in conspiracist rhetoric.

It enables a politician to construct a conflict between an in-group and an out-group — a struggle between “us” and “them” — and asks the audience to pick a side. Rather than focusing on policies or ways of improving life for the British population, this rhetoric wants the audience to identify with the speaker’s character and join them in opposing a threatening enemy.

In this way, conspiracist rhetoric is much like the Conservatives’ attacks on “woke ideology” — it deflects attention away from their record in government, and rallies their supporters against an enemy at a time when the party is down on its luck.

Counteracting this is no easy task. Rhetoric is an art, not an exact science. One strategy could be to focus more on what politicians are trying to achieve when they use conspiracist rhetoric. While it is important to determine whether or not they really believe in a deep state or Islamist conspiracy, we also need to challenge the personas that politicians craft for themselves, as well the us-against-them divisions they construct.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

US Senator Bernie Sanders calls on Israel to open borders for humanitarian aid

'We are approaching a point of no return. The United States must continue to airdrop humanitarian aid,' says Sanders

Diyar Güldoğan |05.03.2024 - AA

US Senator Bernie Sanders ( Atılgan Özdil - Anadolu Agency )

WASHINGTON

US Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called on Israel to open borders to allow for humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.

"We are approaching a point of no return. The United States must continue to airdrop humanitarian aid,” said Sanders, an independent senator for the state of Vermont.

"And Israel MUST open the borders and allow the UN to deliver supplies in sufficient quantities. Failure to do so should result in the immediate halt of all military aid," he said on X.

In a video on social media, he said the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza is among "the worst humanitarian disasters" in modern history.

For months, the UN and other aid organizations have warned that the constant bombing and restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza raise the risk of famine and disease, he stressed, adding that two months ago, the UN warned that the whole population of Gaza was hungry, and people were going hungry.

"And that more than half a million people faced the most severe category of food insecurity ... Now, today the worst of those fears are becoming reality. Hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza, beautiful little kids are starving to death," Sanders said.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed some 1,200 people.

More than 30,600 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Study finds mainstream news outlets do not have a monopoly on credibility in the eyes of the public

by University of Massachusetts Amherst

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Images of newsworthy events that appear on news websites and on social media have the same level of credibility in the public's view, regardless of whether they were captured by a professional photojournalist or an amateur photographer, according to new research led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Brian McDermott, senior journalism lecturer at UMass Amherst, found that photos gathered by established mainstream news outlets do not have any special monopoly on credibility in the eyes of the public. The study appears in the journal Social Media + Society.

McDermott and co-authors Tara Marie Mortensen and Robert A. Wertz of the University of South Carolina documented that professionally authored images and images by amateur photographers were assessed in a survey with nearly identical levels of credibility, both on news websites and on Instagram. This was true even though respondents rated professional images higher in terms of authority and visual composition.

"People notice when a picture is professional, but they don't seem to care," McDermott, a former photojournalist, says. "News consumers assign the same level of credibility to an amateur image used by a news organization as they do to a professional image captured by a journalist."

McDermott and his co-authors tested the credibility perceptions of photographs using an online survey of nearly 4,500 adults across the United States. Participants were shown pairs of images of three high-profile news events—one set taken by photojournalists and the other by amateurs—displayed on both a professional news website and in an Instagram feed.

The three news events represented were a protest over the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the California "Dixie" wildfire in 2021. While respondents judged the photos captured by journalists as more professional, all six images were viewed as equally credible. Whether the images were presented on a news website or on social media made no discernible difference.

The results show that news consumers have no issue with news outlets incorporating visuals gathered by "citizen journalists" into their reporting.

"News organizations would be smart to embrace more amateur imagery, with the vitally important caveat that the images are verified and vetted using the traditional principles of newsgathering," McDermott says.

Where does that leave professional photojournalists with many media outlets looking to cut editorial staff to reduce costs?

McDermott argues an increased reliance on amateur photography makes the role of professional visual journalists even more important, particularly as artificial intelligence becomes better at generating images. "Who else is actually trying to show the world as it is? Nobody else has that mission. AI only has the mission the user gives it," he says.

As academics continue to study the ways mis- and disinformation enter conversations on social media, Ethan Zuckerman suggested in a 2021 paper that they step back and observe the issue as part of a complete media "ecosystem"—one which includes the relationships between both user-generated social media and professionally-created news media.

More information: Brian McDermott et al, Measuring the Effect of Presentational Context and Image Authorship on the Credibility Perceptions of Newsworthy Images, Social Media + Society (2024). DOI: 10.1177/20563051241229656

Provided by University of Massachusetts Amherst Facebook parent Meta to stop paying Australian news media

Emissions from the Hongsa Power Plant negatively impacting the health of Thailand’s Indigenous communities

by Steve Suwannarat

Located in Laos but controlled by Thai companies, the plant burns lignite to generate energy exported to Thailand. Early studies conducted on Lua populations found high levels of mercury in their bodies, confirming prior fears about the plant’s impact on the environment.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Thailand’s northern regions are home to a variety of ethnic groups that are only partially integrated in the country; here, several initiatives aimed at environmental sustainability have been undertaken to avoid emigration.

The Thai royal family is also involved in various laudable activities meant to convert opium plantations into profitable productions like growing coffee, flowers, tapioca, and mulberry that are economically profitable but less socially disruptive.

However, at both local and national levels, growing environmental awareness is challenged by large scale monopolistic groups and environmental damage that come outside Thailand.

One example is the use of the upper and middle course of the Mekong River for hydroelectric development, especially by China, with dams and plants in China but also in Laos. Another example is resource development in northern Myanmar, largely led by Chinese groups.

As a result, not only is the flow rate of various rivers considerably reduced or irregular to satisfy the demands of hydroelectric production, but the water itself is being contaminated directly or indirectly, including through air pollution.

A case in point is the Hongsa Mine Mouth Power Project, a coal-fired power plant in Xayaboury province, Laos, whose emissions know no border, local media have reported.

Inaugurated in 2015, it is 80 per cent controlled by Thai interests, burning 15 million tonnes of lignite annually to produce energy exported largely to Thailand.

For five months of the year, the winds carry and deposit mercury particles over a large area of Thailand's Nan province, home to the Lua people.

After warnings were issued for years, the first studies by major research institutes have confirmed the relationship between emissions from the Laotian plant and accumulation of heavy metals on the ground and the increasing soil acidity.

The concentration of mercury is of particular concern given its toxicity, with levels in living organisms up to 12,000 times greater than those normally found in the environment.

In just a few years, this level of contamination has hit humans as well. After complaining for years, residents have been finally vindicated when the authorities issued advisories warning locals to be careful about what they drink.

Respiratory diseases are also on the rise, especially among the young.

Field research found elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, formed by the burning of coal at the plant. This has resulted in highly acidic soil and crop diseases, affecting especially rice, coffee, and mulberry.

A World Bank 2020 report also showed that CO2 emissions in Laos grew by nearly five times in the four years after the Hongsa plant began operations.

 

Kyrgyzstan Added To Global Watchlist Due To Rapid Decline In Civic Freedoms – OpEd

 March 5, 2024  

By IPHR

The CIVICUS Monitor has added Kyrgyzstan to its watchlist of countries experiencing rapid declines in civic freedoms as the government moves ahead with repressive laws designed to target NGOs and limit freedom of expression.

Two repressive draft laws are currently making their way through parliament. One is a Russian-style “foreign agent” law which, if adopted, would force non-governmental organisations funded from abroad to register as “foreign representatives” if they engage in broadly defined “political activities” and subject them to invasive inspections. The law passed its second reading in Parliament in February. If deputies approve the law in another, final, reading, it will be submitted to the President for signature. 

Another proposed bill threatens to expand the government’s control over the media and extend it to blogs and websites, which would further restrict internet freedom in a country where people are increasingly being prosecuted for critical posts on social networks. This bill is currently under consideration at committee level.

Both bills are directly modeled on the laws of Putin’s regime which have been used to devastating effect against Russian civil society and media. 

“So-called ‘foreign agent laws’, supposedly introduced for the sake of national security,  are a tool we often see authoritarian regimes resort to,” said Tara Petrović, Europe and Central Asia researcher at CIVICUS. “Everywhere we’ve seen these laws implemented, they have led to the mass shutdown of NGOs. When we look at their inevitable consequences, we can see their real goal is the de facto abolition of independent civil society and the suppression of critical voices.”

The latest CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist coincides with the 55th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (26 February to 5 April 2024) and spotlights five countries experiencing a notable decline in civic freedoms. This assessment is made by data compiled by the CIVICUS Monitor in collaboration with research partners worldwide. Alongside Kyrgyzstan, the latest Watchlist also includes Palestine, Pakistan, Senegal, and Venezuela.

The CIVICUS Monitor currently rates Kyrgyzstan’s civic space as “repressed”, the second worst rating a country can receive. Following the country’s downgrade from “obstructed” in December 2023, all the countries in Central Asia are rated either as “repressed” or “closed”.

“Kyrgyzstan still has the opportunity to buck the trend of repression in the region. Instead of increasingly adopting the heavy-handed tactics of its neighbours, it should recognise the invaluable contributions of its vibrant civil society and independent media,” said Petrović. 

In the midst of these legislative deliberations, the authorities have stepped up their efforts to suppress freedom of expression, using flimsy legal justifications as a pretext to obstruct the work of independent media and intimidate journalists.

In January 2024, law enforcement raided the offices of two prominent outlets, 24.KG and Temirov Live. As a result of the raids, 24.KG’s office has been sealed pending an investigation into alleged “war propaganda”, and 11 journalists affiliated with Temirov Live remain behind bars on spurious charges of “calls for mass riots”. In February, a court ordered the liquidation of Kloop Media, with government experts called to testify on the “harms” caused to Kyrgyzstani society by the outlet’s “negative reporting”, which they allege include an increase in mental illness and drug addiction.

The situation in Kyrgyzstan underscores the urgent need for reinforced and concerted international action to help protect the country’s civil society. Failure to address these alarming developments could have far-reaching implications – not only for Kyrgyzstan, but for the entire region.

“All of Kyrgyzstan’s international partners – international institutions, governments and funding agencies – must unequivocally condemn the widening crackdown on civic space in the country and put pressure on the authorities to fulfill their obligations to respect freedom of expression and association,” said Brigitte Dufour, director of the Brussels-based International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR).

She added: ‘’As the EU seeks to strengthen its ties with Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries, it should make it clear that initiatives like the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ contradict its fundamental values and partnership priorities with Kyrgyzstan and will negatively affect mutual relations if adopted.” 

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) is an independent, non-governmental organization founded in 2008. Based in Brussels, IPHR works closely together with civil society groups from different countries to raise human rights concerns at the international level and promote respect for the rights of vulnerable communities.

Ghana to lose £3 billion over anti-LGBTQ+ bill, finance ministry warns

Tuesday 5 March 2024

Ghana's is set to lose $3.8 billion (£3 billion) if the country's President signs an anti-LGBTQ+ bill in as law.

That's according to internal government documents seen by ITV News.

On February 28, the African nation's government unanimously passed the law, which criminalises identifying as LGBTQ+ and punishes those seen promoting or funding LGBTQ+ rights and communities.

The new bill could imprison people for more than a decade for activities including public displays of affection and promotion of LGBTQ+ activities.

Gay sex is already outlawed in Ghana, and carries a three-year prison sentence, but the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, formally called the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill, is proposing much harsher punishments.

The possibility of the bill being implemented has triggered backlash from Ghana's finance sector, development partners and international financial institutions, according to an internal government memo seen by ITV News.

Many have said that current financial agreements may be suspended if the bill is passed, and the loss to the African country's economy is currently set to add up to $3.8 billion (£3 billion), the finance ministry warned.

The $3.8 billion set to vanish is from World Bank funding and would disappear over the next five to six years, the finance ministry said.

It predicts the losses in 2024 would impact Ghana's foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability, leaving a "financing gap" in the country's budget.

The bill has yet to be forwarded to the country's president for assent.

Ghana’s president said on Tuesday his government will wait for a Supreme Court ruling before taking action on a bill.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said he sought to reassure the diplomatic community that Ghana would not be turning its back on its longstanding human rights record.

As a result, the ministry said the government would need to significantly reduce its expenditures or increase domestic revenue.

Ghana's parliament passed a highly controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Wednesday that could send some people to prison for more than a decade.

Ghana is already in dire financial straits, and requested a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May last year after the country's debt burden became "unsustainable".

The IMF approved a $3 billion (£2.36 billion) extended credit arrangement for the West African nation to support its economic recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Those in favour of the bill say it would help to protect children and people who are victims of abuse.

There has been international criticism of the "Anti-LBGTQ" bill, with the United States saying the legislation "undermines human rights".

"The bill seeks to criminalize any person who simply identifies as LGBTQI+, as well as any friend, family, or member of the community who does not report them," a US department of state press statement said.

"The United States echoes the call by those Ghanaians who have urged a review of the constitutionality of the bill to protect the rights of all individuals in Ghana."

Religious leaders have also commented on the bill, including the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Reverend Justin Welby said in October 2021 that he was "gravely concerned" by a draft of the bill.

Human rights organisations have also made their stance on the controversial bill clear.

“The anti-LGBT rights bill is inconsistent with Ghana’s longstanding tradition of peace, tolerance, and hospitality and flies in the face of the country’s international human rights obligations,” Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué said.

US sanctions spyware company, executives for targeting Americans

Treasury Department says former Israeli military officer Tal Jonathan Dilian, who founded Intellexa in 2019, sanctioned

Diyar Güldoğan |05.03.2024 - 



WASHINGTON

The US Treasury Department said Tuesday that it imposed sanctions against two people and a Greece-based commercial spyware company headed by a former Israeli military officer for targeting American officials.

"Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts," the agency said in a statement.

The two individuals include former Israeli military officer Tal Jonathan Dilian, who founded Intellexa in 2019.

Dilian's partner, Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist who has provided managerial services to Intellexa, was also sanctioned.

Other entities associated with Intellexa, including North Macedonia-based Cytrox AD, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag (Cytrox Holdings ZRT), Ireland-based Thalestris Limited, were sanctioned for developing and distributing a package of tools known as “Predator spyware, which can infiltrate a range of electronic devices through zero-click attacks that require no user interaction for the spyware to infect the device."

"Today’s actions represent a tangible step forward in discouraging the misuse of commercial surveillance tools, which increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson was quoted in the statement.

Separately, State Department's spokesman Matthew Miller said the US is sanctioning two individuals and five entities for developing, operating or distributing commercial spyware technology misused to target Americans, including officials, journalists and policy experts.

"We continue to promote guardrails that protect democratic values," Miller wrote on X.

US government slaps sanctions on notorious European spyware maker

Targeted Predator software was at heart of Greek political hacking scandal.


The move comes as part of international efforts to stop the proliferation of commercial spyware tools | Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

MARCH 5, 2024
BY JOHN SAKELLARIADIS


The United States government on Tuesday unveiled sanctions on two individuals and five corporate entities tied to the Intellexa consortium, a network of European firms behind the sale of a widely used mobile surveillance software known as Predator.

Intellexa's Predator spyware allows hackers to gain full access to victim devices, including microphones, cameras, text messages, and apps. The software was at the center of a political hacking scandal that rocked Greek politics in 2022. Intellexa has sold Predator to Austria, Germany and Switzerland as well as to governments with histories of human rights abuses, such as Qatar, Congo, the UAE, Pakistan and Vietnam, Amnesty researchers said previously.

The U.S. Treasury Department action marks the latest move by the Biden administration to crack down on a shadowy ecosystem of commercial spyware vendors based in Europe whose products have been used by foreign governments against dissidents — and against U.S. citizens. In July, the White House added two European firms with ties to the Intellexa consortium to a Commerce Department blacklist.

“This action also recognizes the challenge and threat to Americans of commercial spyware misuse globally, but also particularly in Europe,” said a senior administration official, who provided a briefing to reporters ahead of the announcement on condition of anonymity.

Intellexa has sprung up to fill the vacuum left by Israel’s NSO Group, the once-prolific spyware maker behind the Pegasus software that has been battered by tightening domestic export controls, foreign sanctions and public scrutiny.

The sanctions block any U.S. business dealings by and with two individuals and five organizations. On the list of individuals are Tal Dilian, a former Israeli general and the founder of Intellexa, and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist, the Treasury Department said. The organizations include Greece-based Intellexa S.A., Ireland-based Intellexa Limited, North Macedonian-based Cytrox AD, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings and Ireland-based Thalestris Limited.

Intellexa consortium could not be immediately reached for comment.

The move comes as part of international efforts to stop the proliferation of commercial spyware tools.

Governments are meeting on March 18 for a Summit for Democracy in South Korea, spearheaded by the United States. At last year’s summit, the U.S. and partner countries outlined their commitment to reining in the use of commercial surveillance tools.

80% of world’s hungriest people live in Gaza: Palestine

Israel has destroyed 85% of Gaza Strip, says Palestinian foreign minister

Mohammad Sıo |05.03.2024 -

Palestinian people with empty pots receive food distributed by charity as Gaza faces hunger crisis as situation worsens amid blockade due to the ongoing Israeli offensive on February 29, 2024, in Deir al Balah, central Gaza.

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Some 80% of the world’s most hunger-ravaged people live in the Gaza Strip, said the Palestinian foreign minister on Tuesday.

"Israel has openly destroyed more than 85% of the Gaza Strip, killed and starved children, and deprived the sick and injured of their basic right to treatment,'' Riyad al-Maliki said at an extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

“Around 80% of the hungriest people in the world today live in Gaza,” he added.

Tuesday’s OIC meeting was called to discuss Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 30,600 people and injured over 72,000 others since Oct. 7 following a Hamas attack.

"Israel has virtually committed every violation of international law against our people, who are facing the most heinous forms of genocide,'' al-Maliki said.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.


Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio

Plan to whitewash Erdoğan, Lukashenko and Aliyev with Oliver Stone films uncovered

ByTurkish Minute
March 5, 2024

Igor Lopatonok, a US filmmaker with a history of promoting pro-Russian narratives, sought to create flattering documentaries of authoritarian leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to a special report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

Lopatonok, in collaboration with acclaimed Hollywood director Oliver Stone, has produced two documentaries about Ukraine, which were widely dismissed as pro-Kremlin propaganda, as well as an eight-part hagiographic miniseries about Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Leaked plans obtained by OCCRP and Vlast.kz show Lopatonok intended to feature Hollywood director Stone as the films’ interviewer. It’s unclear if Stone knew the full extent of the proposals, but none of the documentaries came to fruition.

Lopatonok aimed to paint Turkey’s Erdoğan as a strong defender of the country’s interests. The proposed film would highlight Erdoğan’s goals and accomplishments.

“Erdogan is a Turk and hardly needs to be basing his actions on the interests of other countries. But what interests does he have? Can he restore the Great Silk Road? And does he really have expansionist plans? What is Erdogan trying to achieve? He should answer these questions himself. And only himself. We should not try to divine [Erdogan’s plans] from coffee grounds, even if it is magnificent Turkish coffee that they know how to make only in Istanbul,” the report cited a synopsis as saying.

While Erdoğan’s level of interest is unknown, the proposal aimed to cast his leadership in a favorable light.

These revelations highlight Lopatonok’s pattern of using Stone’s fame to lend legitimacy to authoritarian regimes. Stone’s past documentaries, including those on Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been criticized for their sympathetic view of strongmen.

In a 2018 interview İbrahim Kalın, the then-spokesman for President Erdoğan, confirmed that they had received a pitch for a documentary about Erdoğan around the same time that Stone was in Turkey.

“We are looking at it, we are evaluating it,” Kalın said. “I know the series he made for Mr. Putin before.”

The report also features plans to make similar films for leaders like Aliyev and Lukashenko.