'Teach them a lesson': Indian women accuse Delhi police of abuse

Female students say they have faced police violence and police indifference when attacked by others.
by Neha Dixit

Students accuse the police and security guards of doing little as uninvited men went on a molestation spree at a women's college in New Delhi [Biplov Bhuyan/Hindustan Times/Getty Images]


New Delhi, India - Swati Singh describes how excited she was to attend her first college festival in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

On February 6, the last day of the three-day festival, as students were preparing for a concert, hundreds of men barged into the college campus and sexually harassed and abused female students.
More:

In Search of India's Soul: From Mughals to Modi

Another US city passes resolution against India's citizenship law

Meet the artists resisting India's new citizenship law

Singh says she cannot forget the horror she went through at Gargi college, an all women's college affiliated to Delhi University.

"I was looking forward to the fest. It means a lot to women like me who come from smaller cities and have never seen such big concert," says 18-year-old Singh, who hails from the central Indian city of Indore.

Students accuse the police and security guards of doing little as the men molested women at the college, which is located in the affluent south Delhi area of Siri Fort

"They were drunk men who groped us, pinched us in the crowd. One of them even threw money on my friend in a demeaning way. We couldn't even move," recalls Samra Ahmed, another student.

Police stood and watched

Students could not make calls for help as phone jammers were installed at the nearby Siri Fort auditorium.

"I saw some drunk men masturbating while looking at me," Tanushree, a second-year student, tells Al Jazeera.

Singh says when she approached a police constable outside the college gate, he said, "Don't you come to the fest to meet boys?"

"Police think women attend a music concert for this?" she wonders.

Several videos of the festival have surfaced that appear to show the police standing by and watching men scaling the walls to enter the college campus.

Samvedna, another student, says a stalker followed her to the metro station on her way home after the festival. When she complained to the police, she says she was told: "Look at the clothes you are wearing. Is this how Indian girls should dress? Should I call up your parents?"

Singh says she was disappointed with the reaction of Promila Kumar, the college head. "She told us that if you feel unsafe in a college fest, don't attend. Even a woman's college is not safe for us?"

The students staged a three-day strike demanding Kumar's resignation and an investigation into the incident.

Al Jazeera reached out to Kumar but she declined to comment on the issue.

Singh says her parents, who had only reluctantly agreed to allow her to move to Delhi to pursue her higher education, are now insisting she returns to Indore immediately. "They say I can join a college in Indore. It's a punishment for police not doing their job?"

The police arrested 10 people in connection with the incident but they were all released on bail on the same day.

Police have instead found fault with college authorities. "The college was at fault for not making appropriate arrangements," Atul Thakur, deputy commissioner of police for South Delhi, told Al Jazeera.

When asked why the police did not press charges against the accused, Thakur said: "We are investigating. We still don't have evidence for assault or molestation."
Turning a blind eye

Its handling of the Gargi college incident has not been the only criticism of Delhi police recently.

On Sunday, video footage - said to have been taken on December 15 last year - was released that appeared to show police beating students inside the library of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University, also located in New Delhi.

In early January, police were accused of turning a blind eye to attacks on students protesting against a fee hike by masked men linked to the governing party inside Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. More than a month after the incident, no arrests have been made.

Gargi College students protest against mass molestation that took place during their annual festival, on February 10 [Biplov Bhuyan/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images]

Four days after the Gargi College incident, police personnel baton-charged hundreds of students from JMI who were trying to march from the university campus to Parliament in protest against a new citizenship law.

Critics say the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) - passed last December - and a planned National Register of Citizens (NRC) is part of the Hindu-first agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

In the last two months, videos of young women braving police assault to save male protesters have become synonymous with the anti-CAA protests.

Many female students at JMI have accused the police of using excessive force against them during the February 10 march.

Raziya, a JMI student, says she was beaten on her private parts with a flash rod. "They said, 'These women shield terrorists with their burqa. Take them in a corner and teach them a lesson'," said Raziya, who is undergoing treatment for a rib fracture.

"Why did they target our hijab. What is wrong with it?" she told Al Jazeera.

Iqra, an 18-year-old student at JMI, says she was also beaten by a male constable with a stick on her private parts and her legs. "It was a preplanned attack specifically targeting young women who have been proactive in these protests," she said.

Chanda Yadav, another Jamia student, said she was taunted by the police: "You protect men because you think we will not hit you?" She says a male policeman hit her with a flash rod on her thigh.

But the police have denied the allegations, saying "no force was used by the police."

"All allegations against us are untrue.The entire protest has been video graphed by us," RP Meena, south east deputy commissioner of police, told Al Jazeera.

"In fact, some of our men were manhandled and they received injuries during the scuffle."

The recent incidents have raised questions about the safety of women in public spaces, particularly in Delhi which has seen a high number of sexual assaults against women.

"The idea of safety is anyway restrictive," said Shilpa Phadke, a sociologist and co-author of Why Loiter, a book on attitudes towards women in public spaces.

"Here, safety for women is also conditional on women being 'respectable' and ticking the right boxes. Attending a protest or a college fest, both do not fit into any box," she told Al Jazeera.

Activists and feminists have long highlighted the lack of gender sensitisation among India's police as patriarchal values still dominate Indian society.

Rebecca John, a lawyer at the Supreme Court of India, says the police's behaviour at Gargi college is a repetition of how they usually behave with victims of sexual violence.

"They don't see anything wrong with assault and groping. They dismiss such victims, call them liars. They try to look away. It is the same narrative here," John told Al Jazeera.

Rehana Adib, a women's rights activist, said the government is afraid of young women taking the lead.

"Young women are representing all intersections of the society - Dalit, Muslims, tribals, everyone. This has shaken the government. That is why the police has been instructed to break their determination, weaken them and send them home, show their place in a patriarchal world."
READ MORE
In Delhi, Kejriwal's pro-poor policies strike a chord with voters

ndia: Footage appears to show police attack on Jamia students

Comedian Kunal Kamra: 'What I did was an act of resistance'

Brash and bigoted: How Arnab Goswami changed India's TV debate
India's top court orders equal roles for women in army
The city where nonsmokers are dying of lung cancer

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

Boy Scouts of America files bankruptcy in wake of abuse lawsuits

Tom Hals


WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - The Boy Scouts of America said on Tuesday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid a flood of lawsuits over allegations of child sexual abuse stretching back decades.



The bankruptcy is not expected to affect the organization’s programs, which promote self-reliance through outdoor activities such as hiking and camping. The group was already struggling with declining membership and controversy over admitting gay and female members.

The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, has said that it sincerely apologizes to anyone harmed, that it believes the accusers and that it encourages victims to come forward.

Founded in 1910, the organization has been overwhelmed by hundreds of claims after several states, including New York, removed legal hurdles that had barred people from suing over old allegations of child sex abuse.

The changes to the law coincided with the #MeToo movement and a shift in public opinion that has been more supportive of accusers. The result has been a wave of lawsuits against church leaders, doctors and schools, as well as scouting.

The Boy Scouts has said in a statement that “we can live up to our social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims” while “also ensuring that we carry out our mission to serve youth, families and local communities through our programs.”

Paul Mones, who represents hundreds of men who claim they were abused as scouts, told Reuters: “The bankruptcy is being filed as a result of decades of concealing abuse by the Boy Scouts and their adult leaders.”

The bankruptcy, filed in Delaware, will allow the Boy Scouts to bring all of the lawsuits into one court and try to negotiate a settlement, rather than using the organization’s funds to fight each case in court, which might leave some victims with nothing.

A similar bankruptcy strategy to resolve sex abuse lawsuits has been used by more than 20 Catholic dioceses and USA Gymnastics.

It could, however, be challenging to determine the value of the Boy Scouts’ assets. The national organization said in its most recent annual report from 2018 that it had $1.5 billion. But hundreds of local councils have their own assets, and victims may try to make those available for settling claims.

Membership in the organization’s Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts fell 13% at the end of 2018 from the end of 2012, according to its annual report.

The Boy Scouts lost a major source of support when the Mormon church said it would no longer sponsor scouting troops, beginning in 2020. The move by the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came shortly after the Boy Scouts said it would drop “boy” from its program for older youths and after saying it would admit transgender scouts.

The church said its decision was not influenced by the Boy Scouts’ changes, but by a desire to focus on its own youth programs.

Boy Scouts files for bankruptcy to put sex-abuse lawsuits on hold

Century-old American organisation seeks protection in hopes of working out a victim compensation plan.

The number of boys taking part in the Boy Scouts of America has dropped below two million [LM Otero/AP]

The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday following hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits in hopes of working out a victim compensation plan that will allow the 110-year-old organisation to carry on.

Scores of lawyers in the United States are seeking settlements on behalf of several thousand men who say they were molested as scouts by scoutmasters or other leaders decades ago, but are only now eligible to sue because of recent changes in their states' statute-of-limitations laws.
More:

US Boy Scouts scandal: Over 12,000 children sexually abused

By going to bankruptcy court, the Scouts can put those lawsuits on hold for now.

But ultimately they could be forced to sell off some of their vast property holdings, including campgrounds and hiking trails, to raise money for a compensation fund that could surpass $1bn.

"There are a lot of very angry, resentful men out there who will not allow the Boy Scouts to get away without saying what all their assets are," said lawyer Paul Mones, who represents numerous clients suing the group. "They want no stone unturned."

James Kretschmer of Houston, among the many men suing for alleged abuse, said he was molested by a Scout leader over several months in the mid-1970s in the Spokane, Washington, area.

Regarding the bankruptcy, he said: "It is a shame because at its core and what it was supposed to be, the Boy Scouts is a beautiful organisation.

"But you know, anything can be corrupted and if they're not going to protect the people that they've entrusted with the children, then shut it down and move on."

Evan Roberts, a spokesman for the Scouts, said operations will move forward as normal despite the bankruptcy announcement.

"Scouting programmes will continue throughout this process and for many years to come," he said.
Declining membership

The Boy Scouts' finances have been strained in recent years by declining membership and sex-abuse settlements.

The number of youths taking part in scouting has dropped below two million, down from more than four million in the peak years of the 1970s.

Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts have kept confidential files since the 1920s listing staff and volunteers implicated in sexual abuse, for the avowed purpose of keeping predators away from youth.

According to a court deposition, the files as of January listed 7,819 suspected abusers and 12,254 victims.

Last year the organisation insisted it never knowingly allowed a sexual predator to work with young boys.

But in May, The Associated Press reported attorneys for abuse victims identified multiple cases in which known sex abusers were allowed to return to leadership posts.

The next day, Boy Scouts chief executive Mike Surbaugh wrote to a congressional committee, acknowledging the group's previous claim was untrue.


SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

Shades of Detroit? Germany's auto heartlands in peril as 'golden age' fades

Michael Nienaber

BAMBERG, Germany (Reuters) - When Kristin and Thomas Schmitt took out a mortgage and bought a house last summer, the German couple’s dream looked as if it was coming true. Two months later, they learned that the tire factory where both work would be shut down early next year.


Employees Kristin and Thomas Schmitt walk towards the main gate of the Bamberg branch of French tyre manufacturer Michelin, in Bamberg, Germany, February 13, 2020. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert

A malaise in Germany’s mighty automobile industry, caused by weaker demand from abroad, stricter emission rules and electrification, is starting to leave a wider mark on Europe’s largest economy by pushing up unemployment, eroding job security and hitting pay.

“It’s a nightmare. This is pulling the rug out from under our feet,” said Kristin Schmitt, 40, of the plant closure in the Bavarian region of Bamberg, one of Germany’s auto supplier hubs.

The couple, who have three children, still hopes managers at their Michelin tire factory change their mind, but the risk of unemployment looms large - and not only for the Schmitts.

The German auto sector is expected to cut nearly a tenth of its 830,000 jobs in the next decade, according to the VDA industry association.

Some think-tanks and government officials fear that the toll will be higher as electric cars provide less assembly work than combustion engine vehicles, simple work steps are replaced by automation and companies relocate production.

This is not yet 1970s Detroit, a U.S. car center that was plagued by urban decay as factory relocations, cheaper imports and higher fuel prices destroyed jobs.

But the danger is growing, automotive companies, workers, as well as regional and labor leaders, told Reuters.

Different firms are taking different steps. At the Schmitts’ plant in Hallstadt, workers are trying to avoid forced layoffs; at a Bosch factory in nearby Bamberg, pay cuts and reduced hours have been agreed, as has investment in new fuel cell technology.


With pockets of rising joblessness in the affluent, auto-producing heartlands of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg in southern Germany, there are serious implications for a country which relies on the car industry for roughly 5% of its economic output and, and an important part of its national identity.

“Germany is entering uncharted waters. The transition could well mark the end of the golden age for cars as a mass employer,” said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management, a German research institute.

“For politics, it’s a ticking time bomb.”

The outbreak of the coronavirus is adding to the crisis by disrupting global supply chains and dampening passenger car sales in China, an important market for German manufacturers.

Threats of mass lay-offs will be a defining feature of upcoming wage negotiations in the metalworking industry where unions are focusing more on job security than pay hikes.

“It could well be that we have passed the peak of automotive production,” Volkmar Denner, CEO of Germany’s largest car supplier Robert Bosch, said in January when he announced massive job cuts and a business review to cope with plunging profits.

(GRAPHIC: Less work in Germany - here)


POST-WAR ‘MIRACLE’


The Schmitts live north of the city of Bamberg, whose medieval and baroque architecture has been lovingly restored since the 1950s. It is typical of the well-heeled cities that prospered during the “economic miracle” of Germany’s post-war reconstruction.

Yet this region, which heavily depends on combustion engine technology, is facing a challenge that will have repercussions for Germany as a whole.

“We’re talking here about some 25,000 jobs in the region; that’s roughly 15% of the overall workforce,” Bamberg mayor Andreas Starke told Reuters. “This shows how dependent the region is on combustion engines.”

For the Schmitts - Thomas works on the assembly line and Kristin in the stockroom - and their more than 850 colleagues at the Michelin tire factory, the chances of keeping their jobs are looking grim.

Works council head Josef Morgenroth is trying to convince the management that the company can’t pull out of an earlier agreement which ruled out forced lay-offs until the end of 2022.

The local Michelin management declined to comment, saying it was still in talks with the works council.

‘AUTOMOBILE CRISIS’

To help workers affected by the car industry disruption, politicians, companies and labor unions have called on the government to support the shift to alternative technologies such as electric cars or hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

In a rare joint statement, automakers and unions said in January that Berlin must expand state-backed employment schemes, known as Kurzarbeit, to cover a longer pay subsidy period of up to 24 months as well as retraining in new skills such as building electric vehicle parts.

The German cabinet is expected to approve the more flexible Kurzarbeit rules next month. Under the scheme, companies can apply for state aid to avoid lay-offs and keep skilled workers for a limited time of currently up to 12 months.


Slideshow (14 Images)

Depending on agreements between company and works council, employees work reduced hours or even stay at home, with the government paying two-thirds of the lost net income.

For the economy as a whole, this means consumers have less money to spend, eroding Germany’s most important pillar of economic support in recent years as exports falter. That in turn could become an issue for the European Central Bank as it seeks to stimulate the wider euro zone economy with a limited arsenal.

Research institute GfK expects German household spending to grow by 1% in 2020, down from roughly 1.5% last year.

Even without the planned changes, the number of employees already forced to work in Kurzarbeit schemes jumped to 96,000 in November, up from about 20,000 two years before, and surpassing levels last seen during the euro zone debt crisis in 2012/13, according to the Federal Labour Office.

Projections suggest that the number will rise to 117,000 this month, with the increase mainly due to the problems in the car industry, said Detlef Scheele, head of the state agency.
PAY CUT VS JOB CUT

Some auto suppliers have cut pay without applying for state aid under the short-time schemes.

At the Bosch factory, management and the works council sealed a deal to avoid forced lay-offs until 2026 under the condition that all 7,000 employees reduce working hours and accept a pay cut of nearly 10% from April 2020.

“Of course, this is causing mixed feelings,” said Sven Bachmann, production manager at the plant, which is 100% focused on combustion engine parts. “For me personally, the relief prevails that my job is safe for the next six years.”

In addition, the company pledged to invest in fuel cells, which could become an important alternative energy source for trucks and buildings over the next 10 years.


“This pledge is really important because it shows Bosch is not only thinking about cutting costs, but also about securing future growth and jobs,” works council head Mario Gutmann told Reuters.

The city of Bamberg is complementing the efforts by building a new district on an old U.S. military base where stationary fuel cells, powered with hydrogen, will provide electricity, heating and warm water for up to 1,000 apartments.

Mayor Starke is hoping that Bamberg’s efforts to diversify its local economy can help cushion the negative effects of the car crisis on the regional labor market.

There’s a lot at stake for people like the Schmitts.

“We canceled our holidays, we also told the children that we have to scale back special treats,” Kristin said. “Now, we all pray that we can keep the house.”


Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Additional reporting by Mark John, Edward Taylor, Ilona Wissenbach and Jan Schwartz; Editing by Pravin Char
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

GM shuts Australia, NZ operations; sells Thai plant to Great Wall

Hilary Russ, Yilei Sun

NEW YORK/BEIJING (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) said it would wind down its Australian and New Zealand operations and sell a Thai plant in the latest restructuring of its global business, costing the U.S. auto maker $1.1 billion.

The moves will accelerate GM’s retreat from unprofitable markets, making it more dependent on the United States, China, Latin America and South Korea, and give up an opening to expand in Southeast Asia.

They come after the company told analysts this month that restructuring GM’s international operations outside of China to produce profit margins in the mid-single digits would represent “a $2 billion improvement” on two years ago.

RELATED COVERAGE

Timeline: General Motors streamlines its international operations

GM has forecast a flat profit for 2020 after a difficult 2019, and is facing ballooning interest in electric car rival Tesla Inc (TSLA.O).

GM is “focusing on markets where we have the right strategies to drive robust returns, and prioritizing global investments that will drive growth in the future of mobility,” especially in electric and autonomous vehicles, GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement late on Sunday.

The latest changes - a continuation of GM’s retreat from Asia that began in 2015 when it announced it would stop making GM-branded cars in Indonesia - will lead to cash and non-cash charges of $1.1 billion. Some 600 jobs will be lost in Australia and New Zealand, while GM said about 1,500 jobs would be affected by the sale in Thailand.

Barra has prioritized profit margins over sales volume and global presence since taking over in 2014.

In 2017, she sold GM’s European Opel and Vauxhall businesses to Peugeot SA (PEUP.PA) and exited South Africa and other African markets. Since then, Barra has decided to pull GM out of Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

“THE END OF AN ERA”

Like Britain, Australia and New Zealand are right-hand drive markets. With sales of GM’s Australian Holden brand plummeting, the company could not justify the investment to continue building right-hand drive vehicles, GM President Mark Reuss said.


The move stoked anger in Australia, where GM Holden long ranked among the country’s best selling car companies after the first locally made mass-production car rolled off the assembly line with a Holden badge in 1948.

Amid continuous decline in new car sales, GM said it was ending Australian factory production in 2017 and last year called time on former best-seller the Commodore as part of a shift towards more compact SUVs and utility vehicles.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday he was disappointed and angry at the decision, although not surprised.

“Australian taxpayers put billions into this multinational company. They let the brand just wither away on their watch,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

GREAT WALL GOING ABROAD

Great Wall, one of China’s biggest sport-utility vehicle makers, said it will sell cars from the Thai manufacturing base, which also has an engine plant, in Southeast Asia and Australia as it seeks global sales amid a slowing domestic market.

“There is no choice, if we don’t go global, we will not survive,” Wei Jianjun, chairman of the Baoding-based automaker, said last year when Great Wall opened a plant in Russia.

It also signed an agreement in January to buy GM’s car plant in India. The Thai transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

“Such an acquisition could give Great Wall quick access to the ASEAN market, and Thailand is a good choice for its production base amid the country’s established supply chain in the automotive industry,” said Shi Ji, analyst at Haitong International.

Great Wall is likely to face fierce competition from Japanese automakers which dominate Thailand’s domestic car sales. Thailand produces around 2 million vehicles each year, with just over half exported.

Great Wall may consider also building pickup trucks and SUVs in Thailand, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters .

The firm, which is building a car plant with BMW (BMWG.DE) in China, sold 1.06 million cars last year, including 65,175 units for export.

Reporting by Hilary Russ, Joe White, Yilei Sun, Chayut Setboonsarng, Byron Kaye and Kevin Buckland; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Richard Pullin
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Pakistan confirms escape of Taliban leader who justified Malala shooting

Asif Shahzad

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A high-profile local Taliban figure who announced and justified the 2012 attack on teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has escaped detention, Pakistan’s interior minister confirmed a few days after the militant announced his breakout on social media.

Former Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, who claimed responsibility on behalf of his group for scores of Taliban attacks, proclaimed his escape on Twitter and then in an audio message sent to Pakistani media earlier this month.

The Pakistani military, which had kept Ehsan in detention for three years, has declined to comment but, asked by reporters about the report, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, said: “That is correct, that is correct.”

Shah, a retired brigadier general, added that “you will hear good news” in response to questions about whether there had been progress in hunting down Ehsan.

Ehsan later told a Reuters reporter by telephone that he had already left Pakistan and arrived in Turkey together with his wife and children. He said he had surrendered to the army under a deal, and escaped only after the agreement was not honored.


He said he escaped on Jan. 11 but did not clarify how he had broken out of a maximum-security military prison and made his way to another country.

Pakistani analysts and experts on militant Islam have voiced doubt about Ehsan’s claim to have escaped. They have speculated that he may have been converted into an asset by the state and that reports he was on the run could be a ruse to plant him back in the Islamist militant scene for use as an informant.

After Ehsan’s surrender in 2017, local Geo News TV aired an interview he gave in custody in which he asserted that the intelligence services of Pakistan’s arch-rival, India, had been funding and arming Pakistani Taliban fighters.

The Pakistan army pledged to put Ehsan on trial but has not done so.

Taliban attacks in Pakistan have declined in recent months since the army carried out several operations against sanctuaries used by the Islamist militant groups in lawless districts along the border with Afghanistan.

Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Pakistan; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Mark Heinrich

Canada’s legal pot market mirrors U.S. states in the worst ways: analyst

Jeff Lagerquist Yahoo Finance Canada February 12, 2020


TORONTO, ON - APRIL 1: Cannaibis educator Jonathan Hirsh

 smokes a joint he purchased outside the Hunny Pot Cannabis Co. 

store at 202 Queen St. W. 

(Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Canada was lauded as a trailblazer when it became the first G7 nation to legalize pot for both recreational and medical use. However, the market today mirrors the patchwork of U.S. states where the drug is legal in the worst possible ways, according to one analyst.

“A close look at the U.S. recreational and medical markets makes us think the Canadian cannabis market has adopted the worst of each recreational state, and little of the good,” Cantor Fitzgerald’s Pablo Zuanic wrote in a research note on Wednesday.

The state of Canada’s legal cannabis market has been in sharp focus as of late following layoffs Aurora (ACB.TO)(ACB), Tilray (TLRY), and most recently The Supreme Cannabis Company (FIRE.TO).

Producers have blamed a litany of regulatory headwinds for lacklustre performance, ranging from retail store shortages, to restrictions on branding and packaging, to the delayed roll-out of vape products in certain provinces amid health concerns. Those factors have been compounded by a persistently robust black market with far cheaper prices.

Such complaints are likely to resurface later this week as two of largest players, Aurora and Canopy Growth (WEED.TO)(CGC), report financial results for challenging quarters.

When it comes to the slow pace of pot shop openings, a persistent problem in Canada’s most populous province of Ontario, Zuanic draws comparisons to Michigan and Massachusetts.

While store openings are accelerating today, Zuanic said Massachusetts’ 33 stores amount to only 4.8 locations for every million residents 37 months after recreational legalization. To compare, he notes Ontario has 1.7 stores per million residents, and Quebec has 2.7 stores per million residents.

Thriving illicit cannabis sources have been a major headwind for Canada's fledgling legal market. Zuanic sees Canada akin to California when it comes to the balance of black market supply versus legal product. He estimates 60 per cent of pot purchases in the Golden State comes from illegal sources. According to Statistics Canada’s most recent projections, 61.8 per cent of spending in the fourth quarter of 2019 was made in the illegal market.

While the early days of recreational legalization in Canada were plagued by shortages, the situation has now swung to one of oversupply, with a number of producers rolling out discount brands to offload excess inventory.

Zuanic traces this downward pressure on prices to a high number of cultivator licences, a situation he also sees weighing on prices in Oregon.

“In Canada, most of the 194 licensed producers for medical marijuana were allowed to produce recreational cannabis, and the initial flood of capital (now a trickle) helped most to expand aggressively. The result is an oversupply situation,” he wrote.

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

Russians rally against torture after verdict against ‘terrorist cell’

There is reason to suspect that key confessions in the "Network" case were extracted by torture

Posted 15 February 2020

“Stop torture! #NetworkCase” reads this protester's placard outside the FSB headquarters in Moscow, February 14, 2020. Photo (c): Marc Bennetts. Used with permission.

A trial in the Russian city of Penza, south-east of Moscow, has brought a close to one of the country's most disturbing criminal cases of recent years. On Monday 10, seven anarchists and anti-fascists were sentenced to long prison sentences under Article 205.4 of Russia's criminal code, concerning “participation in terrorist activities,” along with several drugs and weapons charges. The youngest, Ilya Shakursky, is just 23 years old; the oldest, the musician Vasily Kuksov, is 31. Their prison sentences range from six to 18 years. The length of these sentences, which amounts to 87 years overall, have shocked the country — the 18 years handed to Dmitry Pchelintsev is longer than some sentences received by convicted murderers in Russia.

The “Network Case,” named after the terrorist group to which the young men are alleged to belong, has prompted a nationwide discussion about the use of torture by Russia's law enforcement bodies. Prominent human rights defenders argue that key evidence for the existence of “The Network” was obtained through torture. Over the past week, hundreds of protesters have held solitary pickets outside the headquarters of the FSB, the Russian security services, in Moscow and several other cities. They have launched an online flashmob under the hashtags #делосети (the Network case), #мывсевсети (we are all Network), #судебныйбеспредел (lawless courts), and #НетПыткам (no to torture.)


Пыточное дело “Сети” – история о страхе. Напугавшееся до истерики ФСБ хочет этими дикими сроками напугать кого-то, кого себе там в ужасе напридумывала. Но в реальности лишь убеждает народ, что ФСБ сейчас – дикая истеричка, нестабильная, недалекая и злобная

— Олег Козырев (@oleg_kozyrev) February 10, 2020


The “Network” torture case is a story about fear. Hysterically fearful, the FSB wants these harsh sentences to terrify somebody who they have conjured up in the midst of their own horrors. But in reality, all this has done is convince the people that the FSB has become wildly hysterical, unstable, myopic, and vicious.

Such accounts are not uncommon in Russia today. According to a poll by the Levada Centre last year, as many as one in ten Russians claim to have been tortured at the hands of law enforcement, while an analysis of court data in 2018 indicated that most perpetrators face only mild repercussions. The “Network” case has been marred by accusations of torture since its inception, in keeping with harsh repression of anarchists and antifascist groups in recent years.

In mid-October 2017, Yegor Zorin, a student from Penza, was arrested and charged with terrorist conspiracy. His acquaintances suggested that he had been tortured in custody, during which the first allegations of the existence of “The Network” were made. Then in January 2018, two Russian antifascists, Viktor Filinkov and Igor Shishkin, went missing in St Petersburg. Filinkov stated that FSB agents demanded that he admit to membership of a terrorist cell known as “The Network,” alongside several acquaintances from Penza, who had been arrested in 2017. He later provided a detailed testimony of torture and retracted his confession. Shishkin, on the other hand, did not make any allegations against the authorities despite a medical report indicating signs of torture. He instead pled guilty and agree with the investigators’ account of events. He received three and a half years’ imprisonment. By 2019, “The Network” was officially designated an extremist organisation.

The young men in Penza whom Filinkov incriminated were a group of local activists from Penza's anarchist and antifascist scene. According to independent publication Novaya Gazeta, there is reason to believe that several members of the group did not know one another. Other members of the accused had filmed videos of themselves playing AirSoft, which was presented by the prosecution as evidence of military training to prepare for attacks. Investigators also claimed that the group, which they claimed had cells in Belarus, St Petersburg, and Moscow, planned to target the 2018 World Cup and presidential elections in Russia, charges which were not included in the final case against them.

Several members of the group, such as Ilya Shakursky, Dmitry Pchelintsev, and Ilya Kapustin, also provided detailed testimonials of torture at the hands of FSB agents, all of which allege severe beating and electric shocks all over their bodies. Nevertheless, Russia's investigative committee repeatedly refused to open a comprehensive investigation into the allegations of torture; in 2018, officials even concluded that the bruises and electrocution marks on Kapustin's body were the result of bedbug bites.

These graphic and often disturbing testimonies have resonated with a society already deeply disturbed by state officials’ lack of accountability. The political beliefs of the convicted men have also prompted some soul-searching among the opposition about the meaning of solidarity. In March 2018, Novaya Gazeta correspondent Yan Shenkman called on Russians to understand that, whatever their political differences, the Network case sets a disturbing precedent for all citizens:

Translation
Original Quote


In St Petersburg and Moscow there are developed systems of assistance. There are independent journalists and human rights defenders. There's nothing like that in Penza. The context also matters. The Bolotnaya case, under which many left-wingers, including myself, were sentenced was important for the entire liberal-democratic opposition. It was a story which the average journalist from the capital could understand. And here are people who face extremely harsh accusations. They're not liberals. They're not Moscow activists. We need to cut through the preconceptions towards them […] This case isn't about anarchism and isn't even about antifascism, but about the fact that tomorrow, they could come for you — for whatever reason. The electric shocker doesn't distinguish between “us” and “them.”

That solidarity took some time to materialise. But over the two years since Shenkman's column, the case has come to broader public awareness. In December 2018, the celebrated theatre company Teatr.Doc staged a production based on the torture testimonies of the accused men from Penza. On 12 February, prominent academics published an open letter against the “fabricated” case, and the following day prominent opposition campaigner Alexey Navalny harshly criticised the “barbaric” court verdict on his popular YouTube channel. The following post by Dmitry Bavyrin, a journalist for the Vzglyad newspaper, is a good indication of the mood among Russia's online opposition:

Translation
Original Quote


I haven't attempted to dig into the details of the “Network” case, as I can only act as a jury on a superficial level.

Do you believe that, on messengers or over a few drinks, a group of anti-fascists and anarchists might hypothetically discuss the possibility of overthrowing the state by violent means? Yes, I can easily believe that.

Do you believe that FSB officers might apply torture to their detainees in this case? Yes, I can easily believe that?

Which of these, in your opinion, represents a greater danger to society: students’ chats about overthrowing the regime or torture in detention centres. I think it's the second one.

— Dmitry Bavyrin, Facebook, 14 February 2020

The popular video blogger Yury Dud voiced a similar sentiment, alongside a film by Yevgeny Malyshev, a journalist for the independent media outlet 7×7, about the case. It features interviews with over 40 acquaintances of the convicted men.


И обязательно посмотрите вот этот фильм. Никакой героизации подсудимых (среди них были вполне проблемные чуваки), просто пошаговое исследование дела. От этой пошаговости волосы на голове шевелятся еще сильнее https://t.co/NECTn4nTsR

— Юрий Дудь (@yurydud) February 10, 2020


You must watch this film. There's no heroisation of the defendants (among whom are some wholly problematic guys), just a step-by-step investigation of the case. And it's that step-by-step analysis which will make your hairs stand on end even more.

Unsurprisingly, some of the loudest voices raising the alarm over Monday's verdict are from the left wing of Russia's opposition — such as the activist Sergey Udaltsov and singer Kirill Medvedev. Placards held outside the FSB building in Moscow frequently featured the logo of the opposition RSD, or Russian Socialist Movement. The verdict in the “Network” case also comes at a resonant moment for Russia's antifascists — a month after the ten year anniversary of the murder of antifascist human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova.

Responses to the verdict also suggest that the Russian opposition is aware that whatever their political differences, the threat (and sometimes experience) of torture unites them. Comparisons to Stalinist show trials are not uncommon. On February 9, the independent politician Alexey Minyaylo posted a picture of himself holding a placard which asked the question “What would you confess to under torture?” He soon received an answer from Ildar Dadin, who in 2015 became the first Russian to be imprisoned for repeated violation of the country's draconian law on non-violent protest. Dadin, who was released in 2017, alleged brutal torture at the hands of his guards at a prison colony in Karelia, in Russia's north-west. His answer drew on this trauma:

Translation
Original Quote


Firstly, I would put the word “confessed” in quotation marks. When criminal terrorists force you to incriminate yourself under torture, that can hardly be called a confession. Secondly, they also broke me in the Karelian torture colony, through savage physical torture […] As a result, I can only say that under conditions of terror and wild, prolonged, maddening pain, I'm convinced that the overwhelming majority of people would not only say they did things they did not do; they'll invent anything, be ready to betray their NEAREST AND DEAREST (no matter how wild that sounds to ordinary people.) When you experience that maddening, ongoing pain, all your human principles and concepts, your moral compass, are all turned off. They are overwhelmed by the animal instinct which grows under that pain, which demands, screams, just one thing: end this maddening pain, which literally switches off your mind.

Russian society's attempts to make sense of this harsh verdict speak to the unease at relations with the state. As the political scientist Ekaterina Shulmann writes, draconian measures in the name of “anti-extremism” are self-defeating, and are more likely to convince ordinary Russians that there are no legal ways to express their discontent.

Perhaps, in those circumstances, the authorities are merely determined to remind the opposition that the truth is often what those in power wish it to be, however it is extracted.

Written by Maxim Edwards

The feminist translators and interpreters revolutionizing the profession in Argentina

TEIFEM was the best way for me to get closer to feminism.
Translation posted 16 February 2020 

Some members of Feminist Translators and Interpreters of 

Argentina (TEIFEM). Photo by Lía Díaz, used with permission.

Feminism is always growing and diversifying, and the need is arising for feminists to come together and create areas of common interest and practice unique forms of activism that move away from hegemonic feminism, the manifestation of the movement that is most visible to the general public.

The world of translation is no exception, and that's the reason I joined the Feminist Translators and Interpreters of Argentina (TEIFEM). We are a group of women and gender-nonconforming translation and interpreting professionals, students and teachers, who have come together in order to “speak up in favour of gender equality and to challenge the structures established within the profession” and to promote growth and solidarity amongst colleagues.


Bookmarks designed for the Mujeres colectivas book launch. Credit TEIFEM.

TEIFEM was created in May 2018, when Argentina was debating the draft bill to legalize abortion. At that time, several professional groups were voicing their support and some feminist translators wanted to do the same. Within a few hours of its creation, 100 members had joined, and 178 signatures had been collected on a letter of support. After fifteen days there were four hundred of us! There is no doubt that we very much needed something like this.

I joined TEIFEM days after its creation. A friend and colleague who was already a member recommended it to me, and it was something entirely different from what I was used to seeing in other translation groups. It was a pleasant surprise to find several acquaintances (fellow students, teachers and professionals) whom I very much respected.

It's also been a pleasure to engage with debates and questions concerning various feminist issues that are presented and explained with respect, without arrogance or belittling of others’ lack of knowledge, and by considering what we have in common when arriving at agreements.

Although the abortion law failed to muster enough votes in the Senate to be enacted, TEIFEM continued beyond its initial aim of gathering support. We therefore sought new ways to practice a different style of activism, both professionally and linguistically, through activities where we could debate the various aspects of our work.
Linguistic sexism and translation meets non-binary language

Non-binary language is another major debate that has created considerable controversy in Argentina and several other Spanish-speaking countries. Also known as inclusive language, it involves modifying the Spanish language in order to introduce a neutral gender to refer to individuals whose gender expression isn't fixed, or a group of individuals with various genders.

For example, because third person pronouns either have a feminine or masculine gender in Spanish, where the “-a” ending generally indicates feminine and the “-o” indicates masculine, it has been suggested that the neutral gender pronoun “elle/elles” be used in place of “ella/ellas” and “él/ellos” (“she/they” and “he/they”). When adjectives are used to describe nouns or pronouns it is also important that they agree with the gender of the noun or pronoun, which is why the use of alternative neutral gender characters such as “x”, “@” or “e” has been suggested for the endings indicating the gender of adjectives and nouns—”todes” as opposed to “todas” or “todos” (all/every).


During the first TEIFEM Meeting, 28 September 2019. Credit: TEIFEM.

Interestingly, it is in the field of translation and interpreting, professions practiced mainly by women, where linguistic sexism is most evident. Each time that articles or comments concerning inclusive language are published, or when it is used in a written text, the most common reactions from many translators tend to be outright rejection, and sometimes forceful jibes, insults and attacks, as can be seen in the comments of this post from Las 1001 Traducciones, a well-known page dedicated to translation that shared a news story about TEIFEM.

Although TEIFEM's members are not unified on the subject of non-binary language, we have arrived at a basic consensus on how to deal with it. Mariana Rial, one of the group's creators, summarized this perspective in the translation podcast series En Pantuflas:

Translation
Original Quote


As language professionals, we have to be mindful of these phenomenona, irrespective of what seems good or bad to people as indviduals, what they like or dislike and what they think they can or cannot use… Essentially, it's about looking at it from a professional perspective.

Personally, except for in special circumstances, I'm not in the habit of using non-binary language in daily or work communications, although I do closely monitor this phenomenon with great interest. For me, it's a way doing my part, linguistically, to highlight a social and political issue: It has nothing to do with “forcibly” changing the language, but rather with showing how language reflects the social order.

The reality is also that many publishers, LGBT+ and trans rights organizations, and even official and international bodies have already started to consider using non-binary or gender-neutral language in some of their communications. The phenomenon has become difficult to ignore, and from a practical perspective, for those of us who translate, it's way to broadens our professional horizons.
An area that is revolutionizing the profession

The practice of translation is known for being relatively lonely and highly competitive. A translator or proofreader spends many hours in front of a screen, virtually connected to the world; a simultaneous interpreter generally spends hours in a booth with a headset and notes.

At TEIFEM, we are always looking for reasons to organize meetings that remove us from this isolation, that celebrate the professional achievements of our colleagues and encourage professional solidarity.


Many TEIFEM members are also members of other feminist and human rights organizations, giving us many opportunities for collaboration and strategic exchanges of knowledge and tools in order to achieve common objectives.

One example of this is the translations done by a few colleagues for the book The tragedy of woman's emancipation and other texts, a compilation of the writings of Emma Goldman produced by Red Editorial in which non-binary language was used. Also, as part of some of our activities, we donate menstrual hygiene products to organizations that distribute them to people living on the street or in extreme poverty.


A flyer for TEIFEM's participation in the Modern Languages information seminar of the University of La Plata, 2019.

Since it began almost two years ago, TEIFEM has become a highly active community, organizing and participating in talks, seminars and meetings. Some of its members have been interviewed for news articles, podcasts and there is even a chapter to us in a book published in 2019 called Mujeres colectivas.

On the time the Spanish version of that article was published, TEIFEM had more than 1,100 members. We maintain a private Facebook group, but many of the ideas that arise within it are shared externally on an Instagram account and on Twitter using the #TEIFEM hashtag, including information, recommendations, cultural stories and a variety of feminist- and linguistically-themed activities.

Like the languages we work with, TEIFEM is active and dynamic, developing in step with these fast-changing times in order to deal with new challenges creatively, professionally and, above all, through sisterhood between women.

For me, TEIFEM was the best way to get closer to feminism. I found a community where I am completely at ease, where the only rule is respect and tolerance, where I can ask questions without apprehension and share opinions that inspire us and make us all grow.


Written by Romina Navarro

Translated by Laura

‘Luanda Leaks': How Africa's richest woman plundered the Angolan state
The investigation was based on more than 715,000 documents
Translation posted 13 February 2020 10:10 GMT

Isabel dos Santos | ©NunoCoimbra – Cross-wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0

In January 2020, the investigation “Luanda Leaks,” led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and a team of journalists from different countries, revealed how Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, illegally accumulated a fortune of more than 2 billion US dollars while being advised by North American and European consulting firms.

The investigation was based on more than 715,000 documents received by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), a Paris-based nonprofit.

The investigation revealed Dos Santos directed millionaire contracts from state-oil company Sonangol, where she served as chairwoman from 2016 to 2017, to her own firms or those linked to her. It also indicates that the businesswoman managed to hid her fortune through companies based in tax havens such as Malta, Mauritius, and Hong Kong.

Angola is the second-largest oil producer and the fourth-largest diamond producer in Africa. Although poverty levels have improved in the past 15 years, half of the population still lives in poverty according to data by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.

Isabel dos Santos’ father, José Eduardo dos Santos, known in Angola as “JES”, served as president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. His government was marked by violations of human rights, and persecution to journalists and critics were widespread.

In 2016, JES appointed Isabel dos Santos as chairwoman of Sonangol, but she was dismissed as soon as a new president took office the following year. João Lourenço replaced JES as the leader of the ruling party Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and became president after the party obtained a parliamentary majority in the August 2017 elections.

In contrast with his predecessor, João Lourenço has been pushing anti-corruption reforms and opening channels of dialogue with civil society. In 2018, he received in his office activists and journalists who in the past had been persecuted by the authorities. In the same year, Lourenço said in an interview that he found the state coffers “practically empty” when he took over from JES.

In February 2018, the new Sonangol chief, Carlos Saturnino, revealed that Isabel dos Santos had ordered a bank transfer of 38 million US dollars from Sonangol to a bank account in Dubai shortly after she was fired from her job.

Dos Santos, who holds Russian citizenship due to her maternal ancestry, currently lives in Dubai.

Carlos Saturnino was fired from Sonangol in May 2019 amid a fuel shortage crisis in Angola.

Dos Santos has since denied any wrongdoing during her time as Sonangol's chairwoman. Through her social networks, she alleges that she is a victim of political persecution by the new Angolan government.


Consórcio ICIJ recebeu fuga de informação das “autoridades angolanas “??!! Interessante ver o estado angolano a fazer leaks jornalistas e para SIC-Expresso e depois vir dizer que isto não é um ataque político ?

— Isabel Dos Santos (@isabelaangola) January 19, 2020


So the ICIJ consortium received leaked information from “Angolan authorities” ?? !! Interesting to see the Angolan state leaking to journalists and to SIC-Expresso [a newspaper in Portugal] and then come saying that this is not a political attack?


Se houvesse interesse na verdade e não no assassinato de caracter,a SIC-Expresso teria entrevistado o actual PCA da Sonangol,teria entrevistado Dr.Edeltrudes Costa, teria entrevistado Dr.Archer Mangueira.
Como é um ataque político comandado e orquestrado só entrevistam o PGR.

— Isabel Dos Santos (@isabelaangola) January 19, 2020


If there was an interest in the truth rather than character assassination, SIC-Expresso would have interviewed the current Sonangol chief, it would have interviewed Dr. Edeltrudes Costa, it would have interviewed Dr. Archer Mangueira. As this is a commanded and orchestrated political attack, they have only interviewed the prosecutor-general.

Isabel dos Santos’ sister, Tchizé, suggested that Isabel returned an amount of 75 million US Dollars to the Angolan State:

Translation
Original Quote


Is it the debt of 75 million that is at stake? Pay, then, if they are asking for euros and do not want kwanzas, although a state would normally want to receive in its own currency, but if they need dollars and they are asking [dos Santos], the citizen who has benefited the most from business opportunities in Angola, it is time for her to repay everything the state has provided her, allowing her to close great deals and become the woman she is today… So, send money to Angola.

Rafael Marques, the Angolan journalist who had long investigated corruption in the Dos Santos family, commented to DW Africa about ICIJ's investigation:

Translation
Original Quote


This is news for which I have effectively waited for many years, but it also makes me sad. It makes me sad because only when foreigners speak the citizens listen, the world listens.

As an Angolan journalist, many of the facts that were revealed by these documents had already been revealed by me, but no one paid attention because I am an African journalist.

Only when European and American journalists talk about the issue that it becomes serious enough for certain governments and many countries’ societies to begin to pay attention. But it is important.

Amid the revelations, Isabel dos Santos has been disconnecting herself from several companies of which she holds shares, particularly businesses located in Portugal.

The director of the Portuguese bank Eurobic, where Sonangol had an account, was found dead in Lisbon on January 22, the same day Angola's prosecutor-general named him as a suspect in an inquiry into Sonangol and Isabel dos Santos.

The inquiry was opened in March 2018 following complaints made by Carlos Saturnino, but had been moving slowly until the more recent developments.


Written Translated byDércio Tsandzana

In Lebanon, journalists and activists who cover protests face threats 

Lebanon needs laws to protect journalists and media practitioners

Posted 14 February 2020


Journalists covering an anti-government protest near one of the blocked entrances to the Lebanese Parliament in the capital Beirut. Photo credit: Hassan Chamoun, used with permission.

Since the anti-austerity protests broke out in Lebanon on October 17, 2019, reporters and journalists have been flocking to the scene to provide up-to-date coverage.

Tens of thousands of people reflecting Lebanon’s diverse religious and class sectors took to the streets to demand social and economic reforms. What started as socio-economic protests have grown into a movement demanding the fall of political rulers who have governed the country under a sectarian political system since the end of the civil war in 1990, using the popular slogan, “All of them means all of them.”

Journalists and camera crews who showed up at the protests became the target of harassment by not only the country’s police and army but in some cases by protesters.

Media professionals have raised their voices against the use of excessive force against journalists who cover the mass protests. Many said they were harassed or had their equipment confiscated, or both. The SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom at the Samir Kassir Foundation (SKeyes) reported multiple incidents of injury and harassment of journalists from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), Murr Television (MTV), Agence France Presse (AFP) and Al-Jadeed on January 18 alone.

In one incident reported by Skeyes center on January 15, 2020 freelance journalist Saada Saada was covering a roadblock staged by protesters in the Furn al-Shubak area in Beirut, the capital, when a couple of soldiers started to beat him. He declared that he was a journalist and presented his press identification card, but soldiers reportedly tried to snatch his phone from his hands as they dragged, kicked and beat him. His injuries demanded medical attention and transfer to a local hospital.

In another incident on January 22, a correspondent for France 24, Leila Molana-Allen shared a video in which she says the police targeted a camera crew with water cannons:


Just got hit by water cannon myself after riot police turned the cannon on a group of journalists and onlookers filming the scene.#LebanonProtests https://t.co/x2eXL7dtfO

— Leila Molana-Allen (@Leila_MA) January 22, 2020

On January 21, SKeyes reported that an Associated Press photographer was pepper-sprayed by the police as he was covering protests in Beirut:


@LebISF also decide to mace journalists in downtown #Beirut tonight, after shooting them with rubber bullets two nights ago. #LebanonProtests https://t.co/JbVDVXYnfm

— Bachar EL-Halabi | بشار الحلبي (@Bacharelhalabi) January 21, 2020

On February 11, the same organisation reported that another journalist was hit with a rubber bullet.


Security forces shot photojournalist Jad Ghorayeb in the mouth with a rubber-coated steel bullet. #LebanonProtests #لبنان_يتنفض https://t.co/IPlVUCykc9

— Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) February 11, 2020

This treatment also extends to activists who report from the ground and express their views about the protests. This puts almost every active citizen at risk of harassment or arrest. Political expression on social media is getting more popular but also more risky, as several independent journalists and activists face interrogation or physical violence and threats for sharing their opinions on their social media profiles.

When the protests started, activist and blogger Joey Ayoub was one of many who headed to the scenes of the protests to report what he witnessed. On October 25, 2019, when he was recording on his mobile phone, a soldier tried to snatch the phone away, in an attempt to stop him from filming.

You can hear Ayoub tell the soldier in Arabic, “I have the right to record.”


Soldiers tried to take my phone away. Furn El Chebbak now#lebanonprotests#لبنان_ينتفض pic.twitter.com/gn3qFIb1tQ

— ابن بالدوين (@joeyayoub) October 25, 2019

This is problematic not only because it violates freedom of expression and freedom of the press, but also because digital media and content creators on digital media platforms are not protected under the Lebanese press law.

The current press law — adopted in 1962 and amended in 1977, 1994 and 1999 — covers print media only. Cases concerning broadcast journalists and content creators on digital platforms like web outlets and social media are dealt with under criminal law. As social media becomes increasingly more widespread among youth, activists and even officials, Lebanon has yet to adapt its legislation to expand protections to freedom of expression online and digital media.
Privacy threats

Police have reportedly taken away phones of people they arrest and force detainees to give up their passwords to grant authorities full access to their devices.

Mohamed Najem, the executive director of Social Media Exchange (SMEX), a digital rights advocacy group working in the Arab region, told Global Voices that his organization received complaints and reports of cases of protesters having to leave their phones behind even after they have been released, and police stations asked them later to go back and give them the passwords to their phones.

Najem says this issue has not gotten the attention it deserves yet and has called for a law that protects the personal data and the privacy of citizens:


We really need a law for data protection in #Lebanon. After the release of protestors, the security agency kept the protestors phone in custody and now asking them to give their phone passwords. This is a breach of privacy, and laws are not protective. #LebanonProtests

— Mohamad محمد (@monajem) January 22, 2020

Protests are ongoing in different parts of Lebanon, as the parliament approved a new government on February 12. Protesters, who have been calling for an independent transitional government and new parliamentary elections, see the this government as part of the old political establishment.

As the protests continue, journalists and activists remain at risk of arrest, harassment and physical violence.

SMEX has circulated tips to help activists and journalists minimise risks to their privacy during protests. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has put out a list of steps and measures journalists should take before heading out to cover the protests — including logistical planning and things to pack —to digital security and privacy protection.

These tips and precautions are useful for journalists and activists seeking to protect their right to privacy and avoid harassment and attacks as they report on the ground. However, unless the Lebanese authorities put strong measures in place to ensure the protection of press freedom and freedom of expression, violations will continue to take place.


Written byFaten Bushehri