text:
Hong Kong’s ‘Pro-Beijing’ Camp Is Imploding From Within in the Media · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screenshot of Sing Pao Daily's front page on September 13
In Hong Kong, you're either from the pro-Beijing camp and supportive of the central government of China, or from the pan-democracy camp and for less central control from China. But for three weeks, one of Hong Kong's oldest newspapers has been blurring the line.
Sing Pao Daily, which is otherwise known to be pro-Beijing, has been running anonymous critiques of the city's top leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying — who came to power with Beijing's blessing — and the powerful Liaison Office of the Central People's Government, which is Beijing's top representative body in Hong Kong.
Some critics believe the shocking move from Sing Pao Daily shows fissures within Hong Kong's pro-Beijing camp and represents views from a powerful sector within the pro-Beijing camp that has been marginalised by the chief executive and the Liaison Office.
Specifically, the paper has accused Leung of “inciting” independence in Hong Kong and cozying up with members of organised crime or the Triad. The anonymous commenter has also accused the Liaison Office of interfering in Hong Kong's domestic affairs and manipulating local legislative elections by supporting groups that divide the pan-democracy camp.
On September 12, a commentary in the paper went so far as to claim that Leung was part of a “Gang of Four” trying to destablise Hong Kong. The Gang of Four is a term used for four Chinese Communist Party officials who became incredibly powerful during the latter part of Mao's Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and were later charged with treason.
The next day, Sing Pao published a widely spread netizen-photoshopped picture of Leung sitting in a prison cell (see top photo) with a commentary attacking Jiang Zai Zhong, the CEO of the media group Ta Kung Pao, for turning his newspaper into Leung and the Liaison Office’s mouthpiece.
Leung dismissed the newspaper's accusations and simply said “it was not worth commenting on – you know what is going on very well.”
Some analysts believe the continuous anonymous critique is meant to ‘bombard’ Beijing with discontent and will not stop until Beijing finalises the list of candidates for Leung's replacement in the 2017 chief executive election. Leung was selected by a 1,200-member election committee with Beijing's blessing as the city's chief executive in 2012.
Others believe that the newspaper wants to drive home the need for an ongoing corruption investigation into the Liaison Office to deliver results. Since January 2016, a team from China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has been investigating the Liaison Office, looking into their financial records and reviewing the effectiveness and functioning of the Beijing body in Hong Kong.
Soon after the first commentary was published, various other newspapers in Hong Kong, including Wen Wei Po which is run by the Liaison Office, fought back and attempted to discredit Sing Pao, by attacking its owner. They published news reports accusing its chairman, Gu Zhuheng, of being a “fugitive” who was involved in an illegal money lending platform and is wanted by police in the Chinese city Shenzhen. Gu denounced the accusation, claiming that it was “false” and “libelous”.
Gu Zhuoheng took over Sing Pao Daily, one of Hong Kong's oldest papers, by injecting capital into the corporation when the paper was on the verge of bankruptcy in August 2015. At the time, people in Hong Kong believed that Gu was backed by the Beijing government in taking over the paper, in order to strengthen the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) control over media in Hong Kong. The Liaison Office already runs three newspapers in Hong Kong and most big media houses are editorially aligned with the pro-Beijing camp.
The first front-page commentary, published on August 30, created an uproar for holding Leung accountable for the rise of the independence movement in Hong Kong. Here's a translation courtesy of Hong Kong Free Press:
In fact, Hong Kong independence has no market in Hong Kong… Leung Chun-ying deliberately encouraged Hong Kong independence to consolidate the authority of his governance and the hawk faction.
The paper then urges the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) to investigate Leung and the Liaison Office over power abuse:
Hong Kong society expects the CCDI to investigate the work and the role of the Liaison Office along with a recommendation to disband the group that hurts the interests of the country and Hong Kong.
Sing Pao’s opinion actually echoes the view of many people in Hong Kong, who sarcastically labelled Leung as the father of Hong Kong's pro-independence movement, as he kept making public speeches on the “non-existing” separatist tendency.
According to the “one country, two systems” principle underwritten in 1997, when Hong Kong was handed back to the people of China from the UK, the city's capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years until 2047. But Beijing has been showing signs of impatience in recent years, encroaching more and more on Hong Kong's internal affairs, including disqualifying pro-independence candidates from elections and deploying strategies that split the pan-democrat votes and weaken their camp, which unlike the pro-Beijing camp, supports less central control from China.
Sing Pao ran another commentary, two days before voting in local elections began on September 2. The piece criticised Leung and the Liaison Office for providing resources and assistance to a pan-democratic political group called Youngspiration. The group is running against Scholarism, a student activist group behind the series of pro-democracy protests in 2014, known as the Umbrella Revolution. The paper also made accusations that a number of the group’s key members came from a non-profit organisation that is affiliated with Lau Nai Keung, a pro-Beijing businessman who is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. But Youngspiration has denied any linkage to Lau.
The anonymous commentator then questioned why Leung banned six pro-independence candidates running for legislative elections, but allowed members of Youngspiration to run the race, given that the group has openly claimed to support the self-determination of Hong Kong.
This was not the only time local elections in Hong Kong have seen the sudden rise of “radical” political groups within pan-democrats. For example, during the district council election in 2015, Anthony Cheng, who is connected to a pro-Beijing businessman, was offering election funds to new political groups, which had the potential to compete with other pan-democratic parties.
Sing Pao continued to bombard Leung and the China Liaison Office after the legislative elections. After newly elected lawmaker Eddie Chu received a death threat, Sing Pao accused Leung of actively seeking the Triad or organised crime's support when he started his election campaign in 2012.
The paper reminded the public of a dinner in February 2012 in which Leung and his election team were sitting with a dozen representatives of the indigenous rural community, two of whom are believed to be aligned with the Triad. The dinner meeting was Leung’s election campaign.
Leung did not shy away from the Triad after coming into office, which analysts say has undermined the rule of law in Hong Kong. After Leung became the chief executive, in August 2013 members of the Triad were called to stop anti-government protesters from approaching a town hall meeting that Leung was attending. During the pro-democracy protests in 2014, members of the Triad were mobilised to attack sit-in protesters in Mong Kok.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
In Bulgaria, an Example of How Refugees Need Not Be a Problem, but a Solution · Global Voices
Marko Angelov

Balkan Wars refugees from Greece resettled in Bulgaria in 1913. Many contemporary Bulgarians are direct descendants of waves of refugees who were successfully integrated into Bulgarian society over the last two centuries. Photo: Wikipedia, Public Domain.
Refugees fleeing conflict and persecution in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere continue to follow the so-called Balkan Route from Turkey to Hungary in search of better life in Western Europe, and some European governments continue to greet them with hostility. Mainstream right-wing politicians use their presence to intimidate their constituencies, and in some countries the refugee crisis is used as an excuse for paramilitary activities.
If you happen to believe that this is the wrong approach, here's one more reason to add to your arsenal.
A recent news story by the Balkan Investigative Reporters Network (BIRN) about Bulgaria tells the story of one man that illustrates how refugees can provide solutions to some existing problems, in this case by providing talent for sectors experiencing a shortage of qualified workers.
“The Bulgarian business processing sector lacks 50,000 people. The first condition for employees is to speak one more language apart from their mother tongue, because the companies operating from Bulgaria provide services for the whole world,” Vasil Velichkov, owner of the Sofia-based Sensika company, explained to BIRN.
Educated refugees like Syrian journalist and professor of literature Elias Sulaiman, 33, help fill such gaps. He came to Bulgaria in 2013 seeking passage to Germany or Sweden, but as he spent time in the country helping other refugees as a volunteer, he began to learn about opportunities for employment in the growing IT industry there, and is now an employee of an outsourcing company. He also has started a family with local woman. A major factor of his success was his knowledge of native Arabic and Spanish.
For their part, Bulgaria's business sector managed to convince the government “to ease the procedure for non-European specialists to obtain a European blue card that gives them the right to work.” However, Sulaiman's case is relatively rare due to a lack of government outreach towards the general refugee population.
An Iraqi refugee family arriving in Europe. Photo: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, CC BY-NC-ND.
A shortage of workers isn't exclusive to Bulgaria — or at least won't be as time goes on. Most European countries, including non-European Union members, have aging populations, and if things don't change, they'll need quite a few workers able to do all sorts of jobs in the near future.
Bulgaria has also seen its own citizens leave the country in droves in its recent history. Several years ago after Bulgaria joined the European Union, many workers left for the greener pastures suddenly available to them in wealthier EU countries. For instance, many Bulgarians went to the UK to work as strawberry and potato pickers or to Greece to work as hotel maids. A visitor to Bulgaria at that time would often hear the locals complaining about how all the youth and women were ‘gone.’
However, refugees coming to Europe aren't always being treated as potential contributing members of society.
The Bratislava Declaration, adopted on September 16 by the leaders of 27 states remaining in the EU (without the UK), uses a language reminiscent more of a state of war than a humanitarian crisis. For instance, it speaks of a “commitment today by a number of Member States to offer immediate assistance to strengthen the protection of Bulgaria's border with Turkey, and continue support to other frontline States” (emphasis added).
Refugees and other migrants remain vulnerable to mistreatment. Politico.com noted that human rights groups in Hungary have raised concerns that the international community is turning a blind eye to various abuses by authorities on the Hungarian border.
Hungary “beating the hell out of these people before sending them back to Serbia” – @LydsG in @POLITICOEurope https://t.co/5C6bFnOX2C pic.twitter.com/iedl1Byv25
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) September 20, 2016
Europe had its share of refugee crises during the last hundred years. Often times, the continent's governments didn't respond with empathy, in spite of moral imperatives. Many of the countries on today's Balkan Route were directly affected both as sources of exiled people and as refugee destinations after the Balkan Wars, World War I, the Holocaust, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and ‘ethnic cleansing’ campaigns in the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia.
“…history eventually sides with those who help refugees, not with those who vilify them.” – @NickKristof https://t.co/Vid6xIy7dw
— Melissa Fleming (@melissarfleming) September 19, 2016
History had also showed that in many cases, misguided bureaucratic attitudes can cause as much human suffering as downright racism and bigotry. Many of the perpetrators of abuse during the above mentioned historic events later claimed they were just blindly obeying orders and following ‘the rules.’
The Center for Legal Aid “Voice in Bulgaria” published a report on its findings about the legal and humanitarian aspects of the detentions of over 30,000 migrants and asylum seekers in 2015 and over 5,000 during the first five months of 2016. Most of the aprehended people were from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Detention of #migrants in Bulgaria: download the full report https://t.co/OFrmsp49rJ
You can visit the website too: https://t.co/XWUMP8AUXe
— Ruslan Trad (@ruslantrad) September 19, 2016
The report confirmed the existence of “routine detention practices, in most cases based rather on policies for ‘dealing’ with the increased migration flows than on individual assessment in the particular case and a necessity to impose this type of measure only in view of attaining the final goal of removal of these persons from the country.”
It also noted worrisome attitudes towards unaccompanied minors and corrupt practices during apprehension.
Stepping out of that unwelcoming mindset can be beneficial both for the refugees and the host countries.
In 2014, Melissa Fleming of the United Nations’ refugee agency gave a TED talk about the need to help the refugees rebuild their lives, instead just allowing them to survive.
Not investing in refugees is a huge missed opportunity. Leave them abandoned, and they risk exploitation and abuse, and leave them unskilled and uneducated, and delay by years the return to peace and prosperity in their countries […] The victims of war can hold the keys to lasting peace, and its the refugees who can stop the cycle of violence.

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Marko Angelov


text:
Netizen Report: Internet Shutdowns Are Ever-Present in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

A 2014 demonstration against mobile shutdowns in North Sinai. Banner reads: “We don't want to use Israeli networks because of your neglect.” Photo by Sinai2014/SinaiOutofCoverage group page.
Citizens in Egypt’s North Sinai region weathered a shutdown of phone and Internet services over the weekend of September 17 that went on for at least eight hours. Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that most areas of the region have had service restored, but there’s little hope that networks will remain connected for good.
The northern zone of the Sinai Peninsula, which abuts Israel and Palestine’s Gaza strip, has been heavily controlled by the Egyptian military since mid-2013, when they began in earnest their assault on violent insurgent groups in the region. By early 2014, cuts to telecommunications networks would regularly last throughout the day, in what appears to be an effort to deter insurgents from communicating with one another. The collateral damage this has brought upon citizens, leaving them unable to communicate, stay in touch with loved ones, send and receive information and money, among many other things, is incalculable. Citizen groups have organized to protest the cuts on various occasions, but have seen little result. The cuts have also helped solidify a de facto media blackout in the region that has resulted from strict punishments for journalists seeking to cover military operations in the area.
In December 2015, Egyptian technologist and Global Voices’ author Ramy Raoof described to TIME Magazine how security authorities were cutting network connections “indiscriminately,” noting that they have made no effort to preserve basic or emergency services, such as the ability to call for an ambulance. And when networks are down, insurgents can use other unblockable means of communications like roaming foreign (chiefly Israel-based) mobile networks and satellites. Like many others, Raoof reasons: “It doesn’t prevent the bad guys from doing bad things.”
A Kuwaiti court convicted Sheikh Abdullah Salem Al Sabah of insulting the royal family, despite the fact that he is the grandnephew of the emir. He has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of USD $16,500 for sending a Snapchat message in which he criticized the main cabinet, which is occupied entirely by members of the royal family (and his own).
Russian prosecutors have called for opposition blogger Anton Nossik to be sentenced to two years in a penal colony for publishing “extremist statements” online. The charges stem from a blog post titled “Wipe Syria From the Face of the Earth,” where Nossik called for bombing all of the country, including territory controlled by the Syrian government — an expression of opposition to the Assad regime. The post was published just days before the Russian government began a bombing campaign in support of the ruling Assad government. Nossik’s verdict is set to be announced on October 3.
Despite a relative absence of government protests, state-sponsored repression in the UAE is commonplace: arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, unfair trials, deportations and revocation of citizenship are tactics used to silence dissent in the country. Despite boasts by UAE leaders of the high living standards of citizens, “for the time being…activists and government critics do not seem to enjoy the happiness, well-being and safety the Emirates offer,” writes Global Voices’ Afef Abrougui.
Bahrain is using an Internet filtering software called Netsweeper to censor political content, including pages relating to human rights, opposition politics, Shiite websites, local and regional news sources and content critical of religion, according to new research by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. Citizen Lab researchers found that the software was being used on nine Bahrain-based ISPs during the summer of 2016.  The report concludes: “The sale of technology used to censor political speech and other forms of legitimate expression, to a state with a highly problematic human rights record, raises serious questions about the corporate social responsibility practices of Netsweeper.”
Russian authorities blocked two major porn sites this week, including PornHub and YouPorn, by adding the sites to the country’s blacklist. Russian censors have targeted porn streaming services in the past, but previously limited bans to Russian localized versions. This is the first time ISPs have been asked to ban the full global versions of the sites. Led by a group of journalists, Russian Internet users have responded to the bans with an online flashmob, where people film themselves watching pornographic videos and narrating what they see.
Twitter’s latest transparency report shows that the US government made more requests for users’ personal data than any other government — and that overall the number of government requests rose 2.1 percent, affecting 8 percent more user accounts. In this report, Twitter also revealed more detailed information on who is making the requests from the US. The company said the FBI, Secret Service and the New York County District Attorney’s Office were the top requesters for account information.
Calls for more emoji diversity have expanded beyond skin color to include more culturally diverse representations, writes GV’s Eddie Avila. In addition to a recent petition to include a hijab emoji, indigenous language activists in Mexico and Chile have begun to create their own emoji sets reflecting traditional dress and linguistic expressions in languages including Huastec, spoken mostly in central Mexico, and Mapudungun, spoken by the Mapuche of Chile.
September 17 marked Software Freedom Day, a global celebration of the use of free and open source software. To mark the occasion, free and open source software enthusiasts gathered together in cities around the world to hold hackathons, run free software installation camps, and educate people about its use.
Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Weiping Li and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


text:
The Office on Missing Persons in Sri Lanka: A New Chapter or Another Empty Promise? · Global Voices
GroundViews

A mother is still waiting for her missing son. Image via Flickr, by Vikalpa/Groundviews.
This post by Bhavani Fonseka originally appeared on Groundviews, an award-winning citizen journalism website in Sri Lanka. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement.
11 August 2016 was an important day for the victims of past abuses in Sri Lanka. This was when Sri Lanka’s Parliament enacted legislation to establish the first permanent entity to investigate enforced and involuntary disappearances and missing persons. For the family members of the victims, many of whom have experienced numerous investigations with no follow-up, the Office on Missing Persons may finally be able to provide them answers and end the silence.
Thousands of people have disappeared in Sri Lanka since the 1980s stemming from the country's 26-year-long war with Tamil Tiger rebels (1983-2009) and a separate Marxist insurrection (1987-89). Different human rights groups have documented many of the disappearances and attributed them to the Sri Lankan security forces, pro-government paramilitary groups and Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups. In 2016, the present coalition government under President Maithripala Sirisena agreed to issue a certificate of absence to relatives of over 65,000 people who went missing during the civil war and the Marxist uprising.
Further, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP), which was a proposal by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, was created. The OMP bill faced challenges from some members of parliament, but with the support of all the key parties, the legislation was passed in Parliament. The road to OMP can be viewed on a timeline here.
Although Sri Lanka now has legislation establishing a permanent body to investigate these cases, no official figures are available on the exact numbers of disappearances and the missing in Sri Lanka. The recently concluded Paranagama Commission received over 25,000 complaints of missing persons. Over the years multiple commissions have received thousands more complaints. This means thousands across Sri Lanka continue to search for answers.
In many instances family members go from one investigation to another, clinging to the hope of finding their loved ones or at the very least getting answers. The search, despite the many difficulties and challenges, is a basic ask: what happened to my loved one?
The OMP is an independent office with seven members appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. The members of the OMP are meant to be independent individuals with expertise on human rights, international humanitarian law, humanitarian issues, fact-finding among other areas. There is also a fixed term of three years and limitation of two terms per member.
The office will be headquartered in Colombo with the option of having field offices. Many victims have been vocal that the OMP must have field presence which will facilitate access for them to engage with it.
The OMP has the mandate to trace, search and investigate into complaints brought before them on cases of both the missing and disappeared. Due to its permanent nature, there is no fear of whether the mandate will be renewed or not, as faced by many other commissions. This provides for the OMP to conduct investigations thoroughly and not be rushed by any deadlines.
The legislation provides for a tracing unit but specifies that the OMP also has the discretion to establish other units or divisions, ensuring that the office is able to obtain the necessary expertise and technical assistance required to investigate into cases, some spanning decades.
Sri Lanka has had a long list of state-driven investigations including numerous commissions of inquiry. Several have solely been on enforced disappearances and/or missing persons. Thousands of people have gone before these numerous initiatives, recounting past events and abuses, and in many cases have done so multiple times, going from one investigation to another, repeating experiences to multiple persons and entities.
For most, their questions remained unanswered. Such experiences involved complex emotions of hope, frustration, anger, fatigue, anticipation, disappointment and much more. For many, state initiatives by successive governments have failed and there is no trust another commission will make a difference.
But the OMP is different to past initiatives because:
Successive government have attempted and failed to provide answers to a significant number of people from across Sri Lanka on the whereabouts of their missing loved ones. Investigations, inquiries, committees and commissions over the years have all failed in this basic task of finding answers. Despite the lack of confidence with such initiatives, thousands continue to engage with the hope that the next initiative may provide answers. Failures with past initiatives and structural flaws are the very reasons for a new entity with the necessary powers to investigate and find answers.
The OMP provides a chance to correct these wrongs. This is the time to go beyond the rhetoric and to establish a mechanism that can finally, after years of failed attempts, provide answers to the thousands still searching for their loved ones. It is also finally an opportunity to say “never again.”

author: GroundViews


text:
The Russian Political Prisoner’s Cookbook · Global Voices
Darina Gribova

Instagram: Russidit
You lose a lot when you're locked up in prison, but one thing you gain is oodles of time to think about your interests and hone your talents. Russian political prisoners are certainly familiar with this experience, and Oleg Navalny—the brother of the famous anti-corruption activist—is no exception.
In late 2014, Oleg was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on embezzlement charges in a case that was widely viewed to be a political attack by the government against his brother, Alexey, who was let off with a suspended sentence. Oleg has spent his time behind bars studying foreign languages and sketching stickers for the instant messaging app Telegram.
Andrei Barabanov is another political prisoner who was locked up for his involvement in a “March of Million” rally that ended violently in Moscow on May 6, 2012. Barabanov was one of more than two dozen suspects in a broad police investigation that effectively ended anti-establishment protests sweeping the capital for months prior. While in prison, he developed his cooking skills.
Barabanov spent more than 3.5 years in prison, and was finally released in December 2015. Last month, the 26 year old launched an account on Instagram, called “Russidit” (or “Rus’ Lies in Prison”), where he shares various recipes he and his cellmates learned in prison. The Instagram account is part of a month-long campaign supported by a charitable project designed to help convicts and their families. Barabanov hopes to bring remind the news media about the “Bolotnoe Case,” which is how the investigation into the May 2012 rally is known in Russia.
The online cookbook's recipe for a festive prison pie lists the following first step: “forge a bond of trust with your prisonmates.” The final step is a reminder to share the pie with your friends.
Barabanov's recipe calls for pie crust, condensed milk, a can of peaches, a can of strawberries, peanuts, milk, and a chocolate bar—all items available for sale at a prison's commissary on those special days when inmates are allowed to make purchases.
A photo posted by Фонд “Русь Сидящая” (@russidit) on
Barabanov's cookbook project also includes instructions to make hors d'oeuvres on matchsticks. He writes: “I celebrated New Year's Eve 2014 at the Butyrka prison. The guys and I started preparations several weeks early, asking our relatives to bring us some of the rarer ingredients. We also did some shopping in a kiosk, and fished for potatoes in canteen dishes to make a Russian salad later.”
Barabanov says the inmates wanted to feel “the classic New Year spirit” and the “special holiday atmosphere,” in order to forget, however briefly, about the reality of their surroundings.
A photo posted by Фонд “Русь Сидящая” (@russidit) on
Barabanov's own recipes are all vegetarian: quick-ready noodles with mayo, cheese soup, salad with beans, and more. The Instagram project also shows how to make moonshine in the conditions of a prison cell (“an alcohol spin-off of the campaign” courtesy of Ilya Guschin, who served more than 2.5 years in prison) and a hazelnut chocolate spread like Nutella (created by Alexander Margolin, who served 3 years behind bars).
Like Barabanov, Guschin and Margolin were also locked up as part of the Bolotnoe Case. Thanks to that unhappy coincidence, the men now share an Instagram cookbook in common, as well.

author: Darina Gribova


text:
What Central Asian Leaders Can Learn from Ban Ki-moon’s Last Speech as UN Secretary General · Global Voices
Abdulfattoh Shafiev

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has met several times with Islam Karimov, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Here they are pictured in September of 2010. UN Photo/Evan Schneider
In his last speech as the United Nations Secretary General at the opening of the 71 session of the General Assembly of the UN in New York on September 20, 2016, Ban Ki-moon opened up on everything he had learned during ten years at the apex of one of the most powerful, but simultaneously most dysfunctional organizations in the world.
His speech was a defence of the oppressed and an assault on oppressors. He rode a metaphorical tank over the world's longtime dictators, calling Bashar Assad worse than ISIS, while defending Muslims.
Some passages in his speech also seemed to be aimed at the ossified and aspiring autocrats in Central Asia, such as this one:
Ban: in too many places, we see leaders rewriting constitutions, manipulating elections & clinging to power. 1/2 #UNGA pic.twitter.com/djBSEWccdq
— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) September 20, 2016
Just last week Turkmenistan inserted changes into its constitution that will allow President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to rule for life. The broader population was not consulted.
That followed a constitutional referendum in May 2016 in Tajikistan that seems to install as a dynasty the Rakhmon family that has effectively ruled the country since 1992.
In the Caucasus state of Azerbaijan and the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, constitutional referendums are also pending.
In 25 years of independence, all Central Asian countries have rewritten their constitutions, mostly to benefit incumbent leaders, while only Kyrgyzstan has ever held an election judged free and fair by international vote monitors.
Ban Ki-moon told “fathers-of-nations” all over the world:
Leaders must understand that holding office is a trust, granted by the people, not personal property.
Sitora Shodavlat, a Tajik social media user joked:
Интересно , кого же он имел ввиду?!)))
I wonder, who he was talking about?!))))
Said Safarov chimed:
ой, да кого угодно, только не Таджикистан ))))
Anyone, probably, but not Tajikistan ))))
To which Shodavlat replied:
Ну что ты, что ты))))))). Только не Таджикистан!! Может Канаду, Швейцарию, и тд и тп((((((
What are you saying? Of course not Tajikistan! Maybe he meant Canada, Switzerland and so on ((((
Speaking weeks after the death of long-reigning Uzbek President Islam Karimov — to whom he paid tribute on September 16 — Ban Ki-Moon also said:
My message is clear: serve yr ppl. Don't subvert democracy; don't pilfer your country’s resources; don't imprison & torture yr critics. 2/2
— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) September 20, 2016
His message about torture is particularly relevant in Central Asia, where security forces have rich imaginations when it comes to their treatment of activists, political opponents and pious Muslims that refuse to worship in mosques where clerics issue sermons praising autocrats.
Trumped up charges range from backdated accusations of sexual assault, possession of narcotics (planted), financial fraud (invented) and the increasingly popular “membership of a terrorist organisation.”
Methods for extracting confessions include needles under the nails, electrocutions, and in the case of Uzbekistan, occasional boiling — or after a swell of international criticism, freezing — of suspects. Here are Amnesty International’s profiles on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan for more information.
In these secular countries, where up to 90% of the population follows Islam, growing a beard or wearing a hijab can earn a rebuke or worse — a forced shaving, for instance — from the state.
Doubtless the UN Secretary General was addressing this kind of persecution, as well as growing intolerance of Muslims in Europe and the United States when he said:
Muslims in particular are being targeted by stereotyping and suspicions that have haunting echoes of the dark past.
Ban Ki-moon’s last speech as UN Secretary General contained notes of hope, too. Notably, the hope that power will be invested in the diverse people of the world.
He cited examples of inspiring humanity, such as a nurse in Sierra Leone, a Syrian refugee swimmer, a Pakistani blogger.
Sadly there were no names from Central Asia on his list, but hope remains for the people of these ex-Soviet countries that a new generation will find its voice to promote change, and put the region on the map for the right reasons.

author: Abdulfattoh Shafiev


text:
Why Aren’t We Talking About Mexican Prisons? · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Prisoners in the Reclusorio Norte prison in Mexico City. Photo from Flickr user Eneas de Troya. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Mexico's New Penal Justice System or Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal (NSJP), an ambitious judicial reform originally passed in 2008, came into effect in June 2016. The most widely reported aspects of the NSJP are the oral proceedings and the adoption of a process similar to the one used in the United States.
However, it will also impact the penitentiary system in ways that are rarely, if ever, spoken of in mainstream media except in extreme cases like that of “El Chapo” Guzmán, the notorious drug trafficker who escaped twice from supposedly maximum security facilities.
According to an online report from the newspaper Zócalo de Saltillo, it is expected that with the implementation of the NSJP, a large number of people will be set free and Mexican prisons could very soon experience changes in the number of prisoners.
Unos 50,000 presos federales y locales pronto podrían estar en las calles. Se trata de reos que no han sido sentenciados hasta ahora y que, de acuerdo con la miscelánea para el nuevo sistema penal aprobada ayer por el Senado, tendrán derecho a solicitar su libertad a partir del próximo sábado.
Some 50,000 federal and local prisoners could soon be on the streets. These are inmates who have not been sentenced until now and, according to the various articles in the new penal system approved yesterday by the Senate, they will have the right to request release beginning next Saturday.
Beyond those currently imprisoned, the number of new people being incarcerated should, in theory, decline thanks to the NSJP because only a handful of crimes will result in prison sentences, among them: intentional homicide, genocide, rape, espionage, terrorism and crimes against health (drug trafficking). Lesser crimes, such as loss of property, theft and fraud, will not necessarily mean the guilty party will have to go to jail.
Before the reform, people accused of the above crimes needed to remain incarcerated (on remand) during the trial, leading to prison saturation. This is one of the issues tackled in the work done by the organization México Evalúa and shared with followers by the Twitter user René Sánchez Puls:
Pésimamente manejado el sistema penitenciario #cárceles de #México vean los datos por entidad doc 80 pags @mexevaluahttps://t.co/wUJ9AUbasY
— René Sánchez Puls (@rspuls7) 3 de junio de 2016
Horribly managed penitentiary system prisons in México look at the percentages by state doc 80 pages @mexevaluahttps://t.co/wUJ9AUbasY
Edgar López. Photo by Flickr user Edgar Efrén López Ramos, Reclusorio Sur 02. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Mexican prisons are going through a crisis that reflects the daily inequality in the country: While some have it all, others don't even have a space to sleep.
In the beginning of 2016, a prison center called Topo Chico was the scene of a massacre, which received short-lived media attention. Luis González de Alba, a writer who spent time in prison decades ago, referred to this attention in a piece for the magazine Nexos:
Con el escándalo del enfrentamiento de dos pandillas de narcos en el penal de Topo Chico, cerca de Monterrey, y los 49 muertos que dejó el saldo sangriento, se produjo una revisión de las instalaciones y nos informan, con inexplicable alarma y sorpresa, que había irregularidades nunca imaginadas: prisioneros VIP con celdas acondicionadas a su gusto y muebles de recámara, televisores y hasta saunas.
The scandal, caused by the confrontation between two drug gangs in the Topo Chico prison near Monterrey, which ended in a bloody toll of 49 deaths, led to a revision of the facilities. We are informed, with inexplicable alarm and surprise, that there were irregularities hardly imaginable: VIP prisoners with air-conditioned cells to suit their tastes, bedroom furniture, televisions and even saunas.
González de Alba continued by giving comments based on his personal experience in jails:
El grupo dominante vendía el derecho a tener una litera de cemento y no un lugar en el suelo para dormir, alimentos especiales, ya no digamos droga y servicios sexuales. Todo costaba al preso y la autoridad no sólo era tolerante, sino parte de la extorsión a los prisioneros. Me asombra el asombro: así ha sido siempre en las cárceles del país. La novedad es que también ocurra en las de alta seguridad.
The dominant group sold the right to sleep on a cement bunk instead of a place on the floor, special food and it goes without saying, drugs and sexual services. Everything was for a price for the inmate and the authorities were not only tolerant, but they took part in extorting inmates. I'm surprised by the surprise: It has always been like this in the country's prisons. The novelty is that it also happens in maximum security prisons.
The dominance of inmate groups to which Alba refers above is spoken about very little in the media. A report from the business magazine Forbes, quoting an official source, is an example of one of the few times it is covered:
De acuerdo con la Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (CNDH), el deficiente control en las funciones de autoridad por parte de los servidores públicos dentro de los centros, da lugar a situaciones de autogobierno.
In accordance with the National Committee for Human Rights (CNDH), deficient control in authoritative functions on the part of public servants inside the prisons gives rise to situations of self-government.
Self-government, but also overcrowding and unsanitary conditions brought on by overpopulation in Mexican penitentiary centers, are topics which I myself explored in a piece for the newspaper Mexican Times:
Hacinamiento, insalubridad y corrupción tienen en ruina al #SistemaPenitenciario: @tadeo_rc https://t.co/agOuu2I6ufpic.twitter.com/B2zXdHBIqW
— Mexican Times (@MexicanTimes) 7 de septiembre de 2016
Overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and corruption have brought ruin to the penitentiary system: @tadeo_rc https://t.co/agOuu2I6ufpic.twitter.com/B2zXdHBIqW
The penitentiary system crisis is not limited in the region to Mexico. The newspaper El País has reported in the past about overpopulation plaguing prisons in Latin America.
Lupita Pitalua is another person who is worried about the penitentiary crisis:
Mientras escucho un documental sobre el tema, la problemática debe atenderse ¡YA! #SistemaPenitenciario en #Méxicohttps://t.co/smPDtWsfF3
— Lupita Pitalua (@LuPitalua77) 20 de marzo de 2016
While I'm listening to a documentary about the topic, the problem needs to be addressed now! Penitentiary system in Mexico
With the NSJP's implementation, the Mexican penitentiary system may finally come out of the shadows, where it has been forgotten by authorities and the media. Beyond the latest reform, there's still much to be resolved, such as the issue of reintegrating offenders into society and not just keeping them in captivity only to later release them without any treatment.

author: J. Tadeo


text:
A Specially Designed Keyboard Allows Yorùbá and Igbo Speakers to Type Their Languages · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Screenshot from “How Do You Tone Mark in Yorùbá?”
Typing Nigerian languages, such as Yorùbá and Igbo, is usually a challenge as most keyboards are not equipped for the tonality that characterizes them. These technical barriers have been a source of concern for many Nigerians who would wish to type their local languages properly.
However, this might no longer be an issue thanks to YorubaName.com, which has developed a Yorùbá and Igbo keyboard. YorubaName.com is a multimedia dictionary of Yorùbá names, which seeks to:
…preserve and document all Yorùbá names in a multimedia format. It is part of a long-term project to document all types of African cultural experiences on the internet as a way of ensuring the survival of African identities in their various expressions.
YorubaName.com was founded by Kọlá Túbọsún, whose bachelor of arts’ thesis formed the backbone of the project. He and his team of linguists and techies, including Global Voices author and translator Laila Le Guen, are behind the keyboard.
Laila has been a volunteer with the YorubaName project since March 2015, and she recently completed a three-year diploma in Yorùbá studies offered at Inalco, Paris, that included a rigorous language course alongside specialised classes in linguistics, history, literature and anthropology. She explained in an interview the issue that the keyboard solves:
Laila Le Guen, YorubaNames.com team member, editor and translator.
Yorùbá is both a language and the name of one of three major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Besides Nigeria, it is also spoken in the Republic of Benin and in communities elsewhere in the world. There are about 30 million speakers of Yorùbá worldwide.
Nigeria hosts about 250 ethnic groups and 500 languages, but information and communication technology is generally not made with any of those languages in mind. There's also the issue of preserving and promoting their cultural and language identity while abroad: Although there is paucity of accurate statistics, rough estimates drawn from different Nigerian embassies and the International Organisation for Migration show that 15 million Nigerians live outside the country. This seems valid because according to reports, Nigerians living abroad remitted US$21 billion back home in 2014 alone.
Nigerians in the diaspora and those at home wish to keep their identity alive. They want to type, send and receive SMS and make social media posts in their local languages, but most times they are unable to do so. Thus the justifiable interest in the new keyboard developed by Leila and her colleagues.
Laila and Kola engaging some students in Irawo, a private hall of residence affiliated to the University of Ibadan, Nigeria during a road tour to promote YorubaNames.com in July. Image used with permission
Although it originally focused on Yorùbá, the keyboard eventually expanded to Igbo, another major Nigerian language. Laila explained:
When we started sharing the keyboard layout on social media and encouraging our community to use it, we received a number of requests from Igbo speakers to make a similar product for their language. It turns out that Igbo orthography is very similar to Yorùbá, in the sense that it also includes grave and acute accents as tone marks, as well as subdots. Since Igbo requires only a couple of extra characters (ị, ụ and ñ), it made sense to add them in the updated June 2016 release.
The keyboard aids users to switch from English to Yorùbá and Igbo, and is adapted for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Laila gave a synopsis of the unique features of this keyboard:
The keyboard enables users to type English, Yorùbá and Igbo without switching language preference settings. The key combinations to type characters such as ṣ or á are easy to memorise which makes for a fast learning process. It's available for Mac and Windows and we're hoping to develop a Linux version and mobile solutions in the future. Also, it's free :)
In a country where ethnic narratives are often characterized by hate, a project that seeks to immortalize Nigerian native languages using online tools is more than heartwarming. This is especially instructive because languages are the purveyors of culture and all the other aspects of the identity of a people.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


text:
Drone Video Exposes Illegal Burning of Land on Palm Oil Plantations in Indonesia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Screenshot of a palm oil field that was cleared by burning in Indonesia. Image is from a drone video uploaded on YouTube.
A drone video captured the extent of burnt oil palms and the clearing of land in the western region of Indonesia. The burning of land is believed to be the cause of the haze that has blanketed Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia every year.
The drone's launch was part of an investigation by Eyes on the Forest Indonesia (EOF), a coalition of three environment groups which was established in 2004 to study the recurring forest fires.
According to EOF, the video gave proof that 3,000 hectares of land allegedly owned by plantation company Andika Permata Sawit Lestari (APSL) were ‘deliberately burned’.
The video can be used as an additional evidence against the company, which is facing charges of land grabbing and operating without a proper license.
In recent months, the Indonesian government has stepped up its efforts to stop forest fires in Riau, the ‘ground zero’ of the haze disaster. It vowed to prosecute companies responsible for the forest fires. It also urged Malaysia and Singapore to probe the companies in their countries which are funding the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia.
Early this month, seven employees of the government’s environment ministry investigating a fire incident were hostaged by scores of individuals who were assumed to be employees of a plantation company. They were released after the police intervened and only after they deleted photos and videos of what they documented in the area.
The EOF said the drone video confirmed what the employees were investigating.
As Indonesia pursues its probe about the issue, haze continues to plague the country and its neighbors.
Watch the drone video that exposes the burning of land in Indonesia:

author: Mong Palatino


text:
How an ‘American Spy’ May Have Exposed Russian Election Fraud · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

“Spies Like Us.” Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
It’s been nearly a week since Russians voted for parliament, which has been plenty of time for accusations of widespread election fraud to circulate online. The most damning revelation seems to come from blogger and physicist Sergei Shpilkin, who published statistical evidence suggesting that nearly half of the votes cast for United Russia, the ruling political party, were falsified.
Shpilkin, who shared similar statistical evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2011, argues that true voter turnout was 11 percent lower than what officials claim, meaning that millions of votes were simply invented. (According to Shpilkin’s interpretation of the election data, United Russia’s performance last Sunday violates the basic assumptions political scientists make about free and open elections.)
United Russia's fabulous flouting of Gaussian distribution. Image: Sergei Shpilkin / LiveJournal
On Election Day, journalists reporting from voting stations throughout Russia provided plenty of anecdotal confirmation of Shpilkin’s thesis. The Reuters news agency, for instance, randomly sampled 11 polling stations, sending reporters across central and western Russia to count people casting ballots and to observe potential violations.
Reuters’ election report, “Phantom Voters, Smuggled Ballots Hint at Foul Play in Russian Vote,” describes numerous irregularities, including stuffed ballots, people voting more than once, and even a complaint that one reporter’s hand-held mechanical counter was really “an object of radioactive nature.”
On September 22, US-based Russian blogger Alexander Kireev decided to compare the results from different voting precincts in Ufa, to judge the possible impact of monitoring work by Reuters reporters at a voting station in the region. Kireev found that the presence at Polling Station 62 of correspondent Jack Stubbs (who's been smeared as a “US spy,” though he is British) correlated to voting results that differ dramatically from every other polling station in the area.
Writing a LiveJournal post titled “How An American Spy Saved the Votes of People Living in a Bashkirian Village,” Kireev demonstrates in a graph (decorated with a humorous spy emoji) that Polling Station 62 was one of just two precincts in the entire Ufa region with turnout below 30 percent. More mysterious still: United Russia attracted far lower support than it averaged everywhere else, and the tiny, ostensibly unpopular anti-Kremlin party “Yabloko” won a percentage of the votes more than 20 times higher than it did in all other areas of Ufa.
(The columns below read, from left to right: turnout, United Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Yabloko, the Communist Party, and A Just Russia. Each row after the first row represents a different polling station.)
Election precinct results from Ufa.
The numbers, as always, are subject to interpretation, and perhaps Polling Station 62 was merely an outlier to the prevailing trends in Sunday’s vote. If that isn’t the case, however, it’s possible that a journalist from Reuters managed to reveal what real elections in Russia would have looked like.

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
Iran Executes Hundreds of People Each Year in Its UN-Funded War on Drugs · Global Voices
Hamid Yazdan Panah

Nooses await the executions of prisoners in Iran. Photo from ICHRI and used with permission.
The latest session of the United Nations General Assembly is underway in New York City. The assembly has featured many speakers, including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who used the platform to address extremism in the world as well as the landmark nuclear deal with the United States and other world powers.
One thing he did not mention was the death penalty. Iran has one of the globe's highest rates of capital punishment, a fact that if ignored inside the chamber, was highlighted by protesters outside the General Assembly.
Many of the executions are carried out in the name of Iran's war on drugs, one of the bloodiest in the world. By Iran’s own admission, 93 per cent of the 852 reported executions between July 2013 and June 2014 were drug-related. In 2015, Iran put more than 966 individuals to death, the majority of whom appear to have faced drug-related charges.
And the United Nations is complicit. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has for years given the Islamic Republic funding for its anti-drug efforts, a partnership that has raised serious concerns about the morality and legality of the UN's program, but will probably go unscrutinised at the General Assembly.
The UNODC was established in 1997 to address issues related to drug trafficking and abuse, among other issues related to crime and punishment. It has an estimated biennial budget of 700 million US dollars, and the majority of this funding comes from Western countries, many of whom have outlawed capital punishment in any form.
The UNODC has given Iran more than 15 million US dollars since 1998 to support operations by the country’s Anti-Narcotics Police. This is despite significant evidence that Iran’s governmental drug policies violate international law, and fall short of UNODC’s own standards.
The UK-based human rights NGO Reprieve has linked funding from the UN to at least 3,000 executions in Iran, including the execution of juvenile offenders. In 2014, for example, Iran reportedly hanged an Afghan juvenile, 15-year-old Jannat Mir, for an alleged drug offense, despite the fact that he was a minor.
Those who are executed are often individuals who are marginalized in Iranian society. This includes undocumented migrants and refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan, as well as ethnic and religious minorities who face disenfranchisement in Iran.
In February 2016, it was reported that Iran executed the entire adult male population of one village based on drug charges. The village, Roushanabad, is located in Balochistan, Iran’s poorest province. The population consists of ethnic and religious minorities, many of whom earn their livelihood through smuggling.
Those who face drug charges are often denied due process. A 2014 report by Ahmad Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, quoted an experienced Iranian lawyer who said that drug trials “never last more than a few minutes.” Prisoners are often denied access to counsel, and claim that confessions are forced under torture.
Human Rights Watch has accused Iran of using drug charges against political prisoners and dissidents, raising further concerns about the implications of the UNODC’s support for the country’s anti-drugs program. In 2009, Zahra Bahrami, a citizen of both the Netherlands and Iran was arrested and accused of drug trafficking – a charge she denied. She claimed her confession was extracted under duress, and activists contend that her arrest was based on her political views. She was executed in 2011.
“Iran has hanged more than a hundred so-called drug offenders this year, and the UN has responded by praising the efficiency of the Iranian drug police and lining them up a generous five-year funding deal,” said Maya Foa, strategic director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, in an interview with the Guardian in 2015.
Instead of focusing primarily on endemic problems such as poverty and a lack of opportunities for youth that foster drug abuse, Iran continues to enact draconian punishments on individuals, including publicly executing them. Observers argue these killings are a strategy by the regime to maintain political authority through intimidation, as opposed to tackling the problems of poverty and drug abuse through treatment and economic development.
From a legal perspective, there is ample evidence that Iran’s executions are a violation of international human rights law, as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR, to which Iran is a party, explicitly reserves capital punishment for only “the most serious crimes.” Article 6 of the ICCPR explicitly states that the death penalty cannot be imposed if a fair trial has not been granted.
In 2012, the UNODC released a position paper that appeared to critique its own involvement in Iran. The paper noted that cooperation with countries which use capital punishment “can be perceived as legitimising government actions.” It concluded that in such circumstances the organisation “may have no choice but to employ a temporary freeze or withdrawal of support.” Yet the UNODC has never publicly expressed a desire to withdraw support from its Iran program.
Iran has thus far practised its drug executions with impunity, and will likely avoid tough questions at the UN. Under current President Hassan Rouhani, who is often perceived and presented as a “moderate” politician, the rate of executions is higher than it was during the hardline presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — a reality that seemingly betrays Rouhani's own support base and promises of “prudence and hope.” In 2015, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Ahmad Shaheed noted that “the overall situation has worsened” with respect to human rights under Rouhani.
While the responsibility of executions and incarcerations lies foremost with the judiciary, the Rouhani administration and the appointed minister of justice, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, have remained silent and inactive on the issue.
The hypocrisy in aiding Iran is not lost on everyone. The UK, Denmark and Ireland have withdrawn funding for UNODC’s Iran program, citing human rights concerns. However, other countries including Norway and France continue to provide funding. In 2015, the UNODC renewed a five-year commitment with Iran promising an additional 20 million dollars. As the UN General Assembly convenes, the issue of funding Iran's executions appears to have been left off the agenda.

author: Hamid Yazdan Panah


text:
Poles Dress in Black to Protest Legislation That Would Mean a Near Total Ban on Abortions · Global Voices
Kasia Odrozek

Image: #CzarnyProtest logo / @clinomanicG
The hashtag #czarnyprotest (“BlackProtest”) is trending in Poland today, as thousands of people share photos of themselves dressed in black to protest against legislation that would criminalize almost all kinds of abortion and toughen the country's already severe anti-abortion laws.
Girls just want to have fundamental HUMAN rights🖕🏴 #CzarnyProtest pic.twitter.com/tSydBptDph
— Maja K. Osiecki (@mkosiecki) September 22, 2016
Dziś całą rodziną sprzeciwiamy się barbarzyństwu wobec kobiet #CzarnyProtest pic.twitter.com/JyN6YKIoP5
— Łukasz Olszewski (@Zajac_Krolik) September 21, 2016
Today, the whole family is opposed to barbarism against women. #BlackProtest
Prepared by a think-tank with the backing of the Catholic Church and the ruling right-wing party PiS (Law and Justice), the near-total abortion ban would introduce jail sentences of up to five years for causing “the death of a conceived child.”
Allowing abortions only under the specific condition that a mother's life is in danger, all other circumstances would be made insufficient grounds for terminating a pregnancy, including cases of rape, incest, or fetal anomalies. If passed, the law would apply both to women (and girls) seeking abortions and the doctors who perform the procedure.
Many Internet users now expressing their objections to the legislation are calling the law “barbaric” and a breach of women's rights.
Protest in #Warsaw against the anti-abortion bill of #PiS government. #CzarnyProtest #aborcja #polska pic.twitter.com/SoiJOVaPmC
— Giorgi Tabagari (@Tabagari) September 22, 2016
A live “black protest” initiated by the left wing party RAZEM (“Together”) took place in front of the Polish Parliament building, where lawmakers debated the proposal on September 22. During that debate, all political parties distanced themselves from the project. The legislature will hold a formal vote on Friday, September 23.
Ani kroku dalej! Członkinie Razem Wrocław wspierają #CzarnyProtest.@partiarazem #NicONasBezNas #KobietyDoPolityki pic.twitter.com/I6QqRDm0aW
— Razem Wrocław (@RazemWroclaw) September 22, 2016
Not a step further! RAZEM members Wroclaw support #BlackProtest.
@partiarazem #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #ForWomensPolicy

author: Kasia Odrozek


text:
Reformist Editor Arrested Ahead of Iranian President’s Trip to the United Nations · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

Sadra Mohaghegh. Image from ICHRI and used with permission.
A version of this article was originally published on the website of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Sadra Mohaghegh, the social affairs editor of the reformist Iranian newspaper Shargh, was arrested on September 19, 2016, but the circumstances surrounding his arrest and the charges against him are unclear, according to his lawyer.
The arrest comes on the heels of an international tour by President Hassan Rouhani that will end at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he held a press conference on September 22.
Mohammad Saleh Nikbakht told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that his client was taken into custody by agents from a security organization, but the agents did not identify their employer.
“The agents confiscated laptops and mobile phones belonging to Mohaghegh and his wife and demanded the passwords to their social media accounts,” an informed source told the Campaign.
The semi-official Mehr News Agency reported on September 19 that a newspaper editor identified as “S-M” had been detained by “one of the security agencies” for working with “anti-revolutionary” media outlets. Later that day, Shargh confirmed Mohaghegh’s arrest via its Twitter account.
Mehr published the report with an image used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards — a body responsible for the imprisonment of many activists, journalists and dissenters — to publicize its crackdown on journalists they claim are working for “enemy states.”
Mohaghegh is well known for his reports on environmental issues and informative social media postings; a few hours after his arrest, his Twitter and Facebook accounts became inaccessible. He was briefly arrested on two previous occasions, in 2012 and 2013, but was never prosecuted.
Another journalist, Yashar Soltani, remained detained in Evin Prison on September 17 after he was unable to post the bail, set at two billion rials ($65,000 USD), for his release prior to his trial. Soltani, the editor-in-chief of Memari News, an independent website that was suspended on September 9, 2016, is being investigated for publishing an official report on illegal land sales by the Tehran Municipality.

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


text:
The Struggles of Peacebuilding in Mali · Global Voices
Mamadou Ben Moussa

Image symbolizing peace. Photo taken by the author and published with his permission
Rebellion, a military coup, and an invasion of Islamist militants; 2012 marked the beginning of a somber chapter in Mali's history.  All that constituted order in this West African country, which many observers saw as a model democracy, crumbled. The peace that prevailed in the country was smashed by a Tuareg rebellion in the north. The catastrophic handling of this rebellion by the government at that time led to a military coup with its own share of abuses.
The consequences of this coup were not long in coming. The chaos that was created allowed the invasion of two-thirds of the country by Tuareg rebels accompanied by jihadist groups, who eventually overpowered the Tuareg rebels and corralled them into sharia-imposed areas under their control.
Mali bid farewell to peace and stability, and instead welcomed instability and injustice. For many months rape, theft, and summary executions became the norm for many people under occupation from these armed groups, before a military operation in January 2013 from the international community put an end to their torture. Following this intervention, elections were organized, a new president was elected, and the peace process was relaunched.
Three years after the return to constitutional order, has Mail reestablished peace? Is justice really effective?
The election of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to the executive office in September 2013 gave Malians high hopes. The people of Mali saw it as a clear sign of a return to stability.
Presidential inauguration of IBK in 2013. Public domain
To the extent that these actions have been carried out, it must be noted that the long-awaited peace will be slow in becoming a reality. Although a peace accord was signed by various rebel groups between May and June of 2015, its implementation and interpretation of certain issues by various signatories have posed enormous difficulties.
Thus, more than one year after its signing, we still witness protests against provisions in the peace agreement.
This was recently the case in Gao, where on July 12 a youth protest against the implementation of “interim authority” was violently suppressed by the Malian army, leaving four dead and around 30 young people injured.
Moreover, clashes between various armed groups have not ended. There have been repeated skirmishes between such armed groups as the Organization of Azawad's Movements (an independent Tuareg alliance) and the Gatia (an armed Tuareg group close to the government) over control of the Kidal region.
To this the resurgence of Islamist movements must be added. They were driven out of large towns with the military intervention in 2013 and took refuge in isolated areas, and have since reorganized and launched regular attacks against military camps.The latest attack at Nampala military camp on July 19 resulted in 17 Malian soldiers dead.
The nation pays tribute to the fallen soldiers at Nampala who were killed in an attack. Photo taken by the author and published with his permission
In a report published by Malilink Investigative Reporting Group, between the signing of the peace accord on June 20, 2014, and June 25, 2015, Mali recorded 191 attacks perpetrated by militants, leaving 385 people dead.
Finally, we are beginning to see the emergence of a new phenomenon: inter-community conflicts, mostly between the Babara and Peulh populations in the Mopti region, with lives lost. On August 27, 2016, a new skirmish left five dead.
In terms of justice, there are some positive signs given by authorities, notably the arrests Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, who led the 2012 military coup, and many former senior military leaders involved in the assassination of the military ‘red berets’, as well as the transfer to the International Criminal Court of jihadist Ahmad Al-Faq Al-Mahdi, whose trial is ongoing.
However, numerous crimes committed during the crisis unprosecuted and unpunished.
Trial of Ahmad Al Faqui at the International Criminal Court. Public domain
We have even witnessed the release, as part of the peace process, of certain persons suspected of being perpetrators of serious human rights violations. Many people have raised their voices to denounce this situation, notably human rights organizations. According to the International Federation for Human Rights:
Pour eux, certaines dispositions de l’accord de paix  à savoir l’amnistie accordée à  certains responsables des groupes armés dont  le juge islamique de Tombouctou,   HOUKA HOUKA AG ALFOUSSEINI,  est une prime à l’injustice.
For them, certain provisions of the peace accord — namely the amnesty granted to certain leaders of armed groups including the Islamic judge of Timbuktu, Houka Houka Ag Alsfousseini — is a prime injustice.
Furthermore, numerous people are the victims of rape, theft, amputations, and floggings; all the while waiting for justice to be done.
After these assessments, it's important to remember that peacebuilding, justice, and security for Mali is still a major undertaking. Much help is needed, given how extensive the work is.
Achieving peace will require Malians to learn to forgive and dialogue, and the state to perform its regulatory role. But all this will be difficult without real involvement from the international community.

author: Mamadou Ben Moussa


text:
Convicted of Sexual Assault, Elite Japanese University Students Get Suspended Sentence · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Tokyo University Yasuda Auditorium．Photo by Flickr user Bi-Yu Wu．(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The recent sentencing of a group of men convicted of “group indecent assault” provides insights into Japanese attitudes towards sex, class and privilege, as well as the power of enduring cultural traditions.
Two of the men convicted of sexual assault (known as indecent assault in some jurisdictions) were given suspended sentences by the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday September 22, 2016, while a third alleged accomplice still remains on trial. The suspended sentences for Matsumi Kensuke and Komoto Taichi, who are both undergraduates at Japan's most prestigious university, have generated controversy and heated online debate.
Kensuke, a 22-year-old University of Tokyo student, was accused of leading a gang of five fellow University of Tokyo students who sexually assaulted a female undergraduate from a less prestigious university after getting her drunk.
Members of “The University of Tokyo Birthday Research Group” (東京大学誕生日研究会) were charged and then tried for the sexual assault of the young woman, which took place on May 11, 2016. The men were arrested after the victim fled and contacted police.
The group was organized as a “circle”, or university club, and had its own Twitter profile, which has since been taken down.
Screencap of now-defunct “University of Tokyo Birthday Research Group” Twitter page. Image widely shared on social media.
Identified as the ringleader, Matsumi testified in court that he felt entitled to assault the woman because he regarded her as “intellectually inferior” for attending a university other than the University of Tokyo. Popularly known as “Todai”, it has long been Japan's top-ranked university, and graduates typically go on to form the elite of Japanese society.
Japan's post-secondary system is made up of both public and private universities. There is strong competition to get admitted into some public, nationally-run universities, especially the University of Tokyo. While its tuition fees are relatively affordable, admission depends on performance in a tough nationally administered test, as well as entrance exams administered by the university itself. Students who pass and are accepted to study at the University of Tokyo are regarded as the “best of the best,” on course to lead government and industry.
Although convicted of a serious crime, the men have got off relatively easily with suspended sentences because they paid damages to the victim's family, apologized in person and expressed remorse in the courtroom.
According to Japan Times staff writer Shusuke Murai, who reported on the ruling:
Presiding Judge Hajime Shimada said that what the defendant did was worthy of strong condemnation because it disrespects the victim. The judge went on to say, however, that there is room for rehabilitation because the student had expressed remorse for his actions.
Heartfelt apologies can hold great weight in Japanese courtrooms. Earlier in September, charges were dropped against a Japanese actor accused of sexually assaulting a hotel worker, after the actor and his mother (also a prominent celebrity) both apologized.
In the case of the university student, the defendants who have already been sentenced said that alcohol had clouded their judgement — but not everyone was convinced of the apology:
これが「弁明」として通用すると考える神経が信じがたい。→ 東京大学工学部４年の松見謙佑被告「女性を軽んじる気持ちが強くなり、場を盛り上げようとして行為がエスカレートしてしまった」【TBS】集団わいせつ事件、主犯格の東大生に有罪判決 https://t.co/tFQGKCO65u
— Kino (@quinoppie) September 20, 2016
I can't believe (Matsumi Kensuke) came up with such a lame excuse.
(Text of attached article):
Screencap headline: Defendant expresses remorse, promises never again to drink alcohol. Two-year sentence, suspended for four years.
‘Tokyo University group sexual assault ringleader found guilty, sentenced’ (from TBS Broadcating)
Three third-year University of Tokyo students have been found guilty of gang sexual assault against a female undergraduate.
The activities of the group resemble those of “Super Free”, a similar university “club” that orchestrated a series of gang rapes between 2002 and 2003. Its leaders — undergraduate students at Waseda, another elite university in Tokyo — were arrested in 2003, and given heavy sentences of up to 12 years in prison.
Unlike this latest incident, which appears to have been limited to just one sexual assault, “Super Free” had been meticulously planning and methodically executing sexual assaults by drugging large numbers of young women at raves and parties.
Plying women with drink or even drugging them in order to facilitate sexual assault is not uncommon in Japan. In a 2014 case, students from another top university, Meiji Daigaku, drugged female students who collapsed in the street.
Against this backdrop, the suspended sentences for the men from The University of Tokyo left many observers bewildered:
集団わいせつ事件、主犯格の東大生に有罪判決 https://t.co/wes4lEjP9a #スマートニュース
松見謙佑容疑者は酒を飲まないと誓っているそうだが、まるで酒のせいにしてるな。
— Arsenal@Daisuki (@taku080623) September 20, 2016
‘In group sexual assault, Todai ringleader found guilty’
Matsumi has promised he will never drink alcohol ever again, it looks like he's blaming it all on booze.
今後一生酒を飲まない？日本中で見張ってるからな！でも、ドS癖は治らんだろ？こんなやつ世に放っていいのか？
集団わいせつ事件、主犯格の東大生に有罪判決（TBS系（JNN）） – Yahoo!ニュース https://t.co/TVEQPedv62 #Yahooニュース #松見謙佑
— ハナ (@greenandflower) September 20, 2016
He promises never to drink alcohol again for the rest of his life? He'd better not because everyone in Japan is going to be watching him. But will he be cured from being an extreme sexual sadist? Should we really be letting this creep loose?
Meanwhile, the plaintiff in the assault has remained unnamed, prompting one Twitter user to note:
これだけ軽い刑で済むんなら模倣犯も出るかもしれないし再犯もあるかもね。
顔と名前を拡散して普通の生活が送れないようにしないと、被害女性の心と体の傷は癒されないでしょう。#松見謙佑 #河本泰知 #拡散https://t.co/SYT8bxdncf
— cherry minmin (@cherryminmin) September 20, 2016
The reason why these copycat crimes happen is because the only punishment is a slap on the wrist. A similar crime is will probably happen again. Unless they hide their names and faces, the female victims can never hope to return to their old lives and heal their body and soul. #spreadtheword #komototaichi #matsumikensuke
(Headline of attached article):
Students convicted of sexually assaulting ‘intellectually inferior’ women.
Group news blog Kuroshi Sokuho (黒子速報, “Behind the Scenes News Flash”) did a little digging, and reported that Matsumi Kensuke's family connections may have played a role in his lenient sentence:
松見被告の父親もエリートで、東大・法学部を出身、現在はメガバンク系投資ファンドに勤務する金融マンだそうです。
Matsumi's father is also one of the elites, graduating from University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law, now working as a financier managing an investment fund at a ‘megabank’.
If true, the young men convicted of sexual assault in in this case would have been able to rely on an extensive old boy network of influential contacts to help reduce the severity of their sentence.
Victim-blaming — the cultural attitude that the young woman in the case invited misfortune upon herself by voluntarily entering Matsumi's apartment (something women in Japan are warned never to do, unless they intend on having sex) — may also have played a role in the men receiving suspended sentences.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Japan reported 1.2 incidents of sexual assault (rape) per 100,000 people in 2014, compared to 28.6 per 100,000 in the United States. While the East Asian country enjoys an extremely low crime rate, there are concerns that sexual assault is under-reported.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Sudanese Authorities Use ‘Pornography’ as Evidence in Criminal Trial of Human Rights Advocates · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

A student protest in Sudan. PHOTO: Sudan Forum. Used with permission
Human rights activists in Sudan are being prosecuted in what critics are calling a “morality” trial.
Six activists, all of whom are affiliated with Khartoum Center for Training and Human Development (TRACKS), have been charged with undermining the constitutional system, waging war against the State, espionage, and terrorism. If convicted, they could be sentenced to life in prison, or death.
Case number 110/2016 filed on 15 August against eight TRACKS staff and affiliates is brought against TRACKS director Khalafalla al Afif Mukhtar, trainers Al-Hassan Kheiry, Abu Hureira Abdelrahman, and Midhat Afif al-Deen Hamdan, administrator Arwa Ahmed Al-Rabie and Cameroonian volunteer Imany Leyla Raye. Albaqir al Afif Mukhtar, the director of Alkhatim Adlan Centre for Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE), and Musatafa Adam, the director of Alzarqaa Organisation for Rural Development are also accused in this case.
Case number 56/2015 was originally brought against TRACKS director Afif Mukhtar, and human rights trainer Adil Bakheit. However, after they were summoned to court on 22 May 2016, they were informed that two other TRACKS staff members Al-Rabie and accountant Nudaina Kamal, were also accused in the case.
Despite the seriousness of these charges, Sudanese prosecutors have turned the trial to an investigation into the private lives of activists showing private photos and videos from the defendants’ confiscated laptops, as evidence of “immorality”.
On 22 May 2016, police arrested eight TRACKS activists after they appeared before the Office of the Prosecutor for Crimes against the State for investigation in relations to charges brought up by the NISS. While five of them have since been released, three remain in prison, including TRACKS director Khalafalla al Afif Mukhtar and trainer Midhat Afif al-Deen Hamdan, and Mustafa Adam, the director of Alzarqaa Organisation for Rural Development, who was at TRACKS’ office at the time of the most recent raid.
Over the past two years, the Khartoum-based civil society group, which provides trainings on human rights and information technology, has been subjected to multiple incidents of police harassment. Their offices were raided twice by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), in March 2015 and February 2016, with police repeatedly interrogating the group’s staff and confiscating their documents and electronic devices.
Ppl in #Khartoum: go to #TRACKS trial next Thu 22/9 Alawsat courts, show solidarity with detained activists & u might watch porn #Sudan
— sudanesedream (@Sudanesedream) September 18, 2016
#TRACKS staff are accused of inciting war against the state & spying + but #NISS screened porn videos as evidence https://t.co/ul0oskPoK7
— sudanesedream (@Sudanesedream) September 18, 2016
During a hearing on 4 September, the prosecutors screened a pornographic video allegedly found on one defendant's computer. They also showed private photos they found on defendants’ computers as evidence of “immorality”. The defendants say there is nothing “immoral” or “pornographic” about these photos, as the picture in the tweet below shows.
pornographic photo used as evidence against @midhatafifi on 4/9 trial featuring me & my husband #Sudan @TRACKsudan pic.twitter.com/7C2Pp92g5Y
— sudanesedream (@Sudanesedream) September 18, 2016
The violation of the defendants’ privacy continued in a 22 September hearing, with investigators exposing details about the defendants’ lifestyles.
Another moral trial…you can't wage war against the state with alcohol! They need to stop invading their privacy and show relevant evidence
— ريم (@ReemWrites) September 22, 2016
There was a pic of a friend of one of the defendants hugging a lady.two of her pics were shown. The court has no respect for itself#privacy
— ريم (@ReemWrites) September 22, 2016
For these and other Sudanese civil society members, the use of personal photographs and data as evidence has undercut the legitimacy of the trial and the judiciary.
Showing such pictures and videos may not be relevant to the trial, but it is a calculated strategy of the Sudanese authorities to “discredit civil society” in the country, writes Sudanese journalist Reem Abbas, who was present during the hearings on 4 and 22 September:
Setting the ground by damaging the defendants’s public image and presenting them as immoral as understood and seen by the conservative Sudanese society will cause confusion within the solidarity movement. This tactic is very dangerous as it will be used to instigate public opinion against the defendants and initiate a smear campaign that changes the entire discourse of the trial causing the lawyers to become distracted from the actual charges…With women who are perceived as activists or active in the civil society, this is done on another level. Our pictures were shown to reiterate their point, this is the civil society here! They watch pornography and their women are uncovered and they are even smiling in the pictures!
She concludes:
The civil society was painted as a world of debauchery and this debauchery was documented in pictures that were shown inside the courthouse, violating the privacy of the defendants and their friends. But it was done for this exact reason, the NISS wanted to put the whole civil society on trial and in Sudan, the worst kind of trial is a moral one
The Sudanese government's crackdown on civil society groups and human rights activists is nothing new. In 2012, authorities shut down four civil society groups based in the capital Khartoum, while earlier this year the government banned four civil society representatives from traveling to Geneva to take part at a UN-led human rights event. TRACKs is one of very few independent civil society groups still operating in the country, and its trial is seen as a trial against the entire Sudanese civil society, as activist Dalia Haj-Omar tweets:
Today all of #SudanCivilSociety is on trial, not only #TRACKS #sudan https://t.co/g5pJvWgQG9
— Dalia Haj-Omar (@daloya) September 22, 2016

author: Afef Abrougui


text:
Two Palestinian Ex-Prisoners Open Up Ramallah’s First Food Truck · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Khaldoun Barghouti, an ex-prisoner-turned-entrepreneur, serves up a chicken sandwich for a young customer in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Credit: Dalia Hatuqa
This article by Dalia Hatuqa originally appeared on PRI.org on September 21, 2016. It is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The sun is blazing over the city center in Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital. It’s at least 90 degrees at the main fruit and vegetable market, but that’s not keeping shoppers away.
“Five tomatoes for 10 shekels,” one vender hollers — that’s about $3.
Amid the hustle and bustle, a truck airbrushed in purple, red and green pulls up. A concession window slides open and the two men inside get to work. One starts up the deep fryer, while the other slices open loaves of bread.
It's known by the Arabic name “Qitar Ata’am,” which translates as “The Food Train.”
But Ramallah’s first food truck is similar to the ones rolling through the streets of so many US cities.
The truck is the brainchild of Khaldun Barghouti and AbdelRahman Bibi, two men who served close to a decade in an Israeli prison because of their association with banned groups. Behind bars, they thought long and hard about how to make a living once they got out.
Palestinian women walk past “Qitar Ata'am”, which translates into “the Food Train,” the first food truck in Ramallah. Credit: Dalia Hatuqa
“Prisoners don't want to be a burden on society,” says Barghouti, who studied IT, history and marketing, both inside and outside of prison. “We wanted to start a business without walls, so to speak, something that can give us freedom of movement.”
Nearly everything about the food truck was inspired by the men’s time in prison, Barghouti says. They had the truck painted in bright colors to contrast with the drab tones of life in jail. Their menu even includes a concoction of tuna and corn similar to one they had in prison, morphed into a more refined delicacy.
“We mostly do chicken shawarma sandwiches, chicken schnitzel, hamburgers and sausage,” Barghouti says.
All the sandwiches come topped with a heaping pile of french fries and diced vegetables, drizzled with a choice of tahini or garlic sauce.
Hole-in-the-wall fast food shops are all over in Palestinian cities, but a mobile kitchen in the form of a food truck is something very new here. The transportation ministry created a new kind of license for the business. And the challenges didn't stop there.
“The toughest thing was finding power,” says Bibi, who is 35. “The diesel generator we had been using for electricity was annoying and smelly. So we researched how other food trucks do it and found a green solution.”
They had a Palestinian company attach four large solar panels to the truck's roof, which generate enough power to run the small freezer, ventilation fans and display fridge.
The van and its signature panels have so far garnered a lot of attention, and a steady stream of clients.
“Let me get a sausage sandwich,” says Rami, a local 14-year-old.
“I like the idea that it works on solar energy,” he says. “It’s awesome!”
Barghouti and his business partner are betting big on the food truck concept. They took out a $37,000 loan, payable in five years, and the bank gave them a special low interest rate because of their ex-prisoner status.
“Everything was customized for this truck: the refrigerator, freezer and fryers,” Barghouti says. “I think the only thing we bought from a store were the knives.”
Barghouti, who has six children, and Bibi, who recently married, are seeing early signs of success. Numerous people — including other former prisoners — have been asking them for advice about starting their own food trucks, and there’s word that another one has started operating in the Gaza Strip.
“In the beginning, people were just curious about the food truck,” says Barghouthi, as he piles a sausage sandwich with toppings.
“People wanted to support us because we are former prisoners,” he says. “But now, they come for the food.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Yemen’s ‘Forgotten War’ Intensifies After Saudi-Led Air Strike in Al Hudaydah · Global Voices
Mona Bibi

A view of the Alhook district in Hodeida a day after airstrikes killed 30 on September 21. Source: Hisham Al-Omeisy on Twitter.
On Wednesday September 21, 2016, Saudi-led airstrikes struck Yemen's port city of Al Hudaydah. According to medical sources speaking to CNN, at least 30 civilians were killed and at least 14 homes were destroyed, with over 90 damaged.
Al Hudaydah, also spelled ‘Hodeida’ (الحديدة), is under the control of Houthi rebels and has therefore been the target of repeated bombing by the Saudi-led coalition. Indeed, Al Arabiya reports that “a meeting of the leaders of Houthi militias inside the presidential palace” was taking place. The United Nations has condemned the air strikes.
The conflict in Yemen is often called ‘The Forgotten War‘ and the actors taking part in it are not always well-understood by international observers. In 2015, the BBC wrote an article entitled ‘Yemen crisis: Who is fighting whom?’ in which they explained that:
The main fight is between forces loyal to the beleaguered President, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and those allied to Zaidi Shia rebels known as Houthis, who forced Mr Hadi to flee the capital Sanaa in February.
Yemen's security forces have split loyalties, with some units backing Mr Hadi, and others the Houthis and Mr Hadi's predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has remained politically influential. Mr Hadi is also supported in the predominantly Sunni south of the country by militia known as Popular Resistance Committees and local tribesmen.
Both President Hadi and the Houthis are opposed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has staged numerous deadly attacks from its strongholds in the south and south-east.
Amnesty International also has a report explaining the conflict, going back as far as 1990 to give context. It mentions how all parties in this conflict have committed “violations of human rights and international humanitarian law”. Recently, we learned that at least 10,000 people have been killed since 2015, with approximately 60% killed by the Saudi-led coalition.
Claiming that they were targeting a hostile naval base, the coalition first bombed the city's port in August 2015, blockading the port, besieging the city, and preventing relief funds and humanitarian aid from reaching those in need.
Al Hudaydah is one of Yemen's largest cities, with a population of over 400,000 people; it is also the capital of the Al Hudaydah Governorate, which in itself has over 2,620,000 people.
When asked by CNN about reports of civilian casualties in Al Hudaydah, the coalition's spokesperson, Ahmed Asseri, gave a vague response:
As with any allegations we receive, the information will be reviewed and once it is found [to be] supporting the allegation based on credible evidence, we will then move to a next step of investigation.
Meanwhile, Yemenis have taken to social media to express their frustration at the international community's failure to respond to the crisis.
On Facebook, Hossam Hamidaddin, a 27-year-old Yemeni, wrote the following ode to Al Hudaydah:
(العروس الأحمر لطخت بالدم الأحمر)
الحديدة تلك المدينة التي عرف أهلها بالطيبه والبساطة والبسمة، كنا نقضي فيها أجمل الايام قلوب أهل تهامة كأنها فلقة قمر بيضاء تنزل دموعهم رحمة على أخوانهم
…
وفي ليلة مظلمة نزلت صواريخ الهمج والمجرمين والذين يسعون لأغتصاب كل شيء جميل، ومزقت هذه الصواريخ عذرية العروس الاحمر تهامة لتصبح بلد ملطخ بالدماء المتناثرة الممزوجة بألم الصراخ
..
أصبحت دموع أهل الحديدة تنزل من الألم قلوبهم لم تعد بيضاء لانها لم تعد تنبض وهي تحت الانقاض صبراً أهل الحديدة ليس موعدكم الجنة لانكم أنتم الجنة بحد ذاتها..
Al Hudaydah, that city of people known for simplicity, kindness, and merriness… We spent the most beautiful days of our lives there. A city of heavenly lighthearted people. Their hearts and smiles shone like the moonlight. But the moon will no longer reflect its light on Hudaydah… Darkness. Only darkness will be found in Hudaydah after tonight, darkness and cries of despair.
From the black skies fell not the stars, but their missiles. The missiles of the Barbarian criminals who pursue nothing but to rape all that is beautiful. Their missiles raped our beautiful Red Bride. They ripped her virginity and seared her dress with blood. Blood. Our beloved city is swimming in a pool of blood and shrieks of pain…
My people cry and their tears fall not from their eyes, but rather from their hearts… Their hearts that are no longer pounding for they lie under the debris and rubble of the city.
Like countless other Yemenis, Hamiddadin cannot travel back to Yemen since the airport was closed on August 10, thanks to the Saudi-led coalition's intensified airstrikes on Sanaa. Indeed, as Public Radio International reported:
With the closing of Yemeni airspace, there have been few commercial flights in and out of the Sanaa airport. The only aircraft in the skies over the capital are war planes.
A screenshot of Yemeni airspace from FlightRadar24 on September 23 shows how empty it is (warplanes do not appear on the radar):
Screenshot from FlightRadar24 showing Yemen. Source.
Yemeni activist Hisham Al-Omeisy asked:
Am I being naive to still hope for int'l condemnations of last night's Saudi airstrikes on Hodeidah homes? #Yemenpic.twitter.com/JLPTEprnXU
— Hisham Al-Omeisy (@omeisy) 22 September 2016
The area's history dates back nearly 1,400 years, making it one of the oldest in Yemen. Zabid, a town near the coast in Al Hudaydah Governorate, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993 and on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2000. It is known for its Great Mosque, built in 628 AD by Abu Musa Ashaari, one of the followers of Muhammad.
After Aden, Al Hudaydah city's port is the most important in Yemen and is therefore of great geopolitical value.

author: Mona Bibi


text:
9 Things to Love About Afghanistan · Global Voices
Najeebullah Azad

Afghan children cheering for peace. Photo by Najeeb Azad.
This post is an edited version of a post that appeared first on the author's blog, A New Stone of Hope.
Overseas, the word Afghanistan strikes fear into many people's hearts, while some are quick to conflate it with the Taliban movement that ruled the country from 1996 to 2001 and continues to seek power through arms.
But beyond politics, Afghanistan is a source of great inspiration and resolve for its long-suffering citizens, for a number of reasons.
So, before asking the more frequently posed question of why so many Afghans are prepared to leave the country of their birth, perhaps it would be better to ask why so many stay?
Afghanistan is the fifth youngest country in the world, with 68% of its population under 25. This booming demographic creates risks and opportunities. Young people want to grow their stake in the country's development and it is up to older generations to allow them to do that.
With hope, opportunities will be created for youth to serve their conflict-torn developing country, rather than advanced developed countries.
Unfortunately, due to the bad governance of the National Unity Government, unemployment is very high, as are insecurity, corruption, and violence.
While many young people are ensnared by extremist groups, narcotics addiction and poverty, the youth of Afghanistan remains the country's greatest untapped resource, and its only hope for a better future.
Despite a relatively small geographical area, Afghanistan is home to a diverse range of:
Decades of conflict in Afghanistan have provided an opportunity for politicians and outside forces to harness the country's diversity to stir conflict between communities. But diversity remains the core of Afghanistan's national heritage and an inspiration to a great part of the population.
Afghans are reflexively hospitable, serving guests as one of their own with home-cooked food. This is at the root of the proverb “nan wa piyaz, qash waz”, meaning “bread and onion be the food, with happy mood.”
Afghans are patriots, with a rich history of fighting for independence and against foreign invasions.
British and Soviet attempts to bring the country to heel were both repulsed by Afghans.
Although foreign powers also played a role in supporting these anti-imperial insurgencies in Afghanistan, they would not have been possible without Afghans’ overwhelming attachment to their land and hunger for independence.
Today, Afghans are increasingly united against some of the worst acts of terrorism in the world, which have found a home in their country.
The so-called Tabassum Revolution, for instance, was a social movement that erupted in outcry following the brutal beheading of a 9-year-old girl in the country's Zabul province of Afghanistan by militants with apparent affiliations to the radical ISIS group now active in the country.
Afghanistan is still a country where external powers continue to play divide and conquer, but an emboldened civil society, particularly in the capital, is raising its voice against growing violence and insecurity.
This is the new patriotic struggle, which poses challenges to the underperforming government and Taliban alike.
In a 2011 survey by Thomas Reuters Foundation, Afghanistan was identified as the most dangerous place for women to live due to high mortality rates, limited access to doctors and a lack of economic rights.
There have been major achievements along the path to gender equality, however, since the ouster of the Taliban that restricted women's access to work outside the home, restricted their ability to travel without men and made the burqa the indisputable national female dress.
The Afghan constitution, established in 2004, makes a specific note of gender equality in Article 22, which states: “Any kind of discrimination and privilege between the citizens of Afghanistan are prohibited. The citizens of Afghanistan – whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law.”
With women in the parliament, and, on rare occasion, behind the wheel of a taxi, things have improved in recent times.
But there is still a long way to go before they are able to guarantee their fundamental rights.
Afghans live their life in the simplest way possible.
Whole Afghan families tend to live in a single house together collectively, unlike in the West where everybody has their own rooms, and the family only gathers during meal hours.
Simplicity for Afghans extends to preferring to sit cross-legged on the floor over chairs, and sleeping on mattresses on the floor rather than beds.
Ambivalence towards luxury has helped the Afghans survive the hardship they have endured over the years, and the basic life is one that many prefer, even if they are wealthy.
For Afghans, the simple home is a sanctuary. The real problems begin outside it.
In 2001, there were no girls formally attending schools in Afghanistan, and only one million boys going to school.
According to the World Bank, a total of 7.8 million children were enrolled in schools as of 2012, including 2.9 million girls. Only a new generation of hard-working intellectually curious Afghans can truly put the country on a path towards development and self-sufficiency.
Afghans are addicted to nan, which is, objectively speaking, one of the world's tastiest forms of bread. One popular meal called Shorba often involves eating nan with nan; shortened nan is soaked in broth and then eaten back with dry nan.
Afghans living abroad often report peculiar nan cravings, including toothache from eating the softer sliced bread that cannot compare to their beloved staple.
More than 80% of Afghanistan’s population depend on agriculture for a living. The country is also rich in gold, copper and other minerals. Unfortunately due to security threats there has been little investment made in Afghanistan's land. According to one study, the value of country’s mineral resources were estimated to be around three trillion US Dollars.
More easily obtained nuggets of the country's vast natural wealth can be found in bazaars across the country. Afghanistan’s Kandahar province has some of the most delicious pomegranates in the world, Bamyan has world-class potatoes, and Kunduz is renowned across the region for its incredible melons. For the fruit alone, Afghanistan is worth a visit!

author: Najeebullah Azad