Stories for July 9-July 15, 2000
Contributing Writers this week: Patrick Leduc [PL], Richard
Turner [RT], Yuni Wilcox [YW], Stephenie Young [SY]
[Current stories]
Saturday, July 15, 2000
Serbian court annuls sentence of 24 Kosovo Albanians
(Belgrade, Yugoslavia, July 15) According to a Belgrade-based Humanitarian
Law Center, a Serbian court annulled the sentences of 24 Kosovo Albanians and
ordered a retrial. The 24 were arrested in July 1998, convicted of terrorist
activities, and sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to four years in
March 1999. They had been charged in connection with several shootings in the
Serbian city of Orahovac. (Reuters)
[Story index]
Deposed Fijian prime minister demands return of multiethnic
constitution
(Suva, Fiji, July 15) Former Fijian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudry said that
his deposed government should be restored and the country's 1997 constitution,
which allowed ethnic Indians like Chaudry to hold office, should be restored.
Chaudry made the comments at a press conference at his home after being held
hostage for almost two months. Chaudry and 26 other people were taken hostage
on May 19 by an armed group led by businessman George Speight, who seized control
of Fiji's parliament building to demand that ethnic Indians be excluded from
Fiji's government. Speight released the hostages on May 13 after winning concessions
from the army, which seized control of the country on May 29, that scrapped
the country's 1997 constitution and appointed an interim prime minister that
Speight supports. (Fijilive.com)
[Story index]
Former Kazakh premier freed after detention in Rome
(Rome, Italy, July 15) Akezhan Kazhegelin, the former premier of the central
Asian country of Kazakhstan, was briefly detained by police at a Rome airport
after arriving on July 12. Italian authorities, who released him on July 14,
decided that they had no basis on which to hold him. According to the opposition
Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan, of which Kazhegelin is chairman, Kazhegelin
faces new charges of terrorism. He is also wanted on charges of tax evasion
and money laundering. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Reuters)
[Story index]
Zimbabwe squatter leader urges followers not to leave
white-owned farms
(Harare, Zimbabwe, July 15) The leader of hundreds of black farmers who have
seized control of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe urged his followers to ignore
government plans to move them. The Zimbabwean government announced plans to
seize control of hundreds of white-owned farms, which take up about 70 percent
of the country's land, and give them to landless black farmers. But black war
veterans occupy several farms that are not part of the government's redistribution
program. (BBC)
[Story index]
Friday, July 14, 2000
Detention of Egyptian professor extended
(Cairo, Egypt, July 15) Egyptian authorities extended the detention of
Cairo professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who is accused of illegally accepting European
Union funds to produce a documentary harmful to Egypt's image. Arrested on June
30, he was originally subject to a 15-day detention, which would have ended
by today.A European Union spokeswoman in Cairo said that the funding for the
film went through proper legal channels and was meant to raise awareness of
voting rights in Egypt. (Jordan Times, BBC)
[More about Ibrahim]
[Story index]
Serbian prosecutor demands extension of writer's prison
sentence
(Zajecar, Yugoslavia, July 14) The municipal prosecutor in the Serbian
city of Zajecar appealed the five-month prison sentence handed to writer Boban
Miletic. Miletic was sentenced on June 10 for defaming Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic while reading from his book of aphorisms Weep, Mother Serbia at
a literary evening on December 18, 1998. The aphorisms read by Miletic included
"Milosecscu, you'll end up like [executed Romanian dictator] Ceausescu."
The prosecutor's office argued that Miletic threatens society because he does
not like Milosevic. (Radio B2-92, International PEN)
[More about Miletic]
[Story index]
Thursday, July 13, 2000
U.S. attorney general to review Net-tapping system
(Washington, D.C., United States, July 13) U.S. Attorney General Janet
Reno will examine the Federal Bureau of Investigation's "Carnivore" system,
which monitors e-mails at an incredible rate, to determine if it infringes on
privacy rights. Reno stressed that Internet wiretaps require court orders just
like those on phone lines. (Reuters)
[Story index]
Unocal verdict expected soon
(Los Angeles, United States of America, July 13) A verdict in the lawsuit
filed in a U.S. court charging that the oil company Unocal aided Myanmar's military
government in human rights violations, including forced labor, is expected to
be handed down in four to six weeks. The human rights organization EarthRights
International is seeking millions for Unocal's use of assaults and forced labor
on Myanmar's Yadana gas pipeline, which is owned by France's Total. Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma, owns a 15 percent stake in the pipeline. (BurmaNet)
[More about Unocal]
[Story index]
Armenian newspaper issue confiscated
(Gyumbri, Armenia, July 13) Armenian police confiscated copies of the Azg
daily but left the paper's publishing capacity intact. The police were critical
of an article criticizing local authorities. An Azg spokesman says Azg
will publish similar articles again. (Aragil Electronic News Bulletin/Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
[Story index]
New mobile phone standard developed in China
(Beijing, China, July 13) China is developing a new mobile phone technology
that will compete with Western standards. The new standard, called "TD-SCDMA,"
has already cost the Chinese tens of millions of dollars. It would add advanced
services, like high-speed Web access and video conferencing, to the phones.
Implementation of the services are at least two years away. (Reuters)
[Story index]
Hotmail glitch sells out users' privacy
(Redmond [Washington], United States of America, July 13) As the result
of a flaw in the world's largest Web-based e-mail service Hotmail, the e-mail
addresses of subscribers were sent to online advertisers. The flaw caused anyone
opening an e-mail page to reveal secretly their e-mail address to the advertisers
sponsoring banners on that page. According to Debra Pierce of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, data spills of this nature have already occurred hundreds
of times this year throughout cyberspace. (Los Angeles Times)
[Story index]
Shutting down Napster? It'll take a lot of paperwork...
(United States, July 13) The Recording Industry of America asked a U.S.
court for a preliminary injunction shutting down the central servers of Napster,
the company whose computer software is used by millions of people worldwide
to trade MP3 music files online. The court has yet to rule on this request,
though the trial against Napster began in December. But even if Napster's main
servers are shut down, trading by the individual client servers — those
used by music traders — would "require hundreds of thousands of injunctions."
The recording industry argues that people use Napster to exchange music illegally.
(BBC)
[Story index]
Wednesday, July 12, 2000
Anti-genocide law signed in Colombia
(Bogota, Colombia, July 12) A law was signed against genocide in Colombia
on July 10 by President Andres Pastrana. After vetoing the law in the past for
fear of implicating the armed forces, Pastrana passed the law, which outlaws
genocide and forced disappearances, gives jail sentences up to 45 years, and
calls for the formation of a committee to look into the disappearances of approximately
3,000 people. Local human rights organizations fear that even though the bill
has been signed, it will not be enforced, as is often the case in Colombia.
(Associated Press, BBC) [SY]
[Story index]
Tunisia blocks human rights activists
(Tunis, Tunisia, July 12) The Tunisian government denied the entrance of
three human rights activists into their country. Tunisian officials told the
human rights groups Amnesty International and the International Federation for
Human Rights that they would be allowed in after being denied any access to
Tunisia for a number of years. Tunisian President Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali has
often been accused of violently repressing any dissent in his country. Approximately
1,000 mainly Muslim political prisoners are held in Tunisian jails. (BBC, Human
Rights Watch) [SY]
[Story index]
Africa cited for poor human development
(Lome, Togo, July 12) Twenty-five countries on the African continent were
put at the bottom of a 174-rung human development ladder established by the
United Nations Human Development Report for the year 2000. Sierra Leone is at
the very bottom, followed by Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Burundi. In
fact, the bottom 10 nations on the list were all African. All of these countries
were cited for their failure to develop and support the resources necessary
for healthy human development in their regions, such as providing proper educational
facilities. This inaction is seen as a human rights abuse by the United Nations.
Leading the list were, in order, Canada, Norway, the United States, Australia,
and Iceland. (Panafrican News Agency, Financial Times) [SY]
[Story index]
Siberian prisoners beaten
(Siberia, Russia, July 12) The Tomsk Regional Human Rights Commission in
Siberia received information about beatings of prisoners in a high-security
prison in the Siberian region of Russia. Although authorities deny that any
extreme violence was committed, the group reported that soldiers wearing masks
entered the prison and were shooting blanks at the prisoners during a routine
training drill. The Moscow Times reported that soldiers "broke ribs and
hands and injured internal organs." Seven people were beaten with rubber truncheons
for not leaving their cells during the drill, while up to 80 others may have
been injured as they tried to flee in the darkened prison. (The Moscow Times)
[SY]
[Story index]
Indian female population in decline
(Mumbai, India, July 12) The United Nations Population Fund condemned the
Indian government for not taking action regarding the poor ratio of women to
men in India. Now having one of the worst rations in the world with 960 women
for every 1,000 men, female infant mortality is 40 percent higher for females
than males. There is a preference for sons because women are seen as an economic
liability because of dowry and are often aborted, exposed, or killed as infants.
If they live, they are often deprived of basic resources such as food, health
care and education. (BBC) [SY]
[Story index]
U.K. snooping bill could cost $70 billion in lost revenue
(London, England, July 12) The British Chamber of Commerce estimates the
proposed Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) bill, which gives police unprecedented
power to tap private Internet transmissions and demand encryption keys, would
cost British businesses £46 billion (US$70 billion). They stated that
e-businesses would think twice about relocating to the United Kingdom. The bill,
if passed, would force all Internet service providers to install a police-linked
device for facilitate eavesdropping on Internet activity. (Wall Street Journal)
[More about RIP]
[Story index]
Lesotho magazine faces closure for "defamation"
(Lesotho, July 12) Parliament member Moeketsi Sello may attempt a second
attempt to confiscate property from the home and offices of MoAfrica
publisher Candy Ramainoane following a US$20,000 defamation judgment against
Ramainoane last December. The magazine already recovered from a two-week closure
after two computers used for publishing were confiscated for public auction,
but total closure remains a real possibility. Replacement equipment is currently
on loan from a private source. (Media Institute of Southern Africa)
[Story index]
Tuesday, July 11, 2000
Russian convicted of genocide
(Vilnius, Latvia, July 11) Yevgenii Savenko was convicted of genocide stemming
from his role in Latvia during its occupation by the USSR. His sentence was
two years. His defense was that he was just following orders when he executed
nine Latvians in 1940 and committed other criminal acts against members of the
population. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
[Story index]
Canada ratifies International Criminal Court
(Ottawa, Canada, July 11) Canada became the 14th nation to ratify the "Rome
Statute" calling for an International Criminal Court. After 60 countries ratify,
the court will go into operation. (Canadian Press)
[More about the International
Criminal Court]
[Story index]
China loses at World Bank
(Washington, United States of America, July 11) One of the largest non-governmental
organization (NGO) campaigns ever successfully persuaded the World Bank to deny
a loan to China to resettle 60,000 farmers from Qinghai to Tibet. The Bank's
board had approved the US$160 million loan last June. Pressure from NGOs on
the Bank's Inspection Panel forced admission that the loan would have violated
six World Bank policy rules. The loan deal is now dead. China said it will pay
for relocation out of its own resources. (Inter Press Service)
[Story index]
Indictments in Turkey for writer, publisher, editor
(Turkey, July 11) Nadire Mater, author of Mehmed's Book, and her
publisher Semih Sokmen are facing up to 12 years for a book which contains interviews
with Turkish soldiers. The book is perceived as disrespectful to the army. The
case will be heard on August 24. Also indicted was Guler Yildiz, editor of the
weekly Cina, who is charged with "ridiculing and insulting the state"
for having discussed Mater's book and quoting from it in her paper. (International
PEN)
[More about Mater]
[Story index]
Iranian police chief acquitted in university raid
(Tehran, Iran, July 11) An Iranian military court acquitted Brigadier-General
Farhad Nazari and 17 policemen of all charges in a university raid last year
in which 200 students were injured and one killed. One policeman was sentenced
to two years for disobeying orders. The students were beaten with clubs and
iron bars during a protest against Iranian press laws. The raid sparked riots
in Iranian universities. (BBC)
[More about protests
in Iran]
[Story index]
Gender rights publisher torched in Namibia
(Windhoek, Namibia, July 11) Editors of the Namibian publication Sister
Namibia blamed gay bashers for arson which destroyed their office. Editor
Liz Frank said that President Sam Nujoma's statements that homosexuals were
"un-African" and "ungodly" contributed to a climate that promotes violence.
(Media Institute of Southern Africa)
[Story index]
U.S. FBI using new Internet surveillance software
(Washington, United States of America, July 11) The U.S. Federal Bureau
of Investigation announced it is using "Carnivore," a new software application
for snooping online communications. It has been able to sniff out a single target
message out of a set of millions of others, according to Marcus Thomas, head
of the FBI's Cyber Technology Section. U.S. Representative Bob Barr said "once
the software is applied to the [Internet service provider], there's no check
on the system," adding this program is "frightening." (Wall Street Journal)
[Story index]
Opposition to sue Burmese government
(Myanmar, July 11) The Burmese opposition group National League for Democracy
(NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, announced it would
sue Myanmar's military government over its failure to relinquish power following
its election loss in 1990. In that election, the NLD won 80 percent of the seats,
but the military ignored the results. The NLD will file against the chairman
of the ruling council, General Than Shwe. State-run papers have since called
for the NLD to be banned. The country's military government changed Burma's
name to Myanmar in 1989. (BurmaNet, Reuters)
[Story index]
U.S. Congress to consider restoring travel to Cuba
(Washington, United States of America, July 11) Both houses of the U.S.
Congress presented bills to restore American travel rights to Cuba. Senate bill
S-1919 and House of Representatives bill HR-4471 were designed to end isolation
of Cuba and allow Americans to visit family members in Cuba. The U.S. Department
of Defense has determined that Cuba is no longer a significant military threat
to the United States. (American Civil Liberties Union)
[Story index]
Monday, July 10, 2000
American women detained in Afghanistan
(Kabul, Afghanistan, July 10) Officials from the Taliban, the fundamentalist
Islamic militia that controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan, arrested an elderly
American woman and the rest of her staff, who are working for an aid organization
in Afghanistan. Since Sunday, the nine men working for Parsa (Physiotherapy
and Rehabilitation Support for Afghanistan), an agency helping Afghan women,
have been released, but American Mary MacMakin and six other women remain in
custody. The Taliban, notorious for their strict interpretation of Islamic law,
refuse to allow women to work outside the health sector. Authorities may have
targeted Parsa because it employed women in small projects. (BBC) [PL]
[Story index]
Haiti runoff election snubbed by observers, opposition,
and voters
(Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 10) The second round of voting in Haiti's
parliamentary elections was marked by a low level of participation amid calls
that the poll was unfair. A first round vote on May 21 had witnessed the reigning
Lavalas party win a majority in the Senate, but the opposition and foreign observers
condemned the method used to award the seats, saying it gave Lavalas an unfair
edge. Most opposition parties, which had called for a boycott of the second
round of voting, congratulated themselves on Sunday following the low turnout.
The Organization of American States, which monitored the May vote, had also
pulled out of this weekend's second round after authorities refused to recalculate
the first-round vote. (Reuters, BBC) [PL]
[Story index]
Cameraman missing in Belarus
(Minsk, Belarus, July 10) A cameraman working for Russian Public Television
has been missing since July 7. Dmitrii Zavadskii was supposed to meet his colleague
Pavel Sheremet at an airport in Belarus but he never turned up. Both Sheremet
and Zavadskii have been entangled with Belarusian authorities in the past as
they were jailed for more than two months in 1998. Sheremet told reporters yesterday
that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko did not could not forgive Zavadskii
for resigning as the president's personal cameraman. Belarusian opposition blamed
the secret services for the disappearance while officials alleged that the opposition
could be responsible for attempting to darken Belarus's image abroad. (Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty) [PL]
[Story index]
Algerian journalists accused of treason
(Algiers, Algeria, July 10) Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika criticized
some of his nation's journalists for travelling to Israel. Commenting on a visit
by Algerian journalists and academics to Israel, Bouteflika said that the participants
committed "an unforgivable error toward their brothers in Lebanon, Syria and
Palestine." Entering Israeli ground proved an act of betrayal, Bouteflika told
the Tunisian Parliament during an address on June 30. Bouteflika also called
on all Algerians to "denounce [the journalists]." Despite demonstrations against
them, the delegation returned to Algiers unharmed on July 3. No charges have
been pressed on the journalists so far. (IFJ Algerian Center, International
Freedom of Expression Exchange) [PL]
[Story index]
Anwar defense warns court of conviction consequence
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 10) Defense attorneys in the sex trial of
former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned the court that convicting
their client would spark the destruction of the criminal justice system. Anwar,
already in jail following a corruption case, is accused of sodomy, a crime in
this predominantly Muslim nation. In their closing argument, defense lawyers
stated that the prosecution's key witness was an "unmitigated liar." The prosecution
will be presenting its arguments later in the week, and a verdict could take
the judge as long as a month to render. Anwar's supporters believe the charges
against him were political retribution staged by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamed, who fired Anwar in September 1998 after the two disagreed over economic
policy. (BBC) [PL]
[Story index]
Sunday, July 9, 2000
South African officials harass two journalists
(Nelspruit, South Africa, July 9) Two reporters for African Eye News (AENS),
Chuene Hamese and Sylvester Lukhele, were harassed by government officials while
on duty to cover a government staff protest in the South African city of Nelspruit,
on July 5. Hamese and Lukhele were assigned to report on a local labor dispute.
When the reporters began interviewing some of the 200 assembled workers, guards
escorted both reporters to a staff meeting hall in the building. Five officials
of the finance department of South Africa's Mpumalanga province physically overpowered
Hamese and wrestled his camera, notebook, camera bag, and various documents
from him. Lukhele managed to force his way out of the office and immediately
returned to the newsroom to report the incident, which was witnessed by many
of the 200 protesters. (Freedom of Expression Institute) [YW]
[Story index]
Indonesian government asked to recruit more women for
high posts
(Jakarta, Indonesia, July 9) The Jakarta Post reported that a request
by Indonesia's minister for the empowerment of women, Khofifah Indar Parawansa,
that Indonesian government ministries recruit more women for high positions
has not met with much success. Khofifah said that when ministries send their
people to be educated for higher positions, they are inclined to send men. She
had sent letters to ministries to include at least 30 percent women among their
employees sent for further education. (Jakarta Post) [YW]
[Story index]
Pakistani activists arrested before anti-government march
(Lahore, Pakistan, July 9) The head of Pakistan's army, who seized control
in a bloodless coup last October, banned all public protests in the country.
On orders by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, police on July 7 arrested supporters of
deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, apparently to prevent his wife from leading
an anti-government march this weekend. Kuloom Sharif, the ex-prime minister's
wife, has begun a national campaign to protest her husband's imprisonment. Last
October, Nawaz Sharif attempted to prevent Gen. Musharraf's plane from landing,
which led to the coup. Sharif was later convicted of terrorism and hijacking.
(Associated Press) [YW]
[Story index]
Sierra Leone rebel leader "must face justice"
(Accra, Ghana, July 7) Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh should face
trial for war crimes, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said. Believing
that nothing should stand in the way of a full trial, Annan said Sankoh's trial
could go ahead despite an amnesty granted in the peace accord signed last year.
(Reuters) [YW]
[Story index]
