police state

Watching the Shadows

Demand international treaty to ban ‘killer robots’

Countries that approved the first-ever United Nations General Assembly resolution on “killer robots” should promote negotiations on a new international treaty to ban these weapons, and regulate “autonomous weapons systems” generally, Human Rights Watch said. Last month,152 countries voted in favor of the resolution on the dangers of lethal autonomous weapons. General Assembly Resolution 78/241 acknowledges the “serious challenges and concerns” raised by “new technological applications in the military domain, including those related to artificial intelligence and autonomy in weapons systems.” (Image: Rally on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, protesting against a Board of Supervisors vote to authorize police use of deadly-force robots, Dec. 5, 2022. Credit: Pax Ahimsa Gethen via Wikimedia Commons)

East Asia

Arrests at Hong Kong’s ‘patriots-only’ election

Hong Kong Chief Executive Ka-chiu Lee applauded the “good turnout” in the city’s “patriots-only” District Council elections—despite a turnout of only 27.5%, the lowest in any race since the return to Chinese rule in 1997. He also charged that protesters had attempted to “sabotage” the vote. Four of the city’s leading democracy advocates were pre-emptively arrested for supposedly planning protests before the polls opened. This was the first district-level vote since Hong Kong’s government overhauled the electoral system, instating changes that effectively made it impossible for pro-democracy candidates to run. Most of the city’s pro-democracy activists are now behind bars, in exile, or silenced by fear of repression. (Photo of League of Social Democrats chair Chan Po-ying: HKFP)

Europe

Russia prolongs detention of Tatar-language journalist

A district court in Kazan, capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, extended the detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist holding joint Russian and United States citizenship. Kurmasheva, who reports for the Tatar-language service of US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was first detained in October. She faces charges of failure to register as a “foreign agent,” an offense that carries a potential five-year prison term. The decision extending her pre-trial detention through early February was made without actually setting a trial date. (Photo: The Moscow Times)

Africa

Mozambique: post-election protests turn deadly

Violence broke out in Mozambique’s capital Maputo between security forces and demonstrators protesting the results of nationwide local elections. Confrontations were also reported in the cities of Nampula and Nacala. Police are accused of using disproportionate force, including tear-gas and live bullets, and at least three people are reported dead, including a 10-year old boy. Demonstrations were called by the opposition Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) after the National Elections Commission announced that the ruling Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO) won in 64 of the country’s 65 municipalities. RENAMO and other oppositions parties denounced the results, claiming there was fraud. RENAMO, a former guerilla army that reorganized as a political party after the end of the civil war in 1991, briefly returned to arms following contested elections in 2016. (Image: Nicolas Raymond via Flickr)

Iran

‘Islamic State,’ Islamic Republic both target Baluchi

More than 50 were killed and dozens injured in a suicide attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan province as people gathered to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Those targeted in the blast at the town of Mastung were overwhelmingly members of the Baluch ethnicity. The attack is believed to have carried out by the local “Islamic State” franchise, ISIS-Khorasan. That same day, Iranian security forces opened fire on Baluchi protesters at the town of Zahedan, Sistan & Baluchestan province, leaving several wounded. The demonstration had been called to commemorate the previous year’s “Bloody Friday” massacre in Zahedan, when some 40 were slain by security forces during a protest held amid the national uprising then sweeping through Iran. (Map via Wikipedia)

Europe

Ukrainian anti-fascist sentenced to prison in Russia

An appeals court in Moscow upheld the 13-year sentence imposed on Ukrainian human rights defender Maksym Butkevych, in what Amnesty International called “a grave miscarriage of justice.” Butkevych had been convicted in a “sham trial” by a de facto court in the Russian-occupied “Luhansk People’s Republic” in Ukraine, which Moscow has unilaterally declared annexed territory. A platoon leader in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Butkevych was taken captive in March and charged with war crimes. Amnesty dismisses the case as “a reprisal by Russia for his civic activism and his prominent human rights work.” Before the invasion, Butkevych led a Ukrainian NGO helping refugees find asylum in the country, and had long been a frontline opponent of the militant right in both Ukraine and Russia. (Image: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign)

Europe

Solidarity with imprisoned anti-fascists in Russia

In Episode 190 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses the cases of Azat Miftakhov, Darya Polyudova, Aleksandra Skochilenko, Yelena Milashina, Larysa Schchyrakova, Maksym Butkevych and other Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian anti-fascist activists imprisoned by the dictatorships of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko. These courageous women and men recognize these twin allied regimes as now actually having crossed the line into fascism—despite the paradoxical fascist pseudo-anti-fascism of their propaganda. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: caseazatmiftakhov.org)

Europe

Russian anti-fascist released from prison, promptly re-arrested

Russian anti-fascist activist Azat Miftakhov was arrested by FSB agents immediately upon his release from a prison colony in Omutninsk. Azat had been in detention since February 2019, convicted in connection with the breaking of a window at a Moscow protest outside an office of the ruling United Russia party. At that time of that arrest Miftakhov was a mathematics graduate student at Moscow State University. Miftakhov endured torture, threats, and other mistreatment at the hands of authorities while imprisoned. After a trial marked by widespread judicial abuses and the use of “secret witnesses,” in January 2021 he was convicted of “hooliganism” and sentenced to five years. He was released on parole two days after an International Day for the Liberation of Azat Miftakhov was held in cities around the world. But just as he exited the prison to meet his family, he was taken into custody again—this time on charges of “publicly justifying terrorism.” (Photo: caseazatmiftakhov.org)

Greater Middle East

Israel and Bahrain: partners in repression

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met with the crown prince of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, at Gudaibiya Palace in the capital Manama, to discuss boosting trade and diplomatic ties, which were first established in 2020 as part of the so-called Abraham Accords. Cohen said he hoped this would be a precedent for “normalization” of Israel’s relations with other Arab states. Tellingly, the meeting came as Israel and Bahrain are each facing hunger strikes in their prisons, with political detainees protesting harsh conditions and restrictions on their basic rights. (Map: PCL)

Europe

Screw tightens in Russia and Belarus

The Russian Ministry of Justice formally designated Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning internationally esteemed journalist, as a “foreign agent.” The label, reminiscent of the “enemy of the people” designation of the Soviet era, imposes harsh constraints on activities and requires sources of funding to be disclosed. The law has been widely used by the Kremlin to silence critics. Muratov is editor at Novaya Gazeta, one of the rare media outlets in Russia openly critical of President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, a court in Belarus sentenced journalist and human rights activist Larysa Schchyrakova to three and a half years in prison on charges of “insulting” government officials, disseminating “false information,” and promoting “extremist” activities. Her organization, Gomelskaya Viasna, was aso ordered banned. The charges concern Schchyrakova’s advocacy and rights monitoring work during the 2020 anti-government protests in Belarus. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

East Asia

Hong Kong: protester convictions overturned

Seven high-profile democracy activists in Hong Kong had part of their sentences thrown out on appeal. They were convicted two years ago over a mass demonstration on Aug. 18, 2019 that drew an estimated 1.7 million people, in defiance of a ban on street protests. The Court of Appeal’s judgement found that just because they were at the front of the procession didn’t mean they had actually organized it. However, their convictions for taking part in the rally were upheld. Martin Lee, Margaret Ng and Albert Ho were given suspended sentences or credit for time served, and were released. But Jimmy Lai, Leung Kwok-hung, Cyd Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan remained in custody, as they also face charges under the National Security Law. (Photo: Iris Wong/Wikimedia)

Europe

Solitary confinement for Russian anti-war dissident

Imprisoned Russian anti-war activist Darya Polyudova has been placed in punitive solitary confinement after guards said they found a razor-blade in her belongings, which is considered a major violation at the penal colony in the North Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria where she is incarcerated. Polyudova’s mother told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that her daughter said guards had planted the blade in her belongings to frame her, adding that the activist is starting a hunger strike to protest the move. Polyudova, affiliated with the Left Resistance dissident network, was sentenced to nine years in prison in December on “extremism” charges related to her nonviolent opposition to the Russian war in Ukraine. (Photo: Polyudova with sign calling for release of Ukrainians detained by Russia, including filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Crimean anarchist Oleksandr Kolchenko. Via RFE/RL)