Reporter who broke news of Chechnya’s gay purge in hiding: 'They declared a Jihad on all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.'

Reporter who broke news of Chechnya’s gay purge in hiding: 'They declared a Jihad on all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.' (PinkNews).

The Russian journalist who broke the news of Chechnya’s homophobic purge has been forced into hiding after the region’s largest mosque declared jihad.

Speaking to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire, Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina, who authored the reports, revealed that she has been forced into hiding in the wake of the story.

Ms Milashina, who is usually based in Moscow, is currently in an undisclosed location.

She said: “They reacted [to the story] in a terrifying manner… on April 3, in the biggest mosque in Grozny, 15,000 people came together and declared a Jihad on us… not just me personally, but all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.

“They said the people at the newspaper who raised this question have damaged the honour of Chechen nation and should be prosecuted.”

She explained: “We know about four secret prisons. Two of them in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, one of them in Argun – this is the first secret prison we discovered where LGBT people were detained, beaten, tortured and killed.

“We got this information [a few] weeks ago and began to prove it. It’s pretty hard in Checnya, especially to rescue LGBT people, because they’re a very closed network. The region is very hard on those people and they have to hide.

“The Chechen government denied [the allegations], although they don’t deny that if they found this kind of people in Chechnya they would be killed.

“They don’t deny this, but they deny the secret camps and they have denied that they detained more than 100 people and killed some of them.”Read the full story here.

Related:

"Radio Liberty" reports about secret gay prison in Chechen village of Tsotsi-Yurt https://t.co/SLHerZctUE pic.twitter.com/y71WkGcERK

— Caucasian Knot (@CaucasianKnotEn) April 11, 2017

Fifteen LGBTs ask evacuation from Chechnya https://t.co/DxhmU8cGxm pic.twitter.com/TMXbsSzqY4

— Caucasian Knot (@CaucasianKnotEn) April 7, 2017

Maryland Mosque Honors Assassin of Pakistani Governor Who Spoke Against Blasphemy Laws.

Maryland Mosque Honors Assassin of Pakistani Governor Who Spoke Against Blasphemy Laws. (PN)

ICC Note: Over the weekend, a mosque in Pikesville, Maryland hosted an event in honor of a Muslim man, Mumtaz Qadri, who faced the death penalty last week for assassinating a Pakistani governor. After the governor openly spoke out against the country's blasphemy laws and their misuse in the case of Christian prisoner Asia Bibi, Qadri shot the governor more than 25 times. Although the assassination was directed more toward the governor himself than the Christian community, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are widely misused to discriminate against Christians and other religious minorities.

02/21/2017 United States (Christian News Network) - By Heather Clark

A Maryland mosque held an event on Sunday to honor a Muslim terrorist who shot and killed the former Pakistani governor of Punjab in 2011 over his statements in opposition to the nation’s laws prohibiting blasphemy against Islam.

Gulzar E Madina Mosque in Pikesville hosted an “Urs” observance on Feb. 12, which is an event marking the anniversary of the death of a Muslim entity considered a saint. Mumtaz Qadri was executed last February for murdering the governor.

“Whoever disrespects the holy prophet Muhammad is worthy of death, and even if disrespects indirectly he is still worthy of death. Even if someone asks for forgiveness it is not acceptable,” one of the speakers at the Urs declared, according to the Rabwah Times.

Qadri had served as a bodyguard for Gov. Salman Taseer, but after Tasser expressed objection to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and how they had been applied to prisoner Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death in 2010 over allegations that she blasphemed Muhammad, he sought to kill him.
In January 2011, Qadri shot Taseer over 25 times with an assault rifle while he was entering his vehicle in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market. Qadri then surrendered to police.

“The governor fell down, and the man who fired at him threw down his gun and raised both hands,” witness Ali Imran recalled to Reuters.

Qadri was soon sentenced to death, and after five years in prison, he was hanged for his crime. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people, and some protested his execution as he was rather hailed as a hero. Full story here.

WESTERN HUMAN RIGHTS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH VERSUS  ISLAMIC HUMAN RIGHTS 

Video - Turkish journalist in Exile: 'I used to report on refugees now I find myself being one'.

Since the attempted coup in July, the government has ordered more than a hundred news outlets to close including 29 publishing houses, 16 TV channels, three news agencies, 45 newspapers, 23 radio stations and 15 magazines. 48 journalists have so far been arrested.

Abdullah Bozkurt was the Bureau-in Chief for Today's Zaman, an English daily, in Ankara. The newspaper was seized by the government on the 4th of March as part of the escalating crackdown on the free and independent press in Turkey.

Bozkurt was dismissed from his position after the government takeover. He went on to establish his own news service but that too was shut down. Fearing for his life and imprisonment in Turkey, Bozkurt moved to Europe in late July to live in self-exile. He also managed to get his wife and 3 children out of Turkey to join him.

Jacaranda FM News Journalist Slindelo Masikane sat down with Bozkurt, who is currently in South Africa to raise awareness on the issues facing the media in Turkey. Read the full story here.

 

German court rejects appeal by Erdogan over insults.

German court rejects appeal by Erdogan over insults. (PressTv).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lost an appeal in a German court, where he had demanded an injunction against a major German publisher over support its chief expressed for an insulting poem.

The appeals court in Cologne said Tuesday that it had upheld the ruling in May from the lower court, which rejected a preliminary injunction against Mathias Doepfner, the chief executive of newspaper publisher Axel Springer.

Erdogan sued Doepfner after the latter expressed his support for Jan Boehmermann, a German comedian who is being prosecuted for reading a poem against Erdogan on a German TV show in March.

The appeals court said Doepfner’s comments constituted acceptable expressions of opinion and were protected under Germany’s freedom of speech laws.

It said the verdict will be final and no further appeal could be made. Erdogan can, however, file a constitutional complaint although such complaints are seldom upheld.

Lawyers of Erdogan in Germany said they have yet to decide on the issue. They said a separate lawsuit could be filed against Doepfner.

Parts of the poem by Boehmermann was deemed insulting to Erdogan and a German court in May banned republication of 18 of 24 sections, saying they amounted to abuse and libel.

Doepfner wrote an open letter in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in April, saying he “wholeheartedly” supported what Boehmermann had said.

Officials in the Axel Springer, Europe's largest newspaper publisher, said Doepfner “wanted to defend the freedom of art and satire in his open letter.”

Under pressure from Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed prosecutors to pursue a case against Boehmermann, triggering a backlash in the German media. Many criticized Merkel, saying she bowed to Erdogan’s pressure.

'Advanced Islamist Dictatorship' Turkey: 894 journalists dismissed since January 2016: Report.

'Advanced Islamist Dictatorship' Turkey: 894 journalists dismissed since January 2016: Report. (HD).

A total 894 journalists have been dismissed from work since the beginning of 2016, according to a fresh report by Press For Freedom, a project funded by Britain’s Bilateral Program, which produces monthly, quarterly and yearly reports on the state of media freedoms in Turkey.

The report, whose findings were announced at a press conference on May 14, displayed a gloomy picture of the deteriorating state of press freedoms in Turkey.

Two newspapers and a news agency have been “silenced” with the appointment of a trustee panel due to “strong evidence” of links to the Gülen movement, followers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, an ally-turned-foe of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the report said.

At least 160 journalists were laid off in Turkey in April, increasing the number of discharged journalists to a total 894 over the first quarter of 2016, the report said.

The research also noted some 104,904 websites were blocked while access has been denied to the website of the Dicle News Agency (DİHA) 37 times since the general elections on June 7, 2015. Thirteen of the agency’s journalists are also current under arrest.

Violence targeting members of the press also rose over the same period, as a total 200 attacks were reported against journalists, including 21 against media institutions. A fourth Syrian journalist, Zahir al-Sherqat, was killed in April by suspected militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), prompting the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) to call on the Turkish government to take serious measures against ISIL violence on Turkish soil.

Meanwhile, a total of 33 reporters were detained between January and April 2016, 13 investigations were launched against journalists while 12 journalists were brought before court. Over the same period, 12 journalists faced charges over “insulting the president.”

In the report, Press For Freedom highlighted the situation of daily Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül, as an Istanbul court sentenced the journalists to five years in prison for “leaking state secrets” on May 6, hours after Dündar escaped unharmed from an armed attack in front of Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse. Read the full story here.

I used to think I couldn’t be affected by Turkey’s shrinking press freedom. Boy oh boy was i wrong.

Source Quote Bloomberg Here.

I used to think I couldn’t be affected by Turkey’s shrinking press freedom. Boy oh boy was i wrong. (Foreignpolicy). By David Lepeska .

Last week, Turkey added my name to the 'Persona Non grata' list. 

I should be clear: I was not deported, nor was I banned from the country. Upon arriving at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, I was stopped and asked to await word from Ankara on whether I would be allowed to enter the country. After almost 20 hours, I decided to continue my vigil somewhere other than the airport’s immigration waiting area and took a flight to Chicago. Today, I am still awaiting word from Ankara. The government has given me no confirmation of the ban and no reason for denying my entry.

Already, I’m no longer the most recent victim. Last Wednesday, the government accused a Finnish writer living in eastern Van province of “spy activities” and deported her.

The boundaries of expression in Turkey appear to be shrinking by the day. A veteran journalist friend says he’s reminded of Iran in the early 1980s, when the still new Islamic regime strengthened its position with great purges of critics. Hmmm....“Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.” ― Bruce Coville. Read the full story here.

Putin Doubts Turkey Can Ensure Russian Tourists’ Safety, result Sputnik news blocked in Turkey.

Putin Doubts Turkey Can Ensure Russian Tourists’ Safety, result Sputnik news blocked in Turkey? (Novinite).

"I’m sure that the Turkish leaders will aim to ensure safety of tourists, including those from Russia, because this is a significant source of income for the Turkish budget,” Putin said in his annual televised phone-in on Thursday.

“They will try but the question remains whether they can do it," Putin said during his Q&A live broadcast.

He also warned Russians that there is effectively a civil war going on in southern Turkey

"Practically, a civil war is taking place in the south, we try to not notice it, the international community also somehow does not notice it, but it is a fact, and with use of heavy weapons, tanks, artillery. With terrorist attacks happening almost every week in Turkey, where is the guarantee that nothing will happen to our tourists?", Putin asked.

The Russian president also said that the Turkish leadership was cooperating with extremists in the country more than fighting them.

“In our point of view, the current Turkish leadership does not fight radicals as much as it cooperates with them," Putin said.

Video - Germany: Merkel allows trial to go ahead over satirical Erdogan poem

A recent poll of more than 61,000 German readers of Focus Online magazine showed 82 percent of those polled viewed the poem as defensible and some 78 percent thought the German government should defend Böhmermann. More on the legal case can be read here.

#Merkel and #EU representatives to go to #Turkey next week https://t.co/ixVx7Io2uO pic.twitter.com/8uhYlmUoSn

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 15, 2016

Sputnik news website blocked in Turkey soon after Putin Direct Q&A.

Sputnik news website blocked in Turkey soon after Putin Direct Q&A. (SP).

Russian state news agency website Sputnik has been shut down by Turkey without prior notification under “administrative measures” imposed by the country’s authorities. Turkey was recently slammed in the European Parliament for violating press freedoms.

“After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the law Nr. 5651, administration measure has been taken for this website (sputniknews.com) according to decision Nr. 490.05.01.2016.-56092 dated 14/04/2016 of the Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication,” says an error message that appears on the sputniknews.com homepage for any user trying to access the site from Turkey.

The problems with sputniknews.com were first reported at about 7:50pm local time.

Turkey’s Department of Telecommunications and Communication (TIB) has confirmed the Sputnik website has been blocked in the country.
“This morning the blocking of the site was confirmed. According to a representative from Turkey’s Telecommunications Department, they are not obliged to warn anyone when closing a site,” Sputnik’s Turkish bureau chief Tural Kerimov said.

Once the Turkish prime minister and other members of the cabinet were empowered in January 2015 to block any web resource without a court order, the Telecommunications Department could be asked to block or delete contents from a we site in a matter of four hours after receiving a notice of “national security, protection of social order, or for the prevention of crime.”

The final decision on blocking the Russian web resource, barred in accordance with Law 5651, will be made by a Turkish court, a TIB representative told RIA Novosti.

Law 5651 has been criticized repeatedly in Turkey as limiting citizens’ access to information. In March 2014, the same law was used to temporarily block Twitter and YouTube in Turkey.

The Turkish authorities’ decision to block Sputnik is “yet another act of rude censorship in the country where freedom of speech is no longer on the agenda. It simply exists no more,” RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said, adding that the decision to block the website looks “absurd” coming just several days after it received an award from Turkey’s Journalist Union.

The move comes on the heels of an EU resolution on Thursday, which denounced what they called a “serious backsliding on fundamental freedoms,” including the growth of clashes in the southeast of Turkey and government’s “violent and illegal take-over of several newspapers including Zaman.”

Given a hypothetical scenario in which both President Erdogan and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko were drowning, Putin was asked yesterday during Q&A to whom he would offer a hand. The Russian president responded that it's impossible to save someone who doesn't want saving, but that Russia is ready to assist any partner willing to accept help. Read the full story here.

Pakistan - 'Religious' Cyber crime bill sails through National Assembly.

Pakistan - 'Religious' Cyber crime bill sails through National Assembly. (ET).

The National Assembly adopted on Wednesday a cybercrime bill that proposes rigorous penalties for creating fear or panic and stoking sectarian discord in the country, while exempting children less than 14-year of age from the offence.

Hardly a dozen or more lawmakers were present in the house when the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2016 was tabled. It was cleared but not before an hour-long debate between opposition lawmakers and State Minister for IT Anusha Rehman. Now, the controversial bill will be laid in the Senate where the opposition is in majority.

But the IT minister said the bill was drafted after months of brainstorming and that it safeguarded civil liberties guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution. “We do not have any mechanism to stop the misuse of cyberspace,” she said, adding that the legislation was part of the National Action Plan against terrorism.

The bill says whoever coerces, intimidates, or creates a sense of fear, panic or insecurity in the government or public or a section of a community or sect, including advances religious, ethnic or sectarian discord shall be punished with 14-year jail-term, or up to Rs50 million fine, or both.

Similarly, glorification of an offence and hate speech, including its dissemination through information system, shall be punished with a five-year imprisonment or up to Rs10 million fine, or both. Glorification includes depiction of any form of praise or celebration in a desirable manner.

Similarly, glorification of an offence and hate speech, including its dissemination through information system, shall be punished with a five-year imprisonment or up to Rs10 million fine, or both. Glorification includes depiction of any form of praise or celebration in a desirable manner.

The proposed law also allows the federal government to establish an investigation agency for such offences and with powers to investigate them. The agency shall have the power to issue warrant for search and seizure of offensive or controversial content.

Related: Cyber crime legislation: Independent agency proposed in final draft

Video - U.S. receives a demonstration of freedom of the press Erdogan style.

Erdogan's thugs attack journalists in Washington DC outside his hotel. pic.twitter.com/5LNAPrKWLe

— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) March 29, 2016

Here is American journalist attacked by Erdogan details moments ago in front of Brookings pic.twitter.com/PRnrtGWhGK

— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) March 31, 2016

Journalist of one of Turkey's leading newspapers, vows to put Turkish state's 'crimes' on trial.

Journalist of one of Turkey's leading newspapers, vows to put Turkish state's 'crimes' on trial. (AA).

The editor of one of Turkey's leading newspapers, who was recently released after three months in detention, has vowed to expose the government's "crimes" when his trial begins later this month.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief, Can Dundar, and Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul, were released from jail last week by Turkey's top court, but still face charges of revealing state secrets and espionage.

"Right from the first hearing of our trial, on March 25, we will throw all light on the crimes of the state," Dundar told a news conference in Istanbul.

"We are not going to defend ourselves, we will put the crimes of the state on trial," he added.
Their arrest also amplified concerns about press freedom under Erdogan, who personally warned Dundar he would "pay a price" for the story.

Dundar said a stretch in prison was par for the course for Turkish journalists.
"If you are a journalist in Turkey, going to prison will be part of your career plan," he said.

"We are journalists, not civil servants. Our duty is to inform the public, including about the illegal acts of the government," he said, denouncing the "climate of fear propagated by the Erdogan regime among journalists."

Erdogan had said on Sunday he had "no respect" for the Constitutional Court's decision to release the pair, prompting accusations from the opposition that he was trampling on the Turkish constitution.

"Through his declarations, Erdogan transformed an internal question into an international affair," said Dundar.

The Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest, is one of the very few public institutions in the country not controlled by Erdogan who enjoys the support of a loyal army, parliament and government.

In a rare public intervention, the president of the court Zuhtu Arslan pointedly said on Tuesday that the court's decisions applied to everyone "including leaders as well as citizens."

Erdogan says he does not obey or respect top courts authority in freed journalist case.

Erdogan says he does not obey or respect top courts authority in freed journalist case. (TZ).

"The Constitutional Court may have reached such a verdict. I would only remain silent. I am not in a position to accept it," Erdoğan told reporters before departing for a visit to African countries. "I do not obey it nor do I respect it."

Dündar and Gül were arrested on charges of espionage and aiding a terrorist organization in November after the publication of video footage purporting to show the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) helping to send weapons to Syria when they were intercepted in 2014 by gendarmerie forces. The arrest drew international condemnation and revived concern about media freedom in Turkey.

Erdoğan, who described the interception of the MİT trucks as an act of espionage aimed at undermining Turkey internationally, vowed that Dündar would pay a "heavy price" for reporting on the incident. "I will not let him go [unpunished]," he said back in November.


"The media cannot have unlimited freedom. These reports are an attack on the current president of this country," Erdoğan said on Sunday. "This has nothing to do with freedom of expression at all. This is an espionage case." Hmmm......'L'Etat c'est Moi'. Read the full story here.

Reporters Without Borders Urges on Charlie anniversary Resist 'religious correctness,'

Reporters Without Borders Urges on Charlie anniversary Resist 'religious correctness,' (DS).

Press campaign group Reporters Without Borders marked Thursday's first anniversary of the attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo by warning against what it called "religious correctness."

The organisation cautioned against what it called "the insidious imposition of a 'religious correctness' that poses a major threat to the journalistic freedom to inform others (and make them laugh)," in a statement.

It noted the controversy sparked by the cover of Charlie Hebdo's Wednesday edition, which depicts a gun-toting God figure on the run.

The Vatican criticized the cover for failing to "acknowledge or to respect believers' faith in God, regardless of the religion." It added: "Using God to justify hatred is a genuine blasphemy."

"Some may feel offended or hurt by criticism of their beliefs, especially in the form of satire. But freedom of information and expression ... must not be constrained or limited by anyone's convictions or sensibilities, or else a form of totalitarianism will take hold before we know it," the Paris-based group, known by its French initials RSF, warned.

"RSF deplores the self-censorship and overcautiousness that has taken hold in the media in democratic countries," it said.

Concepts such as blasphemy – which is penalized in 94 countries, RSF said – are used to create an exception to freedom of expression "for which there is absolutely no provision under international law," it said. Hmmmm......Actually Charlie Hebdo managed to unify all three major religions to agree upon something. ----->

International Federation of Journalists general secretary: 'Turkey is largest jail for journalists in Europe'.

International Federation of Journalists general secretary: 'Turkey is largest jail for journalists in Europe'. (TZ).

Anthony Bellanger, the general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), said at a press conference in Brussels on Friday that as a result of government pressure on free media, Turkey has become the largest jail for journalists in Europe.

Bellanger noted that Turkey leads Europe for the number of imprisoned journalists and that more complaints are submitted to the European Council about the conditions journalists in Turkey face than any other country. “Turkey is the largest jail for journalists in Europe,” he said.

“It [following the pressure on the media in Turkey] has become our daily routine work. We were concerned about the situation before Nov. 1 election and it continues after the election,” Bellanger said.

Underlining that the IFJ has taken steps to have the UN impose sanctions on countries that violate press freedoms, Bellanger noted that sanctions must not be understood as simply embargoes; there could also be economic sanctions through international financial institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF).Read the full story here.

Video: Takeover of Turkish newspaper as 'trustee' sacks journalists on the spot

Hasan Ölçer, one of the trustees appointed on Monday to take over the management of the İpek Media Group following a controversial court decision, insulted several employees of the Bugün daily during a meeting on Thursday, and unlawfully dismissed those employees who refused to act in line with their orders. A number of employees from the Bugün daily, including Editor-in-Chief Erhan Başyurt, Publishing Coordinator Mehmet Yılmaz and Managing Editor Güngör Ergun, were fired on Thursday in a wave of dismissals decided by the newly appointed trustees.

Today's front page pic.twitter.com/offMshW35X

— Today's Zaman (@todayszamancom) October 30, 2015