Category: The Fifth Column

Youtube Ashwaq Hamoud and Areej Hamoud, in still from video, fled Saudi Arabia in late February to Turkey to escape abuse from male family members. (HRW) – Two Saudi sisters in Turkish police custody are at risk of forced return to Saudi Arabia, where they could face serious harm from Saudi authorities or family members, Human Rights Watch said today. One of the sisters lost a challenge to her deportation in a Turkish court in December 2017 and is at immediate risk of deportation, while the other’s case is still…

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(TFC) – Ahed Tamimi, well-known Palestinian activist, has been taken from her home by Israeli forces. She’s best known for her appearances in YouTube videos originating in the Occupied Territories. Her curly blonde hair earned her the nickname “Shirley Temper”, and her absolute defiance and fearlessness earned her the respect of people all over the world. For many, she is the face of the Palestinian resistance. She was named The Fifth Column’s Young Person of the Year in 2015. In a Facebook post, her father stated, “The Israeli Occupation Forces raided my home and…

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Lu Wei, the former gatekeeper of the Chinese Internet, attended attend a signing ceremony in Seattle, the United States, on Sept. 23, 2015. Chinese state owned Xinhua photo. (GVO) – According to an announcement released on November 21, 2017 and posted on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Lu Wei, the former head of the Chinese Internet regulator, has been placed under corruption investigation. Lu Wei was the director of the Administration of Cyberspace between April 2013 and June 2016. With his iron fist control over the Internet,…

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The alleged perpetrator has been identified as Shambunath Raigar (38), whose speech filled with Hindu fanaticism in a number of YouTube videos. Screenshot from a video uploaded by Vir Bhoomi. (GV) – India’s rising instances of attacks on minorities by Hindu supremacists hit an alarming crescendo in the first week of December, when a migrant Muslim worker was hacked and then burnt alive in Rajsamand, Rajasthan by a Hindu known to speak in fanatical terms online about his hatred against Muslims. The victim, 50-year-old, Mohammed Afrajul, hailed from West Bengal, a state in…

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Jilin Daily’s full page feature on nuclear radiation. (GVO) – On December 6, 2017, Jilin Daily published a full-page feature on nuclear weapons and how to protect oneself in case of a nuclear radiation. This led many, in particular, residents from northern China to ask if the newspaper report is an anticipation of a United States military action against North Korea’s missile test. Jilin province is located in north China near North Korea. Jilin Daily is affiliated with the local government of the province. On November 29, North Korea launched a…

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(Sputnik) — Earlier on Thursday the FCC voted 3-2 to end a 2015 regulation that defined the internet as a public utility. Net neutrality forbids internet service providers from slowing or blocking content from competitors. “Today the FCC took a wrecking ball to the pillars of freedom and openness upon which the Internet was built,” Senator Patrick Leahy said. Former presidential hopeful and Senator Bernie Sanders said the FCC’s decision spells “the end of the internet as we know it.” “In Congress and the courts we must fight back,” Sanders said. The historically awful FCC action undoing net neutrality, Senator Ron…

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(GV) – US President Donald Trump’s declaration that the country would move its embassy in Israel to the city of Jerusalem was met with shock throughout the world. Among Palestinians, however, it was outrage mixed with a distinctive lack of surprise. Jerusalem is a controversial site of contention in the so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace process for the simple reason that both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine claim it as their capital. Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered to be occupied Palestinian territory — Israel captured the city,…

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The fuzzy, metal-infused guitars and punk rock attitude of Mitrovica Rock School alumni, Proximity Mine, stand for much more than just youthful attitude and rebellion. Hailing from Mitrovica, the new band joins the ranks of a long line of influential rock musicians from Kosovo’s “Rock City”. They, along with the six other currently active bands at the Rock School, are carrying the torch forward for a city steeped in musical heritage that somewhat lost its way in the wake of the bloody Kosovo War of 1999. In the 1970s and…

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(FPIF) – The current war in Yemen has had devastating consequences for the population. The indiscriminate Saudi bombing includes schools, water purification plants, hospitals, and electricity plants, leading to the death of over 10,000 and the wounding of 50,000 more. By the end of 2017, the International Red Cross has projected that over a million Yemenis will have suffered from cholera. So far, 900,000 people have been infected, and 2,000 have did, 1,200 of them children. Faced with no fuel for its water-treatment plant due to a Saudi blockade that relies…

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(HRW) – Police in Turkmenistan arbitrarily detained a prominent animal rights activist, Galina Kucherenko, on December 7, 2017, and are holding her at an undisclosed location, Human Rights Watch said today. Police also detained Kucherenko’s adult daughter, Valeria, but later released her. Turkmenistan’s international partners should urgently and publicly call on the Turkmen government to disclose Kucherenko’s whereabouts and release her immediately. On December 7 at about 11:30 a.m., police broke into Kucherenko’s apartment in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan’s capital, taking the apartment’s metal door off its hinges, and detained Kucherenko and…

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