Foreign News
Two Thai journalists arrested for reporting on temple vandalism
Two Thai journalists who were arrested for reporting about the vandalism of a temple in Bangkok with anti-monarchist graffiti have been released on bail, a lawyer’s group has said.
Nattaphol Meksobhon, a reporter from the independent online news outlet Prachatai, and freelance photographer Nattaphon Phanphongsanon were arrested on Monday, nearly a year after the incident in Bangkok.
The Royal Palace police station, which made the arrests, said Meksobhon and Phanphongsanon were charged with collaborating in vandalising a historical site.
Nutthaphol wrote a story and Natthapon took a video of the incident, which was widely reported.
The offence is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a 700,000 baht ($19,600) fine.
The two arrested men have said they were only carrying out their jobs as journalists.
The charges involve a March 28, 2023, incident in which a 25-year-old activist spray-painted an anarchist symbol and the number 112 with a line through it on the exterior wall of the revered Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is in the Grand Palace complex.
The number 112 is a reference to the “lese majeste” law, which protects the royal family from criticism.
The Thai journalists association defended the two journalists and said they were concerned about “damaging media rights and freedom” in the country. “It was necessary for journalists to cover the news,” it said.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday that the government is “fair” on freedom of the press and said it is up to the police to determine what is appropriate. “Everything depends on the law. There is no harassment,” he said.
The group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said the two journalists were held overnight at separate police stations after their arrests and were taken on Tuesday to Bangkok Criminal Court, where they were released on bail after posting a bond of 35,000 baht ($980) each.
The editor of Prachatai News said the journalists who covered the story went to the temple without knowing in advance that it would be graffitied. “They were covering the news as journalists,” Tewarit Maneechai said.
He added that his colleagues were unaware of their charges before their arrest despite a warrant issued in May.
“Their arrests created fear about news coverage of sensitive issues,” he said. In the World Press Freedom Index in 2023, Thailand ranked 106 out of 180 countries.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Phawat Wattasupat, deputy superintendent of Phra Ratchawang police station, told the Reuters news agency that police had sufficient information to support their arrests.
(Aljazeera)
Authorities in the Dominican Republican say cocaine discovered in the country’s largest-ever seizure was headed to Europe.
Hidden in a banana shipment, officials found 9,500kg of the drug at a port in the capital, Santo Domingo.
The cocaine was hidden in 320 bags with an estimated street value of $250 million (£196 million).
At least 10 people linked to the port are under investigation with early investigations showing the bananas had arrived from Guatemala, according to the National Drug Control Directorate.
Communications chief Carlos Denvers said: “Many unknown individuals tried to transfer the drugs to another container that would be shipped on a vessel to Belgium.”
The haul far exceeds the 2,580kg seizure made by Dominican authorities at the same port in 2006.
Monitoring agencies have reported that the Caribbean is resurfacing as a major drug trafficking route from Colombia to Europe.
A report last year found the use of cocaine is increasing in several western European countries including the UK, Belgium, France and Spain.
Europe accounted for 21% of the world’s cocaine users in 2020, according to a United Nations report
Evidence suggests use of the drug is bringing dire health consequences, with recent data showing drug-poisoning deaths in England and Wales hit the highest level in 30 years, fuelled by a 30% rise in fatalities involving cocaine.
[BBC]
Afghanistan’s top cricket stars Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi have urged the Taliban to reconsider their ban on women’s access to medical education and training, terming the move “deeply unjust”.
“Education holds a central place in Islamic teachings, emphasising the pursuit of knowledge for both men and women,” Afghanistan’s T20 captain Rashid wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.
“The Quran highlights the importance of learning and acknowledges the equal spiritual worth of both genders,” he added.
Earlier this week the Taliban announced their decision to forbid older girls and women from receiving medical education and training, closing all avenues for them to become doctors, nurses or midwives.
Rashid, who said he was speaking out in support of his Afghan “sisters and mothers”, believes the decision will profoundly affect Afghan women’s future as well as “the broader fabric of society”.
The 26-year-old global icon of the sport said the country “desperately needs professionals in every field, especially the medical sector”
(Aljazeera).
A Kenyan court has convicted a photographer for the murder of LGBT activist Edwin Kiprotich Kipruto, popularly known as Edwin Chiloba, whose body was found dumped in a metal box nearly two years ago.
The court in the western city of Eldoret ruled that the prosecution had proved that Jacktone Odhiambo, who was living with Chiloba, had killed him. Chiloba’s body had been found dumped on the roadside in Eldoret, where he was a university student.
The murder sparked global condemnation, with human rights groups saying it was because of his sexuality.
Kenya is a relatively conservative society and gay sex is illegal, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, although it is not clear whether there has been any convictions.
However the Supreme Court last year affirmed a ruling allowing LGBT people the right to associate and register a rights organisation.
Judge Reuben Nyakundi ruled that the evidence, which included DNA tests, had linked the accused to the murder. The evidence also indicated that the suspect had sexually assaulted Chiloba before killing him.
The judge said the prosecution had proved the suspect’s deliberate intention and deep hatred against the deceased.
“He was a young man whom you strangled until he lost his life at the peak of his life. You were close friends, and you should have protected his life,” said the judge.
The court did not make any finding about the motive for the killing.
Chiloba’s body was found in early January last year with socks stuffed into his mouth and a piece of denim from jeans tied around his face. A post-mortem indicated that he had died from lack of oxygen, caused by smothering.
Odhiambo, who was believed to have been in a relationship with the deceased, was accused of killing Chiloba between 31 December 2022 and 3 January 2023. He had denied the charges.
On Wednesday, the prosecution said in a post on X that it had presented evidence from 23 witnesses “detailing the events leading to Chiloba’s death and proving beyond reasonable doubt that Odhiambo intentionally caused the unlawful death”.
The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said the “landmark ruling” was a “significant step toward justice for Edwin and all LGBTQ residents of Kenya, Africa and beyond”.
Odhiambo is due to be sentenced on 16 December.
[BBC]
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