Bombardment in Khan Yunis and Rafah: Now

Shortly afterward, he elaborated:

Blogger Political Theatrics has detailed the incident, stating:

The Israel Air Force struck smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border late Wednesday night, a day after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Qassam rocket into the western Negev.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office reported that the IAF planes also attacked a nearby structure believed to have served as a weapons facility near the Gaza town of Khan Younis.

Palestinian sources said three people were hurt in the attack, which they claimed also targeted a military training compound.

The IDF report also indicated that strike was carried out in response to a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, and which landed in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, in the Western Negev.

[Editor's note: The aforementioned blogger was actually quoting from this Haaretz article; our sincere apologies for the error.]

UPDATE (8:06 EST): The BBC has confirmed the attacks, and Palestinian officials claim no casualties.

Twitter user pakinamamer is hoping for more answers. She asks:

Bikya Misr, wrote about the case:

After nearly four and a half months, the Marwa el-Sherbini saga has come to a conclusion of sorts after a German court sentenced the man who stabbed the “veiled martyr” 17 times inside the court in July to life in prison without possibility of early release. Egyptians, Arabs and Germans alike have welcomed the verdict and hope Europe and the Middle East can begin to heal the wounds of the killing and move “toward a better future.”

Hicham Maged wrote about how glad he is for the ruling, and that he has real trust in the German justice system:

The judge was aware about various tricks from the killer's defence team and here I quote the words according to this article: “ He killed … not out of fear but out of revenge. He consciously exploited her innocence and defencelessness. ” I agree with this and do not forget that he also tried to kill her husband.
I am glad that the courtroom where betrayal took place has been washed up physically and morally by applying justice. Consequently, my trust in the German justice system was needless to mention because this crime was shocking for all of us not only Germans. For that matter, only today Marwa and her unborn baby can rest in peace after compensating from the killer.

Zeinobia was happy with the verdict, and she also wrote in response to those who believed that it is a political verdict, and that the German court ruled in favour of Marwa in order to please the Egyptians, and Arabs:

Now I want to say something, some racists “and they are not few in the world now”, will say that this is a political verdict ; the court had to take to win the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world and to save the German interests is the Islamic world.
Well with my all respect I said it before and will say it again; do not think of Marwa as a Muslim woman; think of her as a Pregnant woman and a mother who was brutally stabbed 18 times in front of her little boy. He killed two souls, innocent souls because of blind hate and racism. He deserves to be behind bars for the rest of his life for taking the life of innocent souls and take the life of a mother from her child

Aam Mina on the other hand wrote a post, making fun of those who believe in conspiracy theories and were expecting the Germans to rule in favour of the murderer:

He then wrote about many the lessons we are supposed to learn from this incident:

Finally, Hicham Maged wrote:

What happened to Marwa should be a ‘wake-up’ call that make people work for achieving this both by criticising extreme actions taken against people because of their faith or race and understanding our differences and this simply means to quite stereotyping from whoever against whoever.

Nawara Negm sympathizes with him:

Hassan El Helali thinks he is psychotic:

Wael Nawara wants to remind everyone that:

In late June 2007, Mr. Hasan stood before his supervisors and about 25 other mental health staff members and lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by The Washington Post.

“It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims,” he said in the presentation.

US-based Lebanese Dr Asa'ad Abu Khalil - The Angry Arab - quotes a newspaper report which says:

““When a white guy shoots up a post office, they call that going postal,” said Victor Benjamin II, 30, a former member of the Army. “But when a Muslim does it, they call it jihad.”

And Egyptian SandMonkey has tried to avoid writing about this because:

Anything I think of will sound contrived anyway. I mean, the [shooter] was Arab, Muslim and Palestinian to boot. What’s there to say? It’s an isolated incident? It might never happen again? This doesn’t mean that everybody in the military who is Arab or Muslim will act this way? For real? Do I need to say this? What is there to say?

I can only think of two things actually: 1) My deepest condolences to the families of the victims , and 2) in the name of every Arab or Muslim that will now get screwed over because of your actions: I hope you never enjoy a single day of peace in this life or any next one!

General Sarath Fonseka Image courtesy Wikipedia

Bailaman reports that to counter the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa's immense popularity after defeating the Tamil Tigers, “the main opposition party in Sri Lanka (UNP) has formed an alliance to contest at the presidential elections. Led by UNP the new alliance will contest as the United National Front.”

There is a twist in this candidature as per Bailaman:

Interestingly Ranil Wickremasinghe has pledged to abolish Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka if his party wins. With his new set of conditions which requires Fonseka to agree to Ranil Wickremasinghe as PM, Fonseka's role in the governance of Sri Lanka will be minimal.

However Dzone reports quoting the Sunday Leader that:

Reliable sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said Fonseka has categorically stated that he will not abolish the Executive Presidency. Abolishing Executive Presidency is a vital component of the campaign spearheaded by the United National Alliance.

Although the presidential election is not due within 2 years, rumors are that Mahinda Rajapaksa may hold them as early as possible, predictably in early 2010 to take advantage of his current public support. Speculations are high in the Sri Lankan blogosphere and Dheshapaluwa lists 7 reasons why Gen. Sarath Fonseka will run for President of Sri Lanka. To contest at the election Fonseka had to resign from his post in the Sri Lankan military immediately as the government is likely to announce election dates on Sunday, November 15, 2009.

And the expected happened today. Suranimala reports:

It is reliably learnt that Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka has handed over his letter of resignation from the post of CDS to the President Office today. It is also reported that Gen. Fonseka has mentioned 16 reasons on his letter of resignation as to why he decided to resign.

Another fact may have induced Fonseka to resign. Sudha Ramachandran at Asia Times tells how Sri Lanka was split over war honors as Rajapaksa's allies downplayed Fonsekas contribution in defeating the LTTE and even had launched a campaign projecting Rajapaksa as “Sri Lanka's savior”:

Fonseka was a big part of the offensive, leading crucial military offensives. He was army commander from December 2005 to July this year, leading the planning of the final phases of the “Eelam War IV”, which culminated in the final defeat of the LTTE.

The Rajapaksa government has tried to downplay his contribution. “It was President Rajapaksa and his brother, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who steered the forces to victory against the LTTE,” Labor Minister Mervyn Silva said at a public rally recently, calling on Fonseka and others not to take “personal credit” for the victory.

Fonseka, an US Green Card holder, also was subjected to controversy recently as the US Home Security Department attempted to “interview him over allegations on war crimes in the last phase of the war”, reports Lanka Polity. Sri Lankan government objected mentioning that “he has no authority to share any information relating to national security with third parties.”

Bloggers are also weighing in on Foneska's probable candidacy. Lanka Libertarian thinks that this is a game of the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe (UNP):

Ranil does not expect Fonseka to win if he is the opposition presidential candidate.

He is just fighting for his own political survival as unp leader in case of elections. He wants to revive the unp grassroots for parliamentary elections to prevent another dismal showing, and then hope to remain in control of unp after fonseka loses (or if there is no presidential election).

Indrajit Samarajiva at Indi.ca shows the irony of the situation:

The UNP traditionally includes minorities (though the riots were under a UNP government). They would now give northern Tamils the choice between the guy who bombed them and they guy who ordered the bombing. But stranger things have happened.

Lionel Bopage at Groundviews is apprehensive about another military chief turned democratic leader and poses some questions:

Under the circumstances, what guarantee is there whatever bourgeois democratic characteristics that remain in Sri Lanka will not be brought to an end by an army general elected as President of the country? Would not one want to remain President for life once elected? What are the safeguards that could be applied in such circumstances?

After winning a parliamentary majority in June, the US-backed March 14 coalition has struggled to form a national unity government with the Hezballah-led opposition.

Lebanon's political heavyweights had agreed soon after the elections on a cabinet formation that respected the country's delicate sectarian balance, and ensured opposition parties were not excluded from the decision-making process.

The cabinet includes 30 ministers, 15 from the ruling coalition, 10 the opposition, and 5 selected by President Michel Suleiman as a neutral buffer.

Obviously, this was all easier said than done. In reality, squeezing in over 10 political factions - each of whom vying for a greater share of government portfolios and influential ministries - proved more difficult than one could imagine.

Political wrangling over the seats of power is a trademark of Lebanese politics, and thus, the Lebanese blogosphere expressed little shock throughout the five month saga.

Nevertheless, having endured nearly half a year of a government-less state, Lebanese bloggers were understandably relieved, but remain cautious about its prospects.

And rightly so, as signs of tension within the two-day-old government were picked up by the blogosphere as soon as its formation had been deemed official.

March 14 ally, the right-wing Christian Phalangist Party (al'Kata'eb in Arabic), responded to its sole ministry post of Social Affairs with anger, threatening to unravel the new government line-up.

In his analysis of the Phalangist fallout, Lebanese political blogger Elias Muhanna senses a shift in alliances, Qifa Nabki:

On the one hand, I can understand the frustration: Social Affairs is a pretty lousy ministry, especially given the fact that the Lebanese Forces (another Christian ally of March 14 with more or less the same parliamentary weight as the Kata’eb) was given two portfolios in the new cabinet, one of them the highly visible Ministry of Justice.

[Phalangist] Sami Gemayel had been calling publicly for the Education Ministry earlier last week, presumably so that it would look like [Prime Minister Saad] Hariri gave them what they were demanding, were he only to give them one seat. But to dump them with Social Affairs alone looks like a snub.

Muhanna continues by declaring the March 14 versus March 8 rivalry dead:

Here’s a guess [for Hariri's snub of the Phalangists]. As we’ve said before, the era of the March 14-March 8 rivalry is over. It died, more or less, on the day after the election, and [PSP and Druze leader Walid] Jumblatt’s decision to drop out of Hariri’s coalition was the final nail in the coffin. The March 14 coalition, or what’s left of it, doesn’t command a majority in parliament, so what’s the point of trying to maintain it anymore?

If Hariri wants to be able to govern effectively, he needs to build a new coalition. Or, at least, he needs to re-build the kinds of partnerships that his father constructed and manipulated so masterfully, reaching across the aisle to court erstwhile opponents like Hezbollah, AMAL, and the FPM. Those are the parties with the real clout in their communities and the seats in parliament. If I had to guess, this is more or less what’s in the back of the young PM’s mind.

Left-leaning As'ad Abu Khalil at the Angry Arab blog conducted an overview of the elected ministers, but remained adamant that the cabinet will not solve any of Lebanon's woes:

So there is a new Lebanese cabinet. Nothing new. Lebanon was and will be always on the verge of civil war, even if it does not descend into civil war. The cabinet will not solve a thing.

Ghassan Karam from Rational Republic offers an equally pessimistic outlook, alleging that the government is simply a mini-parliament:

From here on the Lebanese cabinets are to be formed according to the newly established principle; each parliamentary bloc will be represented in the executive branch of government according to its share of parliamentary seats.

Goodbye democracy and welcome to the unworkable hybrid where many will be and not be at the same time. They will function as opposition and yet change their fedoras, whenever it suits them to become part of the government that they oppose. Thank you March 14, for driving in the final nail into the coffin of the Cedar revolution and the aspirations that it gave rise to.

Harsh criticism is given in an interesting commentary titled “Contradictions” on the French language blog, Le Liban:

Sitôt formé, le gouvernement d’union nationale se démène déjà dans ces problèmes.

Non pas dans les problèmes quotidiens des libanais, problèmes sociaux comme l’appauvrissement de la population, économiques comme la crise dans laquelle se démène l’industrie locale ou politiques locaux et régionaux comme les menaces israéliennes et la guerre prévue pour le printemps prochain, mais dans les propres contradictions de la majorité parlementaire avec les menaces de retrait des partis phalangistes.

Twitter response

Several Lebanese bloggers on Twitter also engaged in ridiculing and expressing frustration at Lebanon's political elite.

Alexandra Tohme (Twitter alias alexzawya) drew up a mock counter Lebanese Government made up of “Twit-Ministers”:

Yesterday was a rollercoaster of emotions. The announcement that a cabinet had been formed 5 months after elections had me singing from the balcony, a few hours later and breakaway parties threatened to destabilize the whole thing.

I tossed and turned.  I fretted. I ate chocolate cake. In this day and age, I thought, we no longer have to be at the mercy of delayed talks, stalling tactics and idle bickering whilst the world moves on. What we need, is a quickly assembled alternative cabinet that can be swiftly deployed in the event of war, acts of god (or gods), government strike or overly long lunch breaks.

Samia Badih (Twitter alias samiaonthemove) revealed her disappointment with the following tweets:

Why is any war criminal still in Lebanese government?

What a joke! How is this guy the Minister of Culture? http://tinyurl.com/ylfl8ms #Lebanese #Government #Shootmenow

Philippe Kalaf (Twitter alias planetlebanon) ridiculed the government as being headed by clowns:

Kataeb aren't happy, they want to quit the cabinet (Sayegh from social affairs) and break alliance with M14. Country run by clowns…

Someone should make a map of the most “profitable” (for ministers of course) ministries in Lebanon. It would help explain the happy/sad ppl

The Lebanese blogosphere's deriding response to the government formation signals a clear disconnect between Lebanon's political elite and those underneath it who can only see a comedy show ahead of them.

Thailand is protesting this appointment made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Thai officials are asking Cambodia to extradite Thaksin who is facing a two year jail term for corruption. Cambodia has refused the request arguing that Thaksin is a political, not criminal, convict. Also, Cambodian leader Hun Sen considers Thaksin as his “eternal friend.”

The reaction from the Thailand government was swift. Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recalled the country’s ambassador to Cambodia. He is threatening to close the Cambodia-Thailand border which could disrupt and hurt economic activities in the region. The Thailand Cabinet also suspended the Thai-Cambodian memorandum of understanding on joint oil and gas exploration.

Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup. To escape serving a prison term for corruption, Thaksin has been living in many countries around the world. The billionaire politician believes he could not get a fair trial in Thailand. He is accusing the present government of being illegitimate and repressive.

Analyzing the decision of Hun Sen to appoint Thaksin, Details are Sketchy believes this could be part of a strategy to force a regime change in Thailand

The PM’s statement significantly turns up the heat on the Thai junta. It also strongly suggests that Thaksin’s current visit to Cambodia is not merely some political stunt designed to enrage the Thai establishment — although it is certainly that — but part of a larger strategy aimed at regime change in Thailand. It’s hard to underestimate the stakes in such a gamble. The danger of war, say some analysts, has never been greater.

The Thaksin appointment is the latest issue dividing Cambodia and Thailand. The two neighboring countries are both claiming ownership over the historic Preah Vihear Temple. The border dispute has resulted in a few cases of skirmishes between the country’s border patrol units. The border war is the root of the diplomatic row today

The offer (for Thaksin to serve as Cambodia’s adviser) will make the Thai junta seethe with madness. They have only themselves to blame. The junta prompted this whole mess when it sent Thai troops to the border at Preah Vihear. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s opportunistic stirring of the pot is just the natural law of unintended consequences at work.

Davan Long praises the “brilliant strategy” of Hun Sen to appoint Thaksin

Many Khmers, including myself, view the nomination as a brilliant strategy by your government in every aspect.

As anticipated, Thailand PM Abhisit’s government has staged a number of PR campaigns to falsely accuse your government of interfering or meddling with Thailand internal politics, while it is clearly the same government that exports Thailand internal conflicts to Cambodia in the first place.

The Wandering Cambodian wants the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand to be more mature

While I was kinda expecting this, I still find this very insane. I’m just sick and tired of this political drama. The two governments are worse than kindergarten kids, doing what they are doing. Let’s act more like grow-ups, please!

Cambodian Bright Future criticizes the appointment of Thaksin

Cambodian government is putting Cambodian people and her nation into a burning fire. Cambodia has deserved full potential to play role of international diplomacy with Thailand, but why Hun Sen chose “crashing strategy” in this time?

Why Hun Sen appointed Abhisit's rival as personal economic adviser?

…appointing Thaksin is like slapping incumbent PM Abhisit. The question is that it is good or bad to publicly slap Abhisit like a comedian without having proper plan to deal with the border issue? Or Hun Sen is expecting to get that land back during appointing Thaksin or what?

Thaksin has been tweeting his activities and sentiments during his stay in Cambodia. Meanwhile, here are Twitter reactions from Phomn Penh on Thaksin’s new role as economic adviser:

john_weeks: K press conference: Thaksin says he will invite Russian/Middle Eastern biz pals to invest in Cambodia. Hmm….
ratpoe: @nabejero my informal survey - my tuk tuk driver - confirms the people like thaksin.
vdao1972: Wow. Thaksin is practically my neighbor. Just a brisk two block walk and I am on his front gate!
john_weeks: Thaksin tours central PP, traffic jammed up around Independence Monument…
ChrisInCambo: I've really got into Thai politics in the last week, with Thaksin coming to visit having roused my interest. Interesting stuff.
ChrisInCambo:@ktiu I can't believe Hun Sen actually went ahead and made Thaksin an adviser. Very big gamble, will have to wait and see how it plays out.

In his video address available on www.dymovskiy.ru and YouTube (part I and part II [RUS]), Aleksey Dymovskiy is calm and meticulous. He talks about diminishing police honor, bribes, corruption and low pay that poison lives of many police officers in Russia.

I think many people will understand me. I want to work but I am fed up with fictional plans when we are forced to investigate crimes that don’t exist. I am fed up with fictional plans when we are told that we need to imprison certain people. I am fed up with staged crimes designed to put some people in jail.

Continuing with his revelations, Dymovskiy admits putting an innocent person in jail under the pressure from his supervisor:

The director of the Department of Internal Affairs awarded me rank of a major, which I received in May, because I promised him to put an innocent person in jail. I’m not afraid to say that. I understand that it can be punishable. But it is the truth and I admit that.

Dymovsky also appeals to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urging him to investigate those problems and put an end to the widespread corruption in the police.

The video hit a “viral” stage within hours after its publication with several hundreds of thousands of clicks on YouTube. It was widely covered by the Russian mainstream media and discussed on the countless blogs. It is one of the first examples when Russian citizens successfully deploy new media platform to draw attention of the government toward hot issues in the country.

The novelty of “citizen video addresses” in Russia is best indicated by a cautious comment from one of the most popular bloggers in the country dolboeb:

A monologue with enormous force. I won’t be surprised if it turns out to be a viral marketing. The character is too out-of-this-word.

Another blogger marchenk writes:

None of us is an angel… I wouldn't admire him [Dymovskiy] as an honest policeman and the lover of the truth (he admits himself that he received the rank of major for putting an innocent person in jail). […] However, sincere respect for bravery. There are honest police officers after all. Because of them, it makes sense to push forward police reforms.

I hope to God his publicity gives him protection and honest consideration of his situation.

On Sunday, November 8, Rashid Nurgaliev, the Russian minister of internal affairs, announced the audit of police forces in Novorossiysk. Meanwhile, Dymovskiy has been fired “for libel and actions that damage the honor” of the police.

In his interview to Russian radio station “Ekho Moskvy,” Dymovskiy said he had been followed and was considering sending his family to Moscow for security reasons.

Anton Volnukhin (aka Ya.blogs user Antonme), a spokesman for Yandex.ru, wrote on the company blog [RUS]:

We noticed that service, which had been initially created as a mirror, a reflection of the blogosphere, became an amplifier, a media tool. The effect of a positive feedback took place: many bloggers started to write, comment and include links with a purpose to “bring a post to the top.”

Just about everyone started to use this tool - from the disseminators of the links “please help collect money” to radicals of any kind. As a result, radicals of one kind started to accuse Yandex of helping radicals of another kind and vice versa. Journalists got into the habit of looking through the blog ranking, bringing posts to the top became a paid service and now the authorities perceive the ranking as vox populi.

Transformation of the blog ranking  into a specialized media platform doesn't allow us to develop this service as a part of Yandex portal. We don't see any perspective to make it a mass service - and the development of Yandex is mainly focused on mass services. This is why we decided to stop supporting the service and, at the same time, simultaneously provide everyone with the technical ability to create their own ranking of popular blogs, their own version of the answer to the question “what do popular bloggers care about?” Similar rankings already exist on different sites of RuNet. We hope that the usage of data from Yandex Blog Search will create many similar services and will help everyone find a suitable ranking.

Artemiy Lebedev (aka LJ-user tema [RUS]), one of the most influential and controversial personalities of RuNet, is the first who started using Yandex Blog Top RSS on his Web site [RUS]. Lebedev claimed that the ranking was shut down due to the reasons not mentioned in the official statement from Yandex:

Well, to be short, Yandex got completely fed up with complains about the blog ranking which has always been the most crystal clear and honest rating in the world.

This is why rating will continue to exist on the Web site of Artemy Lebedev's Studio…

Because it is written in the studio charter that politicians and priests can f…k themselves, the director of the company will not hesitate to tell any politician or pries to f…k themselves.

First, let f…k themselves […] anyone who is not OK with the fact that the ranking is created by a robot on the basis of objective parameters.

The other version of Yandex Blog Top RSS also appeared on the site Whoyougle [RUS].

Yandex.ru has bigger audience than many cable TV-channels in Russian (20 million visitors in September 2009 [RUS]). Bloggers used the popularity of the site to bring many controversial topics to the attention of the Russian audience by including links and adding comments to the posts. Some believe this led to political pressure resulting in the elimination of the blog ranking.

Habrahabr user SSE [RUS] claims [RUS] that political pressure on Yandex wasn't a secret:

It became known as early as in October that someone “at the top” wasn't very happy with the free ranking of alternative points of view.

Andrey Malgin (aka LJ-user avmalgin[RUS]) explained [RUS]:

A pleasing picture that we saw in  TV newscasts was very different from the things that bloggers, especially politicized ones, were writing about. Now this has been ended…

Roman Ivanov (aka LJ-user kukutz [RUS]), Yandex “chief Lulz officer” (Yandex virtual spokesman), argues [RUS] that the Yandex blog ranking did not attract a large audeince and had only 7 thousand visitors a day. At the same time, the amount Yandex Blog Search monthly visitors  in September 2009 was around 2,5 mln visitors in September 2009 [RUS] or 12,5 percent of the total monthly visitors of Yandex.ru. Many RuNet users strongly disagree with this statistics and claim that the blog ranking was much more popular than Yandex officially announced.

Additional info

Yandex.ru dominates Russian search engine market. According to Vedomosti newspaper [RUS], it is accouned for 54,5 percent of the Russian search traffic. In July 2009, ComScore research [ENG] stated that Yandex is among top 10 world's search engines with 1,5 percent of the world search traffic.

In what may be one of the worst cases of police brutality, ranks from the Leonora Police Station have been accused of setting a 14-year-old boy’s genitals alight while questioning him about the murder of former Region Three Vice Chairman, Ramnauth Bisram.

Kaieteur News confirmed the report yesterday after obtaining graphic photographs of the severely burnt lad.
The teen has been in custody since Tuesday and his parents, Doodnauth Jaikarran and Shirley Thomas, allege that ranks had them going from one police station to the next without disclosing his whereabouts….

It is unclear whether the teen is still being considered a suspect or whether he has received any medical treatment for what appeared to be severe burns to his genitals, midriff and upper thighs.

The photograph of the teenager's injuries was reproduced at several blogs and websites, including Propaganda Press [warning: this link leads to a graphic image that some readers may find disturbing].

Many Guyanese citizens, including bloggers, reacted with shock and anger. Attorney Gino Persaud reported in his blog Freedom Under the Law that he was one of two dozen lawyers at a “spontaneous gathering” who issued a public statement “to register their outrage at this latest atrocity”. After quoting relevant sections of the Guyana constitution, the attorneys stated:

We the undersigned wish to condemn in the strongest possible terms the torture of a minor and for a matter of fact any other person while in custody by members of the Guyana Police Force.

We wish to record our unreserved condemnation of the Guyana Police Force of their refusal to permit the minor access to a legal advisor of his choice after his detention by the Guyana Police Force.

Journalist Imran Khan also posted the lawyers' statement on his blog, and proposed that concerned Guyanese use Twitter and Facebook “to keep the torture issue on the front burner”. On 1 November via Twitter (username: mediaimran), he issued this plea:

Please GYnese tweeters, keep #GuyanaPoliceTorture on the agenda. Post once per day with your thoughts.views

Other Guyanese used Twitter to share breaking news about the case, and information about other police brutality cases, introducing the #TortureInGuyana hashtag. On the afternoon of 31 October, Demerara Waves (username: demwaves) reported: “police call beating of man and setting ablaze genitals of 14 yr old ‘excessive use of force'. two investigating ranks arrested for offence.” Imran Khan noted that “This is not the first time a child has been allegedly tortured by police”, linking to a post at the Thoughts of a Minibus Traveller blog which stated:

This is the second report of a child being tortured while in police custody. There was another report in Region 6 of another child who had been brutalised in police custody and his lawyer had made several attempts to seek justice.

The condemnations of police brutality seem not to work when sections of the society believe that it is okay for the police to behave this way.

Following the Kaieteur News report, the teenager was released from police custody and taken to hospital for treatment. An article published in the Stabroek News on 1 November gathered dozens of readers' comments. Sand Hurst First wrote:

The government continues to say they do not condone torture yet still the citizens are crying out constantly of being tortured by either ranks of the Guyana Defense Force or the Police Force and nothing is and will be done to stop it.

YouTube user arinton99 assembled press photographs to create a video montage called Torture of Teenager in Guyana [warning: this link leads to graphic images], which includes a statement condemning Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo:

The president of Guyana has always been silent on these issues. He calls it “ruffing up”. As you can see its more than that. Its called inhumane human right abuse. Jagdeo please stop the dictatorship of your rule

On the morning of Monday 2 November, journalist Nazima Raghubir used Twitter (username: nazrag) to report a press conference held by police commissioner Henry Greene. She began: “Greene says that the entire Force is being castigated for what a few ranks did. (torture of boy)”; followed by “Commissioner Greene says police must have ‘good and sufficient reason' to use violence against a prisoner.” Lloyda Garrett (username: craziebutiful) responded: “Ask the commissioner if there have been other cases that can fit into #TortureInGuyana and give him an example…see what he says”. Michael Leonard (username: xcessi) also weighed in: “we need more than scapegoats…we need a reform of the entire police force.” He added: “these seemingly isolated incidents are part of a general breakdown of the structure and integrity of the force.”

Meanwhile, as news of the incident spread internationally, the Barbados Underground blog posted a report which elicited this comment from reader Dictionary:

Horrible, and requiring serious intervention, serious enough that the government of Guyana should be called to publicly answer before the full Caricom heads of Government and/or the Caribbean Court of Justice…

Guyana’s police need to be publicly investigated and reformed from top to bottom, similar to Jamaica’s [and maybe others too]. A full formal regional commission needs to be empanelled to do this — the police systems in the region are similar enough that if there is that big of a hole in the Guyana system, we had better be concerned from Belize to Trinidad as well.

The power of the sword is given to government to defend the public civil peace with justice, not to torture 14 yo boys like this.

Poster Of Tibet Photography Exhibition

Students for a Free Tibet, Bangladesh (SFTBD), the Bangladesh chapter of the Students for a Free Tibet organization, in partnership with Drik Bangladesh, has organized a photography exhibition on Tibet named “Into Exile | Tibet 1949-2009” at Drik Gallery in Dhaka which was scheduled to start today and run for a week. Drik Bangladesh is an internationally acclaimed photo agency which is led by renowned photo journalist and blogger Shahidul Alam.

Phayul.com reports quoting a spokesperson from SFTBD:

“On 29th October 2009, Qian Kaifu, Cultural Counselor, and Cao Yanhua, Cultural Attache, from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Bangladesh visited Dr Shahidul Alam to ask him to cancel the exhibition.”

“They brought Chinese gifts along with their request,” [..]

Unheard Voice Blog reported on 31st of October, 2009:

It seems like China is surely paying attention. Tomorrow’s exhibition in Tibet seems to be in jeopardy with the organizers under serious pressure to cancel the event.

Yesterday a delegation from Chinese embassy came to meet the Shahidul Alam, director of Drik and ‘requested’ him to cancel the event.

An email from an activist reached us here: ‘They also wandered around Drik and asked employees number of questions….

Alam bhai told them not to advise him what to do on his own property. So the exhibition is going on, but we are expecting huge lines of dgfi (military intelligence) and what not on the opening day on Sunday.

Not only was the exhibition targeted, but also the activists as the post elaborates:

As of 6 pm tonight, Special Branch officers reached Drik under the operatives of a certain SI Mijan and demanded to know the name of the contact person for the exhibition. The movement leaders also previously reported various visits to the home of the activists over the past three weeks by the same SI.

Shahidul Alam posted this message on Twitter:

7:04 PM Oct 31st: khairul kabir and palash from special branch currently at Drik. want to know names of organisers of Tibet show. I've refused to give it.

And today (Sunday) the inevitable happened. Shahidul Alam tweeted this afternoon:

The heat is on. OC Shah Alam just phoned me again telling me to stop the show. Threatened to send police if we refuse.

Later reports came in that police finally prevented the event:

An hour before the launch, scheduled for 5pm, police shut the gates preventing public from entering the gallery, said Drik authorities.

Drik managing director Shahidul Alam said Bangladesh Police Special Branch spoke with him and asked him to stop the exhibition citing a “government order”.

Alam said, although the police officers could not produce any document of the order, they threatened to shut down the show by force if the organisers did not do so willingly.

Now let us learn about the turn of events from Shahidul Alam's blog post:

When Mr. Kaifu, instead of showing interest in our sole Chinese member Jessica Lim in the library, insisted that we find a quiet place to talk, I realized it was more than a courtesy call.

He got straight to the point. “We would like you to cancel the Tibet exhibition” he said. Reminding me that Tibet was a part of China, he went on to explain how the Bangladesh China relationship would be affected if the show went on. He also spoke of the many things we could do together, the exhibitions we could bring. About how such a famous organisation like Drik would find many partners in China. It seemed churlish to remind him that my recent application for a visa when I was to judge the TOPS photojournalism contest in China, had been rejected.

As politely as I could, I reminded Mr. Kaifu that ours was an independent gallery. I asked him how he felt he had the right to tell us, what we could show. I invited him to the show and assured him that he would be free to present his own opinion at the opening. We would be happy to show a Chinese exhibition, if the quality was right. He wanted to see the gallery and a colleague showed him around as I went back to the meeting.

It was evening before the phone call from the ministry of culture came in. “China was a friend, you mustn’t show pictures of Dalai Lama” the high ranking official went on. “No no we are not talking of censorship, but…” This was followed by some artist who spoke as if he was a friend. I couldn’t place either of the callers, though I could place the ministry official by his rank. I could see it was to be a multi-pronged attack.

Shahidul Alam commentates on the images in a live web stream after the exhibition had been closed. Image courtesy Media Helping Media

The Special Branch do like me. They came to visit again. [..] The initial cordial conversation, turned sharp when I refused to divulge the contact details of the organizers. They reminded me of how it would become difficult for Drik to operate in the future if we didn’t take the side of the government. I reminded them that I was siding with the law. That the law applied to the police, was an unknown concept to Shah Alam.

Pictures of the turnout of events are available on the DrikNews site which appears to reported at as an attack site. You can ignore the sign (its safe) and see the pictures.

Rob Godden at The Rights Exposure protest writes:

The Chinese government’s increasing interference into other states is a worrying trend. Not satisfied with running their own complex censorship system they are attempting to make it transnational. These tactics work best on small countries such as Bangladesh, or Nepal where I am now, and smacks of bullying. [..]

The Chinese government obviously thinks that it has jurisdiction over any content that relates to China where ever in the world it may be displayed. If pressure from the embassy does not work an unofficial cyber attack will be on its way.

Bangladeshi netizens have already started protesting. Habibullah Mizan wrote in the Facebook page of the event:

Are WE living in BANGLADESH or CHINA??? WHO runs our elected government??? WE or the CHINESE???? We can’t even allow any exhibition? Really shame, shame, shame.

Shada Kalo Blog is also not happy with the government's decision and asks it to show a little spine:

Comrades, why are you kow-towing to China and repressing freedom of speech in Dhaka? Yes, I know the old jokes about it raining in Peking and opening umbrellas in Dhaka. But seriously, this was not a government sponsored event. The worst Beijing could have done if you said sorry, we can not intervene, was NOT sell you some more lead-tainted toys.

We thought you took an oath to protect and follow the constitution of Bangladesh first (which includes protecting the freedom of speech of its citizens), not the geopolitical aspirations of China when this really does not matter to Bangladesh.

Sorry, now we know better.