Spanish blogger Rosa Jiménez Cano, who works at the Spanish news daily El País, reported that she received the following SMS text meessage from Yoaní around 2am Madrid time:

Fui detenida junto a Orlando L. Pardo y Claudia Cadelo nos llevaron a la fuerza estilo siciliano. Golpes. Nos dejaron tirados en una esquina.

The morning after the events, Yoaní posted the following account on her blog:

Cerca de la calle 23 y justo en la rotonda de la Avenida de los Presidente, fue que vimos llegar en un auto negro –de fabricación china– a tres fornidos desconocidos: ‘Yoani, móntate en el auto' me dijo uno mientras me aguantaba fuertemente por la muñeca. Los otros dos rodeaban a Claudia Cadelo, Orlando Luís Pardo Lazo y una amiga que nos acompañaba a una marcha contra la violencia. Ironías de la vida, fue una tarde cargada de golpes, gritos y malas palabras la que debió transcurrir como una jornada de paz y concordia.  Los mismos ‘agresores' llamaron a una patrulla que se llevó a mis otras dos acompañantes, Orlando y yo estábamos condenados al auto de matrícula amarilla, al pavoroso terreno de la ilegalidad y la impunidad del Armagedón.

Me negué a subir al brillante Geely y exigimos nos mostraran una identificación o una orden judicial para llevarnos. Claro que no enseñaron ningún papel que probara la legitimidad de nuestro arresto. Los curiosos se agolpaban alrededor y yo gritaba ‘Auxilio, estos hombres nos quieren secuestrar', pero ellos pararon a los que querían intervenir con un grito que revelaba todo el trasfondo ideológico de la operación: ‘No se metan, estos son unos contrarrevolucionarios'. Ante nuestra resistencia verbal, tomaron el teléfono y dijeron a alguien que debió ser su jefe: ‘¿Qué hacemos? No quieren subir al auto'. Imagino que del otro lado la respuesta fue tajante, porque después vino una andanada de golpes, empujones, me cargaron con la cabeza hacia abajo e intentaron colarme en el carro. Me aguanté de la puerta… golpes en los nudillos… alcancé a quitarle un papel que uno de ellos llevaba en el bolsillo y me lo metí en la boca. Otra andanada de golpes para que les devolviera el documento.

Yoaní's post goes on to describe further brutality inflicted on herself and Orlando, and their eventual release:

Nos dejaron tirados y adoloridos en una calle de la Timba, una mujer se acercó ‘¿Qué les ha pasado?'… ‘Un secuestro', atiné a decir. Lloramos abrazados en medio de la acera, pensaba en Teo, por Dios cómo voy a explicarle todos estos morados. Cómo voy a decirle que vive en un país donde ocurre esto, cómo voy a mirarlo y contarle que a su madre, por escribir un blog y poner sus opiniones en kilobytes, la han violentado en plena calle. Cómo describirle la cara despótica de quienes nos montaron a la fuerza en aquel auto, el disfrute que se les notaba al pegarnos, al levantar mi saya y arrastrarme semidesnuda hasta el auto.

At the time of writing, Yoaní's post had attracted 1,412 comments.

Claudia also quickly entered her version of the incident on her blog:

We refused to get in the car, there were three of them and they threatened us:

‘Get in the car, now.'
‘Let us see your documents, or bring a policeman.'

Orlando had his cell phone in his hand. ‘Pardo, don’t record,' said the one in the orange shirt, and I got my cell out. Nobody noticed me, I sent the first Tweet… In less than three minutes a patrol car came up with a couple of cops—a woman and a man—completely dumbstruck by the scene. They carried out their orders almost in slow motion, the woman told me:

‘Don’t resist.'

‘They are undocumented,' it occurred to me to enlighten her.

Yoani was clinging to a bush, I was clinging to her waist, and the woman was pulling me by the leg. They had already dragged Orlando off, outside my field of vision. A man at the bus-stop looked on with an expression of terror, people didn’t say a single word. The officer, very young, got me in an armlock that immobilized me. I could have kicked a little but I was too astonished at seeing Yoani’s legs sticking out the rear window of the State Security car.

Her post goes on to relate the chain of events in great detail, but she ends on a triumphant note:

Then the first call came, with a 00 international prefix, and I knew nothing had been in vain, even if we had all been arrested and the march suspended. When, later, I saw the video that Ciro brought me, I knew for certain: They lost; it's the countdown.

Commenting on the incident, diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense expresses some surprise, since “those of us overseas who presume that because Yoani, Claudia and the others are so well known, the Castro dictatorship would never dare arrest them.” Yet arrest them they reportedly did. He continues:

Of course, we should never be surprised at what the regime does when it comes to trying to silence its opposition on the island.

And we should never underestimate the importance of the protection we provide every time we read one of their blogs. Obviously, it doesn't provide them absolute immunity, but it is conceivable that someone like Yoani Sanchez would have a long ago been locked away in the Castro gulag were it not for the fact that she is so well known.

What you provide them with each click is the moral support vital for their continuing struggle for freedom.

Meanwhile, Babalu Blog, after publishing the story as breaking news, kept updating the post as more details became available, including an 8:15 am entry showing evidence of physical abuse via a photo that was sent to Penultimos Dias by Orlando Luis Pardo.  Cuban American Pundits‘ John R. learned of Yoani's detention from Babalu and goes on to comment:

It can only be said that the Cuba Governement is afraid, and that these heirs to Cuba's future are extremely brave.

The blog also searched mainstream media sites to determine how big the story was and was disappointed to learn that “the only thing CNN is covering on Cuba is how Miller Beer and Haagen Dazs ice cream may be sold in Cuba — for a premium nonetheless. As Cuban citizens are sequestered and beaten for their exercising of free speech, Chicago Foods (and other companies) are negotiating how beer and ice cream are to be sold on the island.” (CNN eventually went on to cover the story of the bloggers' seizure.)  The post goes on to comment on the U.S. economic embargo against the island, saying:

For those who claim that a new era has dawned on Cuba should take a close look at the incident that happened with a peaceful group of Cuban bloggers. Nothing has changed. Oppression remains in the cities while luxury and freedom exudes in the resorts.

I don't know about you, but I'm no longer eating Hagen Dazs ice cream nor drinking Miller beer.

Oswaldo Payá of the Movimiento Cristiano Liberación issued a statement expressing solidarity with Sánchez and other victims of repression. My big, fat Cuban family is also standing in solidarity with her Cuban sisters:

I have the supreme luxury of writing about anything that excites or amuses me at any given time. And I do.

Today I want to make you aware if you're not already, of a group of dissident bloggers presently under fire for blogging in Cuba.

Unlike me, they write about the everyday indignities of living in castro's gulag. You understand, of course, that in a communist country, dissension is not just discouraged, it is oftentimes attacked.

Yet these brave bloggers persist…Tonight, Yoani Sanchez and a group of dissidents were picked up, harassed, detained and beaten as they prepared to attend, ironically, a demonstration against the use of violence.

They knew and called her by name and forced her into a car where she figured that this was a kidnapping  which would end in her execution. Although she and her dissident companions were beaten severely they were subsequently released.

Her safety lies here. On blogs like mine.

Along the Malecon gives some background to the incident and firmly believes that “the legend of Yoani Sanchez grew Friday after Cuban authorities snatched her off the street, shoved her into a car and roughed her up before freeing her”:

Luis Eligio, of the counterculture group OMNI-Zona Franca, and two rappers organized the march. On Oct. 20, Sanchez was one of more than 10 bloggers who staged a ‘virtual protest' using Tweets, cell phone text messages and blog posts to call for the release of political prisoners. All this puts the socialist government in a tough spot. The more force authorities use, the easier it will be for opposition activists to recruit followers. These incidents also help galvanize international support for Sanchez and other bloggers. This support grows at an exponential rate, colonizing cyberspace and making it difficult for the Cuban government to effectively counter.

In a separate post, the blogger highlights the views of those who are a tad sceptical about the whole event, one of whom is Cuban journalist Vladia Rubio Jiménez, who writes in her blog:

Francamente, me resulta bien oscuro el asunto. ¿A partir de ahora seremos testigos de “espontáneas” marchas de protesta? ¿Contra qué violencia estaban pronunciándose esos muchachos con sus abstractos carteles? ¿Sería contra la que está ocurriendo en Afganistán, Honduras,  o contra lo acontecido en la más importante base militar norteamericana donde un enloquecido disparó y dejó muertas a 13 personas y varios heridos?

She continues:

Por lo que leo, parece haber sido una manifestación organizada sobre todo a través de algunos blogs, entre ellos Octavo Cerco; y también me asombra ver las posibilidades tecnológicas de que disponen: teléfonos celulares, rápidas conexiones a Internet que incluso les permiten subir los videos… En ninguna parte dice con claridad quién convocó esa marcha.

Yohandry's Weblog echoes her sceptisicm:

Pero bien, Claudia Cadelo dejó este vídeo en su blog. No comprendo cómo pueden subir sus videos a Youtube tan rápido, pero allí está. Ella misma por Twitter dijo que no había llegado hasta el performance, además de que explicó que estaba detenida.

Cómo pudo hacer Twitter detenida, cómo subió el video desde un carro de la policía?

Entra en acción Yoani Sánchez. Ahora bien, Yoani Sánchez cuenta a las siempre listas agencias y emisoras que tienen la misión de cubrir sus actividades lo ocurrido con ella y otros bloggers que se encaminaban al performance, quizás con el objetivo de provocar, nadie sabe.

Les dejo la grabación, ¡esos medios tan ágiles al servicio de Yoani! Adelanto que cuenta que ella tiene celular, computadora y seguirá haciendo Twitter, cosa que no acabo de comprender, cuando ella misma dice que no tiene libertad para trabajar en Cuba.

Y yo esperaré ahora la otra versión de lo ocurrido. Como dice el dicho, siempre hay un ojo que te ve.

Social media users are certainly keeping a close eye on developments.  Even as Claudia tweeted about the incident, apparently while it was happening - “Estoy detenida about 22 hours ago from txt” was her first entry - her Twitter followers have shown their support, with one user calling her “muy valiente” (”very brave”).

In particular, L4L shares his observations from yesterday's hearing, and specifically on the decision not to enter phone records in Hajizade and Milli's defense into court.

During today’s hearing of “Wild-beating-taekwando-champions-bloggers-Adnan-and-Emin” case I was able to enter courtroom for the first time. Mixed feelings of what was happening. I saw Emin and Adnan, saw how strong they are. And this made me happy and proud. I had dozen or so rounds of laugh in the expense of “victims” Vusal and Babek. I was annoyed as hell.

Azercell answered to enquiry of the court and gave reports on calls made on July 8 by “victims” and Adnan. […] reports of Adnan’s calls shows that he was in the 39th police station. This little fact demolishes the case of the prosecutor. This shows that Adnan and Emin weren’t brought to police station handcuffed. […]

[…]

Then Vusal showed that he is “real Caucasian man” with valor and strong feeling of “qeyret”. He asked judge not to give Azercell’s report on his calls to defense. “I don’t want them to disturb my relatives and those close to me”. […] naturally, judge is “real Caucasian man” too, so he understood Vusal’s tender feelings and was with him on that.

Anyways. Amnesia. Adnan and Emin answered few questions after Vusal and Babek and they were so clear and accurate, contrast was almost scary. […]

[…] People like Emin and Adnan who made their choice and are proudly standing by it. Who will not back off. We should help their case. Only this way this nation will shake its AMNESIA.

Meanwhile, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines remembers events to date, but also looks to the future.

Its been 4 months since Emin and Adnan's arrest- time goes by but somethings simply don't change. […]

[…] happiness and sense of victory slowly disappeared as in July, two youth activists- Emin Milli (30) and Adnan Hajizada (26) were arrested and charged with “hooliganism” and are now facing up to 5 year of imprisonment. They didn't do anything- they were attacked by two men who are now treated as “victims” and are set free while Emin and Adnan are spending their time behind bars. But they are keeping their chin up. […]

[…]

Looking back it makes one wonder will there ever be a change? Will people actually enjoy their lives rather than worry about making extra money to feed their families? Will our youth be able to study in corruption free universities and actually get a descent education? Will people be happy again? For now, there is only one answer, time will show so let it go by but be patient and hopefully we, or our children, or our grand children will see that change…

Incidentally, the date set for the next hearing (11 November) will coincide with a roundtable discussion on the case at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.

Hooliganism or Freedom of Speech? The case of two bloggers detained in Azerbaijan

On July 8, 2009, two bloggers and political activists, Andnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, were arrested in Azerbaijan on charges of “hooliganism”. The bloggers were detained shortly after posting a video on YouTube mocking the Azeri government's purchase of donkeys from Germany. After nine trials, the two bloggers (both without prior criminal records) remain imprisoned. The four presenters will form a panel discussion to speak about this particular case of the bloggers and what it means for freedom of speech in Azerbaijan as well as the greater Caucasus region.

Present for the event will be Parvana Persiani, Hajizade's girlfriend and a senior figure in the OL! Azerbaijani youth movement, who will also be attending next week's World Blogging Forum in Bucharest, Romania.

Global Voices Online will interview her there and Persiani will also feature in a live online interview on Kosmoshow.

Full coverage of the detention and trial of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is available in the Azerbaijan section of Global Voices Online and on the OL! Blog (in English and Azeri). The hashtag #EminAdnan is also used on Twitter.

One of the initiatives is Sadaka Reut, and this is what they say about their program:

With the majority of Palestinian and Jewish youth physically segregated from one another (in separate communities and schools) and fears, racism and prejudice the result, we look to build alternative models for interaction between the two groups. The ‘Building a Culture of Peace’ program seeks to create a space in which both Palestinian and Jewish youth may feel equal, respected and recognized as individuals and as national collectives.

The members of their program have also been participating in the One Minute Video Project, where they learn about video activism during a one-week workshop. Here are some of the results, and you can see the rest by clicking through to their site:

Arab:

AM/FM:

Few Love Singing:

Another initiative is the Windows for Peace project, which started back in 1991 as an effort to produce a bilingual and bicultural magazine for youth as a way for them to connect and learn about the conflict, promote equality and empower youth. However, it hasn't been easy, as they explain on their site:

It is no simple task for Israeli and Palestinian youth to overcome the vast amount of misinformation and stereotypes they are taught about one another. The limited availability for interaction, a result of living in mostly segregated communities and exacerbated by the ongoing violent political conflict, perpetuates the historical fears, prejudice, and hatred that divide the two peoples. Windows is therefore dedicated to fostering large scale change in the way Israeli and Palestinian youth see themselves, “the other” and the conflict. Participants in Windows programs go through experiences that promote conflict transformation among both peoples, towards a peaceful reality with which both sides can live. We believe that a just and lasting peace must be based on democratic values, human rights, and mutual knowledge and acceptance of “the other.”

They are also working on a new initiative called Through the Lens, where 15 to 17 year old youth who “graduate” from the magazine continue developing skills to create short films, news pieces and other video productions to further “productive, peace-building dialogue and positive interaction”.

Here is a video where the participants of Windows speak about their experience in the group and how they have dealt with the challenges it represents to get out of their comfort zone and speak about difficult topics such as the conflict between Israel and Palestine:

As the children in the video state in so many words: they may have a hard time dealing with many of the opinions and perceptions other children express, but having the space to discuss issues in a safe and secure manner helps them understand the world they live in with a possibility to interact, learn and share with other children and youth and even change these perceptions.

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.

As has come to be expected, Iranian citizen media recorded “history” on their mobile phones.

Protesters in Tehran trampled on a portrait of the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an act that would have been unimaginable a few months ago.

A message to Obama: Either you are with us or with them.

Mehdi Karoubi, an opposition leader, among the people.

Security forces attack protesters

Photo by Macnolete and used under a Creative Commons license.

Although the influence of climate change on desertification has not been fully understood yet, according to GreenFacts, it is known that higher temperatures resulting from increased carbon dioxide levels can have a negative impact through increased loss of water from soil and reduced rainfall in drylands. At the same time desertification contributes to climate change by releasing to the atmosphere carbon stored in dryland vegetation and soils.

Desertification is taking its toll worldwide. At this moment it’s destroying harvests, driving up the price of remaining food, and in some areas, animals are dying. People are also being driven away from their homes, as blogger Miguel Angel Alvarado from El Salvador explains about the president’s home needing to be moved because of desertification [es]:

El traslado de casa presidencial, del Barrio san Jacinto al local en donde estaba el Ministerio de Relaciones exteriores, según informes extrajudiciales, obedece a la prevención del ejecutivo ante un posible hundimiento del suelo generado por cárcavas en este sector.

The most affected continent is Africa, and this can be seen especially in Kenya, where one of the most susceptible sectors to the effects of desertification and drought are young girls. When the water storage tanks have been used up at Dago Dala Hera orphanage in western Kenya, volunteer mothers and children have to draw unclean water from a nearby river for cooking and drinking. “Going to the river alone late in the evening is making girls more vulnerable to men who can sexually abuse them,” said Edwin Odoyo, whose mother Pamela founded the orphanage.

Even though desertification has its greatest impact in Africa, Latin America’s environmental conditions are also undergoing significant transformations, as discussed recently in the Ninth session of the Conference to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Italian expert Massimo Candelori, representative of the Convention to Combat Desertification, said in an interview with Tierramerica that the situation in Latin America is worrisome considering that there is not enough information about desertification’s scope in the region. “We have no current data. One of the goals discussed during the ninth session was to get indicators that allow us to better understand the situation….the last data we have is from ten years ago” said Candelori.

In Latin American countries where farming and cattle are one of the main sectors of the economy, desertification can be a silent, but dreadful predator. At least 25 percent of the regional territory is already degraded and the population is increasingly becoming concerned about this, as it is reflected in various blogs.

Eco Briefings [pt], a Brazilian blog, points out that Brazilians in the Northeastern region are witnessing an alarming expansion of desertification[pt]:

Mais um alerta está ligado. Temos pouco tempo para corrigir as coisas. (…)

No Brasil a desertificação tem avançado na caatinga, e zonas do polígono da seca no Nordeste e Norte de Minas Gerais, e também em Estados que antes não tinham áreas secas ou desertificadas como o Rio Grande do Sul. O Rio Amazonas viveu já uma grande seca a pouco tempo, grande com mortandade de peixes.

Argentina has several areas affected as well. In the region of Valles Aridos, in the Northeast, where the main economic activity is sheep raising, it is stipulated that during the last 100 years at least 180 thousand people had to emigrate [es] (.pdf format). Southern Argentina has not escaped desertification either. Blogger Ailen Romero, comments on the blog Geoperspectivas [es] that in the Patagonia region, the government actions to combat desertification are not enough:

En la Patagonia, la amplitud del problema es de tal magnitud que ha comenzado a adquirir estado público. Pocos ignoran el tema, pero pocos tienen la posibilidad de actuar de alguna forma o con el conocimiento para hacerlo. El problema de la desertificación en el caso de la Patagonia supera a los planes que se han elaborado para combatirlo. Es por eso que no deben ahorrarse esfuerzos, ni limitar la imaginación de soluciones alternativas.”Si la geografía es la manifestación de la sociedad en el espacio físico, un espacio físico deteriorado refleja una sociedad deteriorada” afirman del Valle y Coronato(investigadores del Centro Nacional Patagónico)

In Chile, where 62% of the national territory is already affected by desertification [es], blogger Alfredo Erlwein expressed concern on the blog El Ciudadano [es] (The Citizen) on how little knowledge citizens have about desertification.

Efectivamente la desertificación es el problema ambiental más grave de Chile y muy poco conocido. Existen grandes zonas, como en la costa de la octava región, donde la erosión severa supera el 50% de la superficie: esto es que literalmente más de la mitad de los suelos se ha perdido por completo. En esas zonas se encuentran cárcavas de más de 50 metros de profundidad. Una tasa normal de formación de suelo puede ser de 0.2 cm por año, lo que evidencia la gravedad del asunto.

According to Italian expert Candelori, using soil in the carbon market will help fighting desertification; this can be decided during the Copenhagen conference. The countdown to Copenhagen has begun and the world awaits it.

Gary Graeme Jones is a prisoner in Bang Kwang Prison. The infamous Bangkok Hilton. So many people have heard of it but do not realise what a nightmare that name conjures

Gary’s supporters have set-up a blog to publish letters and other reports from Gary. Bang Kwang Prison is Thailand's central, high-security prison for men. Many of the inmates in this prison are foreigners involved in illegal narcotics trade. Who is Gary?

Gary is a British Citizen, Married to a Thai with four adopted kids. He was born in 1950 and is doing Life for the exporting of 2.4Kg of heroin. That’s the website info. We have found Gary to be articulate, intelligent and extremely outspoken in the treatment of prisoners, not just in the Thai jails but everywhere in the world. As we go on we will post stuff that Gary has written in letters, descriptions of his fellow prisoners, pictures where possible and gradually we will get a picture of him and his life.

Gary’s prison blog is not regularly updated. But from time to time, it provides important information about the conditions of the prisoners inside Bang Kwang. These blog posts were helpful in getting the attention of mainstream media, civil society groups, and the public so that the basic rights of the inmates will be guaranteed.

During the AH1N1 scare a few months ago, Gary notified journalists about the mild AH1N1 outbreak inside the prison:

News has started to reach us of an outbreak of H1N1 (swine flu) inside the prison and it there has been some fatalities. As of the 13th July, 2 prisoners have died as a direct result of the virus, one prison guard has also died and a second is in hospital in a very serious condition (hopefully by now having made a full recovery)

Reports have also been forwarded to me that the Thai Department of Corrections has issued instructions that face masks are to be worn by all staff and prisoners (non Thai prisoners have to pay 100Baht.)

This article was reprinted in many websites. Even mainstream journalists reported this issue. Gary said this helped in forcing prison officials to implement some crucial health reforms in the prison facilities to stop the spread of AH1N1.

Last month Gary wrote about the alleged executions of prisoners in Bang Kwang. He also exposed the corrupt activities of prison authorities.

Now that the prisoners have been shown that executions can happen at any time “Life Insurance” is now being paid to the Building Chief, Bunlom Conwichet by most of the 24 names listed below. This is a bribe paid so that the poor unfortunates names are not next on the list for the lethal injection

Human rights activists and bloggers noted the significance of this expose. They are now demanding an official investigation on this issue.

Gary’s blog does not only provide a rare glimpse about the life of prisoners in Bang Kwang. It is also a proof that blogs can be used to force policy changes even in prison cells.

Never before have so many people been threatened or imprisoned for what the words they write on the internet.

As activists and ordinary citizens have increasingly made use of the internet to express their opinions and connect with others, many governments have also increased surveillance, filtering, legal actions and harassment. The harshest consequence for many has been the politically motivated arrest of bloggers and online writers for their online and/or offline activities, in some tragic cases even leading to death. Online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide.

Today, Global Voices Advocacy is launching a new website called Threatened Voices to help track suppression of free speech online. It features a world map and an interactive timeline that help visualize the story of threats and arrests against bloggers worldwide, and it is a central platform to gather information from the most dedicated organisations and activists, including Committee to Protect Bloggers, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Reporters without Borders, Human Rights Watch, CyberLaw Blog, Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists, Global Voices Advocacy.

What blogger, where?

Finding accurate information about arrested and threatened bloggers and online writers is difficult for several reasons.

First, the secrecy surrounding online censorship and repression makes it extra difficult to be accurate. Not a single week passes without stories of arrests of yet another online journalist or activist in countries like Egypt or Iran, but the details and reasons are often shrouded in mystery.

Second, there is still some confusion about the definition of a “blogger”. Professional journalists are increasingly migrating to online media and blogs in pursuit of more freedom, blurring the old lines of definition. And many so-called cyber-dissidents in China, Tunisia, Vietnam, or Iran, do not have personal blogs. Other times, bloggers are arrested for their offline activity, rather than for what they have published online.

This confusion has sometimes made it hard for online free speech advocates to come up with a good strategies and partnerships to defend bloggers and online activists, but it has never been more important to try.

Let's work together

At Global Voices we engage a community of authors, editors, and translators, who help keep us all informed of free speech and human rights abuses. With Threatened Voices we aim to open the process of reporting up even further to any person who has information.

We're calling on those whose friends, relatives, colleagues, or compatriots, have been threatened to help create and update the profiles of those missing or under arrest, so we can seek additional sources, verify, and link to online campaigns dedicated to freeing them.

In the process, we are hoping to learn more about when, where, and to what extent bloggers are being subjected to abuse in different countries, so we can share that information widely with journalists, researchers, and activists, and work towards creating an internet where everyone can exercise their right to speak freely, and where bloggers in prison are not forgotten.

Help spread the word. Tweet, blog and update your facebook status about Threatened Voices!

November 1, 2009 was the one-year anniversary of the arrest of the Iranian blogger, Hossein “Hoder” Derakhshan.

Cyrus Farivar, a US-based blogger and journalist, reports that he has been in touch with Derakhshan's brother Hamed, who informed him that:

His parents recently had a meeting with the new district attorney, who allowed them to have dinner in Evin Prison with their son, Hossein Derakhshan, on Thursday, October 29, 2009. This confirms that Hossein is being held in Evin Prison, however the family does not know the next time they will be allowed to see him.

Iranian blogger Jooya, writes that Derakhshan is still in section No. 325 in the Revolutionary Guards' prison. According to human rights activists, Jooya adds, he has has been in solitary confinement for about a year.

A group of Iranian bloggers decided to add “Free Hossein Derakhshan” to the names of their blog for one week. Fanous Azad says (fa):

I also added “free Hossein Derakhshan” to the name of my blog.

He adds:

. . . when Hossein started accusing others I stopped reading his blog, but now I defend his rights without thinking who he is. . . . Hossein like other human beings should have right for freedom of thought and speech.

Parsanevesht asks bloggers to act collectively in order to have maximum impact.

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.

South Waziristan. Image via Wikipedia.

Operation Rah e Nijat (path to deliverance in Urdu) is the latest attempt of Pakistan army to inflict a final blow upon the Tehrik i Taliban in Pakistan, the group which has terrorized Pakistan. The buildup for this operation started when the Pakistan army recovered the Swat Valley area from the Taliban militants back in June 2009. On 19th of June Pak army started the gathering of forces on the border of South Waziristan. After three months of blockade and minor skirmishes with the Taliban eventually the army launched a full scale ground assault on the 19th of October 2009. The Pakistan army has a total of 28000 troops and 500 special commandos on their side while the Taliban have 10 to 15,000 troops and 1500 foreign fighters. The fighting is intense and arduous and each day brings reports of the Pakistan army inching forward another few steps deep into a very difficult and dangerous terrain.

Ahsan Waheed at Pakistanpal gives credence to the difficult terrains of South Waziristan:

We could see in the distance the regions where al-Qaeda has taken refuge. It’s an almost lunar landscape of dry, trackless peaks with a sparse stubble of trees along the ridges. If you were looking for a place to hide, so rugged and inhospitable that outsiders would tremble at entering, Waziristan would be it. In the days of the Raj, maps of Waziristan were mostly blank; even the intrepid British explorers usually stayed away.

Great Satans Girlfriend gives importance to mobilizing the masses for this operation:

“The death of hope must never be allowed to cast its shadow, and that will only be prevented if the state pools all its resources to energize the masses against terrorism.”

Abdullah Saad believes that the foreign militants in the Tehrik i Taliban (TTP) have run out of places to disappear:

My take though is that there is too much at stake in Waziristan. Principally, TTP cadres may be able to trickle into settled areas to avoid a traumatic fate or to live for another day … but that luxury is not available to their “guests”. The Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs etc will have to fight it out because if they are caught, they’ll be sent home on the first available flight and in a country like Uzbekistan, they’ll be sent straight to a firing squad.

Mustufa Qadri at Newmatilda feels that Pakistan is impossible to defend against militants:

The inconvenient truths of this narrative make for sobering reading. A spate of terrorist attacks in Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar have reminded us that while it is very difficult to protect every square inch of a country beset by an insurgency, it is next to impossible to do so in Pakistan, where disposable young men with explosives strapped to their chest are all too readily recruited.

The above statement is all too true as fallout from operation Rahe-e-Nijat has been direct counterattacks on civil society aka suicide bombing as well as the spread of fear and panic in the whole country. This lead to the closure of all education institutes and putting in place heightened security all over the streets of this country. We wake up daily to reports of not just war on the Waziristan front but shocking details of how it is being fought out on our very streets as well.

Brig (r) Junaid Zaman at “Pakistan Spectator” writes about the futility of closing schools in Pakistan:

We need not to panic and we need not to make our children coward and fearful. We need to talk to our girls and boys, let them know about the threat, ask them to keep vigil, make them understand the danger our country is in and about the menace of terrorism. Make them strong and bold and make them learn to live in the tough times. When they will emerge from these times, they will be far ahead to face the life as compared to other kids of this world.

On Taragana Zarrar khan speaks of a part of public perception that blames other players for these attacks on civilians:

Many students did not accept that militants were responsible for the attack and instead blamed shadowy forces out to discredit Islam or weaken Pakistan — variations of conspiracy theories that are often heard here after bombings.

Glenda at Berry picker reflects on the will of a society still carrying on in spite of the terror citing an example from a concert in Islamabad:

They didn't have to stop Thursday night. For at least one hour, Arieb Azhar and his band of four asserted the power of music's universality, diversity and tolerance in a city that only four days before had once again felt the power of terror to subdue the human will to fight for what is true and beautiful in life.

Bilquis puts it all in perspective at CHUP (Changing Up Pakistan):

Many scholars and politicians, particularly Imran Khan, have argued that the people in these areas have lived in traditionally lawless societies  for centuries. Given this ground reality, they say, we must respect their traditions and work within this context. I disagree. As T.S Elliot aptly noted, “A tradition without intelligence is not worth having.” These traditions ignore issues that have allowed a zealous ideology to mushroom all across Pakistan, especially in rural Punjab. Take the the young girl who was flogged by the Taliban in Swat, for example. Do we want these traditions? Do we want men/women/girls being bartered to resolve disputes? Do we want our people to see a continuously distorted narrow vision of what the world is? I certainly don’t.

So here we are, hopeful but terror stricken, our schools closed and our future uncertain but we will not give up. We have to fight not just the menace on the ground with our army but the silent infestation of the Taliban ideology among our societies. I just hope the world is behind us, because if we fail its your turn next.

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.

“We have also already sent an SOS to the international community because this is the one of the biggest outbreaks not just in the Philippines but in the world…”

This was the statement of Philippine Heath Secretary Francisco Duque III who announced a Leptospirosis outbreak in the flood-affected areas of the Philippines. More than 30 towns are still submerged in floodwaters one month after two strong typhoons hit the country’s capital and nearby provinces.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection affecting both humans and animals. It is acquired through direct contact with the urine of infected animals or by contact with a urine-contaminated environment such as floodwater, soil, and plants. The bacteria enter the body through broken skins, eyes, nose or mouth.

As of October 26, the Department of Health (DOH) has recorded a total of 2,158 cases including 167 deaths. Leptospirosis cases in Metro Manila have increased by as much as 174 percent since last year. Leptospirosis cases reached its peak from October 14 to 19, with hospitals reporting up to 350 cases a day.

Health authorities believe that more than one million people in the provinces south of Metro Manila are at risk of exposure to Leptospirosis, while 700,000 people are vulnerable in Metro Manila.

The government has drafted and distributed the “Interim Guidelines on the Prevention of Leptospirosis through the Use of Prophylaxis in Areas affected by Floods” to guide hospitals in areas vulnerable to Leptospirosis. Bloggers have started reposting relevant articles to inform readers about detecting symptoms of Leptospirosis.

Achieving Happiness warns that aside from Leptospirosis, other diseases are spreading in flooded communities and even in evacuation centers.

Imagine wading and swimming through polluted water. Then imagine your own children doing the same. It’s horrible. It’s dangerous. And now people are sick.

Besides leptospirosis, there’s cholera and the whole gamut of respiratory diseases because of the terrible living conditions in the evacuation centers. Skin diseases also proliferate.

The D Spot hits the delayed information drive of the government about the danger of Leptospirosis. The blogger also emphasizes that Leptospirosis is more dangerous than AH1N1

A large number of patients that consulted and continue to consult the hospitals’ emergency rooms have already developed grave complications—liver, kidney and lung failure. And what does this signify? The illness is already in its late stage.

These complications of Leptospirosis are mostly preventable had these patients been advised properly to take prophylaxis or seek early consult. The sad part is that we have not seen any massive information from DOH or the local government when clearly, Leptospirosis is more deadly than AH1N1, not until lately when the newspapers and television have picked up the stories.

Unlike AH1N1 which made too much noise and controversy, Leptospirosis is an illness which nobody is treating seriously, especially here in the Philippines, probably because it is an old case.

People have suffered enough, losing kith and kin, damage to properties, leaving the scars of Ondoy and Pepeng for the rest of their lives. They should not lose their lives now and those of their remaining loved ones just because of poor information campaign.

Surviving LUPUS observes that Leptospirosis cases went up because residents were forced to walk on flooded streets last month

During the wrath of these two typhoons everyone is focused on saving properties and lives that they have ignored the possibility of getting sick through flood waters. But what choice do you have at that moment, right? Flood water kept rising up, if you don’t move then you’ll get trap for days in your home with a short supply of potable water and food. So now as an aftermath a lot of people are in the hospital because of this disease.

The Paradoxic Ley Line blames the garbage of Manila for the Leptospirosis outbreak

After the flood, the plague came to wreak havoc to the people affected by Typhoon Ondoy. The plague came by the name of leptospirosis.

The back to back attack of the flood and leptospirosis is the end result of the waste mismanagement and blatant throwing of garbage to the streets and waterways. The flood is partly caused by the drainage system rendered useless by garbage. On the other hand, leptospirosis is caused by rats that live on garbage.

The sudden rise of leptospirosis cases and deaths only points to one thing and that is our continued wasteful lifestyle

Allena hopes the government will provide health insurance to flood victims

I really feel sorry about my fellowmen. For sure they do not have enough money for the medication and the hospital bill. I hope they have low cost health insurance to help them pay the medical bills. But it would be much better if the Philippine government would help them.

The Zen of Zero Expectations identifies measures to prevent the spread of Leptospirosis

As for leptospirosis, avoiding flooded areas is key.

Wear protective clothing, gloves and footwear if you have an occupational or recreational risk for exposure to contaminated soil or water. Cover wounds with waterproof dressings.

In general, practice good general sanitation to control the rat population. Remove brush and trash from areas of human habitation and don’t leave food out, especially in parks. Avoid water that may be contaminated with animal urine as this is the primary means of transmitting Leptospira to humans.

Most of us are just being reactive now, but it pays if we practise preventive measures in the days to come.

At Egyptian Chronicles, Zeinobia wrote here:

She then updated her post adding the following notes:

After the accident, it was obvious for the Egyptians that the Minister of Transportation has to resign. And even the governmental newspapers asked him to resign. Ahmed Shaltout writes:

He then wrote about the public service adverts that took place in Ramadan, and kept on attacking the Egyptian citizens as they are the ones who are careless, and destroy the Egyptian Railways Authority's assets.

People in blogs and Twitter too asked the Minister of Transportation - who is also known as Mansour Chevrolet, as he owns a company that is a Chevrolet importer and distributor - to resign:

Some even made fun of the buffalo's involvement:

While some others, asked if the minister is one to accuse or is it someone else.

And at the end the minister decided to resign as expected. And some bloggers believed that the Egyptian train accidents doesn't harm the trains passengers only, but also the Egyptian Transportation ministers are victims of their railways:

The resignation itself caused mixed reactions as some believed that he was forced to resign:

And that's why some others saw it as a charade:

First, a child sex abuse scandal broke out on Oct. 13, involving, among others, three members of PM Yulia Tymoshenko's parliament faction (to learn more, read this article at Abdymok and this Kyiv Post editorial).

A week later, on Oct. 19, the presidential campaign officially kicked off, with the election scheduled to take place on Jan. 17, 2010. On Oct. 24, thousands of people from all over Ukraine were brought to Kyiv's Independence Square to cheer for PM Tymoshenko at a huge rally celebrating the official launch of her campaign (for photos, video and thoughts on the event, see this post at Ukrainiana).

On Oct. 26, Ukraine's interior minister Yuri Lutsenko announced that “a network of the extreme Islamic movement al-Takfir wal-Hijra, which is banned by many countries in the world, is spreading in the Crimean territory of Ukraine,” and its members were planning to kill Mustafa Jemilev, the leader of the Crimean Tatars.

Finally, on Oct. 30, after a few days of alarming reports on an outbreak of respiratory illness in western Ukraine, the first swine flu-related death was confirmed, and PM Tymoshenko ordered Ukraine's schools closed and public gatherings - including election campaign rallies - banned for at least three weeks; restrictions on non-urgent travel inside Ukraine may also be imposed. According to WSJ.com, Ukraine's president Victor Yushchenko canceled his upcoming campaign rally “where he had been due to announce his election agenda, telling journalists that 11 people had died of H1N1, contradicting a Health Ministry report of only one fatality. An aide and a ministry official said Mr. Yushchenko may have made a mistake.”

Below is what Anglophone bloggers are writing about this latest development - the flu outbreak.

Ukrainiana:

At least 61 people are in critical condition. H1N1 has been officially confirmed in seven cases. Schools and kindergartens in nine oblasts have been closed: Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Zakarpattya, Chernivtsi, Rivne, Volyn, Khmelnytsk and Vinnytsya.

“Ukraine has entered a flu epidemic, of the so-called California (swine) type. As of October 29, we have 951 people hospitalized. Unfortunately, we have to note 30 fatalities,” Minister of Healthсare Vasyl Knyazevych said at a briefing Friday.

More recent reports bring the death toll to 37. […]

MoldovAnn:

The H1N1 virus has finally arrived in Ukraine, and along with it a big ole dose of overreaction and panic. Reports vary on the number of infected and number of deaths attributable to swine flu, but there seems to be clear consensus that those who have died waited too long to seek medical attention. Then again, knowing the medical care available in regional towns and villages, it’s hard to imagine how going to the clinic or hospital would have really helped many of them - sad to say.

Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, in an attempt to scare the living bejeezes out of people, oops, I mean protect the population, has extended the autumn school break for another 3 weeks and advised people to avoid public gatherings. Once the announcement hit the wires this afternoon, parents started panicking - the flu immediately forgotten as they tried to figure out what the hell to do about childcare for another 3 weeks. Ex-pats were openly hoping the “quarantine” wouldn’t affect the international schools.

I saw three people wearing masks today, and another half-dozen covering their noses and mouths with scarves. Igor went to several pharmacies to buy echinacea and flu medicine, but no luck. Every place around us was sold out of both. So he bought a dozen lemons and insisted I drink the “family recipe” for good health - a potent concoction of vodka, lemon juice and honey. […]

Foreign Notes:

LEvko is astonished at the panic in Ukraine and the way over-the-top reaction from the government and politicians over the swine flu epidemic which has hit the country. There is even talk of the president establishing a state of emergency and possibly postponing the presidential elections.

[…]

Ukrainian politicians would do better to take a good look at Ukraine's appalling life expectancy figures. Major causes of premature deaths in the country are the smoking of cigarettes and excessive alcohol consumption. A ban on advertising these products and restricting their availability would help save countless lives, but it won't happen because there's too much money being to made from their sale. Much easier to show “decisive leadership” and determined action over the flu epidemic, and scare the the population out of its wits - no doubt increasing the sales of cure-all vodka even more…

p.s. I ‘phoned the official goverment swine flu information hot-line today…all I heard was crackling..

Windows to Russia!:

[…] Think maybe this has to do more with control of people at election time than the flu? […]

Twitter user Victor Kotusenko/roxolanus:

ok, now we are getting this h1n1, it's coming. oxoline ointment in my nose every day, washing my hands often, what else? I guess sleep more)

***

mild panic in Kyiv today as h1n1 cases officially confirmed

***

I would call it concern rather than panic in Ukraine, although people are scared by media. but medical services seem to react. we'll c […]