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Thousands of protesters were in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand, again Saturday in defiance of a government crackdown as they continue to push for the ouster of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.  
 
Unlike Friday’s protests, when police used water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters that included children, Saturday’s demonstrations were peaceful.
 
Activists managed to stage a fourth consecutive day of protests, despite government efforts to thwart them through a variety of actions, including shutting down Bangkok’s mass transit systems.
 
Saturday’s protests, which were also held in at least six cities outside Bangkok, got underway despite Prayuth’s declaration of a state of emergency Thursday that banned all political gatherings of five or more people and made all protesters subject to arrest.
 
Many protesters said they were inspired to take action Saturday by the police use of water cannons.  
 
In the past week, police have arrested more than 50 people — including several protest leaders.
 
The Royal Palace has not commented on the protests, but King Maha Vajiralongkorn has said the country needs people who love the monarchy and the country.   
 
Pro-democracy activists began demonstrating three months ago to force the resignation of Prayuth, a former army general who seized power in a 2014 coup that ousted the elected civilian government. He won election to the post last year, but protesters say the vote was rigged in his favor due to constitutional laws drafted by the military.   
 
In addition to demanding reform of the country’s constitution, the demonstrators are seeking to reduce the influence of the Thai monarchy. The institution maintains divine-like status among Thailand’s elite, and it is protected by strict “lese majeste” laws that impose prison sentences on anyone convicted of insulting the monarchy. 
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The United States has condemned Turkey for testing a highly advanced Russian air defense system on Friday, disregarding U.S. warnings.A Haber television, which is close to Turkish government, reported that the Turkish army conducted the test firing of the S-400 system in the northern province of Sinop by the Black Sea.The U.S. State Department said the missile launch is “incompatible with Turkey’s responsibilities as a NATO ally and strategic partner” of the U.S.A Defense Department spokesperson said “We have been clear: an operational S-400 system is not consistent with Turkey’s commitments as a U.S. and NATO ally. We object to Turkey’s purchase of the system and are deeply concerned with reports that Turkey is bringing it into operation.”The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Jim Risch, called the test “unacceptable behavior” from a NATO ally.Risch said in a statement that the move damages NATO and represents a direct threat to the U.S. F-35 bombers and other U.S. and NATO allies’ systems.“U.S. law requires sanctions against countries that continue to deepen their defense relationship with Russia, and the administration should send a strong signal that Turkey must divest its S-400s,” the statement said.Sen. Bob Menendez, the committee’s senior Democrat, said in a statement that “Turkey must be sanctioned immediately for its purchase and use of this system.”Menendez did not spare the Trump administration of criticism, saying “President Trump’s failure to follow the law and his affinity for [Turkish President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan pose a serious threat to our national security and that of our NATO allies and partners in Europe.”The Turkish Defense Ministry has refused to confirm or deny the test firing.Turkey signed the S-400 deal with Russia in 2017, with the first deliveries of missile batteries, worth $2.5 billion, coming in July of last year.
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Portions of France begin the implementation of new restrictions Saturday to try to curb the coronavirus.  Paris and at least seven other cities, including Lyon, Grenoble, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Lille, Rouen and Saint-Étienne will be under curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. The curfew is scheduled to be in place for at least four weeks.  
 
Belgium will be placed under a 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. nationwide curfew Monday to combat the country’s rising COVID-19 caseload. In addition, Belgium has ordered all cafes, bars, and restaurants to be shuttered, starting Monday.  
 
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday that there are 39.3 million COVID-19 infections worldwide and 1.1 million deaths from the virus.   
 
India has begun the task of identifying the 300 million people who will receive the initial COVID-19 vaccine, once it becomes available, according to media reports.A man reacts as a health care worker collects a swab sample to test for the coronavirus, at a testing site, in New Delhi, India, Oct. 17, 2020.COVID cases in India are steadily climbing.  The South Asian nation is on the verge of overtaking the U.S. as the country with the most coronavirus cases.  
 
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday that India has 7.4 million coronavirus infections, while the U.S. has just over 8 million.  India said Saturday it had recorded 62,212 new COVID cases in the previous 24 hours.  
 
Daily cases of COVID-19 have reached record highs around the world, particularly in Europe and the Americas, the World Health Organization said Friday.  
 
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing in Geneva that record-high numbers of cases were reported in each of the past four days.  
 
“We must remember that this is an uneven pandemic,” Tedros said. “Countries have responded differently, and countries have been affected differently. Almost 70% of all cases reported globally last week were from 10 countries, and almost half of all cases were from just three countries.”  
 
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In the U.S. state of Michigan, authorities have apprehended 13 men accused of conspiring to abduct and possibly kill the state’s governor. The plot, which involved a self-styled militia group armed with semi-automatic weapons and explosives, was timed to disrupt the U.S. election and incite an insurrection. Matt Dibble spoke to experts who are warning that provocative messaging from leaders and under-regulated social media could be driving the American political climate towards violence.
Camera: Sam Paakkonen        Producer: Matt Dibble
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Two female Iranian dissidents have responded defiantly to being summoned to start prison terms in Iran, saying they have no regrets for signing the 2019 letter that called for the nation’s Islamist ruler to quit and triggered their arrest.In exclusive Thursday interviews with VOA Persian from Iran, Shahla Entesari and Shahla Jahanbin said they had received phone calls the previous day from Tehran’s Evin prison, notifying them that they must report to the jail within 10 days. Iran’s judiciary has ordered the two women to serve 27-month prison terms for signing the Aug. 9, 2019, open letter that demanded the resignation of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Entesari and Jahanbin were among 14 Iranian women who signed the letter and who were later charged by Iranian authorities with spreading anti-government propaganda and “gathering and conspiring against national security.”The signatories wrote, “We rise against this anti-woman regime that has wiped out our human values and demand a complete departure from the Islamic Republic and drafting of a new constitution for the establishment of a state in which women’s dignity, identity and equal rights are recognized in all areas.”Iran has been led by Shiite clerics since they seized power in a 1979 Islamist Revolution.’Don’t regret’ signingIranian security agents arrested Entesari and Jahanbin in connection with the August 2019 letter later that month before releasing both on bail in November.The two women told VOA they “don’t regret” signing the letter, even though they face the prospect of imminent imprisonment that could exacerbate their existing medical problems and put them at risk of coronavirus exposure. International rights activists have documented multiple coronavirus outbreaks in Iran’s unsanitary and overcrowded prison system.Jahanbin suffers from osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease affecting both her neck and shoulders, while Entesari has heart disease and tremors in her arm and leg.Jahanbin said she had received an initial prison summons in May but asked authorities to delay her incarceration so that she could undergo a needed back surgery and have time to recover from the procedure. She said the authorities granted her a two-month recovery period, but she was unable to schedule the surgery because of the pandemic.Iranians who resist an initial prison summons can receive several follow-up notices over a period of weeks or months, but also risk being arrested and sent to jail at any time.“We stand by our words,” Jahanbin said in reference to the letter demanding Khamenei resign. She said she remains concerned about the increasing problems facing Iran as its Islamist rulers struggle with the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreak and a two-year economic recession fueled by escalating U.S. sanctions and government mismanagement.’We only made a request’Jahanbin also said she and the other signatories of the letter did nothing wrong. “We did not gather or foment any violent movement. We only made a request (of Khamenei) based on our constitutional rights,” she said.Speaking separately to VOA, Entesari said the more time that has passed since signing the letter, the more she believes it was the right thing to do.“Iran’s worsening situation, whose main cause is the incompetence of its Islamist rulers, shows how correct our statements were,” Entesari said. “It is because of their weakness that they want to imprison anyone who seeks freedom and makes the slightest criticism against them,” she added.Iranian state media have been silent on the cases of the two women in recent weeks.The letter signed by Entesari and Jahanbin was inspired in part by an earlier June 2019 open letter in which another 14 dissidents, mostly men, issued similar demands for Khamenei to quit and for Iran’s Islamist constitution to be changed.Most of the signatories of the first letter also were arrested and charged with national security offenses. One of those detained in August 2019 was Jahanbin’s husband, Abbas Vahedian Shahroudi. He was granted a temporary release from a prison in Mashhad in July.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
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Presidential campaign ads on TV and social media target voters with different messages designed for different media platforms. VOA’s Steve Redisch explains the messaging campaign.
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On Friday, President Donald Trump campaigned in Florida — a state with one of the highest populations of elderly voters — promising that he would protect American seniors from the coronavirus pandemic. Trump handily won senior citizens’ votes in 2016, but the latest polls show that Democratic nominee Joe Biden is leading by a significant margin among Americans 65 and older. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
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Thailand’s prime minister dismissed calls for his resignation Friday as protesters defied a ban to rally in the capital, Bangkok, for the second day amid a violent police crackdown.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha declared a state of emergency in response to the civil strife led by students, who are demanding his resignation and reforms to the country’s constitutional monarchy.Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha speaks during a news conference after a cabinet meeting at the Government House in Bangkok, Sept. 22, 2020.
Prayuth said Friday the measure was necessary because “certain groups of perpetrators intended to instigate an untoward incident and movement in the Bangkok area by way of various methods and via different channels, including causing obstruction to the royal motorcade.”
He said Friday he had no plans to resign as he had done nothing wrong. He said his government hopes it can drop the state of emergency ahead of its normal 30-day duration “if the situation improves quickly.”
To quell the protests, police armed with water cannons laced with a chemical irritant charged at the crowd, dispersing protesters, onlookers and reporters. Journalists who were hit by the water said it caused a stinging sensation and was dyed blue, to mark protesters for possible later arrest.
Prayuth is a former army general who seized power in a 2014 coup that ousted the elected civilian government. He won election to the post last year, but protesters say the vote was rigged in his favor because of laws drafted by the military.
In addition to changes to the constitution drafted by the military, the demonstrators are also seeking to reduce the influence of the Thai monarchy. The institution maintains divinelike status among Thailand’s elite, and is protected by strict “lese majeste” laws, which imposes prison sentences for anyone convicted of insulting the king.People cover themselves with umbrellas during anti-government protests, in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 16, 2020.
Protesters shouted at a motorcade carrying King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida as it drove past a crowd Wednesday and held up a three-fingered salute, a symbol of defiance borrowed from the popular U.S. Hunger Games books and film trilogy.
A number of protest leaders have been rounded up since the state of emergency went into effect. On Friday another two activists were arrested under a law covering violence against the queen for their alleged part in the heckling of the motorcade. They could face up to life in prison if convicted.
The Ministry of Digital Economy also announced it would pursue cases against five Twitter accounts and five Facebook accounts for inviting people to attend Friday’s rally, an action deemed illegal under the state of emergency, as well as other laws.
The legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said at least 51 people have been arrested since Tuesday in connection with the protests. 
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As the U.S. inches closer to pivotal elections November 3, Michigan’s 270,000 registered Muslim American voters could determine the outcome of the presidential contest in the battleground state. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more.Camera, Producer: Kane Farabaugh  
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China has warned Canada not to grant political asylum to Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, labeling them violent criminals and saying the action would constitute interference in China’s internal affairs.Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu said Thursday that “if the Canadian side really cares about the stability and the prosperity in Hong Kong, and really cares about the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport-holders in Hong Kong, and the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region], you should support those efforts to fight violent crimes.”Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called Cong’s statement “totally unacceptable and disturbing.””I have instructed Global Affairs to call the ambassador in to make clear in no uncertain terms that Canada will always stand up for human rights and the rights of Canadians around the world,” Champagne said in a statement published by Canadian news organizations.Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly criticized Beijing for “coercive diplomacy” and for the crackdowns in Hong Kong and on Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.At his press briefing Thursday, Cong countered Trudeau’s comments, saying there was no coercive diplomacy on the Chinese side, adding that “the Hong Kong issue and the Xinjiang-related issue are not about the issue of human rights. They are purely about internal affairs of China, which brooks no interference from the outside.”Protests of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government and the Chinese government continued in the city for months last year and resulted in a new national security law for Hong Kong that took effect June 30.The law punishes secessionist movements, subversive or terrorist acts, and what it interprets as collusion with foreign forces intervening in the city’s affairs.Western powers, including the United States, Britain and Canada have strongly condemned the law and have accused China of infringing on Hong Kong’s freedoms.
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Doctors and nurses in Zimbabwe are challenging a Ministry of Health rule they say impedes their ability to leave the country.  The ministry said last month that health care workers must get official signatures to receive a “Certificate of Good Standing” – a needed reference to get work abroad.  A doctors group says it’s an attempt to stop a mass exodus after poor treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.  After more than 10 years of working in government hospitals, a 36-year-old doctor – who did not want to be identified told VOA countless protests have not resulted in a decent salary or better working conditions. He applied to work in England.  But for nearly three months now, he says he can’t go, because he is still waiting for a “Certificate of Good Standing” from the government that foreign employers require.  ” I want to leave this country to work where I can treat people properly with all equipment and medicines,” the doctor told VOA.  He says he also wants a salary so he can look after his children and his parents, who paid for his education.  The Senior Hospital Doctors Association of Zimbabwe says its members are frustrated by delays they attribute to the government trying to curtail a brain drain among health workers.    Its leader, Dr. Aaron Musara, says the government is misusing the certificate of good standing.   “Normally the certificate of good standing talks about the integrity of a colleague, how the colleague does not have pending cases or issues of discipline involving issues with patients or with colleagues,” Dr. Musara told VOA. “It will now cease to be about that, the moment we allow it to be used by the government in this manner. It can be abused as a way of handling labour issues rather than being a professional issue.”He says in some cases doctors just want to go abroad to further their education, then return to Zimbabwe.  Health personnel in Zimbabwe have long protested about poor working conditions – including inadequate personal protective equipment (PPEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.  But the cash-strapped nation has been unable to improve salaries or provide needed supplies.  Zimbabwe’s vice president, Constantino Chiwenga, who is the country’s new health minister, told doctors this week that he would address all their problems.   “I promise that I will do my best in creating the much-needed conducive environment for your work. Your work will not go unnoticed,” he said. “Do your best and I will do my part. And together we can avoid the ongoing unnecessary loss of life.”Chiwenga did not talk about preventing health care workers from leaving Zimbabwe. Health officials said they would not comment on the issue after the vice president’s promise to resolve the doctors’ problems.     
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Two leading challengers to Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara say they are boycotting this month’s election and are urging their supporters to block the election.Thursday’s announcement by former president Henri Konan Bedie and former premier Pascal Affi N’Guessan is the latest rejection of Quattara’s bid to seek a third term in the Oct. 31 poll.Affi N’Guessan said he and Bedie are inviting their “supporters across the country to block this electoral coup d’état that President Ouattara is preparing to commit, to prevent the holding of all operations connected to the election and to apply the call for a boycott by all legal means at their disposal to convince the powers in place to convene the country’s political forces so as to find an acceptable solution.”Affi N’Guessan and Bedie have also accused the ruling Rally of the Republicans party of tampering with the electoral process. They say they agree with an ongoing protest that Quattara’s pursuit of a third term violates the constitution.Quattara says the new 2016 constitution rebooted term limits, giving him the right to seek another term.Quattara entered the race after the July death of Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who Quattara had chosen to represent the ruling party in the presidential election.The boycott means Quattara’s only opposition is Independent candidate Kouadio Konan Bertin.
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Two Iranian Baha’i women have reported to a prison in eastern Iran to begin serving sentences for peacefully practicing their faith after authorities apparently ignored appeals to spare them from potential coronavirus exposure in jail, according to a knowledgeable source.Speaking to VOA Persian in a Tuesday interview from Iran, the source said Arezoo Mohammadi and Banafsheh Mokhtari voluntarily presented themselves at the prison in Birjand a day earlier.The two women had been among a group of eight Baha’is from the region who received a Sept. 28 summons to report to the prison by Oct. 10.Source: Iran Rejects Baha’is’ Appeal to Avoid Prison with Coronavirus RiskKnowledgeable source tells VOA Persian the eight Baha’is sentenced to prison for practicing their faith received summons to report to jail in Birjand by October 10 Earlier this month, a source told VOA that an appellate court had issued a Sept. 8 ruling sentencing the six women and two men to prison terms of 15 months to two years for allegedly disrupting national security and spreading anti-government propaganda in relation to the practice of their faith.Iran’s ruling Shiite clerics consider the nation’s estimated 300,000 Baha’is to be heretics with no religion, and routinely arrest them for engaging in faith-related activities, accusing them of national security offenses without disclosing evidence. Most are charged with “propagation” of the Baha’i faith, which authorities consider to be a form of anti-government propaganda.The source who spoke to VOA this week said Mokhtari suffers from cervical and lumbar disc diseases, characterized by neck pain and lower back pain respectively, and had sent a request to the Iranian judiciary’s enforcement branch to have her sentence postponed for medical reasons. However, the source said judicial authorities in Birjand rejected her request.Mokhtari and Mohammadi decided to accept the prison summons as they believed they would be compelled to do so eventually and preferred to resolve their status sooner rather than later, the source said. Iranians who resist an initial prison summons can receive several follow-up notices over a period of weeks but also risk being arrested and sent to jail at any time.Iranian rights groups have said Mohammadi was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Mokhtari to 15 months.VOA’s source said five of the remaining six Baha’is who received the Sept. 28 prison summons also have sent letters to the Iranian judiciary asking for their sentences to be postponed due to the risk of contracting the coronavirus in prison. The source identified the five as Nasrin Ghadiri, Ataollah Malaki, Ataollah Malaki’s daughter, Roya Malaki, Saeed Malaki and Atieh Salehi, and said they were awaiting responses to their letters.It was not clear whether the remaining member of the group, Farzaneh Dimi, has made a similar request to Iranian authorities for a delay in her sentence.There has been no word from Iranian authorities in state media about the cases of the eight Baha’is over the past month.Iran’s coronavirus outbreak, the worst in the Middle East, has prompted months of international concern about the plight of Iranian prisoners of conscience who have been imprisoned or threatened with imprisonment in coronavirus-infested jails.In an Oct. 6 statement, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the Iranian prison system’s chronic overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions have worsened during the pandemic.“I call for [Iran’s] unconditional release of human rights defenders, lawyers, political prisoners, peaceful protesters and all other individuals deprived of their liberty for expressing their views or otherwise exercising their rights,” Bachelet said. “It is particularly important to rectify such injustices at a time when COVID-19 is coursing through Iran’s prisons.”A week after the call of @UNHumanrights@mbachelet for #Iran to release all #prisonersofconscience, #Bahai-s remain behind bars, and more are jailed: 3 in #Birjand, 1 in #Shiraz and 1 in #Isfahan who was returned after a leave. More injustice during an abysmal #COVID19 pandemic! https://t.co/FmhGeiKF3h— Diane Alai (@DianeAlai) October 14, 2020In an Oct. 14 tweet, the Baha’i International Community’s Geneva-based representative to the U.N., Diane Alai, said Iran had jailed four more Baha’is in the week since Bachelet’s appeal.“More injustice during an abysmal COVID-19 pandemic,” Alai wrote.The eight Baha’i defendants sentenced by the Iranian appellate court last month were part of a wider group of 18 Baha’is whose homes in Birjand were raided and whose belongings were confiscated by Iranian security agents in October 2017. The raids coincided with a religious holiday observed by Baha’is around the world.In a May briefing with reporters, U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said he was “particularly” concerned by Iran’s treatment of its Baha’i prisoners.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story.
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The decision by Twitter to block the dissemination of a story on its site about Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, has added to an already heated discussion in the U.S. about whether internet companies have too much power and are making decisions that could affect the U.S. elections.Some have applauded Twitter’s move as a stand against misinformation. Others have criticized Twitter’s decision as biased, curtailing speech in a way that could affect the outcome of the U.S. election.In recent weeks, Twitter, Facebook and Google, the owner of YouTube, have increasingly taken steps to restrict the spread of what they describe as misinformation and extremist speech on their sites. After the 2016 U.S. election, internet companies were criticized for not doing enough to stop misinformation on their services.This week, Twitter blocked certain accounts on its site as they tried to share a story by the New York Post that cited supposed email exchanges between Hunter Biden and a Ukrainian official about setting up a meeting with Hunter Biden’s father when Joe Biden was the U.S. vice president. The story claimed to rely on records from a computer drive that was allegedly abandoned by Hunter Biden. Rudy Giuliani, lawyer to President Donald Trump, reportedly gave the drive to the Post.No meeting, campaign saysThe Biden campaign said it had “reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.””Investigations by the press, during impeachment, and even by two Republican-led Senate committees whose work was decried as ‘not legitimate’ and political by a GOP colleague, have all reached the same conclusion: that Joe Biden carried out official U.S. policy toward Ukraine and engaged in no wrongdoing,” said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Biden.FILE – President Donald Trump holds up a copy of the New York Post as he speaks before signing an executive order aimed at curbing protections for social media giants, in the Oval Office of the White House, May 28, 2020.No tweeting, no sharingCiting the firm’s hacked-materials policy, Twitter blocked the Post’s ability to tweet about the story from its Twitter account. It also blocked the Trump campaign and other accounts from sharing the story.Facebook said it reduced the reach of the post, pending fact checking from third party fact-checkers.For Lisa Kaplan, chief executive of the Alethea Group, which tracks misinformation and online threats, Twitter’s recent decisions to block some posts are a good sign.“I do applaud Twitter’s efforts and the stances they have taken to address disinformation, making it so that people can’t share a link known to be false that could have potential implications on the election,” she said. “It’s an important step if they are truly going to be a source of accurate information for their users.”GOP respondsThe reaction from Republicans over the Post story has been swift. Senate Republicans said Thursday that they would subpoena Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, to testify next week. Dorsey should “explain why Twitter is abusing their corporate power to silence the press,” said Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican.Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said he had sent a letter to Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, asking them to testify at a committee hearing.The companies’ decision about the Post stories throws fuel on an issue that has gained traction over the past year: whether companies are publishers, making editorial decisions, or “platforms,” places where people share information but with the companies providing little oversight of what’s said.FILE – FCC Chairman Ajit Pai testifies at a House subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 5, 2019.Protections weighedCongressional leaders of both parties are considering whether to strip the companies of some of their legal protections that say they aren’t responsible for the speech on their sites. On Thursday, Republican Ajit Pai, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, said the agency would consider weakening the legal protections the companies enjoy.Some Democrats as well have called for stripping the internet firms of some of their legal protections.With the decision about the Post story, Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, says the internet firms have not moved closer to being publishers.“If you have a business and the last thing you want is untruthful stories, then you can say, ‘We’re uncomfortable to share this with millions of people globally.’ That’s your right,” Paulson said. “I don’t think we want to mistake Facebook or Twitter for a public utility. And I don’t think a simple ban on content you believe to be unreliable and fraudulent makes you a publisher.“A company has a right to decide what it stands for, and that’s where we are now with Twitter and Facebook,” he said.One thing is certain: With the internet firms making decisions almost daily about curtailing or blocking posts, lawmakers and regulators will have more fodder to point to for changing the rules.
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Rights groups are voicing concerns over the release of 200 jihadist militants in a recent prisoner exchange in Mali.The militants were freed by the government earlier this month in exchange for the release of four people, including a French aid worker, two Italian nationals and a prominent Malian opposition leader, who had been held captive by an al-Qaida-affiliated group in northern Mali.While local rights groups have welcomed last week’s release of the four individuals, they also believe that freeing a large number of “presumed terrorists” could pose a further threat to Mali’s stability and undermine the country’s judicial system.This release “means that the fundamental rights of those murdered by jihadists in Mali have been violated, while (their relatives) were waiting for justice to take its course,” said Aguibou Bouare, president of the National Human Rights Commission in Mali.“These people were released even though they have committed crimes,” he told VOA, adding, “Not complying with the rule of law, gives birth to impunity.”Mali has been struggling to contain a growing Islamist insurgency that began as a separatist uprising in the north in 2012, which was later taken over by jihadists. The conflict has also spread to central Mali and neighboring countries such as Burkina Faso and Niger.The violence has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.Accountability for abusesAdotei Akwei, deputy director for advocacy and government relations at Amnesty International, said while they have been urging governments around the world to release prisoners because of the overcrowding and the risks presented by coronavirus pandemic even before the recent releases in Mali, they also have been advocating for accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses.“We are concerned over the possible release of persons who need to be held accountable, or else there will be no incentive to change behavior by those released or by the captors,” he told VOA.Moctar Mariko, president of the Malian Human Rights Association, said Malian authorities should make real efforts “to free other civilians and military personnel kidnapped or detained by jihadists in order to avoid this selective discrimination and double standards justice towards hostages.”He told VOA that releasing jihadist militants this way “would encourage and increase cross-border crime,” adding that, “Those individuals will still commit robbery, make improvised explosive devices and continue their organized crimes against peaceful citizens.”Skilled militants releasedExperts say some of the jihadists freed in the recent prisoner swap are battle-hardened fighters with years of combat experience.“We have identified some of them who are seasoned commanders that could perform important functions in the near future,” said Heni Nsaibia, a researcher at the conflict monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED).“There is a high probability that these militants would go back to the insurgency, taking into consideration that the government’s hold of the northern and central parts of Mali is very tenuous,” he told VOA.Militants have a history of kidnappings in Mali targeting prominent local leaders and foreign nationals, experts say, to extort concessions from the Malian and foreign governments.For example, Sophie Petronin, the French aid worker released in the prisoner exchange, was kidnapped by Islamist militants in 2016 in northern Mali where she had been working to assist orphaned children.The recent release of jihadists “essentially incentivizes this type of behavior, specifically among these groups who are quite highly skilled and trained, and have experience in conducting kidnappings,” said Ryan Cummings, director of Signal Risk, a security risk management firm based in Cape Town, South Africa.“It does certainly send a message out to jihadist groups in the region that ‘if you engage in kidnapping for ransom and extortion, you will be rewarded, and concessions will be provided over the longer term,’” he told VOA.Opportunity for reconciliation?Some experts say the release of these jihadists could be a sign for a negotiated political process between the central government in Bamako and jihadist groups. Others, however, believe that jihadist militants are less inclined to engage in a dialogue with the government.“I’m not sure that jihadists would particularly embrace a dialogue with the Bamako government, unless it conferred a sort of short-term tactical advantage,” said John Campbell, a senior fellow for African policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.Earlier this year, former Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was ousted in August in a bloodless military coup, had expressed his readiness to hold talks with Islamist militants, particularly those affiliated with the al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an alliance of several jihadist groups.Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, said there are mainly two reasons that JNIM would not participate in any negotiation with Malian authorities.“The first one is a very long history of Bamako breaking promises in its talks with various northern groups, not just jihadis but also particularly Tuareg groups,” he told VOA, noting that the other reason is “there is now a military dominated government in Bamako.”“I think the new government would be less trustworthy than the previous one from a northern perspective,” Campbell added.And from the military perspective, analyst Cummings said, initiating peace talks with jihadist militants is not realistic at this point.“If anyone is not to be interested at this stage in peace with jihadists, it would be senior members of the military who have been — for lack of a better word — the primary victims of jihadist violence in the country,” he said.This week, suspected Islamist militants carried out multiple attacks in central Mali, killing at least 25 people, including 12 civilians and 13 soldiers.VOA’s Bambara service contributed to this report.   
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Senate Republicans said Thursday they will subpoena Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey over the decision to block a news report critical of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. “This is election interference and we’re 19 days out from an election,” Senator Ted Cruz said, a day after the social network blocked links to the article by the New York Post alleging corruption by Biden in Ukraine. Cruz said the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote next Tuesday to subpoena Dorsey to testify at the end of next week and “explain why Twitter is abusing their corporate power to silence the press.” “The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to know what the hell is going on,” he said. “Twitter and Facebook and big tech millionaires don’t get to censor political speech and actively interfere in the election. That’s what they are doing right now.” Republican Senator Josh Hawley announced separately that he had sent letters to Dorsey and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg asking them to appear before his Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism. The hearing will “consider potential campaign law violations” in support of Biden with the blocking of the article.  The Post’s story purported to expose corrupt dealings by Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine. The newspaper claimed that the former vice president, who was in charge of U.S. policy toward Ukraine, took actions to help his son, who in 2014-2017 sat on the board of controversial Ukraine energy company Burisma. But the newspaper’s source for the information raised questions. It cited records on a drive allegedly copied from a computer said to have been abandoned by Hunter Biden, that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani gave to the Post. The report also made claims about Joe Biden’s actions in Ukraine, which were contrary to the record.   Wary of “fake news” campaigns, both Facebook and Twitter said they took action out of caution over the article and its sourcing. “This is part of our standard process to reduce the spread of misinformation,” said Facebook spokesman Andy Stone. The role of Giuliani, who has repeatedly advanced unproven and poorly sourced conspiracy theories about the Bidens and Ukraine, also raised flags. The Biden campaign rejected the assertions of corruption in the report but has not denied the veracity of the underlying materials, mostly emails between Hunter Biden and business partners. Trump, who trails Biden in polls 19 days before the presidential election, blasted the two social media giants on Wednesday. “So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of ‘Smoking Gun’ emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost,” Trump posted on Twitter. 
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Hundreds of protesters marched Thursday to the gates of Nigeria’s parliament, hours after the army said it was ready to step in and restore order after more than a week of demonstrations against police brutality.The protest defied a ban on mass rallies in the capital, Abuja, that the government said was imposed earlier Thursday to stop the spread of the coronavirus.Chanting crowds also blocked roads and waved flags and banners in the commercial hub Lagos, where protesters reported clashing with unidentified men wielding weapons.People hold banners as they demonstrate on the street to protest against police brutality in Lagos, Nigeria, Oct. 15, 2020.Video on social media appeared to show men coming out of a bus and chasing protesters, though Reuters could not verify the footage.”We have suffered enough. We youths want to stand — no more brutality,” one demonstrator, Obinna Paul, said in another part of the city where crowds blocked a toll gate funneling traffic to and from the main airport.Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said on Twitter he condemned the attacks on peaceful protesters “by armed and unscrupulous elements trying to cause chaos.”Lagos state set up a 200 million naira ($525,000) compensation fund for victims of police brutality, a core demand of protesters, and a presidential spokesman said on Twitter that the government had directed all governors to establish victim compensation funds. He also said judicial panels of inquiry would investigate police brutality.Late on Wednesday, the military issued a statement titled “Nigerian Army warns subversive elements and troublemakers.””The [Nigerian Army] is ready to fully support the civil authority in whatever capacity to maintain law and order and deal with any situation decisively,” it said.Protesters have staged daily marches since Wednesday last week, calling for an overhaul of police forces.Police had responded to the demonstrations with beatings, tear gas and gunfire, which human rights group Amnesty International said had killed at least 10 people. But the police agreed on Tuesday to stop using force against protesters.In response to the protests, the head of Nigeria’s police force on Sunday dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit that demonstrators have accused of beatings, killings and extortion.Demonstrators have called for more meaningful reforms. Protesters say they fear a new unit, whose creation to “fill the gaps” left by SARS was announced on Tuesday, was just a rebranding of the squad.
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