Benin voters boycott polls with only one choice

CNA – AFP, 29 Apr 2019

A polling official empties the ballot box at the end of the vote at a polling station during
the elections for a new parliament in Cotonou on Apr 28, 2019. (Photo: AFP/Yanick Folly)

PORTO-NOVO: People in Benin on Sunday (Apr 28) boycotted in large numbers parliamentary polls with no opposition candidate to choose from, as rights groups warned of a crackdown on basic freedoms.

As national radio stations pleaded for voters to "fulfil their duty as citizens" and elect 83 new members of parliament - choosing from two parties both allied to President Patrice Talon - the internet was cut.

The small West African state was long held up as a model for democracy, but the country's main opposition parties were effectively barred from fielding candidates by tough new eligibility rules.

Instead, they asked their supporters to protest by boycotting the polls.

Many of the five million registered voters seemed to stay away, with voting booths in the economic capital Cotonou quiet, streets empty and shops closed all day.

Internet Shutdowns

In 10 polling stations visited by AFP in the largely opposition area of Seme-Podji, no more than 35 voters had cast their ballots out of the more than 400 people registered. The situation seemed similar in other parts of Benin visited by AFP reporters.

"We have never seen such a thing," one election commission official said. "The people have not come out."

In the run up to polling, protests were broken up by force. Internet access was initially tightly restricted with blocks on the main social media and messaging apps.

Amnesty International called the internet shutdown a "blunt violation of the right to freedom of expression."

Then later in the day, internet access was shut down entirely.

"It is effectively silencing human rights defenders, journalists and bloggers who are monitoring contested parliamentary elections without opposition candidates," Amnesty said in a statement.

'Going to far'

Even supporters of the president did not vote.

"I'm not a fierce opponent, I actually support President Talon," said Wilfrid Pokini, a trader in the capital Porto Novo. "But I do not support this election - an unopposed election, what is that? It is going too far."

People say they are "stunned" and "shocked" by the situation, but blanket bans on demonstrations ahead of voting has kept people off the streets.

"The wave of arbitrary arrests of political activists and journalists, and the crackdown on peaceful protests, have reached an alarming level," Amnesty International researcher Francois Patuel said.

Before 1991, Benin struggled under decades of authoritarian rule. The transition to democracy brought a flowering of political competition - five years ago, voters could chose from 20 parties for the 83 seats in parliament.

But this year, lawmakers from the ruling party pushed through a new electoral code.

Tensions

Talon, elected in 2016, portrays himself as a reformer and modernist. He has defended the electoral code, saying it would bring together the scores of political parties - more than 250 parties in a country of some 12 million people - into simpler blocs.

But critics say the rules were too tough and bureaucratic. Only the two parties allied to Talon - the Republicans and Progressive Union - met the new conditions, effectively barring the opposition from taking part.

Several international and domestic observers scrapped their missions to monitor the polls. Some warn of the risk of unrest.

"Banning peaceful protests and detaining those who speak up against the exclusion of opposition parties from the legislative election will only fuel political turmoil," Amnesty's Patuel added.

The president is, however, apparently not worried. There seems little doubt that the new parliament will back the presidency in its entirety.

"The resentment will pass," presidential spokesman Wilfried Houngbedji said. "On Monday, life will resume its normal course."

Impoverished eSwatini, Africa's last absolute monarchy

Yahoo – AFP, September 19, 2018

Mswati has been in power for 32 years, making him one of the longest-serving
rulers in Africa (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

Mbabane (eSwatini) (AFP) - The tiny country of eSwatini, until recently known as Swaziland, is ruled by a playboy king with many wives and supreme control over a nation struggling with poverty and HIV.

Ahead of parliamentary elections on Friday, here is some essential background about the landlocked kingdom wedged between South Africa and Mozambique.

King in control

King Mswati III was crowned in 1986 when he was only 18, four years after the death of his elderly father, Sobhuza II.

Now aged 50, he has been in power for 32 years, making him one of the longest-serving rulers in Africa.

With unrestricted political power over his 1.3 million people and ruling by decree, he is the only absolute monarch on the continent and one of the few remaining in the world.

His surprise declaration in April that the kingdom would return to its pre-colonial name, eSwatini, was criticised as an example of his authoritarianism.

Mswati has 14 wives -- his father is said to have had at least 70 -- and the right to choose a new one at the annual Reed Dance, when thousands of bare-breasted virgins dance for him.

Political parties banned

After independence from Britain in 1968, Sobhuza II abandoned a British-style system and in 1973 restored a traditional form of government that gives the royal family supreme power.

It effectively bans political parties, which are barred from parliamentary elections held every five years.

Candidates for the 69-member parliament stand as individuals; the king directly appoints 10, as well as the prime minister, senior cabinet members and the judiciary.

Mswati has been in power for 32 years, making him one of the longest-serving 

rulers in Africa (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

The government stifles dissent and demonstrations, including by pro-democracy trade unions.

A much-criticised 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act has been used to arrest and charge democracy and opposition activists.

Widespread poverty

Around 63 percent of Swazis live in poverty and a quarter of children under five show signs of malnutrition, according to UN agencies.

About 26 percent of the labour force is unemployed and 77 percent of Swazis rely on subsistence farming, with severe drought leaving many in need of aid.

The country has little developed industry, with sugar production being among the most important, and is heavily dependent on South Africa, which provides 85 percent of its imports and receives 60 percent of exports, the World Bank says.

Its key textile sector lost thousands of jobs after the United States removed the kingdom from a lucrative trade pact in 2014 due to concerns over workers' rights.

It was admitted back into the African Growth and Opportunity Act in December 2017.

World's highest HIV rate

Around 27 percent of adults aged 15 to 49 were living with HIV last year, according to UN figures, the highest prevalence of the AIDS-causing virus in the world.

However the number of new HIV infections has halved since 2010 and AIDS-related deaths are down 28 percent, according to UNAIDS.

This is after campaigns to boost access to virus-suppressing drugs and male circumcision.

Around 3,500 people died from the disease last year, from a peak of in 7,900 in 2005, while 44,000 children were AIDS orphans.

Freedoms flouted

The government has almost total control of the media and the only independent newspaper, the Times of Swaziland, is routinely intimidated into retracting articles that are critical of the authorities.

Homosexuality is outlawed, miniskirts were banned in 2012 and in 2017 the government ordered that only Christianity could be taught at primary and secondary schools.

The Economist Intelligence Unit 2017's democracy index ranks Swaziland 144 out of 167 countries, placing it firmly in the "authoritarian" category.

Stiff new licence fees threaten Tanzanian blogosphere

Yahoo – AFP, April 14, 2018

Magufuli -- pictured on a campaign billboard for the 2015 president elections --
has been accusing of seeking to muzzle dissent (AFP Photo/Daniel Hayduk)

Nairobi (Kenya) (AFP) - Tanzanians have to pay $900 for a permit to blog, a staggering amount for many in the country, say critics who see the fee as a further bid by President John Magufuli to gag dissident voices.

A sweeping new law covering a broad range of online activity was signed in mid-March.

Under it, the operators of online platforms such as blogs, podcasts and live streaming services will have to pay stiff fees to operate.

To launch a blog, for example, a user must pay over two million Tanzanian shillings ($900, 750 euros) in fees to get a license. A renewal fee of over $400 is due every three years thereafter.

"The simple creation of a platform represents several months' salary for a blogger," said Arnaud Froger of the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"Tanzanian authorities want to get rid of the blogosphere and they couldn't have chosen a better way to do it," he said in a statement.

"The climate of fear and self-censorship that has already affected traditional media is now reaching online media, where many journalists found refuge."

Tanzania has a vibrant blogging community, whose members report or comment extensively on news, entertainment and music, as well as sport, lifestyle and travel.

Under the new law, a blogger can face fines of up to $2,200 for publishing content considered "indecent, obscene (or) hate speech", or even just for causing "annoyance".

The legislation broadly defines a blog as "a website containing a writer's or group of writers' own; experiences, observations, opinions including current news, events, journals, advertisements and images, video clips and links to other websites".

Getting rid of critics

Magufuli, 58, took office in 2015 as a corruption-fighting "man of the people".

But he has earned criticism for his authoritarian leadership style, with detractors saying he has clamped down on opposition and freedom of expression.

Under his rule, numerous opposition members have been arrested or jailed, critical media shut down and people arrested for perceived "insults" to the president.

On February 26, a Tanzanian court handed two five-month jail terms to two opponents of the regime, including a lawmaker, for allegedly defaming the president.

A new law introduced in 2016 required journalists to register themselves as such, seen as a further bid to curtail the media.

In March police arrested a driver and a farmer accused of calling for anti-government protests on social media.

For many in the online media fraternity, the latest law governing web content is just another nail in the coffin of media freedom.

"Most bloggers will not be able to find this money. But the problem is bigger than the financial aspect," said Maxence Melo, founder of the Jamii Media blog who has previously been taken to court for refusing to reveal the identity of a critical contributor to his site.

"The government's objective is to get rid of sites which are already considered critical. Because paying a fee doesn't mean you will have a licence, the relevant government department can still refuse this permit."

During a public discussion last week over the new law, the secretary general of the Tanzania Bloggers Network, Frantz Mwantepele, said many would struggle to "fulfill the conditions in the law".

"The fees that we are supposed to pay for licenses far surpass the revenues of many bloggers," he said.

Mike Mushi, who also works for Jamii Media, asked why the government was imposing fees when it is not the owner of the internet as a means of publication.

When it comes to traditional radio and television "we know that the government is the owner of the frequencies they use. But is the government the owner of the internet?"

Thousands protest in Niger against President Mahamadou Issoufou

Deutsche Welle, 28 December 2013

Tens of thousands of people have protested in Niger at what they allege is government's failure to improve living conditions. It was the first major rally against President Mahamadou Issoufou, who was elected in 2011.

Police said some 2,000 opposition supporters took part in the protest in Niger's capital Niamey on Saturday, calling for an end to perceived government corruption, media censorship and worsening food security in one of the world's poorest nations.

The alliance of opposition parties who organized the protest put attendance closer to 30,000, according to news agency Reuters.

Demonstrators gathered outside parliament chanted "Down with the regime!" and "No to dictatorship" in the largest show of unrest since pro-democracy demonstrations triggered the military coup which ousted former president President Mamadou Tandja, in February 2010.

Saturday's rally was also first major street demonstration since

"Mahamadou Issoufou promised an end to food insecurity but the population continues to be decimated by hunger and thirst," said opposition leader Amadou Hama.

Meanwhile Leader of opposition party, the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD), and former premier Seini Oumarou condemned "the bad governance and corruption" under the president.

He also criticized the ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism's control of the media and its oil deals with foreign firms.

"We are witnessing the organized looting of our national resources," he said at an opposition meeting after the rally.

The organizing coalition - the Alliance for the Republic, Democracy and Reconciliation in Niger (ARDR) - was formed from 15 opposition parties in October in response Issoufou's creation of a national unity government.

Hama and Oumarou are considered the main challengers to the president, who is widely expected to run for a second term in 2016.

ccp/jr (AFP, Reuters)

Saudi activist sentenced to 300 lashes, 4 yrs in jail after calling for constitutional monarchy

RT.com, December 15, 2013

Saudi's King Abdullah (AFP Photo / HO / SPA)

A Saudi Arabian political activist was sentenced to four years in prison, 300 lashes, and a travel ban after calling for a constitutional monarchy. He is the fourth member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) to be jailed this year.

ACPRA’s Omar al-Saed, 24, was jailed after the organization called for democracy and made statements criticizing the country’s ruling family over its human rights record.

Al-Saed berated the motivations behind his imprisonment via the ACPRA website in a statement released by the group on Friday: “I am the proud prisoner Omar Mohammed al-Saed. I read out to you the motives and causes of my imprisonment: my hatred of injustice, the fabrication of pain and misery, taking advantage of passive attitudes, treating them as if they were fools, and denying them their livelihoods for brutal personal ambition,” he said.

Al-Saed was not allowed legal representation at the secret hearing in which he received his sentence, according to an ACPRA statement. The judge denied that the session had been kept secret, but al-Saed rebutted that for a session to be public, it must be announced prior to its taking place so that proper representatives are able to attend and people can bear witness to its proceedings.

“This unjust sentence is an honor and pride to Omar al-Saed and a disgrace and shame to Judge Issa al-Matrudi,” the activist’s brother, Abdullah al-Saed, tweeted after learning of the sentence late on Thursday.

“It's just another troubling instance of Saudi authorities' absolute refusal to countenance any activism or criticism of Saudi policies or human rights abuses,” Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch told Reuters on Sunday.

A spokesman for the country’s Justice Ministry would not confirm the accuracy of the report to the agency.

Media in the country is strictly self-censored. Political dissent or criticism of the dominant Wahhabi (Sunni) royal family is not tolerated, and protests are outlawed.

At the end of November, two Saudi men were arrested for offering ‘free hugs’ to passersby, on the grounds that they were “indulging in exotic practices” and offending public order.

Amnesty International has spoken out against the regime’s oppressive practices, releasing a report titled “Saudi Arabia: Unfulfilled Promises” in October.

The report slammed the country for failing to implement any of the main recommendations they accepted under a previous review by the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which took place in 2009.

Saudi Arabia remains one of the top five executioners in the world. The death penalty is still applied to a wide range of non-lethal crimes such as adultery, armed robbery, apostasy, drug smuggling, kidnapping, rape, “witchcraft,” and “sorcery.” Since 2009, appeals by the growing human rights movement in the country have been met with harsh measures such as arbitrary arrests, detention without charge or trial, unfair trials, and travel bans, Amnesty stated.

Saudi bans 'terrorist' propaganda on Internet

Google – AFP, 9 Sep 2013

Saudi internet surfers check their twitter accounts at a coffee shop in

Riyadh on February 9, 2012 (AFP/File, Fayez Nureldine)

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia said Monday it will outlaw the dissemination of information on the Internet for the benefit of "terrorist" groups, in line with a decision taken by Gulf Arab monarchies.

The official SPA news agency said the cabinet approved the "unified legislation against cybercrime," which the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) adopted in December.

The legislation targets those who "create sites and publish information on the Internet or a computer network for the benefit of a terrorist group to enable contacts among its leaders or its members, to promote its views or funding," said the agency.

It also prohibits "the dissemination of ideas that could affect public order or morality," said SPA, without providing further details.

Most members of the six-nation GCC -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- have tightened their laws against cybercrime in recent years.

Twitter popularity tests conservative Gulf

Yahoo – AFP, Wissam Keyrouz, 1 February 2013

AFP/Mohammed al-Shaikh - Customers are seen browsing Twitter messages
 on their smartphones at a coffee shop in Manama, Bahrain, on January 29, 2013

Twitter's unmatched platform for public opinion is emboldening Gulf Arabs to exchange views on delicate issues in the deeply conservative region, despite strict censorship that controls old media.

The authorities have been attempting to limit the damage by handing out jail terms to some whose tweets have been deemed offensive in the Muslim states, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

But the popularity of the microblogging website has even extended to princes, ministers and other high-profile officials who are eager to express their opinions, sometimes even upsetting their own governments.

"Twitter is being used by the governments and elites (in the Gulf) as much as it is used by ordinary people," said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, an academic in the United Arab Emirates.

An avid tweeter himself, the professor of political science said the site "provides a wide platform for free expression without any restraints," acknowledging such space "could cause a headache for the authorities" who control most other media.

Islamists and liberals -- especially in Saudi Arabia -- exchange blows over a plethora of subjects in the virtual arena, while some tweeters who use pseudonyms have become popular for their insights into the ruling class.

Prominent among these is @Mujtahidd, or The Diligent, whose tweets about developments in the Saudi royal family have attracted his account more than 912,000 followers.

Mujtahidd's identity remains secret.

Saudi internet surfers are seen checking

 their Twitter accounts at a coffee shop in 

Riyadh, on February 9, 2012.

One of his latest tweets was a claim that Saudi Arabia was "backing the French military campaign in Mali (against Islamists) with $6 billion in the form of an arms deal".

Saudi Arabia has not made any official comment on the situation in the African nation.

High profile Dubai police chief, General Dhahi Khalfan, also has used Twitter to mount a fierce campaign against Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Through his @Dhahi_Khalfan account, which has more than 362,000 followers, he accused the party of Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi of plotting against his country.

The opposition also used Twitter and Facebook extensively to mobilise anti-government protests in Bahrain, where a month-long uprising in 2011 was initiated by the February 14 Revolution cyber group.

Activists provide real-time Twitter feeds on clashes with police during protests that continue in the archipelago despite a heavy-handed crackdown in March 2011 that quelled huge rallies.

The Bahraini interior ministry responds with its own statements on Twitter.

"The level of freedom of expression furnished by Twitter is not available anywhere else," said Abdullah, the professor.

But using this margin of freedom has landed some tweeters in jail as authorities do not take criticism lightly.

Kuwait has jailed two Twitter users for two years, while dozens are being tried over messages deemed insulting to the emir, while imprisoned Saudi tweeter Hamza Kashgari awaits a trial that could send him to the gallows over postings seen as apostasy.

Kuwaiti youth activist Hamad al-Olayan (2nd R) walks out of the Justice Palace

 (courthouse) in Kuwait City, on November 3, 2011, after he and fellow activist

 Tareq al-Mutairi were questioned for allegedly making remarks on their Twitter

accounts deemed offensive to the status of the Gulf state ruler

Abdullah said the "huge number of offensive and obscene tweets" had upset many people -- and not just governments.

Kuwaiti commentator Saad al-Ajmi, who previously served as a minister of information, said governments should not panic over the impact of social media networks and should use them as a "gauge for public opinion".

"Such windows (of freedom) opened by new channels of expression can't be closed," said Ajmi, also an ardent tweeter.

In figures, three million people in Saudi Arabia, representing 12 percent of the kingdom's population, have Twitter accounts, according to a report by The Social Clinic, a Jeddah-based consultancy.

Women represented 45 percent of tweeters in the ultra-conservative kingdom where women face strict social constraints, are not allowed to drive and have to cover themselves from head to toe in public.

Activists found in Twitter an open platform to promote women's rights, with the hashtag #women2drive and Facebook group of the same name giving a huge publicity boost for a campaign to allow women to drive.

Similarly, many prominent Saudi preachers are active tweeters with one cleric, Mohammed al-Arifi, attracting 3.8 million followers -- the most in the Gulf region.

Tweeters in Saudi Arabia post about 50 million messages on the network each month, helping Arabic to become the fastest-growing language on the blogging site.

"It is permissible to demand rules that regulate (Twitter) because there are many offences," said Abdullah, adding that "laws should not be rashly prepared, nor be tough, and should go through parliaments".

Elected parliaments enjoying strong legislative powers hardly exist in the Gulf monarchies and sheikhdoms, where most councils are either fully or partially named by the rulers, and their powers are limited.

Related Article:

The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification ("The End of History")

" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "

" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20,2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

Communication blackout in Syria, especially Internet

Deutsche Welle, 29 November 2012

Internet traffic in Syria has slowed to an effective standstill, according to a pair of US technology companies monitoring web traffic. Rebel fighters, meanwhile, have reported clashes for control of Damascus airport.

US companies Akamai and Renesys said on Thursday that Syrian Internet activity had ground almost to a halt as of 12:26 local time (1026 GMT), with coverage staying down throughout the afternoon.

"In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet," Renesys wrote on its blog.

Several news agencies reported that residents had noticed only sporadic coverage for their cell phones and some disturbances for landlines as well.

Localized blackouts have taken place in the past during Syria's lengthy conflict, but Thursday's was thought to be the first nationwide loss of coverage.

"As the atrocities in Syria continue, now the Internet and telephone connection are shut down. Really scary #SyriaBlackout," EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström wrote on her Twitter account, using the signature "CM" to denote that she had written the entry herself.

The blackout also interrupted the news feed of Syria's state-run SANA news agency.

Fighting reported around Damascus airport

Activist groups, including the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported heavy fighting on Thursday around Damascus' airport, as rebel forces apparently sought to gain control of the site. The airport is situated roughly 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) to the east of the city center.

"The road to Damascus International airport was closed because of ongoing fighting and military operations in the surrounding areas," the Observatory said.

As with most reports coming out of Syria, the information could not be independently verified owing to restrictions on access for international press - though state television later acknowledged the clashes, saying that the road had been reopened.

"The road from the airport was secured after attacks by armed terrorist groups against cars and after a deployment of the competent forces," the broadcaster said, citing the Intormation Ministry.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that more than 40,000 people have died in Syria since the civil war broke out in March last year between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and those seeking a change in government.

International envoy Lakhdar Bramini was also due to brief the Security Council on the situation in Syria on Thursday, an address that looked set to be overshadowed by the General Assembly vote in New York on recognizing the Palestinian Territories as an observer member of the UN.

msh/hc (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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US sanctions Iran over Internet, media censorship

Google – AFP, 8 November 2012

An Iranian man fixes his satellite dish as his sister watches, on the roof 

of their apartment bloc in Tehran in 2002 (AFP/File, Behrouz Mehri)

WASHINGTON — Washington unveiled sanctions Thursday against top Iranians and national bodies, including the communications minister and the culture ministry, hitting back for media and Internet censorship.

The move against Communications Minister Reza Taghipour came after he was blamed for ordering the jamming of international satellite TV broadcasts and restricting Internet access, a State Department official said.

The United States was determined to stop the "Iranian government from creating an 'electronic curtain' to cut Iranian citizens off from the rest of the world," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Four individuals and five bodies were placed under sanctions by both the State Department and the US Treasury for "censorship or other activities that prohibit, limit or penalize freedom of expression or assembly by citizens of Iran."

They were also accused of limiting "access to print or broadcast media, including by jamming international satellite broadcasts into Iran," Nuland said in a statement, denouncing the "regime's insidious actions."

Internet users in Iran were temporarily unable to access their Gmail accounts from late September to early October.

Mohammad Reza Miri, a member of the telecommunications ministry committee tasked with filtering the Internet in Iran, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying that the Gmail block was an "involuntary" consequence of trying to reinforce censorship of Google's YouTube video-sharing site.

"Unfortunately, we do not yet have enough technical knowhow to differentiate between these two services. We wanted to block YouTube and Gmail was also blocked, which was involuntary," he said.

"We absolutely do not want YouTube to be accessible."

Iran has censored YouTube since mid-2009, after opposition demonstrators protesting the re-election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in polls they believed rigged started posting videos online of their gatherings.

Iran's ministry of culture and Islamic guidance was also sanctioned for closing down newspapers and detaining journalists.

Other entities targeted included the Press Supervisory Board and the Center to Investigate Organized Crime, which helped "identify Internet users who published material insulting government officials," the US Treasury said in a statement, adding some of the people were later arrested.

"Finding that balance between preventing technology that could constrain and permitting technology that would expand their access to information is kind of a difficult question," a senior State Department official told journalists.

Also included in the designations were Ali Fazli, a deputy commander of the Basij militia blamed for launching attacks on foreign websites, including foreign media organizations, and Iran police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, who is in charge of tracking Internet activities in the country.

Iranian software companies AmnAfzar Gostar-e Sharif and PeykAsa, as well as their founder, Rasool Jalili, were also targeted for monitoring Web traffic, including moves to block access to Facebook, eBay and YouTube.

The Iranian government was engaged in a campaign to "curtail" freedoms and "prevent the free flow of information both into and out of Iran," Nuland said in her statement.

"Countless activists, journalists, lawyers, students and artists have been detained, censured, tortured or forcibly prevented from exercising their human rights," she added.

The new designations resulted from an August 2012 act that came into force on Thursday and mean Americans are banned from doing any business with the targeted Iranians, who are also barred from traveling to the United States.

Any of their assets in the United States will also be frozen.

Other newly rolled out sanctions focused on individuals designated for sponsoring terrorism, in particular the Kata'ib Hezbollah group responsible for violent attacks in Iraq.

A third tranche of the designations targeted the support network of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps -- including the National Iranian Oil Company, which is already under sanctions, and two Tehran universities.

'CNN wants journalists to be propagandists, not watchdogs'

Bahrain's crackdown on dissent was explicitly covered in a documentary made by former CNN journalist Amber Lyon. The film won prestigious journalism awards, but was only aired domestically in the US - a decision the documentary-maker thinks was motivated by money.

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Ethiopia jails journalists, members of the opposition

Deutsche Welle, 13 July 2012

An Ethiopian court sentenced a prominent journalist to 18 years in jail. 23 others received sentences between eight years and life. Human rights groups have strongly condemmed the trial.

Journalist Eskinder Nega was jailed for 18 years, while opposition member Andualem Arage was given life. Both were in court to hear their sentences. Of the 22 others, 16 were convicted in absentia, having fled into exile.

They were accused of links to the US-based group Ginbot 7, considered a terrorist group under Ethiopian law, and pronounced guilty of terrorism charges at the end of June.

Andualem Arage was given a life sentence, purportedly because of the "heaviness of the case." He was also found guilty of serving as a "leader or decision maker of a terrorist organisation."

Ethiopia passed an anti-terror law in 2009 which gives the security apparatus carte blanche in suppressing dissent.

Eskinder Nega was detained after the rigged elections in 2005, but continued to post material critical of the government on the internet.

According to Laetitia Bader, who is following the case from Nairobi for Human Rights Watch, the Ethiopian government is "using every imaginable means to muzzle independent media and curb freedom of expression." According to her, it is therefore no coincidence that of the 24 charged under the anti-terror law, 11 are journalists. "This legislation is evidently one of the most effective instruments for nipping independent reporting and criticism in the bud," she says.

The two faces of Ethiopia

Ethiopia, seen by the West as a strategic partner, is presenting two very different faces to the outside world and never before has the contrast between the two been so vivid. There is Ethiopia the "African tiger" with two digit economic growth. In the capital Addis Ababa, new office tower blocks and hotels spring up at almost weekly intervals. And at the recent Rio+20 summit, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was able to present himself as one of Africa's most accomplished and articulate speakers. 

Meles Zenawi likes to champion Africa
 abroad, but runs a repressive regime
at home.

The other Ethiopia is a land in which there is political repression, ethnic division, skyrocketing inflation, and rampant youth unemployment. This is fertile ground for a North African-style revolution. Activists mounted a campaign called "Beka" (Amharic for "enough") in 2011. However, it was limited to the internet and Facebook; the all-powerful security apparatus would have prevented any other expressions of dissent.

Following the controversial reform of media legislation in 2008, yet another amendment is causing consternation. It is the Telecom Fraud Law which has just been passed. It places restrictions on the use of internet telephony or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This technology is used by services such as Skype. In the past, Ethiopia's telecoms monopolist Ethio Telekom has simply switched off the country's text messaging service whenever it felt the need. In 2005, students had used the service to organise protests.

Activists fear a similar crackdown on VoIP. Foreign media reportsseem to confirm their suspicions. They alledge that the Telecom Fraud Law was instigated by Ethiopia's intelligence service, the Information Network Security Agency (INSA).

The latest in a series of repressive laws

Hailu Araya from the opposition party UDJ (Unity for Democracy and Justice Party) sees the Telecom Fraud Law as just the latest in a series of such pieces of legislation. "The NGO Law was designed to muzzle civil society, the same is true of the anti-terror and media laws," he explains. According to Araya, the latest bill is designed to prevent the free flow of information. "We are talking here about a system that controls everything," he told DW in a recent interview.

Donor nations, which paid Ethiopia $26 billion (21 billion euros) in development aid between 1991 and 2009, have given vent to only faint-hearted criticism. In its human rights report for 2011, the European Union does express reservations about the media legislation in Ethiopia. But the EU representative in Addis Ababa, Xavier Marchal promptly sounds the retreat in an interview with DW declaiming "We mustn't forget that the Ethiopia is a sovereign state." 

Donor countries appear unwilling to
 take Ethiopia to task over its human
rights record

But when the television cameras are switched off and the microphones packed away, Ethiopia's partner nations freely admit that they have run out of sanctions to impose following the freezing of direct budgetary aid after the chaotic elections of 2005.

A tragic accident illustrates how desperate life has become for many Ethiopians. The corpses of 40 Ethiopian refugees were found in a lorry in Tanzania at the end of June. They had suffocated to death while on their way to South Africa via Kenya and Malawi. They preferred to risk a dangerous and costly escape attempt organised by people smugglers, whom they knew to be quite without scruples, rather than stay in their own country.

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