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Environmentalist Faces 10 Years for Bids to Stop Drilling
AP reports today: "Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher knew what he was doing when he made $1.8 million in false oil and gas drilling bids at a federal auction. He knew he couldn't possibly pay for them. And he knew he could end up behind bars.
"But he did it for the cause. On Thursday, a federal jury convicted him on two felony counts of interfering with and making false representations at a government auction. He now faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $750,000 at his June 23 sentencing. ...
WASHINGTON
AP reports today: "Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher knew what he was doing when he made $1.8 million in false oil and gas drilling bids at a federal auction. He knew he couldn't possibly pay for them. And he knew he could end up behind bars.
"But he did it for the cause. On Thursday, a federal jury convicted him on two felony counts of interfering with and making false representations at a government auction. He now faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $750,000 at his June 23 sentencing. ...
"A University of Utah economics student at the time of the bids, DeChristopher offered to cover the bill with an Internet fundraising campaign, but the government refused to accept any of the money.
"DeChristopher testified during the trial that he didn't intend to actually bid on the leases but decided during the auction that he wanted to delay the sale so the new Obama administration could reconsider the move.
"A federal judge later blocked many of the leases from being issued.
"Fellow environmentalists and supporters have made DeChristopher a folk hero of the movement, insisting he was standing up to a federal agency that violated environmental laws by holding the auction in the first place."
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER, via Flora Bernard
DeChristopher is available for a limited number of interviews. In an interview this morning with Democracy Now, he states that he was not allowed to tell the jury that he was able to raise the money for the bids or that the government ultimately blocked most of the leases.
He made a statement after the verdict: "We know that now I'll have to go to prison. We know that now that's reality, but that's just the job I have to do. That's the role that I face, and many before me have gone to jail for justice. If we're going to keep our vision, many after me will have to join me as well. Nobody ever told us that this battle would be easy. Nobody ever told us that we wouldn't have to make sacrifices. We knew that when we started this fight." Video
BROOKE JARVIS
Jarvis is web editor of YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization whose coverage includes grassroots responses to global climate disruption. She interviewed DeChristopher about the potential impact of civil disobedience for environmental activism. During the trial, the YES! interview was cited by the prosecution.
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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Muslim Rights Group Calls for Probe Into GOP Lawmaker's Threat to Omar, Tlaib
Randy Fine "must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and condemned by both Democratic and Republican Party leadership," said the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Nov 28, 2024
The country's largest Muslim civil rights group on Thursday called for added protections for U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar after Florida state Sen. Randy Fine issued an apparent threat against the two Muslim lawmakers.
Fine, who has the endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump in his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, called himself the "Hebrew Hammer" in a post on X on Tuesday and suggested Reps. Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Omar (D-Minn.) should leave office for their own safety.
"Bombs away," he added.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has spoken out previously about anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim statements by Fine (R-19), called the lawmaker an "unhinged anti-Muslim bigot."
His apparent threat of violence "must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and condemned by both Democratic and Republican Party leadership," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy executive director of CAIR. "President-elect Donald Trump, in particular, should denounce Mr. Fine's remarks and the Florida Republican Party should expel him."
"We also call on U.S. Capitol Police to step up protection for Representatives Omar and Tlaib to ensure their safety as they come under increasing threats from anti-Muslim and pro-genocide bigots like Randy Fine," said Mitchell.
Fine was held in contempt of court in Florida earlier this year for making obscene gestures and mouthing curse words at a hearing. He is running in a special election set for April 1, 2025, due to Trump's appointment of Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) to be national security adviser.
In 2021, the Florida chapter of CAIR filed an ethics complaint against Fine after he posted on social media calling Palestinian people "animals" and calling for their annihilation with the hashtag "#BlowThemUp."
Omar and Tlaib—the only Palestinian-American in Congress—have been vehement critics of the United States' support for Israel's assault on Gaza, and defenders of Palestinian rights.
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Israeli Attacks Wound Two in Lebanon on Day 2 of Cease-Fire
The cease-fire deal prohibits all military operations by Hezbollah but only "offensive" action by Israel.
Nov 28, 2024
Experts on the Middle East warned this week that a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah could be temporary, and reports out of southern Lebanon on Thursday indicated they were correct as security sources said two people were injured in Israeli strikes on the village of Markaba.
The truce went into effect early Wednesday after being brokered by the United States and France, with Israeli forces given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
But one day after the deal went into effect, an Associated Press correspondent in northern Israel reported that they heard artillery strikes across the border in Lebanon as well as Israeli drones.
On Thursday morning, Israeli tanks hit the southern Lebanese towns of Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, and Taybe, according to Lebanese state media and security sources, injuring at least two people.
All the areas lie within two kilometers (1.24 miles) of the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Lebanese Parliament who is part of the Hezbollah March 8 alliance, said Israel had attacked civilians who were "returning to the border villages."
"There are violations today by Israel, even in this form," he told reporters.
Thousands of Lebanese people began returning to their homes in the southern part of the country after the cease-fire deal went into effect, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should not allow civilians back into southern villages. His order contradicted a statement by Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, who led cease-fire negotiations and said Wednesday that residents could return home.
Israel imposed a last-minute curfew on Wednesday night, prohibiting Lebanese citizens from crossing into the south overnight.
The IDF then accused Hezbollah of violating the cease-fire, announcing on Thursday: "Over the past hour, several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the cease-fire. The IDF opened fire toward them."
Drop Site Newsnoted that the deal bars Hezbollah from carrying out "any operations" against Israel but only prohibits Israel from conducting "offensive" attacks in Lebanon.
"It's kind of a bit insidious where they say 'offensive,' meaning somehow there's this little kind of wiggle room for what they will interpret as defensive, which in Israeli logic and discourse and action means anything," Karim Makdisi, a professor of international politics at the American University in Beirut, told Drop Site News. "Anything can happen. They can say, 'Well, this is defense.' Even the genocide in Gaza, as far as they're saying, is defensive."
Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News said the Biden administration has attempted to "rig the deal" and allow Israel to strike in Lebanon as it sees fit, providing Israel with a "letter of guarantee" that recognizes "Israeli freedom of action on Lebanese soil" if any attempts are made to strengthen Hezbollah.
The U.S. State Department refused to comment on the letter when asked about it by Scahill.
Since October 2023, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,823 people and injured at least 15,859.
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Rights Groups Alarmed by Arrest of Pakistani Journalist Matiullah Jan
Amnesty International said that his arbitrary detention "on trumped up charges after he was abducted in the late hours of November 27 is an affront on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom."
Nov 28, 2024
Human rights and press freedom groups on Thursday expressed concern after Pakistani journalist Matiullah Jan's family said he was "abducted," and then a judge placed him in police custody for a terrorism and narcotics case that critics call "bogus."
"Matiullah Jan has been abducted from the parking of PIMS tonight at around 11 by unmarked abductors in an unmarked vehicle alongside Saqib Bashir (who was let go five minutes later)," Jan's son, Abdul Razzaq, said on the journalist's X account, referring to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
"This follows his courageous coverage of the protests in Islamabad. I demand that my father be let go immediately and his family immediately be informed of his whereabouts," added the son, who later posted a video on social media.
Journalist Asad Toor told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn that he was able to see Jan at the Margalla police station and that "he was fine." When Toor demanded to see the booking document, the first information report (FIR) was about protests by the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and did not name Jan.
According to Dawn:
It later emerged that the anchor had been booked in a terrorism case, which also included charges of possessing narcotics. The FIR, shared by Toor and also independently verified by Dawn.com, was filed by the Margalla police on the complaint of Superintendent of Police Asif Ali.
Jan was later presented in the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court where Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra presided over a request by the police to grant the journalist's 30-day physical remand. However, the judge only granted his physical remand for two days.
The newspaper also noted that Jan's suggestion that his case is based on his work: "This is highly irresponsible. The integrity of institutions is being destroyed. The reason [for the arrest] is as you know that I was [reporting] on the dead bodies."
Pakistani authorities are accused of trying to cover up the deaths of PTI protesters who descended on Islamabad this week demanding fair elections and the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has has been behind bars for over a year due to charges that he calls politically motivated.
"All records of dead and injured have been confiscated by authorities," a doctor who was working at an Islamabad hospital Tuesday night told The Guardian. "We are not allowed to talk. Senior government officials are visiting the hospital to hide the records."
Despite reports of "shoot-at-sight" orders for troops responding to the protests, Islamabad's police chief, Ali Rizvi, denied that live ammunition was used and Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called on PTI to provide proof of the firing of live ammunition.
Amnesty International, which had decried the shoot-on-site order and then demanded an urgent and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters, also sounded the alarm about Jan's arrest.
"The arbitrary detention of journalist Matiullah Jan in Islamabad on trumped up charges after he was abducted in the late hours of November 27 is an affront on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom," Amnesty's South Asia office said on social media. "The Pakistani authorities must immediately release Mattiullah and drop the politically motivated charges against him. The government should stop targeting journalists for simply doing their job."
The Committee to Protect Journalists' Asia office similarly said on social media that "CPJ expresses grave alarm over reports of the abduction of journalist Matiullah Jan (@Matiullahjan919) in the capital Islamabad following his coverage of protests by supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Authorities must ensure Jan's safety and immediate release."
"Journalist Saqib Bashir (@saqibbashir156), who was abducted alongside Jan, has since been released. We call for a swift and impartial investigation into the incident and accountability for all perpetrators," CPJ added, pointing out that "complete impunity persists for Jan's previous abduction in 2020," when Khan was still in office.
According to Dawn, the Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, the PTI, and various other reporters, rights advocates, and political leaders slammed Jan's arrest.
Reutershighlighted Thursday that "Jan is known as a critic of the military's heavy influence in Pakistani politics."
The news agency also shared comments from Jan's lawyer, Imaan Mazari, who said of the case: "It is no less than a joke... There is not an iota of truth in these charges."
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