DUBLIN — As if political tensions in Northern Ireland weren’t bad enough, Irish Republican Army die-hards unwilling to accept their side’s cease-fire appear determined to make matters worse.
An off-duty police officer is in hospital in a critical condition after being shot several times at close range Wednesday night as he coached a youth football practice on the outskirts of the Northern Irish town of Omagh. No group claimed responsibility, but politicians from all sides agreed that one of the small IRA splinter groups still active in the U.K. region must be to blame.
“The people behind this attack think they’re at war. Well they’re not,” said Colum Eastwood, the moderate Irish nationalist leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. “Their fight isn’t with any government, any police service or anyone else. It’s with the people of Ireland who have chosen peace. And it’s a fight they will never, never win.”
The last time any of the IRA factions killed a Northern Ireland police officer was in 2011, again in Omagh — also the scene of the deadliest attack of them all, when a Real IRA car bomb killed 29 people in 1998 in hopes of wrecking that year’s Good Friday peace accord.
The largest Irish republican paramilitary group, the Provisional IRA, killed nearly 300 officers as part of its own 27-year campaign of shootings and bombings, but laid down its arms in 1997 and surrendered them to foreign disarmament officials in 2005.
That key peacemaking step, required as part of the Good Friday deal, ultimately helped persuade the Democratic Unionist Party to end its opposition to power-sharing and finally form a unity government in 2007 with their Irish republican enemies in Sinn Féin, longtime partners of the Provisional IRA. However, last year the DUP collapsed their coalition as part of its campaign against post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, a dispute that U.K. and EU negotiators have spent months trying to resolve.
Wednesday night’s shooting brought back grim memories from a generation ago when such violence was a nightly occurrence, an era when militants effectively filled Northern Ireland’s prevailing political vacuum with bloodshed. The Good Friday pact and the cross-community government it spawned were supposed to keep such violence at bay.
With the Stormont parliamentary building shuttered amid Brexit fallout, politicians from all sides briefly spoke with one voice on social media to condemn the officer’s attackers.
“Those responsible for such horror must be brought to justice,” said Britain’s secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, who has been in the post only since September.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said all political parties need to open their eyes and remain cautious in the wake of the Election Commission’s decision of recognising the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena.
The Election Commission (EC) on Friday recognised the Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the ‘bow and arrow’ poll symbol to it, in the process delivering a big blow to Thackeray, whose father Bal Thackeray founded the outfit in 1966.
“What has happened to Shiv Sena, how we have been treated, can happen to you too. All parties should keep their eyes open and be cautious,” Thackeray said during an interaction with members of north Indian community here.
“You want my father’s face, but not his son. I was ready to come along. If you ditch me when I wanted to implement a promise given to my father, what should I do?” he asked while targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“I never wanted to be a chief minister, but was asked by Congress and NCP to take over because otherwise a government could not have been formed. Had BJP honoured the commitment given, both Shiv Sena and BJP would have got their chief ministers for two-and-a-half years each,” he said.
Some people from my party defected. Those who want to leave can go, but they should merge with another party. However, they want to throw me out of my house and take it over, he alleged.
My father groomed these people and Shiv Sainiks supported them. But now they want to become owners and our institutions are such that they have made a thief the owner of the house. What is happening in the country, he asked.
But what has happened is good because people are angry and realised what has happened is wrong, Thackeray added.
Taking a jibe at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Thackeray said, “‘Mogambo khush hua’ on the Election Commission order.”
Thackeray said the BJP pushed him towards joining hands with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as it dishonoured a commitment given.
“I have left the BJP and not Hindutva. I don’t accept BJP’s Hindutva which divides people. The BJP is misleading Hindus, who are now awakened, by bringing issues like ‘hijab’ and cow slaughter during elections. There was a Hindu Akrosh Morcha in Mumbai recently. Why should Hindus make ‘akrosh’ when a powerful leader is ruling the country,” he asked.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Thackeray said, “The leader whom we voted for a strong India, himself became strong while the country has become weak.”
Terming as “injustice” the EC’s decision to allot Shiv Sena name and party symbol to the Shinde faction, he said, “This is dirty politics. If you wanted to fight against Shiv Sena, you could have come on the poll field and let people decide.”
Thackeray said Shiv Sena was never against Muslims and north Indians.
“All those who consider India as their motherland are our brothers,” he said.
This is Thackeray’s second interaction with members of the north Indian community settled in Mumbai by Thackeray in the last few days.
New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has asserted that there was no “liquor scam” in Delhi and that the case over his government’s excise policy was created as a result of “political vendetta and conspiracy” ahead of his deputy Manish Sisodia’s questioning by the CBI slated for Sunday.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s assertion, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva wondered why did the AAP government scrap the excise policy if there was no scam in it.
The Excise Policy 2021-22 was withdrawn by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government last year after a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe was recommended by Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena into “violation of norms and lapses”.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Kejriwal said his government will fully cooperate with the CBI’s investigation into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the now-scrapped Excise Policy 2021-22.
“First of all, there is no such thing as a liquor scam. We formulated the best and most transparent policy in the country,” he said when asked about the CBI summoning Sisodia.
The same policy implemented in Punjab has led to a 48-per cent rise in revenues, the chief minister said.
“In Delhi, they have framed the case as a result of political vendetta and conspiracy. Manish will go there and we will fully cooperate. Finally, the truth will prevail,” he said.
At another press conference, Sachdeva posed questions to Kejriwal, asking why a court denied bail to one of the accused in the case on four different occasions and whether Sisodia had any contact with the other accused.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also wondered why did the deputy chief minister frequently change his mobile phones.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that the liquor “scam” involved an amount of Rs 6,000 crore and asserted that the truth will come out after the CBI probe.
BJP MP Parvesh Verma said the “liquor scam” of the AAP government has been “exposed” before people and Kejriwal is now defending Sisodia.
The CBI has called Sisodia for questioning in connection with the excise policy case nearly three months after filing the chargesheet.
Sisodia has not been named as an accused in the chargesheet as the probe against him and other suspects is still going on, officials said.
The deputy chief minister, who also held the charge of the excise department, was first questioned by the federal agency on October 17 last year and his house as well as bank lockers were also searched in connection with the case.
In a tweet in Hindi, Sisodia said nothing incriminating was found against him during the searches and he would continue to cooperate in the investigation.
“The CBI has called me again tomorrow. They have used the full power of the CBI, the ED against me, raided my house, searched bank lockers, but nothing was found against me,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the BJP-led Centre, the deputy chief minister said the CBI has been made to go after him because “they” want to stop his “good work” in the education sector for the children of Delhi.
The CBI is now focused on the alleged influence of a “south lobby” of businessmen and politicians on the formulation and implementation of the liquor policy to swing it in their favour, using middlemen, liquor traders and public servants, officials said.
It is alleged that the Delhi government’s policy to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for those, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
Her departure comes at a time of broader, high profile personnel changes inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with chief of staff Ron Klain and communications director Kate Bedingfield both announcing their own exits in recent weeks. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh became the first cabinet official to willingly depart as well.
At the White House, Frank managed external political relationships with different political stakeholders, including elected officials from both parties and longtime supporters of Biden. She also oversaw all political invitations to White House events, such as receptions and celebrations at the residence — and went on every domestic trip Biden has taken as president.
“Carla has loyally and capably served President Biden for many years,” deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “Her smarts, competence, and work ethic have been an enormous asset to all of us from the campaign to the inauguration to now, which is why we’ve relied on her for so much.” White House counselor Steve Ricchetti said that throughout her time working for Biden, Frank “made his allies feel like part of the Biden family.”
Early in her career, Frank worked in finance for the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Starting in 2017, she entered Biden world and was one of two employees at Biden’s American Possibilities PAC where she worked to build a slate of more than 100 endorsements of candidates and designed Biden’s campaign travel schedule. More recently, she was director of ballot access and delegate operations for the Biden campaign and also worked on the inaugural committee.
Frank is a graduate of Georgetown and last November married White House digital director Rob Flaherty with a number of top White House officials in attendance.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Kolkata: After Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya presented the West Bengal Budget proposals for the financial year 2023-24 on Wednesday, a political slugfest has erupted in the state over them.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the Budget as a growth-oriented one maintaining a balance in social development with focus on employment generation and economic growth.
“Despite the adverse attitude of the Union government towards West Bengal, especially with regard to payment of central dues to the state, we have tried with our limited means to provide as much relief as possible to the people. This is truly a humanitarian Budget,” the Chief Minister said.
According to BJP legislator and former chief economic advisor to the Union government, Ashok Kumar Lahiri, there is no direction in the Budget to control the rising accumulated debt of the state.
“What is even alarming is that the burden of interest payment of previous debts will skyrocket by the end of the current financial year. So, after paying this huge interest as well as meeting the committed expenditures like salaries, wages and retirement benefits to state government employees, the state government will hardly have any reserve for meeting capital expenditure.
“That is why the projected capital expenditure every year in the Budget estimate gets reduced in the revised estimates. The same thing has happened this year as well,” Lahiri said.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the Budget has been presented keeping the forthcoming panchayat elections in mind, especially the proposal related to the old-age monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to women above 60 years of age.
“What will they do with just Rs 1,000? There is no scope for employment generation. There is no focus on education. The government has not done anything to improve the alarming situation that the state is in because of huge accumulated debt,” he said.
Trinamool Congress MLA Tapas Roy welcomed the Budget proposal to increase the local area development fund for MLAs to Rs 70 lakh for each legislator from the current figure of Rs 60 lakh.
However, senior BJP legislator Mihir Goswami said that such an announcement is meaningless considering that the state government has not paid the past dues to the MLAs on this count.
An Israeli disinformation specialist hired to run covert dirty tricks campaigns in African elections hacked political advisers close to Kenya’s president, William Ruto, in the run-up to last year’s election, an investigation can reveal.
The interference did not prevent Ruto winning the poll, nor the peaceful transfer of power in Kenya, but the revelation highlights the growing risks posed by the involvement of bad actors and paid operatives in the relatively new democratic systems and institutions across Africa.
Tal Hanan, a self-described “chairman” of “Team Jorge”, an Israeli operation run from an industrial park 20 miles north of Tel Aviv, boasted to undercover reporters that he was able to disrupt elections through black ops and disinformation services.
Days before Kenya’s 2022 election, he gave a demonstration of his capabilities, showing how he could use hacking techniques to infiltrate the messages of political advisers.
Hanan’s operations were exposed on Wednesday by the Guardian and an international consortium of reporters led by the French nonprofit Forbidden Stories. In a statement about the investigation, Hanan said: “I deny any wrongdoing.”
Quick Guide
About this investigative series
Show
The Guardian and Observer have partnered with an international consortium of reporters to investigate global disinformation. Our project, Disinfo black ops, is exposing how false information is deliberately spread by powerful states and private operatives who sell their covert services to political campaigns, companies and wealthy individuals. It also reveals how inconvenient truths can be erased from the internet by those who are rich enough to pay.The investigation is part of Story killers, a collaboration led by Forbidden Stories, a French nonprofit whose mission is to pursue the work of assassinated, threatened or jailed reporters.
The eight-month investigation was inspired by the work of Gauri Lankesh, a 55-year-old journalist who was shot dead outside her Bengaluru home in 2017. Hours before she was murdered, Lankesh had been putting the finishing touches on an article called In the Age of False News, which examined how so-called lie factories online were spreading disinformation in India. In the final line of the article, which was published after her death, Lankesh wrote: “I want to salute all those who expose fake news. I wish there were more of them.”
The Story killers consortium includes more than 100 journalists from 30 media outlets including Haaretz, Le Monde, Radio France, Der Spiegel, Paper Trail Media, Die Zeit, TheMarker and the OCCRP. Read more about this project.
Investigative journalism like this is vital for our democracy. Please consider supporting it today.
During his meetings with undercover reporters, Hanan never explicitly confirmed he had been hired to work in Kenya and, if so, who his client might be. However, when demonstrating Team Jorge’s capabilities to the journalists, who were posing as prospective clients, Hanan appeared to show them “live” demonstrations of hacks targeting three aides close to Ruto, who was a presidential candidate at the time.
One involved an apparent infiltrationof Gmail; the other two involved Telegram accounts.
“So just to give you an example, it’s in the news in recent days, we are now … involved in one … elections [sic] and … in Africa,” Hanan told the reporters on 25 July last year. The vote in Kenya took place on 9 August.
Tal Hanan, the leader of Team Jorge, a hacking and disinformation unit. Photograph: Haaretz/TheMarker/Radio France
During the same meeting, Hanan claimed to have “completed 33 different campaigns, presidential-level campaigns” and suggested a significant proportion of these were in Africa.
The demonstration by Hanan raises questions about whether his meddling in the Kenyan election was more widespread than the brief examples shown to the undercover reporters. There is no evidence of who may have been behind any interference or that the political advisers were aware of the hacks.
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Hanan, a 50-year-old former explosives specialist in Israel’s military, showed how, once he had gained access to an account, Team Jorge could send messages without the user’s knowledge or consent. His aim was often “to create confusion” during a campaign, he said, explaining that “the biggest thing is to put sticks between the right people”.
One Telegram account Hanan infiltrated before the Kenyan election belonged to a strategist who isnow an aide to the president. Scrolling through the Telegram account and personal chats during a demonstration to the undercover reporters, Hanan showed how, once the hackers had access to accounts, they could send messages to their contacts.
To illustrate this, he sent an oblique message – the number 11 – before deleting it.
Hanan showed how, once the hackers had access to accounts, they could send messages to their contacts. Photograph: Telegram
However, Hanan made a critical mistake and did not fully delete the message. An examination of the recipient’s phone confirmed the falsified message was received. Hanan also seemed to search the files of the hacking victim, appearing to retrieve internal polling data related to the forthcoming election.
In other demonstrations, he appeared to enter the Gmail account and the Telegram account of two other close advisers to Ruto. It is unclear which of these tactics, if any, Hanan deployed in the Kenyan election and what their effect may have been.
Google, which runs the Gmail service, declined to comment.
Telegram said: “Accounts on any massively popular social media network or messaging app can be vulnerable to hacking or impersonation unless users follow security recommendations and take proper precautions to keep their accounts secure.”
Quick Guide
The undercover footage
Show
What is this undercover footage?
Disinformation operatives work under the radar. To find out more about ‘Team Jorge’, an Israel-based unit selling hacking and social media manipulation services, three journalists went undercover. They posed as consultants, working on behalf of a client in a politically unstable African country who wanted to delay a forthcoming election. The reporters secretly filmed several meetings with the group’s leader, Tal Hanan, who uses the alias ‘Jorge’, and his associates between July 2022 and December 2022.
Who is in the footage?
The footage captures Hanan, as well as his brother, Zohar Hanan, and other associates of Team Jorge. Faces of reporters have been blurred. The meetings took place on video calls, when Hanan and his colleagues gave slideshow demonstrations of their services, and in person, at Team Jorge’s office in an industrial park 20 miles outside Tel Aviv.
Who did the secret filming?
It was secretly filmed by three reporters from media outlets working in a consortium investigating disinformation: Gur Megiddo (TheMarker), Frédéric Métézeau (Radio France) and Omer Benjakob (Haaretz). The video was then shared with more than 25 other media outlets in the consortium, including the Guardian and Observer. While the Guardian and Observer were not involved in the undercover filming, they are publishing the material because of the strong public interest justifications for doing so.
What is Team Jorge’s response?
Tal Hanan did not provide a detailed response to questions from the Guardian. He said: ‘To be clear, I do deny any wrongdoing.’
Hanan’s presentation to the undercover journalists underlines how an international cast of “consultants” has exploited growing social media use and internet penetration in Africa to manipulate and interfere with democratic processes in strategically important countries.
In recent years, dozens of polls across the continent have been marred by allegations that political actors have hired foreign companies to provide a variety of services, from legitimate polling and public relations work to voter suppression.
Documents leaked to the Guardian confirm Team Jorge was involved in the 2015 elections in Nigeria. An analysis of thousands of bots associated with his disinformation software also suggests the team was involved in spreading disinformation in the 2019 presidential election in Senegal.
Hanan also showed the undercover reporters screenshots that suggested he could access the email inboxes of senior government officials elsewhere on the continent, and described employees posing as journalists to gather useful information during election campaigns in Africa.
Though both sides in the 2022 poll in Kenya were accused of manipulation, disinformation and dirty tricks, the elections in the east African country were seen as a significant achievement for its democratic institutions and important for reinforcing regional stability.
Election observers described the most recent poll as “largely peaceful and transparent”. Previous elections in Kenya have been marred by widespread violence. In 2007, polls triggered a crisis and led to more than 1,000 deaths.
Raila Odinga, the veteran politician whose Azimio la Umoja coalition lost the 2022 election by less than 2%, has repeatedly claimed the results of the poll were fraudulent. Kenya’s supreme court rejected his allegations and said they were based on “falsified evidence” in a judgment in September. Independent analysts have also said the claims are unfounded.
Odinga continues to claim the poll was rigged, citing statements by an unidentified former election commission official and a dossier that is still causing controversy in Kenya. He did not respond to requests for comment.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
SRINAGAR: Senior IPS officer, Basant Rath, has hit left, right and centre to justify his joining the far-right BJP. In a write-up, he has attacked the separatists, Kashmir politics and the Congress and termed the Kashmir politicians as “conflict entrepreneurs” “theatre artists of Gupkar” who play “politics of identity capitalism” and politics of “Kashmir exceptionalism”.
Basant Kumar Rath
“I decided to quit the IPS and join BJP because I intend to challenge the political monopoly of the conflict entrepreneurs of Gupkar, Maisuma and Rajouri Kadal and help open up democratic space for our youth,” Rath wrong in a write up in the Outlook. “Because I wish to focus my energy and integrity to do in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh what Abdul Sattar Edhi did to health and education sectors in Pakistan.”
Rath who never went on central deputation and always remained within Jammu and Kashmir sees the erstwhile state as his karambhoomi. An IGP rank officer, he had face-offs with politicians as well as his bosses. More than once, the police registered cases against him.
His write up starts with this paragraph: “Because while hundreds of people lost their lives in Srinagar in a certain year, the then chief minister who did nothing to prevent those deaths, threw tantrums in Gupkar because he couldn’t get his daily quota of Rainbow-brand milk imported from Dubai.”
Another interesting paragraph is: “Because female students can’t help using tardy, overcrowded buses and matadors run by ill-behaved, abusive drivers; and they can’t help facing harassment, humiliation and monetary loot during their daily commute. And the vehicles are owned by businessmen who pay hefty bribes to cabbages masquerading as politicians.”
The write up talks about “dozens of politicians” who siphoned thousands of crores of rupees of taxpayers’ money to finance their business ventures in Bengaluru and Burz Khalifa. Besifdes, it said the politicians have encroached upon meadows in Gulmarg and Ganderbal; and grabbed public land in Bagat Parraypora, Bathindi and Nagrota to build palatial houses for their clan.
Apparently responding to the question Why I Decided To Quit The IPS And Join BJP, the senior IPS write. “Because these theatre artists of Gupkar play politics of identity capitalism to fool the innocent public, steal their votes and loot their hard-earned money. While in power, they preside over the health department that has blood on its hands, the blood of hundreds of toddlers who die in the children hospital in Srinagar in winters. While out of power, these politicians share requests for oxygen cylinders and blood donation on Twitter.” He adds: “Because some tall leaders play condolence politics in Jammu and Kashmir before polling and thank Pakistan after the elections. In public speeches in Sopore and Shopian, they’ll exhort the masses to stay away from polling booths, and to kill and to get killed in the name of Kashmiri exceptionalism; and away from public glare, they’ll use Pakistani money to build palatial houses in Hyderpora and Maisuma.”
Another reason of the poet-cops is: “Because cabbages are bad for the health of the political space in J and K. Because a clean divorce is healthier than a dirty marriage in one’s life.”
It is not known if his resignation has been accepted and if at all he has formally joined the ruling BJP.
Ankara: Natural disasters usually work to unite people to put aside political differences, and it’s been the case for the deadly earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria.
The catastrophe may also have an impact on international relations. Countries at odds with Turkey and Syria have rallied in solidarity with the two quake-hit countries, sending batches of aid and rescue teams, Xinhua news agency reported.
However, it’s unclear whether this dynamic will continue when the disaster has passed or whether new understandings and bridges will be established, experts said.
Over 9,800 rescue personnel from 70 countries have rushed to southeastern Turkey after it was jolted on February 6 by two powerful earthquakes that have killed 31,643 and wounded over 80,000, according to the latest official toll announced on Monday.
This is the worst natural disaster that Turkiye has witnessed. An earthquake in eastern Turkey in 1939 had killed 30,000 people.
Some countries stick out on the long list more than others, such as Greece, Armenia and Cyprus, despite having had difficult or tense relations with Ankara over decades.
However, all of these old rivals have set aside their animosity and given helping hands at a time of disaster.
“Natural disasters are indeed brief moments of conciliation in bilateral disputes. In the case of Turkey and Greece they are both earthquake-prone countries and have come to the aid of one another many times, allowing for reconciliation,” Batu Coskun, an independent political risk analyst, told Xinhua.
“Usually when the crisis subsides, bilateral tensions reassert themselves, though with less severity,” he pointed out.
Earthquakes that struck both Turkey and Greece in 1999 gave rise to “earthquake diplomacy” and improved previously tense ties between the two nations. Before tensions reemerged, the post-quake mood persisted for a few years.
Ankara and Athens have decades-old feuds and have repeatedly come to the brink of war. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias arrived on Sunday for a visit to Turkey’s disaster-struck Adana province, where he was warmly greeted by his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu who praised Greek relief efforts.
“We do not need to wait for natural disasters to improve our relations,” Dendias was quoted as saying by the local press.
Turkey has not had diplomatic or commercial ties with Armenia since the 1990s. The two countries also reconnected for the first time in decades in the wake of the earthquakes.
A border gate between the two countries has been opened for the first time in more than three decades to allow aid for victims of the devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey, according to the semi-official Anadolu Agency.
“The land border with Armenia being opened is a significant milestone. Likely, this event will become a major motivator for both countries to normalize relations and exchange ambassadors,” Coskun said.
He added that in the post-crisis period when foreign policy again becomes a priority for the government after disaster relief, “we will see the impact of this.”
Israel has also sent aid to Turkey. The two countries have improved their relations recently after over a decade of discord.
Tulin Daloglu, a journalist and foreign policy analyst, said that Turkey should take lessons from this tragedy and try to move to a softer line in foreign policy towards some countries it has problems with.
She specifically mentioned Sweden, whose NATO membership bid has met with objections from Ankara over security issues.
“Yet, Sweden immediately rushed to assist Turkey in the aftermath of the disaster,” Daloglu said, adding that such an event can change the way a country is seen by the public opinion of the host country.
Nicaragua approached the U.S. about its plan to free prisoners and the release was not part of a larger agreement with the U.S., State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters. All individuals aboard the flight were asked if they wanted to come to the U.S. before boarding and two people opted not to make the trip.
The Nicaraguan embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Nicaraguan judge denounced the prisoners as traitors being “deported” to the U.S.
Ortega has claimed the prisoners were detained for their involvement in plots to overthrow him during 2018 protests about police violence and changes to the country’s social security system.
The U.S. has been critical of the Nicaraguan government’s efforts to quell dissent by targeting protestors. Ortega’s security forces attacked demonstrators during the 2018 protests resulting in the death of 300 people and 100,000 Nicaraguans fleeing the country.
The White House praised the release of the prisoners, saying it “marks a constructive step towards addressing human rights abuses in the country and opens the door to further dialogue between the United States and Nicaragua regarding issues of concern.”
Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa, a former Nicaraguan foreign minister was detained in 2021 after criticizing Ortega and Murillo. His son, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who is a screenwriter for television drama “Riverdale,” led a petition advocating for his release.
Francisco’s daughter Georgie Aguirre-Sacasa was relieved to learn of her father’s release earlier this morning and expressed gratitude for the lawmakers working to aid her family.
“There are no words I can say to thank the State Department, [former Sen. Chris Dodd], Sen. Bob Menendez and the administration for what they just did,” Augirre-Sacasa said. “It’s incredible.”
The U.S. government is providing medical and legal support to the newly released prisoners “to ease their arrival,” the administration said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: The working President of Delhi BJP, Virendra Sachdeva, said on Wednesday that the Arvind Kejriwal government since its inception in 2015 has been hostile towards political opponents whom it wants to suppress.
Addresssing a press conference here, Sachdeva said that for this purpose, on February 1, 2016, the Kejriwal government had established a Feedback Unit (FBU) to keep an eye on not only political opponents, but Union ministers, MPs, L-G office, media houses, leading businessmen and also on judges.
Sachdeva claimed that to carry out its anarchic practices, the Kejriwal government set up the FBU without any administrative or financial approval only, but only on the basis of the approval of his own Cabinet. The unit was headed by a retired CISF DIG, he said.
This FBU was provided with an establishment fund of Rs one crore and it was given the name of ‘Secret Service Fund’ which in itself raises the question as to whom did Kejriwal want to investigate for which a secret fund was created, Sachdeva claimed.
Funds worth crores of rupees were given from this fund to private investigating agencies, as well as to set up a network of informers, he said.
From the very beginning, the Vigilance Department had objected to this. In September 2016, when Ashwani Kumar became the Director of Vigilance, he had directly asked FBU for an account of the work done, which it failed to submit, Sachdeva claimed.
When the Delhi government had sent the FBU file to then Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, the latter had not only rejected it, but also objected to the creation of such a new unit by bypassing the Vigilance Department, Sachdeva said.
Sachdeva also said that the people of Delhi demand a reply from the Kejriwal government on the formation of the FBU.
“We want to ask some questions regarding the establishment of FBU for which Kejriwal government is responsible. In spite of the existence of the ACB and the Vigilance Department, why did the Kejriwal government establish the FBU with a retired official as its head?
“What was the purpose behind the establishment of FBU, and if the purpose was clear, why didn’t the government announce it at the time of establishment? According to us, the objective was to keep an eye on political opponents as it is clear from the CBI report that 60 per cent of its reports were only on political opponents. The CBI investigation has revealed that FBU submitted about 700 reports to the Kejriwal government,” Sachdeva said.
