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@observer Sat, 12 Aug 2023 08:07:05
Ecuador: Six arrested over presidential candidate assasination
Ecuador has arrested six Colombian nationals in connection with the assassination Wednesday of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
Another suspect, also Colombian, died from wounds sustained in a shootout with police. Villavicencio, known for speaking out against drug cartels, had reported that he had received death threats.
"The national police now have the first arrests of the alleged material authors of this abominable event and will employ all of their operative and investigative capacity to discover the motive of this crime and its intellectual authors," Interior minister Juan Zapata said.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso said the killing would not stop Ecuador from holding the presidential vote August 20. Lasso has asked for FBI help in the investigation of the shooting of Villavicencio. An FBI delegation is expected to arrive in the country soon.
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@observer Sun, 13 Aug 2023 05:58:03
Drink driving: ministry of Health calls for reintroduction of breathalyzers
The ministry of Health has called for the reintroduction of breathalyzers to curb drink-driving after a 3-year halt due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
In a statement released on Saturday, Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director general of health services said while testing alcohol use by drivers using these mouth devices was stopped in 2020, their evaluation shows that the chance of getting infected now is negligible following a significant decrease in Covid-19 cases.
The move to reintroduce breathalyzers immediately was reached after a discussion between the concerned ministries and agencies including the police and the ministry of Works and Transport. According to the new guidelines, each client to be tested will use a separate, sealed and disposable tube to blow through the breathalyzer.
Reports have pointed to drink-driving as the leading cause of road-traffic crashes that have since increased and according to police records 40 per cent are fatal meaning that lives are being unnecessarily lost. Previously, activists have pushed for a quick return of these devices on the road.
In an earlier interview, Dr David Kalema, a consultant at Safer Initiative Uganda, an entity created by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to find solutions for alcohol-related harms had pointed out that the breathalyzers campaign which came to be popularly known as ‘kawunyemu’ had helped reduce drunk-driving and it’s withdrawal was a major setback.
However, according to experts, alcohol and drug addiction are increasingly becoming a challenge that even as Butabika, the national mental hospital has raised an alarm that the dedicated addiction unit is perennially full, more admissions keep coming.
Dr Hafisa Lukwata, the assistant commissioner in charge of mental health in the ministry of Health says the biggest challenge with alcohol abuse is the fact that the vice has been normalized in the community and therefore not recognised as a mental illness.
As a result, she says people are watched as they drink their way to addiction without caution. Kalema says this challenge of harmful use of alcohol can only be solved by law enforcement in terms of bans and imposing high taxes on drinking.
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@observer Fri, 11 Aug 2023 11:34:20
China in massive crackdown against members of The Church of Almighty God
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has never ceased its persecution and surveillance activities against The Church of Almighty God (CAG), the largest Christian new religious movement in the country, recently launched a new coordinated arrest operation against the group.
As reported by CAG members to “Bitter Winter,” the persecution was most severe in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangsu. On June 15, in just a single day, at least 1,043 CAG members in Zhejiang Province were placed under arrest, and until this day 408 are still in custody, facing prosecution and sentencing. One died just three days after her arrest.
Insiders within the Zhejiang provincial government told “Bitter Winter” that this coordinated arrest operation was planned up to a year ago. On the evening of June 14, the provincial Public Security Bureau issued a direct order, providing a list for arrest to Public Security Bureau departments in various municipalities.
Public security, national security, armed police, and special forces police carried out this joint operation to arrest CAG members. In the city of Hangzhou, 189 of them were arrested in just one day. 170 were arrested in the city of Wenzhou. Over 100 people were arrested in the cities of Jinhua and Quzhou.
Police focused on arresting leaders and active workers in an effort to entirely eradicate the CAG. It was reported to “Bitter Winter” that, while interrogating a CAG member, one officer said, “This time, we’re uprooting leaders from regions down to smaller districts, and then to local churches, and the intensity of the strike will continue to increase.”
One CAG devotee who has been released revealed that in the room adjacent to where he was held, a church leader was tortured and abused for five days. Later, another church leader was also confined and then subjected to torture. This witness said, “I could hear her screams.”
One CAG member over the age of 60 died suddenly after three days of confinement. The authorities claimed that she hanged herself, but after her family viewed the corpse, they reported to “Bitter Winter” that there were no marks from hanging on her neck, but there were wounds on her head and there was blood visible in her eyes. The marks of torture were apparent.
Reportedly, many of those arrested were placed under surveillance as early as one or two years before the arrest. Government insiders revealed to “Bitter Winter” that on August 31, 2022, Zhejiang and Fujian Province authorities jointly launched “Operation 831,” comprehensively following and tracking CAG members with a combination of high-tech surveillance, Skynet system inspections, and manual tracking, leaving them with nowhere to hide. The police also hired undercover agents to implant themselves in churches by pretending to be interested in the CAG teachings. They surveyed the situation in those churches and subsequently carried out arrests.
As reported to “Bitter Winter,” during an interrogation one police officer said, “Where you’ve gone, the times you enter and leave a place, all is perfectly transparent to us. You think you’re being very cautious, but we can see right through all of you.” He also said, “The government has acquired plenty of advanced surveillance equipment just to catch people like you. We can identify you even with your hats and masks on.”
Another released CAG member stated, “This time when I was arrested, I realized that the police had used drone surveillance to lock in on me, then arrested all the brothers and sisters I came into contact with.”
According to reports, the majority of CAG devotees detained in this arrest operation were forced to attend heavy indoctrination courses, which are generally held at locations such as hotels and rural resorts and kept secret from the public. The CCP invited experts in indoctrination, high-level professors in psychology, and legal consultants. Lower-level officials were also employed to act as chaperones.
They forced CAG believers to watch videos extolling the Communist Party and tried to inculcate them with a wide variety of atheistic ideas. Devotees were forced to sign the “three letters” of “repentance, guarantee, and break-up” from the CAG, thus betraying their faith.
One CAG member reported, “They forced us to watch those videos every day, report on our thoughts, and curse Almighty God—every day!” According to this informant, they were forbidden to pray, were watched while eating and sleeping, and humiliated and condemned during those classes. Many were tortured because they refused to cooperate with the indoctrination. One released CAG member told “Bitter Winter,” “If we didn’t confess, the police wouldn’t allow us to sleep, in an effort to break our spirits.”
The arrest operation is still in progress, and the persecution is just as severe in other regions. It was reported to “Bitter Winter” that during the afternoon of July 13, a CAG devotee in Jiangsu Province escaped from a basement room where she was being held, and after being pursued by the police and left without any way to escape, was forced to jump to her death from the eleventh story of the building.
It was also reported to us that a public security official announced that later this year, a second and third round of arrests of members of CAG will be carried out. The CAG remains the most persecuted religious movement in China.
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@observer Tue, 15 Aug 2023 04:51:03
Agago LC I chairperson arrested over theft of iron sheets
The LC I chairperson Patrick Odoch and secretary of Lawireng Kamorono village, Robin Ojok in Agago district, northern Uganda have been arrested over the alleged theft of iron sheets.
Last month, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) delivered 1,200 pieces of iron sheets to be distributed to at least 40 families in Lira Kato, Omiya Pachwa, Adilang Town Council, Wol sub-county, and Adilang sub-county. Each of the beneficiaries was meant to receive 30 pieces of iron sheets.
However last week reports emerged that Odoch and Ojok diverted 90 iron sheets and kept them in the home of Charles Dickens Olanya in Lala Central Ward. Agago deputy resident district commissioner (RDC), Susan Moro Akot visited the home where the iron sheets were hidden and recovered 70 pieces. Twenty pieces of iron sheets had already been taken to the home of the LC III chairperson of Adilang town council, Santo San Ongom.
On Thursday, Akot ordered the arrest of Ongom and Ojok. Alfred Ongom, one of the beneficiaries says that on the day of distributing the iron sheets, he was away, and when he called the chairperson about his iron sheets, he was told he is not among the beneficiaries. However, he later learned from the sub-county security officer (GISO) that his name is on the list of those who had already received the iron sheets. Ongom said when he decided to report the matter to the police, Odoch claimed that the iron sheets were his.
Patrick Odoch, the LC I chairperson explained that 60 out of the 90 iron sheets belong to him and the secretary because they were also registered as victims of the Karimojong attacks.
Ongom said he kept the 20 pieces of iron sheets at the home of the LC III of Adilang sub-county because he does not have a safe house to keep them. Odoch revealed that since the iron sheets being claimed by Alfred Ongom rightfully belong to the first wife, they were keeping the iron sheets so that they are given to Ongom in the presence of witnesses since his wife is not with him at the moment.
Santo San Ongom, the LC III chairperson Adilang sub-county, clarified that the iron sheets that were his home belonged to the LC I, and he was only keeping them.
The iron sheets were donated following a request by the Woman MP, Beatrice Akello Akori for support for victims whose huts were burned by the Karimojong raiders. Attacks by warriors have intensified in the district since 2021, with the raiders being accused of stealing food items, livestock, cash, burning huts and also raping women.
According to statistics recorded from the sub-counties of Paimol, Omiya Pacwa, Wol, Adilang, Laparebong, and Lapono sub-counties, eighteen (18) grass-thatched huts were burned by the Karamojong between January 2022, to June 2023.
The arrests come at the time when three cabinet ministers including Mary Goretti Kitutu (Karamoja Affairs), Amos Lugoloobi (Planning) and Agnes Nandutu (In-charge Karamoja Affairs) are also facing trial over the alleged theft and diversion of iron sheets meant for the vulnerable people of Karamoja sub-region.
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