Equality for all, not just the chosen few

• Butterflies for Democracy is LGBTIQ community members coming together under a common banner against homophobia, misogyny, racism, sexism and inequality
• We are no longer a hidden community quaking in our boots, but a vibrantly open and brave community that are willing to risk their lives and their reputations to fight for democracy and freedom

 2018-12-11

In the light of the recent political turmoil in our country it is fair to say we have witnessed, and not for the first time, the ugliness of politics in Sri Lanka. That politicians from all sides can play with our lives, squabble pettily and behave in the most ungracious and ugly way is so unbecoming of their stature and goes to reiterate that politicians are only in office for their own gain and have no good intention to serve the people as they should rightly be doing. That our President, the highest power in the land, stoops to flinging homophobic slurs, wishes his wife, who apparently worships him on bent knee each day, is born a man so she will reach the ultimate avatar on her way to nirvana is only indicative of the decay of sensibility and good character that is prevalent in this land today.  

Butterflies for Democracy is LGBTIQ community members coming together under a common banner against homophobia, misogyny, racism, sexism and inequality. From the first protest at Liberty Circle along with the Pro-Democracy groups protesting against the complete disregard the President has shown for the constitution and democracy, the Butterflies for Democracy came together to protest at the President’s use of the word Butterfly to derogatorily refer to the PM and some of his cabinet members’ perceived sexual orientation in an offensive fashion. However, the latest protest by the LGBTIQ community at Lipton Circle on December 7, 2018, was to remind those factions in the government that are anti-LGBTIQ, that we are citizens of this country deserving of all rights as outlined in our Constitution. We are also voters who have the might of over four million strong in this country. Our parliamentarians must work for us, not the other way around. It is time therefore, that democracy is restored in our island nation. It’s time for changes to afford rights for all citizens. It’s time for legal reform to change the archaic British Laws criminalizing consenting same sex relationships. It’s time to embrace equality and forward thinking and make our country a beacon of hope, tolerance and acceptance for all.   
As the press release on the protest said: “Politicising and denigrating the LGBTIQA community has been the mantra of conservative politicians in order to garner votes and scare people into thinking that being LGBTIQ is some sort of sickness or perversion – neither of which is true and neither of which can be proved scientifically or medically.” What is even more worthwhile is that this is the first time the LGBTIQ community have come together to step out publicly, showing their faces proudly, to demand their rights. We are no longer a hidden community quaking in our boots, but a vibrantly open and brave community that are willing to risk their lives and their reputations to fight for democracy and freedom.   

The systematic discrimination and marginalization that has been firmly entrenched in our society for 135 years continues, over and over again. While successive governments have focused on building dams, highways, ports, airports and mega port cities, they have missed the wood for the trees. In all of this development the most important factor of all, has been glaringly and purposely omitted – human development. How can we move forward as a nation if our thinking is still stuck in the Victorian era? How can we be a developed nation if our people are unable to think broadly and inclusively? Development cannot be measured by the wealth of the nation, but only in the depth of the people and their ability to embrace diversity, accept difference and divest from racism, homophobia, sexism and misogyny. 
This has to be foremost on the agenda of all politics, regardless of personal gain or personal biases. Safeguarding our national assets, our flora and fauna, investing in our youth, protecting our children and our women and creating opportunities for all our citizens, equally. Eliminating poverty, revamping our school curriculum to teach broader human substance – the list may seem endless, but a start is needed, and needed badly. And all need to be addressed in a systematic non-partisan way.  
It is no surprise that the world economic index of 2018 has indicated that the most developed countries in the world are countries such as Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, USA and Canada, to name a few. These countries also all accept Marriage equality and have nondiscriminatory policies safeguarding their LGBTI citizens. They also have implicit policies of eco conservation and protection, gender parity, child protection etc., all toward safeguarding its citizens and promoting equality and freedom.   

Butterflies for Democracy symbolises the anticipation of social change, the hope of freedom and dignity, a deep respect for life and diversity. It is time Sri Lanka – it is time to set the butterflies free.  

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights...it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.”   

- Harvey Milk

Preventing the dengue threat

By Dr Debapriya Mukherjee-December 9, 2018, 8:18 pm 

Former Senior Scientist Central Pollution Control Board, India

Mosquitoes are the world's deadliest creatures, killing thousands of people and causing various illnesses each year. Among them, dengue is one of those insidious infections that cause few or no symptoms in the majority of cases -- and can therefore spread silently among populations and cause crucial public health problems with an enormous burden to the health system.

Globally, the severity of incidence has increased 30-fold in the past 50 years. A study done on global distribution and burden of dengue by Oxford university estimates that India has the highest number of dengue cases with about 33 million apparent cases and 100 million asymptomatic cases occurring annually. National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP) clearly shows an increasing number of reported cases as well as death due to dengue in India over the last 5 years. At present, dengue is endemic throughout India including all states and union territories.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), 40% of the world population is at risk of contracting dengue leading to a great impact on the global economy. Cases of the mosquito-borne disease generally peak in October after the monsoon season because rainfall creates favorable breeding conditions for the Aides aegyptimosquito, the primary vector of the disease. India is a tropical country with high temperatures, abundant rainfall patterns and significant humidity with variations between dry and wet weather, which are favorable to the proliferation of dengue vectors.

Dengue is caused by virus belonging to family flaviviridae and having four serotypes numbered 1 to 4. A fifth serotype (DENV-5) was discovered in 2013 but no case has been reported from India. In India, the first case was reported in 1946 followed by several outbreaks in different parts of the country which involved all four serotypes. Dengue epidemiology is always together with vector ecology with distinct pattern of transmission generally depending on season (within a year) and cycle (with outbreaks in certain years), interactions between the climate (rainfall and temperature), the mosquito, the circulating virus, and population immunity.

The primary vector for dengue, Aedesaegypti, is highly adapted to the urban environment and avidly attracted to human blood, entering homes and breeding in small collections of water, such as those found in discarded plastic cups and bottles, flower pots, drains, used tyres and any type of container that stores water. Behaviors of dengue viral infection is quite critical not like other viral infections such as measles. If any person is infected with measles, that person develops lifelong immunity, but dengue is different.

If any person is infected by one of the dengue viruses, that person becomes immune to that virus but not to the other three. The person who is infected for a second time by another form of the dengue virus is more likely to develop a severe form of the disease. When individuals who have been infected once are infected for a second time by another form of the dengue virus, their antibody levels increase, but not enough to protect them, it is as if the antibodies clung to the virus but were unable to neutralise it.

These individualsare at high risk of developing hemorrhagic dengue. Fever cases with suspicion of dengue are routinely confirmed by testing for IgM antibodies or NS1 antigen using ELISA technique with NS1 showing bettersensitivity and specificity as comparedto IgM ELISA for early detection of dengue/ According to World Report, India’s poor surveillancenetwork possibly leads to huge under-reporting of cases—one study estimates thatdengue could be 282 times higher than officially reported. Under reporting of cases also seemsto be politically manipulated to forge effectiveness of control programs. This typeof practices and lack of wide-spread effective sentinel surveillance, theproblem cannot be fully evaluated and controlled. India’s response to theseacute a public health emergency point to a health-care system is chronicallyunderfunded, unregulated, and has inadequate infrastructure.

Successivegovernments have promised health reform but at the same time funding for many health ministry programs isnot adequate. Despite some gains in health care, India only spends little over1% of its gross domestic product on health, which is among the lowest in theworld.

Recent years have also witnessed increased awarenessand reporting of dengue cases. In 2011, a Lancet Series called for the implementation of a universalIndian health service. The recent debate arguing for greater dependence on theprivate sector for health care is deeply troubling and reflects an ideologicalsplit within the government. Differences in laboratory diagnostic methods and test results have further aggravated the problem of under reporting in India. Many laboratories in India do not have stringent quality control regulations to ensure the reliability of these tests as done in the WHO-approved laboratories under the global network of dengue laboratories program. Thereby all laboratories should strictly follow the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) testing algorithm for diagnosis and reporting of dengue cases in India at specialized referral laboratories.

For addressing these problems, the Indian government should strictly follow the recommendations of dengue surveillance experts. The recommendations are: (i) reporting of dengue cases to the government should be made mandatory in all dengue endemic countries; (ii) electronic reporting systems should be developed and used at all areas; (iii)the government dengue surveillance data should include age-stratified data of incidence, hospitalization rates and deaths; (iv) additional system sensitivity checking studies should be performed;

(v) diagnostic laboratories should share expertise and data; (vi) dengue antigen tests should be used in patients with Fever for four days or less, whereas antibody tests should be used after day 4 to diagnose dengue; and (vii) the national surveillance systems should aim for early detection and prediction of dengue outbreaks.

Part of the purpose of a surveillance system is to indicate how the situation in one year compares with that in other years. Therefore, this goal requires consistency and stability in the system. In addition to these recommendations, the most important step for control of any arboviral infection is the control of its vector for preventing the disease.

Though inspection protocols have been defined and placed in different areas in India but the re-emergence of the Aedes mosquito has raised concern mainly due to a history of incursion and the extreme survival capacity of the Aedes eggs. Still emergent need is to improve disease surveillance at dengue risk areas that may prevent the growing threat of dengue infection spreading across the country.

The number of dengue incidences and their correlation to rainfall data have been critically evaluated to support and guide health policies of the decision makers. Though climatic factors has been identified as potential risk factors linked to dengue outbreaks but social factors, interstate and overseas travelers, rainwater tanks and economic status are also responsible for dengue outbreak. It is also shown that continuous entomological surveillance during on-transmission period and appropriate intervention can decrease vector density and subsequent dengue cases in transmission season. Ant larval like temephos, fenthion, malathion is increasingly used but resistance has developed in many parts of India which is a cause of major concern . Newer and safer alternatives are being investigated which include pheromone 21 and calotropis procera. In this context it is pertinent to mention that the mosquitoes first attain optimal body size and nutritional status to become active for reproduction and effective disease carriers. Recently researchers,have succeeded in using CRISPR-Cas9, a powerful tool for altering DNA sequencesand modifying gene function, to decrease mosquito body size to eliminatingmosquitoes that carry dengue fever and Zika virus. The researchers succeeded inpostponing mosquito development, shortening the animal's lifespan, retarding egg development, and diminishing fat accumulation. Further research is required to answer one important question how CRISPR-Cas9 gene modification could be introduced into the wild mosquito population. For preventing the dengue threat, Japan has adopted a pragmatic approach to ensure that participants and spectators of international sporting events during the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2020 are not at risk of acquiring imported and locally endemic infectious diseases. They have realized considering the nature of infectious disease that it is virtually impossible to prevent any pathogen from entering a country just by enhancing border control during that period. This approach is to have a preparedness plan so that health professionals along with others know how to recognize symptoms and how to respond. In this context, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is being implemented to test the vulnerability and resiliency of the current preparedness plans and to strengthen these current plans in order to prevent the failures. FMEA is a procedure for the analysis of potential failure modes within a system in order to classify and quantify risks by their occurrence, severity and detection controls already in place. This is high time to realize that the health of humans is connected to the health of animals and the environment. Due to exploitation of nature, many factors have changed the interactions among humans, animals, and the environment, which have caused the emergence and reemergence of many diseases, including dengue. Successful public health interventions for disease control require the cooperation of the human health, veterinary health, and environmental health communities.

Israeli army raids Palestinian news agency in West Bank

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas into WAFA's building in Ramallah, injuring a number of journalists and photographers

Israeli border police fire a tear gas canister towards Palestinians in Ramallah (Reuters)

Monday 10 December 2018

Israeli troops have raided the offices of the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) in the occupied West Bank, injuring several journalists.

The soldiers fired tear gas into WAFA's building in Ramallah on Monday, preventing the staff from leaving or returning to their offices, the news agency reported.

It said a number of journalists sustained injuries, including teargas inhalation, during the raid, while Israeli troops also pushed and shoved two photographers and hurled profanities at them.

WAFA said the Israeli army confiscated security camera footage from the building during the incident.

The army has not yet commented on the purpose of the raid.

READ MORE►

Palestinian-American prolongs hunger strike over alleged torture in PA jail

On Sunday, a group of Israelis were shot at a bus stop next to a settlement in the occupied West Bank. Six people were wounded, the Israeli army said.

In a statement on Monday, it said it was searching nearby villages for the perpetrators.

It was unclear if the WAFA raid was connected to the shooting.

'A blatant violation'

Mobile phone footage posted on the news agency's website showed five Israeli soldiers inside the WAFA newsroom, telling employees to open the door to a room. In the footage, someone can be heard saying, "The cameras are in there".

Another video posted on WAFA's website showed Israeli soldiers throwing tear gas canisters and firing their guns while perched behind a wall in the agency's yard.

The Palestinian journalists' union condemned the Israeli raid as "a blatant violation committed by the occupation army against all Palestinian media".

The Palestinian foreign ministry also condemned the raid, calling it a new episode in Israel's "open war" against the Palestinian people and their media outlets, which the ministry said aims to hide Israeli crimes and abuses.

Israeli soldiers were also seen elsewhere in Ramallah on Monday, demanding that Palestinian business owners hand over their security camera footage.

Soldiers fired tear gas at Palestinian protesters throughout the day, and WAFA said Israeli troops used its office balconies to target demonstrators.

Two Palestinians were injured by live fire, a Palestinian medical official said.

Israel lobby bills may pass through Congress by stealth

Demonstrators hold signs protesting AIPAC’s annual conference, March 2016. AIPAC has made the Israel Anti-Boycott Act a top legislative priority. (Susan Melkisethian)

Nora Barrows-Friedman-10 December 2018

US lawmakers could rush two bills into law that aim to silence and criminalize Palestine rights advocacy.

The legislation – the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act – could be tacked on to a spending bill, evading debate on the House and Senate floors.

End-of-year spending bills are usually thousands of pages long and include legislation that could not pass earlier by regular means.

Both bills have been stalled in Congress amid First Amendment concerns, but sponsorship and support from Democratic and Republican representatives has been climbing.

If passed, the bills would have a chilling effect on students and scholars who criticize Israel and bolster efforts by Israel lobby groups to blacklist, surveil and harass supporters of Palestinian rights.

Under threat of federal investigation, university administrations would be pushed to crack down harder on student Palestine solidarity groups.

And churches, human rights organizations, corporations and investment fund managers could face fines if they decide not to invest in companies that profit from Israel’s violations of human rights.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which would criminalize the boycott of Israel, was introduced last year by Democratic Senator Ben Cardin.

Cardin “is making a behind-the-scenes push” to slip the legislation into the last-minute spending bill, The Intercept reported last week.

The act would impose prison sentences and heavy fines on organizations or their personnel that participate in a boycott of Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights.

The powerful Israel lobby group AIPAC has made the bill one of its top legislative priorities.

It was recently given a boost by Senator Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat tipped as a possible presidential candidate and a top recipient of Israel lobby donations.

Booker seized on the massacre by a white supremacist of Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in October by announcing his support for the Israel Anti-Boycott Act.

The evangelical group Christians United for Israel told Jewish News it was also backing the bills, along with other pro-Israel legislation.

View image on Twitter

Peter Feld@peterfeld

.@CoryBooker just cosponsored the unconstitutional Israel Anti-Boycott Act that kills Americans' 1st Amendment rights in order to protect Israel on, wait for it, #PalestineSolidarityDay.

He's the first new Senator to cosponsor this racist law since, wait for it, @SenHydeSmith.

9

5:46 PM - Dec 1, 2018

In response to concerns over First Amendment violations, the bill was slightly amended earlier this year but top civil rights groups contend that it still violates free speech protections.

Unconstitutional

More than 100 civil and human rights groups are calling on lawmakers to block the last-minute effort to pass the unconstitutional measure.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act “has failed to pass for two years because of pressure from civil liberties groups and concerned citizens who oppose the punishment of political boycott activities intended to achieve Palestinian rights,” said one of those groups, Palestine Legal.

The American Civil Liberties Union says it will likely challenge the bill in court if it passes.

The ACLU pointed out in a letter to senators that two federal courts this year blocked state laws in Kansas and Arizona that imposed similar restrictions to the federal bill.

To date, 26 US states have passed anti-boycott measures.

Silencing students

The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act would adopt the “State Department definition” of anti-Semitism, which is substantially the same as the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism that Israel lobby groups pressured the UK’s Labour Party to adopt as part of their campaign against leader Jeremy Corbyn and to curtail support for Palestinian rights.

The definition conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish bigotry.

Even the definition’s lead author, former American Jewish Committee executive Kenneth Stern, strongly opposes efforts to enshrine it in legislation or university rule books, arguing that this would unconstitutionally infringe on free speech.

In June, lawmakers re-introduced the act in Congress after previous efforts to pass it stalled.

Republican Senator Tim Scott is joining Democrat Ben Cardin in efforts to tack the two pro-Israel measures onto the year-end spending bill.

However, the fact that Cardin and Scott “are attempting to push their controversial and unconstitutional bills through the must-pass budget process is an indication that they’ve been unable to get these bills passed through the normal legislative process,” Josh Ruebner, policy director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights told The Electronic Intifada.

“They’re afraid of having an open debate and a vote on these bills and they’re doing whatever they can behind the scenes to sneak them through into passage without scrutiny,” he said.

Ruebner is urging people to contact their senators – and Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the likely next speaker of the House, to demand that the bills be blocked.

The Anatomy of Populism in France

by Alexandr Dugin- Dec 11, 2018
Dec 11, 2018
( December 11, 2018, Moscow, Sri Lanka Guardian)  

The protests in France, symbolized by yellow vests, cover an increasingly large part of society. Political experts have already called this movement a “new revolution”. The scale of the “yellow vest” movement is already so serious that it is absolutely necessary to analyze this phenomenon in a detailed way.

We are dealing with a vivid manifestation of modern European populism. The meaning of populism as a phenomenon rising from the political structure in the societies formed in the wake of the Great French Revolution, and based on the confrontation between right and left, are changing radically.
Populist movements reject this classical political left/right scheme and do not follow any strict ideological attitudes, either right or left. This is the strength and success of populism: it does not play by the preset rules. Nevertheless, populism has its own logic: for all its spontaneity, it is quite possible to trace some logic and even the beginnings of a populist ideology taking shape before our eyes.

First of all, the fact that populist movements are directed against the political elite as a whole, without making a distinction, whether it is right or left-wing, is striking. This is the ‘uprising of the periphery of society against its center’. In his famous work, the American sociologist Christopher Lasch (1932–1994) designated the form of government that prevails in modern Western society as the “elite revolution”.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was customary to follow José Ortega y Gasset’s discourse about the “revolt of the masses”, whose increasing influence on politics threatened, it seemed, to destroy Western culture – the European Logos.
But Christopher Lasch noted a new political trend: it is the elites that are destroying culture and European Logos today. These new western elites, who have reached the pinnacle of power only by their resourcefulness and immense will to power, are much worse and more destructive than the masses.

An ordinary person still maintains some cultural traditions; it is almost impossible to find a “pure proletarian”. But the modern capitalist elites, who have no aristocratism in their senses, are greedy for power, position and comfort. At the same time, more and more marginal types began to penetrate into the “new elite”, people not from peripheral groups, but from minority groups — ethnic, cultural, religious (often sectarians) and sexual — became dominant among them. It is this perverted rabble, according to Christopher Lasch, that forms the basis of the modern globalist elite, which destroys the foundations of civilization.

Accordingly, populism – including the populism of the “yellow vests” – can be viewed as a retaliatory uprising of the people against the elites, who have completely lost their connection with society. The elites have built their own world in which double standards, norms of political correctness, liberal demagogy reign.

According to these “new elites”, the people and society, in their current state, have no place in this world. Therefore, the typical representative of the “new elite”, Hillary Clinton, upset by the success of the right-wing populist Trump, openly insulted ordinary Americans – as deplorables, which in meaning means “shameful.” “Deplorables” have chosen Trump – not because they loved him, but to respond to the “globalist witch” Clinton.

Macron is a representative of the same type of “new elite”.It is curious that on the eve of the elections the French newspaper  ‘Libération’ published the headline
‘Faitesce que vous voulez, maisvotez Macron ‘ (“Do what you want, but vote forMacron”). This is an obvious paraphrase of Aleister Crowley, who proclaimed himself in the 20th century as the Antichrist and the Beast 666: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”. In other words, obedient crowds should vote for Macron not for some rational reasons, not because of his ideas and virtues, but simply because this is the imperative law of the ruling elite. And the disregard of the elites towards the obedient, slain masses is so open that they do not even bother to seduce them with impracticable promises: “Vote for Macron, because this is an order and this is not discussed.” Vote and then you are free. Otherwiseyou are deplorables. And that’s all.In Italy, where half of the population voted for right-wing populists of ‘Lega’, and the second half – for left-wing populists from the ‘Cinque stelli’ (5 Star Movement – ed., Flores), and together these parties managed to create the first populist government in European history.

And now in France. And although in France there is practically no political contact between the right-wing populism of the National Front and the left-wing populism of Mélenchon, today it is united in the heroic revolt of the “yellow vests”. “Yellow vests” are deplorables, both right and left (but not liberal left, nor liberal right). The right-wing populists are terrified by the insane new elite policies regarding immigration and the destruction of the remnants of French identity. Left-wing populists are outraged by the disastrous economic policies of the liberals, who defend only the interest of big business: Macron is a protégé of the Rothschilds and that shows on which side he is…

The “yellow vests” rebelled against Macron as against the ruling liberal elite. But today, it is already no longer a movement of theclassical right or left. Macron is left in support of migration, protection ofminorities, the legalization of degeneracy and so-called “cultural Marxism,”but right (liberal right) in terms of the economy, firmly defending theinterests of big business and European bureaucracy. He is a pure globalist, notdisdaining a direct declaration of his belonging to Freemasonry (his famoushand-sign, representing a triangle), even with direct satanic slogans: “Do whatyou want, vote for Macron.” The revolt of ‘yellow vests’ is precisely againstthis combination of liberal right and liberal left.

If Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen cannot be united politically, being one – too left and the other  – too right, then the ‘yellow vests’ will do it instead of the political leaders seeking to lead a populist movement. The “yellow vests” are not just against economic policy or immigration — they are against Macron as a symbol of the whole system, against globalism, against liberal totalitarianism, against the “existing state of affairs”. The “yellow vest” movement is a populist and popular revolution. And the word “people” (populus, ‘le peuple’) in the concept of “populism” must be understood literally.

These are not abstract masses or an impersonal proletariat — they are the last living people who have risen up against the world power of globalist progeny,the rebels (as Lasch believes) of culture and civilization, as well as on man as such, on people, on God. Today there is no more right and left: only the people are against the elite. The “yellow vests” are creating a new political history, a new ideology. Macron is not a personal name, it is a label of the Matrix. To achieve freedom, he needs to be annihilated. Thus sprach the “yellow vests”, and they speak the truth…

Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin is a Russian philosopher,political analyst, and geostrategist, and author – best known internationallyfor his book ‘The Fourth Political Theory’. He has close ties with the Kremlinand the Russian military, having served as an advisor to State Duma speakerGennadiy Seleznyov and key member of the ruling United Russia party SergeiNaryshkin. He resides in Moscow, supervises the work of Geopolitika, andinspires the work of the Eurasian Movement.

Egyptian authorities investigate ‘forbidden’ Great Pyramid sex photo

Danish photographer’s stunt on top of landmark a ‘violation of public morality’, says minister

Andreas Hvid posted a video apparently of himself and a model climbing the pyramid at night.

Rosemary McCabe-Mon 10 Dec 2018 19.05 GMT

Egyptian authorities are reportedly investigating after a Danish photographer posted a photograph of himself and a woman in a sexual pose apparently on top of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Andreas Hvid also posted a video apparently showing the two of them climbing the pyramid at night, with the woman taking her top off at the summit, revealing her bra, with the skyline of Cairo in the background. The woman’s face was pixellated.

The footage and image triggered fury in Egypt and on social media, with many arguing it was disrespectful to the nation’s heritage.

One angry Twitter user wrote: “ewww at this denmark guy claiming to be photographer but cant be bothered to abide simple rules. The disrespect by climbing over protected monument like pyramids like ewww what disgusting behaviour from people claiming to be from 1st nation country yucks.”
Prosecutors in the strictly conservative Muslim country will investigate whether the video is real after officials suggested it might be fake, according to Egyptian media reports.

They will also look into how the couple climbed the 140-metre (460ft) pyramid, which is one of the seven wonders of the world.

On Saturday, the Egyptian antiquities minister, Khaled al-Anani, said scaling the pyramids was “strictly forbidden” and branded the images a “violation of public morality”, according to the newspaper al-Ahram.

The pair claim to have entered the historic site late November. Hvid told the Danish tabloid Ekstrabladet that he had contacted women in Denmark to complete the picture with him. “Luckily one … had the opportunity to come to Cairo at short notice,” he said.

The two waited until the area around the pyramid had become less busy, and then made the climb, which took about 25 minutes, he said. “A euphoric feeling struck us both when we reached the top,” he told the paper. “It was the culmination of a lot of work and many chances taken.”

He denies having sex on the pyramid. “We did not have sex and we never had it.”

The photographer regularly posts images of sexual scenes involving nudity against breathtaking skylines on his Instagram page. Naked women scaling city cranes or resting among woodland ruins are among photographs in his collection.

The incident follows the Egyptian actor Rania Youseef being threatened with jail time last month after she wore a revealing dress at the Cairo internationalfilm festival. After she apologised publicly, criminal proceedings were halted.

Palestinian-American prolongs hunger strike over alleged torture in PA jail

Suha Jbara, arrested without charge by Palestinian security forces last month, says she was beaten and threatened with sexual assault

A member of the Palestinian security forces stands guard during a training exercise in Ramallah (AFP)

Zena Tahhan

Monday 10 December 2018

RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank – In the notorious Palestinian Authority prison of Jericho, Suha Jbara, a mother of three children, sits behind bars in solitary confinement.

Her case is riddled with controversy and ambiguous claims. The 30-year-old was arrested without charge on 3 November during a violent raid by Palestinian security forces on her home in Turmus Ayya, a village northeast of Ramallah. 

'The court treated her like a criminal and not as someone who is accused of something that may not be true. The PA has become worse than the Israelis'

- Khadija Jbara, Suha's sister

During a three-day interrogation, Palestinian security forces questioned her about collecting and distributing money “to illegal parties”, a claim usually made by the Palestinian Authority against members of Hamas or those who financially support the group, her lawyer said. They also accused her of “collaborating with Israel”, her family and lawyer said.

She denies both of the claims, and her family and lawyer say she has yet to be formally charged despite court appearances. Meanwhile, a Palestinian security force spokesman told MEE there is a list of charges against her, but declined to give further details.

Adnan al-Damiri, the spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces, told Middle East Eye: "Suha Jbara’s case is with the court. And as long as her case is with the court, we cannot discuss any details. We have a law - we are forbidden from speaking about a case that is currently being dealt with in court."

As the ambiguity around the case swirls, Jbara has been on a hunger strike for 18 days, ingesting only water, to protest her detention and alleged torture while in prison including being beaten, slammed against a wall and threatened with sexual assault, according to an Amnesty International report. Al-Damiri said the torture allegations are "fabricated and baseless".

Mohannad Karajah, one of Jbara’s lawyers, visited her on Sunday and said her health is deteriorating quickly.

“She is experiencing pain all over her body and she is not easily able to get out of bed,” he explained, adding that prison authorities are constantly transferring her between the prison and a nearby hospital.

'We don't understand'

On Thursday, the Jericho Magistrate Court postponed her court session for another 15 days, keeping her incarcerated without formal charges or a verdict. 

Her lawyer and family insist that there are no charges against Jbara and her sister, Khadija, said they are baffled by the claims raised during her interrogation that she gives to illegal parties and collaborates with Israel.

“She was never politically active - not with any political party, not Hamas nor Islamic Jihad," Khadija told Middle East Eye.

"We are social activists - we support the families in nearby villages. We collect money and give it to people who are in need - but not any one political."

The claims raised during her interrogation, said Khadija, are mutually exclusive.

“We don’t understand. If they are going to accuse her, it should be one or the other. How can she be collecting money for 'illegal' parties while also working with Israel?” she added.

A protest tent set up by Jbara's family in Turmus Ayya to protest her detention (Supplied)

Karajah, one of her lawyers, said the file on Jbara and her interrogation which he viewed is “weak”, but he refused to disclose information about any evidence which authorities may hold,citing the classified nature of the file. 

“The accusation of collecting and distributing money to illegal parties is a claim usually made by the PA against members of Hamas or anyone who has a hand in supporting the group,” Karajah told Middle East Eye.

Suha’s family, continued Karajah, is “a rich, religious family that donates money in the form of charity to poor families”.

“We hope that she is released because we think that the interrogation period should be over. She has not been convicted or even presented with a list of charges,” he continued.

‘Jericho slaughterhouse’

Last week, London-based human rights group Amnesty International released a detailed report of Jbara’s experience in prison on 5 December, calling on the PA to investigate her claims of torture and guarantee her a fair trial based on international standards.

A campaign poster calling for Suha Jbara to be freed (Twitter)

During a visit to the prison, Suha told Amnesty representatives of harrowing treatment during her weeks of detention.

“Welcome to the Jericho slaughter house,” Suha said armed men told her when they reached the Jericho Interrogation and Detention Centre after her arrest.

“At the detention centre, a male interrogator threw water in her face when she asked for a drink, slapped her, punched her on the chest and back, and threatened her with further violence. She was blindfolded and handcuffed throughout her interrogation and was not allowed to drink water or use the toilet,” the report said.

“He [interrogator] insulted me all the time, used very dirty and violent sexual language, threatened to bring a doctor to look into my virginity and say that I was a whore, and threatened to hurt my family and to take my kids away from me,” she told Amnesty.

According to her sister Khadija and the Amnesty report, Suha was forced to give her testimony without the presence of her lawyer. She said that high-ranking police as well as doctors and nurses were constantly trying to persuade her to end her hunger strike.

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“The Palestinian authorities must urgently carry out an independent and impartial investigation into these allegations. Any officials identified as responsible must be immediately suspended, prosecuted and brought to justice,” Saleh Higazi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty, said in the report.

Suha’s family has been barred from seeing her since she announced her hunger strike. Her three kids – the eldest of which is 12 – have been staying at their grandparents’ home.

“This is inhumane and monstrous,” says Khadija, Suha’s sister. “The court treated her like a criminal and not as someone who is accused of something that may not be true.”

“The PA has become worse than the Israelis.”