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Category: Repression

Parliament panel to hold meeting on data security / Shah alleged report was released to cause disruption

Parliament panel to hold meeting on data security / Shah alleged report was released to cause disruption

Parliament panel to hold meeting on data security and privacy on July 28

21/07/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology will question officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on July 28 in connection with reports about the illegal surveillance using Pegasus spyware, ANI reported.
… In November 2019, BJP MPs opposed when the standing committee wanted to discuss the matter, according to The Hindu. In a later meeting, the panel met 17 individuals representing a platform called the “Pegasus Targeted Persons”. They included human rights activist Bela Bhatia, Dalit activist and Bhima Koregaon case accused Anand Teltumbde, Jagdalpur Legal Aid group member Shalini Gera, Chattisgarh-based civil rights activist Alok Shukla and human rights activist Jagdish Meshram.
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Report on Pegasus ‘by the disrupters for the obstructers’, says Home Minister Amit Shah

19/07/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday dismissed an investigation pointing to the use of the Pegasus hacking software to spy on journalists, activists and Opposition leaders in India, calling it “a report by the disrupters for the obstructers”.
… On Sunday, The Wire revealed the names of dozens of journalists and activists on the list, including its own founder-editors Siddharth Vardarajan and MK Venu, The Hindu’s Vijaita Singh, the Hindustan Times’ Shishir Gupta, as well as scholars and activists on the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners and relatives, lawyers and friends of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case and the accused themselves.
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Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line

Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line

Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line

18/07/2021

The Wire / Sukanya Shantha

The families of activists figure on a leaked list of numbers that included some selected for surveillance by a client of Israel’s NSO Group.
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Government Cites Old RTI Response To Deny Pegasus Link, Says Media Didn’t Do Due Diligence

18/07/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The ministry of electronics and information technology pointed to a response to an RTI from October 2019 in which the home ministry did not deny or confirm purchasing the Pegasus spyware.
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Forensic Methodology Report: How to catch NSO Group’s Pegasus

18/07/2021

By Amnesty International

NSO Group claims that its Pegasus spyware is only used to “investigate terrorism and crime”  and “leaves no traces whatsoever”. This Forensic Methodology Report shows that neither of these statements are true. This report accompanies the release of the Pegasus Project, a collaborative investigation that involves more than 80 journalists from 17 media organizations in 10 countries coordinated by Forbidden Stories with technical support of Amnesty International’s Security Lab.
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Stan Swamy was ‘killed’, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut attacks Modi govt / Stan, UAPA and the Performative Solidarity of Politicians

Stan Swamy was ‘killed’, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut attacks Modi govt / Stan, UAPA and the Performative Solidarity of Politicians


Drawing by Arun Freirra

Stan Swamy was ‘killed’, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut attacks Modi govt over activist’s death

11/07/2021

The Indian Express / by Vishwas Waghmode

A government that is scared of an 84-year-old man is dictatorial in attitude but weak in the heart like Hitler’s and Mussolini’s, said Raut in his weekly column in party mouthpiece Saamana.
Hitting out at the Union government over the death of Father Stan Swamy, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the tribal-rights activist was “killed” in jail. The Sena MP further asked whether the country’s foundations were so weak that an 84-year-old man could overthrow the Narendra Modi government, equating it with the ones of Hitler and Mussolini.
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Shiv Sena asks Centre if Father Stan Swamy was capable of overthrowing state

11/07/2021

Hindustan Times / by Naresh Kamath

Raut said that while the prominent activists arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case were guilty of provocative speeches before the violence on January 2, it required investigation to prove if they were actually conspiring against the nation.
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Father Stan, UAPA and the Performative Solidarity of Politicians

10/07/2021

The Wire / by Farah Naqvi

For politicians expressing anguish and outrage in this moment of injustice, the best tribute would be to do what Fr. Stan Swamy did his entire life.
“Stan Smith (84) passes away. The system sucks. UAPA. No bail. Little hope of early trial. Others too languish in jail. Lawyers , Academics , Social Activists ….raise their voices for the voiceless. They too are now “voiceless”. The State calls them “ terrorists,” Kapil Sibal, Congress MP, tweeted on July 5, 2021.
Sibal got the name wrong. And he forgot to say sorry. For this casual disrespect to a martyr for democracy, even before dust had settled on his grave. He also forgot to say sorry for his own role in giving India the dark gift of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) that finally killed Fr. Stan Swamy. The gift that keeps on giving.
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His Death is Just a Statistic for Them: Anand Grover

10/07/2021

The Citizen / by The Citizen Bureau

‘In other countries if one is wrongly prosecuted they can sue the police or the government’
Senior advocate Anand Grover has represented poet Varavara Rao and professor Shoma Sen imprisoned without trial since 2018 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in charges including a police-alleged plot to assassinate PM Narendra Modi.

Your reaction to Stan Swamy’s death?
It is a failure of the whole criminal justice system.
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New online platform maps Pegasus spread / New investigation shows global human rights harm of NSO Group’s spyware

New online platform maps Pegasus spread / New investigation shows global human rights harm of NSO Group’s spyware

New online platform maps Pegasus spread

07/07/2021

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

It was launched by the Forensic Architecture, the Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab to document attacks against human rights defenders.
An online database about the use of the spyware Pegasus was recently launched by the Forensic Architecture, the Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab to document attacks against human rights defenders.
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New investigation shows global human rights harm of NSO Group’s spyware

03/07/2021

Amnesty International / by Amnesty International

A new interactive online platform by Forensic Architecture, supported by Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab, maps for the first time the global spread of the notorious spyware Pegasus, made by cyber-surveillance company NSO Group.
‘Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror’ documents digital attacks against human rights defenders around the world, and shows the connections between the ‘digital violence’ of Pegasus spyware and the real-world harms lawyers, activists, and other civil society figures face.
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10 BK undertrials hold hunger strike

10 BK undertrials hold hunger strike

10 Bhima Koregaon case accused demand judicial inquiry into Stan Swamy’s death, hold hunger strike

07/07/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

They blamed the National Investigation Agency and Taloja Jail’s former superintendent for the death of the tribal rights activist.
Ten accused in the Bhima Koregaon case on Wednesday went on a day-long hunger strike to protest against the “institutional murder” of tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, reported PTI. They also demanded a judicial inquiry into the activist’s death.
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There is freedom, but no mercy

There is freedom, but no mercy

The Indian Express / by T J S George

People are getting arrested as in the days of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.
Freedom is a funny thing. When it is there, we don’t notice it. When it is not there, we don’t notice anything else. In a country as populous as India, half the people can take their freedom for granted without knowing that the other half is denied basic freedoms. This half-half reality is the defining feature of Narendra Modiji’s India.
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Bail after 3 years for the incarcerated Mumbai Electric Employees Union Workers

Bail after 3 years for the incarcerated Mumbai Electric Employees Union Workers

tnlabour.in / By Thozhilalar Koodam

After 3 long years, the five workers of Mumbai Electric Employees Union are out on bail. The State which arrested these workers under UAPA in the aftermath of Bhima Koregaon incident has not been able to prove any of its charges. These workers were guilty of one thing only, they were to organise contract workers against their mighty owner Reliance. As they could not be charged of these activities as treason, the State keeps finding flimsy charges to keep hundreds of activists and workers in jail under other pretexts.
While they still have a long way to go to clear the charges against them, their union Mumbai Elecrtic Employees Union has released the following pamphlet in solidarity with the arrested workers and to continue the struggles of exploited contract workers against their management. This pamphlet was translated in hindi, tamil and telugu and was distributed among workers.
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UAPA bail orders come down hard on attempts to equate protest with “Terrorism” / A Cry for Justice

UAPA bail orders come down hard on attempts to equate protest with “Terrorism” / A Cry for Justice

Delhi HC UAPA bail orders come down hard on attempts to equate protest with “Terrorism”

21/06/2021

The Leaflet / by Kavita Krishnan

The Delhi HC bail orders vindicate what pro-democracy activists have been saying since last year: The Delhi Police investigation is blatantly biased and has spun a fantastic conspiracy theory to falsely accuse anti-CAA protestors, especially those of the minority Muslim community, of the very “riots” that was planned and targeted against them making them the victims, says Kavita Krishnan.
…In the Bhima Koregaon case, and the Delhi riots case, as well as several cases involving unarmed protestors all over India, we have seen how the UAPA is used to criminalise protest and punish protestors.
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A Cry for Justice that Keeps Getting Louder

21/06/2021

The Leaflet / by Cedric Prakash

A regime that oppresses the weak and suppresses those who speak against it will always have to deal with more and more dissent. The key to peace and justice in India lies in following the Constitution, writes Cedric Prakash.
… From Aisha Sultana to Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha. From Khori to Lakshadweep. From Tihar Jail to Taloja Jail. From Fr Stan Swami to Umar Khalid. From the Bhima-Koregaon sixteen to the other UAPA-incarcerated. From Sulabh to Siddique, from farmers to workers, from the unemployed to the refugees, from minorities to the marginalised, from the caregivers to the academics, from the toolkits to the brazen headlines, from rising costs to lack of vaccines—the cries for justice in India have never been so shrill and clear!
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