Radioactive Japan's slippery slope: mafias and fascism

Two snippets of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Japan:

On one side Fukushima emergency... mentions that there was a mafioso mass dumping of radioactive materials in a river bed in Western Japan:

A huge amount of contaminated waste was found on the river bed in Shiga prefecture, western region of Japan.
According to the local authorities, among the waste include 2,300 tons of wooden tips contaminated by radiation as well as 77 sandbags filled with the same contaminated wooden tips.
The incident was came to light after an anonymous informant, possibly related to the illegal dumping, called in last month. The survey conducted by the local office shows up to 3000 becquerel per kilogram was detected.
"This is a possible illegal dumping case, though the place where they were brought from remain unknown." the authorities said.

 

Fascist repression against truth

(CC by Masaru Kamikura)

On the other side, actress (and former Miss Japan) Norika Fujiwara (pictured) has stepped forward against the implementation of fascist censorship laws that will severely punish whistleblowing and bring punishments against bloggers who expose the truth about the nuclear catastrophe, mentions EneNews, citing Japanese sources (→ Japan Times).

The new law, known as Secret Security Act, allows government to hide important information like radiation readings, to severely punish whistleblowing officials and even to exert censorship on the Internet at whim.

In a message posted on Friday, Fujiwara accused the government of covering up the truth about the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant, and spreading misinformation about radiation and leaks of radioactive water there.

“As a citizen I am really concerned about it,” Fujiwara wrote in another message. “Our nation has a right to know.”

Fujiwara joins the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association in opposing the bill as a violation of the right to freedom of speech that will undermine Japan’s democracy.

“Once the bill is signed, the people who will write the truth on the Internet (or through other means) will be punished,” she stressed. “When I think of all the consequences that it will lead to, it really bothers me.”

Bahrain: blogger and journalist aide arrested

From the Bahrain Center for Human Rights:

Bahrain: Arrest of blogger and media fixer Mohamed Hassan

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses grave concern in regards to the recent arrest of blogger and media fixer Mohamed Hassan (27) during a dawn raid on his home.  His whereabouts and charges are still unknown and he has not made any communication with family and lawyer until the time of writing this report.

At around 3am on 31 July 2013, masked men in civilian clothes belonging to the Ministry of Interior raided the house of blogger Mohammed Hassan and arrested him after presenting an arrest warrant but without giving any justification for the arrest or the charges pressed against him. They also confiscated his electronic devices.

This is not the first time blogger Mohammed Hassan is targeted by the authorities in Bahrain.

Mohammed Hassan, also known as @Safybh, was known for expressing his views on twitter and on his blog http://safybh.wordpress.com/ in support of the struggle for freedom and democracy in Bahrain. He stopped tweeting and blogging since April 2013.

Hassan was arrested before on 21 April 2012 while he was escorting reporters to protesting villages to show them the violations of the authorities against peaceful protesters. He was hit with a gun barrel in his leg and reportedly severely beaten before getting arrested. He was denied access to a lawyer, and released the next day. He was then arrested again on 22 April 2012 at a checkpoint in Sanabis with journalist Colin Freeman from The Sunday Telegraph. They were taken to the Exhibition Center police station. Hassan was interrogated about his connection to the journalist and they were later released without any charges.  

In June 2012 Mohammed Hassan was summoned for interrogation, and was accused with three charges: writing for websites and newspapers without a license, illegal gathering and tweeting. He wrote later on his twitter: "They asked me about all tweets, even the ones where I say goodnight, I was also questioned about the articles I write and the journalists I know, especially when I was arrested and beaten last April. I was accused of calling for “unlicensed" marches when I invited people to [participate in] Nabeel Rajab’s “Thank you” march, [the] problem is: it was actually licensed. After asking a lawyer I realized that I was correct about not needing a license for blogging or writing an op-ed for a website."

... continue reading at BCHR.

Turkey: 13 bloggers arrested, video of the shooting of Ethem Sarısülük

13 bloggers from Adana have been arrested for allegedly spreading subversive messages through Internet, in yet another clear case of Erdogan's dictatorial style in which free speech or even thought becomes a crime and democracy is reduced to a mere routine plebiscite.

These arrests add to the ones performed against dozens of online activists from Izmir days ago.

It has also surfaced now the video in which a riot police shoots with live fire injuring in Ethem Sarısülük, a worker from Ankara, whose death has been reported in the past but who seems to be still alive, according to his attorney Kazım Bayraktar.

All the shooting takes place in the first five seconds.

Bayraktar has repeatedly requested that the agent responsible for the shooting be identified but the authorities have simply ignored the demand. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es] (link 1, link 2).

Comment moderation apologies

There was a backlog of comments to be moderated. Why? I forgot to tell Blogger to notify me (corrected now). My deepest apologies, I really like people sincerely commenting here, even those who have a clearly distinct opinion from my own.

However about half of the awaiting comments were clearly spam, so I will keep comment moderation for the time being.

On strike (May 30th 2013)

This blog joins the General Strike called in the Southern Basque Country against the bankster doctrine of "austerity for the poor, massive profits for the rich". Therefore I will not publish anything unless it is to report on the strike itself or a major emergency. 

More details here.