Students at Bahrain Polytechnic are being silenced and expelled for social media posts. Sara Yasin reports
Pro-Chavez Hackers in Venezuela have targeted the emails and social media accounts of journalists. Milagros Socorro, director of the site Código Venezuela, announced that hackers attacked her blog, Twitter and emails after criticising President Chavez’s communications ministry. Her Twitter profile image was changed to a bar of soap with the headline “wash your mouth out.” Socorro criticised Minister Andrés Izarra for accusing a foreign correspondent of being unethical and disrespectful to authorities at a press conference in Caracas. It is believed that the group N33, which have launched cyber attacks on critics of the Chavez administration, are responsible for the attack.
Mexican organised drug cartels have again threatened social network users using a mutilated body. In the second incident this month, the decapitated and tortured body of a woman was found dumped in a public park in Nuevo Laredo, Taumalipas, a city on the US-Mexico border.
The body was discovered in the early morning hours of Saturday, September 24, with a hand scribbled cardboard sign left next to it. It said “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo and social networking sites, I’m The Laredo Girl, and I’m here because of my reports, and yours. For those who don’t want to believe, this happened to me because of my actions, for believing in the army and the navy. Thank you for your attention, respectfully, Laredo Girl…ZZZZ.””
The victim was identified by Morelos Canseco, the interior secretary of northern Tamaulipas, as Marisol Macias Castaneda, a newsroom manager for the Nuevo Laredo local daily newspaper Primera Hora. The newspaper has not confirmed her title, but it is believed Macias Castaneda was targeted for her contribution to social networking sites.
Apparently Macias Castro contributed reports on drug violence to the blog, Nuevo Laredo EnVivo using the handle “Laredo Girl”. ZZZZ is the signature of Mexico’s most dangerous organised crime group. The Zetas started in Taumalipas as bodyguards for the Cartel del Golfo, an organised crime group from this area. The initials, Zetas, referred to a paramilitary group that initiated its activities in the northern state of Taumalipas, first as an enforcement group for the traditional drug cartel, Cartel Del Golfo, and then toppled the leadership for the Cartel Del Golfo, and is now moving its group that can work in Mexico, the United States and Central America.
Two weeks ago, two Twitter users were also attacked and killed for using the internet to report on drug related violence.
Two people jailed for making “alarmist” posts on Twitter were freed yesterday after four weeks in prison in Mexico. Maria de Jesus Bravo, a local journalist, and maths teacher Gilberto Martinez Vera, had the charges of terrorism and sabotage against them dropped, and they walked free from jail to cheering supporters. The pair sent out Twitter messages regarding an unconfirmed drug attack on a primary school last month, and were accused of terrifying frantic parents. The charges, which can carry prison sentences of up to 30 years imprisonment, were dropped following outrage from human rights activists and free speech advocates.