Saudi court jails rights activist over tweets

DUBAI - A Saudi court sentenced human rights activist Issa al-Nukheifi to six years in prison on Wednesday over tweets critical of the government, a rights group said, confirming a Saudi newspaper report.

Saudi newspaper Okaz said the defendant, who it did not identify, was accused of criticising Saudi Arabia's intervention in neighbouring Yemen, insulting the government and objecting to its decisions, criminal proceedings and security procedures.


ALQST, a London-based Saudi rights group, identified the defendant as Issa al-Nukheifi, an activist who was detained in December 2016. It condemned the conviction and sentencing.

Amnesty International called for his immediate release.

"Instead of engaging with activists on reforms, the authorities are going after them one by one, with almost all of the country’s human rights activists now silenced or imprisoned," Dana Ahmed, the group's campaigner on Saudi Arabia, said.

The Saudi Ministry of Interior declined to comment on Nukheifi's case.

Okaz reported that his sentence was also for re-tweeting anti-government accounts and simultaneously receiving money transfers from a prisoner still serving a sentence.

Nukheifi was sentenced to six years of prison and, following his release, a six year ban on social media as well as a six year travel ban outside of the country.

Nukheifi was previously arrested, tried and sentenced to prison for similar offences, an Amnesty report said. He was detained in 2012 and released in April 2016, only to be arrested eight months later.

On Tuesday, ALQST published a letter by Nukheifi from custody addressed to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"I was very happy listening to your speeches and interviews where you call for freedom of expression and respecting human rights, which is what we call for and work with you to achieve," he wrote. "I am writing to you from inside my imprisonment, having been detained for asking for these (steps)."

In September, the arrest by Saudi authorities of some 30 clerics, intellectuals and activists was condemned by another group, Human Rights Watch.

Its Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said at the time that the arrests were a sign that "Mohammed bin Salman has no real interest in improving his country’s record on free speech and the rule of law".

Crown Prince Mohammed has rocketed to the pinnacle of power in Saudi Arabia, pushing a reform agenda called Vision 2030 aimed at weaning the country off oil and introducing social reforms. Critics say he is not doing enough to liberalise politics in a country where the king enjoys absolute authority.

In a Washington Post article published on Wednesday, when the crown prince was asked whether he might release human rights activists before his visit to the United States next month, the paper reported him as saying that Saudi standards were different to American ones and "if it works, don’t fix it".

The paper said he added later through an aide that he would consider reforms in this area, as in others.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

President 'noynoying' in Greenhills with Grace Lee? Apologetic Edu takes back 'kuryente' tweet

MANILA, Philippines - A tweet from actor-host-politician Edu Manzano about President Benigno "Noynoy"Aquino III and Grace Lee sharing a "leisurely stroll" on Thursday afternoon was immediately dismissed by Malacanang as gossip.

Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda clarified via his official Twitter account that the President and the Korean TV host and radio disc jockey were not spotted walking along the famous shopping district in San Juan City as Manzano claimed.

“Ur tweet is tsismis (gossip),” Lacierda said at around 3 p.m. “The President is presiding over a NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) Board meeting. It started at 10, the meeting is still ongoing. ”

Deputy Palace spokesperson Abigail Valte even dared Manzano to support his claim with photos. The NEDA meeting ended shortly after 4 pm.

Manzano, the losing vice presidential candidate and running mate of Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party presidential bet Gilbert Teodoro in the 2010 polls, later apologized for his tweet, admitting it was a mistake.

“Sorry for the confusion, everyone. In local parlance, 'nakuryente' ako, and I was foolish to tweet unconfirmed chismis,” he said on his Twitter account. “And to those who have posted personal attacks against me, I sincerely understand. Lord knows I've given you a lot of material to work with.”

Emerging from the NEDA meeting, Aquino didn't let the incident pass, quipping that he should probably give jobs to people with nothing better to do than spread gossip.

“There are really some people who do not have anything better to do," he said at the 115th founding anniversary of the Office of the President. "These are the people whom we should find jobs for because they have a lot of idle time to spin gossip. But I just laughed it off.”

Aquino is dealing with some negative publicity lately after militant group Anakbayan spawned a lazy or laidback form of protest, which it named after the President.

The protest gimmick called “Noynoying” was used by activists to call the attention of Aquino over his alleged inaction to economic problems such as the continuous increase in fuel prices. The Palace cried foul over the latest protest action and asked the public to disregard it.

Some tweets on Thursday attacked Aquino for his alleged “strolling” with Lee, saying he was "Noynoying".

"Shouldn't he be doing Presidential things? Or is he NoyNoying?" asked @annaria. (with a report from Chichi Conde, InterAksyon.com)

source: interaksyon.com

Twitter revamps to connect the world

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter says it has finished rolling out overhauled pages crafted to boost the appeal of the message-sharing service to users around the world.

“At the very core there are fewer places you have to click and less you have to learn,” Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said as he and other executives unveiled the changes at the startup’s San Francisco headquarters. “We’ve done a lot of user testing and it has proven to be much simpler.”

Overhauled navigation features take advantage of the fact that Twitter symbols such as @ and # are making their way into common culture, showing up anywhere from text messages to advertising billboards and television.

Twitter designed Connect navigation tools that essentially turn those symbols into new age URLs, or web addresses, to let people find all posts or other information being fired off about topics.

Twitter also expanded profile pages, letting users tell more about themselves or, in the case of companies, their brands.

Dorsey said revenue from “promoted tweet” style ads has been steadily growing and the startup is easing out a self-service advertising system.

Advertising revenues at Twitter grew 213% to $139.5 million in 2011, up from $45 million in 2010, according to eMarketer.

The market tracking firm predicted that Twitter will bring in $259.9 million in advertising revenue this year and that the global revenue would hit $540 million by the year 2014.

The Twitter overhaul completed on Friday includes new Timeline that brings together all Twitter chatter or content related to a particular “tweet.”

“There is a universe within every tweet,” Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo said at the unveiling. “The 140 characters are a caption associated with a rich canvas that could be a song, a video, a photo or more.”

The new Twitter design was described as a platform on which the service will build to reinforce its effort to “reach every person on the planet.”

“Of course tweeting is still front and center,” Dorsey said. “Any time you have something to tell the world you can do it instantly.”

source: japantoday.com