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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 22 February 2023
Rights group: Mideast governments target LGBTQ people online

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB who were extorted online
Associated Press told HRW that they were
BEIRUT (AP) — Security threatened with being
agencies and government outed to their families and
officials in several coun- the authorities if they did
tries in the Middle East and not pay them a certain
North Africa have been us- amount of money.
ing social media platforms Younes added that many
and mobile dating apps of the victims lost their jobs,
to crack down on LGBTQ faced violence and de-
people, a rights group said leted their online accounts,
Tuesday. The findings of while some opted to leave
a new report by Human the country. Many of the
Rights Watch exposed digi- victims say they suffered
tal methods of clamping depression, anxiety and
down on the LGBTQ com- distress, while some report-
munity in the region. For edly attempted suicide.
years the community has Mohamad Najem, execu-
relied on online platforms tive director of the Beirut-
for safety and privacy to based digital rights orga-
sidestep oppression and nization SMEX, accused
discrimination due to social tech companies of a lack
stigma and laws that crimi- of transparency on their
nalize their expression. content moderation pro-
The report, “’All This Terror Rasha Younes, senior researcher with the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch speaks cess. Content moderation
Because of a Photo’: Digi- as she holds a guide book during a Human Rights Watch press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, is when a company moni-
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.
tal Targeting and Its Offline Associated Press tors what is published on
Consequences for LGBT their platforms to ensure
People in the Middle East Grindr. The publication also said at the press confer- was someone impersonat- they are not abusive, illegal
and North Africa,” docu- questions major tech com- ence. One case the report ing a gay man who he met or in violation of their rules
ments dozens of cases of panies for not investing suf- documents is a 27-year- on Grindr. Human Rights and guidelines.
security agencies in Egypt, ficiently in Arabic language old gay man from Egypt Watch documented sev- “The problem with these
Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and content moderation and named Yazid who said he eral cases of ill-treatment tech companies is that you
Tunisia extorting, harass- protection. “This type of so- was arrested and beaten and sexual assault among start a process with them
ing, publicly outing, and cial media frenzy really had in prison until he would sign other detainees. and they disappear in the
detaining LGBTQ people implications on people’s papers that said he was In some cases, private in- middle of it (and) you don’t
based on their activities on lives,” Rasha Younes, senior “practicing debauchery” dividuals and gangs were know what happened with
Facebook and Instagram, researcher with the LGBT and publicly outing himself. involved in the extortion. them,” he said at the news
as well as queer dating app Rights Program at HRW, He said one of the officers In Lebanon, some people conference. q

Group urges radiation tests for 900 North Korean escapees

By KIM TONG-HYUNG continued. tunnels at the site in 2018 given accurate informa- and China to investigate
Associated Press The Seoul-based Transition- but has never allowed in- tion and appropriate medi- the contamination risks of
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — al Justice Working Group ternational nuclear inspec- cal treatment,” said Ethan North Korean agricultural
Human rights advocates on cited the findings and its tors to visit the Punggye-ri Hee-Seok Shin, a legal ex- and seafood products.
Tuesday urged South Korea own analysis of geograph- testing ground. pert with the group. He also It said the area around
to offer radiation exposure ic and census data to say Seoul’s Unification Ministry, urged an independent in- the nuclear testing site is
tests to hundreds of North that North Korea’s six nucle- which handles affairs with vestigation in North Korea a food-producing region
Korean escapees who had ar detonations could have the North, said in a state- based on the test results. with abundant rainfall and
lived near the country’s nu- spread radioactive materi- ment that it would consid- The advocacy group also a network of streams that
clear testing ground. als by water within 40 kilo- er resuming the tests if the urged South Korea, Japan lead to the sea.q
Tests conducted by the meters (24.8 miles) of the North Korean escapees
South Korean government Punggye-ri nuclear facility. have health problems or
on 40 people in 2017 and It said more than a million request examinations.
2018 found at least nine people live in the area de- The advocacy group said
of them had abnormali- pendent on groundwater South Korean records show
ties that could indicate and wells since piped wa- nearly 900 people from the
high radiation exposure, ter is scarce beyond the region around the Pung-
but Seoul’s Unification Min- capital, Pyongyang and a gye-ri site have escaped
istry said a conclusive link few other cities. to South Korea since the
to North Korea’s nuclear North Korea has rejected North’s first nuclear test in
activity couldn’t be estab- safety concerns surround- 2006. It said resuming radia-
lished and other factors ing its nuclear tests, saying tion testing for them was
were possible, such as age, the testing environment crucial considering the lack
smoking habits or other each time was fully con- of access to North Korea’s
types of chemical expo- trolled and that it detected nuclear facility.
sure. no radioactive leaks. It al- “North Korean escapees Command post facilities at one of North Korea’s nuclear test sites
The South Korean radiation lowed foreign journalists to who display symptoms of are demolished in Punggye-ri, North Korea, on May 24, 2018.
tests were subsequently dis- film the detonation of some radiation exposure must Associated Press