The killing of Israeli embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum located in downtown Washington, D.C. was such a chance. According to Yechiel Leitner, the Israeli ambassador to the US, the couple were to be engaged.

The suspect gunman, Elias Rodriguez, was arrested at the scene and taken away shouting: “Free Palestine!” In court documents submitted by the FBI, the suspect, in handing himself to the officers, stated his rationale for the shootings: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.” He also professed admiration for US Air Force member Aaron Bushnell, who immolated himself outside the Israeli embassy in February 2024 declaring that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide.” Rodriguez has been charged by the US attorney’s office in Washington with two counts of first-degree murder.

A grave, reflective response might have been in order. But the Netanyahu government has always been on the hunt for the political justification, and the political expedient. Given Netanyahu’s own political travails, be they corruption charges and his own unpopularity, this quest has become habitual. So it came to pass that Milgrim and Lischinsky could become a convenient platform to attack countries allied to Israel yet taking issue with the levelling and starving of Gaza.

The mood was set during a press conference given by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on May 21. The slaying of Milgrim and Lischinsky was “the direct result of toxic antisemitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world that has been going on since the October 7 massacre.” Israel’s missions and representatives across the globe had become “targets of antisemitic terrorism that has crossed all red lines.”

In suggesting “a direct line connecting antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement to this murder”, Sa’ar accused “leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe”, for being central instigators. They had resorted to “modern blood libels” in accusing Israel of “genocide, crimes against humanity and murdering babies”.

While not expressly mentioning them, the Foreign Minister was clearly referring to France, Britain and Canada and their joint statement of May 19 warning about the murderous implications of Operation Gideon’s Chariots. The statement affirmed the trio’s opposition to “the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.” Israel’s permission of “a basic quantity of food into Gaza” was condemned as wholly inadequate, while denying essential humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population in the Strip was “unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law.” The three countries further condemned “the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate.”

The statement went on to warn that, were Israel not to cease pursuing such “egregious actions”, cease the ongoing military operation, and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid, “we will take further concrete actions in response.”

On May 20, in his address to the House of Commons, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy noted the “abominable” situation of threatened “starvation hanging over hundreds of thousands of civilians.” He grimly noted the words of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had spoken of “cleansing Gaza” and “destroying what’s left”, with the intention of relocating Palestinians to third countries. Such measures, for Lammy, were “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counter-productive.”

In light of such developments, negotiations with Israel over a new free trade agreement were to be suspended. A further three individuals and four entities involved in Israel’s illegal settler program in the West Bank were also to be sanctioned.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry was dismissive of the British position, calling the sanctions “regrettable”. “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”

It was Netanyahu, however, who pulled out all the stops. In a video address, he noted the words uttered by Rodriquez as he was taken away: “Free Palestine.” Finding such a statement obscene, he recalled that it was “the same chant we heard on October 7 [2023]”, when “thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza”, proceeding to behead men, rape women and burn babies. To take “Free Palestine” as a serious proposition was “today’s version of ‘Heil Hitler.’” It was a “simple truth” that had evaded “the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others.” In their proposals for establishing a Palestinian state, they were rewarding “these murderers with the ultimate price.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney were roundly condemned for being on “the wrong side of justice”, “humanity” and “history”. They had been praised by “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”. The PM’s objective was simple: avoiding the establishment of any Palestinian state, as it was bound to be vulnerable to seizure by “radicals”. It was axiomatic that such an entity would wish for the destruction of the Jewish state. The picture becomes complete: Israel’s operations, totally justified on national security grounds; critics, abominated as hateful antisemites; the Palestinians, radicals current or in embryo needing to be rubbed out.

No one doubts that the reserves of antisemitism run deep, clouded by miasmic, millennial hatreds. Few can also doubt that a dislike of policies driven by ethno-religious fanaticism contemptuous of human rights is a valid ground of protest. That this should end up in killings of individuals attending an event about humanitarian aid that would have otherwise appalled Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, et al., is another, disturbing irony. Fanaticism diminishes the horizon, leaving human beings bare, and hollow, and naked. And that baring is currently underway with remorseless intensity in Gaza.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.

We speak with Israeli journalist Gideon Levy after a young Israeli couple was shot dead in Washington, D.C. Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim both worked at the Israeli Embassy and were killed by a gunman after leaving the Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday night. The couple were dating and about to get engaged, the embassy said. Police identified Elias Rodriguez of Chicago as the suspect in custody. Video shows Rodriguez shouting “Free Palestine” during his arrest, and authorities are investigating the incident as a potential hate crime.

“This incident can be only condemned. Nothing that Israel is doing can justify such a murder,” says Levy. He adds that incidents like the Washington killings are adding to a growing sense inside Israel that “because of the war in Gaza, Israel is turning into a pariah state.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for The Brief Weekly to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues.

It started with a call. A man identifying himself as a federal immigration agent contacted a Venezuelan father in San Antonio, interrogating him about his teenage son. The agent said officials planned to visit the family’s apartment to assess the boy’s living conditions.

Later that day, federal agents descended on his complex and covered the door’s peephole with black tape, the father recalled. Agents repeatedly yelled the father’s and son’s names, demanded they open the door and waited hours before leaving, according to the family. Terrified, the father, 37, texted an immigration attorney, who warned that the visit could be a pretext for deportation. The agents returned the next two days, causing the father such alarm that he skipped work at a mechanic shop. His son stayed home from school.

Department of Homeland Security agents have carried out dozens of such visits across the country in recent months as part of a systematic search for children who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border by themselves, and the sponsors who care for them while they pursue their immigration cases. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for the children’s care and for screening their sponsors, has assisted in the checks.

The agency’s welfare mission appears to be undergoing a stark transformation as President Donald Trump seeks to ramp up deportation numbers in his second term, a dozen current and former government officials told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. They say that one of the clearest indications of that shift is the scale of the checks that immigration agents are conducting using information provided by the resettlement agency to target sponsors and children for deportation.

Trump officials maintain that the administration is ensuring children are not abused or trafficked. But current and former agency employees, immigration lawyers and child advocates say the resettlement agency is drifting from its humanitarian mandate. Just last week, the Trump administration fired the agency’s ombudsman, who had been hired by Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration to act as its first watchdog.

“Congress set up a system to protect migrant children, in part by giving them to an agency that isn’t part of immigration enforcement,” said Scott Shuchart, a former official with Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term and later under Biden. The Trump administration, Shuchart said, is “trying to use that protective arrangement as a bludgeon to hurt the kids and the adults who are willing to step forward to take care of them.”

Republicans have called out ORR in the past, pointing to instances of children working in dangerous jobs as examples of the agency’s lax oversight. Lawyers, advocates and agency officials say cases of abuse are rare and should be rooted out. They argue that the administration’s recent changes are immigration enforcement tools that could make children and their sponsors more susceptible to harmful living and working conditions because they fear deportation.

Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint to reshape the federal government, called for moving the resettlement agency under the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, arguing that keeping the agencies separate has led to more unaccompanied minors entering the country illegally. Although Trump publicly distanced himself from the overall plan during his reelection campaign, many of his actions have aligned with its proposals.

During Trump’s first term, he required ORR to share some information about the children and their sponsors, who are usually relatives. That led to the arrests of at least 170 sponsors in the country illegally and spurred pushback from lawmakers and advocates who said the agency shouldn’t be used to aid deportation. Immediately after starting his second term in January, Trump issued an executive order calling for more information sharing between the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the resettlement agency, and Homeland Security. Now, current and former employees of the resettlement agency say that some immigration enforcement officials have been given unfettered access to its databases, which contain sensitive and detailed case information.

Data sharing for “the sole purpose of immigration enforcement imperils the privacy and security” of children and their sponsors, Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, wrote in a February letter to the Trump administration. In a March response to Wyden, Andrew Gradison, an acting assistant secretary at HHS, said the resettlement agency is complying with the president’s executive order and sharing information with other federal agencies to ensure immigrant children are safe. Wyden told the news organizations that he plans to continue pressing for answers. On Tuesday, he sent another letter to the administration, stating that he is “increasingly concerned” that ORR is sharing private information “beyond the scope” of what is allowed and “exposing already vulnerable children to further risks.”

Two advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit last week in Washington, arguing that the Trump administration unlawfully reversed key provisions of a 2024 Biden rule. Those provisions had barred ORR from using immigration status to deny sponsors the ability to care for children. They also had previously prohibited the agency from sharing sponsor information for the purpose of immigration enforcement. Undoing the provisions has led to the prolonged detention of children because sponsors are afraid or can’t claim them because they are unable to meet requirements, the lawsuit alleges. The government has not responded to the lawsuit in court.

In conjunction with those changes, Trump tapped an ICE official to lead ORR for the first time. That official was fired two months into her job because she failed to implement the administration’s changes “fast enough,” her successor for the position, Angie Salazar, an ICE veteran, said in a March 6 recording obtained by ProPublica and the Tribune.

“Some of these policy changes took too long. Three weeks is too long,” Salazar told staff without providing specifics. Salazar said that she would ramp up an effort to check on immigrant children and strengthen screenings of their sponsors.

She told staff that, in nearly two weeks, ICE investigators had visited 1,500 residences of unaccompanied minors. Agents had uncovered a handful of instances of what she said were cases of sex and labor trafficking. Salazar did not provide details but said identifying even one case of abuse is significant.

“Those are my marching orders,” Salazar told staffers. “While I will never do something outside the law for anybody or anything, and while we are operating within the law, we will expect all of you to do so and be supportive of that.”

Salazar said she expected an increase in the number of children taken from their sponsors and placed back into federal custody, which in the past has been rare.

Since Salazar took charge, ORR has instituted a raft of strict vetting rules for sponsors of immigrant children that the agency argues are needed to ensure sponsors are properly screened. Those include no longer accepting foreign passports or IDs as forms of identification unless people have legal authorization to be in the U.S. The resettlement agency also expanded DNA checks of relatives and increased income requirements, including making sponsors submit recent pay stubs or tax returns. (The IRS recently announced that it would share tax information with ICE to facilitate deportations.)

ORR said in a statement that it could not respond to ongoing litigation and did not answer detailed questions about Salazar’s comments or about the reasoning for some of the new requirements. Its policies are intended to ensure safe placement of unaccompanied minors, and the agency is “not a law enforcement or immigration enforcement entity,” the statement read.

Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesperson, also declined to comment on pending lawsuits. But he criticized how the agency within his department was run under Biden, saying it failed to protect unaccompanied children after they were released to sponsors while turning “a blind eye to serious risks.” Jen Smyers, a former ORR deputy director, disputed those claims, saying the Biden administration made strides to address longstanding concerns that included creating a unit to combat sponsor fraud and improving data systems to better track kids.

Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS assistant secretary, did not respond to detailed questions but said in a statement that her agency shares the goal of ensuring that unaccompanied minors are safe. She did not answer questions about the Venezuelan family in San Antonio. She also declined to provide the number of homes the agents have visited across the country or say whether they found cases of abuse or detained anyone for the purpose of deportation.

An April email obtained by ProPublica and the Tribune shows for the first time the scale of the operation in the Houston area alone, which over the past decade has resettled the largest number of unaccompanied immigrant children in the country. In the email, an ICE official informed the Harris County Sheriff’s Office that the agency planned to visit more than 3,600 addresses associated with such minors. The sheriff’s office did not assist in the checks, a spokesperson said.

An internal ICE memo obtained last month through a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Immigration Project, a Washington-based advocacy group, instructed agents to find unaccompanied children and their sponsors. The document laid out a series of factors that federal agents should prioritize when seeking out children, including those who have not attended court hearings, may have gang ties or have pending deportation orders. The memo detailed crimes, such as smuggling, for which sponsors could be charged.

In the case of the San Antonio family, the father has temporary protected status, a U.S. permit for certain people facing danger at home that allows him to live and work here legally. The news organizations could not find a criminal record for him in the U.S. His son is still awaiting an immigration court hearing since crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone a year ago. The father stated in his U.S. asylum application that he left Venezuela after receiving death threats for protesting against President Nicolás Maduro’s government. The father, who declined to be identified because he fears ICE enforcement, said in an interview that his son later fled for the same reason.

Meanwhile, the avenues for families, like that of the Venezuelan man and his son, to raise concerns about ORR’s conduct are shrinking. The Trump administration reduced staff at the agency’s ombudsman’s office. Mary Giovagnoli, who led the office, was terminated last week. An HHS official said the agency does not comment on personnel matters, but in a letter to Giovagnoli, the agency stated that her employment “does not advance the public interest.” Giovagnoli said the cuts curtail the office’s ability to act as a watchdog to ensure the resettlement agency is meeting its congressionally established mission.

“There’s no effective oversight,” she said. “There is this encroachment on ORR’s independence, and I think this close relationship with ICE makes everyone afraid that there’s going to come a point in time where you don’t know where one agency stops and the next begins.”

Doris Burke contributed research.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Lomi Kriel, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Mica Rosenberg, ProPublica.

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The Trump administration is not even a month old, but billionaire Elon Musk has already brought in dozens of staffers to help him change the face of the U.S. government. ProPublica has learned the names of nine additional employees connected to Musk’s government overhaul, adding to a tracker the news organization published last week.

The additional names help reveal Musk’s sudden and far-reaching influence across government, as these individuals have moved into a wide array of powerful posts — from chief information officers deciding government IT purchases, to seasoned lawyers helping the effort.

ProPublica has confirmed the names and roles of more than 30 Musk-affiliated staffers who are helping the world’s richest man dismantle or downsize federal agencies one by one. We have received hundreds of tips from readers. Many have helped us identify the people helping Musk, who has not been elected to any office, force out government employees and shutter federal offices.

Musk and his lieutenants are reshaping the government and its mission with the blessing of President Donald Trump. The White House said Musk’s troops are acting within the law, though ProPublica’s reporting and legal scholars have raised questions about the legality of some efforts undertaken by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, as the newly formed office is called.

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk said at a White House press conference on Tuesday, in which the White House doubled down on its commitment to Doge.

ProPublica has identified two groups of people linked to Musk. One group includes those with previous connections to his businesses. The other group includes those who have no obvious prior connections to Musk but have become part of his DOGE team, including many who work in the Executive Office of the President.

Among the staffers we have identified: Jennifer Balajadia, who has worked as an operations coordinator at Musk’s The Boring Company and now has an official role at DOGE in the Executive Office of the President; Nicole Hollander, who was most recently employed at Musk company X handling real estate and now works in the General Services Administration; and Ryan Riedel, a former SpaceX network security engineer who now lists himself as chief information officer at the Department of Energy. Neither they nor their agencies responded to requests for comment.

One common question has been how DOGE is organized. ProPublica learned that core members of the group use emails tied to the White House. Other members are housed within specific agencies with ambiguous job titles, including “expert” or “senior advisor.” And in several instances, DOGE members have simultaneously been assigned email addresses at numerous agencies.

Our stories have helped show the reach and expertise of those who are working as a part of Musk’s fledgling effort. We have laid out DOGE’s role in breaking the U.S. Agency for International Development. We have investigated the team’s interest in a sensitive Treasury database that tracks the flow of money across the government. We have detailed DOGE’s involvement in the canceling of $900 million in education research contracts. And we have revealed the names of the elite lawyers working for the DOGE team and their ties to Supreme Court justices.

If you work at a government agency and have experience with the DOGE team, we want to hear from you.

Do You Work for the Federal Government? ProPublica Wants to Hear From You.

Avi Asher-Schapiro, Al Shaw, Andy Kroll, Justin Elliott and Kirsten Berg contributed reporting.

This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by by Christopher Bing and Annie Waldman.

Adnan Abu Hasna, told UN News on Tuesday that his son, brother and many other family members have been injured following displacement from the north, driving home the reality that nowhere is safe inside the enclave. The death toll for UNRWA workers since 7 October so far stands at 67.

He told UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri that unless more fuel can be allowed into Gaza to keep hospitals and bakeries running, the agency may be forced to suspend or reduce operations within days.

This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Ezzat El-Ferri.

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Prem Thakker.

"The worst thing was that the day they arrested several high-level executives was actually my birthday, so I have felt very sad on my birthday these past couple of years," he said. 

"I feel very bad that they have been sitting in jail for the past two years," he said.

The Apple Daily, founded by pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai, was raided by national security police on June 17, 2021, becoming one of the biggest casualties of draconian national security law imposed by the ruling Communist Party in a bid to suppress the 2019 protest movement.

Five days later, as the paper shut down for good, a group of editors and reporters gathered outside the headquarters of Lai's Next Digital media empire, bowing to their readers to show gratitude for their support over the years. 

"We are the Apple Daily editorial team, including reporters, and we have something to say to the people of Hong Kong – thank you," one said. 

The last edition of the paper sold a record-breaking 1 million copies, with people lining up on the street from the early hours to get their piece of Hong Kong history, making a bittersweet end to 26 years of the paper’s sensationalist, hard-hitting style and its cheery apple logo.

Two years later, the doors of Next Digital's former headquarters are boarded up, and the company's name has been erased from the bus stop outside. 

Leaving Hong Kong, journalism

Radio Free Asia caught up with four of its former journalists in recent weeks, marking the second anniversary of the raid. 

Not many former Apple Daily staffers – who once numbered around 600 – are still in journalism, while an estimated 1 in 10, have left Hong Kong for a new life overseas. 

Meanwhile, at least 15 other media outlets have since also shut down, either because they were also being investigated by the national security police, or as a pre-emptive decision. 

Of the former journalists who spoke to RFA Cantonese, some have changed careers, others have emigrated, and some have gone back to school. 

And some diehards have clung to their profession because they believe very strongly in the idea of a free press for Hong Kongers – wherever they are in the world.

Three former staff members, who gave only the pseudonyms Ah Y, Ah A, and Jimuk for fear of political reprisals against themselves or their loved ones, spoke to Radio Free Asia about their current plans and their memories of the crackdown, which proved so fateful not just for the Apple Daily, but for Hong Kong. 

A fourth – Taiwan-based Photon News website founder Leung Ka Lai – agreed to speak on the record.

More than a job

All are still struggling in their own way to come to terms with the loss of their paper, which was so much more than a job, and which has become a symbol of the crackdown on dissent and peaceful political opposition in Hong Kong since the protest movement tried to take issue with the erosion of the city's promised freedoms.

"I worked for the Apple Daily for more than 20 years – that place took all of my blood, sweat and tears. Anyone who says they don't miss the place is lying," Ah Y said. 

For Ah A, it's the openness of the interactions with colleagues he misses the most. 

"That open atmosphere made me very happy to go to work,” he said. “I miss that rapport with my colleagues, and I miss the feeling of everyone working together."

Jimuk said he still treasures every moment he spent working there.  

"I haven't forgotten anything about the paper over the last two years because I invested so much in it, both mentally and emotionally, and did some good work there," they said. 

For Ah Y, who now lives in the United Kingdom, there seems to be little point in staying in the industry at all. "These days being a journalist seems pretty pointless," he said, adding that he hadn't planned on leaving the profession, and isn't sure what to do now.   

"It's not easy to just change careers after 20 years in journalism," he said. "I've spent more than half of my working life doing this job, and I always thought I would keep doing it until I retired." 

Ah Y now does manual labor in Britain.

 "Being a journalist has lost its meaning in this day and age," he said. "It would feel like going through the motions, like a zombie. And there isn't much of a future in it for young people." 

Keeping the spirit alive

Jimuk is carrying out academic research into the Apple Daily in Taiwan, and teaching students from Taiwan and the rest of the world about the demise of press freedom in Hong Kong and about the 2019 protest movement. 

He feels that he's still working as a communicator, only in a different venue and profession. 

"I often think about how to keep the spirit of the Apple Daily alive," he said. "Also about how we can help preserve its history. My aim over the next few years is to create an academic archive detailing more than two decades of Apple Daily history.”

Ah Y has also written about Hong Kong for some Taiwanese news organizations, something he has been grateful for because he feels as if he is helping Hong Kong from overseas. 

Ah A decided to brave the chilly political climate and stay in Hong Kong, but hasn't managed to find another reporting job, as his resume is now tainted by his association with his former paper.

Instead, he has worked in sales, data analysis and as an Uber driver since the paper's demise. 

He said media organizations in Hong Kong now appear reluctant to hire him.  

"Journalists I have worked with from other media organizations have invited me to interview, and I went to more than one that was on the point of hiring me, but then didn't get approval from the highest level," he said. 

"Each time it was because I was one of the last journalists to leave the Apple Daily," he said. 

Excluded

It seems that being a former Apple Daily journalist is now something akin to the Black Five Categories of the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 in mainland China – a recipe for vilification and exclusion, according to its former staffers.

Some former journalists at the paper have even been turned down for teaching positions in universities.  

"It's a shame, because I would never have done this job for so long if I didn't really love it," said Ah A, who was a journalist for 16 years. "But the industry is changing so rapidly that I probably wouldn't be able to bear it. I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for that."  

"I prefer the challenge of trying a different career altogether," he said. 

As the ruling Communist Party tightened its grip on Hong Kong in the wake of the 2019 protest movement, it "gutted" press freedom in the city, according to journalists and overseas rights groups. 

Since the national security law took effect on July 1, 2020, Hong Kong has plummeted from 18th to 140th in Reporters Without Borders' annual press freedom index. 

Last hurrah

The 2019 protest movement, which was covered round-the-clock by a dedicated press corps who braved constant street battles between protesters and riot police, may have been its last hurrah. 

With daily drone footage, live-tweeting, live streams, running commentary, political debate and in-depth interviews with participants, Hong Kong's journalists offered a depth and intensity of coverage that hasn't been seen in the city since. 

That year, they really fulfilled their role as the fourth estate that holds governments to account and speaks truth to power.

But by the following year, the National Security Law had put an end to the activities of its once-intrepid press corps, barring the depiction of any scenes or slogans seen as “glorifying” the protesters or their aims.

Jimmy Lai, who was initially arrested and released on bail at the time of the national security raid, was taken back into custody, where he remains awaiting trial on national security charges. 

He was also convicted of "fraud" in connection with the alleged misuse of Next Digital premises under the terms of its lease agreement. 

Meanwhile, six former Apple Daily executives have pleaded guilty to "conspiring and colluding with foreign powers" under the national security law. 

Other casualties

Six months after the raid on the Apple Daily, the pro-democracy Stand News website was also forced to close, with two of its senior editors prosecuted. A month later, Citizen News followed suit, saying it needed to shut down to keep its journalists safe. 

"Four years on, the transformation has been shocking," Leung Ka Lai said. "Nobody thought this could happen, not even people with more than a decade of experience in Hong Kong media organizations." 

"I used to think it would be something like the frog in the gradually heating pan of water, but actually, things changed overnight," she said. 

Leung, who worked for 16 years as a journalist in Hong Kong, the last three of them at the Apple Daily, tried to stay on after the paper closed, working as a citizen journalist covering protests and political opposition. 

But she has since moved to the democratic island of Taiwan, where she founded Photon News, a service for Hong Kong readers anywhere in the world. 

‘Be water’

Leaving felt like the Bruce Lee maxim used by the 2019 protesters to denote a fluid approach to political opposition, "Be Water."  

"I chose to leave because it turns out that there is some space to do my work here, enough freedom of expression," she said.   

"Resistance takes many forms, and refusing to put up banners can be a form of resistance, if that's what the regime wants you to do," Leung said. "I don't want to put up protest banners -- I'm a journalist." 

Yet Leung has found that self-censorship has dogged her shoestring news operation even in Taiwan, as people are reluctant to speak to the press due to risks under the national security law. There is also the need to protect her own employees. 

“We are now overseas, in a place that isn't threatened by Hong Kong's National Security Law, but still have to consider the safety of anonymous colleagues, and sometimes there are decisions to be made about which stories to run, and how they should be written," Leung said. 

While some former colleagues have carried on reporting via social media, there are concerns about how effective an option this can be in the longer term.

"There are lot of like-minded colleagues in Hong Kong who have started their own news platforms, and there seems to be some room for them to do that," Leung said, adding that while 12 media organizations have folded, 15 new services -- albeit smaller and less well-funded -- have sprung up to take their place. 

"But Hong Kongers are pretty picky, and won't just accept anything you feed them," she said, adding that the prospects for what little press freedom remains are looking grim, with the government planning further national security legislation.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Edward Li for RFA Cantonese.

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Ken Klippenstein.

The offer from the prime minister followed the closing of the country’s last independent news outfit earlier this month. The government job offers are part of a wider effort ahead of the July general elections to co-opt opposition members by luring them to join the ruling Cambodia People’s Party.

Six of the 25 staff members are women who have already applied to work in government ministries, CPP spokesman Sok Ey San told Radio Free Asia. As promised by Hun Sen, the former employees won’t need to take the normally required government entrance examinations, he said, calling it a special case.

“The government has the right to make the decision. Please have confidence in the government who is responsible for giving jobs to them [VOD staff] during this difficult time,’ he said.

VOD reported widely on abuses of power and corruption in Cambodia for more than 20 years. It was shut down by Hun Sen after the outlet reported on Feb. 9 that the prime minister’s son had approved a government donation to support Turkey’s earthquake recovery efforts. 

The closure has left the country with no independent source of news.

VOD’s acting director Ith Sothoeut said the former staff members have the right to join the government. He said he remains saddened that the government revoked the license, but he hopes VOD can someday continue its mission to promote freedom of expression in Cambodia.

“Cambodia’s constitution guarantees press freedom. VOD hopes to promote this freedom,” he said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

On the heels of New York Times workers walking off the job, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday made the case for revamping the nation's news media system by giving reporters around the United States the resources necessary to produce high-quality journalism for the benefit of society.

In an email to supporters, the Vermont Independent described how profit-maximizing media outlets have undermined reporting on the most pressing problems facing the country and called for significant reforms and investments to support the accountability and public interest journalism on which democracy depends.

"One reason we do not have enough real journalism in America right now is because far too many media outlets are led primarily by the pursuit of profit."

"Today in America, after decades of consolidation and deregulation, some eight multinational media companies control almost all the news you watch, read, hear, and download," Sanders wrote. "All across the country, corporate conglomerates and hedge fund vultures have bought and consolidated local newspapers and slashed their newsrooms—all while giving executives and shareholders big payouts."

The consequences of this trend have been nothing short of catastrophic, he argued, noting that more than 1,400 communities nationwide have seen their hometown newspapers disappear—with negative knock-on effects for local television, radio, and digital sites that count on them for reporting—as Wall Street giants gobble up and strip mine local news organizations.

Meanwhile, publishers are selling billions of dollars worth of "pharmaceutical and oil ads while failing to provide a consistently fair hearing for issues like Medicare for All or downplaying coverage of the climate crisis," the Vermont progressive continued. Moreover, even though millions of people across the U.S. are struggling paycheck-to-paycheck, "budget-strapped newspapers" have not ramped up their coverage of poverty.

"At precisely the moment we need more reporters covering the healthcare crisis, the climate emergency, and economic inequality," Sanders wrote, "the corporate media is incentivized to ignore or downplay these critical issues."

"The American people desperately need high-quality journalism," the senator stressed. "When we have had real journalism, we have seen crimes like Watergate exposed and confronted. When we have lacked real journalism, we have seen crimes like mortgage fraud go unnoticed and unpunished, leading to a devastating financial crisis that destroyed millions of Americans' lives."

Sanders' intervention comes one day after more than 1,000 unionized New York Times workers participated in a one-day strike over management's refusal to approve a contract with better pay and healthcare benefits following months of negotiations.

Times Guild members' ongoing fight "for a living wage and fair pay," Sanders wrote Friday, "is not so radical when the company just approved $150 million in stock buybacks for its investors."

"Real journalism requires significant resources," he continued, "and one reason we do not have enough real journalism in America right now is because far too many media outlets are led primarily by the pursuit of profit as opposed to investing in the workers and resources it takes to educate the people of this country and hold the powerful accountable."

Sanders argued that "it is long past time" for lawmakers to:

• Reinstate and strengthen media ownership rules;
• Limit the number of stations that large broadcasting corporations can own in each market and nationwide;
• Prevent tech giants like Facebook and Google from using their enormous market power to cannibalize and defund news organizations, especially the small and independent ones without the infrastructure to fight back; and
• Explore new ways to empower media workers to effectively collectively bargain with large corporations like The New York Times.

Some of Sanders' suggestions echo policy recommendations made by University of Pennsylvania professor Victor Pickard, an expert on the political economy of media and the relationship between journalism and democracy.

"Quality journalism is not possible when media workers are unable to earn a living wage, and when corporations prioritize profit above all else."

In an essay published last week in The Progressive, Pickard pointed out that "more than one-fifth of the U.S. population—approximately 70 million Americans—now live in an area with little or no access to local news."

He warned that "all manner of disinformation and conspiracy-peddling are rushing into the vacuum created by the collapse of local journalism, including right-wing propaganda operations made to look like authentic news reporting."

"A dwindling number of newspapers failing to produce even the bare minimum of news that society requires isn't just a journalism crisis—it's a democracy crisis," wrote Pickard. "While journalism isn't a silver bullet for solving the many challenges facing us—from climate change to racial injustice to the soaring rate of income inequality—we cannot begin to confront these wicked problems without a functional fourth estate."

"Thus far," Pickard argued, "the depth of the journalism crisis has outpaced any concerted policy response—especially at the level necessary for reconstructing the entire news media ecosystem."

He continued:

After a modest newspaper subsidy program died with the demise of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better legislation, the only policy intervention to emerge at the federal level is the dubiously named Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), which would allow media firms to essentially collude and present a united front to negotiate better terms and extract more revenue from platforms like Facebook and Google.

Despite much hype, the JCPA amounts to a corporate giveaway to big broadcasters and publishers—many of whom have been complicit in exacerbating the journalism crisis—instead of directly supporting journalists or creating new outlets. Indeed, the likes of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Gannett, and Alden stand to benefit from the JCPA. This trickle-down approach to funding journalism attests to the paucity of the American social imagination and the lack of political will to devise nonmarket support for a vital public service. A straightforward alternative to the JCPA would be taxing Facebook and Google to create a dedicated fund (perhaps combined with revenue streams from philanthropists, public subsidies, and other sources) to support nonprofit reporting in news deserts and other underserved areas.

Pickard went on to highlight "glimmers of an alternative news media system... flickering from the wreckage." He cited "the growing number of progressive initiatives at the state and local levels," including efforts to directly subsidize local journalism in New Jersey and California, as well as blossoming nonprofit endeavors, which demonstrate "the potential for radically democratized media outlets that are public not just in name but in ownership and control."

"The explosion of newsroom unionization efforts across the country offers hope as well," wrote Pickard. "The past decade has witnessed nearly 200 successful union drives at news publications. The wave of successful unionizing in recent years attests to the growing sense of solidarity and commitment to social justice among news workers. We might even envision future newsrooms owned and controlled by media workers themselves."

"What brings these various efforts together is a shared vision of journalism that centers people's civic needs rather than a commodity whose value is determined solely by its profitability in the marketplace," he continued. "They treat journalism as an essential public service whose primary purpose is to facilitate participatory democracy, not merely as a vehicle for a handful of rich, white men to make gobs of money."

Nevertheless, "much more must be done," Pickard stressed. "We need systemic projects that guarantee a baseline level of news and information for all members of society, not just the privileged few who live in affluent neighborhoods."

In his email, Sanders wrote that "our Constitution's First Amendment explicitly protects the free press because the founders understood how important journalism is to a democracy."

"Quality journalism is not possible when media workers are unable to earn a living wage, and when corporations prioritize profit above all else," he concluded. "We need to rebuild and protect a diverse and truly independent press so that real journalists and media workers can do the critical jobs that they love, and that a functioning democracy requires."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Kenny Stancil.

Organizers announced Friday that the staffs of two progressives in Congress became the second and third offices to unionize after House Democrats passed a historic resolution enabling them to do so earlier this year.

Following the first successful union election by staffers of outgoing Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.)—who led the related resolution—the offices of Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) voted to form unions.

"What an incredible thing to watch workers come together and demand democracy in the workplace, and in Congress of all places!" said Courtney Rose Laudick, VP of organizing with the Congressional Workers Union (CWU). "Cheers goes out to these brave workers. Welcome to the union family."

CWU said in a statement that "we are witnessing a monumental moment right now on Capitol Hill and in the labor movement that will go down in history."

"Congratulations to the brave staff in Congresswoman Omar's office for their landslide election victory," CWU added. "We look forward to working with former union member and labor champion, Congresswoman Omar."

Omar also welcomed the development, which she tied to a broader resurgence of the U.S. labor movement—with U.S. workers fighting for unions at major corporations including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Starbucks.

"As a former union member myself and someone who represents a union district in Minnesota, I am deeply proud of my staff for making their collective voices heard and voting to unionize," Omar said. "Unions are the bedrock of the middle class."

"The labor movement helped get us the 40-hour work week, the weekend, and child labor laws," she continued. "Every single worker deserves a union to represent them and fight for their wages, benefits, and basic workplace protections. It is long past time the United States Congress became a unionized workplace, and that includes my own staff. I am proud of all the people on my team who have played a leading role in the staff unionization effort. Solidarity forever."

Khanna similarly welcomed the news in a series of tweets Friday, congratulating his staff and recognizing that "it takes tremendous bravery to stand up and chart a new path forward."

Khanna and Omar's offices voted this week, after CWU announced Monday that Levin's staff voted unanimously "to bargain collectively and have a seat at the table to determine workplace conditions and benefits."

While Khanna and Omar are widely expected to win reelection in November, Levin, a Jewish progressive, was defeated in an August primary by fellow incumbent Democrat Haley Stevens, who was backed by millions of dollars from pro-Israel groups.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

Citing the failure of the Biden administration and U.S. Congress to take meaningful action to combat the climate emergency, a group of congressional staff members on Monday staged a sit-in at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's Washington, D.C. office that ended in their mass arrest.

"Our house is on fire, and Manchin burned the stairs. Democratic leaders are walking away. We cannot."

"Guess Chuck really didn't want to talk about climate today," one of the arrestees said, according to New Yorker writer Andrew Marantz. 

During their demonstration, the 17 protesters held up signs reading "Climate Action Now, Chuck" and "Our Farms Are Flooding," and sang "Solidarity Forever."

Before his arrest, protester Saul Levin—who works on climate justice, labor, and transit policy for Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and is coordinator of the Congressional Progressive Staff Association Climate Working Group—tweeted that the staffers "are peacefully sitting in on Sen. Schumer's office to demand Dems pass climate justice policy this year."

"We are putting our bodies on the line because we have no other choice," he added.

In a Monday letter to President Joe Biden and Schumer (D-N.Y.), 165 congressional and executive agency staffers "demand that you take ambitious, assertive action before the end of July to address the climate crisis."

"We have worked tirelessly to achieve a safe and livable future," the staffers wrote. "Meanwhile, you have refused to declare a climate emergency."

The letter continues:

Every day that you do not act the climate crisis spirals further out of control... In the coming days you must execute a multi-pronged approach at the executive and legislative levels to secure our future and cement your legacy. First, it is imperative that you immediately declare a climate emergency and end fossil fuel extraction on federal lands. Then, and most importantly, you must intervene in stalled Senate negotiations.

The signers lamented that Schumer "has gone to some lengths" to secure Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) support for "compromised climate policy," including by "offering pipelines and other problematic trades to secure his vote" and identifying "key policies you could water down as a negotiation tactic."

The letter argues it is imperative that Manchin votes for the Build Back Better Act's climate justice provisions "by the end of July as part of a reconciliation package."

"As political strategists, policy writers, and communication experts, we urge you to take a new approach that meets the urgency of this crisis," the staffers wrote. They suggest options to secure Manchin's critical vote, including stripping him of his Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairmanship, shutting down the Mountain Valley Pipeline project, banning mountaintop coal removal, and strengthening air and water pollution standards.

"This is an absolute emergency, and we want to work together," the protesters asserted, "but since action to meet the scale of the crisis has yet to be delivered, we have no choice but to take matters into our own hands through nonviolent direct action."

In an interview with The Lever, Levin, the Cori Bush staffer, said that "our house is on fire, and Manchin burned the stairs. Democratic leaders are walking away. We cannot. We must test the fire escape, find the fire extinguisher, tie some sheets together if we have to: Our lives depend on it."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Brett Wilkins.

Federal agency staffers and congressional office members have a message for President Joe Biden as his climate agenda languishes in the Senate: Ensure that fossil fuel industry ally Sen. Joe Manchin faces significant consequences for obstructing legislative progress.

In a letter first reported by The Lever on Monday, 165 staffers from federal health and environmental agencies and nearly 80 congressional offices urged Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to "strip Senator Manchin of his chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, shut down the Mountain Valley Pipeline Project, eliminate the use of mountaintop removal and coal burning, and establish stringent water and air pollution standards."

"Every day that you do not act, the climate crisis spirals further out of control."

"This is an absolute emergency, and we want to work together, but since action to meet the scale of the crisis has yet to be delivered, we have no choice but to take matters into our own hands through non-violent direct action," reads the letter, which staffers have signed with initials to protect themselves from potential retaliation.

The letter marks the second time in two weeks that staffers on Capitol Hill have voiced anger and frustration over the federal government's inaction in the face of a climate emergency that's only getting worse, as evidenced by out-of-control wildfires and the record-shattering heatwaves scorching much of the Northern Hemisphere.

Earlier this month, more than 200 congressional staffers warned in a letter to Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that "our country is nearing the end of a two-year window that represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass transformative climate policy."

"The silence on expansive climate justice policy on Capitol Hill this year has been deafening," the letter added. "We write to distance ourselves from your dangerous inaction."

The latest letter, dated July 24 and currently circulating among government staffers, zeroes in on executive action that Biden can and must take following Manchin's decision to block any new green energy funding as part of Democrats' nascent reconciliation package, imperiling the nation's hopes of reining in greenhouse gas emissions in time to avert climate catastrophe.

Saul Levin, a staffer for Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) who provided the letter to The Lever, tweeted Monday that "we refuse to remain silent until climate policy is passed."

"We, the undersigned staff of the United States Congress and executive agencies, write to you today to demand that you take ambitious, assertive action before the end of July to address the climate crisis," the letter reads. "We have worked tirelessly to achieve a safe and liveable future. Meanwhile, you have refused to declare a climate emergency."

"Every day that you do not act, the climate crisis spirals further out of control," warn the staffers. "The coming days represent our best opportunity to address the climate crisis and save countless lives with robust climate justice policy."

"Even if Democrats control both chambers and the White House again in four years," the letter adds, "inaction in this moment will cause an era of record temperatures, extreme drought, sea level rise, and other deadly climate disasters. We do not have years to waste."

A day after Manchin told Democratic leaders earlier this month that he wouldn't accept any new climate funding as part of the emerging reconciliation bill, a chorus of environmental groups called on Biden to cancel the Mountain Valley Pipeline in response, a demand that agency staffers echoed in their letter.

Manchin has been an outspoken supporter of the pipeline, which would carry fracked gas from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia.

"Manchin has proven once again that he doesn't care about the planetary destruction that will cause immeasurable death," Ashley Thomson, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA, said in a July 15 statement. "President Biden has no more excuses. He must start using his executive powers to full effect if we're going to make any progress in preventing the worst climate disasters in our country."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Jake Johnson.

More than 200 congressional staffers have urged the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to finalize a reconciliation package that includes robust measures to tackle the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency before the August recess.

"If we are already witnessing the consequences of inaction in your lifetime, we can scarcely imagine what we will face in ours."

"We've crafted the legislation necessary to avert climate catastrophe," the staffers wrote in a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday night. "It's time for you to pass it." The letter, signed anonymously with initials, was first shared with CNN.

"Our country is nearing the end of a two-year window that represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass transformative climate policy," the letter continues. "The silence on expansive climate justice policy on Capitol Hill this year has been deafening. We write to distance ourselves from your dangerous inaction."

The rare staff-authored letter criticizing party leadership and calling for specific legislation comes as Schumer conducts last-ditch negotiations with right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) on a scaled-back economic package that can be passed without Republican votes through the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process.

Manchin rewarded his corporate donors last year by siding with the GOP to tank the more wide-ranging Build Back Better Act, but he has recently endorsed the idea of a narrow bill aimed at reducing the surging cost of living, specifically backing a proposal that would enable Medicare to negotiate lower prices for certain prescription drugs.

When it comes to climate action, however, Manchin remains an obstacle. The long-time coal profiteer continues to insist—erroneously, according to experts—that easing pain at the pump requires further expanding domestic fossil fuel production.

While the White House has offered to approve some oil and gas projects in exchange for Manchin's support on a reconciliation bill that includes significant funding for renewable energy, such a deal remains elusive because Biden administration officials are wary of authorizing more drilling and pipelines before a vote is held, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Last year, Manchin reneged on his promise to support the Build Back Better Act after a fossil fuel-friendly infrastructure bill that he helped author was signed into law.

For Democratic congressional staffers, there is no time to waste. The letter, which was initiated on Monday and by Tuesday had spread to dozens of House and Senate offices, "is extremely popular with congressional staff," Saul Levin, a Green New Deal organizer in Rep. Cori Bush's (D-Mo.) office, told CNN.

"This rose up out of staffers' frustration," said Levin, coordinator of the Congressional Progressive Staff Association Climate Working Group. "A lot of people have worked on this bill for years, since before [President] Joe Biden was elected. [The letter] represents immense frustration of people who are really close to power and did our job. How can we go home and tell our families we did our job this whole time and there's no climate policy?"

The staffers, many of whom are young, stressed in their letter that the consequences of failure are planetary and deadly—echoing the oft-repeated message of climate scientists as well as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who has warned that the world's fossil fuel addiction is "suicidal" and "mutually assured destruction."

"If we are already witnessing the consequences of inaction in your lifetime," the staffers wrote, "we can scarcely imagine what we will face in ours."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Kenny Stancil.

The police officer, who did not give his name, provided the names of the detained teachers at the Kashgar Sports School, which is located in the district his station patrols, but said he didn’t know the reasons for the arrests.

Uyghur instructors and staff members Adil Tursun, Amir, Osmanjan and Qeyserjan were arrested in early 2017, he said. Authorities later arrested the school’s Taekwondo trainer, Abduxkur, and math teacher, Esqerjan. Another employee, Nurmemet Yasin, was the last to be detained.

“I don’t know the last names of these teachers,” he said. “They were sentenced to four years or five years each for re-education. I don’t where they are now.”

Uyghurs comprised about 20% of the employees among the school’s total 60-some workers. The rest were Han Chinese, according to a Uyghur source who knows about the school.

“Osmanjan is around 42 or 43,” said a source familiar with the school staff, who did not want to be named. “Amir is the same age as Osmanjan. They graduated from the same class. Adil Tursun is about 45. We don’t know the reasons why they were arrested.”

An earlier RFA report confirmed that authorities arrested Alimjan Mehmut, a volleyball teacher at the Kashgar Sports School who served as a torchbearer for China’s 2008 Summer Olympics.

Mehmut was sentenced to eight years in a prison in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) for “befriending bearded men” under a deepening crackdown on Islamic practices and culture, according to information provided by the Norway-based rights organization Uyghur Hjelp, which documents missing and imprisoned Uyghurs in the XUAR.

“Alimjan Mehmut was arrested before I went to work at the school,” said the source. “It’s been two years since he was arrested.”

In RFA’s previous story, Aduweli Ayup, the Uyghur linguist who runs the Uyghur Hjelp website, said that Mehmut was one of at least six or seven instructors, including two volleyball coaches, from the Kashgar Sports School hauled away by authorities in past years.

At the time, Ayup also named Mehmut’s colleagues, Ezizjan and Ezisqari from the Kashgar Sports School among those arrested, though their detentions have not yet been confirmed by police.

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Shohret Hoshur for RFA Uyghur.

The police officer, who did not give his name, provided the names of the detained teachers at the Kashgar Sports School, which is located in the district his station patrols, but said he didn’t know the reasons for the arrests.

Uyghur instructors and staff members Adil Tursun, Amir, Osmanjan and Qeyserjan were arrested in early 2017, he said. Authorities later arrested the school’s Taekwondo trainer, Abduxkur, and math teacher, Esqerjan. Another employee, Nurmemet Yasin, was the last to be detained.

“I don’t know the last names of these teachers,” he said. “They were sentenced to four years or five years each for re-education. I don’t where they are now.”

Uyghurs comprised about 20% of the employees among the school’s total 60-some workers. The rest were Han Chinese, according to a Uyghur source who knows about the school.

“Osmanjan is around 42 or 43,” said a source familiar with the school staff, who did not want to be named. “Amir is the same age as Osmanjan. They graduated from the same class. Adil Tursun is about 45. We don’t know the reasons why they were arrested.”

An earlier RFA report confirmed that authorities arrested Alimjan Mehmut, a volleyball teacher at the Kashgar Sports School who served as a torchbearer for China’s 2008 Summer Olympics.

Mehmut was sentenced to eight years in a prison in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) for “befriending bearded men” under a deepening crackdown on Islamic practices and culture, according to information provided by the Norway-based rights organization Uyghur Hjelp, which documents missing and imprisoned Uyghurs in the XUAR.

“Alimjan Mehmut was arrested before I went to work at the school,” said the source. “It’s been two years since he was arrested.”

In RFA’s previous story, Aduweli Ayup, the Uyghur linguist who runs the Uyghur Hjelp website, said that Mehmut was one of at least six or seven instructors, including two volleyball coaches, from the Kashgar Sports School hauled away by authorities in past years.

At the time, Ayup also named Mehmut’s colleagues, Ezizjan and Ezisqari from the Kashgar Sports School among those arrested, though their detentions have not yet been confirmed by police.

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Shohret Hoshur for RFA Uyghur.