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An image grab from footage distributed by Al-Jazeera TV shows a reporter reacting (R) as the channel’s veteran journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh (Akleh) is seen on the ground after being shot in the face in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, yesterday.
PHOTO: AFP

COLONIAL-ERA SEDITION LAW

India SC freezes law until review
AFP, New Delhi
India’s Supreme Court yesterday suspended a colonial-era sedition law that activists say is often used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to target free speech and dissent.
Modi’s critics say that the law, which was once used by Britain to target independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, has been abused by his government against many journalists, activists and students.
Section 124A of the Indian penal code gives wide-ranging powers to the police to arrest people, who can even face life imprisonment, for an act or speech that “brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government”.
“The rigours of Section 124A (are) not in tune with the current social milieu, and was intended for a time when this country was under the colonial regime,” India’s chief justice NV Ramana, part of a three-judge bench hearing a petition against the law, said.
Ramana asked the government not to file any new sedition cases and pause ongoing sedition investigations.
“All pending trials, appeals and proceedings” under sedition, the court said, “be kept in abeyance” until the “re-examination of the provision is complete”.
The government had said Monday that it had decided to “re-examine and reconsider” the law but it remained in force.
The top court also urged people jailed for sedition to approach local courts for bail. India’s official data says 236 people faced sedition charges between 2018 and 2020.
The law has long been misused by all Indian political parties in power but critics say Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has widened its scope, including to target minorities and ideological dissenters.
India sparked global outrage last year after 22-year-old climate change activist Disha Ravi was arrested for sedition for allegedly creating a “toolkit” to aid anti-government farmer protests.

New Delhi relaxes rules for coal mines
AGENCIES
India’s environment ministry has allowed coal mines with clearances to increase output by 40 percent to step up production by up to 50 percent without seeking feedback from locals, it said in a memo reviewed by Reuters.
The decision was taken after a request from the coal ministry which pointed to “huge pressure on domestic coal supply in the country,” the ministry said in a memo dated May 7, adding that the “special dispensation” will be valid for six months.
India is also planning to reopen more than 100 coal mines previously considered financially unsustainable, as the worst power crisis in over six years driven by a scorching heatwave forces the world’s third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter to double down on the fuel after months of low consumption.
The projects “shall be granted expansion environmental clearance to increase their production capacity to 50 percent of original capacity within the same mine lease area without requiring revised environmental impact assessment report for additional capacity and public consultation,” the memo read.
India, the world’s second-largest producer, importer and consumer of coal, addresses nearly 75 percent of its electricity requirement using coal.