Reporters Without Borders Seeks to Cancel Press Event Critical of White Helmets

© Ammar Abdullah / Reuters

A press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, has asked the Swiss Press Club to cancel a panel discussion on the “true agenda” of the controversial White Helmets group. But the club’s director won’t budge, noting that such demands are typically made by oppressive regimes.

Oppressive regimes who don't want the truth to come out.

Guy Mettan, executive director of the Swiss Press Club, says he was asked by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Switzerland to cancel the conference. The press freedom organization, which is a member of the Swiss Press Club, said it did not want to be associated with the event.

"I have never seen such a thing," Mettan told Tribune de Geneve. “Now an organization that defends freedom of information is asking me to censor a press conference".

"Usually the pressure to cancel press conferences comes from countries that are known to be dictatorships. RSF's approach stunned me. It's taking journalists for fools. As if they were not able to form an opinion for themselves!”

Independent journalist Vanessa Beeley, who has done extensive reporting from inside Syria, will speak at Tuesday’s event alongside French journalist Richard Labeviere, an expert on the Middle East and international terrorism, and Marcello Ferrada de Noli, chair of Swedish Doctors for Human Rights (SWEDHR).

The conference, which will also include a multimedia presentation, is billed as offering “a clear view on what is the real agenda of these Hollywood so-called ‘first responders’ who received an Oscar for their performance.”

tim anderson

@timand2037

The Wall Street creation "The #Syria Campaign" is trying to sabotage a Swiss Press Club event, set to expose the US-UK funded, #alQaeda PR group #The_White_Helmets. Fakes supporting fakes. @VanessaBeeley @EvaKBartlett

2:10 AM - Nov 23, 2017

 6 6 Replies   133 133 Retweets   146 146 likes

In a letter to Mettan published by Tribune de Geneve, Gérard Tschopp and Christiane Dubois, president and director of RSF in Switzerland, dismissed Beeley as a “so-called” journalist cited only by “Russian media propaganda.” They also claimed Swedish Doctors for Human Rights acts as “a tool of Russian propaganda.”

Noting that perhaps Mettan was unaware of this “information,” the letter urged the Swiss Press Club to “abandon” the event or risk tarnishing the club’s image. Mettan wrote back, denying the organization’s request and expressing disbelief that a group dedicated to protecting press freedom would advocate censorship.

“For the 20 years I have been working at the Swiss Press Club, I have always been under pressure to prevent people from expressing themselves. But so far these pressures have always come from authoritarian or dictatorial regimes, such as China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Bahrain,” wrote Mettan.

“This is the first time that a defense organization for journalists from a democratic country has sent me such a request. It goes without saying that I cannot act on it. It would dishonor a job that, I hope, is still yours.” Mettan called on RSF to participate in the event and present their point of view, rather than attempt censorship.

A documentary praising Syria’s White Helmets as heroes and saviors in Syria won an Oscar in February. Witnesses have meanwhile accused them of collaborating with terrorist groups, filming staged reports about their rescue work, engaging in looting and other misdeeds. Members of the group have been caught on camera several times performing dubious acts, including assisting with an apparent execution of a prisoner.

‘Volcano of Homosexuality’: Egypt’s Coptic Christians Organise Conference to ‘Treat’ Gays

An act of moral terrorism?

FILE PHOTO © Jamal Saidi / Reuters

The Coptic Church in Egypt has reportedly organized a conference entitled "The Volcano of Homosexuality" which will offer a variety of ways to "treat" homosexuality.

St. Mark's Orthodox Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria will set up the event to increase awareness about "treatments" for homosexuality and how best to ensure a "speedy recovery," reports The New Arab.

A date for the conference has yet to be confirmed but early reports indicate that a number of workshops will be provided at the event by a "homosexuality healing specialist" who will provide instruction on gay conversion therapy.

The Coptic church has previously described same-sex relationships as "immoral" and a "threat" to family stability.

"Therefore this marriage is completely refused from the Christian faith," head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, said when asked about gay marriage, as cited by Step Feed.  

"When God created man and woman and for them the first family was made by man and woman. [gay marriage] is not acceptable and it is considered as a sin. It's sin," he added.  

Homosexuality is taboo in Egypt among the nation's Muslim majority and Christians alike. The country has roughly 77 million Muslims and four million Christians, the vast majority of whom are Coptic.

Seven people were detained for flying the rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo on Monday.

Declaring yourself as a homosexual is not a human right,

Egyptian MP Shadia Thabit

"What happened at the concert cannot be accepted by society. Declaring yourself as a homosexual is not a human right," lawmaker and Egyptian Member of Parliament Shadia Thabit said, as cited by The New Arab.

"How can they openly announce their sins? Don't talk to me about human rights. They should go, get lost far away from us," she said.

Abbas Shouman of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo described the incident as an "act of moral terrorism," as cited by Egyptian Streets.

At a 2003 meeting of all Christian churches in Egypt, chaired by the former Pope of the Coptic Church, Shenouda III, leaders opposed attempts to legalize homosexual marriage, reports Egypt Independent.

Police in Egypt use decades-old laws to arrest members of the LGBT community including an anti-prostitution law established in 1950 and a 1961 law against "debauchery" which have been pretexts for raids on gay clubs and events in the country.

Regime Change Leads to Chaos & Persecution of Christians – Senior Russian Cleric

Did you know there was a conference of 130 countries this week on Christian persecution, in Washington? This is the first I have heard of it. Certainly, you will not hear about it from main-stream media. But if such a conference were held about transgender rights, it would be front-page news. 

MSM's anti-Christian bias is showing again!

Metropolitan Illarion of Volokolamsk, vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia 

© Ekaterina Chesnokova / Sputnik

The policy of regime change “in the name of democracy” gives terrorists control over vast territories and makes Christians flee and suffer, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev told RT during his Washington visit.

One of the top clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church and head of External Church Relations, Hilarion Alfeyev, spoke to an RT correspondent after the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians, which took place in the US capital.

The forum gathered representatives of more than 130 countries to testify on the persecution of Christians around the world.

Alfeyev noted that events in some states have “one and the same scenario,” in which an existing regime is accused of various crimes and the leader is ousted for being ‘undemocratic.’

“The regime is overthrown in the name of democracy, but instead of democracy… political chaos comes,” he told RT.

This allows terrorists to seize territory, jeopardizing Christian communities and causing people to flee as they are persecuted in their own land.

“This is precisely the situation that is used by terrorists to gain control of huge territories. This happened in Iraq, this happened in Libya,” he said, adding that great amounts of people have left those countries and many Christians there are still in danger.

“In Iraq under Saddam Hussein there were 1.5 million Christians, now there is probably one tenth of this quantity left and even those who are left are in constant danger. In Libya there was a strong Christian community, there is practically none of it left,” he said.

He added that he does not support any particular regime, but they can maintain “certain balances” between various religious and ethnic groups. The destruction of these balances leads to “tragedy for the Christians of Middle East.”

“It is largely due to the actions of previous administrations of the United States that the situation in the Middle East developed in this deplorable direction,” he said.

In 2003, the US-led invasion of Iraq started under a false pretext to eliminate weapons of mass destruction allegedly possessed by leader Saddam Hussein. The weapons were never found, but Hussein was deposed and later executed. Following the invasion, Iraq suffered a growing insurgency, which led to the spread of terrorism, and eventually, Islamic State, which has been particularly ruthless in their persecution of religious minorities, including Christians.

The UN-authorized intervention in Libya in 2011 led to the overthrow and murder of the country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Libya still does not have a unified government, and is torn apart by rival groups and radical jihadists.

Alfeyev also had the opportunity to speak with US Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the meeting in Washington.

“If there are several anti-terrorist coalitions which are fighting against one another, then the problem will remain and this is precisely what terrorists want. If the countries [are] able to set their political differences aside in order to act as allies in one anti-terrorist coalition, then it would be possible to win over terrorism,” he told Pence.

He also said that the Russian Orthodox Christian leadership supports Russia-US cooperation in restoring peace to Syria.

When asked why the US media does not pay much attention to the persecution of Christians, he said that many of them “are in the hands of those in opposition to the current President of the country.”

Alfeyev noted that he was rather surprised by the level of “anti-Trump hysteria” in the US media.