W Bank prisoner 'close to death'

21 March 2012 Last updated at 00:07 GMT  Ms Shalabi is experiencing muscle wastage and excruciating pain, medical rights activists say A Palestinian woman detained by Israel who has been on hunger strike for the past month is at "immediate risk of death", a medical rights group says.

Hana Shalabi, 30, needs to be transferred to hospital immediately, according to the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)-Israel group.

Ms Shalabi is protesting against being held without charge under a system called "administrative detention."

Israel uses the measure against those it deems a security risk.

Ms Shalabi has lost 14kg (31lbs), her muscles are wasting and she is in excruciating pain, Ran Cohen of PHR-Israel told the Associated Press news agency.

PHR-Israel says it and other human rights groups "share fears regarding the adequacy and timeliness of the medical care available [to Ms Shalabi], especially given the growing concern about her rapidly deteriorating condition".

For the time being, Ms Shalabi is being monitored at a prison clinic, an Israel Prison Service spokesperson told AP.

Ms Shalabi is reportedly a supporter of the militant group Islamic Jihad, which Israel has designated a terrorist organisation.

Ms Shalabi's hunger strike has won considerable sympathy amongst Palestinians

Ms Shalabi was one of the Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails as part of the deal to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit deal last October, but was detained again in February.

Prison authorities say 20 other Palestinian detainees have launched hunger strikes in support of Ms Shalabi in the past two weeks, AP reports.

Last month another Palestinian prisoner, Khader Adnan, ended a 66-day hunger strike after reaching a deal with the Israeli authorities that will see him released in April.

Mr Adnan, who is widely believed to be a leader of Islamic Jihad, is also being held under "administrative detention".

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Windows Close Button Resizer: Resize Close Button’s Width In Windows 7 & Vista

13th May 2011 - Customization, Downloads, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista

Windows Close Button Resizer is a freeware from door2windows that allows you to resize the width of the close button in Windows 7 & Vista.

Just run the tool, set the width and click Change. To restore the default size, click Restore.

(ZIP – 35 KB)

(EXE – 72 KB)

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China activist Ai Weiwei felt 'close to death'

BEIJING — Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, whose disappearance in April caused an international outcry, endured intense psychological pressure during 81 days in secretive detention and still faces the threat of prison for alleged subversion, a source familiar with the events told Reuters.

In the first broad account of Ai's treatment in detention since he was released in June, the source, who declined to be identified fearing retribution, said the 54-year-old artist was interrogated more than 50 times by police, while he was held in two secret locations.

BBC News, also citing a source, said that police told Ai that "this is what happens when you criticize the government."

The BBC's source said that Ai had described his time in detention as "the toughest situation a human being can be in" and said that he felt "close to death" every minute.

Ai exercised by walking in his cell for hours, covering an estimated 9 to 12 miles a day. The BBC source said he also had to salute his guards and ask for permission to drink water and use the toilet in the cell.

'Jasmine Revolution'
The questioning focused on his purported role in the planned Arab-inspired "Jasmine Revolution" protests in China in February and his writings that could constitute subversion, said the Reuters source.

That account runs counter to the Chinese government's repeated statements that Ai's detention was based on alleged economic crimes.

"What you're doing is illegal," Ai told police officers at one point, according to the source. "They said: 'Do you know before Liu Shaoqi died, he was holding the constitution ... Talk about illegality, there's no difference between the country that we are in now and the time of the Cultural Revolution," according to the source.

Liu, a former president, was purged and died in prison during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution when paramount leader Mao Zedong turned against his comrades in the name of radical upheaval.

Video: Activist artist Ai Weiwei released in China (on this page)

In the second location, where Ai was held for 67 days, the artist was watched over by two police officers for 24 hours a day, with their faces often inches from his, watching his every movement even while his slept.

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Ai was not allowed to speak and was watched over by the officers even while he slept. They demanded that he put his hands on top of the blanket, the source said.

"It was immense psychological pressure," the source said.

Under the conditions of Ai's release, he is not allowed to be interviewed by journalists, meet with foreigners, use the Internet and interact with human rights advocates for a year from his release, the source said.

Despite this, the burly artist, with flecks of gray in his distinctive beard, has spoken out on his Twitter account for detained dissidents and his associates who had disappeared during the time that he did but have since been released.

During his detention, Ai was fed well and allowed long walks, according to the Reuters source said.

Protected by his fame?
Ai has long been an outspoken government critic, and for a long time, many believed Ai had been somewhat protected by his fame and by being the son of a famed Communist poet, Ai Qing.

But when Ai was taken from the airport by plainclothes officers on April 3, they covered his head with a black hood, put him in a car and drove him to a secluded location, the source said.

Ai was told that he was being put under "residential surveillance." He asked whether he could have access to a lawyer or whether his family knew of his whereabouts, and police officers told him that could take up to six months.

Video: Gallery floor covered with 100 million porcelain seeds

While he was held, the source said, Ai was asked whether he knew who the organizers of the "Jasmine" protests were. Ai denied all knowledge, the source said.

Police officers discussed the contents of his blog and Twitter account, "line by line," the source said.

He was told he could face 10 years in prison for "inciting subversion to state power" — a broad charge that China often uses to punish dissidents.

On the day he was released, police officers told him he "could still be sentenced to 10 years," the source said, adding that Ai had to sign a contract stating that he would agree to the terms of his release before he could be released.

'Obscene person'
Ai's detention ignited an outcry from many Western governments about China's tightening grip on dissent that started in February, when dozens of rights activists and dissidents were detained and arrested.

The artist was the most internationally well-known of those detained, and his family has repeatedly said he was targeted by authorities for his outspoken criticism of censorship and Communist Party controls.

During the nearly three months of detention, his family and friends said his whereabouts were unknown. Ai met his wife Lu Qing once at a time when rumors circulated that he was being tortured.

Video: Artist documents 5335 dead in China quake

When Ai was released on bail in late June, the Chinese government said he remained under investigation for suspicion of economic crimes, including tax evasion. Ai told Reuters earlier that he has not received a formal notice from the authorities to explain the charge of "suspected economic crimes."

Police officers told Ai "you criticized the government, so we are going to let all society know that you're an obscene person, you evaded taxes, you have two wives, we want to shame you. We'll not use politics to deal with you," the source said.

The source said Ai told them "no one is going to believe you," but officers told him "everyone will believe us, tax evasion is a very serious crime in many countries."

Despite the intimidation, Ai is unlikely to leave the country for good, the source said. He had confirmed earlier to Reuters that he had accepted a visiting teaching post at the Berlin University of the Arts and that he would like to go to Germany, if given permission by the authorities.

Ai will not abandon his once prominent role as a free speech advocate, the source said.

On Tuesday, Ai tweeted that if people do not speak out for dissidents Wang Lihong and Ran Yunfei, they do "not stand for fairness and justice...and have no self-respect."

On Monday, he tweeted about the conditions of four associates who had been detained at the same time as Ai, saying "they innocently suffered immense mental devastation and physical torment."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Chinese city orders fake 'Apple Stores' to close

KUNMING, China — Chinese officials in Kunming have ordered two fake Apple shops to close, not because of piracy or copyright concerns, but because the stores in the southwestern city did not have an official business permit.

Five self-branded "Apple Stores" were found to be selling Apple products without authorisation from the California-based company but only two were told to shut, officials said.

An investigation into the stores was apparently sparked by a storm of media attention over an elaborate hoax Apple shop discovered by an American blogger. The order did not apply to that store, which is applying for a reseller licence with Apple, a local government spokesman said.

"Media should not misunderstand the situation and jump to conclusions. Some overseas media has made it appear the stores sold fake Apple products," said Chang Puyun, spokesman of Kunming government's business bureau.

"China has taken great steps to enforce intellectual property rights and the stores weren't selling fake products."

Entire fake Apple shop found in China

Officials are investigating whether Apple had applied with the Chinese government to have its store design and layout protected by law, Chang added.

Inspections of around 300 shops in Kunming were carried out after a blog post by an American living in the city exposed a near-flawless fake Apple Store where even the staff were convinced they were working for the iPhone and iPad maker.

'Look and feel'
In addition to protecting trademarks, Chinese law prohibits companies from copying the "look and feel" of other companies' stores, but enforcement is often spotty.

The United States and other Western countries have often complained China is woefully behind in its effort to stamp out intellectual property (IP) theft.

"We hope that they will take continuous action against other Intellectual Property Rights violations," Ioana Kraft, general manager of the Shanghai chapter of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said in an emailed comment to Reuters.

In May, China was listed for the seventh year by the U.S. Trade Representative's office as a country with one of the worst records for preventing copyright theft.

Piracy and counterfeiting of U.S. software and a wide range of other intellectual property in China cost U.S. businesses alone an estimated $48 billion and 2.1 million jobs in 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission has said.

Countless unauthorised resellers of Apple and other brands' electronic products throughout China sell the real thing but buy their goods overseas and smuggle them into the country to skip taxes.

Angry customers berated staff and demanded refunds at one of the fake stores late last week, uncertain of legitimacy of the products on offer.

All the five unauthorised Apple shops in Kunming were selling genuine Apple products bought from other authorised resellers in China, Huang Yinghui, an official at the city's business bureau, told Reuters.

Apple has just four genuine Apple Stores in China, in Beijing and Shanghai, and none in Kunming in Yunnan province. The company, which has 13 authorised resellers in Kunming, could not be reached for comment.

Apple's brand is the world's most valuable, worth some $153 billion, according to a study earlier this year.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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