Show Menu
Brasil de Fato
PORTUGUESE
Listen to BdF Radio
  • Podcasts
  • TV BDF
  • |
  • Politics
  • Brazil
  • BRICS
  • Climate
  • Struggles
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Culture
No Result
View All Result
Show Menu
Brasil de Fato
  • Podcasts
  • TV BDF
  • |
  • Politics
  • Brazil
  • BRICS
  • Climate
  • Struggles
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Culture
Show Menu
Listen to BdF Radio
No Result
View All Result
Brasil de Fato
Home English

Persecution

Software developer and privacy activist Ola Bini detained in Ecuador without charges

Bini’s arrest comes within hours of Ecuadorian interior minister claiming that there are “Russian” hackers in Ecuador

12.Apr.2019 às 09h59
Peoples Dispatch
|Peoples Dispatch
Quito Airport, where Ola Bini is detained while he was about to board a flight to Japan

Quito Airport, where Ola Bini is detained while he was about to board a flight to Japan - Jordy Vaca/Wikimedia Commons

Ola Bini, a software developer and activist, was detained in Quito by the Ecuadorian government on April 11. Bini was about to board a flight to Japan when he was detained. Authorities are yet to file charges against him and he has not been allowed to a lawyer or his friends.

The detention came hours after Ecuador’s interior minister claimed at a press conference that there were “Russian hackers” in the country. Bini has been a prominent advocate of free software and comprehensive digital privacy. He has done extensive work on anonymity and secure communication with a variety of internal organizations, in addition to writing books on technology. He is a Swedish citizen with valid work and residence permits in Ecuador. His detention is being seen as part of a crackdown on the community that s technology that enables greater security in communications.

At the time of his detention, Bini, a martial arts enthusiast, was about to board a plane to Japan to undergo training under the famous international martial arts organization Bunjinkan. Several activists and close friends of his have cried foul over the detention. Prominent academic and activist, Vijay Prashad, said “Ola Bini is an innocent man, arrested in Ecuador for no reason…”. Prashad has asked people over various social media platforms to pressure president Lenin Moreno into releasing Bini. Chief Scientist at ThoughtWorks and Bini’s former colleague, Martin Fowler, also tweeted “I’m very concerned to hear that my friend and colleague Ola Bini has been arrested in Ecuador. He is a strong advocate and developer ing privacy and has not been able to speak to any lawyers”.

Media reports quoted Ecuadorian officials as saying that Bini was arrested as part of dismantling a blackmail plot against president Lenin Moreno. However, speaking to Newsclick, lawyer and activist Renata Avila said that “Bini’s arrest is just Lenin Moreno trying to save face by recreating the same kind of trial show the US establishment did with the Russian hackers.” Moreno has been in the thick of controversy after the release of the INA papers which revealed corruption by those close to him.

In a series of tweets, Y. Kiran Chandra, general secretary of the Free Soft Movement of India, said Ola was a significant contributor to privacy enhancement technology, and asked why “one of the finest developers who solves problems in society through tech is being treated in a nasty way”.

Earlier Bini had retweeted interior minister Maria Paula Romo’s comment about Russian hackers being in the country, with the comment that it was worrisome and seemed like a witch hunt

Edited by: Peoples Dispatch
Original article published in Peoples Dispatch
Tags: ecuadorjulian assangeola bini
loader
BdF Newsletter
I have read and agree to the of use and .

More News

Sovereignty

Lula says protected maritime areas in Brazil will be expanded

Freedom Flotilla

Israeli attack to boat with food supplies reinforces use of hunger as weapon of war, says Palestinian organization in Brazil

Genocide in Gaza

Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says activists kidnapped by Israel are well, but destination is uncertain 

SOLIDARITY

Demonstration in Brasília demands liberty of activists from ‘Freedom Flotilla Coalition’ kidnapped by Israel

PRESSURE FOR RUPTURE

Why does Brazil keep diplomatic relations with Israel despite genocide in Gaza?

DIGNIFYING LABOR

With strong Brazilian , ILO decides to create convention for rights of app workers

All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given.

No Result
View All Result
  • Podcasts
  • TV BDF
  • Politics
  • Brazil
  • BRICS
  • Climate
  • Struggles
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Culture

All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given.