Restive eastern Ukraine slips from Kiev's grasp Video


Pro-Russian armed men stand at the entrance to the regional government headquarters in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, April 30, 2014. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Restive eastern Ukraine slips from Kiev's grasp

HORLIVKA, Ukraine - Masked gunmen in military fatigues seize government offices in another Ukrainian town, in a further sign that pro-Western authorities in Kiev are losing control of the country's eastern industrial heartland bordering Russia.  Full Article | Video

Ukraine's restive east slipping from government's grasp

By Marko Djurica
HORLIVKA, Ukraine Wed Apr 30, 2014 5:40pm BST
Pro-Russian armed men stand at the entrance to the regional government headquarters in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, April 30, 2014. REUTERS-Vasily Fedosenko
Pro-Russian armed men stand in the seized regional prosecutor's office in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, April 30, 2014. REUTERS-Vasily Fedosenko
A pro-Russian masked man looks through a broken window of the seized regional prosecutor's office in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, April 30, 2014. REUTERS-Vasily Fedosenko







































1 of 8. Pro-Russian armed men stand at the entrance to the regional government headquarters in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, April 30, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
(Reuters) - Pro-Moscow separatists seized government offices in more Ukrainian towns on Wednesday, in a further sign that authorities in Kiev are losing control of the country's eastern industrial heartland bordering Russia.
Gunmen who turned up at dawn took control of official buildings in Horlivka, a town of almost 300,000 people, said a Reuters photographer. They refused to be photographed.
The heavily armed men wore the same military uniforms without insignia as other unidentified "green men" who have joined pro-Russian protesters with clubs and chains in seizing control of towns across Ukraine's Donbass coal and steel belt.
Some 30 pro-Russian separatists also seized a city council building in Alchevsk, further east in Luhansk region, Interfax-Ukraine news agency said. They took down the Ukrainian flag and flew a city banner before allowing workers to leave.
Attempts to contain the insurgency by the government in Kiev have proved largely unsuccessful, with security forces repeatedly outmaneuvered by the separatists. The West and the new Ukrainian government accuse Russia of being behind the unrest, a charge Moscow denies.
 
 
 
Daniel Baer, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, a European security watchdog which has monitors in the region, told reporters in Vienna: "I think it's very clear that what is happening would not be happening without Russian involvement."
A police official in Donetsk, the provincial capital where separatists have declared a "People's Republic of Donetsk", said separatists were also in control of the Horlivka police station, having seized the regional police headquarters earlier in April.
The murder of a town councilor from Horlivka who opposed the separatists was cited by Kiev last week among reasons for launching new efforts to regain control of the region.
Wednesday's takeovers followed the fall of the main government buildings on Tuesday further east in Luhansk, capital of Ukraine's easternmost province, driving home just how far control over the densely populated region has slipped from the central government in Kiev.
"They've taken them. The government administration and police," the police official said of Horlivka.
SECESSION REFERENDUM
The town sits just north of Donetsk, unofficial capital of the whole Donbass area, where mainly Russian-speaking separatists have called a referendum on secession for May 11.
Many hope to follow Crimea's break from Ukraine in March and subsequent annexation by Russia, following the overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in late February in a tug-of-war between the West and Russia over the strategic direction of the former Soviet republic.
The Donbass region is home to giant steel smelters and heavy plants that produce up to a third of Ukraine's industrial output. An armed uprising began there in early April, with Kiev almost powerless to respond for fear of provoking an invasion by tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the border.
Many Russian-speaking business "oligarchs" from the Donbass backed Yanukovich and exercise great influence over the region.
On Wednesday, the most powerful of these, Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov issued a formal statement saying he remained committed to his investments in the Donbass and to keeping the region as part of Ukraine.
Oleksander Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president until after an election on May 25, reiterated on Wednesday that police were incapable of reasserting control in the region.
"Our main task is to prevent the terrorist threat from spreading to other regions of Ukraine," he told a meeting of regional governors in Kiev.
"The Russian leadership is doing everything to prevent the election. But the election will take place on May 25," he said.
The OSCE special envoy to Ukraine, Tim Guldimann, told Reuters he was cautiously optimistic about the possibility of holding an election which Kiev says Russia is trying to wreck:
"What's positive is that no political parties have so far called for a boycott of the election," Guldimann said. "Governors and mayors in the east have also indicated that elections will be carried out."
There were further signs on Monday that Russia is paying an economic price for its involvement in Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund said international sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine were hurting the economy.
The IMF cut its 2014 growth forecast for Russia to 0.2 percent from 1.3 percent and forecast capital outflows of $100 billion this year.
The IMF mission chief to Russia, Antonio Spilimbergo, also told reporters that Russia was "experiencing recession" and that a resolution of the Ukraine crisis would significantly reduce Russia's own economic uncertainties.
"If you understand by recession two quarters of negative economic growth then Russia is experiencing recession now," Spilimbergo said.
Ukraine is also suffering from the turmoil, with economic output falling 1.1 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2014, according to government figures released on Wednesday. Gazprom said Ukraine's unpaid bill for gas supplied by the Russian energy giant was now $3.5 billion.
However, the European Union said it was ready to provide economic aid to Ukraine along with the IMF.
(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Natalia Zinets and Elizabeth Piper in Kiev, Lidia Kelly in Moscow; Writing by Matt Robinson and Giles Elgood, Editing by Peter Millership and Alastair Macdonald)
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Guardian obtains footage of police officer firing Taser at naked man -VIDEO


  • Police taser naked prisoner

    Guardian obtains footage of police officer firing Taser at naked man

    PC Lee Birch cleared of assault and misconduct, but IPCC to examine incident in which he fired at a naked man who flicked his underpants at him
    Link to video: PC Lee Birch firing Taser at naked man     The Guardian has obtained CCTV footage showing a police officer firing a Taser at a naked man in a cell.
    A chief constable tried to prevent the release of footage showing the Wiltshire constable Lee Birch shooting the Taser at 23-year-old Daniel Dove – despite a court agreeing it could be published.
    The Guardian obtained the footage from another source.
    It shows Dove, who had been arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, being subjected to a strip search in a custody suite.
    He pulls off his boxer shorts and flicks them at Birch. The officer takes a Taser he had held behind his back and fires it at Dove's chest. The young man falls on to a mat that had been placed on the floor of the cell.
    A crown court jury on Tuesday cleared Birch of assault causing actual bodily harm and misconduct in a public office. Charges were subsequently dropped against Dove.
    However the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating five officers including Birch in connection with the incident and is also looking at why the force involved, Wiltshire, did not inform it about what happened.
    The IPCC will now examine if Birch, 31, and four colleagues breached professional standards.
    At the end of the trial, media organisations including the Guardian asked for the CCTV footage of the incident, which was shown in open court, to be released. They argued it was in the public interest for the footage to be published.
    Neither the trial judge, the prosecution nor the defence objected to the release of the CCTV. Dove told the Guardian he was happy for it to be published.
    But after taking instructions from the chief constable of Wiltshire, Patrick Geenty, police representatives said the force would be asking the Crown Prosecution Service not to allow the footage to be released.
    The jury at Bristol crown court heard that Dove was arrested in Trowbridge town centre, Wiltshire, after being thrown out of a nightclub. He allegedly struck out at Birch and a second officer.
    In the custody suite at Melksham, Dove was told to strip. He removed his wet boxer shorts and flicked them, striking Birch on the side of his face.
    Dove told the jury: "As soon as I flicked my pants at him, he pulled his arm up from behind his back and shot me with a Taser. I had no time to react or move. I couldn't hide anywhere. I was in a police station so couldn't run off. There was a lot of pain."
    Asked to explain why he fired the Taser, Birch said: "I am not saying what he did was particularly life-threatening, but it was an indication that he was still intent on carrying out assaults. I felt he would continue to assault either myself or one of my colleagues if I didn't use that device upon him."
    Birch added: "He was now naked and was soaking wet and I would not wish to restrain a naked man. There was nothing to grab hold of – there's no clothing to grab. For the safety of myself and the others I drew my Taser."
    The prosecution argued that the use of the Taser went beyond reasonable force as Birch was with two officers and other colleagues were just metres away. But the jury acquitted him.
    After the trial, the IPCC associate commissioner Guido Liguori said: "The IPCC-managed investigation has been on hold pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings against the officer. It will now be progressed to consider whether PC Birch and four other officers have breached the standards of professional behaviour.
    "It will also examine how the professional standards department at Wiltshire police handled matters following the incident. The IPCC has particular concerns around the use of Taser in confined spaces including police cells, and has asked all forces to notify us where a complaint involving Taser is made. The investigation will consider why the use of Taser wasn't brought to our attention earlier." The IPCC has carried out a review of Taser use in England and Wales which is expected to be published shortly.
    Ch Supt Paul Mills, of Wiltshire police, said the College of Policing, the professional body for police in England and Wales, had reviewed the force's Taser policy and Wiltshire had rewritten its procedures and changed selection procedures for Taser training.
    Speaking about the CCTV footage, he said the force was exercising its right, under a protocol drawn up between the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Crown Prosecution Service and senior representatives, to ask for the material not to be released.
    It is not the first time the treatment of people taken into custody in Melksham has embarrassed Wiltshire police.
    In 2010 Sgt Mark Andrews was caught on CCTV dragging 57-year-old Pamela Somerville into a cell. Andrews was initially jailed for causing actual bodily harm but later won an appeal against conviction.
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    Ukraine 'has lost control of east'


    Pro-Russia gunmen in Luhansk
    Pro-Russia gunmen in an administration building in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine. Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
    Ukraine's acting president has admitted his government has practically lost control of the east of the country, with his security forces "helpless" to stop a rolling takeover by pro-Russia gunmen.
    Olexsandr Turchynov said numerous Ukrainian military and security personnel had defected to the rebels, taking their arms with them. Using the language of defeat, he told a meeting of regional governors: "I will be frank. Today, security forces are unable to take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions quickly under control."
    His comments came after anti-Kiev militants seized a string of official buildings in the eastern city of Luhansk on Tuesday. Only the city's police station remained under nominal central command.
    Standing outside Luhansk's police headquarters on Wednesday, Tatiana Pogukay was close to tears. "We are still here. We didn't surrender. But Kiev betrayed us," she said. Her emotion was understandable. The previous night she and her colleagues had fended off an armed attack by 50 pro-Russia separatists. The gunmen in fatigues attempted to storm the building. One fired warning shots in the air; some scaled the roof; others rammed the rear entrance with a Kamaz truck.
    The officers inside managed to stand their ground. They tossed smoke and stun grenades at their assailants from upper-floor windows. A frightened group of conscripts was allowed to leave. Eventually the separatists called it a night – with the police still in control of their four-storey regional HQ, at least for now. "We didn't give up our weapons. We defended this place with honour," Pogukay, a police colonel, said.
    Luhansk woman A woman gives food to an armed man in front of the occupied regional administration building in Luhansk. Photograph: Zurab Kurtsikidze/EPA Despite some heroic resistance, the reality is this: most of east Ukraine is now a separatist fiefdom. The balance of power is tipping. It is moving inexorably away from the beleaguered government in Kiev, and towards militants supported by Moscow who are on the brink of declaring their own autonomous state.
    With its Khrushchev-era apartment blocks and neo-classical Stalinist buildings, Luhansk – population 445,000 – already looks like Russia. The Russian border is 20 miles (35km) away. In a matter of weeks Luhansk will either be Russia, or a political entity allied with it.
    On Wednesday the city's volunteer-soldiers were taking it easy after a remarkable 24 hours in which they seized municipal power. In early April a militia led by Soviet Afghan war veterans occupied Luhansk's security service agency HQ, in the centre of town. They helped themselves to its formidable arsenal: shiny new Kalashnikovs, pistols, grenades, and rocket launchers. Last week a new Moscow-approved "people's governor", Valery Bolotov, appeared. Bolotov sent Kiev a list of "demands". He set a deadline, which expired on Monday.
    After failing to get a reply, the rebels carried out an effortless coup a day later. First, a 3,000-strong crowd encircled Luhansk's regional administration building, which overlooks a pleasant park and a statue of the moustached poet Taras Shevchenko. A couple of youths in masks smashed in the windows with crowbars; then the masses poured in. Riot police trapped in a courtyard did nothing. Miserable and humiliated, they eventually left.
    On Wednesday masked armed volunteers were standing guard outside their new HQ; sandbags had been piled up before ground-floor windows; a nascent tyre-wall was taking shape on the pavement. One militiaman, Alexander, was happy to chat. He said despite the change in management it was business as usual, with council staff working as before. "Our job is to check IDs," he said. A wellwisher gave him a carton of Bond Street cigarettes. Nearby, a group of women were discussing the dramatic events of the previous day.
    One old lady in a headscarf seemed confused by this rapid transfer of control. She asked Alexander if he had come from the Maidan, Kiev's pro-western protest movement?
    "We're against fascism," Alexander answered.
    She remained confused. Another woman intervened helpfully and said: "Don't worry, dear. Everything will be like in the Soviet Union again. We will have our Victory Day on 9 May. It will all be OK."
    The old woman's face brightened. She grasped Alexander by the hand, and before walking down the street told him: "History will remember you."
    Alexander, his face hidden by a balaclava, declined to give his surname. But he said he was a 39-year-old miner with a family. A "referendum" on Luhansk's future status would take place on 11 May, he explained. After that, he said, the region would probably join Russia, though he wasn't certain. Why had he joined "Luhansk's people's militia"? "There's been a fascist takeover in Kiev," he replied. He added: "Victory Day is sacred for us. I've heard the Kiev government wants to replace it with a gay pride parade."
    The insurgents now occupy practically all of Luhansk's official buildings. Armed men on Wednesday patrolled outside Luhansk's city hall, also taken on Tuesday; one had a Kalashnikov with its grip decorated in Russian red, white and blue. Others peered out from inside the procurator's office down the road; they emerged to sweep away broken glass from their break-in the night before. A new Russian tricolour flew above the regional appellate court. The militia also dropped into the TV station for a chat.
    In other parts of the east it was the same story. In the town of Gorlovka, 20 miles from the regional capital of Donetsk, militants hijacked the city hall early on Wednesday, as well as a second police station. In Donetsk others grabbed the tax and customs office. Each occupation follows the same revolutionary template: gunmen, who do the heavy lifting; takeover; tyre barricades; call for a referendum. Ukraine still has tanks and troops in pockets in the east. But the reality is that Kiev's authority has vanished, probably forever.
    Instead of trying to wrest back control of Luhansk and Donetsk, Turchynov said on Wednesday his forces would concentrate on defending the provinces of Kharkiv, in the east, and Odessa, in the west. This will be difficult. The Kremlin's plan appears to be to resurrect the historic region of "New Russia", a large Russophone chunk of southern and eastern Ukraine.
    At Luhansk's police station, meanwhile, Pogukay said she was incensed with Turchynov after he called the east's law enforcement officers "traitors". "First Viktor Yanukovych [Ukraine's ex-president] betrayed us. Now Turchynov betrayed us," she said, her voice shaking with feeling. "This is on his conscience." On Tuesday, just before the militia tried to seize the station, the regional police chief, Vladimir Guslavsky, faxed his resignation to Kiev, she said. He didn't get a reply. "He's a man of honour. He's staying in his post until they send a replacement," she said.
    During the raid the insurgents managed to claw off half of a Ukrainian trident sign on the station's front wall. They also raised a Russian flag on a low overhanging roof; someone took it down again later. In anticipation of further attack, the police had sandbagged the entrance and ground-floor windows. Pot plants were visible in several upper windows; the lights were on. Ukraine's deputy interior minister had phoned up to offer his support, Pogukay said. But no one else from Kiev had bothered to pick up the phone. Surely the situation was now hopeless for the police? "We're not traitors like Turchynov said," she replied. "We'll fight to our last breath."
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    TOP EUROPE STORIES - Ukraine military at 'full combat readiness'

    April 30, 2014 -- Updated 1506 GMT (2306 HKT)
    Ukraine military at 'full combat readiness'

    Ukraine military at 'full combat readiness'

    Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov says the country's armed forces are at full combat readiness because of the threat from Russia. FULL STORY | SEPARATISTS SEIZE BUILDINGS  Video | BORDER POSTS REINFORCED  Video

     

    Ukraine crisis: Defiant pro-Russian activists seize more buildings

    By Arwa Damon, Nick Paton Walsh and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
    April 30, 2014 -- Updated 1414 GMT (2214 HKT)
    Watch this video

    Separatists seize buildings in Ukraine

    STORY HIGHLIGHTS
    • OSCE negotiators are meeting daily with separatists holding observer team hostage
    • Acting President says Ukrainian military has been put on full combat readiness
    • Barricades, wire and armed men surround regional administration building in Luhansk
    • Pro-Russian militants seize police department in another town, Horlivka
    Luhansk, Ukraine (CNN) -- In the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, makeshift barricades, concertina wire and masked men in camouflage greeted visitors to the regional administration building Wednesday.
    Seized by armed men Tuesday, the building in Ukraine's restive Donetsk region is just the latest to fall under the control of pro-Russian militants.
    Government sites across more than a dozen towns and cities in Donetsk remain occupied, despite an international deal agreed to earlier this month that called for illegal armed groups to disarm and go home.
    And the militias, resolutely defiant, show no signs of changing their stance.
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    In the foyer of the Luhansk government building -- outside which pro-Russian flags now fly -- more armed men, sandbags and wire surrounded a desk through which access to the rest of the building was controlled. A handful of employees waited, looking very uncomfortable.
    At a briefing inside for reporters, a man who described himself as the press secretary for the headquarters of the "southeast army," Oleg Desyatnichenko, said this was the threatened takeover of additional buildings.
    He said the activists had given the local government an ultimatum Saturday about holding a referendum on greater autonomy for the region.
    There was no response, he said, so the activists moved in.
    Video footage seen Tuesday showed the pro-Russian militants as they approached the building, smashed doors, waved flags and chanted "Russia! Russia!"
    Desyatnichenko said the seizure of key administrative buildings, including the police station and prosecutors' office, would allow the separatists to control local government and access resources needed to hold the referendum.
    A controversial referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region last month resulted in its annexation by Russia, a step widely condemned by the international community.
    Separatist leader: 'I am not worried'
    In the town of Slavyansk, to the west of Luhansk, Denis Pushilin, self-declared chairman of the "Donetsk People's Republic," was also defiant, despite the international pressure for the groups to disband.
    At the start of this week, additional sanctions were imposed by the United States and European Union on dozens of individuals and businesses seen as backing Russia's intervention in Ukraine or as being close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    Pushilin is among those named in the EU sanctions list. But he appears unfazed by the prospect of asset freezes and visa bans.
    "I am not worried by the sanctions. I have no reaction," he told CNN. "I have no money in Europe."
    He said the same applied to Igor Strelkov, also on the sanctions list, whom the European Union accuses of being a Russian special forces soldier.
    Pushilin also confirmed that pro-Russian separatists have seized the police department in the town of Horlivka. "Where they are still enemies of the people, we will do this. We are making such operations in places where the police are not on our side," he said.
    Separatists in Slavyansk continue to hold a team of Western military observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, seized outside the town Friday.
    Asked what they intended for the seven observers -- described by their captors as "prisoners of war" -- Pushilin said they "would decide about them later."
    New EU sanctions target key Putin allies
    Donetsk besieged by violence, protesters
    Occupations run with military precision
    Ukraine reinforcing border positions
    He repeated the separatists' assertion that the observers are NATO spies and said they would like to exchange them for people detained by pro-Kiev authorities.
    OSCE negotiators continue to meet daily with the pro-Russians in Slavyansk to discuss the observers' release, and there is a sense that progress is being made, OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said Wednesday.
    The negotiating team has seen the observers each day and reports that they are all in good health.
    Turchynov: Military is ready for combat
    Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said Wednesday that the country's armed forces have been put on full combat readiness because of the threat from Russia.
    Speaking at a meeting with the heads of regional state administrations, he said the authorities' task was to prevent the spread of the "terrorist threat" from separatists and pro-Russian saboteurs to other regions of Ukraine.
    He accused groups in Slavyansk of "killing and torturing people, capturing people," and he said that in addition to automatic weapons, they had heavy weapons like grenade launchers.
    In a statement on his official website Tuesday, Turchynov said events in eastern Ukraine "illustrated inactivity, helplessness, and sometimes criminal betrayal of the law enforcement agencies in the Donetsk and (Luhansk) regions."
    He said, "It is hard to admit, but it is true. The vast majority of the law enforcement officials in the east are not able to fulfill their obligations to protect our citizens."
    New heads of security have been appointed in Donetsk and Luhansk, he said.

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    TOP AFRICA STORIES - Egypt outraged by mass death sentences

    April 30, 2014 -- Updated 1558 GMT (2358 HKT)
    Egypt outraged by mass death sentences

    Egypt outraged by mass death sentences

    Muslim Brotherhood has called the death sentences given by an Egyptian court to hundreds of its supporters an end to the "myth" of independent judiciary. FULL STORY | MASS TRIAL  Video | VIDEO  Video

     

    Egypt court sentences hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death

    By Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Sarah Sirgany, CNN
    April 29, 2014 -- Updated 1129 GMT (1929 HKT)
    Watch this video

    Egypt court sentences hundreds to death

    STORY HIGHLIGHTS
    • NEW: Muslim Brotherhood: The sentences end "myth" of independent judiciary
    • NEW: U.N. Secretary-General is "alarmed"
    • Egypt court recommends death sentence for 683 Brotherhood supporters
    • A court also bans a secular group that helped ignite 2011 uprising
    (CNN) -- An Egyptian court has sentenced the leader of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood and hundreds of supporters to death, state television said Monday.
    Intensifying a crackdown on the Islamist movement ahead of elections next month, the same court also handed down a final capital punishment ruling for 37 others.
    Charges in both cases, which were tried by the same judge, are related to violent riots in the central Egyptian city of Minya in August.
    A police officer was killed during the violence, which followed a deadly crackdown by security forces on two Cairo sit-ins being held by supporters of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsy, who was ousted last July.
    Mohammed Badie, the Brotherhood's leader, is among 683 supporters of Morsy whose death sentences are not final -- as the case has been referred to the nation's grand mufti, Egypt's highest religious authority, for review.
    The official website of the Muslim Brotherhood said Morsy's son, Osama, attended Monday's court session. It quoted him for Badie's reaction after the death sentence was read out.
    "If they hung us a thousand times God will never detract from what it is right," Badie reportedly shouted. "We will not tremble because death in the name of Allah is faith. May Allah accept."
    Egypt urges 'perspective' in death sentence
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    In the second case, relating to 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters sentenced to death last month, the judge upheld 37 death sentences. The others saw their sentences commuted to life in prison.
    Most of the people sentenced are being tried in absentia. All defendants are still permitted to appeal.
    The sentences "put an end to the myth of independence of the judiciary" and "are solely based on direct orders from the coup masterminds who deposed the legitimate elected President for personal interests," said Gamal Heshmat, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Shura Council -- its highest advisory body. "There is no justice, no legal system in Egypt any more. Lawsuits are now turned into political battles, where the ruler seeks revenge against honorable patriotic citizens.
    "These judgments are worthless," he said in a written statement. "We will not be intimidated. We will not abandon the Revolution raging in the street, and which assures the whole world that there is no justice in Egypt."
    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "is alarmed by the news" of the mass death sentence, his spokesman said. "Verdicts that clearly appear not to meet basic fair trial standards, particularly those which impose the death penalty, are likely to undermine prospects for long-term stability," which is "essential for the overall stability of the entire North Africa and Middle East region."
    Ban is "concerned" about the case and "intends to discuss these concerns and other issues with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt Nabil Fahmy later this week," the spokesman said.
    In an early reaction from a Western government, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter that the mass trials were an "outrage."
    "The world must and will react!" he said.
    The mass trials have already drawn widespread criticism from international human rights groups.
    Internal strife
    Egypt has faced turmoil since the uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Since the army removed Morsy, the country's first freely elected leader, from power last July, Egypt has suffered the worst internal strife in its modern history. Morsy and other Brotherhood leaders were rounded up soon after his removal from office.
    Cairo's military-installed government has branded the Brotherhood a terrorist group, an allegation it denies.
    The Brotherhood insists it remains an entirely peaceful organization, but it is accused of being behind a wave of deadly attacks on the police and military.
    A separate militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which the United States has designated a terrorist group, has been blamed for attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. It claimed responsibility in January for four blasts that killed at least six people in and around Cairo.
    Authorities also extended a crackdown to secular activists.
    A Cairo court ordered a ban on all activities of the secular pro-democracy April 6 Youth Movement on charges of espionage and defaming the state, state media reported.
    The Cairo Court of Urgent Matters also ordered the seizure of the group's premises. The movement helped ignite the uprising that toppled Mubarak. The ruling can still be appealed.
    In a response to the court decision, the group said its activities were peaceful.
    "April 6 is an important part of this generation's voice and dream," it said in a statement posted on its Facebook page. "We will continue our activities, expressing our opinions, and raising our voice as we please."
    The Muslim Brotherhood's London office issued a statement slamming the sentencing of its protesters to death as well as the Cairo court's ban of the youth movement.
    "Today's unprecedented verdicts represent a complete disregard of Egyptian and international human rights laws and due process," the statement said. "The world can longer afford to stay silent on such gross human rights violations and injustice committed by the military junta in Egypt against its own people.
    Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the general who led the outster of Morsy, is expected to easily win presidential elections on May 26-27 in a country long ruled by men from the military.
    READ: Opinion: Will Egypt carry it out?
    CNN's Reza Sayah, Salma Abdelaziz, Schams Elwazer and Josh Levscontributed to this report.

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    TOP U.S. STORIES - That's gender bias, too, students say

    April 30, 2014 -- Updated 1617 GMT (0017 HKT)
    That's gender bias, too, students say

    That's gender bias, too, students say

    Four Duke students created the "You Don't Say?" campaign to point out everyday language that marginalizes gender minorities. FULL STORY

     

    Duke students: Words aren't harmless

    By Alicia W. Stewart, CNN
    April 30, 2014 -- Updated 1247 GMT (2047 HKT)
    Four Duke University students created a photo campaign to point out language that marginalizes gender minorities. Anuj Chhabra, a Duke sophomore studying economics, says he used the phrase "That's so gay" until he was challenged about it. "I thought it was important to bring awareness to the implications that these words have." Four Duke University students created a photo campaign to point out language that marginalizes gender minorities. Anuj Chhabra, a Duke sophomore studying economics, says he used the phrase "That's so gay" until he was challenged about it. "I thought it was important to bring awareness to the implications that these words have."
    HIDE CAPTION
    'You Don't Say" campaign
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    STORY HIGHLIGHTS
    • Duke students created a campaign to point out language that marginalizes others
    • The "You Don't Say?" campaign has taken off online
    • Instead of dehumanizing others, students say, use language to build each other up
    (CNN) -- This fall, two student organizations at Duke University met to discuss a simple idea: Put a spotlight on reasons people might take offense to phrases and slurs used in everyday conversation.
    The result of that conversation -- the "You Don't Say?" campaign, a photo project that points out language that marginalizes sexual and gender minorities -- has been sweeping across the Web and the Durham, North Carolina, campus.
    The project was co-founded by Duke sophomores Daniel Kort, Anuj Chhabra, Christie Lawrence, and Jay Sullivan. Kort is the president of the undergraduate LGBTQ group Blue Devils United, and Chhabra is the president of Think Before You Talk, a group aimed at bringing awareness to the implications of offensive language. Lawrence and Sullivan serve on Think Before You Talk's executive board.
    The students explained via e-mail why they got involved, and what they hope the photo campaign will accomplish. Their responses have been edited for clarity.
    Anuj Chhabra on using the phrase 'That's so gay':
    I thought it was important to bring awareness to the implications that these words have because having used some of [these phrases] in high school, I quickly realized how differently other Duke students perceived me [when I commented], "That's so gay."
    Micheal Weakley on LGBTQ teens
    Photos: \'Culture, not a costume\' posters Photos: 'Culture, not a costume' posters
    One of my friends in particular would constantly question me: "What do you mean by 'That's so gay?'"
    I realized that using the word "gay" to describe a teacher who I didn't like or an unfavorable event really didn't make sense, and I began to change the habit.
    Our intention was to use personal testaments to let people personally challenge themselves, as opposed to "banning" these words. Our desire to use the personal "I" stems from the fact that most people, after thinking about why it is so common in today's society to equate something like "dumb" or "unfavorable" with "gay," are quick to change their habits.
    It is not necessarily homophobic or sexist people using such words and phrases, but largely just ordinary people.
    Daniel Kort on why he participated:
    Throughout elementary and middle school, I was consistently bullied by my classmates because of characteristics that others deemed "gay."
    I was constantly called "fag" and "bitch."
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    At times, it felt as if my entire class was against me, and I can recall only one instance that somebody stood up for me.
    I would cry to my mom during the car ride home, and my schoolwork and motivation suffered.
    With help from the school counselor, I was eventually able to stand up for myself and disregard my bullies.
    In my first year [at Duke], I was called a "fag" by one of my hall mates in the first month of school. I was lucky to have my friends there to intervene, but I know that not all students are as fortunate.
    I was motivated by the bystanders who were there for me that night, and this experience propelled my enthusiasm to work on the campaign.
    Though I don't have the same reaction nowadays in response to these words, I stand in solidarity with younger students who are marginalized by their classmates.
    Christie Lawrence on how these terms impact her and others:
    All of these phrases impact me, whether they directly address me or not. I think it is important to try to be as good of a person as you can, and through conversations with my friends, I have grown to recognize the hurt these words can inflict.
    Even if I am not gay, I know that calling someone a "fag" or qualifying an expression of admiration with "no homo" attaches hurtful connotations to words that are directly connected to a certain identity.
    Telling me to "man up" or not be a "pussy" tells me that you believe women are weaker, more emotional and lesser than a man. It tells me that you think a certain way to act is the right way and anything that does not fall under the umbrella of "acceptable" behavior or emotions is something to be put down. This attitude, that there is a correct way to have courage, be successful, or achieve happiness, is something that I believe hurts everyone in our society, including myself.
    This campaign is not an attempt to ban words or invalidate someone's right to free speech, but instead is an attempt to show how these words are hurtful for many. One comment on an article I read about our campaign explained it very nicely: You have the right to say these offensive phrases, but we also have the right to tell you why we think these phrases are hurtful.
    Jay Sullivan on how language reflects values:
    I am a Christian. That is the lens I bring to all the work that I do in the community here at Duke, in the local Durham community, and in my daily life.
    When I was in high school, I was the leader of the my school's small Christian Fellowship. I went to a private co-ed prep school in New Haven, Connecticut, called Hopkins School, and I distinctly remember during my junior year during the day of silence I was wearing an ally sticker in support of my friends who were silent. In class that day, an older friend came up to me and said, '"Look, Jay, I respect you but you need to take that ally sticker off man. You're condoning their sinful actions. You can't support them and be the leader of a Christian organization."
    I was quite taken aback, and after a short dialogue I took off the sticker to avoid any further conflict. That experience bothered me for a while, that I didn't take a stand to tell him, "People are people and they deserve the same rights and freedom to live the way they want that you have, as well. God loves everyone regardless of any part of their identity that you may have deemed sinful or unworthy."
    This campaign is not about language; it is about what this language represents.
    The way we talk is a reflection of our beliefs and perceptions of the world and it is vital, at least for me, to examine whether what I say is in line with my values and how I view the world.

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