Headlines November 07, 2022 from Democracy Now!

Here in the U.S., Iowa authorities are looking for 18-year-old Pieper Lewis, a sex trafficking survivor who escaped from the correctional center where she was serving her probation sentence. Lewis was 15 when she killed her rapist, and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. A judge sentenced her to five years probation, but the teenager could now face two decades behind bars for violating the terms of her sentence. Lewis was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to her rapist’s family; a crowdfunding campaign raised over half a million dollars.   Rape

Ahead of COP27, Egyptian authorities arrested hundreds of activists in a broad crackdown on dissent. They also published guidelines limiting protests during COP27 to designated zones and will require 36 hours advance notice. On Sunday, Sanaa Seif arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh to demand Egyptian authorities release her brother Alaa Abd El-Fattah, the Egyptian British political prisoner. Abd El-Fattah intensified his six-month hunger strike by giving up water altogether as the climate conference opened. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has expressed support for Alaa Abd El-Fattah and vowed to raise the issue while he is at COP27. In a letter, Sunak said securing his release was “a priority for the British government both as a human rights defender and as a British national.”  

Cybersecurity experts are warning some 25,000 COP27 attendees face a security risk from the summit’s official smartphone app. The software requires that users share their location, photos and even emails — raising fears that Egypt’s authoritarian government will use the data to silence critics and spy on dissent.

Democracy Now! will be broadcasting from COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, starting next week, November 14.