Researchers stunned by grotesque discovery captured in street photos: 'You have to see it to believe it'
A research project analyzed thousands of social media photos shared between 2011 and 2023, documenting around 30,000 killed birds across more than 200 species. The research, which was published in Oryx, found that almost 94% of these hunted birds belonged to species protected by law.
"The scale of it is intense. ... You have to see it to believe it," said Andre Raine, science director at Archipelago Research and Conservation. "You can go to mountaintops ... and it's just littered with snowdrifts of feathers of raptors, where you're wading through, sometimes up to your knees, in dead birds."
Many hunters openly pose with their kills online without fear of consequences. Birds such as European honey buzzards, white storks, and even endangered species including Egyptian vultures are targeted as they migrate between Europe and Africa.
This hunting crisis threatens bird populations far beyond Lebanon's borders. When these birds are killed during migration, it undermines conservation efforts that European countries have invested millions of dollars in.
The issue affects you even if you live far from Lebanon. Many birds help control pest populations and maintain healthy ecosystems across multiple continents. Their loss disrupts nature's balance and could impact everything from agriculture to forest health in your region.
Michel Sawan, president of the Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds, points to weak enforcement as a major problem. "If anyone commits an environmental crime such as breaking the law of hunting, the fine is $5; if you want to buy 25 gunshots, they are $9," he explained.
With penalties this small, hunters have little reason to change their behavior.
The carnage is often driven by social media fame rather than food needs. Hunters display dead birds as "digital trophies" to gain likes and views, turning conservation violations into a form of online entertainment.
Conservation organizations are fighting back through education and direct action. Groups such as the Committee Against Bird Slaughter conduct bird protection camps in Lebanon, working to prevent hunting in critical areas during migration seasons.
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If you care about protecting these birds, you can help by supporting international conservation groups focused on migratory species protection. Organizations working in Lebanon need resources to continue their monitoring and enforcement assistance efforts.
You can also use your social media presence for good by reporting photos and videos showing illegal hunting when you see them online. Though platforms have been slow to respond, increased pressure from users could help change actions around displaying wildlife crimes.
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Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Stolen travel documents can sell for thousands on the dark web — Here's how to protect yours
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Researchers found that stolen scanned passports are being sold for US$10 to US$200 (about $13.70 to $272.40) while ID scans are posted for sale for US$15 (about $20.55) each. Genuine passports, driver's licences, IDs and travel permits are priced between US$20 ($27.40) and US$1,800 ($2,466). European passports are among the most expensive, each with a US$5,830 ($7,950) price tag. The report also reveals that stolen Czech, Slovakian and Lithuanian passports are among the most expensive on the black market. It isn't just passports and IDs the researchers found — also for sale on the dark web were airline loyalty accounts with high-mile balances for US$35 ($47.95) to US$700 ($959 CAD). Hackers are even reselling pre-booked trips on travel platforms at 40 to 50 per cent cheaper than the original price, typically charging around US$250 ($342) per deal, according to the report. Visa stickers were also found being sold, with EU visa stickers fetching as much as US$350 ($479.50) each. Fake visa issuance services, which promise to let users bypass legitimate visa application processes, are peddled for US$464 ($635). Some hackers were also found sharing their knowledge for a fee. Fraud manuals are being sold as detailed guides for hacking flight and hotel booking systems. These guides, per the study, are listed for between US$150 and US$250 ($205 to $342) each. In an email to Metroland Media, Marijus Briedis, NordVPN's chief technology officer, explained why travel documents are so prized on the dark web and how these fuel other nefarious activities. Cybersecurity experts from IBM and Malwarebytes explain why infostealers — the malware behind 'Passport scans are expensive because they're identity gold,' Briedis said, adding high-quality scans can create convincing fake documents that allow criminals to open bank accounts or apply for loans. 'The $5,000 price tag for EU passports is because the EU citizenship provides visa-free travel to numerous countries,' he said. This makes EU passports incredibly valuable for human trafficking, money laundering operations and establishing clean identities for criminal enterprises, Briedis explained. Visa stickers, on the other hand, provide evidence of legal entry status, so criminals use these to create documentation for immigration fraud or to support fake identities when crossing borders, he said. reservations and airline miles accounts aren't just sold to get free travel — these stolen accounts are used by criminals to create believable cover stories when committing crime. 'A criminal with access to hotel bookings and flight reservations can establish patterns of legitimate travel, making their movements appear normal to law enforcement,' he explained. Loyalty accounts with millions of miles can also be converted to cash through various redemption schemes or sold to other criminals who need clean travel arrangements. Fullz is hacker slang for a full package of personal data or a complete set of details tied to one person. Microsoft Canada's National Security Officer, John Hewie explains spear phishing and shares red 'Fullz is highly valuable because it allows criminals to commit tailored fraud,' researchers said in the report. Fullz allow hackers to book flights under the victim's name, bypass security checkpoints or launch highly targeted phishing campaigns called spear phishing that can be very convincing. 'The more complete the information, the more dangerous it becomes,' the researchers added. Criminals can use fullz not just for travel fraud, but also for identity theft to apply for loans under someone else's name, open bank accounts or other types of fraud. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre advises individuals to be wary of unsolicited emails, text messages, telephone calls or mails asking for personal or financial information. The centre also reminds users to regularly check credit reports, bank and credit card statements for suspicious transactions and to report any irregularities to their bank Information can also be stolen from discarded documents people throw in the trash. The Centre reminds people to shred documents containing personal information before putting them in the garbage and to retrieve mail regularly to limit possible mail theft. There are steps you should take to mitigate the damage, says cybersecurity expert. Taking immediate action after your travel data gets compromised is the best way to mitigate the damage. In a previous interview with Metroland Media, cybersecurity and AI expert Abbas Yazdinejad of the University of Toronto's AIMMlab said the key is to act quickly and to follow some steps depending on what type of data was stolen. These include, changing passwords and securing accounts immediately, freezing accounts, contacting and notifying government agencies, authorities, and other service providers, keeping an eye out for follow-up scams, and documenting everything in case a dispute arises. The Canadian government has published a guide on their site , with steps to follow in case a person's passport or travel documents get stolen or lost. The steps will depend on the type of travel document and the person's current location. Individuals reporting lost or stolen Canadian travel and identity documents will have to answer a short questionnaire on the site. The government reminds those who are planning to report a loss, that the agency involved may have to review or investigate the report before issuing a replacement which may cause delays. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
2 days ago
French court to decide if Assad can be stripped of immunity and tried for Syrian chemical attacks
BRUSSELS -- France's highest court is ruling Friday on whether it can strip the head of state immunity of Bashar Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, because of the brutality of the evidence in accusations against him collected by Syrian activists and European prosecutors. If the judges at the Cour de Cassation lift Assad's immunity, it could pave the way for his trial in absentia over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013 and Douma in 2018, and set a precedent to allow the prosecution of other government leaders linked to atrocities, human rights activists and lawyers say. Assad has retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied he was behind the chemical attacks. A ruling against Assad would be 'a huge victory for the victims,' said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Center for Media which collected evidence of war crimes. 'It's not only about Syrians, this will open the door for the victims from any country and this will be the first time that a domestic investigative judge has the right to issue an arrest warrant for a president during his rule.' He said the ruling could enable his group to legally go after regime members, like launching a money laundering case against former Syrian Central Bank governor and Minister of Economy Adib Mayaleh, whose lawyers have argued he had immunity under international law. For over 50 years, Syria was ruled by Hafez Assad and then his son Bashar. During the Arab Spring, rebellion broke out against their tyrannical rule in 2011 across the country of 23 million, igniting a brutal 13-year civil war that killed more than half a million people, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Millions more fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe. The Assad dynasty manipulated sectarian tensions to stay in power, a legacy driving renewed violence in Syria against minority groups despite promises that the country's new leaders will carve out a political future for Syria that includes and represents all its communities. The ruling stripping Assad's immunity could set a 'significant precedent' that 'could really set the stage for potentially for other cases in national jurisdictions that strike down immunities," said Mariana Pena, a human rights lawyer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which helped bring the case to court. As the International Criminal Court has issued arrests warrants for leaders accused of atrocities — like Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines — the French judges' ruling could empower the legal framework to prosecute not just deposed and exiled leaders but those currently in power. The Syrian government denied in 2013 that it was behind the Ghouta attack, an accusation the opposition rejected as Assad's forces were the only side in the brutal civil war to possess sarin. The United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, but Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Assad to give up his chemical weapons' stockpile. Assad survived more than a decade longer, aided militarily by Russia and Iranian-backed proxies. Activists and human rights group accuse him of using barrel bombs, torture, and massacres to crush opponents. But then in late 2024, a surprise assault by rebels swept into Aleppo and then Damascus, driving the dictator to flee for his ally Russia on Dec. 8, 2024. While Darwish and others plan to press Interpol and Russia to extradite him, they know it is unlikely. But an arrest warrant issued by France could lay the groundwork for the former dictator's trial in absentia or potential arrest if he travels outside Russia. Any trial of Assad, whether in absentia or if he leaves Russia, would mean this evidence could then 'be brought to light,' Pena said, including an enormous trove of classified and secret evidence amassed by the judges during their investigations. Syrians often took great personal risk to gather evidence of war crimes. Darwish said that in the aftermath of a chlorine gas attack in Douma, for example, teams collected eyewitness testimonies, images of devastation, and soil samples. Others then tracked down and interviewed defectors to build a 'chain of command' for the regime's chemical weapons production and use. 'We link it directly to the president himself, Bashar al-Assad,' he said. Assad was relatively safe under international law. Heads of state could not be prosecuted for actions taken during their rule, a rule designed long ago to ease dialogue when leaders needed to travel the world to meet, said Jeanne Sulzer, a French lawyer who co-led the case against Assad for the 2013 chemical attack. She said that kind of immunity is "almost a taboo" regardless of the weight of the charges. "You have to wait until the person is not a sitting in office to be able to prosecute,' she said. But that protection has been whittled away over the years by courts ruling that the brutality of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Charles Taylor in Liberia, and Slobodan Milošević in Yugoslavia, to name just a few, merited a restructuring of the world's legal foundations, said James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. Syria today remains beholden to many awful legacies of the Assad dynasty. Poverty, sectarianism, destruction, and violence still haunt the Syrian Arab Republic. Damascus' new rulers are investigating nearly 300 people for crimes during several days of fighting on Syria's coast earlier this year. The interim authorities in Damascus have pledged to work with the United Nations on investigating further war crimes of the Assad regime and the civil war. The global chemical weapons watchdog has called on the new government of interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa to protect and dismantle Assad's stockpiles. Darwish is working on 29 cases against Assad and other regime figures who have fled to Russia, the Gulf, Lebanon and Europe. He said many Syrians hope Assad sits for a fair trial in Syria. 'It should be done in Damascus, but we need also a lot of guarantees that we will have a fair trial even for this suspect," he said. His organization has already received requests to bring to court war crimes accusations against those involved in recent bloodshed in southern Syria. 'So anyone, whatever his name, or the regime, or their authority, we will keep fighting this type of crime,' Darwish said.
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
French court to decide if Assad can be stripped of immunity and tried for Syrian chemical attacks
BRUSSELS (AP) — France's highest court is ruling Friday on whether it can strip the head of state immunity of Bashar Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, because of the brutality of the evidence in accusations against him collected by Syrian activists and European prosecutors. If the judges at the Cour de Cassation lift Assad's immunity, it could pave the way for his trial in absentia over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013 and Douma in 2018 , and set a precedent to allow the prosecution of other government leaders linked to atrocities, human rights activists and lawyers say. Assad has retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied he was behind the chemical attacks. Ruling could open door for prosecutions in other countries A ruling against Assad would be 'a huge victory for the victims,' said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Center for Media which collected evidence of war crimes. 'It's not only about Syrians, this will open the door for the victims from any country and this will be the first time that a domestic investigative judge has the right to issue an arrest warrant for a president during his rule.' He said the ruling could enable his group to legally go after regime members, like launching a money laundering case against former Syrian Central Bank governor and Minister of Economy Adib Mayaleh, whose lawyers have argued he had immunity under international law. For over 50 years, Syria was ruled by Hafez Assad and then his son Bashar. During the Arab Spring, rebellion broke out against their tyrannical rule in 2011 across the country of 23 million, igniting a brutal 13-year civil war that killed more than half a million people, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Millions more fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe. The Assad dynasty manipulated sectarian tensions to stay in power, a legacy driving renewed violence in Syria against minority groups despite promises that the country's new leaders will carve out a political future for Syria that includes and represents all its communities. The ruling stripping Assad's immunity could set a 'significant precedent' that 'could really set the stage for potentially for other cases in national jurisdictions that strike down immunities,' said Mariana Pena, a human rights lawyer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which helped bring the case to court. As the International Criminal Court has issued arrests warrants for leaders accused of atrocities — like Vladimir Putin in Ukraine , Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza , and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines — the French judges' ruling could empower the legal framework to prosecute not just deposed and exiled leaders but those currently in power. Assad allegedly bombed, tortured and gassed civilians The Syrian government denied in 2013 that it was behind the Ghouta attack, an accusation the opposition rejected as Assad's forces were the only side in the brutal civil war to possess sarin. The United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, but Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Assad to give up his chemical weapons' stockpile. Assad survived more than a decade longer, aided militarily by Russia and Iranian-backed proxies. Activists and human rights group accuse him of using barrel bombs, torture, and massacres to crush opponents. But then in late 2024, a surprise assault by rebels swept into Aleppo and then Damascus, driving the dictator to flee for his ally Russia on Dec. 8, 2024. While Darwish and others plan to press Interpol and Russia to extradite him, they know it is unlikely. But an arrest warrant issued by France could lay the groundwork for the former dictator's trial in absentia or potential arrest if he travels outside Russia. Any trial of Assad, whether in absentia or if he leaves Russia, would mean this evidence could then 'be brought to light,' Pena said, including an enormous trove of classified and secret evidence amassed by the judges during their investigations. Syrians often took great personal risk to gather evidence of war crimes. Darwish said that in the aftermath of a chlorine gas attack in Douma, for example, teams collected eyewitness testimonies, images of devastation, and soil samples. Others then tracked down and interviewed defectors to build a 'chain of command' for the regime's chemical weapons production and use. 'We link it directly to the president himself, Bashar al-Assad,' he said. Head of state immunity is 'almost taboo' Assad was relatively safe under international law. Heads of state could not be prosecuted for actions taken during their rule, a rule designed long ago to ease dialogue when leaders needed to travel the world to meet, said Jeanne Sulzer, a French lawyer who co-led the case against Assad for the 2013 chemical attack. She said that kind of immunity is 'almost a taboo' regardless of the weight of the charges. 'You have to wait until the person is not a sitting in office to be able to prosecute,' she said. But that protection has been whittled away over the years by courts ruling that the brutality of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Charles Taylor in Liberia, and Slobodan Milošević in Yugoslavia, to name just a few, merited a restructuring of the world's legal foundations, said James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. Ending impunity in Syria Syria today remains beholden to many awful legacies of the Assad dynasty. Poverty, sectarianism, destruction, and violence still haunt the Syrian Arab Republic. Damascus' new rulers are investigating nearly 300 people for crimes during several days of fighting on Syria's coast earlier this year. The interim authorities in Damascus have pledged to work with the United Nations on investigating further war crimes of the Assad regime and the civil war. The global chemical weapons watchdog has called on the new government of interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa to protect and dismantle Assad's stockpiles . Darwish is working on 29 cases against Assad and other regime figures who have fled to Russia, the Gulf, Lebanon and Europe. He said many Syrians hope Assad sits for a fair trial in Syria. 'It should be done in Damascus, but we need also a lot of guarantees that we will have a fair trial even for this suspect,' he said. His organization has already received requests to bring to court war crimes accusations against those involved in recent bloodshed in southern Syria. 'So anyone, whatever his name, or the regime, or their authority, we will keep fighting this type of crime,' Darwish said. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
