Section:GDN 1N PaGe:12 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 18:54 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019
(^12) National
Two tigers a week seized in
crackdown on illegal trade
Damian Carrington
Geneva
Two smuggled tigers a week are being
seized by officials, according to a
report, but this represents only a tiny
fraction of those being killed.
The report, by the wildlife trade
experts Traffic , was released at a
summit of 183 countries under the
Convention in the International
Trade in Endangered Species (Cites),
where many delegates have called for
stronger action.
Traffi c also found a surge since
2012 in the numbers of seized car-
casses, skins and bones from tiger
farms. International trade in the spe-
cies is banned, but the researchers said
captive-breeding facilities, mainly in
China, undermined their protection
by maintaining demand in domestic
markets and enabling the laundering
of wild tiger products. There are fewer
than 4,000 tigers in the wild but more
than 7,000 in tiger farms, which some-
times masquerade as zoos.
Products from 2,359 tigers were
seized between 2000 and 2018 across
32 countries, according to the report.
“The numbers should be taken as
the bare minimum,” said Kanitha
Krishnasamy , the south-east Asia
director at Traffi c. “There is a high
chance we are intercepting only a very
small percentage of illegal trade.”
She said Cites delegates must
enforce long-mooted proposals for
action , including the immediate
closure of tiger farms and tougher pen-
alties on traffi ckers. In China, long jail
sentences are handed out but in many
other countries, such as Indonesia,
only small fi nes are levied.
“The time for talking is over: words
must be turned into action to prevent
further tiger loss,” Krishnasamy said.
“Every single one being taken out of
the wild really matters.”
Songbirds were also on the agenda
at Cites, with delegates from Sri Lanka
and the US calling for better protection
for the world’s 6,000 species.
Many species have experienced
severe declines in population owing
to habitat destruction, and trapping
for food and to sell as cage birds.
Madhu Rao , the south-east Asia
director at the Wildlife Conserva-
tion Society , said: “Songbirds may be
silenced if we don’t take action now on
their behalf. This is a global problem .”
Owen Bowcott
Legal aff airs correspondent
The refusal by some police forces to
disclose whether they are exploiting
covert surveillance technology to track
mobile phones is to be challenged next
week.
At a tribunal at Field House in central
London, Privacy International, repre-
sented by lawyers for the civil rights
organisation Liberty, will attempt to
overturn a ruling allowing the Metro-
politan police and seven other forces
to “neither confi rm nor deny ” use of
the controversial equipment.
The hardware, known as an inter-
national mobile subscriber identity
(IMSI) catcher, tricks mobile phone
handsets into connecting to them by
impersonating cellphone towers. It
can pinpoint phone owners’ locations
or intercept calls and text messages.
Reports that the Met has been using
PA Media
A 21-year-old man with a history of
sleepwalking has been told he may
need treatment after a jury found he
was asleep when he sexually assaulted
his friend’s girlfriend.
Dale Kelly was found not guilty of
sexual assault by penetration by rea-
son of insanity after he sleepwalked
into the couple’s room, got in their bed
and touched the woman intimately.
A jury at York crown court took
just over two hours to decide Kelly
had committed the off ence but was
suff ering from the sleep disorder para-
somnia at the time – meaning he was
not responsible for his actions. Kelly
wept as the jury returned its verdict.
The week-long trial heard Kelly
had been to a nightclub with the cou-
ple before they returned to a house
in North Yorkshire in April 2017. Kelly
went to bed but a bout an hour later
covert communications data cap-
ture (CCDC) that can masquerade as
a mobile phone network date back to
at least 2011.
There has been extensive criticism
of its use by illiberal regimes overseas
to crack down on dissidents in states
such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey
and the Philippines. In 2016, docu-
ments obtained by the Bristol Cable, a
citizen’s media cooperative, indicated
that a number of UK police forces had
also bought CCDC hardware.
The latest challenge to police sur-
veillance techniques comes in the
wake of a high court case surrounding
South Wales police’s use of facial rec-
ognition cameras. Ed Bridges, a former
Liberal Democrat councillor, alleges
that the cameras breach data protec-
tion and equality laws. Judg ment in
the case is expected in the autumn.
IMSI catchers can gather data
about large numbers of phones over a
distance of several miles. The surveil-
lance is said by human rights groups
to be “intrusive and indiscriminate”.
Privacy International and Liberty
both argue that police forces are violat-
ing the Freedom of Information Act by
refusing to disclose information about
the technology and leaving the public
in the dark about the implications for
their privacy rights, free speech and
freedom of association.
the woman awoke to fi nd him in bed.
She said she believed Kelly had sexu-
ally assaulted her and called the police.
Kelly said he had been dreaming
and thought he was with a woman he
was dating. He later sent a message to
his friend that read: “I promise right
now I have no f** clue what’s going
on, I’m still wanting to wake up and for
this to be in dreamland.”
In tests after his arrest Kelly had
parasomnia episodes. The court
heard he had had parasomnia since
childhood and experts said he was
“possibly” or “likely to be” suff ering
from the disorder at the time of the
alleged assault.
The “special verdict” of not guilty
by reason of insanity can be returned
where a jury fi nds the defendant has
committed an act but has a condition
that means they cannot be respon-
sible for their actions. The court can
order the defendant to be admitted to a
hospital, make a guardianship, super-
vision or treatment order, or order an
absolute discharge.
Judge Simon Hickey said it had not
been an easy case and that doctors
believed Kelly’s “mental disorder”
needed treat ment, adding: “ I’m lean-
ing towards a hospital order but I will
wait to hear what the experts say.”
Kelly, from Dalton-le-Dale, County
Durham, was granted conditional bail
and will be sentenced on 23 September.
Police face legal
challenge over
covert phone
surveillance
Man committed
sexual assault
while asleep,
jury fi nds
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