U.S. judge rules for teen girls in "sexting" case

Mon Mar 30, 9:27 PM

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday barred a Pennsylvania prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against three teenage girls caught with sexually suggestive pictures of themselves on their cell phones.

U.S. District Judge James Munley said he was issuing a restraining order on Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick because his proposed action would violate freedom of speech and parental rights.

The ruling came after the American Civil Liberties Union sued Skumanick on behalf of the girls and their families.

"The court agrees with the plaintiffs that the public interest would be served by issuing a TRO (temporary restraining order) in this matter as the public interest is on the side of protecting constitutional rights," the judge said.

The case has attracted national attention and revolves around the growing practice among teens of "sexting," a play on the term texting, in which nude or semi-nude photos are sent on cell phones or posted on the Internet.

The pictures, found last fall by officials of Pennsylvania's Tunkhannock School District, showed two of the girls wearing bras, and another standing topless with a wrapped towel around her waist. No sexual activity was displayed.

Other unidentified people distributed the pictures.

Last month Skumanick told the girls and 17 other students that he would charge them with possessing or distributing child pornography, which is a felony, unless they agreed to probation and participated in a "re-education" program.

All but three agreed to his demands, setting the stage for the lawsuit.

Witold Walczack, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, welcomed the legal decision.

"This country needs to have a discussion about whether prosecuting minors as child pornographers for merely being impulsive and naive is the appropriate way to address the serious consequences that can result from sexting," he said.

But Skumanick said it could encourage potential defendants to use the federal court system to evade state charges.

"My big fear is setting the precedent that would allow criminals in the state system seeking protecting in the federal system." Skumanick said. When asked if he would appeal, he said was studying the opinion.

A national survey last fall found 20 percent of teenagers said they have sent or posted online nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves, and 39 percent said they have sent or posted sexually suggestive messages, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

(Editing by Paul Simao)

Infanticide video said inciting hate

Fri Mar 20, 1:28 PM

By Stuart Grudgings

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A video made with the help of U.S. missionaries and depicting Amazon Indians burying children alive is "faked" and inciting racial hatred, a group campaigning for tribal rights said Thursday.

The short video, "Hakani," has been watched more than 350,000 times on the YouTube video-sharing website.

It depicts scenes of Indians in an isolated forest village digging graves and burying several live children in them. The "Hakani" campaign also has a website and a group on networking site Facebook with more than 13,000 members.

London-based Survival International said in a statement the film is "faked, that the earth covering the children's faces is actually chocolate cake, and that the film's claim that infanticide among Brazilian Indians is widespread is false."

"People are being taught to hate Indians, even wish them dead," said Survival's director, Stephen Corry.

The video was made by the son of the founder of an American missionary organization called Youth with a Mission, which has a branch in Brazil known as Jocum.

Youth with a Mission is an interdenominational Christian group based in Hawaii which focuses on involving young people in evangelism in 149 countries, its website says.

Enock Freire, one of the makers of the film, said Youth With a Mission helped in the production of the film, which he acknowledged was fictional and aimed at drawing attention to what he said was a serious problem.

"It (infanticide) is common," he said from Hawaii. "This distortion that we are trying to incite hate is untrue."

Infanticide is practiced by some tribes in the Amazon region, sometimes on disabled children, often based on the belief that children who take their last breath above land will come back to haunt a community. But Survival says it is rare and becoming rarer as healthcare access improves.

Brazil's Indian affairs department has tried to bar the film, which it says was financed by Jocum, saying it denigrates the image of the more than 220 ethnicities that live in Brazil.

'POWERFUL DOCUDRAMA'

Neither the video, the "Hakani" campaign website nor the Facebook group include any mention of the missionary group or any contact details. Corry said the group was trying to play down its role in the film.

The website says the girl "Hakani" was rescued from her tribe, and that she was among what it says are hundreds of children targeted for death each year among Brazil's tribes.

It says the video is a "powerful docudrama" and urges people to donate money and write letters in support of a proposed Brazilian law, known as Muwaji's Law, which would abolish infanticide by indigenous groups.

"The only thing we are trying to do is save lives," said Freire.

Survival says the law, by requiring Brazilians to report to authorities anything seen as a "harmful traditional" practice, would foster "witch hunts" against indigenous people.

"I think the missionaries are stirring up hatred against the Indians, who they profess to be concerned about," said Fiona Watson, a Brazil campaigner for Survival.

"The infanticide is not being explained; it's being taken out of context."

(Editing by Eric Walsh)