[SID & GHHF] Halderman of US and Ronggiip of Netherland (the associates of Hari K Prasad) were detained in New Delhi Airport; Following 18 hours intense efforts, they were admitted.
Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization. Winston Churchill
Alex Halderman of USA and Rop Gonggriip of Netherlands were detained for about 18 hours at Indira Gandhi International Airport without valid reason. Many people from India and USA were on the phone with several officials demanding the reason for their detention at the Airport. Several calls to the Election Commission and Home Department made the difference – they were finally allowed to enter India. They were held from Monday (13th) thru Tuesday (14th) morning. Please read below newspaper and electronic media coverage on this matter.
We want to express our appreciation to Alex and Rop for going through so much physical strain, sleeplessness, tiredness and above all uncertainty. Thanks
Why were they detained at the Airport?
As many of you know that Hari K Prasad came to Dallas area on November 21, 2010 and gave a presentation on the Tamperabaility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). In February 2010 Hari K Prasad of Hyderabad, Alex Halderman from USA and Rop Gonggriip of Netherlands were able to publicly demonstrate that EVMs are tamparable in New Delhi and Chennai against the conviction of the Election Commission of India and the present government. What these three researchers were saying along is that the government should make sure these machines are verifiable, accountable and transparent so that there is no scope for manipulation and tampering. USA based organization “Save Indian Democracy” coordinating this event that took place in February 2010.
Indian Government and Election Commission were not happy with the demonstration since they have been claiming that their EVMs were safe and cannot be tampered. It was too much for the Government to swallow. It is not easy to accept that they were wrong in believing they no can body can hack their machines.
Of course you all know Hari K Prasad was arrested by Maharashtra government and imprisoned for eight days for refusing to reveal the name of the person who brought government EVM for him to demonstrate. The case is still pending.
In order to bring awareness among people in USA and the potential for misuse of the EVMs irrespective of which party is n power, Save Indian Democracy (SID) and Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) organized eight-city tour for Sri Hari K Prasad in October – November 2010 to make presentations on the EVMs. All those who were able to attend his presentation were very much impressed with the presentation. As mentioned in our previous communications that Sri Hari K Prasad was awarded the PIONEER AWARD by Computer Frontier Foundation on November 8, 2010 in California.
Please know that SID and GHHF are not against the government or the EVMS. Our position is that every vote should be counted in the elections. There should not be any scope for manipulation of the EVMs. If there are any doubts or suspicions about the election results, there should be a viable mechanism to recount the votes and they should be verifiable. We feel that EVMs are vital in improving the efficiency of vote count in any democracy. If properly used with a set of guidelines, the EVMs can reduce the uncertainty with regards to election results.
Donations
We need your assistance to continue our mission of abolishing Endowment Act and free Temples from the government control. If we have to make an impact on our movement to bring changes to preserve our culture, we need you financial support. Your generous donations to continue our efforts to free Hindu Temples from government control, awaken the Hindus about the plight of Hindu Temples and the impending danger of illegal conversion techniques are essential. We are requesting all the individuals and organizations to support financially to continue our movement to free Hindu Temples from the government control and stop these conversions.
End of the Year is fast approaching. Please DONATE. Your donations are appreciated to continue the work.
NOTE: GHHF is exempt from federal income tax under section 501 ( c ) 3 of the Internal Revenue code.
Our tax ID # 41-2258630
Please send your tax-deductible donations to:
Global Hindu Heritage Foundation,
14726 Harmony Lane, Frisco, Texas 75035
You can go to savetemples.org and pay by PAYPAL
For more information
Please visit our website: http://savetemples.
Attachments - three news items covered on TV and in Newspaper
Foreign researchers detained for dissenting?
Posted on *Dec 14, 2010 at 07:26* | Updated *Dec 14, 2010 at 07:51* New Delhi: Two researchers from the US and Netherlands - who co-authored a report showing how EVM machines in India could be rigged - were detained for over 18 hours at the Delhi international airport.
Rop Gonggrip, a computer security expert from Amsterdam and Alex Halderman, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan had co-authored a study on the chinks in India's voting machines last year. They say they were given no reason for their detention but are fairly certain why it happened.
It was only after their host in India made some phone calls and the duo refused to be put back on a flight without being given a reason in writing, did the authorities relent.
Earlier this year in February Professor Halderman and his co researchers from India, US and Netherlands had put out a report on how easily EVMs in India could be rigged.
They had even offered to demonstrate it to the Election Commission but the commission refused. Sources say instead the commission wrote to the MEA asking them to blacklist the entire group.
In fact their Indian co-author Hari Prasad faced even tougher action - he was arrested for a month in August for refusing to name the official who gave them the EVM for their research.
EVM flaw-finders not welcome in India?
*Zeenews Bureau* Updated on Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 09:45
New Delhi: Two researchers - Alex Halderman and Rop Gonggrijp - who had carried out a study demonstrating the flaws in India’s electronic voting machines (EVMs), were denied entry into the country, despite holding valid visas, when they arrived at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday night.
However, both put their foot down and demanded to know the reason why they were being asked to go back from the airport; after hours of confusion the Union Home Ministry lifted the restriction on their entry Monday afternoon, a newspaper report claimed Tuesday. Alex Halderman, a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan, and Rop Gonggrijp, a Dutch activist and technical expert, had co-authored a study — Security Analysis of India’s Voting Machines — with Hyderabad-based researcher Hari Prasad in July this year, demonstrating two different ways of “manipulating” the EVMs.
While the foreign nationals headed back home, Prasad was arrested for stealing a voting machine and was subjected to police interrogation for weeks.
The study had created uproar on the reliability of the machines which were dubbed as tamper-proof. And as a result, the Election Commission of India did initiate a number of steps to enhance their security features.
As per their original plan, Halderman and Gonggrijp has applied for conference visas to take part in an event at the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, but were denied the same. “Since we had bought airline tickets, we thought we would travel anyway and see our friends here,” Halderman was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
A senior Ministry of Home Affairs official has been quoted as saying that the duo was initially denied entry because of violations of visa terms they had committed during their previous visit to India. “They had come earlier on a tourist visa, but were involved in activities that could not be considered tourism,” he said.
The Home Ministry had asked the missions in their respective countries to not issue them visas in the future, but they were issued visas again inadvertently and since they were issued visas, the ministry decided “to let them in”.
EVM busters detained in New Delhi
Last updated on: December 13, 2010 17:52 IST
*Vicky Nanjappa*<http://mypage.
A group of IT experts from the United States, who had claimed that Indian Electronic Voting Machines were not tamper-proof and had asked the election body to explore other forms of voting that provide 'transparency' and security, were made to face the heat on their arrival in a wintery New Delhi on Monday.
Alex Halderman and Rop Gonggrijp, two of the three scientists who had exposed the flaws in the Election Commission's EVMs, flew in to New Delhi around 2 am on Monday and were detained immediately.
After a harrowing wait, the duo was let off later in the day.
Halderman, who spoke to *rediff.com *later, said he was not too surprised by the turn of events.
"We did ask for a reason but they refused to give us any. It is unclear why they wanted us deported in the first place and also why we were detained. I suppose it is to do with the EVM issue. Last year, we discovered several flaws in the system and pointed it out. It appears to be that someone is out to harass us because of this. Otherwise, why else would we be detained," Halderman said.
"We were expecting this after Hariprasad's (the Indian expert in the team) arrest and we realised that this is the reward for trying to seriously expose a flaw, which was according to all of us, was beneficial to the country," he said.
"I cannot tell you about the officials reasons, because there were none. We had a valid visa on us and had applied for the same two weeks back. The immigration told us that we did not have the permission to go out and said we need to get back," he added.
"I would not say that they were friendly to us at the airport, but they were not bad either. However, we have been told that we could stay two weeks and interestingly they have also told us that they are not sure if this would not happen again."
Reacting to airport incident, Gonggrijp said: "I was just told that there was a problem. Alex was told that he would be deported, but I was not told any such thing. I was told that there was some problem after they ran through my data."
"Unlike Alex I was not expecting this to happen to me. I was taken aback. However, it is over as of now and we have been told that we can be here two weeks. We have some work in India hope that all will be smooth. We are, however, not contemplating any legal action on this front since we have not been given the reasons for us being detained in the first place."
"I suppose it is the EVM issue, which has made the authorities react in this manner. Such harassment comes in the way of exposing a real problem, which we tried to do. Such things may continue to happen, but the fact is that the problem still exists and has not vanished."
No comments:
Post a Comment