The Indicter

Last updated
The Indicter logo The Indicter geopolitical logo.png
The Indicter logo

The Indicter, established in Sweden 2005, is an online monthly magazine published in English. It focuses on issues of geopolitics and human rights and its editorial line is liberal to left-wing. Material published by the Indicter has been the subject of international controversy; in 2017 it published an analysis which became an official document at the UN Security Council.

Contents

Its mission statement says the Indicter aspires to "denounce war crimes, human rights abuses, and state assaults on privacy and civil liberties". [1] The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter describes The Indicter as a publication associated with the NGO Swedish Doctors for Human Rights (SWEDHR). [2] However, Sources [3] notes that the monthly magazine's legal publisher is the Swedish company Libertarian Books Europe. [4]

Numerous articles published by the Indicter and its predecessor, the Professor's Blog, [5] were reproduced through WikiLeaks' social media between 2010-2018. However, some of the magazine's analyses have been critically addressed in a number of European mainstream media outlets including Der Spiegel, [6] Le Figaro , [7] France 24, [8] Liberation, [9] and HuffPost, [10] in addition to Swedish news sites.

The magazine reached half a million viewers in December 2020, according to Jetpack stats reproduced in the journal (statistics starting April 2016). [1] The Indicter was founded by Marcello Ferrada de Noli, a social libertarian. [11]

Controversies

In 2017 The Indicter published a series of articles challenging the forensic medical evidence about an alleged gas attack in Sarmin, 2015, [12] that had been presented at the United Nations by Syrian doctors who opposed the Assad government. [13] After the Syrian ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, referred to The Indicter's report at a Security Council session in April 12, 2017, [14] [15] the magezine became the target of criticism by several Western mainstream media outlets, including the Swedish outlets Dagens Nyheter and Expressen . [16] Swedish media also attacked the Indicter for being mentioned by the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, in a press conference aired 16 March 2017. [17] [18] Maria Zakharova also posted a tweet with an image reproducing The Indicter logo. [19] According to Dagens Nyheter, the Russian envoy to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Mikhail Uljanov, used a report published in the Indicter April 2017 to question claims by the Syrian opposition regarding the Syrian government's responsibility for the Khan Sheikhoun gas attack. [20]

Some of the findings of the above mentioned investigation published in the Indicter were challenged by Coda Media's site, Coda Story. [21] The Indicter validated these anew and extended an invitation to Coda Story to publicly debate the issue. [22] [23] Coda Story failed to reply.

Swedish media reported that Marcello Ferrada de Noli, publishing his findings in the Indicter, had analysed the OPCW report following the claim of a chemical weapons attack in Syria. After request by the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, the UN Secretary General approved the inclusion of the Indicter article as official document of the Security Council in February 2018. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mona Sahlin</span> Swedish politician

Mona Ingeborg Sahlin is a Swedish politician who was leader of the opposition and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Per Ahlmark</span> Swedish politician and writer

Per Axel Ahlmark was a Swedish politician and writer. He was the leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1975 to 1978, and Minister for Employment and Deputy Prime Minister in the Swedish government from 1976 to 1978. He also served as a member of the Swedish parliament from 1967 to 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gellert Tamas</span> Swedish journalist and writer (born 1963)

Gellert Tamas is a Swedish journalist and writer of Hungarian origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Sweden</span>

Contacts with the Muslim world dates back to the 7th–10th centuries, when the Vikings traded with Muslims during the Islamic Golden Age. Since the late 1960s and more recently, immigration from predominantly Muslim countries has impacted the demographics of religion in Sweden, and has been the main driver of the spread of Islam in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soran Ismail</span> Swedish comedian (born 1987)

Soran Ismail, is a Swedish Kurdish comedian, TV personality and author of Kurdish descent who as an immigrant grew up in Knivsta, Uppsala County and lived most of his life in Sweden. He is well known for his participation in several TV and radio shows with a humour profile and has toured Sweden together with Magnus Betnér with a show called En skam för Sverige. His various television projects include the documentary Absolut svensk where he examines ethnic identity and every day racism in Sweden. This is also the title of his book released in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Göran Rosenberg</span> Jewish neo-marxist journalist and author who lives in Sweden (born 1948)

Göran Jakob Rosenberg is a Swedish journalist and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lagercrantz</span> Swedish journalist and author (born 1962)

David Lagercrantz is a Swedish journalist and author, internationally known as the author of I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye and The Girl Who Lived Twice. The latter three of these works are the fourth, fifth and sixth instalments respectively in the Millennium series originated by Stieg Larsson. He is also a television presenter and a screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kajsa Ekis Ekman</span> Swedish writer and activist

Kajsa Ekis Ekman is a Swedish author, freelance journalist and debater. Her works have sparked debate in subjects regarding capitalism, prostitution and surrogacy, taking a left-wing and feminist perspective. Her writing and debate on gender, transgender issues and feminism have sparked controversy and accusations of being trans-exclusionary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebba Busch</span> Swedish politician (born 1987)

Ebba-Elisabeth Busch is a Swedish politician serving as the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Energy, Business and Industry since October 2022. She has served as Leader of the Christian Democrats since April 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swedish Doctors for Human Rights</span> Swedish organization

Swedish Doctors for Human Rights (SWEDHR) is a Sweden-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that previously researched and published opinion pieces on international affairs, and campaigned in support of doctors and anti-war activists persecuted or imprisoned on issues of civil liberties and freedom of expression. SWEDHR claimed to shed light on "health issues of war crimes & Human Rights abuses worldwide",[1] and it acknowledged to be an “alternative NGO” with regard to mainstream organizations. Ensuing, the views presented in its publications tended to differ from, or contradicted, those of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International Sweden and other organizations. Up to mainly 2019, SWEDHR's primary focus has been the Julian Assange international case. During 2020 and onwards, the focus of the organization has been solely on issues around the Covid-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Per Holknekt</span> Swedish fashion designer

Per Olof Holknekt, is a Swedish fashion designer and entrepreneur. He is also the founder of several magazines and companies, the most successful of which is the clothing company Odd Molly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Stockholm truck attack</span> Islamist terrorist attack in Sweden

On 7 April 2017, a vehicle-ramming Islamist terrorist attack took place in central Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. A hijacked truck was deliberately driven into crowds along Drottninggatan before being crashed into an Åhléns department store. Five people, the youngest an 11 year old girl, were killed. 14 others were seriously injured.

<i>Nyheter Idag</i> Swedish-language online newspaper

Nyheter Idag is a Swedish-language online newspaper. The magazine was founded in February 2014 by Chang Frick and Jakob Bergman, and they say their news reports focus on "politics, gossip, social media and foreign news". The publication describes itself as based on libertarian principles, and the employees have a background in different organizations. Expo grouped Nyheter Idag with "right-wing populist and far-right alternative media", but also stated that it was the news site most difficult to fit into that mold. It has been labelled a racist site by some pundits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liv Strömquist</span> Swedish comics artist and radio presenter

Liv Strömquist is a Swedish comics artist and radio presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcello Ferrada de Noli</span>

Marcello Ferrada de Noli is a Swedish professor emeritus of epidemiology, and medicine doktor in psychiatry. He was research fellow and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, and was later head of the research group of International and Cross-Cultural Injury Epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute until 2009. Ferrada de Noli is known for his investigations on suicidal behaviour associated with severe trauma. He is the founder of the NGO Swedish Doctors for Human Rights, SWEDHR. He is also a writer, and painting artist.

Michael Nikolai Skråmo, was a Swedish-Norwegian terrorist and member of the Islamic State (ISIS). He was a recruiter of IS-terrorists from the Nordic region. His mother revealed to SVT that she had received information that her son had died in early March 2019, during the final battles in the Syrian city of Al-Baghuz Fawqani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingalill Mosander</span> Swedish journalist

Ingalill Margareta Mosander, née Larsson, is a Swedish journalist, known as a prolific book reviewer on television and in printed media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunnar Seijbold</span> Swedish photographer (1955–2020)

Gunnar Seijbold was a Swedish freelance press photographer and musician. During his career he worked for several newspapers, including Expressen, Dagens Nyheter, and Aftonbladet. He also worked in the capacity of photographer for the Swedish government and worked as the official European Union photographer. During his career, Seijbold met and photographed U.S. President Barack Obama.

Rebecka Leila Fallenkvist is a Swedish media personality and politician for the Sweden Democrats.

References

  1. 1 2 "EDITORIAL BOARD – The Indicter" . Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  2. "Gasattacker förnekas med hjälp från svensk läkargrupp". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 2017-04-21. ISSN   1101-2447 . Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  3. "Sources (site web)", Wikipédia (in French), 2021-01-31, retrieved 2021-12-06
  4. "The Indicter - Media Names & Numbers 2020". www.sources.com. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  5. "The PROFESSORS' BLOG – Science, Culture & Human Rights For All – It is now THE INDICTER magazine (Nov 2015)" . Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  6. Reuter, Christoph (2017-12-21). "Syrien: Russlands Feldzug gegen die Wahrheit". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  7. "En Russie, une curieuse thèse reprise pour exonérer Damas". LEFIGARO (in French). 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  8. "White Helmets 'staging fake attacks' in Syria? We sort fact from fiction". The Observers - France 24. 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
  9. Kodmani, Hala. "Russia Today, Sputnik… un mois d'intox passé au crible". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2021-12-08.
  10. "The 'Useful Idiots': How These British Academics Helped Russia Deny War Crimes At The UN". HuffPost UK. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  11. "Replik från SWEDHR på Patrik Oksanens krönika". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  12. "White Helmets Video: Swedish Doctors for Human Rights Denounce Medical Malpractice and 'Misuse' of Children for Propaganda Aims – The Indicter" . Retrieved 2021-12-08.
  13. "UN officials in tears watching video from alleged chlorine attack in Syria - National | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  14. "Svensk grupp i rysk propaganda om giftattacken på spion". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 2018-04-02. ISSN   1101-2447 . Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  15. "The situation in the Middle East" (PDF).
  16. "LINDA JERNECK: Akademikerna som tvättar blodet från Assadregimen". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  17. "OK". m.ok.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  18. M. Zakharova on SWEDHR's analysis of White-Helmets videos in The Indicter , retrieved 2021-12-06
  19. @mfa_russia (March 16, 2017). "#Zakharova: We would like the public to take note..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved 2023-05-09 via Twitter.
  20. "Svensk läkargrupp: Bluff om gasattacker". DN.SE (in Swedish). 2017-04-22. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  21. "Russia Used a Two-Year-Old Video and an 'Alternative' Swedish Group to Discredit Reports of Syria Gas Attack". Coda Story. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  22. "Refuting the Coda Story's narrative on Swedish Doctors for Human Rights – The Indicter" . Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  23. "Interference by journalists on sovereign opinions of professors, academics, and independent researchers, comprise infringements to Art 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – The Indicter" . Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  24. United Nations Security Council, 15 February 2018. Document A/72/652–S/2017/1010