 Hello and welcome to People's Dispatch. I am Prashant and you are watching Around the World in 8 Minutes where we bring you news from working class and popular moments across the globe. In our first story, we look at the detention of software developer and privacy activist Ola Bini in Ecuador without charges. Ola Bini has been remanded for 90 days in Ecuador. He was arrested in Quito on April 11th as he was about to board a flight to Japan. He was held in detention for nearly 30 hours without hearing, which is illegal. Ola Bini was allowed access to a lawyer only after 17 hours. At the hearing, instead of presenting concrete charges, the authorities asked for 90 days of pre-trial detention for investigation. Bini is a Swedish citizen and was detained without the knowledge of the Swedish embassy, which is a violation of international protocol and such matters. The detention came hours after Ecuador's Interior Minister claimed at a press conference that there were Russian hackers in the country. Ola Bini has been a prominent advocate of free and open source software, including privacy and digital security. He has done extensive work on anonymity and secure communication with a variety of international organizations in addition to writing books and technology. His detention is being seen as part of a crackdown on the community that supports technology, enabling greater security and communication. At the time of his detention, Bini, a martial arts enthusiast, was about to board a plane to Japan to undergo training under a famous international martial arts organization. Several friends of his and activists have cried foul over the detention. Media reports quoted Ecuadorian officials as saying that Bini was arrested as part of dismantling a blackmail plot against President Lenin Moreno. However, speaking to NewsClick, lawyer and activist Renata Avila said that Bini's arrest was just Lenin Moreno trying to save face by recreating the same kind of trial show that the U.S. establishment did with Russian hackers. Moreno has been in the thick of controversy after the release of INA papers which revealed corruption by those close to him. In our second story, we take you to Kashmir where a 13-year-old boy was killed as part of the intensifying crackdown by the Indian government. With elections kicking off in the country, New Delhi has intensified this crackdown in Kashmir. On April 11th, on the day of polling in the Baramulla Constancy, security forces killed Owais Ahmad Meir, a 13-year-old boy during protests. Hailing from Kupwara District, Owais was a seventh grade student. He was hit by multiple pellets on the head, neck and chest. According to doctors at the district hospital, the boy was brought dead with serious injuries to the chest. In another incident on April 10th, the Indian National Investigation Agency arrested the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chief Yasin Malik on allegations of funding separatist groups. He was later shifted to Delhi's Tihar jail. This comes in the background of increasing militarization in Kashmir, which has been witnessing massive protests. Indian authorities last week had partially banned civilian movement on the crucial national highway which connects Kashmir with the rest of India. The decision of banning civilian vehicles twice a week was imposed to pave way for unrestricted military movement. The arrest of the pro-independence leadership comes three weeks after the far-right Indian government declared JKLF a banned organization under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Government officials claimed that Malik's organization was promoting secessionism and had connections with military outfits. The decision of banning the JKLF was criticized by many political parties and organizations. Communist Party of India leader Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami said that it just exacerbates the anger and gives rise to further uncertainty. The JKLF is an offshoot of one of the oldest political organizations in Kashmir, the JNK plebiscite front that was created in the 1960s and played a leading role in shaping the politics of the region. It led people to take up the arms against the Indian rule in the late 1980s. Yasin Malik was among the militants who brought the Kashmir dispute to international attention with the controversial kidnapping of the daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Said. In later years, he stressed the importance of dialogue as a solution to the Kashmir issue. In our last story, we take you to Pakistan, where a protest was organized against coal mine debts by mine workers. The Pakistan Central Mines Labor Federation, PCMLF, and the All Pakistan Labor Federation embarked on a protest on April 12th against the increasing number of mine accidents and debts. Eight coal miners died in two different incidents in April alone. The protest was organized in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, demanding implementation of proper safety measures for coal miners. The protesters also demanded an end to the rampant exploitation of these workers, as well as justice and compensation for the families of those killed in the mines. The protesters called upon the state to implement the recommendations of the ILOC 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Conventions 1995. Four coal miners, Abdul Qayyum, Mohammed Anwar, Mohammed Irfan, and Kashmir Khan, were inside a coal mine in Suraj district of Balochistan province on April 10th, located some 625 kilometers from Quetta city, when poisonous gas accumulated in the mine triggered a blast. Similarly, four more coal laborers were killed in northwest Khyber Pakhtunva province on April 10th. Reports said that the accumulation of poisonous gas inside the mine resulted in an explosion in the Darra-Adham Khayel town. The miserable conditions in the mines have led to the deaths of more than 120 workers in recent months. According to PCMLF estimates, mine related accidents kill between 100 to 200 laborers every year in the country. The coal mining sector employs more than 100,000 workers in its 400 coal mines. They are forced to work for over 10 hours a day without adequate safety gear, which is in violation of Pakistan's labour laws. In January, four miners were killed in a blast in the Lorelai district of Balochistan. Before that, in December 2018, the blast in the Shahrid mine in the host town of Balochistan killed one labourer. Nearly 20 more coal mine workers, along with two rescue team members, died in Sanjadi area of Quetta in August 2018. Another four workers died in a mine explosion in Sanjadi in June 2018. And as many as 23 labourers, most of whom were from a single family, died in two separate incidents in Quetta's Peer, Ismail and Marwa areas. That's all for this episode of Around the World in Eight Minutes. For more stories and videos about people's movements, please check out our website peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.