386 kids rescued, 350 arrested in child porn bust ICC demands that Libya hands over Gaddafi’s son
Nearly 350 people including school teachers, doctors and actors have been arrested in what Toronto police called one of the largest child porn busts they have ever seen.
Police said Thursday that 386 children were rescued as a result of the sweeping investigation. More than 100 people were arrested in Canada and 76 in the U.S. in an investigation dubbed Project Spade. Others were arrested in other countries.
“It is alleged that officers seized hundreds of thousands of videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst that they have ever viewed,” Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins said.
Australian Federal Police commander Glen McEwen on Friday confirmed that 65 men had been arrested in Australia as a result of the Canadian investigation, and six Australian children had been removed from harm. Police said the children were “rescued from child exploitation” but did not give more details.
Beaven-Desjardins said the investigation began with a Toronto man accused of running a company since 2005 that distributed child pornography videos.
Police allege Brian Way, 42, instructed people around the world to create the videos of children ranging from 5 to 12 years of age, then distributed the videos via his company, Azov Films, to international customers. The videos included naked boys from Germany, Romania and Ukraine, which it marketed as naturist movies and claimed were legal in Canada and the United States.
Police said they executed a search warrant at Way’s company and home, seizing about 1,000 pieces of evidence: computers, servers, DVD burners, a video editing suite and hundreds of movies.
Way was charged with 24 offences, including child pornography. He is in jail. Police also designated Azov Films as a criminal organization, charging Way with giving directions on behalf of a gang. Beaven-Desjardins said this is the first time in Canada that anyone has been charged with being a part of a criminal organization in regards to child pornography.
Police said they began their investigation in 2010 and worked with Interpol in more than 50 countries including Australia, Spain, Mexico, Norway and Greece.
“This operation shows that international police cooperation works. Despite large amounts of material and that this is time-consuming work, this shows that the Internet is not a safe haven for crimes against children,” Norwegian police spokesman Bjoern-Erik Ludvigsen said in a statement.
The US Postal Inspection Service said it began its investigation by accessing the company website and making undercover purchases.
Beaven-Desjardins said the investiga-
he International Criminal Court’s prosecuor strongly urged Libya on Thursday to and over the son of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi for trial on charges of crimes against umanity, despite Libyan government objecons. Fatou Bensouda also called on the UN ecurity Council to urge the Libyan government to comply with an ICC order to send eif al-Islam Gadhafi to The Hague, Netherands for trial. Libya insists that Seif al-Islam, his father’s ne-time heir apparent, should be tried by its ational courts. But judges at the ICC cast oubt on the country’s ability to give him a air trial, and his defense lawyer has said he ould be executed in Libya if he isn’t handed ver to the ICC. Libya’s UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi old the Security Council his government is ooperating with the ICC but warned that anding over Seif al-Islam would exacerbate ensions in the country. “I think no Libyan government can submit eif to the ICC” because of his very important ole in his father’s regime, Dabbashi said.
He stressed that the Libyan people, especially the victims, want justice for the crime committed during Gaddafi’s dictatorship.
Seif al-Islam, who is being held by a militia in Zintan, is charged with murder and persecution of civilians during the early days of the popular 2011 rebellion that eventually toppled his father. If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment at the Hague court, which does not impose the death penalty.
Bensouda insisted that governments are required to surrender anyone subject to an ICC arrest warrant, saying, “Political considerations have no place in law.”
She noted that the Libyan government is offering to submit more information about prosecuting Seif al-Islam in Libya, “and the court is also considering this request.”
Dabbashi said Libya is going to give submit additional information to the ICC. But Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Evgeny Zagaynov expressed “serious doubts” that Libyan authorities can conduct national investigations of alleged war crimes.
He pointed to Bensouda’s report to the Security Council, which stated that an estimated 8,000 conflict-related detainees are being held without due process and 27 have died in custody, “where significant information suggests torture as the cause of death,” since late 2011.
“Unfortunately, armed clashes, violence and lawlessness in Libya according to various sources continue to this day,” Zagaynov said. “The central authorities are clearly unable to exert control over the whole country.”
Zagaynov asked Bensouda why the ICC judges ordered that Seif al-Islam be handed over but last month ruled that Libya is “able” to prosecute former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi for crimes against humanity related to his alleged involvement in the deadly crackdown on opponents of Gadhafi. Al-Senoussi, who is detained by the government in Tripoli, has appealed the decision to be tried at home and not by the ICC.
Bensouda said the cases are “factually different” and the information submitted by the government was different.