INTERNATIONAL THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014 Australian convicted in child sex sting with virtual girl SYDNEY: An Australian man caught in a global sting onto police, including in Australia, Poland and the stood to have searched Hansen’s home following a the Philippines alone. The problem is also present in which used a virtual girl called Sweetie to trap child United States. The Australian is the first person to be web chat with “Sweetie” in which he was naked and Cambodia and Thailand, she said. “We are just trying sex predators has become the first person convicted convicted in the online sting, Terre des Hommes’ masturbated, news.com.au reported. to prove with Sweetie that this is an iceberg problem,” from the operation, the rights group behind it said Jakarta-based Leny Kling told AFP. Terre des Hommes has said they did not approach she said, adding that the large number of people yesterday. Dutch rights groups Terre des Hommes “And we hope that more will follow,” she said. anyone on the Internet but instead waited for people caught in the sting in a short time indicated the scale said in November last year it had used a computer- Court officials said 38-year-old Scott Robert Hansen to approach Sweetie and ask for sex acts. of the exploitation of children. “It’s up to the FBI, up generated Filipina girl-dubbed “Sweetie”-in Internet had been sentenced on three charges, including The rights group also stopped the conversation as to Interpol, up to the Australian police force to take chat rooms to ensnare paedophiles. Over a 10-week using a carriage service to transmit indecent commu- soon as someone offered Sweetie money for sex acts. action.” period more than 20,000 predators from 71 countries nications to a person aged under 16, and possessing “Sweetie attracted a lot of paedophiles,” said Kling, When the sting was revealed in 2013, Terres de approached the virtual 10-year-old asking for web- child exploitation material on Tuesday. adding that comments the virtual girl attracted Hommes said its researchers found the experience cam sex performances and more than 1,000 pae- He was also charged with failing to comply with a included ‘Can you undress yourself?’ and ‘Can you shocking. “To put yourself in the shoes of a 10-year- dophiles had been identified as a result, it said at the sex offenders order. “He was given a two-year sen- show your boobs to me?’. old Filipina girl and seeing what some men want time. tence,” a court spokeswoman told AFP, adding it was Kling said the group wanted to raise the alarm from you has been a shocking experience for them,” The group has said that several offenders have suspended given the 260 days he had already been about webcam child sex tourism, a form of child said its head of campaigns Hans Guyt. “Some since been arrested after the information was passed held in custody. Australian Federal Police are under- exploitation that has tens of thousands of victims in demands and acts were really obscene.” — AFP Philippines pushes arbitration in China sea row MANILA: The Philippine president said yes- approval of a legally binding Code of terday that the international arbitration Conduct to replace the non-binding 2002 Manila has initiated to challenge China’s terri- Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South torial claims in the South China Sea and a China Sea. legally binding “Code of Conduct” are the “Beyond that, I don’t know what else we only ways to settle the long-raging disputes could do,” Aquino said. “The focus is to peacefully. achieve a solution through peaceful means The Philippines says that China has been bound by international law.” China has said intruding into its exclusive economic zone, that the Philippines’ filing of the case could including deploying two hydrographic ships damage relations between the two countries in June near an offshore oil well inside and that it would prefer to settle the dispute Philippine waters. Philippine President bilaterally. Benigno Aquino III has said Manila is uncer- Aquino said Chinese actions in the South tain of the purpose of the ships’ presence at China Sea were “not in conformity” with the the Reed Bank. 2002 agreement signed by Beijing and Aquino said yesterday that Chinese ASEAN calling on all claimants over parts or reclaimed land in the disputed waters, if used the whole of the regional waters not to exac- militarily, could be a “game changer” in the erbate their dispute. “We have issues about future settlement of the dispute. Countries in the reclamations, about rocks, in so far as the region and those that use the busy sea rocks being turned into islands,” he said, refer- lanes that straddle the South China Sea and ring to Chinese land reclamations in at least the disputed Spratly island chain are con- three shoals claimed by both China and the cerned that the conflict could erupt into vio- Philippines. lent clashes. “Is it a game changer? Obviously it’s a Speaking at a forum with foreign corre- game changer,” he said in response to a ques- spondents, Aquino said the Philippines is tion on whether the reclaimed land could be seeking an internationally recognized settle- used to install military facilities such as an ment of the disputes. “This affects not just airstrip, posing a security threat to the countries in the region, but countries that Philippines. China’s conflicts with Vietnam have to traverse this particular ocean,” he said. and the Philippines have been intensifying Manila has filed a case with an internation- over the past two years. The most serious al tribunal in The Hague challenging China’s confrontation was in May between Chinese territorial claims over most of the South China and Vietnamese ships near an oil rig deployed MANILA: German Marc Susselbeck (3rd L), boyfriend of murdered Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude, also known as “Jeffrey,” and Jennifer’s Sea, but Beijing has refused to take part. The by Beijing in waters claimed by Hanoi. sister Marilou (2nd L) climb over the gate of the facility where Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton is detained at the Armed Forces of the Philippines and some other countries in the Aside from China, the Philippines and Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Manila yesterday. — AFP 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also Nations, or ASEAN, are pushing for the have claims in the South China Sea. — AP Marine suspect guarded by US in Philippine camp Washington seeks no special privilege for suspect: Kerry MANILA: A US Marine suspected in the gruesome authorities engaged in a high-profile custody battle Olongapo city on Oct. 11, then went to a motel room killing of a transgender Filipino was flown yesterday over another US Marine, Daniel Smith, who was found where Laude’s body was later found. She had appar- from his warship to the Philippine military’s main guilty and sentenced to life in prison on charges of ently been drowned in the toilet bowl. camp, where he will continue to be guarded by fellow raping a Filipino woman in 2005. A Philippine appeals The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu, where Marines, in a compromise that eased a looming irritant court overturned his conviction in 2009, allowing him Pemberton initially was detained, had been ordered over his custody. to leave the country amid anti-US protests. to stay in Subic during the investigation. But yesterday, The emotional case involving Pfc. Joseph Scott In the latest case, Philippine police and witnesses US Pacific Commander Adm. Samuel Locklear cleared Pemberton and Jennifer Laude, whose former name said Pemberton and Laude, 26, met at a disco bar in the Peleliu to leave the Philippines. — AP was Jeffrey, came as the Philippines and the United States were strengthening ties with the recent signing of a defense accord that allows greater U.S. access to Philippine military camps. The accord would help Washington’s bid to reassert its presence in Asia and Manila to deter what it calls China’s aggressive moves to reinforce its claims in contested South China Sea JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo and First lady Iriana (both C in white) show territories. the presidential palace to employees of governor office as part of their farewell ceremony Left-wing activists and nationalist Filipinos have cit- at the presidential palace in Jakarta yesterday. Joko Widodo was inaugurated as ed the custody provision of the accord - which says Indonesia’s president on October 20, capping a remarkable rise from an upbringing in a American military suspects shall remain in US custody riverside slum. — AFP until legal processes are completed - as proof that the accord undermines the sovereignty of the Philippines, Indonesia president to which was an American colony until 1946. Pemberton’s transfer by helicopter to Manila was agreed by the US and the Philippines, military chief of make new cabinet picks staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang told a news confer- ence. The 19-year-old Marine, who arrived in hand- JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo, had flagged as problematic. Widodo had origi- cuffs, was detained in an air-conditioned container who won election on a vow of clean govern- nally planned to announce his cabinet of 33 van with grilled windows, directly guarded by US ment, said yesterday he would have to find new ministers on Tuesday, the day after his inaugura- Marines while Philippine military police will be posted people to fill some of his cabinet posts after the tion. He has said his team would be made up of outside the fenced compound, Catapang said.