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Cyber attack on charity 'directed by governments'

Andrew Buncombe,Asia Correspondent
Friday 29 October 2010 00:00 BST
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A human rights group that campaigns to defend the world's indigenous peoples says it has been the victim of a sophisticated and wide-ranging cyber attack. It has blamed the attack on the governments of two countries it believes may have been angered by recent campaigns.

Survival International said the attack, which shut its website on Wednesday evening, followed revelations last week of the existence of a video which showed Indonesian troops torturing tribal people in West Papua. The authorities in Jakarta admitted the men are Indonesian troops and launched an investigation.

Last month, Survival called for tourists to boycott Botswana amid allegations over ongoing harassment of the Kalahari bushmen. The organisation said while it had no proof that the governments of the two countries were behind the attack, it suspected they or their allies were responsible.

It said the websites of five West Papua solidarity groups that had also hosted the torture video had been attacked. A spokesman for the Indonesian embassy dismissed the allegations as "baseless". There was no immediate response from Botswana.

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