MOSCOW — Pro-Kremlin media on Friday launched an offensive against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny aiming to disprove his complaints of mistreatment and lack of medical attention at his penal colony.
On Wednesday, 44-year-old Navalny announced he had launched a hunger strike demanding proper medical treatment in prison after experiencing severe back pain and numbness in his legs.
The opposition figure is serving a 2.5-year sentence on old fraud charges in a penal colony some 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Moscow known for its harsh discipline.
The pro-Kremlin Life.ru news website on Friday published CCTV footage from what it said is Navalny’s penal colony.
Several videos showing what looks like a prison dormitory show a man strongly resembling Navalny, dressed in a dark blue uniform with a shaven head.
The videos are dated March 26, just under two weeks after he was transferred to Penal Colony No. 2 outside the town of Pokrov and a day after he publicly said his health was deteriorating.
Describing Navalny as an “impudent simulator,” Life.ru wrote that he was walking around and was disrespectful to prison authorities, although the published videos have no sound.
The website did not say how it obtained the footage.
In posts on social media, Navalny has accused prison officials of “torture” through sleep deprivation and said he lost eight kilogrammes (18 pounds) since arriving at the colony and before going on hunger strike.
On Wednesday he said the Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today) was filming at his colony.
He added that the crew was led by Maria Butina, who was convicted in the United States for illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government and served more than five months in a correctional facility before being deported back to Russia in October 2019.
Butina on Friday confirmed she was at the Pokrov colony in a post on her Telegram channel, saying Navalny “looks quite normal.”
She said the colony is “practically exemplary” and “resembles a pioneer camp,” referring to Soviet summer camps.
“My wish for Alexei is that if you have committed a crime, be a man and serve your time.”
Navalny was arrested when he returned to Russia in January from Germany, where he had spent months recovering from a near-fatal poisoning he blames on the Kremlin.
Reached by AFP, Navalny’s close ally Leonid Volkov said: “We do not comment on Kremlin infofeces.”
Pro-Kremlin media scramble to dismiss Navalny health complaints
https://arab.news/8jpyk
Pro-Kremlin media scramble to dismiss Navalny health complaints
- Pro-Kremlin Life.ru news website on Friday published CCTV footage from what it said is Navalny's penal colony
- In posts on social media, Navalny who started hunger strike on Wednesday, accused prison officials of "torture" through sleep deprivation
MenaML hosts 2026 Winter School in Saudi Arabia to boost AI education, collaboration in region
- Second edition of Winter School will be hosted in partnership with KAUST
DUBAI: The Middle East and North Africa Machine Learning Winter School will host its second edition in Saudi Arabia this year, in partnership with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
The non-profit held its inaugural edition in Doha last year in partnership with the Qatar Computing Research Institute.
The initiative began when like-minded individuals from Google DeepMind and QCRI came together to launch a platform connecting a “community of top-tier AI practitioners with a shared interest in shaping the future of the MENA region,” Sami Alabed, a research scientist at Google DeepMind and one of the co-founders of MenaML, told Arab News.
Along with Alabed, the core team includes Maria Abi Raad and Amal Rannen-Triki from Google DeepMind, as well as Safa Messaoud and Yazan Boshmaf from QCRI.
Messaoud said that the school has three goals: building local talent in artificial intelligence, enhancing employability and connection, and reversing brain drain while fostering regional opportunity.
AI has dominated boardrooms and courtrooms alike globally, but “AI research and education in MENA are currently in a nascent, yet booming, stage,” she added.
Launched at a pivotal moment for the region, the initiative was timed to ensure “regional representation in the global AI story while cultivating AI models that are culturally aligned,” said Rannen-Triki.
The school’s vision is to cultivate researchers capable of developing “sophisticated, culturally aligned AI models” that reflect the region’s values and linguistic and cultural diversity, said Messaoud.
This approach, she added, enables the region to contribute meaningfully to the global AI ecosystem while ensuring that AI technologies remain locally relevant and ethically grounded.
MenaML aims to host its annual program in a different city each year, partnering with reputable institutions in each host location.
“Innovation does not happen in silos; breakthroughs are born from collaboration that extends beyond borders and lab lines,” said Alabed.
“Bringing together frontier labs to share their knowledge echoes this message, where each partner brings a unique viewpoint,” he added.
This year, MenaML has partnered with KAUST, which “offers deep dives into specialized areas critical to the region, blending collaborative spaces with self-learning and placement programs,” said Abi Raad.
The program, developed in partnership with KAUST, brings together speakers from 16 institutions and focuses on four key areas: AI and society, AI and sciences, AI development, and regional initiatives.
“These themes align with the scientific priorities and research excellence pillars of KAUST as well as the needs of regional industries seeking to deploy AI safely and effectively,” said Bernard Ghanem, professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science at KAUST and director of the Center of Excellence in Generative AI.
The program will also highlight efficiency in AI systems, with the overall goal of equipping “participants with the conceptual and practical understanding needed to contribute meaningfully to next-generation AI research and development,” he told Arab News.
For KAUST, hosting the MenaML Winter School aligns with Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a global hub for AI research under Vision 2030.
By attracting top researchers, industry partners, and young talent to the Kingdom, it helps cement the Kingdom’s position as a center for AI excellence, Ghanem said.
It also aligns closely with Vision 2030’s “goals of building human capital, fostering innovation, and developing a knowledge-based economy” and “contributes to the long-term development of a world-leading AI ecosystem in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Although the program accepts students from around the world, participants must demonstrate a connection to the MENA region, Abi Raad said.
The goal is to build bridges between those who may have left the region and those who remain, enabling them to start conversations and collaborate, she added.
A certain percentage of spots is reserved for participants from the host country, while a small percentage is allocated to fully international students with no regional ties, with the objective of offering them a glimpse into the regional AI ecosystem.
Looking ahead, MenaML envisions growing from an annual event into a sustainable, central pillar of the regional AI ecosystem, inspired by the growth trajectory of global movements like TED or the Deep Learning Indaba, a sister organization supporting AI research and education in Africa.
Boshmaf said MenaML’s long-term ambition is to evolve beyond its flagship event into a broader movement, anchored by local MenaMLx chapters across the region.
Over time, the initiative aims to play a central role in strengthening the regional AI ecosystem by working with governments and the private sector to support workforce development, AI governance and safety education, and collaborative research, while raising the region’s global visibility through its talent network and international partnerships.
He added: “If TED is the global stage for ‘ideas worth spreading,’ MenaML is to be the regional stage for ‘AI ideas worth building.’”
The MenaML Winter School will run from Jan. 24 to 29 at KAUST in Saudi Arabia.
