Mexico Arrests Ex-governor Accused Of Torturing Journalist

Mexico City, Feb 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Feb, 2021 ) :A former Mexican governor has been arrested on charges of ordering the torture of a journalist who accused him of links to a child pornography ring, prosecutors said Thursday.

Mario Marin was detained on Wednesday in Acapulco and transferred to Cancun in connection with the allegations dating back to 2005, the year he became governor of central Puebla state.

He was due to appear before a judge on Thursday accused of the torture of award-winning investigative journalist Lydia Cacho, a prosecution source told AFP.

The former official had been a fugitive since April 2019, when a court in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo ordered his arrest.

"I have been seeking justice for 14 years for having been tortured by this accomplice of child pornography networks," Cacho wrote on Twitter.

The journalist, who now lives overseas, has for years worked to highlight violence against women and children.

In her 2005 book "The Demons of Eden," she lifted the lid on a pedophilia network that she alleged was linked to Marin and several prominent businessmen.

In December of that year, Cacho was arrested in Cancun by agents of the Puebla prosecutor's office, accused of slander and defamation.

She alleges that during the journey from Cancun to Puebla she was psychologically tortured by the officials, who threatened to sexually abuse her.

Cacho has won many international awards including the UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom prize.

Rights group Reporters Without Borders regularly ranks Mexico as among the world's most dangerous countries for news media, with more than 100 journalists murdered since 2000.