National Central University English professor Josephine Ho (
According to Prosecutor Yu Hsiu-duan's (俞秀端) indictment, Ho posted a link to "Beast Love," a Web site detailing intercourse between humans and animals, on the Web page of the university's Center for the Study of Sexuality, where Ho has served as director for four years.
The site, which features graphic images and a manual on how to have sex with animals, has sparked a debate on the occasionally fine line between pornography and academic research.
Ho, with her lawyer beside her, said the indictment was flawed and that after five hearings she could finally defend herself. She said she would take advantage of this one chance to speak to highlight "mistakes" in the indictment.
"The indictment shows an arrogant attitude and disrespect toward academic research and myself on the part of the prosecutors. Your honors may not be able to believe that, in a contentious case such as this, there are typographical errors in the indictment," Ho said.
Ho told judges Chou Tzu-min (周祖民), Fan Chi-da (范智達) and Huang Ya-chun (黃雅君) that prosecutors did not examine the case from an academic point of view when they were drafting the indictment, and that the indictment misrepresented what she had done.
"[The prosecutors] said I posted these pornographic pictures on my university Web site. Well, I didn't -- we only provided the link to another Web site rather than posting their pictures," she said. "The two sets of circumstances are different, are they not?"
Regarding an allegation that Ho had distributed pornographic material by posting the link, Ho said that if this were to be sustained, then the government's educational authorities should have been implicated as well.
"My Web site was not the only one that provided a path to this pornographic site. Everyone knows you can find us on the Ministry of Education's Web site by linking to the university and then us. According to the prosecutors' logic, these offices should therefore be indicted as well, since they were also distributing pornographic information, am I right?" Ho said.
Prosecutors also said Ho's Web site should have screened users wanting to link to the bestiality Web site. Ho said this requirement was ridiculous.
"If we screened our visitors, then this would not be `academic research' because academic research is open to all people. Quite clearly, these prosecutors don't have the first clue what `academic research' is," Ho said.
The case surfaced when a group of activists, lawyers, teachers and parents, led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tseng Tsai Mei-tsuo (
Ho told the court she had received support from "professors from more than 35 countries" and that they were waiting to see how the judiciary handled the case.
Ho was charged with violating Article 235 of the Criminal Code, which says, "A person who distributes, sells, publicly displays, or by other means shows to another person indecent writing, drawing, or other [work] shall be punished."
Prosecutors have not recommended any sentence for Ho in the event of her conviction. Chou said that a judgement would be handed down at 11am on June 25.
Ho said she was very confident about the result and was planning to attend that hearing in person.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS