Washington (AFP)

The American Epilepsy Foundation said it had filed a complaint after a series of attacks on its Twitter thread with flashing messages intended to cause seizures in people with the disease.

Conducted in particular by means of videos and gifs containing strobe lights, these attacks, said the Epilepsy Foundation on its site on Monday, "deliberately targeted" the national epilepsy awareness month, in November, when the number of patients likely to view the account was "most important".

This highlights their "reprehensible nature", denounces in the press release the legal representative of the association Allison Nichol. "The Foundation cooperates fully with the authorities and intends to use all the means at its disposal to ensure that the perpetrators of these acts are held accountable."

"Although the number of people with photosensitive epilepsy is reduced, the consequences can be relatively serious," said Jacqueline French, chief physician of the association. "Many are not even aware of their photosensitivity before having a crisis."

The Epilepsy Foundation points out that these attacks are "similar" to the one suffered by a Newsweek journalist in 2016.

According to investigators, Kurt Eichenwald received a strobe light on his Twitter account to punish him for his criticism of Donald Trump.

Handicapped for several days after his crisis, notably to speak or use his left hand, the journalist indicated that he had received in the weeks following the incident around forty other luminous messages.

The first attacker, John Rayne Rivello, a former soldier, was scheduled to appear in court in Dallas, Texas on Monday, but his hearing was postponed to January 31. He should plead guilty to assault with aggravating circumstances.

© 2019 AFP