· February, 2007

Stories about Breaking News from February, 2007

Senegal: Thumbs Down for the Minister of Justice

  27 February 2007

Semett alleges that (Fr): “The justice minister … has unjustly broken into the voting center at Ndatté Yalla, in Saint Louis, while votes were being counted and his men have spread chaos in this republican space. They have pushed around the center's managing team and this, in front of police...

Senegal: Voting Process Report Card

  27 February 2007

Semett ‘s voting process report card (Fr): “The Presidential election took place peacefully and with a participation rate estimated at 70% by the vote's organizers. The electoral body went from 2 to 5 million. More than 2,000 observers were deployed. Generally, the voting process has been positively evaluated and Senegalese...

Senegal Elections: Towards Another Wade Term?

  26 February 2007

“Senegal Wants Its Freedom Back” headline. By R-Nesto. Yesterday was election day in Senegal. A campaign marked by some violent clashes started about a month ago and most of the Senegalese bloggers were hoping to see the incumbent, PDS  [Social Democratic Party] leader Abdoulaye Wade, defeated. Wade has been in...

Pakistan: Online freedom of speech as collateral damage?

  23 February 2007

This flash animation is converted from the Powerpoint Presentation made by Dr Awab Alvi for “The Battle for the Internet.” conference (His presentation can be viewed here-original file .ppt)   One year ago, on the 27th of February 2006, when the Danish cartoons controversy exploded, spawning waves of protest, anger...

Russia: Ivan Ushkov's Case

  22 February 2007

Ivan Ushkov, a St. Petersburg artist, had his computer and some of his work confiscated by the police; officers threatened to shut down his photo business located on Nevsky Prospekt. Both the Russian blogosphere and the media are abuzz about this ongoing controversy. Ushkov's work can be viewed here; English...

Arabisc: Bloggers Rally to Kareem's Support

  22 February 2007

Egyptian blogger Kareem Sulaiman was today (Thursday) sentenced to four years in prison for defaming Islam and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on his personal blog. Despite a support site, petitions and demonstrations in Bahrain, London, Stockholm, Paris, Rome, New York (twice) and Washington DC calling for his release, an Alexandria...

Egypt: FOUR Years Prison Sentence for Blogger

  22 February 2007

Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulaiman made history today by being the first Egyptian to be sentenced to jail for articles he wrote on his personal blog. An Alexandria court found him guilty of insulting both Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced him to four years in jail based...

Iraq – Draft Oil Law Published

  14 February 2007

The new oil law planned by the Iraqi government is controversial to say the least. The fact that it is being discussed in secret is doubly so. New blog Al-Ghad gets a leaked copy of the new draft law and publishes the document together with an expert commentary (in Arabic).

Iran: Flickr users vs. The State

  14 February 2007

One of the censorship nightmares experienced by web-connected citizens living in countries engaging in Internet filtering is to find out that they can no longer access their favorite sites. Unfortunately, this is what is happening to the Flickr.com community in Iran and in the United Arab Emirates, where, a few...

Bahrain: Blogger Released on Bail!

  8 February 2007

Illustrious Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif described a certain minister as ‘stupid.’ The minister lodged a case against the blogger, who was summoned by the CID yesterday. Today, he went to the public prosecutor, where he was questioned again for three hours, in the presence of a lawyer, and released...

Libya: Muslims in the UK Make Headlines..Again

  1 February 2007

Anglolibyan says Muslims in the UK are making the headlines again. “Again British Muslims make headline news locally and internationally, yesterday the police arrested 9 young British Muslims in Birmingham, who the police allege were trying to kidnap a Muslim British soldier who is in the UK on leave, the...