Stories about Freedom of Speech from August, 2007
Tunisia: A new Mohammed cartoon crisis ?
Tunisian blogger A.L.G.Y of Cos-maux-polis is wondering whether a new Mohammed cartoon crisis is brewing. She explains that drawings of a man with the body of a dog wearing a...
Turkey is Typing….WordPress Still Blocked
Last week Sami Ben Gharbia did an excellent posting about the blockage of the Wordpress blogging platform in Turkey, this week we will examine what Turkish bloggers have to say about it. There is anger, resentment, and sense of utter amazement at the absurdness of the situation. And yet, there is a powerful spirit of strength in combating this ban.
Russia: Politkovskaya Updates
Sean's Russia Blog is posting updates on Anna Politkovskaya's murder investigation – here, here, here (46 comments), and here.
Thailand: Online Video Sites Down, YouTube Works
Bangkok Pundit says Thai people can now access the previously banned YouTube site but couple of other video sites are not working.
China: Feedburner Blocked Again
William Long reported: Feedburner, the most popular and powerful worldwide RSS service provider, is blocked by Chinese authorities. Last year, Feedburner had also been blocked temporarily.
China: Actor Not Martyr
Ge da-xia from Yaoblog commented on Zoula's citizen reporting practice and argued that citizen reporter should be social actor, not martyr; and that report should be about the incident to...
China: Websites Forced To Close By Police
Vapano from a data company D2EX reported that many Internet Data Centers have received notices from Gong-an (Police department) which forced them to close down thousands of websites. To prevent...
Chinese cartoon cops patrolling websites
From September, 1st, Beijing’s new virtual cops will be active on 13 of China’s portals, including China’s biggest blog-hosting services, Sohu.com and Sina.com. By the end of the year, the virtual police’s patrols are expected to cover all websites registered with Beijing servers.
Morocco: 2 Million Blogs Banned
MoTIC (fr) provides us with statistics on Livejournal, which has been blocked in Morocco for over a year, as well as other blocked sites.
Iraq: Saudi Bans Al Hayat
Iraqi blogger Ladybird reports that Saudi Arabia has banned pan-Arab Saudi-owned newspaper Al Hayat in the kingdom.
Bahrain: Editor in Court
A Bahraini newspaper editor is in court for defamation, writes Mahmood Al Yousif.
China: The anxiety of China's Bureau of Broadcasting and Film
Chong from interlocals translated an article from 1510.com about the recent move of the Broadcasting and Film Bureau in banning the Phoenix TV (one of the cable TV services).
Tunisia: Inappropriate TV
Diana Magazine complains of inappropriate scenes being shown on Arab television stations like MBC and Dubai One. The blogger says, “I defend freedom of speech and media and press freedom,...
Russia: Novaya Gazeta in English
Robert Amsterdam and Sean's Russia Blog link to Novaya Gazeta's recently launched English-language site featuring translations of some of their investigative stories. Sean wrote in a reply to a reader:...
Kuwait: Crazy Week for Bloggers
Kuwaiti bloggers had a crazy week, which started with an earthquake, or rather a small tremor, early on Saturday morning. The next day a blogger was arrested for a comment an anonymous reader left on his online forum. The week culminated with a fire at a local hospital and the resignation of Kuwait's first female minister.
Iran:A blogger was beaten up by mafia
Mojeh Sevom ,blogger and journalist,says[Fa] that Javid Asadzadeh an active blogger in Urmia in Azerbaijan province, was beaten up and got injured by local mafia.This blogger has written several times...
Afghanistan: Replacing a minister
From Afghanistan, Sanjar reports that he and his colleagues have launched a petition demanding the removal of the current Minister for Information and Culture. Rumours have it that a successor...
China: Temporary Reporter System
Because of the Fake Baozhi news, many mainstream media in China have fired temporary staffs. CCTV has fired up to 1,800 temporary workers, many are reporters. Zhao shilong has once...
Soviet Union: Female Beauty and Feminism
Natalia Antonova writes about “the Soviet Syndrome” that some of today's feminists seem to be afflicted with.
Russia: Panyushkin's Detention
Robert Amsterdam writes about a recent detention of journalist Valery Panyushkin under Russia's extremism law.
Russia: Arrests in Politkovskaya's Murder Case
Ten unnamed people have been arrested in connection with last year's slaying of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Sean's Russia Blog writes that she “as ‘political football’ has been dusted off and...
