· December, 2011

Stories about Freedom of Speech from December, 2011

Egypt: Free Maikel Nabil Sanad – A Prisoner of Conscience

When Egyptians took to the streets at the start of their revolution last January, their chant “The People and the Army are One Hand!” was heard around the world. Today, after the army turned its guns on citizens, netizens are remembering the words of one blogger who had warned that the army and the people were never one hand. This is the story of Maikel Nabil Sanad.

21 December 2011

Kuwait: Stateless Protesters Attacked for Demanding Rights

Arrests, beatings and harassment face protesters championing for the rights of 100,000 stateless in Kuwait, struggling to have the rights to documents, education, health care, employment, and most importantly naturalization. Mona Kareem takes a look at protests over the past few days in Kuwait and the police crackdown that followed.

21 December 2011

Russia: Alexey Navalny Released From Jail

RuNet Echo

“Everyone's waiting for Navalny ) 5 more minutes! pic.twitter.com/3BRHiuGa,” tweeted [ru] @varlamov a short while ago, posting a picture of the crowd waiting outside a Moscow prison for activist Alexey...

20 December 2011

Mozambique: The Irrepressible Facebook Blogger

Mozambique is a country with a few superbloggers and little else to report in terms of consistent expression on the open internet, but with dramatic growth of Facebook (via mobile) one brave personality has risen to the fore in this walled, blue and white world. With his frontal political comment and criticism "Apóstolo da Desgraça" has become a reference, and received threats.

19 December 2011

Syria: Blogger Razan Ghazzawi is FREE!

Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi was released tonight, after spending 15 days in a Syrian prison. Ghazzawi, who blogs under her real name from Syria, was arrested at the Syrian-Jordanian border, while on her way to attend a press freedom workshop in Amman. Her arrest was criticised by netizens around the world.

18 December 2011

Sidi Bouzid's Anniversary: Celebrating One Year of Arab Awakening

If you had to describe this year in one word what would it be? Leila Nachwati, who was in Tunisia two months ago to attend the Third Arab Bloggers Meeting, shares her experience in Free Tunisia and polls netizens' opinions on what word best describes the year that was since Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest against tyranny a year ago.

17 December 2011

Cuba: The Living Dead

Generation Y sees parallels between the film “Juan of the Dead” and life in Cuba: “More than gazing on a story of beings taken from our worst nightmares, the public...

16 December 2011

Cuba: In Defense of Human Rights

Pedazos de La Isla highlights the testimony of one of the Ladies in White who relates her experience as a victim of the “vigilance operations, brutal beatings, arbitrary arrests, deportations,...

15 December 2011

Cuba: Defining “Vulgarity”

Without Evasion continues to share her thoughts about the outcry over the “vulgarity” of a popular reggaeton song, saying: “The confusion lies, then, in properly ascertaining the limits of vulgarity...

14 December 2011