Stories about Freedom of Speech from July, 2012
Morocco: 22-Year-Old Arrested For Posting Cartoons of Prophet Mohammed on Facebook
According to online news magazine eMarrakech, a young Moroccan was arrested on Friday in Casablanca on charges of posting “insulting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on Facebook.” The accused, whose name has not been disclosed, has, according to local newspapers, published cartoons depicting the Prophet in the form of different...
Mauritania: A Journalist Behind Bars
Mauritanian journalist Obeid Ould Amegn, whose health is in bad condition [Ar], is still in the central prison of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott. Obeid Ould Amegn, a journalist and an anti-slavery human rights activist, is the vice-president of the Club of Activist Journalists. Mauritanian police had arrested him on April 29, in the capital Nouakchott, after he gave a statement to Al Arabiya TV network regarding those arrested following a book-burning protest.
Moldova: Communism – Is It Really Over Now?
On June 12, Moldova’s parliament condemned the Soviet totalitarian communist regime and prohibited the use of the communist symbols, the hammer and sickle. Diana Lungu reports on the online reactions to this important yet belated decision.
Russia: A Conspiracy Theory Against United Russia in Yaroslavl's LJ Case
Writing in the politics-ru LiveJournal community [ru], user oficer2001 [ru] alleges that pat-index, the blogger at the center of the case in Yaroslavl (where LJ was banned by court order), is actually a United Russia member, raising concerns that the Russian authorities are already using state-sponsored trolls to flood the RuNet with illegal...
Russia: Yaroslavl Court Bans LiveJournal
Earlier this week, a Yaroslavl court responded to a request from local police and ordered Internet provider Netis Telekom to shut off access to a handful of websites, including Russia's most popular blogging platform, LiveJournal. As a result, roughly 6,000 subscribers have lost all LJ access.
Video: Internet Society Discusses International Freedom of Speech and Censorship
Will the technologies of anonymization win out over new digital monitoring tools? And will new wireless data technologies foster democracy–or lead to more effective tracking and surveillance? A panel discussion in Washington, DC on 25 June, 2012 with 6 activists from Syria, India, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Venezuela and Azerbaijan aimed to answer these questions.
Colombia: “We are going to end with darkness in Congress”
On Facebook the Primary Constituent movement [es] is calling [es] for a gathering at Plaza de Bolívar (Bogotá's main public square) to protest corruption of politicians and demand that Emilio Otero is not reelected as secretary of the Colombian Congress. The gathering, called “We are going to end with darkness...
China: State-run Media's English Forum
Beijing Cream looks into the “harmonious” interaction of a newly launched English Forum under State run media, Xinhua's website.
Malaysia: ‘National Harmony Act’ Greeted with Cynicism
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that the nation's infamous Sedition Act of 1948 is to be repealed, and replaced with the National Harmony Act. One might then expect that its demise would be met with celebration - however, there is widespread concern that the new National Harmony Act will not prove any better than its predecessor.
Maldives: Activist's Arrest During Protest Caught on Video
Two videos showing the July 13 arrest of activist Shauna Aminath in the Maldives during a peaceful protest calling for early elections have generated reactions all the way to Chile. While Shauna was released the following day after a court hearing, the Maldives Democracy Movement believes it is part of targeted arrests and intimidation of female protesters.
Ukraine: Ukrainian Wikipedia's Traffic Hiked as Russian Wikipedia Striked
Watcher.com.ua reports [uk] that on July 10, when Wikipedia's Russian-language section suspended its service [en] for one day to protest the Russian draft law “On the Protection of Children From Information Harmful to Their Health and Development,” the Ukrainian-language Wikipedia saw a five-time traffic increase. On that day, according to...
Russia: Facebook and “Gay Propaganda”
Alexandra Evans of FP's Passport blog links to an RT news item about a group of Russian Orthodox activists who are campaigning to have Facebook blocked in Russia because of the recent introduction of same-sex marriage status icons, which the activists consider “gay propaganda.”
Sri Lanka: News Websites Targeted And Journalists Threatened
Recently the Sri Lankan authorities raided offices of two news websites on allegation of criminal defamation and arrested nine journalists. In another incident the defense secretary threatened an editor of a local newspaper during an interview. Sri Lankan journalists and activists staged a demonstration protesting their repression.
Croatia: 2.8 Million “Inappropriate” Books “Purged” During the 1990s
In “Libricide,” Ante Lešaja has documented the process of “purging” of “unsuitable” books from Croatian schools and public libraries by the right-wing HDZ government in the 1990s. According to a Jutarnji List interview [hr] with Lešaja, the “purging” was based on ideological and ethnic criteria and affected books “written in...
Iran: Is the State Afraid of a 13-Year Old Girl?
An Iranian security court created a stir recently by banning foreign travel for jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband and their 13-year-old daughter, Mehraveh Khandan. Nasrin Stoudeh has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Northern Mali: Resistance in the Streets and Online
Northern Mali has been de facto cut off from its central government since the Tuareg rebels then the Islamists drove the army out of their territory. On the ground, tension is rising. Women were the first to go out on the streets and in all the northern cities, the young have taken up protest.
World: Is a Declaration of Internet Freedom What the Internet Needs?
More than a week after rights groups unleashed the Declaration of Internet Freedom, the blogosphere continues to weigh in on the document.
Hong Kong: Former SCMP Journalists’ Open Letter to the Paper's CEO
23 former South China Morning Post journalists and editors issued an open letter to the paper’s group executive director, Hui Kuok, expressing their concern that critical coverage of China is being abandoned in order to please the Communist authorities in Beijing. (via Asia Sentinel)
Bulgaria: “When You Sack the Person of the Year…”
On July 12, the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council dismissed Judge Todorova, the head of the biggest and most powerful union and the winner of the "Person of the Year" prize by the human rights watchdog the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. Todorova's sacking is seen as a politically motivated revenge.
Mali: Media Workers to Strike in Protest of Journalist Kidnapping
Saouti Haïdara, the 62 year old director of Malian newspaper L’Indépendant, was recently kidnapped by men wearing balaclavas, beaten, then abandoned on a road. This is the latest incident in weeks of arrests and intimidation of media professionals in Mali following the military coup in March 2012.
Ethiopia: Online Reactions to Prison Sentence for Dissident Blogger
Five days before his arrest, prominent Ethiopian dissident blogger Eskinder Nega wrote, “Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries. Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia."
