· September, 2012

Stories about Freedom of Speech from September, 2012

Iran: Google and Gmail Will Be Filtered

  23 September 2012

Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, an Iranian official declared [fa] on Sunday 23rd September, Google and Gmail are going to be filtered in the next few hours.He says people asked us to take a stand against the sites insulting Islam's Prophet. Khoramabadi is one of key members of a “Commission to Determine Instances...

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Hatred in the Caucasus

  22 September 2012

Murad Gassanly, an activist in exile, comments on the case of Ramil Safarov, a soldier convicted of murder in Hungary and recently pardoned in Azerbaijan, by examining how and why ethnic hatred has come to define society in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Angola: Police Puts End to Protest

  21 September 2012

The Angolan collective @Central7311 informed on Twitter that some of its members were detained on September 20, 2012, “for holding a peaceful demonstration” which intended to “pressure the opposition not to take their place in parliament after clearly fraudulent elections”. The demonstrators were released six hours after the detention, Maka Angola...

Thailand’s Lese Majeste Law: ‘A Strange Legislation that Needs Reform’

  21 September 2012

Article 112 of Thailand’s criminal code is often described as the world’s harshest Lese Majeste (anti-royal insult) law. The controversial law is often invoked to censor web content and shut down websites. A contributor of Global Voices went to Bangkok and interviewed a former staff of the Committee to Investigate Lese Majeste Cases in the Royal Thai Police.

Macedonia: Activist's Trial to Continue in November

  21 September 2012

On his Facebook page, activist Žarko Trajanoski wrote [mk] about the latest session of his trial (started in 2010): ‘The Process’ continued – the accused presented his defense in absence of ‘the brave’ plaintiff, whose attorney said he did not know his whereabouts. The Court was allegedly informed that he...

Pakistan Bans YouTube Over Controversial Video

  20 September 2012

In an attempt to appease the growing unrest in the country, the Government of Pakistan decided to block the social networking site YouTube as of Monday, September 17, 2012. The move came hours after protests in the southern city of Karachi turned violent, leaving two protesters dead.

Russia: Omsk Telecom Temporarily Bans YouTube

RuNet Echo  18 September 2012

For roughy seven hours earlier today, Rostelecom's customers in Omsk were unable to access YouTube. The short-lived ban prompted a flurry of panicked online activity, including urgent tweets [ru] from the city's most vocal netizen, Viktor Korb. The short-lived ban was apparently in response [ru] to YouTube hosting clips from the film “Innocence...

Armenia: Homophobic Editor On Air

  18 September 2012

Unzipped: Gay Armenia says that it is glad the pro-opposition A1+ TV, a station deprived of its broadcasting frequency in 2002, now has a program aired on another channel. However, the blog also notes that it is disappointed to see that a homophobic newspaper editor is involved in its production.

Bangladesh: Draft Online Media Policy Draws Criticism

  18 September 2012

There are almost 200 online newspapers in Bangladesh but no specific regulations exist for them. The government of Bangladesh has taken steps to administer them by preparing draft regulations, but netizens have expressed concerns already.

Bahrain Censors UN Website for Human Rights Session Live Stream

  18 September 2012

Human rights activist Mohammed Al Maskati, who is attending the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, tweets: @MohdMaskati: Authorities in #Bahrain put obstacles to access #UN website for live stream because of my intervention in the #HRC21 http://twitpic.com/aucktm He shares the screenshot above which shows the blocked site with...

Ukraine: “Ashes of Freedom of Speech”

  16 September 2012

A few hundred people gathered at Kyiv's Independence Square on Sept. 16 to honor the memory of Georgiy Gongadze, a Ukrainian journalist who disappeared on this day 12 years ago, and of more than 60 other journalists who lost their lives in the years since Ukraine gained independence in 1991.

Pakistan: On ‘The Innocence of Muslims’ Film

  13 September 2012

A 13 minute trailer of controversial film ‘The Innocence of Muslims’ was recently released via YouTube. The movie is said to be strongly anti-Islamic and protests against it were held in several countries, leading to the death of the US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and his three aides. Pakistani netizens react.

Macedonia: Human Rights Activist Trajanoski on Trial

  13 September 2012

Today, at 13:00 CET, the Basic Court Skopje 1 will hold the main session of the trial against human rights activist Zarko Trajanoski, charged with defamation of Milenko Nedelkovski, a pro-government talk show host. Trajanoski is on trial [mk] for using the term “media charlatan” in a statement on the...

Philippines: Senate President Wants Law to Regulate Blogs

  12 September 2012

Philippine Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile admitted that he doesn’t know anything about blogs and blogging but he still proposed a law to regulate blogs after one of his colleagues in the senate complained of being a victim of cyber bullying. Many people think it is an attempt to restrict online freedom in the country.

China: Journalists Leaving the Field

  11 September 2012

Many investigative journalists in mainland China are leaving the field. The Tea Leaf Nation picked up and translated some of the discussions in Weibo to look into their reasons.