Stories about Human Rights from April, 2007
Serbia: Independent Media Under Threat
TOL's Balkanizer writes about “a scary day to be a journalist in Serbia.”
Russia: Gorbachev on Dissenters’ Marches
Near|Abroad comments on Mikhail Gorbachev's negative reaction to the recent Dissenters’ Marches: “The grandfather of Glasnost should probably stick to what he does best at this age, photo-ops.”
Egypt: From Kareem to Mahmood
Egyptian blogger and Muslim Brotherhood member Abdul Monem Mahmood has been arrested for articles he posted online. A blogger argues that he is not getting as much attention as another Egyptian blogger - Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman - who was sentenced to four years for insulting Islam.
Serbia: Kosovo Missing and Dead
Roses suspended from the ceiling of the Kosovo Art Gallery in Pristina commemorate the missing and the dead of the war in Kosovo, South East Europe Online reports.
Japan
Debito picks up the story from Gyaku concerning the future of electronic surveillance of foreigners entering Japan: This means that Japan becomes the second country to institute one of these systems in the world, in a bid to get a toehold in Asia and profit from the fear of terrorism.
Maldives police accused of torture and killing a young man
Torture by Maldivian police on detainees has come under spotlight once again with the discovery of a badly beaten body from water in the morning of April 15 in the capital Male’. The young man Hussain Solah was under police custody a few days before his death. Even though the...
Russia: Listening In On the Police; St. Pete Rally
Garry Kasparov’s aide, LJ user abstract2001, has posted recordings of the walkie-talkie conversations of riot police officers deployed for the opposition’s Dissenters’ Marches in Moscow on April 14 and in St. Petersburg on April 15. Also, below are some links to photos and text from the rally in St. Petersburg, which ended with the riot police attacking peaceful protesters.
Russia: Reactions to Virginia Tech
Sean's Russia Blog and Lyndon's Scraps of Moscow examine the reaction of the Russian media and bloggers to the tragedy at Virginia Tech.
Tajikistan: Cultural Faux Pas or Nation Building?
No more golden teeth, mobile phones in lecture halls, hijabs, sexy clothes - and from now on even no more Russian name endings! What's behind Tajikistan's recent flurry of cultural legislation? Are we witnessing a reincarnation of Turkmenistan's deceased dictator Turkmenbashi or simply a young nation's right to self-determination? Bloggers from Central Asia and beyond offer their opinions.
Ukraine: Stanik and Other Mess
As the Constitutional Court seems to be working on the parliament dissolution case, Abdymok.net and Ukrainiana write about Justice Suzanna Stanik's corrupted career. Foreign Notes notes a few other political developments and concludes: “Should all be sorted by Christmas then..”
Russia, Ukraine: Gevorkyan's Column
La Russophobe‘s guest-translator translates Natalya Gevorkyan's column on Gazeta.ru: “Prison Camp ‘Russia’.”
Bahrain: Transporting Humans?
Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif is enraged that labourers in his country are transported in the back of open trucks, in defiance of an existing law which protects them from being ferried like cattle.
Russia: Dissenters’ March in Moscow (2)
There is a lot of media coverage of the post-Dissenters' March developments, but here is a bit more of what Russian bloggers write about the April 14 Moscow rally itself, as well as links to their photos.
Trinidad & Tobago: Anamunthodo Freed
Anita Anamunthodo, mother of four-year-old Amy who was raped and beaten to death in Trinidad last year, was yesterday freed on six charges of willful neglect and child abandonment. Francomenz notices parallels between what happened in that case and journalist BC Pires’ diagnosis of a general West Indian malaise.
Bahrain: Blogger's Hearing Postponed
The hearing of a libel case against Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif has been deferred until May 8 because the judge's mother passed away. Al Yousif is being sued for describing a minister as an imbecile.
Russia: Dissenters’ March Photos by Dmitry Shubin
Forty-eight pages of photographs from the Dissenters’ March in St. Petersburg this past Sunday – in a .pdf album (available for download here) created by LJ user studio204 (St. Petersburg-based Russian photographer Dmitry Shubin).
Russia: Letter to Putin
La Russophobe‘s guest-translator translates a Novaya Gazeta story about a man who wrote a letter to president Putin and, instead of receiving a reply, was summoned to a psychiatric clinic.
The Balkans: Journalists
Bosnia Vault reports on BBC journalist Martin Bell's return to Bosnia and on the attack on Serbian journalist Dejan Anastasijevic.
India: The Abusers
sthreeling on dealing with abusers. “However, sexual abuse doesn’t require genital gymnastics. In fact, it does not even require for a child to be touched physically. Rape is only one form of abuse. What about child pornography on the internet? What about voyeurism (where the abuser gets sexual pleasure out...
Serbia: Peter Handke
At Belgrade 2.0, a discussion of writer Peter Handke's relationship with Serbia.
Cuba: Political Balance Por Favor
The publicly-funded STV network in Sweden last year broadcast a four-hour show in honour of Fidel Castro's 80th birthday. Child of the Revolution has discovered that “19 formal complaints were lodged with the Swedish Broadcasting Commission…The regulator concluded that the ‘theme evening’ had breached a requirement that television productions be...
