Stories about Law from July, 2022
The shards of memory and Trinidad & Tobago's attempted coup
"The clues are there; once we collectively piece them together, a story will be revealed. It won't be perfectly told [...] but we will see ourselves."
Indonesia blocks Yahoo, Paypal, and gaming websites over new licensing rules
"The obligation of registration will open the gate for the government to intervene and censor. It's not just an administrative matter."
Curbing noise pollution in Trinidad & Tobago: Whose job is it, anyway?
The Summary Offences Act “clearly states that the police have the primary jurisdiction when it comes to noise, especially from the [music] trucks."
Sri Lanka: The evolution of the Gotagogama protest site and its periphery, in photos
Sri Lankan photographer Sandesh Bartlett captures how the peaceful occupy protest against the Rajapaksa government at Galle Face Green in the capital Colombo materialized, from March to July 2022.
Digital authoritarianism in Bangladesh: Weaponising a draconian law to silence dissent in the pandemic era
The COVID-19 pandemic provided the government with a pretext to censor free speech, harass critics, and effectively curb dissent – accelerating what has been an ongoing turn towards authoritarianism in Bangladesh.
In Azerbaijan, a war veteran's suicide sparks public outcry
By some accounts, at least 50 war veterans have attempted suicide since the 44-day war that Armenia and Azerbaijan fought in 2020.
In Georgia, leaked recordings suggest the state is surveilling newsrooms
The director of Mtavari Arkhi called on the public defender's office, non-governmental and international organizations as well as ambassadors to hold the perpetrators of surveillance on journalists to account.
A Bosnian perspective on the US fight for reproductive rights
Bosnia and Herzegovina's recent history of forced pregnancy in the context of genocidal rape has set this Balkan nation on a track to protect the right to choose one’s own reproductive destiny.
What happened to Hong Kong protesters three years after the 2019 crackdowns?
More than 10,000 people had been arrested for protest-related offences and 4,010 of them were students. Three years after, 2,866 of the arrestees — 28 percent — had been prosecuted and about 79 per cent convicted.
A Chinese office platform confirms that users’ files on its cloud server are subject to censorship
Cloud platforms are required by laws to review and censor users' documents on private cloud drives in China.
Eight Trinidad & Tobago Police Service officers detained in connection with fatal shooting incident
Soon after the killings in 2020, lawyers representing the deceased men's families called the police officers' actions “extra-legal,” “arbitrary” and “summary executions.”
Armenia's Prosecutor General wants to monitor internet content
In a letter addressed to the government of Armenia on July 4, Armenia's Prosecutor General, Artur Davtyan said the internet should be under state control and regulated through legislation.
Antigua & Barbuda is the latest Caribbean country where ‘anti-buggery’ laws have been deemed ‘unconstitutional’
On July 5, the country's High Court ruled that clauses in the Sexual Offences Act criminalising homosexual sex were against citizens’ constitutional rights to both privacy and freedom of expression.
Turkey clashes with the top European human rights court
On July 11, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), said Turkey failed to fulfill its obligation under Article 46/1 to comply with the court's 2019 judgement to release Kavala.
In Turkey death of a doctor renews old grievances about violence against healthcare workers
Despite attempts to save Karakaya's life, he died, leaving behind devastated family but also becoming the most recent and brazen example of the on-going violence against healthcare workers in Turkey.
China: Possible police database breach exposes at least 1 billion citizens’ personal data
"...the data breach is a fresh new case of a dictator’s dilemma: the more you concentrate, the more you lose control."
Trinidad's capital blocked by protests over police killings
It is not the first time that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) been accused of abuse of power; these protests seem very much like déjà-vu.
Indian police use old tweets as cause to arrest Muslim journalist known for debunking fake news
There has been widespread condemnation of the arrest of Indian journalist and co-founder of fact-checking website AltNews, Mohammed Zubair, over a 2018 tweet.
Turkey blocks access to two news websites
On June 30, Turkey’s Radio and Television High Council blocked access to the Turkish language websites of Deutsche Welle and Voice of America after two news outlets refused to obtain a broadcaster license.
