Archive for August, 2009

Poll shows disquiet over UK policing

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

A YouGov poll commissioned by Christian Aid said that half of UK adults think that policing of environmental protests is too heavy handed or involves too many officers. Of those surveyed, 18% said they were put off joining protests and 33% said that filming protesters is an invasion of privacy. Read more here

Azerbaijan: new charge against bloggers

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

An additional charge of “intentional physical violence” have been brought against Adnan Hadji Zadeh and Emin Milli, two bloggers who have been held on a hooliganism charge since July in Azerbaijan. The new charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison, in addition to the five years they are already facing for hooliganism. Read more here

Journalist murdered in DRC

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

In the Democratic Republic of Congo Bruno Koko Chirambiza, a news presenter for a local, privately-owned radio station has been murdered. He was the third radio journalist to be murdered in Bukavu in the past two years, following Didace Namujimbo and Serge Maheshe. Read more here

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Radio station threatened in Somalia

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

The National Union of Somali Journalists has expressed its outrage at the continued suppression of media rights in the Gedo region by the Islamist group Al-Shabaab. The NUSJ  report detailed how Radio Markabley was ordered to fire two of its journalists for writing “biased reports” and was issued with a seven-point decree by the group. The decree accuses the station of being “too neutral regarding holy war” and instructs them to stop broadcasting any secular songs or use any musical programs, interviews, advertisements or news content. Read more here

India: equal opportunities censorship

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

2007-04-06-tripathiA renowned play has fallen victim to India’s desire to prevent disparate groups from offending each other, writes Salil Tripathi

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Sweden pulls plug on Pirate Bay

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

The file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is now offline following a ruling by a Swedish court that ordered its largest internet service provider, Black Internet, to cut their service to the filesharing site. The court threatened Black Internet with a 500,000 kronor (£43,188) fine for failure to comply to withdraw services until the ongoing case between Pirate Bay and the entertainment industry is over. Read more here

Indian “Picasso” banned from show

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Maqbool Fida Husain, hailed by many as India’s Picasso, has been told his paintings will not be displayed at the India Art Summit, the countries biggest art extravaganza for the second year in a row. The 94-year-olds paintings have drawn criticism, as well as lawsuits, from hard-line Hindus who are angered that some depict Hindu goddesses in the nude. The Muslim artist went to exile in Dubai three years ago. Read more here

US “skank” blogger to sue Google

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Rosemary Port,  the women behind the blog “Skanks in NYC,” has said she will sue Google for $15 million for breaching its “duty to protect her expectation of anonymity.” Port was named as a result of a court case brought by the Canadian-born model Liskula Cohen, who was angry over being insulted on the site.  Read more here