Archive for February, 2010
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Hackers took control of the website of
Agos, a leading Turkish-Armenian newspaper
last Friday, the cyber-attackers uploaded images of the alleged murderer of the newspaper’s former editor-in-chief, and winner of the Index on Censorship’s 2008 journalism award,
Hrant Dink. The hackers claimed there would be more of the same if the newspaper did not fix its reporting to
“the way we see fit”.
Agos has regularly published articles about the Armenian genocide.
Monday, February 15th, 2010
British freelance journalist and documentary film maker
Paul Martin was detained at a Gaza courthouse yesterday on the orders of Hamas officials. According to a Ministry of Interior Spokesman Martin – who has worked for the BBC and the Time – is suspected of breaking Palestinian law and is to be
detained for 15 days, but the allegations have not been clarified further.
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Christopher Handley, 39-year-old office worker, was sentenced on 11 february to
six months in prison for mailing obscene matter, and “possession of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.” Following this sentence, Handley must serve three years of supervised release and five years of probation. Handley
was charged under the
2003 Protect Act, which outlaws cartoons, drawings, sculptures or paintings depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Laws
protecting journalists and their sources are to be proposed next Tuesday. Julian Assange, editor of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, has been advising parliamentarians and believes the parliament is receptive to the need for change. If the proposal succeeds it will require Iceland’s government to consider introducing
new legislation.
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Prime minister Silvio Belusconi’s party has pushed through rules which will
drastically circumscribe political content during the run-up to Italy’s regional elections. State broadcasters must now either accommodate over 30 political parties on their talk shows or be transferred away from their prime-time slots. Belusconi has previously attacked state television, claiming the programme Annozero was a
‘criminal use of public television’ when it interviewed the call-girl Belusconi had allegedly slept with. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) criticised Italy’s new rules as the latest ‘nail in the coffin of media freedom‘.
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Officials
detained for 15 hours three human rights activists who were attempting to compile a list of missing persons. Aleksandr Cherkasov of the Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center said neither the reason for their detention nor their release were explained. Civil liberties groups including Human Rights Watch have
called for an investigation into the detentions.
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Chinese dissident
Liu Xiaobo’s‘s appeal against a
11-year prison sentence rejected by a court in Beijing. Liu was convicted six weeks ago on charges of subversion, to widespread international condemnation.
Roseann Rife, the deputy director for Asia and the Pacific at Amnesty International said, “His harsh sentence is a stark reminder to the Chinese people and the world that there is still no freedom of expression or independent judiciary in China.”
Read Liu’s final statement to the court.
The denial of Liu’s appeal is another signal that China’s leaders are unwilling to tolerate greater pluralism.
Yesterday, a 20-year-old factory worker who joined a banned political party because he was unhappy with one-party rule was sentenced to jail for 18 months. A court in Shenzhen found
Xue Mingkai guilty of subversion of state power because he joined the US-based China Democracy party last April.
Friday, February 12th, 2010
An award winning Uzbek photographer sentenced to jail after a court ruled she had
insulted the nation, has been released thanks to an amnesty.
Umida Akhmedova said that she had done nothing wrong and will therefore
appeal on the verdict. Akhmedova could have faced six months in jail or two years in a labour camp.
