Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
The 14th hearing in the trial of the three men accused of murdering journalist
Hrant Dink has revealed a lack of police cooperation and investigation. Reporters San Frontieres
reports that various pieces of evidence for the trial had not been submitted by the investigating detectives, thus considerably holding up the trial’s progression. Missing evidence includes data from the computer used by one of the suspects after the murder, and information from a phonecall between a police officer and one of the accused. The former police intelligence chief, Sabri Uzun, also revealed that a report evaluating the likelihood of Dink’s murder was archived instead of sent to him. Uzun said in court, “If I had been informed of the existence of this report, Hrant Dink would still be alive today”.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Reports from Thailand state that 26 community radio stations have
recently been closed down by the government using emergency decrees. Thai authorities claim that the stations incited people to join the Red Shirt protests earlier this year and were guilty of distorting information. The government had initiated a
media blackout during the protests. Allegedly, 35 people linked to the stations are being threatened with lawsuits for the offences.
Staff have been reminded not to air any political views at some community stations to avoid government censorship. Reports state that 500 officials were mobilised in closing down one station in Chiang Mai.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Apple
has removed an iPhone application based on the infamous
ChatRoulette website from their store after concerns over nudity. iChatr allowed users to video chat anonymously with other randomly-selected people. ChatRoulette, a website with similar functionality,
came in for criticism after it emerged that a substantial number of users were exposing themselves onscreen or engaging in other questionable behaviour. Apple
has previously maintained a strict line on iPhone apps which allow access to nudity or adult content.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
The US senate last night passed legislation to protect US journalists, writers and publishers from “libel tourists” — litigants who sue Americans in foreign jurisdictions which place a lower emphasis on free speech
(more…)
Monday, July 19th, 2010
British Author Alan Shadrake has been arrested in Singapore for writing a book critical of the city state’s use of the death sentence. Ben Bland reports on the city-states suppression of free speech
(more…)
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Earlier today British author Alan Shadrake was
arrested in Singapore for alleged criminal defamation and contempt of court .The state run Media Development Authority filed a complaint against Shadrake’s book, which examines the death penalty in Singapore, accusing it of questioning the impartiality of the judiciary. Last year Singapore
ejected British journalist Ben Bland and
charged the Wall Street Journal with contempt of court . Last week the authorities
banned a film containing a speech made by an ex political prisoner.
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Category Index Index, minipost, News and Analysis | Tags: Tags: Alan Shadrake, Ben Bland, censorship, defamation, journalism, media freedom, press freedom, Singapore, Wall Street Journal,
Monday, July 19th, 2010
A prominent Greek journalist
has been killed in front of his home by a gang of three masked gunmen. Sokratis Giolias, who ran radio station
Thema FM and the popular news blog
Troktiko, covering a number of political scandals in the process, was killed early on the morning of July 19.
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Former Index on Censorship editor Sally Laird died recently after a long battle with cancer. Here, Robert Chandler appreciates an extraordinary translator and journalist
On 15 July I received this message from Mark Lefanu, the husband of Sally Laird: “This is to convey the sad news that Sally died early this morning after a long and gallant battle against cancer. The last days, in hospital, were peaceful and even beautiful, surrounded as she was by the love and care of doctors and nurses, along with the support of beloved daughter and sweet friends.”
Since 1993 Sally and her family had been living in Denmark. I went there to say goodbye to her just two weeks ago. Sally knew she was dying, and she approached death as she approached life — with courage and humour. Towards the end of May, when I was arranging a date for my visit, she wrote, “We have various guests coming off and on through June, but with little gaps in between — and after that — total emptiness from July onwards when I am supposed to be dead but any brave soul is very wecome to plant a flag in my diary.” I replied that, in that case, I would book my train tickets for early July.
Sally was unusually gifted in many ways, probably in more ways than I know. Whatever she set her mind to — a large portfolio of drawings of a family of bears produced at the age of thirteen, her work as chief editor of Index on Censorship in her late twenties and early thirties, the many reviews on Russia-related books that she wrote for Prospect, the TLS, the Guardian and the Observer — she carried out conscientiously and with imagination. Her translations of Petrushevaksaya and Sorokin are note perfect. And I know no book that presents a more nuanced picture of Soviet literary life in the post-Stalin years than Sally’s Voices of Russian Literature: Interviews with Ten Contemporary Writers (OUP, 1999).
The death of a friend always makes one regret lost opportunities. I regret that we never realized our project of collaborating on translating a selection of Ivan Bunin’s short stories — though it is some consolation that I did, at least, have the opportunity to tell her of my regret. I regret that I did not see Sally more often. I do, however, remember all our meetings clearly, and with joy.
Read Sally Laird’s Index on Censorship article “Hope For Dissenters” from 1987 here
