Archive for September, 2010
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
A judge who was suing two activists and a blogger with defamation, blackmail and “abuse of the Internet service” has
withdrawn the lawsuit.
Gamal Eid of the
Arabic Network of Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Ahmed Seif El Islam Hamad of the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre (HMLC) and blogger Amr Gharbeia reached an out-of-court settlement with Judge Abel Fatteh Murad on 18 September. The trial date was originally set for July, but hearings were postponed five times. The three men agreed to withdraw a complaint accusing the judge of plagiary.
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Following Mexican newspaper El Diario’s front-page appeal this week, Ana Arana explains why journalists in Mexico remain split over whether to negotiate with drug cartels
(more…)
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Kampala metropolitan police chief Andrew Sorowen announced on 20 September that public gatherings involving more than five people
must be cleared by the Inspector General of Police (IGP). He added that the measure also applied to wedding receptions and funerals, citing the threat of terrorism as justification. Police deputy spokesperson Vincent Sekatte later
said that official clearance was not required for private assemblies, but advised citizens wishing to hold such events to inform the IGP first. The new guidelines come amidst
outrage at the government’s proposed Public Order Management Bill, which would require organisers of rallies and demonstrations to obtain approval from the police.
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Angry police officers stormed into two radio station offices and
attacked two staff members in Ghana’s second largest city on 16 September. Reports suggest the officers intended to attack a panelist, Francis Dodovi, who is a sympathiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress. The policemen claim Dodovi had been discrediting a demonstration staged by these police officers on discrimination charges on 15 September.
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
Lady Justice Smith today refused blogger and activist Johanna Kaschke the right to appeal against a
judgement which deemed her suing of David Osler an abuse of process.
In 2008 Kaschke sued the labour blogger Osler for libel, reacting to a post on his site which referenced an article in leading German news publication
Der Spiegel. This article reported her wrongful arrest by German police in 1975.
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Friday that a blogger in Calvary
faces five charges related to his website. John Kelly, 53, has
long been highly critical of Calgary police officers, using his site to accuse officers of “perjury, corruption and destroying evidence” according to the RCMP. Charges include four counts of publishing libellous statements on the Internet against specific police officers between November 2009 and Sept. 4, 2010. Critics of the Defamatory Libel law
assert that it “violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”.
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
Iran has sentenced a human rights activist, Shiva Nazar Ahari who is the founder of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Tehran, to
six years in prison on charges of anti-government activities. Her lawyer said she has to pay a $400 fine as an alternative punishment to 74 lashes.
n 13 september, Ahari was released from prison on bail of around USD$200,000. She was convicted of moharebeh or ”waging war against God” and had received three years for that charge.
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
Abdul Rehman Afridi, editor of the local newspaper Daily Sitara in Jacobabad, Sindh province and vice president of the Jacobabad Press Club was
attacked on 8 September. He was attacked by a gang angered at his publication of news stories about the district government
’s mismanagement of relief material intended for flood victims. Afridi was threatened at the newspaper’s office and then beaten with wooden sticks.
