Archive for September, 2011

Merkel and Clegg raise Belarus banking concerns

Friday, September 30th, 2011

The German chancellor and UK Deputy Prime Minister pledged more action on Belarus’s human rights abuses at a Warsaw summit

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Tajikistan: Tajik journalist faces 16 years in jail

Friday, September 30th, 2011

A Tajik journalist is facing 16 years in prison, following charges of defamation. Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov, a reporter for the independent weekly paper Nuri Zindagi, was arrested for defamation, insult, and incitement following an article in which he criticised government and law enforcement officials in the Asht district in the northern Sogd region of Tajikistan. During his hearing yesterday, prosecutors asked the court to sentence the journalist to 16 years imprisonment, while Ismiolov’s lawyer claimed investigators had failed to prove he was guilty, and called for his release. The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for 3 October.

Egypt: Police raid Al Jazeera offices

Friday, September 30th, 2011

Egyptian police raided the offices of Al Jazeera yesterday, for the second time in a month. Around 25 plain clothed police officers stormed the affiliate office, detaining journalist Mohamed Suleiman and roughing up other members of staff. The officers broke down the front door of the office, claiming they had a warrant, which they later failed to present. They also seized staff identification cards and confiscated office equipment. Suleiman was released a few hours after the raid. Police also raided the channel’s former office on 11 September, when they detained an engineer and shut down live broadcasts on the channel.

Tunisia: Free expression groups celebrate whistleblower release

Friday, September 30th, 2011

Police commissioner Samir Feriani has been acquitted of “harming security of state” after criticising continued role of Ben Ali-era security officials. Index on Censorship reports

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UK: Rio Ferdinand loses privacy case over Sunday Mirror kiss and tell

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Footballer Rio Ferdinand has lost his privacy case over a “kiss and tell” story. Ferdinand was taking action for “misuse of private information” following an article in the Sunday Mirror newspaper in April 2010, in which Carly Storey detailed their 13-year relationship for a sum of £16,000. Mr Justice Nicol said that the “balancing exercise favours the defendant’s right of freedom of expression over the claimant’s right of privacy.” MGN said it was in the public interest to run the story, following Ferdinand’s replacement of John Terry as England skipper after stories of Terry’s alleged affairs were revealed. Index on Censorship news editor Padraig Reidy said the free speech group was “greatly heartened  by the judge’s recognition of free expression in his ruling”. “Kiss and tell stories can be controversial,” he said. “But this is a case where public interest can be argued. Ferdinand’s claim that he was ‘embarrassed’ by the revelations is clearly not enough to restrict Ms Storey’s right to free speech”.

Turkey – Cartoonist to be put on trial for renouncing God

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

A cartoonist is facing trial for a caricature in which he renounces God. Turkish cartoonist Bahadır Baruter created an image showing an imam and believers praying in a mosque, with one believer on his mobile phone, asking God to excuse him from the last part of the prayer to run errands. The Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office charged Baruter with “insulting the religious values adopted by a part of the population” and requested that he be imprisoned for one year. The cartoon, which was published in the weekly Penguen magazine, included the words ”There is no Allah, religion is a lie”, hidden in the image.

Bahrain: Court upholds lengthy prison sentences for journalists

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

The lengthy prison sentences of two journalists have been upheld in Bahrain. Journalistic bloggers Abduljalil Alsingace and Ali Abdel Imam were sentenced in June on a series of charges related to “plotting to topple” the regime, along with 19 other people. The court upheld the life sentence for Alsingace and the 15 year sentence to Abdel Imam. Additionally in Bahrain, granting of ID passes to journalists from daily newspaper Al-Wasat was delayed, preventing the journalists from covering the government’s by-elections on Saturday. The passes would allow journalists to enter and report from polling stations.  

Eritrea: Journalist publicly threatened for coverage of Dawit Isaak

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

A Swedish-based journalist has been threatened by the brother of Dawit Isaak. Following a public forum in Eritrea on the case of Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist who has been imprisoned for over a decade without charge, journalist Meron Estefanos was confronted on Friday by Isaak’s brother, Tedros. Tedros Isaak told the journalist if she used his name, or spoke of his family again he would “slit her throat”. Estefanos, a contributor to the leading Eritrean diaspora news site Asmarino, wrote a column in 2010, comparing Tedros Isaak’s support for the government that arrested his brother with the efforts of his other brother to free Dawit.