Archive for September, 2011
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Ugandan writer Vincent Nzaramba was
arrested from his home on 17 September, after penning a book critical of President Yoweri Museveni. According to eyewitnesses, two police vehicles were waiting at Nzaramba’s home, and after searching his home for two hours and confiscating 106 copies of the controversial book, he was taken to the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) headquarters. Geoffrey Wokulira Ssebaggala, programme coordinator for Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda),
said that Nzaramba is being “illegally detained” by police forces, because he has refused to retract his calls for the removal of the Ugandan president.
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Ukranian journalists have gathered in Kharkiv to
protest the closure of local television channels. The protesters, who gathered at the Mayor’s office on Monday, taped their mouths closed and brought a symbolic coffin which they said was filled with reports that were not aired as a result of the closures. The protesters believe that Kharkiv Mayor Hennady Kernes is responsible for giving the order leading to the station closures. Kernes rejected the charges and said the management at the Kharkiv TV channels who have criticized him should apologize for making “cynical” accusations.
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Two people jailed for making “alarmist” posts on Twitter were
freed yesterday after four weeks in prison in
Mexico. Maria de Jesus Bravo, a local journalist, and maths teacher Gilberto Martinez Vera, had the charges of terrorism and sabotage against them dropped, and they walked free from jail to cheering supporters. The pair sent out Twitter messages regarding an
unconfirmed drug attack on a primary school last month, and were accused of terrifying frantic parents. The charges, which can carry prison sentences of up to 30 years imprisonment, were dropped following outrage from human rights activists and free speech advocates.
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
A journalist covering the house arrest of a blind
Chinese Chen Guangcheng activist had her passport stolen and was forcibly removed from the activist’s villiage earlier today. Rachel Beitarie from Calcalist and Israel radio reported via
Twitter that she had her passport stolen, and was taken to the suburbs of Linyi, Shandong province and abandoned whilst covering the story.
Chen Guangcheng served a
51 month prison sentence for disturbing public order following accusations that officials were
forcing women to have abortions. He was released in September 2010, but has been under house arrest in Linyi since then.
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
An appeals court in
Ecuador has
upheld libel convictions and prison sentences for three newspaper directors and a former writer. El Universo newspaper published a column by
Emilio Palacio that called President Rafael Correa a dictator. Fines of $42 million were also upheld by the judges against the executives of the newspaper. President Correa attended Tuesday’s court hearing and said that the ruling meant Ecuador has begun to free itself of a corrupt press. The defendants are free pending appeal. The Committee to Protect Journalists have called the decision a
“blow to freedom of expression.”
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
A journalist
convicted of defaming the president of
Belarus has lost his appeal. Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut from Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza was found
guilty of the defamation of President Alexander Lukashenko in July, and the Hrodna Oblast Court in western Belarus upheld the verdict against him yesterday. Poczobut was given a three year prison sentence, suspended for two years. The journalist argued that his rights were violated during the trial by KGB investigators and the prosecutor’s office. Poczobut said he would continue appealing the conviction throughout the system, up to and including the UN.
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
The Metropolitan police has
backed down from its threat to use the Official Secrets Act to force Guardian journalists to reveal sources in the phone-hacking scandal investigation. The Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Mark Simmons,
admitted that the attempt was “not appropriate.” Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian welcomed the withdrawal of the “ill-judged order”, and said that “threatening reporters with the Official Secrets Act was a sinister new device to get round the protection of journalists’ confidential sources.” Index
condemned the efforts on Friday, and Chief Executive John Kampfner said that the move was “shocking” and “a direct attack on a free press.”
