Prominent Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega was today
sentenced to 18 years in prison for violating anti-terrorism laws. He and 23 other activists and writers were
convicted last month, and accused of links with US-based opposition group Ginbot Seven, which Ethiopia considers a terrorist organisation. Last September Eskinder was arrested after publishing an article questioning arrests made under Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism legislation, namely that of well-known Ethiopian actor and government critic Debebe Eshetu.
Ukraine’s tax police
raided the office of television station TVi yesterday, accusing the often critical outlet of tax evasion. TVi interrupted its usual programming to show tax inspectors going through financial documents in its Kiev office. The State Tax Service said it had launched a criminal case against TVi’s chief executive, Mykola Knyazhitsky, after finding out that the station had evaded more than 3 million hryvnias (243,000 GBP) in VAT payments, it has been reported. Batkivshchyna, the main opposition party, accused the government of censorship. The raid took place three months before parliamentary elections in Ukraine.
Indonesia’s Sampang District Court has
sentenced a Shia cleric to two years’ imprisonment for blasphemy. Tajul Muluk was said to have caused ”public anxiety” for his religious teachings. Witnesses said that the cleric encouraged Muslims to pray three rather than five times a day, that the Quran was no longer authentic and that followers need not make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, considered one of the five pillars of Islam. Under Indonesian law,
blasphemy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Russia’s Wikipedia and LiveJournal
blacked out today to protest a draft law that would allow websites that promote drugs, suicide or contain contain porn or “extremist” materials to be blacklisted without judicial oversight. Activists fear the powers will be abused for political purposes.
Index on Censorship CEO Kirsty Hughes said today:
The Bill currently passing through the Duma is aimed squarely at clamping down on online dissent. The law will force ISPs to install filters at huge cost to prevent access to websites that the Communications Regulator deems “extremist”, with no judicial oversight. With Compromat.ru, a site exposing regime corruption targeted by the Moscow prosecutor last week, it’s clear that in Putin’s Russia freedom of expression is in decline.
Sri Lankan defence minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa
reportedly verbally abused Sunday Leader editor Frederica Jansz during a telephone interview last week. Jansz had asked the minister if he was aware that an aircraft scheduled to fly to Zurich was to be changed to accommodate a personal friend. During the
conversation Rajapaksa told Jansz people “will kill you — you dirty fucking shit journalist”, and threatened to sue the
newspaper if they ran the story. The
Sunday Leader won the Index/Guardian Freedom of Expression award for journalism in 2009.
Scientific journal Nature
won a libel claim today that has lasted three years. Egyptian scientist Mohamed El Naschie had argued the journal had defamed him in a November 2008 story, which alleged he used his editorial privilege to self-publish numerous papers he had written and which would not have been published elsewhere due to poor quality and lack of peer review. At the High Court today Mrs Justice Sharp rejected El Naschie’s claim, accepting the defendants’ defences of justification, honest comment and the Reynolds privilege for responsible journalism on a matter of public interest.
The
European Parliament today voted to throw out the controversial
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The legislation, which was introduced to combat piracy, came under fire from activists who
warned that its vague language threatened digital freedom. In December, the treaty was signed by all 27 government heads included in the European Union, but was not ratified. The treaty had support from countries outside of the EU, including the US, Singapore, and Canada.
The Karachi offices of
Pakistani television station Aaj news and English-language daily Business Recorder
were attacked on 25 June. Four men reportedly attacked the offices, opening fire inside of the building and injuring two employees. A spokesman for the militant Islamic group Tehrik-e-Taliban
claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was out of the group’s anger that they did not receive as much coverage from the station as the government and the army.
