December 13th, 2011
The case of prominent
Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah is to be be tried
in a civilian court, it has been reported. Egyptian authorities are said to have transferred the case state security prosecutors to investigative judges, which opens up the possibility of a trial in a civilian criminal court with the right to appeal. Abdel-Fattah was
detained 30 October after he refused to answer questions over his alleged role in the 9 October clashes in Cairo.
December 8th, 2011
A blogger has been jailed for
two and a half years after posting excerpts of a biography online deemed offensive to the
Thai monarchy. Joe Gordon, a Colorado resident who was born in Thailand, translated excerpts of a locally banned biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and posted them on his US blog. Gordon pleaded guilty to disseminating information that insulted the monarchy.
In November, government minister’s warned that Thailand’s notoriously tough lese-majeste law could even affect “liking” a page on Facebook.
November 29th, 2011
A
Vietnamese court have
halved the jail sentence of a blogger after international pressure from government’s and NGO’s. Pham Minh Hoang was sentenced to three years imprisonment for attempted subversion in August this year after he wrote 33 articles under a pseudonym, which were ruled by the court to ”blacken the image of the country” and aimed to topple the government. Hoang will be released on January 13 after serving a 17-month sentence, but will then serve three years of house arrest.
