Posts Tagged ‘blogging’
November 29th, 2011
The retrial of
Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil was
postponed again on Sunday. The case, which was originally due to be heard on November 1, has been pushed back to December 4. Nabil was detained for accusing the military of having conducted virginity tests on female protesters on March 28. In April, Nabil was sentenced by a military court to three years imprisonment on charges of “insulting the military and dissemination of false news about the armed forces” in his blog “Son of Ra.” The 25 year old blogger has been on
hunger strike since
23 August.
November 25th, 2011
The
Maldivan government has
ordered a ban on the blog of a freelance writer on the grounds it contained anti-Islamic material. The blog (
www.hilath.com), run by independent journalist Ismail Khilath “Hilath” Rasheed, has been banned by the Communications Authority, and is said to be highly critical of religious fundamentalism. The blogger believes his site has been targeted because he is a Sufi Muslim. Rasheed plans to bring his case to court, as a website shut by the government can only be reopened by a court order.
November 3rd, 2011
Index on Censorship and six other international rights groups call for the five activists known as the UAE 5 to be released from detention and the charges against them to be dropped (more…)
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.
September 20th, 2011
A new bill introducing
stricter responsibility for online libel has been proposed by the head of United Russia political party. Alexander Mikhelson has introduced legislation on creating and spreading false information via the internet following online rumours that governor of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyeve, was found dead. Elsewhere in
Russia, businessman and former millionaire Alexey Kozlov was
released from prison. Kozlov was unjustly imprisoned in 2007 under trumped-up accusations, but his public popularity remained high due to his prison blog. Forbes.ru started its own version of the blog, covering other unjustly convicted businessmen.
August 10th, 2011
A
Vietnamese court today
sentenced French-Vietnamese activist Pham Minh Hoang to three years in prison on subversion charges for “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.” Authorities say he posted several anti-government articles online, and had ties to Viet Tan, a pro-democracy group that is banned in Vietnam. He also faces three years of house arrest following the end of his prison term.
August 10th, 2011
Ran Yunfei, a
Chinese blogger and writer detained by police and charged with inciting subversion earlier this year has been
released after nearly six months, his wife, Wang Wei, has said. Wang confirmed her husband had returned to his home in Chengdu, Sichuan province on Tuesday night, but declined to elaborate, adding that Ran is probably restricted from speaking to the media. Prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who spoke briefly to the blogger on Wednesday morning, said Ran was released into “residential surveillance” for a six-month period, under which he is not allowed to leave home or meet people without permission, and he may not speak publicly. Ran was among the first detained amid the Chinese government’s recent crackdown on dissent.
August 5th, 2011
Catholic blogger Paulus Le Son was
arrested in Hanoi yesterday during a major police operation targeting around 10 Catholics. Reports suggest Son’s arrest, his second this year, is linked to his attempts to cover court proceedings against cyber-dissident
Cu Huy Ha Vu, who is currently appealing against his seven-year jail term for disseminating anti-government propaganda, having advocated a multi-party system.
Vietnam was ranked 165th out of 178 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2010
press freedom index.
