January 13th, 2012
Bradley Manning, the US solider accused of the largest intelligence breach in American history, is moving closer to the possibility of spending the rest of his life in
military confinement.The presiding officer over Manning’s
pre-trial hearing recommended he be sent to a full court martial, following his alleged involvement in the
WikiLeaks dump of state secrets. Colonel Paul Almanza, the investigating officer at last month’s hearing is believed to have written to his superiors recommending that all 22 charges against Manning be referred to a general court martial.
January 9th, 2012
Prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was
severely beaten by security services in
Bahrain during a demonstration on Friday.
Rajab was beaten on the back, head and neck and was taken by ambulance to Salmaniya hospital after participating in a peaceful
protest in Manama. The activist, who is President of The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (
GCHR) and Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (
BCHR) told his lawyer that policemen gathered around him and began to beat him. Rajab has been released from hospital following treatment for concussion, back pain and bruises to his back and face.
January 5th, 2012
In response to an open letter from Index and a number of media freedom groups, Foreign Secretary William Hague outlines the Coalition Government’s policy on freedom of expression and the internet.
Thank you for your letter of 1 November about the Coalition Government’s policy on freedom of expression.
This Government rejects censorship and surveillance that undermines people’s rights to express themselves, organise or communicate freely. We are proud to stand up for freedom of expression and privacy. Britain will always be on the side of those aspiring to greater political and economic freedom anywhere in the world, whether this is on or off the internet.
In the UK, we are striving for a model for internet governance where governments, industry and users of the Internet work together. Our obligations under the Human Rights Act, underpinned by our international treaty obligations, are central. As you know, these protect freedom of expression, association and assembly from undue interference from the government or other public bodies. International human rights conventions rightly set very high thresholds for any action by the state to suppress or control the free flow of information. Any action we take will be in accordance with these obligations.
I would like to address some specific issues you raise.
We believe that parents should be provided with wide tools to enable them to voluntarily block harmful and inappropriate content. Active choice is the preferred approach, with parents given a choice as to whether or not to activate parental controls when switching on a new internet enabled device or connecting to a new internet connection for the first time. It is important to distinguish between government encouraging people to make more use of existing protections as a matter of choice, and the government deciding what people can and cannot do online. Our plans do not prevent access to legal material, but seek to make it much clearer that protections exist, and to encourage their use. The position of Claire Perry regarding the default filtering of adult content is not the position of this government.
You referred to the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament earlier this year in the wake of recent disturbances in the UK. Let me be clear. The Prime Minister did not suggest that social networks should be closed down. The government has not and is not seeking any new powers in this area. We recognise the enormous benefits that social networking brings, not least in the valuable part it played in helping citizens avoid trouble spots and in galvanizing community clean up efforts. Social networking itself was not the root cause of the disturbances, but, as our courts have recognised, did offer an enhanced means of communication to some individuals’ intent on inciting or facilitating widespread criminal behaviour. In light of this our law enforcement agencies, the network providers and social media organisations are looking at ways they can enhance co-operation to prevent the networks being used for criminal behaviour, in accordance with, and in order to uphold UK law.
Finally you raised concerns about powers of surveillance and access to personal information online. It is of course the responsibility of government to maintain capabilities to investigate crimes and to protect individuals where they are threatened by criminals, terrorism or foreign powers. The use of covert surveillance by the authorised government agencies, for example the acquisition of communications data and the interception of communications, is regulated by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). RIPA’s strict safeguards, including independent oversight, ensure that such surveillance is, and will continue to be, fully consistent with our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
As I outlined at the London Conference on Cyberspace (LCC), the UK’s approach to the future of cyberspace has at its heart a simple proposition: behaviour that is unacceptable in the offline world is also unacceptable online. This emphatically includes the curtailing of human rights. Human rights are universal, and apply with equal force online as they do offline. The UK will continue to take a lead role in ensuing these principles are upheld.
January 3rd, 2012
An Argentinian TV reporter and cameraman were
beaten, ordered to strip and threatened with death while investigating reports of human trafficking on 29 December. Journalist Julián Chabert and cameraman Raúl Zalazar, of Channel 7 of Mendoza,
said they were investigating reports of Bolivian immigrants suffering labour exploitation at an olive producing plantation when the farm’s owner locked them in the kitchen and threatened to kill them. Chabert used his mobile phone to contact the police, who rescued the pair and arrested the landowner.
December 16th, 2011
Chinese
state media reported on Friday that human rights lawyer
Gao Zhisheng will be sent to prison for three years for violating his probation rules. In 2006 Gao was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for “subversion of state power”, being given five years of probation. In 2009 he was taken from a relative’s home in Shaanxi province, northern
China, resurfacing briefly in March 2010 and alleging he had been tortured. He disappeared again soon after.
December 16th, 2011
In its punitive treatment of accused leaker Bradley Manning, the US government has missed an opportunity to live up to its values of freedom, says Heather Brooke
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December 8th, 2011
An
Azerbaijani human rights activist was
detained for more than 24 hours at Istanbul airport on Tuesday evening. Intigam Aliyev was returning to Baku from the
Civil Society Parallel Event, organized by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vilnius, when he was accused of insulting an airport officer, and the return of his passport was refused. Aliyev reported being beaten by police whilst he was detained. He arrived in Baku in the early hours of this morning.
October 12th, 2011
Index on Censorship chief executive John Kampfner addressed the Levesen Inquiry into culture, practices and ethics of the press yesterday, covering free speech, journalistic standards, and journalism regulation
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