The post Egypt: Jailed blogger Alaa to be tried in civilian court appeared first on Index on Censorship.

When the trainee accountant’s plans to travel to meet a fellow tweeter were affected by severe weather earlier this year, he vented his frustration on Twitter, writing:

Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!

The tweet was seen by an airport duty manager and Robin Hood Airport notified South Yorkshire Police. A week after posting the joke, Chambers was arrested under anti-terrorism laws, on suspicion of creating a bomb hoax. Police confiscated his iPhone, laptop and personal computer. He subsequently lost his job.

Chambers was charged the following month with sending a menacing message via a public telecommunications network — the first person in the UK to be charged in connection with Twitter. A district judge found him guilty of the offence on 10 May, and Chambers was fined a total of £1,000.

After his conviction Chambers said: “It did not cross my mind that Robin Hood would ever look at Twitter or take it seriously because it was innocuous hyperbole.”

The appeal against the conviction began on 24 September, with lawyer David Allen Green — better known as blogger Jack of Kent — coordinating the defence. Chambers gained hundreds of supporters on Twitter, many of whom quoted John Betjeman’s line “Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough”; Allen Green has argued that the poet’s words could be interpreted in the same way as Chambers’ tweet.

Chambers is now liable for the £1000 fine and costs from his original conviction as well as an additional £2600 in prosecution costs.

The post Paul Chambers loses appeal in Twitter joke trial appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The Shia activists are charged with being part of a “sophisticated terrorist network” aiming to overthrow the government, but the exact charges against Abdulemam are murkier and harder to unravel. He is charged with “spreading false news” through his popular portal, Bahrainonline.org.

A married father of three and an IT consultant by day, Adbulemam has become a fixture over the past decade in forums and conferences dedicated to Arab digital activism and online freedom. He is regarded as one of the region’s web pioneers, and is described by one of his defenders as “driven by his passion for effecting change” in Bahrain and the wider Arab world.

In 2002 Abdulemam made waves by abandoning a pseudonym and publishing under his own name. Three years later he was jailed for charges that included fomenting hatred of the government. He later told the Wall Street Journal, “I believed you could speak and not go to jail.”

His latest trial started last week under heavy security and tight restrictions on local journalists covering the proceedings. A vibrant online campaign has sprung up in his defence.

Abdulemam is a Shia Muslim, described by friends as generally secular. An estimated 70 per cent of Bahrain’s 530,000 citizens are Shias, but the country is completely controlled by its Sunni royal family. The tiny island kingdom remains a close ally of the USA and serves as a host and staging point for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. As a result, it has been given a largely free hand to roll back democratic freedoms that once set it apart from other Persian Gulf nations.

In parliamentary elections last week, Shias held onto their bloc of 18 seats in the 40-member chamber but are not expected to gain enough allies for a majority. And even if they did, control of the largely powerless assembly would be purely symbolic, and would do little to change the way the country works.

The post Bahraini blogger on trial in sweeping Shia crackdown appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The post Turkey: Kurdish activists go on trial appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The post Military trial for Egyptian blogger appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The post Brazilian journalist on trial for “moral harm” against former secret police appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The post Uzbekistani photographer put on trial for slander appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The post Wilders hate speech trial to go ahead appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The post Founder of Chinese political party on trial appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The post Lawyers barred from seeing Suu Kyi appeared first on Index on Censorship.