Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit filed a lawsuit against opposition writer Hamdi Kandil for insult and libel on 19 May. Kandil wrote an opinion piece in Al-Shuruq newspaper, entitled Huan al Watan Wa Huan Almutan (Humiliation of homeland and the citizen) in which here he criticises the minister and highlights government corruption.
Al-Jazeera was suspended from operating in Bahrain on 19 May. The government said the news channel was “flouting the laws regulating the press and publishing” in the country and did not comply with “professional norms.” The bureau’s suspension includes both the Arabic and English stations and Bahrain-based online content; and an Al-Jazeera film crew have been denied entry into the country. Some reports claim a report Al-Jazeera aired on poverty in Bahrain may have been the catalyst for the ban.
On May 12, the Honduran supreme court ratified its earliar decision to dismiss four lower-court judges who are members of Judges for Democracy, a group that has challenged the legality of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya last year. Two of the judges, including the president of the group, were removed for participating in public demonstrations calling for Zelaya to be reinstated. The judges have started an indefinite hunger strike as a protest.
Eritrea has held Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak without charge for eight years. The west must stand up to this brutal regime, says his brother Esayas Isaak
(more…)