18 May 2010 | Index Index, minipost
A court has fined seven activists for participating in a gay pride march. Riot police forcibly detained activists on the Slavic Gay Parade in the capital Minsk on Saturday. About 230 people gathered for the annual event, which is held in a different country ever year to mark International Day Against Homophobia. Local officials banned the march on the grounds that it would pass too close to underground pedestrian crossings and metro stations. In a separate incident on Monday, activists were arrested protesting against the detention of political prisoners Mikalai Autukhovich and Uladzimir Asipenka. On Friday, a court fined Maksim Vinyarski of the European Belarus movement for participating in a protest held in March against the prisoners’ detention.
18 May 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The funeral of an anti-government activist who died in police custody has been postponed following the intervention of Swaziland’s security forces. Sipho Jele, who was found hanged in his jail cell on May 4, was a member of the proscribed People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), he was originally arrested for wearing a t-shirt with the group’s logo. Jele’s funeral vigil was broken up by police officers, who removed a PUDEMO flag from Jele’s coffin, ordered the removal of banners supporting the organisation, and destroyed photographs of the deceased, before surrounding the coffin and refusing to leave. Jele’s family was forced to postpone the burial.
18 May 2010 | Uncategorized
Discouraging news from Amnesty.
The Human Rights group had planned a major campaign focused on oil giant Shell’s annual general meeting at London’s Barbican Centre today (18 May). A key part of this campaign was to be a full page advert in the Financial Times, portraying a champagne flute filled with oil.
But just as the working day came to a close yesterday, Amnesty staff received notice from the Financial Times that the ‘pink un would not be carrying the advert after all.
According to Index’s sources, the newspaper variously claimed that it was wary of libel claims and that the ad might be in poor taste, as some readers might mistake the oil in the glass for blood.
Taste issues aside, would it be legitimate for the FT to worry about libel? While Amnesty insists it “gave [the FT] written reassurances that we would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement”, the fact is that if the FT had published the ad, it could, potentially be liable in any proceedings.
But it’s extremely unlikely that Shell would sue. The company is quite keen on promoting its social credentials, and even a successful trip to court would more than likely involve an unpleasant trawl through the unfortunate effects of the oil industry.
Was it a commercial decision? Again, who knows? Big oil companies tend not to be so thin-skinned that they would pull money from a prestige publication such as the FT merely because it had carried a critical advert. Trafigura may have trampled all over free expression, but the issue there was company documents and detailed reports, not a generally critical ad.
It is genuinely quite hard to think of a good reason for the FT to pull this ad.
18 May 2010 | Index Index, minipost
On 13 May, opposition figure Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, a critic of President Hugo Chavez, was freed on parole until his trial on charges of spreading false information. Álvarez Paz was arrested on 22 March for claiming the government had links to drug traffickers and criminal gangs. Venezuela bans individuals from making comments that threaten peace and stability.
