23 Mar 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
EU foreign ministers have described the current situation in Iran as “unacceptable”, in a joint statement they call for an end to the jamming of satellite broadcasts from international news networks. In the crackdown since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election, dozens of journalists and campaigners have been arrested, including Ali Kanturi, a young student activist who fled Iran and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in his absence, and journalist Emadeddin Baghi who has been detailed by the Iranian authorities. See the “Our Society Will Be a Free Society” campaign for more information.
23 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Haldun Açıksözlü, actor and director of the theatre play Laz Marks, faces two years in jail over allegations that he insulted the prime minister in his play. The show has run for a year and has been shown in over 80 provinces.
The charges came only a week after British artist, Michael Dickenson, was fined for superimposing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s head onto the body of a dog.
23 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost
United Arab Emirates’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has ordered ISPs to block a Facebook page supposedly authored by Allah. The TRA has also said it will ban the unnamed author, who claimed he believes in no god but himself, from holding an internet account. The author behind the page soon has over 600,000 followers and answers questions on the site.
23 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Belarus’s Supreme Court has stripped the Belarusian Association of Journalist’s (BAJ) ability to offer protection to journalists who are not officially authorised, such as opposition newspapers, websites and foreign news outlets.These journalists could now face 15 days in jail. BAJ president Zhanna Litvina said yesterday that this will discourage independent media coverage in the run-up to the elections. This comes a week after Charter97, an opposition website and are a nominee for this year’s Index On Censorship Freedom of Expression awards had its offices raided and its head of press beaten.
