17 Mar 2010 | Uncategorized
Depending how you look at it, the debate over English libel law became more absurd/serious this week, with Denmark’s justice minister asking the EU to intervene to prevent a proposterous libel claim against Danish newspapers going ahead in London.
EU Observer reports:
On Monday, the Danish government said that they had had enough. Danish justice minister Lars Barfoed demanded that Brussels step in to prevent lawyer Faisal Yamani from suing the Danish papers for damages in British courts on behalf of 95,000 descendents of the prophet who say they and their faith have been defamed.
The Danish papers in question had published cartoons of the prophet Mohamed, and refused to remove them from their websites.
Now, bad as English libel law is, we at least cannot sue for libelling the dead in this country. So how could this claim go ahead? Possibly if the claimants could show that they had suffered in their communities as a result of the publication. But that does seem pretty far-fetched.
Still, we must be embarrassed when a fellow EU member is so concerned about our libel laws. Things have to change.
17 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The Asian Human Rights Commission yesterday condemned the Indonesian governments ban of books and films under the guise of maintaining “public order” and “state unity”. The banned material covers subjects including the 30 September Movement and the conflict in East Timor.
17 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Editor-in-chief of the Firat newspaper Hacı Boğatekin has been sentenced to five years in jail. Bogatekin was charged with “insult” and “defamation” and “attempting to influence a fair trial”. Three other journalists were charged with similar offences. In one of the offending articles Bogatekin argued that the real threat did not come from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party but from religious leader Fethullah Gülen’s congregation. He also published prosecutor Sadullah Ovacıklı’s criticism of his abbreviation of Gülen’s name to “Feto” and made allegations about the prosecutors relationship with Güle. Boğatekin was awarded the Press Freedom Award in 2008 and was awarded by the Contemporary Journalists’ Association (ÇGD) in 2009.
17 Mar 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
A media ban on a corruption trial involving several leading Jordanian figures and the former Minister of Finance has been issued by a military court in Amman. The case, involving the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, first came to light after revelations in the media. Now only reports personally approved by Attorney General Yousef Faouri may be published, in order, court officers claimed, to allow the judicial authorities to work calmly on the case.
