Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng was named the winner of the Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award at tonight’s Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression awards, sponsored by SAGE.
Gao Zhisheng was unable to attend and his wife, Geng He, accepted the award on his behalf, via video. (more…)
Two of the UK’s largest internet service providers BT and TalkTalk challenged the legality of the Digital Economy Act 2010 in the High Court yesterday. Antony White QC, acting for the firms, claimed that the new legislation is flawed and incompatible with EU law. It would unlawfully “impact on the privacy and free expression rights” of consumers, he said. The Act was passed by the previous government during last year’s “wash-up” period. BT and TalkTalk won the right to judicial review in November 2010.
The post-11 September wiretapping law in the US has always come with a particularly frustrating catch for civil libertarians: Because the government wiretaps people in secret, no one knows for sure if they’re under surveillance, and so no one has proof of harm to challenge the law in court. That could change now thanks to an appeals court ruling this week, reinstating a lawsuit brought on behalf of more than a dozen media and civil rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, the PEN American Center and the magazine The Nation.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit challenging the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to tap phone calls and read emails of Americans communicating internationally. The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of individuals and organisations “whose work requires them to engage in sensitive and sometimes privileged telephone and e-mail communications with colleagues, clients, journalistic sources, witnesses, experts, foreign government officials and victims of human rights abuses located outside the United States.” The latest appeal had also been supported by the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press and numerous legal groups.
A district court dismissed the ACLU’s suit in 2009 on the grounds that the plaintiffs couldn’t prove they had been monitored under the law and so had no right to challenge it. This week, an appeals court reversed that decision, clearing the way for what the New York Times editorial board wrote could be “a significant — and far too long delayed— legal review of the statue.”
Index on Censorship Free Expression Award 2010 winners
The 11th annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards honour those who, often at great personal risk, have given voice to issues and stories from around the globe that would otherwise have passed unnoticed.
This year’s event will be hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby at the Royal Institution in Mayfair on 24 March. It promises to be a truly inspiring evening, with a keynote address from Booker prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson and a special address from celebrated playwright Sir Tom Stoppard.
READ ABOUT THIS YEAR’S AWARD NOMINEES HERE
Over four decades Index has worked for victims of oppression and censorship, championing their right to free expression. In December, when Natalia Koliada of the world-renowned Belarus Free Theatre was arrested and bundled into a police van, her first call for help on a smuggled mobile phone was to Index on Censorship. In Tunisia we’ve been working on the ground with civil society activists for five years. In addition to our international work, we lead the campaign to reform English libel law.
The awards, kindly sponsored by SAGE, gives you the opportunity to support our vital work. We expect over 300 prominent guests this year, and your attendance will fund our ongoing campaign for free expression in the UK and abroad. The event will begin at 7pm with a champagne reception and grand canapés. After the awards ceremony we will ask you to bid high in our celebrated auction.
