16 Dec 2011 | Index Index, minipost
A gunman has shot and killed a newspaper founder in Russia’s North Caucasus region. Gadzhimurat Kamalov, who founded the newspaper Chernovik, was shot eight times as he left the newspaper office in Dagestan province, shortly before midnight on Thursday. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Chernovik is renowned for its investigation of government corruption. Journalists in Russia who cover corruption face serious risks. There have been 19 unsolved murders of journalists in Russia since 2000.
16 Dec 2011 | Uncategorized
In its punitive treatment of accused leaker Bradley Manning, the US government has missed an opportunity to live up to its values of freedom, says Heather Brooke
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15 Dec 2011 | Middle East and North Africa
A few weeks ago, I traveled as a part of a delegation to Bahrain to investigate the state of free expression and attend the presentation of the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, which was commissioned to investigate what occurred in February and March. During my time in Bahrain, I met Zainab Al-Khawaja (@angryarabiya).
In my time with her, I grew to respect and admire her world view and strength. We had many conversations about Bahrain, her experiences as an activist, and I learned a great deal about her perspective. While perhaps at times uncertain about the future of Bahrain, Al-Khawaja was always clear on one thing: she believes in peaceful protests, and she was not alone in this.
As with her past interactions with security forces, Al-Khawaja used peaceful tactics today to express her views, just like she always has. To be arrested for demonstrating peacefully does not signal turning over a new leaf, as the Bahraini government says that it aims to do.
Many are quick to cite the examples of oil spills, molotov cocktails or road blocks as reasons to discredit protesters or members of the opposition. While I was in Bahrain, I attended a demonstration prior to security forces arriving, and it was peaceful. However, at a separate demonstration in Sitra, I did see molotov cocktails being thrown at security forces, much like New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof did this past week. While such tactics are worrisome, and human rights organisations in Bahrain have been quick to condemn their usage, I believe that unfortunately, they are merely a reaction to the situation at hand. Focusing on such tactics seems to only serve as a distraction from a much greater problem.
Many Bahraini officials, including King Hamad, have been vocal about about moving forward, reconciliation, and accepting the results of the report, which confirmed human rights abuses during February and March. Following the reading of the report, King Hamad said, “The government welcomes the findings of the Independent Commission, and acknowledges its criticisms,” an official Bahraini statement said. “We took the initiative in asking for this thorough and detailed inquiry to seek the truth and we accept it.”
Bahrain’s government has publicised steps to create change, including the hiring of two new overseas police officers (including former Miami police chief John Timoney, well-known for his ability to crush protests) and forming a committee to explore the implementation of the commission’s findings. Even so, such goals are more long-term, and do not address the current situation. If the government expects to move forward, and gain trust from those who do not believe that the commission was nothing more than a exercise to repair the international reputation of Bahrain, then it is important to allow protesters to demonstrate, and to change the crackdown on protesters on the ground.
15 Dec 2011 | Asia and Pacific
Despite mounting public criticism on lèse-majesté, Thailand’s Criminal Court sentenced Red shirt activist Daranee Charncherngsilapakul, widely known as “Da Torpedo”, to 15 years in jail for three offences after rejecting her appeal. She was formerly convicted to 18 years in jail in a closed trial in August 2009, after spending more than a year in detention for making a fiery speech opposing the 2006 military coup and the monarchy in a public rally.
According to a report on 15 December, Daranee, said that she found it useless to fight the conviction, while her lawyer Prawais Praphanukul said he would discuss with her about applying for a royal pardon.
“There are two channels open, normal procedure by simply allowing the 30-day appeal limit to lapse, or a quicker way, by sending a document to the court indicating that the defendant abandons the right to appeal. After that, we will have to go through the proper channels for a royal pardon,” said Prawais.
Since the court convicted the 61-years-old Amphon Tangnoppakhun to 20 years in jail on 23 November for four “lèse-majesté” sms messages sent from his phone, public criticism of the law and the judgement has been taking place in Facebook, the media and, on one occasion, on the street. Amphon’s age, and that the court ignored his pleading of not guilty and gave him the maximum sentence on the basis of him being the phone owner, caught public sympathy. A day before Daranee’s sentencing, the Court Spokesperson Sitthisak Wanachakij sent out to the media a defense of Amphon’s case judgement, stressing that channels for appeal are open to him.
In the meantime, the Judge who sentenced Amphon, Chanathip Muanphawong, quashed Daranee’s appeal.
The Yingluck administration, sworn to office in August, has not been supportive of calls to reform the lèse-majesté law. As recently as 13 December, news website Prachatai reported that Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung asked the government for 400 million baht (8.2 million GBP) to procure a technology to crackdown on lèse-majesté websites. He also received a petition by the Lawyers Council of Thailand, who urged the Information Ministry and the police to buck up in clamping down online lèse-majesté.
