20 May 2011 | Index Reports, News and features
Responding to the Master of the Rolls’ report on the use of superinjunctions, Jo Glanville, Editor of Index on Censorship said:
Lord Neuberger’s recommendations will bring much needed clarity to the use of injunctions. There has been a widespread perception that the courts have increasingly undermined open justice and free speech in favour of privacy.
The proposals in this report will go some way towards correcting the imbalance by providing clear guidelines, reaffirming the fundamental principles of open justice and freedom of expression, and offering for the first time a mechanism for monitoring the use of injunctions.
Super Injunction Report 20052011
19 May 2011 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost
An Azerbaijani court sentenced opposition activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev to two years’ imprisonment yesterday, 18 May. Hajiyev used Facebook to generate support for the 11 March “Great People’s Day” anti-government protests, but was sentenced on a charge of evading military service. The charge was brought against him in January. As with Eynulla Fatullayev and Jabbar Savalan, Hajiev has been sentenced on charges unrelated to his activism, a tactic that increasingly used by the Azerbaijani authorities. On 14 May, Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, prompting free speech campaigners to launch fresh criticism on the government’s treatment of critical voices. Hajiyev was arrested prior to the demonstration, on 4 March, and held in pre-trial detention. On 12 May, the European Parliament criticised the crackdown on opposition protests in Azerbaijan and expressed “deep concern” at the increased number of attacks on journalists and civil society activists using social networks to bring attention to their campaigns. European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek is scheduled to begin a visit to Azerbaijan on 20 May. Hajiyev’s lawyer said he was planning to appeal the verdict.
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19 May 2011 | Uncategorized
Conservative politicians in the US must subscribe to a pretty standard set of talking points to pass muster with the party’s base. Big government is bad, taxes should be low, and guns are a God-given right. Lately, serious conservative candidates — including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich — have been lining up to establish their credibility as hardliners on a new litmus test: creeping Sharia law (and Sharia law is almost always accompanied in such political discourse by the heavily loaded adjective “creeping“). (more…)
