16 Jan 2012 | Events
Date: 27 February
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Free Word Centre, London
Index on Censorship and the Institute for Human Rights and Business invite you to attend the launch of Rebecca MacKinnon’s new book, Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom.
Rebecca MacKinnonis the co-founder of Global Voices Online. In her new book she argues that a global struggle for control of the Internet is now underway. At stake are no less than civil liberties, privacy and even the character of democracy in the 21st century. Join us for a discussion with the author, along with writer and journalist Salil Tripathi. Chaired by Jo Glanville, Editor of Index on Censorship, followed by a drinks reception.
Register to attend: [email protected]
16 Jan 2012 | Digital Freedom, Europe and Central Asia, Russia
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has launched a website dedicated to his run in the forthcoming presidential elections on 4 March. Minutes after the site went live on 12 January, comments in the site’s “suggestions” section called on him not to run in the presidential campaign. 98 per cent of visitors voted in favour of the comments, but the suggestions soon disappeared from the website. Bloggers quickly published screenshots, expressing concerns over censorship and noted that the website’s moderators left only comments wishing Putin success, and best wishes.
Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied the censorship allegation. “The website froze for a few hours due to the huge amount of visitors,” he told RIA Novosti news agency. Eventually, after numerous blog posts and news items, the comments calling for Putin not to run were restored.
Putin did not comment on the issue and is unlikely to do so in the near future, as he has announced he won’t be taking part in pre-election debates.
Meanwhile his potential opponents in the presidential campaign are facing hard times.
The leader of The Other Russia opposition movement Eduard Limonov has filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights claiming Russia’s Central Election Committee has refused to register him as a candidate. He says the police stopped his supporters from entering the building where its meeting was to be held. Under Russian electoral law, a person who wants to run in a presidential campaign has to hold meeting with at least 500 people who sign a paper in support of the candidate, which is then passed to the Central Election Committee. Liminov’s group of initiators eventually had to hold a meeting in a bus, and the Committee refused to recognise its results.
The leaders of two political parties that did not enter the State Duma as they din’t get over the threshold of seven per cent required by the law — economist Grigory Yavlinsky of “Yabloko” and oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov of “Pravoe Delo” — had to collect the two million signatures the law demands of them to be registered. Prokhorov claims his team has accomplished the task, though a number of experts remain skeptical about the accuracy of their work. Yavlinsky is still collecting the signatures, his team has complained about the artificial obstacles Russian electoral election law creates. For example, the number of signatories from each Russian region is limited to 50,000 people. In Moscow and St Petersburg it is relatively easy to find supporters, but regional work is harder.
Candidates are given 25 days to accurately collect two million signatures. They will have to hand them in to the Central Election Committee on 18 January.
Meanwhile, Sergei Mironov of A Just Russia and Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party have been asked to become “transitional presidents” by many participants of the December rallies. The Left Front opposition movement sent a proposal to them saying should they win the elections they should carry out a comprehensive election law reform, hold new parliamentary elections in just one year and then step down. Mironov has accepted the proposal, while Zyuganov said he was ready to implement the election reform and re-run the parliamentary elections but did not like the idea of stepping down.
A similar proposal was made to all candidates by notable Russian political scientist Andrey Piontkovsky. In an article he suggested that candidates who oppose Putin should “sign a contract with voters” promising to become a transitional president. This would involve carrying out radical reforms of election legislation, police and judiciary system; limiting the president’s power through passing amendments to the constitution; holding new parliamentary elections; and then within one to one-and-a-half years stepping down to participate in early presidential elections, which would be held according to new democratic laws. The candidates are yet to respond to him.
“The core goal for opposition is not to let Putin run the country again”, says Piontkovsky, who views transitional presidency as the way to achieve that. The “contract” between presidential candidates and civil society is to be “signed” on 4 February, on a third protest action for fair elections, which is expected to be the biggest yet.
16 Jan 2012 | Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa
Sudan’s National Intelligence Security Services (NISS) suspended Alwan, an independent daily newspaper On Friday 13 January. On Thursday and Friday morning, copies of the newspaper were confiscated post-publication, but the editor-in-chief was only informed of the suspension on Friday.
Shadia Ahmad, a journalist with Alwan, said rumours suggest that a political interview published recently has instigated this harsh decision.
“This is what we are hearing, but so far the editor-in-chief has yet to receive the official written decision to suspend the newspaper which should have clear reasons,” said Ahmad.
Ahmad added that there are probably a number of reasons for the suspension, commenting that if it was only the interview which was to blame for the suspension, the journalist who wrote the article would have faced problems, rather than the newspaper.
Alwan faces charges under article 24, the responsibilities of editors, and article 26, the responsibilities of journalists, of the 2009 Press Laws.
The newspapere was closed down for almost two years in 2008 after publishing a report on a military operation. It came back a little over a year ago.
Earlier this month, the NISS suspended Rai Al Shaab, an opposition newspaper affiliated with the Popular Congress Party (PCP). The head of the NISS stated that Rai Al Shaab violated Sudan’s ” “professional and ethical standards,”
In early 2010, Rai Al Shaab’s deputy editor-in-chief was arrested, tortured and detained for over a year and it was shut down for a year and a half.
Since it began publishing again in October 2011, it has faced constant harassment from the NISS. Two weeks ago, officers raided the newspaper’s premises, confiscated equipment and occupied the offices.
Ahmed Haroun, a Rai Al Shaab journalist, said that he was called in for questioning before the suspension.
“I was interrogated about an article I wrote in November and I was released, but I still have to go to court,” said Haroun.
Lawyer Nabil Adib says that the closure of Rai Al Shaab is illegal.
“It does not abide by the constitution since they can not suspend it before the necessary measures are taken — as in having an actual trial,” said Adib who added that the penalty came before the trial.
Commenting on the recent re-launch of Al Jareeda, an independent newspaper that was suspended by the NISS last September, Adib stated that they are unlikely to publish the same daring material they used to publish before they were shut down.
In recent years, two decisions were instrumental in the new wave of crackdowns on press freedoms in Sudan. Firstly, the controversial 2009 press laws which allow the state to intervene in issues of national security; second, in 2010 the NISS was given many immunities and rights under the 2010 National Security Act. Through this act, the NISS is allowed to take action on issues of national security which range from detaining journalists for extended periods of time, suing journalists and subjecting them to hefty fines and even closing down newspapers.
Many high-profile journalists including Amal Habbani, Faisal Mohamed Salih, Dr Nahid Al Hassan and Dr Omer Al Garrai are still facing charges and ongoing trials for writing about the rape of Safia Ishaq, a young activist who was arrested after taking part in protests and raped by three security men while in detention.
“They aim to waste your time and stop your life” Amal Habbani commented on the lengthy trial.
Last month, Dr Nahid Al Hassan, a psychiatrist working with victims of sexual assault and abuse was told in court by the judge that evidence proves that Safia Ishaq was not raped.
“You jeopardised the people’s trust in the security forces by writing about an incident that never happened,” said Mudathir Al Rashid, a judge who is known as the “journalist cases judge” for taking up notorious cases against journalists.
Reem Abbas is a Sudani freelance journalist. She is published in Inter-Press Service (IPS), IRIN news, the Women International Perspective, (the WIP), Menassat and daily Sudanese newspapers. She tweets at @ReemShawkat
16 Jan 2012 | Americas, Mexico
Making the wrong commentary about the drug war in Mexico could create problems for public figures. Take the case of Kate del Castillo, a Mexican actor who incurred the wrath of many in the country after she tweeted that she preferred drug gang leader Chapo Guzman to the government.
Her mistake was to post a long statement on social media site Twextra. “Today, I believe more in El Chapo Guzman than in the governments that hide truths from me,” she wrote, adding later:
“Mr Chapo, wouldn’t it be great if you started trafficking with positive things? With cures for diseases, with food for street children, with alcohol (drinks) for old people in retirement homes, where they are not allowed to spend their final days doing whatever they like. You can traffic with corrupt politicians and not with women and children who end up as slaves?”
She ended the statement urging Guzman, one of Mexico’s most powerful drug bosses, to become “The Hero of Heroes,” a play on a Mexican corrido song describing a top drug baron as the “Jefe de Jefes” or Boss of Bosses.
El Chapo, which translates to “Shorty”, is one of Mexico’s most powerful drug traffickers. He was named the most influential drug trafficker in the world by the US Treasury Department, and has been ranked as one of the richest Mexicans by Forbes for the last three consecutive years.
The only entertainers who flocked to support Kate were Ranchera singer Chavela Vargas and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, plus her ex-husband Demian Bichir.
Most Mexican entertainers stay away from appearing too chummy with known drug traffickers. Several singers of traditional grupero music have been killed in the last few years. None of the cases have been solved and the killings are said to be linked to songs the singers were paid to compose and make famous. Many of the songs describing and praising drug traffickers are called “narco-corridos”, a spin on the traditional corrido ballad music of Mexico.
Del Castillo, a top name in Mexico, recently moved into the US market, playing a role in Showtime’s Weeds. She also starred in the Spanish-language TV series La Reina del Sur, in which she played a female drug trafficker. The series is based on a real life drug trafficker, Sandra Avila, known as La Reina del Pacifico, who is in a Mexican jail today, fighting extradition to the United States for cocaine smuggling. Avila laundered money for the Chapo Guzman’s drug syndicate.
