23 May 2012 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
The whereabouts of two Azerbaijani writers remains unknown, after they were allegedly kidnapped in Iran. Farid Huseyn and Shahriyar Hajizade were reportedly set upon by eight men in civilian dress as their bus arrived from Tehran into Tabriz, in northwestern Iran on 2 May. Huseyn, from news website 525 and daily newspaper Kaspiy, and Hajizade, who writes about youth issues on social networks, visited Tehran for the presentation of an Iranian edition of Huseyn’s writings. It is believed the pair are being held by Iranian security forces, though no information has been provided by the authorities.
23 May 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
The head of a new Palestinian news channel has been arrested on undisclosed charges in Israel. Bahaa Khairi Moussa, the general director of the Palestine Prisoner Channel, which covers the conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, was arrested on Thursday (17 May). Saher al-Qassim, the news broadcaster’s executive director, believes the channel’s specialist coverage has lead to the arrest. Moussa’s whereabouts is currently unknown.
23 May 2012 | Uncategorized
Index on Censorship has learned that the Twitter account of protest group Space Hijackers has been suspended following a complaint by the organisers of the London Olympics.
The anti-capitalists, who have styled themselves as the Official Protesters of the London 2012 Olympic Games, received notification from Twitter in an email this morning, which stated:
Hello,
We have received reports from the trademark holder, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd, that your account, @spacehijackers, is using a trademark in a way that could be confusing or misleading with regard to a brand affiliation. Your account has been temporarily suspended due to violation of our trademark policy.
(click image for full email)
The Space Hijackers had been using an altered version of the 2012 logo on their site and their Twitter page 
The Olympic organisers are notoriously prickly about branding, but also about protest, and laws introduced after London won the right to host this years games could potentially place restrictions on protest for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics.
It could be argued that the logo in itself was a justifiable reason for the suspension: but you have to seriously ask: is anyone actually going to confuse the Space Hijackers account for an official Olympic account? This should surely be the basis of a claim for trademark infringement.
It is doubtful that Space Hijackers are actually going to bring down the International Olympic Committee and capitalism along with it (not through Twitter at least). One can only conclude that this is an act of petty, vindictive censorship, hardly in the spirit of plurality and inclusiveness the Olympics is supposed to promote.
22 May 2012 | Middle East and North Africa
On 28 May Monatir Appeal Court is expected to issue a verdict in the case of two atheist friends Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji. In March a primary court sentenced the two to a seven-and-a-half year jail term over the publishing of prophet Mohammedd cartoons.
Defense lawyers chose only to appeal on behalf of Jabeur Mejri, since Ghazi Beji has fled the country. “We would lose appeal if we defend him [Ghazi Beji] in absentia”, said Bochra Bel Haj Hmida, a defense lawyer, and a human rights activist.
To convict the two friends, Mahdia Primary Court employed Article 121 (3) of the Tunisian Penal Code, which states the following:
“The distribution, putting up for sale, public display, or possession, with the intent to distribute, sell, display for the purpose of propaganda, tracts, bulletins, and fliers, whether of foreign origin or not, that are liable to cause harm to the public order or public morals is prohibited.”
Anyone who violates this law risks a fine of 120 TND (76USD) to 1200 TND (760 USD), and a jail term of six months to five years.
Article 121 (3), adopted on 3 May 2001 as a way to tighten control over press freedom, was repeatedly used during the post Ben Ali era.
The controversial law earned Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji a five-year jail term, and a 1200TND (760USD) fine for publishing content liable to “disturb public order”, and six months for “moral transgression”. The court also sentenced them to two more years in prison for “insulting others via public communication networks”.
The Court of First Instance of Tunis also used this law to fine both Nessma TV boss Nabil Karoui over the broadcast of French-Iranian film Persepolis, and Nasreddine Ben Saida, the general director of the Arabic-language daily newspaper Attounissia over the publishing of a front page photo of a Real Madrid footballer with his naked girlfriend.
“As lawyers and activists we are volunteering to defend Mejri, and Beji. This is our tool to combat abusive laws adopted during the Ben Ali regime. But it is the job of the legislative branch, that is the national constituent assembly, to amend such laws,” explained Mrs Bel Haj Hmida.
