9 Jul 2012 | Middle East and North Africa, Tunisia
Tunisian radio journalist Nadia Heddaoui Mabkhout was denied access to the headquarters of RTCI (Radio Tunis Chaîne Internationale), suspended from work and had her radio show cancelled last Friday.
Mabkhout was on her way to host her show Café Noir, recently renamed L’invité du Journal, which is aired on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 to 9am. She was accompanied by her guest, Neziha Rejiba (alias Om Zied), a well-known Tunisian activist and writer. (more…)
9 Jul 2012 | Digital Freedom, Russia
A draft law is set to create a digital blacklist of Russian websites which promote drugs or suicide or contain contain porn or “extremist” materials.
The draft law would allow websites to be blacklisted without judicial oversight — it merely requires law enforcement authorities to notify a hosting and/or telecom access provider. The provider then informs the website owner they must delete the controversial content, if the content is not removed within 24 hours the provider blocks not just the URL of the particular material but the whole website’s IP address and domain name. If the provider doesn’t block the website, it shares responsibility with the website’s owner.
Because it was composed by senior officials from the four major political parties, the draft law is likely to be passed quickly. The legislation’s authors insist it will protect children, but human rights activists see it as an attempt to censor a segment of the Russian internet and fear it will be used to threaten political protest.
Russian-language Wikipedia has been blocked in protest of the draft law
“As a rule limitations and censorship are imposed under the pretence of protecting children,” Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief of website Agentura.ru and an expert on Russia’s intelligence services told Index. “Hosting and telecom access providers will have to buy special blocking equipment, which can later be used anything the state wants to block.”
Russia’s Presidential Rights Council has published a brief analysis saying:
Legal users are likely to suffer mass blockings, because tough restrictions will be based on subjective criteria, which makes Russian jurisdiction highly unattractive for Internet business.
The councils experts went on to say:
The draft law doesn’t imply possibilities to review the decision about website’s URL and DNS blocking and to prove it wrong, so its difficult to interpret such blocking as anything, but actual censorship.
Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power extremism legislation, together with drug and defamation laws, have been used to silence the Kremlin’s critics. Human rights activists fear this new blacklist will also be abused for political purposes.
Activists see it as a third legislative response to the huge anti-Putin protests staged over recent months. Two other new laws passed since Putin’s return to the Presidency toughened fines for breaking the rules on holding rallies, and targeted NGOs that receive overseas financing.
The first hearing on the blacklist law will be held this week, it will provoke street protest but activists know they are unlikely to influence the Duma, lawmakers are also unmoved by a new UN resolution condemning attempts to limit freedom of expression on the internet.
Kirsty Hughes, Chief Executive of Index on Censorship said:
The Bill currently passing through the Duma is aimed squarely at clamping down on online dissent. The law will force ISPs to install filters at huge cost to prevent access to websites that the Communications Regulator deems “extremist”, with no judicial oversight. With Compromat.ru, a site exposing regime corruption targeted by the Moscow prosecutor last week, it’s clear that in Putin’s Russia freedom of expression is in decline.
6 Jul 2012 | Index Index, minipost, United Kingdom
Scientific journal Nature won a libel claim today that has lasted three years. Egyptian scientist Mohamed El Naschie had argued the journal had defamed him in a November 2008 story, which alleged he used his editorial privilege to self-publish numerous papers he had written and which would not have been published elsewhere due to poor quality and lack of peer review. At the High Court today Mrs Justice Sharp rejected El Naschie’s claim, accepting the defendants’ defences of justification, honest comment and the Reynolds privilege for responsible journalism on a matter of public interest.
6 Jul 2012 | Russia
Tens of people gathered near Moscow’s Tagansky Court on Wednesday to protest against the prosecution of members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot.
Three activists locked themselves in a cage near the court building and police struggled hard to unlock it and detain them “for taking part in an unsanctioned rally”. Six other activists were detained for having stood in the traffic area near the court. They later faced administrative charges for “breaking the rules of the rally organisation”.
Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Semutsevich have been accused of hooliganism for allegedly staging an anti-Putin performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
The court set a deadline for the women to acquaint themselves with the criminal case reading materials. They have until 9 July to read the volumes which, according to one of their their lawyers, Mark Feigin, “violates the defence’s righs to get prepared for the proceedings,” as they do not have enough time to read them. The trio announced a hunger-strike in protest.
Outside the court building people wore t-shirts with the band’s picture and white ribbons, a symbol of protest against Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian policy. Most of them told Index they did not believe their actions could influence Pussy Riot’s destiny, but nor could could staying silent
Russian intellectuals and artists have condemned Pussy Riot members’ persecution in an open letter, stating the criminal case “compromises the Russian judicial system” and “undermines the confidence in Russian authorities”. The letter was signed by notable directors, writers and actors, including Viktor Shenderovich, Dmitry Bykov, Chulpan Khamatova, Mikhail Zhvanetskty, Eldar Ryazanov.
Rock group Faith No More invited free Pussy Riot members to participate in their Moscow concert on 2 July, where the women asked to “support their sisters” and chanted out:
Russian rebellion. We do exist. Russian rebellion. Putin has pissed with fear.
However, the number of protesters near the court on 4 July did not exceed 300 people. One of them, notable Russian poet Lev Rubinshtein, told Index that in spite of international rights activists’ community concerns over Pussy Riot’s persecution, “most people in Russia are simply not aware of Pussy Riot case, or have heard the name and condemn the women without finding out the details.”
This lies in two things: censorship on Russian television prevents the public from understanding the Pussy Riot story in detail, and the lack of solidarity between activists in Moscow and other Russian cities prevents others from protesting against the group’s prosecution outside the capital.
