CATEGORY: News and features

Through the looking glass

Through the looking glass

English libel law turns US protection for free speech on its head. Floyd Abrams considers how the UK became an international libel tribunal English defamation law is under fire. Last July, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed...

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Through the looking glass

Iran: elections free up the media

Fiery television debates, and the tactics of Ahmadinejad’s own supporters, have emboldened Iran’s newspapers, says Meir Javedanfar The election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not make life easier for Iran's press. During his term of office, more than...

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Through the looking glass

Weighing up the evidence

The House of Lords ruling on secret evidence raises the need for the admission of intercept intelligence in terror trials, says Roger Smith Nine-nil. A judicial decision of the House of Lords does not get more decisive than that. It was by this...

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Through the looking glass

Shoot the messenger

Attacks on human rights representatives at the UN Human Rights Council are part of a campaign to undermine freedom of expression, says Roy W Brown Efforts of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), representing the 57 Islamic states, to...

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Through the looking glass

Tiananmen 20: Qian Gang

The 4 June massacre signalled an end to 1980s press reform in China The Communist Party's crackdown on democracy demonstrators in Beijing 20 years ago brought hopes for political reform in China to an abrupt and violent end. For journalists, it...

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Through the looking glass

Censorship is the wrong way to combat BNP

The illiberal obsession with silencing Nick Griffin and the British National Party in the run up to elections has won the party undeserved publicity, says Claire Fox “If you are not supporting Labour then … please go out and vote for one of the...

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Through the looking glass

Tiananmen 20: Liu Hongbin

Poet Liu Hongbin fled China after taking part in the Tiananmen Square protests. Here, he describes his experience of returning to China as a persona non grata in 1997 In the dead of winter 1997, I landed back in Beijing. As I was passing through...

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Through the looking glass

The tyranny of the take-down notice

The closure of Nadine Dorries's blog simply on suspicion of defamation emphasises the need for reform of libel legislation says Padraig Reidy It's probably not the best time to be seen defending an MP, but here goes. Conservative MP Nadine Dorries...

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Through the looking glass

Australia’s impotent censors

The Australian government's ignorance about the Internet is impeding attempts to ban online content, says John Ozimek Over the last six months, I have been keeping a close watch on events “down under”. The Australian government has proposed --- to...

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