20 Feb 2012 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost
The trial of the web master of a Thai news website resumed last week after a long interruption.Chiranuch Premchaiporn, web master of Prachatai news website, faces a possible 20 year prison sentence for not removing certain user comments from her website quickly enough. The resumed case, which was delayed from October 2011 due to the severe flooding in Bangkok, heard five defence witnesses give evidence to the court on 14, 15 and 16 February. Chiranuch has said she was pleased that the defence witnesses were finally able to give their evidence.
15 Feb 2012 | Middle East and North Africa
On Sunday, 13 February, the Tunis court of first instance ordered Cheker Besbes, a journalist for the private radio station Mosaique FM, to pay a fine of 200 dinars (around GBP £82), for allegedly videotaping a hearing in trial of Nessma TV employees. The TV station’s general director and two staff are accused of ““violating sacred values” by showing French-Irianian film Persepolis, which includes images of Allah.
Besbes admits he had a camera with him in the courtroom, but denies videotaping the hearing. “Besides,” he said in an interview with the blog collective Nawaat.org, “there is no law that prohibits entering the courtroom with a camera. Using it is indeed illegal, but in my case it did not happen.”
Besbes insists that the court punished him without even checking his camera’s footage. “They have condemned me for filming inside the courtroom, without taking the legal procedures to find out if I did so or not”, he said.
Justice Minister Nourreddine Bhiri’s decision to ban filming of the trial came as a surprise to journalists, who had been allowed to film previous trials, among them the trial in absentia of former President Zeine El Abidin Ben Ali and the first session in the hearing of the Nessma TV case.
Nabil Karoui, general director of Nessma TV, a privately-owned television station, and two of his employees are accused of “violating sacred values” and “disturbing the public order” for broadcasting the French-Iranian film Persepolis.
Besbes and his lawyers referred the case to the Court of Cassation, Tunisia’s highest court.
“The problem is not whether the fine of 200 dinars represents a considerable proportion of my salary,” said Besbes. “We are against the sentence and I have decided along with my lawyers to take the case to the cassation court. We were expecting a non-suit, because I’m innocent,” he told Nawaat.
14 Feb 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
The most recent issue of the French magazine “Le Nouvel Observateur” was confiscated by Moroccan authorities after it published an image from the French-Iranian film “Persepolis”. The issue, due to be distributed on 2 February, included an article on the animated film, which tells the story of the suffering of an Iranian family following the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the main character’s subsequent exile to France. Morocco withstood pressure from Iranian authorities to ban the film in May 2008, screening it at the Meknes International Festival of Animated Film (FICAM).
14 Feb 2012 | Middle East and North Africa
Abdulhadi Alkhawaja was arrested on 9 April 2011. He was dragged from his house and beaten by 20 masked men along with his two sons in law, while his daughters and wife were insulted, assaulted and locked in a room. In may he was given life in prison along with other prominent opposition leaders for “organising and managing a terrorist organisation”, “attempting to overthrow the government by force and in liaison with a terrorist organisation working for a foreign country” and the “collection of money for a terrorist group”. This was not the first time he had been charged with attempting to overthrow the government for talking publicly about human rights abuses in Bahrain. It seems that the government of Bahrain believe their regime to be so weak that even speaking the truth about them risks bringing down the whole system.
Since that time, the BICI report has shown that there is no evidence of any Iranian involvement in the Bahrain uprising. This fact renders the presence of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops in Bahrain unlawful, as they are only supposed to be used to defend against foreign invasions, and shows the sentences of the main opposition leaders to be based on purely political charges.
In December 2011, Nigel Rodley, who had been part of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, released a statement saying that the BICI report intended that the sentences of all political prisoners should be annulled. Unfortunately, the Foreign Minister of Bahrain, in a recent highly defensive response to a letter I wrote with Denis MacShane MP, has stated that “There is no political prisoner in Bahrain today. Not a single person is awaiting trial for political protest or activity or for exercising her or his right to free speech and assembly.”
Does this man really believe what he is saying? Is he just lying or is he really so blinded (as those at the top of autocratic regimes often are) to the truth.
Abdulhadi Alhkawaja, his brother, son in law and one of his daughters have all been in jail. He has gone on hungerstrike numerous times, hospitalising himself in the process. Now he is on hungerstrike again for the anniversary of the uprising, telling his family in a phone call that he will be willing to die for his freedom. The cruelty displayed by the Bahraini government is astounding, and one of the reasons why they have been listed as one of the 10 most repressive regimes by Reporters Without Borders.
John Lubbock is a graduate in international politics and human rights MA at City University, London and research and advocacy officer for the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights in London. He tweets@jwsal
