23 Jul 2009 | Index Index, minipost
Irish president Mary McAleese has signed the Defamation Bill 2006 and the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009 into law. The Defamation Bill updates Ireland’s defamation law, aims to encourage quicker apologies from publishers and renews the offence of blasphemy provided for under 1960s legislation, while the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009 allows for the greater use of non-jury trials in suspected gangland criminal cases. Both have proved controversial with the Defamation Bill provoking outcry over its inclusion of a charge of blasphemous libel. Read more here
23 Jul 2009 | Index Index, minipost
China’s Propaganda Department has ordered media and news websites to censor reports about a corruption case with links to President Hu Jintao’s son. Nuctech, a Chinese company that until 2007 was headed by Hu’s son Hu Haifeng, is alleged to have bribed a Namibian company in order to sell airport security scanners to Namibia. Read more here
22 Jul 2009 | Index Index, minipost
The Constitutional Court of Columbia has declared several high level officials in contempt of court for not carrying out a court ruling issued 9 months ago ordering them to provide information and security to a journalist at risk. The court gave the President the Interior vice Minister and the National Police Director 48 hours to implement the measures. Read more here
22 Jul 2009 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Egyptian poet and teacher Mounir Saeed Hanna who had previously been sentenced to three years imprisonment and a US$18,000 bail has been acquitted. He was originally charged with writing a poem that insulted the president. Read more here
