Canada: Activist charged with criminal defamation

14 Sep 11 | Index Index, minipost

Ontario Provincial Police have charged an activist with two counts of defamatory libel for online comments he made regarding undercover police officers. Using fake names, Dan Kellar outed two officers who had infiltrated activist networks. Upon learning that one of them was spotted in Toronto, he put out a “community alert’’ on the website of an activist group he was involved with. Police claim the comments were likely to injure the reputation of the officers by exposing them to hatred, contempt or ridicule. Kellar says the charges are an attempt to stifle dissent. He will appear in court in Toronto on 20 September.

Jail Without Bars

25 Jul 11 | Uncategorized

Mark Townsend spent nearly two years fighting a bizarre libel case in Dubai. Here he tells of the legal limbo of the gulf city’s labyrinthine legal system

(more…)

Uganda: Website editor charged with criminal libel

01 Jun 11 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost

A journalist appeared in Kampala Magistrates Court yesterday charged with criminal libel. Timothy Kalyegira, the editor of Uganda Record, a website which has been critical of the country’s governing National Resistance Movement. Kalyegira was initially questioned over articles which suggested that Somali based militants, al Shabaab, were connected to the 11 July bombings in Kampala which killed 76 people. He is being remanded in Luzira Prison until his next trial date on 6 June.