You searched for egypt - Page 117 of 175

Free expression in the news

INDEX POLICY PAPER
Is the EU heading in the right direction on digital freedom?
While in principle the EU supports freedom of expression, it has often put more emphasis on digital competitiveness and has been slow to prioritise and protect digital freedom, Brian Pellot, digital policy advisor at Index on Censorship writes in this policy paper
(Index on Censorship)

AUSTRALIA
Australia doubles down on censorship, refuses R18+ classification to State of Decay
Australia, coming off the back of refusing classification to Saints Row IV yesterday, apparently wasn’t satisfied with just one act of censorship. Today Undead Labs announced that their game too had been refused classification, so for the foreseeable future Australia will not be seeing State of Decay. Again, the issue seems to be related to some sort of drug use. The team is currently exploring their options with Microsoft
(NeoSeeker)

BAHRAIN
Bahrain mulls clamp on Internet calls
Bahrain is considering introducing controls on calls made via the Internet, including those on Skype and Viber, said a top official.
(Trade Arabia)

BRAZIL
Brazil’s left and right struggle for ownership of protests
Rival groups split on the political direction of the protests, with claims two organisations back military rule
(The Guardian)

EGYPT
Egypt journalists to march for free expression on 30 June
Journalists criticise attacks on freedom of expression under President Mohamed Morsi
(Ahram Online)

EUROPEAN UNION
EU adopts guidelines to “protect and promote” LGBTI rights
Coming on the heels of Russia’s enactment of a “gay propaganda” law, the European Union’s decision to adopt guidelines to protect the rights of lebian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons in foreign relations on Monday is welcome. Sean Gallagher writes
(Index on Censorship)

FRANCE
Pro-Israeli activist found guilty of libel
A man has been convicted of defamation in France for his claims about a widely-publicised video which showed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy’s death in Gaza Strip.
(Al Jazeera)

ISRAEL
Knesset members seek libel protection for IDF soldiers
If passed, legislation will enable class-action suits against critics who make false claims about army operations
(The Times of Israel)

INDIA
Censor laws are extremely ambiguous: Anand Gandhi
Independent filmmaker Anand Gandhi was in the city recently to screen his film ‘Ship of Theseus’ for the students of Film and Television Institute of India. Anand spoke to TOI about being an independent filmmaker, film censorship and why serious engagement from the government for Indian films is the need of the hour.
(The Times of India)

JORDAN
Jordan Accused Of Targeting Online Dissent
Jordan’s King Abdullah vowed to make the desert kingdom a “free Internet” country as he began his rule more than a decade ago. On June 2, when local Internet providers were ordered to block hundreds of news websites across the kingdom, Web publishers protested the broken promise and international media watchdog organizations charged censorship.
(NPR)

RUSSIA
Blockage of Major News Websites Raises Censorship Fears
A ruling by a court in the central Russian town of Ulyanovsk ordering a state-run Internet provider to block access to 15 websites, including those of two prominent national newspapers, has sparked fears of a broader campaign of Internet censorship in the country.
(The Moscow Times)

SOUTH AFRICA
South African groups seek arrest warrants for Obama
Two South African groups were trying to obtain arrest warrants for US President Barack Obama, who will visit the country later this week.
(Times Live)

TURKEY
Turkey seeks to tighten grip on Twitter after protests
Turkey said on Wednesday it had asked Twitter to set up a representative office inside the country, which could give it a tighter rein over the microblogging site it has accused of helping stir weeks of anti-government protests.
(Reuters)

UNITED KINGDOM
Banning of Geller and Spencer from UK will only build grievance
Britain’s ban on anti-Muslim activists could do more harm than good, says Padraig Reidy
(Index on Censorship)

Change in libel laws ‘not required in Northern Ireland’
A Stormont committee has been told there is no need to reform antiquated Northern Ireland’s libel laws by a high-profile libel lawyer.
(Belfast Telegraph)

Daily Mail in £110k libel payout over Syrian chemical weapons story
The Daily Mail has been forced to pay more than £100,000 in damages and apologise for a story linking a UK defence company with the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
(Press Gazette)

UNITED STATES
Jeff Olson Faces 13 Years In Jail For Writing Anti-Bank Messages In Chalk
Jeff Olson, a man who is being prosecuted for writing anti-bank messages on sidewalks in water-soluble chalk last year, is facing a 13-year jail sentence.
(Opposing Views)

Companies win U.S. free speech shield over scientific articles
Authors and publishers of controversial scientific articles, and the companies sponsoring those articles, won broad free speech protection from a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday.
(Reuters)

Sexual predator cries censorship over Jaycee Dugard memoir
Eight years ago, a New York journalist named Peter Braunstein, then 41, forced his way into the apartment of a 34-year-old Manhattan woman by pretending to be a firefighter. He proceeded to drug the woman, a former colleague, and sexually assault her for more than 12 hours.
(Los Angeles Times)

VIETNAM
In Vietnam, “Depraved” Blogging Could Get You Locked Up for a Decade
Vietnam is not a good place to be a blogger. At least, it’s not a good place to be a blogger if you actually want to write what’s on your mind.
(Motherboard)

Free expression in the news

25 Jun 13 | In the News

BRAZIL
Freedom of expression, an unfulfilled promise in Brazil
Brazil’s media is characterized by oligopolistic ownership and certain opinions dominate. Journalists and human rights activist call for new laws and regulations to safeguard freedom of speech and access to information in the host country of the 2014 World Cup.
(Journalism in the Americas)

Brazil president Dilma Rousseff proposes referendum on political reforms to try and quell protests
President Dilma Rousseff has announced a referendum on political reform along with £14 billion for public transport after more than a million took to the streets to protest in Brazil.
(The Telegraph)

BURMA
Literature needs freedom – and freedom needs literature
At this weekend’s session of the Edinburgh World Writers’ conference in Kuala Lumpur, the eminent Burmese writer – imprisoned under censorship laws for more than five years – used her own experience to reflect on censorship and imagination.
(The Guardian)

CANADA
Free speech integral to campus life
Opinion: University presidents must uphold the right of students to express unpopular opinions during peaceful protests
(Vancouver Sun)

CHINA
China Is Unblocking Some Search Terms — But Censorship Still Thrives Online
The Communist Party’s efforts to restrict political speech on the Internet have become increasingly sophisticated.
(The Atlantic)

EGYPT
Rights group condemns lawsuits against free speech
Lawsuits against media and opposition groups must stop says Arab Network for Human Rights Information
(Daily News Egypt)

G8
G8 governments sign Open Data Charter
During its summit in Northern Ireland, the G8 issued a declaration and signed an Open Data Charter on June 18, stating their intent to promote machine readable and publicly-available government data.
(Fierce Government IT)

IRAN
Internet Throttling Is Evidence of Iranian Censorship
One of the growing concerns for human rights campaigners is the increasing evidence of Internet censorship in many repressive regimes around the world. During the Arab spring, for example, Egyptian leaders “switched off” the Internet in an attempt to prevent activists from organizing protests or communicating with the outside world. The Syrian leadership appears to have done a similar thing on several occasions during the current civil war.
(Mashable)

NEW ZEALAND
Peters blasts ‘Orwellian’ censorship over stand on migrants
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has compared the country to an Orwellian state because he feels he is being censored for remarks on Chinese immigration to New Zealand.
(The New Zealand Herald)

TAIWAN
After Public Outcry, Taiwan Backs Off For SOPA Like Censorship
Freedom on the Internet is a far fetched idea but citizens are not giving up easily either. Recently we had shared that the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (IPO) had proposed an amendment to its Copyright Act, a proposal that is similar to the United States Bill, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The good news is that Taiwan has temporarily stopped the bill.
(Business 2 Community)

TUNISIA
Tunisian rapper jailed for anti-police song
Tunisian rapper Alaa Yacoub has been sent two prison for two years for an anti-police song. Sara Yasin reports
(Index on Censorship)

TURKEY
Obama, Erdogan discuss Turkish protests
President Barack Obama spoke to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday about the importance of free expression, following days of violence in anti-government demonstrations.
(News24)

BBC reporters ‘intimidated’ by Turkey
The BBC says it is “very concerned” by a campaign by the Turkish authorities to “intimidate its journalists”.
(BBC)

In Turkey’s pious heartland, protests seem world away
“This Nation Is With You” declares a small billboard in the centre of this conservative central Turkish city, the words emblazoned on an image of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and a sea of his flag-waving supporters.
(EuroNews)

UNITED KINGDOM
Mass surveillance threatens freedom of expression
Index on Censorship is extremely concerned about the reported extent of mass surveillance of both meta data and content, resulting from the alleged tapping into underwater cables that carry national and international communications traffic.
(Index on Censorship)

Don’t turn Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer into free speech martyrs
The anti-fascist campaign group Hope Not Hate (HNH) has written to the home secretary Theresa May urging her to stop Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer from entering the UK to speak at an English Defence League rally on Saturday 29 June.
(Left Foot Forward)

UNITED STATES
US needs to protect whistleblowers and journalists
Index on Censorship calls upon the US government to uphold the First Amendment. Whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden — as well as journalists reporting on the Prism scandal, who have come under fire — should be protected under the first amendment, not criminalised.
(Index on Censorship)

Link Between Gun Violence and Video Games is Flawed, Says Media Coalition
The discussion about whether playing violent video games causes real-life gun violence has been raging for years. A new report today by Media Coalition Inc. is bound to fuel that fire, claiming that the harm of violent video games has “skewed the debate and fuels misguided calls for censorship.” Although the report’s headline focuses on “media,” its content focuses on violent videogames, and the Coalition’s press release was promoted by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which is responsible for the E3 video game trade show.
(Daily Game)

Shirt Focus of Free-Speech Fight
In West Virginia, the love of freedom is ingrained more directly in the fabric of the state’s legacy than in most places. It broke away from Virginia at the outset of the Civil War over slavery, becoming the 35th state in the Union 150 years ago this week. But even before that, West Virginia’s forbidding geography had stamped itself on the character of its people.
(Real Clear Poltics)

An important ruling for groups’ free speech rights
A Supreme Court decision rightly prevents the government from requiring certain stances by organizations receiving public funds.
(The Mercury)

Floyd Abrams Talks First Amendment Law At Google
The First Amendment is incredibly important in the Internet age. It’s frequently at the center of many debates on what constitutes free speech online. Now, one of the foremost First Amendment scholars of our time – Floyd Abrams – stopped by Google to talk about his new book, “Friends of the Court: On The Front Lines With The First Amendment”
(WebPro News)

U.S. presses Russia as mystery over Snowden deepens
The United States increased pressure on Russia on Monday to hand over Edward Snowden, the American charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs, and said it believed he was still in Moscow.
(Reuters)

Free expression in the news

24 Jun 13 | In the News

BELARUS
ZHREO against the Belarus Free Theatre
Authorities continue to pressure against the Belarus Free Theatre. This time, through the housing and maintenance services.
(Charter97.org)

BOSNIA
Bosnians protest as political stalemate leads to infant death
In the shadow of events in Turkey and Brazil, Bosnians have been taking to the streets. For over a week, citizens of the small Balkan country have been protesting their leaders’ failure to pass a new law on citizen identification numbers, leaving babies unable to travel for medical care. Milana Knezevic writes
(Index on Censorship)

BRAZIL
Unity in defense of freedom of expression of working-class and youth organisations
The right wing is attempting to co-opt the huge demonstrations of the last few days by introducing a bias towards nationalism, against corruption, against PEC 37, etc. There have also been some placards against abortion, for a military coup, and for Joaquim Barbosa (President of the Supreme Court who condemned the PT leaders without evidence in Criminal Case 470) to become the new president of the republic.
(In Defense of Marxism)

CANADA
More is less: Feds boost information services amid complaints of tighter control
The federal government employs nearly 4,000 communications staff in the public service, an increase of 15.3 per cent since the Conservatives came to power in 2006.“sanitized” results.
(Winnipeg Free Press)

CHINA
Weibo Censors Difficult to Detect
For Tea Leaf Nation, Jason Ng claims that Sina Weibo’s censorship has become increasingly opaque in the past months with the reduction of keyword blocks that allow one to easily discern banned search terms. Now, users can find previously banned terms like Xi Jinping or even June 4th, but the search yields “sanitized” results.
(China Digital Times)

EGYPT
Egypt’s army to step in if anti-Morsi rallies become violent
Army says it will intervene because demonstrations against President Morsi are ‘an attack on the will of the people’
(The Guardian)

GLOBAL
Net censorship may backfire
The impulse to protect our children is universal and for so long now filtering or blocking certain Internet sites has been a part of that. There are strong justifications for this, of course. While the Internet is a valuable tool for both information and communication, there is much that it offers is of no value to anyone and considerable potential harm.
(Arab News)

JAPAN
‘Hate speech’ in the media, but not the legal code
This writer, on previous occasions, has expressed irritation over the recent tendency for the vernacular media to rely heavily on English borrowings for neologisms with socially negative connotations, such as sexual harassment, stalking and domestic violence — to name three examples.
(The Japan Times)

MACEDONIA
Macedonia must not silence critical media, UN expert says
Macedonia must allow space for critical media, Frank La Rue, UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of expression said on June 21 2013, saying the closure of a television station and some newspapers in 2011 sends worrying signals about free expression in the country.
(The Sofia Globe)

RUSSIA
Pussy Riot in London: “We are now in a fight. When the world is less sexist, then we will celebrate”
Index’s Padraig Reidy speaks to two members of the Russian feminist punk group on a secret trip to the UK
(Index on Censorship)

UNITED KINGDOM
In Britain, a debate over freedom of the tweet
After the recent slaying of a British soldier in a suspected Islamist extremist attack, angry social media users took to Twitter and Facebook, with some dispatching racially and religiously charged comments. For at least a half-dozen users, their comments landed them in jail.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch)

UNITED STATES
Edward Snowden: diplomatic storm swirls as whistleblower seeks asylum in Ecuador
Whistleblower escapes from Hong Kong to Moscow on a commercial flight despite a formal US extradition request
(The Guardian)

Free speech on the Strip
Some good news on the free speech front: Clark County government now has a hands-off approach on protests, demonstrations and political expression.
(Las Vegas Review Journal)

‘Stop word police!’: Glenn Beck defends Paula Deen’s right to speak
@glennbeck: Paula dean.Shame on U. 2013 not 1953. also agree with bill mahr who I despise but defended after 9.11.Fight for ALL speech.
(Twitchy)

Şanar Yurdatapan on Turkey: ‘Things will never be the same again’

20 Jun 13 | Europe and Central Asia

Turkish composer and Index Award winner Şanar Yurdatapan

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the IFEX General Meeting and Strategy Conference 2013, Index Director of Campaigns and Policy Marek Marczynski spoke with 2002 Index on Censorship award winner Şanar Yurdatapan, a composer and song writer who campaigns against the prosecution of publishers by the Turkish authorities. Yurdatapan shared his views on the events sweeping Turkey

Yurdatapan: It all started about three weeks ago when the government decided…well not the government actually…prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — who once was the mayor of Istanbul and who still thinks that he is — decided to change Taksim Square by reconstructing a historic military barracks as a shopping centre. It would mean cutting trees in Gezi Park.

People living in the area didn’t want the project so they began a sit-in to protect the trees. One day, very early in the morning the police came and took them out. They burned the tents they were living in. Thanks to Twitter and other social media channels, the protesters immediately informed others about what was going on. Thousands of people quickly came to Taksim Square. It quickly became what Tahrir Square was in Egypt during the Arab Spring.

Because of the brutality of the police the peaceful protest was not so peaceful anymore. Everybody was so mad and angry with the response of the police to this silent and peaceful occupation of Gezi Park. The police became even more violent. They used pressurised water and teargas.

The demonstrations spread quickly to other squares in Istanbul and other cities — including Ankara and Izmir. After the abuse by the police demonstartions were not peaceful anymore.

When Erdogan went on a vist to north African countries things became a bit better. The ministers tried to calm down the people by promsing that their concerns would be addressed. But when Erdogan came back everything became much worse. When he arrived he gave speeches at different places provoking people, using inappropriate and aggressive language. He called the people demonstrating “çapulcu”, or looters. So people started calling themselves looters. Someone even made a new song entitled “Every day I am Chapulling”, which is based on “I am shuffling”.

The Istanbul Bar Association said that there are 411 people currently in detention in relation to the protests. But these are only the registered ones. We don’t really know how many people are in fact arrested as the police do not register everyone. The bar association says that the real number might be over 2,000.

The latest demonstrations are silent. People are just standing still and saying nothing for hours. They are protesting against the police brutality and the government’s response to what was a peaceful demonstration

Index: Is that true that the police were also arresting lawyers?

Yurdatapan: Yes, it certainly was at the outset when some lawyers organised a press conference in solidarity with the demonstrators. The police came and arrested all of them. They were released on the same day, but it was a great shame for the justice system.

Index: How have the protest demands evolved?

Yurdatapan: Edrogan’s language is insulting people. He puts his nose in everyone’s private life. He decides how many children we should have or whether we should drink alcohol or not. Many different groups are very angry with him.

When the police brutality started, the protests became a collective hatred against Edrogan. On the second day of the demonstrations Nabi Avcı, minister of education, said a very nice thing which captures the current situation. He said something along the lines of: “We are very successful. It was very difficult to get people of so many different opinions together. Now we’ve succeeded in bringing all of them together against us.”

Index: So the demand is for the change of the government now? Or for democracy and freedom?

Yurdatapan: Yes, for democracy. We know that most people will vote for Erdogan. We have local elections this summer and then we have elections for the state president and one year later there will be general elections. Most people are happy with the economic life which is why they will support Erdogan. The demand at the moment is more democracy.

Index: What are the other human rights issues in Turkey at the moment?

Yurdatapan: Well, we’ve never had full freedom of expression in turkey. Of course it is not as bad as it was under the military regime, but you can never feel safe in expressing your ideas. Turkey is a country of contradictions. If you say one thing in one corner of Istanbul nothing happens. A few metres away another person says the same thing and they are prosecuted. The justice system is sick in Turkey.

Like in the former communist countries many judges and prosecutors think that their duty is not to protect the law but to defend the state. Several years ago there was a survey conducted and 70 per cent of them said openly that when it comes to defending state the law is not important anymore. We see it in practice all the time.

In the past the justice system was in support of the military. They did whatever the military said. Erdogan needed to fight against the military and he won. But instead of becoming impartial and independent, the justice system has just changed its boss. They are serving in the same way to the new government now.

Index: Do you think that because of the protests we will see a long term change in Turkey?

Yurdatapan: It’s absolutely a turning point and things will never be the same again. People are not afraid anymore. We don’t have guns — police do; we don’t have gas — they have, but we will still stand here.

Index: the whole world is watching what is happening in Istanbul at the moment. Many people express their solidarity. How important is this for you in Turkey?

Yurdatapan: The government always says that they don’t care, but that’s not true. They care a lot. I encourage all of our friends to send protest messages to Turkish embassies in their countries; make appointments or stand outside the embassy quietly as people now do in Istanbul. No doubt Turkish ambassadors will report it to Ankara. If the reports start coming from around the world it will make a huge difference.

When I was in prison Amnesty International initiated a solidarity action. One day two postcards came, another day 20, the next day 100. You should have seen how happy all of the political prisoners were. We knew the world was watching. I will never forget that. We would get postcards from far-way countries we’d never visited. It was amazing! We felt we were not alone. It gave us hope. If you give people hope they become more courageous.

Index on Turkey: Turkey losing its way on free speech | The EU must take action on Turkey

« Older Entries

Next Entries »