Free expression in the news

24 May 2013 | In the News

BRAZIL
Brazil’s Federal Police seize journalist’s equipment
Brazil’s Federal Police seized a journalist’s equipment – including his computer – during an operation to remove indians from a farm in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The seizure was decried as illegal by the reporter’s employer, one of the country’s most prominent aid agencies aimed at indigenous peoples, Rafael Spuldar reports. (Index on Censorship)

ISRAEL
Bill protecting IDF from slander passes first Knesset reading
New law will allow for defamation lawsuits to be filed against people or groups who slander the IDF, without having to go through the attorney-general, as is the case today. The bill aims to protect the IDF from libel by Israel detractors. (Israel Hayom)

PHILIPPINES
DOJ deletes libel from new anti-cybercrime bill
THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has removed libel from the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, pruning away one of the questioned sections of the law. (Business Mirror)

RUSSIA
Putin’s war on dissent in Russia
A year after the mass protests marking Vladimir Putin’s controversial presidential win, Elena Vlasenko reports from Moscow on the heavy-handed repression confronting the Russian opposition. (Index on Censorship)

SYRIA
Birthday wishes for Bassel Khartabil
Software engineer and open-source advocate Bassel Khartabil spent his second birthday in prison yesterday. Index calls on the Syrian government to release Khartabil. (Index on Censorship)

THAILAND
Critic’s Facebook page suspended; cartoonist ‘ignores’ summonses
Thammasat University academic Somsak Jeamteerasakul’s Facebook account has been suspended for 30 days, leading to widespread criticism on social media. (The Nation)

TUNISIA
Crackdown on radical Islamists tests Tunisia’s stability
For the first time since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, relations between mainstream Islamists in government and radical Salafist Muslim activists have reached breaking point, sparking deadly clashes in two Tunisian cities. (Reuters)

TURKEY
Turkey presents Prophet’s sayings for the 21st Century
cholars around the Muslim world were alarmed five years ago by news reports that Turkey planned a new, possibly heretical, compilation of the Prophet Mohammad’s sayings that might scrap those it thought were no longer applicable. (Al Arabyia)

UKRAINE
Journalists defend colleagues in Ukraine’s ‘new war with press’
Two journalists were attacked while covering a street rally in Kiev, and nine more Ukrainian reporters were in danger of losing government accreditation following a protest to support their colleagues, Andrei Alaiksandrau reports. (Index on Censorship)

UNITED KINGDOM
A responsible internet
Internet companies and service providers need to do much more to keep pornography away from children. (The Telegraph)

Woolwich attack: two arrested over Twitter comments
Two men are arrested for making alleged offensive comments on Twitter about the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. (Channel 4)

UNITED STATES
Associated Press Scandal: Does the Media Only Care About Free Speech When It Comes to Their Own?
It is no surprise that the media has been quick to voice its support for Fox News reporter James Rosen and the Associated Press , following revelations of invasive government investigations into their respective sources. (PolicyMic)

Obama to Gitmo Speech Heckler: ‘Part Of Free Speech Is…You Listening’
President Barack Obama had a hard time getting through parts of his foreign policy speech at the National Defense University Thursday, thanks to Medea Benjamin, co-founder of left-leaning, female anti-militarism group Code Pink. (Personal Liberty Digest)

Sexual harassment rules on college campuses trickle down to freedom of speech
The places where you might find some of the freest thinkers and those that want to protect their right to free speech are now also the target of new policies that will limit that same speech. (MyNorthwest.com)

PostScript: McConnell and free speech
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appears with an opinion piece on our page today. He argues that the IRS and AP scandals are part of a pattern with the Obama administration’s push for the disclosure of political donors. (Washington Post)

LePage tells legislative leaders he’s moving out of State House because of ‘censorship’
Democratic legislative leaders said Thursday that Republican Gov. Paul LePage told them he would move his office from the State House in a protest over not being able to have a television display outside his office. But LePage said his staff would remain there “until partisan leaders of the Legislature choose to evict them.” (Bangor Daily News)

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Index on Censorship Events
Caught in the web: how free are we online? June 10, 2013
The internet: free open space, wild wild west, or totalitarian state? However you view the web, in today’s world it is bringing both opportunities and threats for free expression. More >>>

Free expression in the news

8 May 2013 | In the News

GLOBAL
The Bobs announce winners of online activism award
Jury members at The Bobs gave out honors to bloggers and online activists for their work promoting freedom of expression, human rights and the right to information. Internet users also voted for their own set of winners. (DW)

AUSTRALIA
Dreyfus says Brandis stands for hate speech
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has accused the opposition of defending hate speech, not free speech, after his Coalition counterpart George Brandis’s charge that the government was waging war against freedom of expression. (The Australian)

Students ridiculed for Christian beliefs speak out in video
Public school students who’ve endured ridicule for their Christian beliefs created a newly released video, titled “The Thaw”, in which they ask, “Why can’t I pray in school? Why am I called names because I believe in marriage the way God designed it? Why can’t Tim Tebow praise God after making a touchdown without causing a national uproar?” (Christian Today Australia)

CANADA
“Cult of secrecy” pervades Canada’s Access to Information system, report says
Secrecy is at the heart of the annual Review of Free Expression in Canada released on Friday, May 3, by the organization Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). Observing a “cult of secrecy” in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, CJFE lamented the state of the country’s “dysfunctional” Access to Information Act, a sunshine law, and warned about a bill that could undermine the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) journalistic independence. (Journalism in the Americas

RUSSIA
Is Russia’s social network chief really a free speech martyr?
The beautiful thing about a really good conspiracy theory is that it’s nearly impossible to disprove. And that’s especially true in Russia, where so much, so often, is so murky. (Washington Post)

Russia’s only independent pollster resists ‘foreign agent’ tag
Russia’s only independent pollster could be forced to register as a foreign agent under a law which President Vladimir Putin’s critics say is designed to tighten controls on groups that do not toe the official line. (Reuters

SUDAN
SJU Calls for Ending Censorship over Press
The Sudanese Journalists Union (SJU) affirmed its full support and firm adherence to the freedom of the press and strongly rejected imposition of any exceptional measures on the rights of newspapers and journalists. (Sudan Vision

THAILAND
Editorial: Free speech under attack
It is hardly unprecedented, but it has been a while since a forum on democracy unleashed such a great anti-democratic blowback. (Bangkok Post)

TUNISIA
Press Release: Tunisian government finally appoints Independent Broadcasting Authority
Reporters Without Borders hails President Moncef Marzouki’s long-overdue announcement on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, of the composition of the nine-member Independent Broadcasting Authority (HAICA). Nouri Lejmi, a teacher at the Institute for Press and Information Sciences (IPSI), is to be its president. (Reporters Without Borders)

UNITED KINGDOM
Leveson: former Army officer advising the Queen on royal charter successfully sued a journalist for libel
The former Army officer advising the Queen on the royal charter on press regulation won a legal battle against an investigative journalist who raised questions about his activities in Cambodia in the Eighties. (The Telegraph)

UNITED STATES
Duluth City Council to Address Free Speech Lawsuit for Bentleyville in Special Session
The free speech lawsuit involving Duluth’s holiday light show Bentleyville is back in the spot light as City Councilors plan a special meeting to discuss the litigation. (Northlands News Center)

Anne Frank’s Diary in US schools censorship battle
Anti-censorship campaigners fight parent in Michigan over allegedly graphic passages in Diary of Young Girl (The Guardian)