16 Jan 2013 | Uncategorized
A Bangladeshi blogger is in critical condition after being stabbed by three unknown attackers on 14 January in Dhaka, the country’s capital. Asif Mohiuddin, 29, is the author of a blog about atheism widely read in Bangladesh. His posts often satirise religion, with one post referring to god as “almighty only in name but impotent in reality.” Press reports have referred to Mohiuddin as a “militant blogger”, although there is no suggestion that his work incited violence. Shortly after the attack, the South Asian Meeting on Internet and Freedom of Expression was held in Dhaka, and participants called on the government to protect journalist’s human rights under the constitution of Bangladesh, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
– Blogger Asif Mohiuddin was stabbed on 14 January
A Nigerian newspaper editor was shot dead on 12 January. Ikechukwu Udendu was killed in the southeastern city of Onithsa by an unknown assailant, who then phoned the victim’s brother to instruct him to collect the dead body. The editor was on his way to supervise the printing of the mothly newspaper Anambra News when he was attacked. Arrests and attacks on the Nigerian media are frequent but rarely resolved. On 26 April 2012, the offices of daily newspapers in the cities of Abuja and Kaduna were bombed.
Last week saw widespread attacks on the media in Greece, after bombs were placed outside of the homes of five journalists on 11 January. Homemade devices were used to carry out arson attacks on Chris Konstas, Antonis Liaros, George Oikonomeas, Petros Karsiotis and Antonis Skyllakos, members of the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers. Anarchist group Lovers of Lawlessness said they committed the attacks in protest against the journalists for allegedly covering the government favourably since the financial crisis began in 2009.
An editor of investigative weekly Alaan Magazine has been charged with defamation in Morocco, after alleging that a government official had ordered champagne to his hotel room during a business trip. Youssef Jajili printed a hotel receipt under Minister of Manufacture and Trade Abdelkader Amara’s name, which charged him for the alcohol while he was away at the expense of taxpayers. Amara denied the claim, saying that someone had ordered the champagne while he was out of the room. Jajili will appear in court on 28 January, and faces one year imprisonment and if found guilty under section 52 of Morocco’s defamation laws. Even though alcohol is widely available in Morocco, it is forbidden to followers of Islam, who make up the majority of the country.
On 15 January, Facebook announced a new format to its search facilities: “graph search”. The new tool will allow users to search for specific content, people, or images on the site. Critics suggest that the move could undermine Facebook’s privacy policy and allow users less control over their personal information, but Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the graph search is “privacy aware,” since the new tool will only search content already shared with the user.
31 Oct 2012 | Russia
Mikhail Afanasyev is a veteran of the libel courts. As one of the few independent journalists in Russia’s Urals he has faced 13 defamation suits in 15 years, and won every one.
Afanasyev edits an online newspaper, New Focus, and reports to Glasnost Defense Foundation — a Russian-based NGO which monitors free expression violations. In 2004 Afanasyev was awarded the Andrei Sakharov award for “Journalism as an Act of Conscience,” in recognition of his reports on poaching and illegal hunting — a favourite hobby for Russian officials, according to Afanasyev.Having faced down numerous attempt by the local authorities to silence his reporting through defamation lawsuits, Afanasyev now faces 15 days in prison another charge, neglecting police orders.
Afanasyev wrote a story for New Focus about a man who went missing in September. The man has never been found but the police arrested two of his friends and allegedly tortured them in an attempt to get them to confess to killing him. They were later exonerated of charges on murder.
Covering the case, Anfasayev was confronted by a policeman as he shot a video report outside a pre-trial detention centre where one of the men was due to be transported. The policeman was ordered to seize Afanasyev and his brother, who now also faces charges of neglecting police orders.
In a hearing on 24 October, Department of Internal Affairs representatives testified that Afanasyev tried to initiate a fight with the policemen, in spite of evidence to the contrary from the police’s own video recording. The case resumes today (31 October).
In a telephone interview from Abakan, Afanasyev told INDEX about the difficulties of fighting for free expression in provincial Russia.
INDEX: Thirteen defamation lawsuits, and now a charge of ignoring a policemen’s order — what other ordeals have you faced?
Mikhail Afanasyev: I was badly beaten twice in revenge for my articles. And each time I faced defamation lawsuits I managed to win them, but I couldn’t bring the people who sued me to justice: corrupt law enforcement authorities stand together. But life has punished them instead. For example, one of the investigators who conducted the investigation on the defamation case was sentenced to 14 years for a murder.
INDEX: What does freedom of expression mean to you? Why are you still a journalist after all you’ve been through?
Mikhail Afanasyev: No matter how pathetic it sounds, I love my people. Most of them do not know that they can be tortured in police departments or face trumped-up charges until it happens to them personally. I am trying to warn them and prevent these violations of human rights. A journalist should be like a guard dog that protects its people from the authoritarian state. It’s hard. Local advertisers depend on local authorities. Fortunately, my online paper attracted advertisers from Ukraine. That’s how I make my living. I have three small children and I don’t want them to live in such widespread lawlessness.
INDEX: Russian journalists, especially outside Moscow, face intimidation and physical violence. Bringing corrupt officials to justice won’t change the system. What can?
Mikhail Afanasyev: A change of power in Russia. That is why we need free elections. This country lives by the rules of the underworld: that’s my colleagues and I face controversial charges.
31 Oct 2012 | Europe and Central Asia, News and features
The arrest of editor Kostas Vaxevanis for exposing alleged tax cheats is just the latest attack on free speech in Greece. Democracy itself is now in danger, say Asteris Masouras and Veroniki Krikoni (more…)
17 Oct 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
The Bahrain Interior Ministry announced the arrest of four people for defaming public figures on social media today (17 October), with authorities still searching for a fifth.
The Acting General Director of Anti-Corruption, Electronic and Economic Security said that the suspects confessed to their crime, which could result in a jail sentence of up to five years. Bahrain’s cyber defamation laws — which include the publication of “fake news” — were revised in September, resulting in heavier monitoring of social media networks to tackle the “misuse” of such platforms.
Index award winner Nabeel Rajab of the Bahrain Human Rights Center is currently appealing a three year sentence for organising pro-democracy rallies via social networks.
