20 Feb 12 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost
The trial of the web master of a Thai news website resumed last week after a long interruption.Chiranuch Premchaiporn, web master of Prachatai news website, faces a possible 20 year prison sentence for not removing certain user comments from her website quickly enough. The resumed case, which was delayed from October 2011 due to the severe flooding in Bangkok, heard five defence witnesses give evidence to the court on 14, 15 and 16 February. Chiranuch has said she was pleased that the defence witnesses were finally able to give their evidence.
20 Feb 12 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost
Singapore’s prime minister has demanded an apology from a political website, following allegedly defamatory posts. In a letter to the editors of website TR Emeritus, the lawyer of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong requested the apology, after posts on the website alleged nepotism in the appointment of the prime minsters wife as head of a state-linked firm. The lawyer, Davinder Singh, said the article was “published maliciously and recklessly” and constituted “a very grave libel” against the prime minister. He demanded that the editors take down the original article and subsequent comments and post an apology by 24 February.
20 Feb 12 | Middle East and North Africa
Nasreddine Ben Saida, the general director of the Arabic-language daily newspaper Attounissia, has become the first media executive to be jailed in post Ben Ali era. Ben Saida, was not jailed for criticising the President, nor the government. He was jailed because his newspaper published a front page photo of Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira covering the breasts of his naked girlfriend, the German model, Lena Gercke.
Nasreddine Ben Saida was arrested on 15 February 15 along with the newspaper’s editor, Habib Guizani, and journalist Mohammed Hedi Hidri. On 18 February the general prosecutor decided to free Guizani and Hidri, but Ben Saida remains in prison. The publisher has reportedly started a hunger strike.
The arrests were not made under the country’s recently ratified press law, instead the prosecutor employed article 121 of the criminal code (ratified in May, 2001). It prohibits the publishing and distribution of content that is “likely to disturb public order and decency”. If found guilty Ben Saida faces up to five years in prison.
The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists condemned the prosecutor’s actions as “legal abuse” because article 13 of the new press legislation states that journalists “cannot be prosecuted in connection with their work unless a violation of the provisions of this decree-law is proved.”
The arrest is surprising because “indecent” photos are not strange to Tunisia society, both foreign and Tunisian magazines publish such photos. For instance, the monthly French speaking magazine Tunivisions published a front page photo of a semi-naked Tunisian model, on its August 2011 issue. No legal action was taken against the magazine.
Khedira spoke out in support of the journalists, telling German newspaper De Welt:
I think it is very, very sad and a great shame that something like this could happen. I respect the different religions that there are, and the faiths people have. But I can’t understand why people aren’t allowed to express themselves freely.
17 Feb 12 | Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
Russia’s head of Federal Migration has said that the decision to expel prominent French journalist and author Anne Nivat earlier this week was “groundlessly harsh”, and that she will be allowed to return. Nivat was expelled from the country on 13 February for alleged violation of her visa status. The journalist believed the move to be politically motivated, with authorities expressing their disliking that she had met with opposition politicians as part of her research for a book on Russia’s current political climate.
