02 Jul 13 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features
A Bahraini teenager has been given jail time for a tweet. Sara Yasin looks at how the country has pursued users of the popular social networking site
A seventeen-year-old student has been sentenced to one year in prison for allegedly insulting Bahrain’s king on Twitter. Ali Faisal Alshofa was first arrested in March this year. The teenager has been accused of posting the tweet in question using the @alkawarahnews account, but he has denied any ties to the account.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) has condemned the teenager’s arrest, as well as “the ongoing crackdown on online users, and use of the judicial system to limit their free speech.”
Reporters Without Borders has labelled Bahrain one of the “enemies of the Internet” for its usage of surveillance technology, and relentless pursuit of dissidents online.
Despite claiming that it upholds free speech, Bahrain has been no stranger to punishing speech online.
Here’s a handy guide to the country’s free speech violations against Twitter users:
28 Jun 13 | Campaigns, Europe and Central Asia, Turkey Statements
Index on Censorship calls on the Turkish government to end its attempts to limit free speech as seen in its pressurising of journalists, criticism of social media commentary, and excessive violence in policing of recent protests.
The free speech organisation is very concerned at reports that the Turkish government has asked Twitter to set up an office in the country, allegedly to persuade the social media platform to remove tweets the government finds to be subversive or simply too critical. If true, this would be an extraordinary move.
Index CEO Kirsty Hughes said:
“The Turkish government appears increasingly unwilling to respect the fundamental rights of the Turkish people to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The increasing political pressure from government combined with excessive violence in policing are undermining rights and threaten to seriously chill free speech through direct censorship and self-censorship. Without proper respect for free speech, there can be no effectively functioning democracy.”
Related
• Turkey losing its way on free speech
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• The EU must take action on Turkey
• “There is now a menace called Twitter”
20 Jun 13 | News and features, United Kingdom
Keir Starmer’s new guidelines aim to minimise controversial criminal cases against Twitter and Facebook users. But will they work, asks Padraig Reidy
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11 Jun 13 | Religion and Culture
Tennessee Department of Justice Attorney William Killian has recently raised eyebrows for suggesting that anti-Muslim messages online could be prosecuted under federal laws. Sara Yasin questions if his approach will help anyone
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