27 January 2013

Stories from 27 January 2013

Thai Activist Editor Gets 11-Year Jail Term for ‘Insulting’ King

  27 January 2013

Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a veteran activist and former editor of Voice of Taksin magazine (banned in 2010), received an 11 year jail sentence from a Thai court for publishing articles deemed insulting to the monarchy of Thailand. Human rights groups condemned the 'harsh' sentence which they consider as a blow to free speech in the country

Where Russia's Honest Ones Go to Die: Dolmatov's Suicide

RuNet Echo  27 January 2013

On the morning of January 17, Russian political refugee Alexander Dolmatov was found having hanged himself in a solitary cell of a Dutch deportation center. Dolmatov left Russia last summer, believing himself to be under observation by Russian security forces and in danger of arrest for participation in a May 6, 2012, Moscow rally that turned violent.

Syrian Children Pay the Steep Price of War

  27 January 2013

Syrian children are the forgotten victims for the last 22 months of conflict. An estimated 4,000 Syrian children have lost their lives while hundreds of thousands are refugees without homes. International humanitarian communities and Syrian activists have no choice but to report the bad news to the world.

Cicero Guedes, Brazilian Landless Leader is Murdered in Rio

  27 January 2013

One of the main leaders of the landless movement in Brazil was shot dead on Saturday as he was cycling home in Rio de Janeiro state. Publishing a picture he took of Cicero Guedes, Marcos Pedlowski [pt] emphasises that “the loss is not only human, but deeply political. Besides being...

Mozambique: Citizen mobilization to help flood victims

  27 January 2013

After heavy rains and flooding in southern Mozambique that has displaced tens of thousands and killed scores of people, Mozambican civil society group Makobo has started a solidarity campaign called “S.O.S. Chókwè” to collect humanitarian supplies to deliver to victims.

Meeting the Mummy at the Museum in Mumbai

  27 January 2013

Anuradha Shankar at ‘A Wandering Mind’ writes about the ongoing Egyptian Mummy exhibition in Mumbai, India. These mummies started a global tour from the British Museum to educate people across the continents about their ancient civilization.

Debate over Kazakh Script Reform

  27 January 2013

While some analysts remain skeptical about Kazakhstan's Latinization reform, bloggers offer [ru] practical proposals on how to do the reform ‘right’ and analyze [ru] the experience of other former Soviet countries that switched from Cyrillic to Latin script. Yet comments under these blogs show that the reform remains very controversial and, even...