Stories about Freedom of Speech from November, 2005
Don’t Bomb Us – A blog by Al Jazeera Staffers
I've just got a tip from a staff member at Al Jazeera that they have just started a blog. Don’t Bomb Us – A blog by Al Jazeera Staffers is the name of this blog. Al Jazeera staff member told me that this blog is to give voice to a...
United Arab Emirates: Flickr blocked, again!
Apparently, some bloggers from UAE are reporting that the dominant telecommunication company has blocked Flickr, again!
Cambodia: Euthanasia Websites, Water Festival, and More
Euthanasia Websites An American citizen who owned websites advocating ‘euthanasia tourism’ in Kampot, a French-era beach town, has been sued by Kampot Province's governor for false information and defamation. “You are going to die anyway, so why not in Cambodia?” said one of the sites, which also offered a rationale...
WSIS: Circumventing censorship and staying safe
Here is a picture from the workshop on secure communications and anonymous blogging conducted by my colleague Ethan Zuckerman, Dmitri Vitaliev of Frontline Defenders, Wojtek Bogusz of the Tactical Technology Collaborative, and Nart Villeneuve of the Open Net Initiative. These guys are basically the dream geek team for free speech...
WSIS: Defending Freedom of Speech in Tunisia
Despite the odds, we managed to pull off our “Expression Under Repression” seminar here at the World Summit For Internet and Society. This was largely thanks to the strong spine of our sponsors, the Dutch NGO Hivos, who fended off a phalanx of plainclothes police who tried to shut us...
WSIS in Tunisia: governance issue settled, free speech issue boils
Here at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, a compromise has been reached on internet governance. Now the spotlight turns to free speech issues and the Tunisian government's heavy-handedness against dissidents and journalists. In addition to the copious news reporting, bloggers are hard at work. Be sure...
Abdolkarim released
The Egyptian blogger who was detained by secutiry forces on the 26th of October has been released. Previously covered on GVO here, here and here. Karim wrote about his own release. (Arabic) Sandmonkey wrote: In it he announced that he was released yesterday by the Police after spending 18 days...
More information on Abdolkarim Suleiman's detention
Our friend Elijah Zarwan writes from Cairo, where he's involved with a number of human rights efforts. He recently travelled to Alexandria to meet with Mohammed Morsi and Malek Moustafa, Egyptian bloggers who've been working hard to document the arrest and detention of Abdolkarim Suleiman. Elijah, Mohammed, Malek and an...
Court Orders Philippine Blog to Remove Post
The blog of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, or PCIJ, has made history — of sorts. Last week, the PCIJ was served with a court order to remove this Aug. 12, 2005 post related to an ongoing political scandal. The scandal revolves around taped wiretaps allegedly of Philippine Pres....
From the Jordanian Blogosphere
Jordanian Bedouin posing in one of Jordan's vast deserts by Laith Majali With the occasion of Eid, a holiday celebrated bi-annually by over a billion Muslims, the Jordanian Blogosphere wishes everyone a happy and blessed Eid. Don't miss out pictures of Ma'mool, the holiday dessert, and a special Eid podcast by...
Libya: Libyan Internet Journalist Sentenced to Prison
A Libyan court has sentenced, Abd al-Raziq al-Mansuri, an Internet journalist to one-and-a-half years in prison after he published articles critical of the government, Sabbah writes. The sentence is an apparent attempt by the government to silence free speech and dissenting views.
Justice for Abdolkarim
The events of the 21st of October did not end in complete peace. A new alarming, yet not directly related, development took place. This time shaking the Egyptian bloggosphere more strongly than ever, as it affected one of its own. For the first time an Egyptian blogger has been detained...
Egyptian Blogger taken in Detention
Manal and Alaa's blog writes: Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman is a 21 year-old Egyptian student of law at the Azhar University, Damanhour Campus, a women's-rights activist and a correspondent for Copts United. In addition to writing at Civic Dialogue, he also publishes at a blog he maintains. On Wednesday 26 October...
Grand Ayatollah Reads Blogs
Last week something extraordinary happened in the Persian blogging community. Mohammad Abtahi, a former vice-president of Iran and an enthusiastic blogger was visiting the eighty-something dissident Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in Qom, a religious city south of Tehran. “How is Mr Abtahi's blog doing,” the Grand Ayatollah jokingly asks during a...
