|
 |
Stories related to freedom of expression, human
rights, and the Internet, updated seven days a week
Stories for
Editor: Alan Brown,
Digital Freedom Network
Contributing Writers: Arkady Divinsky [AD],
Patrick Leduc [PL], Ali Quinn [AQ], Richard Turner [RT], Yuni Wilcox
[YW], Stephenie Young [SY]
June 25-July 1 | June
18-24 | June 11-17 | June
4-10 | May 28-June 3 | May
21-27 | May 14-20 | May
7-13 | April 30-May 6 | April
23-29 | April 16-22 | April
9-15 | April 2-8 | March
26-April 1 | March 19-25 | March
12-18 | March 5-11 | February
27-March 4 | February 20-26 | February
13-19 | February 7-12 | January
31-February 6 | January 24-30 |
January 17-23
Sunday, July 9, 2000
South African officials harass two journalists
(Nelspruit, South Africa, July 9) Two reporters for African
Eye News (AENS), Chuene Hamese and Sylvester Lukhele, were harassed
by government officials while on duty to cover a government staff
protest in the South African city of Nelspruit, on July 5. Hamese
and Lukhele were assigned to report on a local labor dispute. When
the reporters began interviewing some of the 200 assembled workers,
guards escorted both reporters to a staff meeting hall in the building.
Five officials of the finance department of South Africa's Mpumalanga
province physically overpowered Hamese and wrestled his camera,
notebook, camera bag, and various documents from him. Lukhele managed
to force his way out of the office and immediately returned to the
newsroom to report the incident, which was witnessed by many of
the 200 protesters. (Freedom of Expression Institute) [YW]
[Story index]
Indonesian government asked to recruit more
women for high posts
(Jakarta, Indonesia, July 9) The Jakarta Post reported
that a request by Indonesia's minister for the empowerment of women,
Khofifah Indar Parawansa, that Indonesian government ministries
recruit more women for high positions has not met with much success.
Khofifah said that when ministries send their people to be educated
for higher positions, they are inclined to send men. She had sent
letters to ministries to include at least 30 percent women among
their employees sent for further education. (Jakarta Post) [YW]
[Story index]
Pakistani activists arrested before anti-government
march
(Lahore, Pakistan, July 9) The head of Pakistan's army, who
seized control in a bloodless coup last October, banned all public
protests in the country. On orders by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, police
on July 7 arrested supporters of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif,
apparently to prevent his wife from leading an anti-government march
this weekend. Kuloom Sharif, the ex-prime minister's wife, has begun
a national campaign to protest her husband's imprisonment. Last
October, Nawaz Sharif attempted to prevent Gen. Musharraf's plane
from landing, which led to the coup. Sharif was later convicted
of terrorism and hijacking. (Associated Press) [YW]
[Story index]
Sierra Leone rebel leader "must face justice"
(Accra, Ghana, July 7) Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh
should face trial for war crimes, United Nations Secretary General
Kofi Annan said. Believing that nothing should stand in the way
of a full trial, Annan said Sankoh's trial could go ahead despite
an amnesty granted in the peace accord signed last year. (Reuters)
[YW]
[Story index]
Saturday, July 8, 2000
OAS will not observe Haiti's elections
(Haiti, July 8) The Organization of American States (OAS) decided
not to monitor Haiti's second round of elections due to take place
on July 9. According to the OAS Electoral Observation Mission, the
final results for the earlier senate elections were incorrect and
conducted unfairly. The mission claimed that the method used to
calculate voting percentages had violated both the constitution
of Haiti and its electoral law. Haitian electoral authorities continued
to affirm the results despite complaints from the OAS and from internal
political parties and civil society representatives. (Organization
of American States)
[Story index]
Côte d'Ivoire's military ruler threatens
press
(Côte d'Ivoire, July 8) Following a failed coup in Côte
d'Ivoire, the country's military ruler, General Robert Guei, warned
journalists to be "careful" of writing with political "bias" or
"distortion of facts." General Guei said that the authorities had
collected evidence that journalists had been paid by political opponents
to write negative reports of the military regime. At a press conference
he warned that "media outlets which publish such unethical reports
will be suspended." (Committee to Protect Journalists)
[Story index]
Imprisoned journalist receives Internet award
(London, England, July 8) Jailed Serbian journalist Miroslav
Filipovic, imprisoned on espionage charges as a result of investigative
reporting into Yugoslav atrocities in the breakaway province of
Kosovo, was awarded the Internet Journalist of the Year award at
the Netmedia Online Journalism Awards. Accepting the award on his
behalf, one of Filipovic's children, Sasha, said, "This award means
a lot to our family...it proves that what our father was doing was
journalism and that there is real journalism in Serbia." Milverton
Wallace, director of Netmedia, said "His case proves that, through
the Internet, there are no borders anymore and the truth will not
be caged." (Oneworld.net)
[Story index]
Clinton postpones federal execution
(Washington [DC], United States of America, July 8) U.S. President
Bill Clinton postponed the federal execution of convicted Mexican
drug-trafficker Juan Raul Garza in order to review Justice Department
guidelines on clemency. The execution is the first to be scheduled
at the federal level (rather that state level) in 40 years. Garza
is among 21 prisoners on the U.S. federal death row, which includes
Timothy McVeigh, the man convicted of killing 168 people in the
1995 bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City. (BBC)
[Story index]
Thursday, July 6, 2000
German slavery compensation passes amid corporate
resistance
(Berlin, Germany, July 6) Payments to those turned into labor
slaves for the Nazi war effort were approved by the German legislature.
Otto Lambsdorff, representing the government, said German industry
had a "collective responsibility" for the slavery, yet the fund
remains US$1 billion dollars short because of corporate resistance
to the measure. A separate resolution also apologized to the victims
for "taking away their rights, maltreatment and exploitation." Victims
have one year to apply for the US$7,000 share allotted to individuals.
German compensation for these victims took 55 years. (BBC)
[Story index]
Kyrghyzstan narrows TV station's range
(Bishkek, Kyrghyzstan, July 6) Kyrghyz Republic's State Commission
on Radio Frequencies issued a decree that obliged the private Uzbek
OshTV station to switch from the VHF band to the less-accessible
UHF band. This not only burdens viewers, who will need special receivers
to see the station, but also cuts the station's audience. Prior
attempts to marginalize the station came in 1997, when the National
Agency for Communications revoked licenses of all private TV stations
pending re-registration, and in 1998, when the same agency lost
its attempt to revoke OshTV's license. (Osh Media Resource Center)
[AD]
[Story index]
Yugoslavian parliament backs 2nd term for
Milosevic
(Belgrade, Yugoslavia, July 6) Yugoslav president and wanted
war criminal Slobodan Milosevic has convinced parliament to enact
constitutional changes permitting him to hold a second term in office.
The parliament, which elects the president, had been confined to
not repeating a president's term. The two houses approved the measure
by the necessary two-thirds majority. Milosevic's current term ends
in July 2001. (BBC/Reuters)
[Story index]
Italian journalists beaten in Netherlands
(Rotterdam, Netherlands, July 6) Seven journalists from RAI
public television in Italy were detained after they refused police
requests not to film handicapped fans entering a soccer stadium.
The police and members of the stadium staff then hit the seven with
truncheons and detained them for several hours before releasing
them. (Reporters without Borders, International Freedom of Expression
Exchange)
[Story index]
Pinochet appeal pushed back
(Santiago, Chile, July 6) At the request of his lawyers, former
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's attempt to appeal a decision
taking away his immunity from prosecution for atrocities against
the people of Chile will now begin on Wednesday, July 12. The Chilean
Supreme Court will decide whether to overturn the 13-9 decision
of the appeals court which revoked Pinochet's immunity. (New York
Times)
[More
about Pinochet]
[Story index]
Wednesday, July 5, 2000
Khmer Rouge trial possible
(Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 5) United Nations Undersecretary
General for Legal Affairs Hans Corell said that the U.N. is getting
closer to bringing to trial the former leaders of the bloody Khmer
Rouge regime, which — led by Pol Pot — ruled Cambodia
between 1975-79 and that was responsible for the death of as many
as two million people. Negotiations between the UN and the Cambodian
government were stalled for many months because Cambodia feared
that it might lose its sovereignty over the trial if too many foreign
prosecutors became involved. They are now moving closer to a deal.
(BBC) [SY]
[Story index]
More bodies found in Guatemala
(Guatemala City, Guatemala, July 5) Twelve more bodies from
Guatemala's 36-year civil war, which ended four years ago, were
unearthed in the western highlands of Guatemala, bringing the number
for the year up to 65. This is the seventh excavation this year
of clandestine grave sites in the state of Quiche. It consisted
of the bodies of peasant Indian adults ranging in age from 20 to
55 who had been shot dead, presumably by state troops, between 1980
and 1984. The Forensic Anthropological Foundation of Guatemala,
which lead the excavation, had eyewitness accounts which told them
where to dig. Guatemala's civil war, in which 200,000 mostly indigenous
peasants are said to have died, lasted from 1960 to 1996. (Associated
Press) [SY]
[Story index]
Kuwait women denied vote
(Kuwait City, Kuwait, July 5) Four cases that could have given
women in Kuwait the right to vote and to run for office were dismissed
on a technicality by the Kuwait High Court. Women's rights activists
in Kuwait assert that this decision goes against the country's 1962
constitution, which gives "equal rights to both sexes" under Kuwaiti
law. In a country where women can work and drive and in which the
rector of the state university is a woman, they are still barred
from politics. In line with many Kuwaiti men, Ahmad Baqer, an Islamist
member of parliament, was quoted by the BBC as saying that politics
is for men and that women should remain responsible for the family.
(BBC) [SY]
[Story index]
Released U.S. documents reveal little on
executions in Chile
(Washington [DC], United States of America, July 5) As newly
released government documents related to the deaths of Americans
in Chile during the regime of dictator Augusto Pinochet are analyzed,
the families of Charles Horman, Frank Teruggi, and Boris Weisfeiler
expressed frustration at how so little is revealed about the these
men's deaths. Peter Kornbluh, director of the U.S.'s Chile Declassification
Project, said "perhaps more significant than what has been released
today is what continues to be withheld." New for the Horman case
was the revelation, 27 years after his execution, that the government
knew that Pedro Espinoza, who is currently serving time for the
Orlando Letelier assassination, gave the execution order. Nothing
that could show the U.S. intelligence agency CIA had knowledge or
involvement of the execution was released. Also revealed was the
fact that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had been watching
Teruggi two years before his assassination in Chile due to his involvement
in a conference with former Peace Corps workers who were sympathetic
to Cuba. (Washington Post)
[More about Horman]
[Story index]
Five more documentary makers detained in
Egypt
(Cairo, Egypt, July 5) Five colleagues of Cairo university
professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim were detained on charges of making
an European Union funded documentary about elections that dirtied
the image of Egypt. They are being held in Cairo's Liman Tora prison
along with Dr. Ibrahim, a human rights activist, sociology professor
at the American University in Cairo, and director of Ibn Khaldun
Center for Development Studies. He was arrested on July 1 for "collaborating
with foreign parties." (Associated Press, Amnesty International)
[SY]
[Story index]
Charges of torture dropped against Chadian
leader
(Dakar, Senegal, July 5) Charges of torture and crimes against
humanity were dropped against former president of Chad Hissene Habre
when a Senegalese court decided that it was out of its jurisdiction
to prosecute him. In a landmark case against an African leader,
seven human rights organizations had lodged complaints against him,
claiming that he was responsible for the torture and execution of
thousands of his people during his rule of Chad from 1982 to 1990.
The former leader who has been called the "African Pinochet" because
his crimes parallel those of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet,
was overthrown by a coup 10 years ago and has lived in exile in
Senegal since. (Panafrican News Agency, BBC) [SY]
[Story index]
France begins investigation into US electronic
spying
(Paris, France, July 5) The French investigation into the American
global surveillance system known as Echelon began. The inquiry is
meant to determine if the vast electronic surveillance system is
"harmful to the vital interests of [France]". There are accusations
throughout Europe that the US used information from the Echelon
system to undermine businesses competing with US companies. (Reuters)
[Story index]
Azerbaijan pardons 87 political prisoners
(Azerbaijan, July 5) Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev signed
an order granting clemency to 87 political prisoners, 45 of which
were once employees of the secret police. The move seems motivated
by Azerbaijan's interest in joining the Council of Europe, which
has criticized the taking of political prisoners. (Transitions Online)
[More about Azerbaijan
and the Council of Europe]
[Story
index]
Romania amendment would decriminalize non-public
homosexuality
(Romania, July 5) Over the objections of the Romanian Orthodox
Church, Romania's legislature passed an amendment to drop prosecutions
on homosexual acts committed privately. The amendment still requires
ratification of the upper house and still calls homosexuality "unnatural."
(Transitions Online)
[Story index]
Russian student expelled for not cooperating
with state police
(St. Petersburg, Russia, July 5) According to the Russian paper
Segodnya, student Dmitrii Barkovskii was dismissed from Baltic
State Technical University for "refusing to work with organs of
the Federal Security Service (FSB)." Rector Yurii Savelev expelled
Bakorvskii after he announced he had been approached by the FSB
about providing information about the political party Yabloko, whose
campaign he had participated in. The school's official reason was
"poor progress" in school. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
[Story index]
Burma schools reopen after 3-1/2 year closing
(Rangoon, Burma, July 5) When students at college and universities
in Burma, now known as Myanmar, began protesting the military regime
and police brutality in 1996, they were closed down. They remained
that way until today. The Myanmar government permitted them to be
reopened. Burma has been without higher education for three-and-a-half
years. (BurmaNet, Bangkok Post)
[Story index]
Tuesday, July 4, 2000
Gambian editors persecuted over nationality
(Banjul, Gambia, July 4) The families of journalists Baba Galleh
Jallow and Alagi Yorro Jallow are being interrogated heavily as
to whether the two are Gambians. The Jallows are independent editors
and have come under fire from the government as of late. Authorities
in this west African nation have the legal authority to deprive
anyone of their citizenship provided a sufficient case is represented.
It is not known why the Jallows are being targeted. (Panafrican
News Agency) [AQ]
[Story index]
Military loyalists control Cote d'Ivoire's
media
(Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, July 4) After gunshots were heard,
soldiers reported to be loyal to Cote d'Ivoire's military regime
were in control of the state radio and television stations. The
soliders took control of other strategic areas without gunfire while
the media stations continued their normal programming. The upcoming
elections are riddled with scandal, mostly focusing on registration
irregularities. (Panafrican News Agency) [AQ]
[Story index]
Monday, July 3, 2000
Americans barred access to Egyptian activist
(Cairo, Egypt, July 3) A group of American diplomats was refused
access to a pro-democracy activist arrested in Egypt on Friday.
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who holds both American and Egyptian nationalities,
is charged with accepting European Union donations in order to make
a film harming Egypt's image. Authorities declared that embassy
envoys would see Ibrahim once they had finished questioning him.
Ibrahim, a sociology professor at Cairo's American University campus,
is a prominent democracy activist in Egypt. According to Ibrahim's
lawyer, Hafez Abu Sa'ada, the arrest could be part of an attempt
to avoid the establishment of an independent committee monitoring
this year's upcoming parliamentary elections. (BBC) [PL]
[Story index]
Iranian officials reject foreign interference
in trial verdict
(Shiraz, Iran, July 3) The verdict in the high-profile espionage
trial of 13 Iranian Jews in Shiraz, Iran, attracted substantial
criticism from Israel, the United States, and the European Union.
On Saturday, ten of the 13 Iranian Jews were sentenced to between
four and 13 years in prison despite the fact that no evidence of
spying for Israel was produced in court during the trial. Iranian
officials reacted to foreign criticism by saying the trial was a
matter of national sovereignty and advised critics to stop interfering
with Iran's internal issues. The closed-door policy adopted during
the trial helped arouse suspicions of irregularities regarding the
process. The guilty verdicts have fueled fears of persecution amid
Iran's large Jewish community. (Iranmania, BBC) [PL]
[Story index]
Sri Lankan papers reappear after lift on
censorship
(Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 3) In wake of the Sri Lankan Supreme
Court decision to end government censorship of newspapers on Friday,
Sunday newspapers came out with strong criticism of President Chandrika
Kumaratunga. The English language paper Sunday Leader and
its Sinhala counterpart, the Irida Peramuna, presented articles
that had been taken out of previous editions by government officials
under the headline: "what the censor didn't want you to know. The
two papers were published without being censored for the first time
in three months. Back in May, the government had introduced measures
to survey the content of reports about the conflict opposing the
government to Tamil Tigers in the north of the country. The Sunday
Leader editorial estimated that the Sri Lankan people ought
to be relieved that justice prevailed in the case. (Associated Press)
[PL]
[Story index]
Hackers endangered safety of astronauts
(London, England, July 3) The British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) reported that a computer hacker apparently disrupted a 1997
mission by the U.S. space agency NASA in which American astronauts
attached a shuttle to the Russian space station Mir. According to
the report, the hacker would have interfered with a computer system
that surveys the astronauts' lifesigns. Official believe that the
system was flooded with data that stalled communications between
the space shuttle and NASA headquarters. NASA estimates that as
many as 500,000 cyber-attacks were directed at their system this
past year. (BBC) [PL]
[Story index]
Sunday, July 2, 2000
Muslim guerrilla kidnaps journalist in Philippines
(Jolo, Philippines, July 2) A German journalist who had arranged
with Muslim separatist guerrillas to meet with some of the 20 hostages
already being detained on the island of Jolo in the Philippines
was himself abducted at gunpoint by four Muslim rebels. Andreas
Lorenz, a journalist for the German magazine Der Spiegel,
had gone to Jolo to report on the condition of the 20 hostages captured
from a Malaysian tourist resort in April. Following the April abductions,
the rebels had also temporarily detained reporters, including Lorenz,
that ventured in the jungle to interview the tourists being held.
At the time, Lorenz and the other journalists had been released
after they paid a US$25,000 ransom. (BBC) [PL]
[Story index]
Egyptian democracy campaigner arrested
(Cairo, Egypt, July 2) Prominent pro-democracy campaigner Saad
Eddin Ibrahim was arrested by Egyptian authorities. State security
prosecutors ordered him held for 15 days under Egypt's state of
emergency laws. Ibrahim is a professor of sociology who also heads
a research center which promotes civil and minority rights. He was
making a documentary to encourage participation in Egypt's upcoming
elections, which he had been planning to monitor to ensure they
were clean. He was charged with taking European Union funds to make
a film that damages the reputation of the Egyptian government both
at home and abroad. (BBC) [YW]
[Story index]
June 25-July 1 | June
18-24 | June 11-17 | June
4-10 | May 28-June 3 | May
21-27 | May 14-20 | May
7-13 | April 30-May 6 | April
23-29 | April 16-22 | April
9-15 | April 2-8 | March
26-April 1 | March 19-25 | March
12-18 | March 5-11 | February
27-March 4 | February 20-26 | February
13-19 | February 7-12 | January
31-February 6 | January 24-30 |
January 17-23
|
