Reporters Without Borders, an international organization advocating press freedom, defending journalists imprisoned or persecuted for doing their job and exposing the mistreatment and torture of them in many countries, is launching a national campaign, entitled: “Press Freedom is the Price for Democracy.”

According to the organization, it is meant to inform the American public about the injustices committed against the press. The goal is to show every time a member of the press is killed or censored, citizens are deprived of important information. At least, in the last fifteen years, getting the news has cost the lives of 850 reporters.

As part of the campaign, Reporters Without Borders posted a YouTube video, “Shot for News?!” featuring a young woman in the streets of New York, seconds later a man standing by a newspaper stand is shot multiple times. The message goes like this: Unlike many other countries, getting the news here will never cost a life. RWB recently released its annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index, which measures the degree of freedom journalists have in 175 countries. Currently, more than 200 reporters and media assistants are jailed worldwide. 91 cyberdissidents are behind bars because of their online work. To see how your country ranks on press freedom:
http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html

Newspapers across the country have also been asked to donate free space for print or online advertisements to publicize the message to the greater public.

update 2: November 7th, 2009 - Lawyer Ben Debba said that fatma has been released.

On Monday, November 2nd, 2009, Tunisian blogger and college Theatre professor, Fatma Riahi (34), known online as Arabicca, was summoned to appear before the Criminal Brigade of Gorjani (Tunis), where she was questioned about her online activities.

Fatma was released the same day around 10 pm then summoned again the next day, on Tuesday November 3rd when three Security officers escorted her to her house in Monastir, located at 160 km from the capital (Tunis), to conduct a search for evidence that she may be hiding behind the pen-name of the famous Tunisian cartoonist blogger Blog de Z. They also confiscated her PC. On Wednesday, they escorted her again to her home in search for her passwords and managed to access her facebook account.

Since then, Arabicca has not been released and has been denied to meet her lawyer, Miss Laila Ben Debba, who spoke to her only for few minutes. Arabicca is being detained in Gorjani Police Station and could face criminal libel charge that potentially carries a prison term to up to three years in prison.

Fatma was blogging at Fatma Arabicca. A blog that she deleted three days before the arrest.

A Free Arabicca campaign blog has been launched by fellow Tunisian bloggers in support for Fatma, as well as a facebook page.

Never before have so many people been threatened or imprisoned for what the words they write on the internet.

As activists and ordinary citizens have increasingly made use of the internet to express their opinions and connect with others, many governments have also increased surveillance, filtering, legal actions and harassment. The harshest consequence for many has been the politically motivated arrest of bloggers and online writers for their online and/or offline activities, in some tragic cases even leading to death. Online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide.

Today, Global Voices Advocacy is launching a new website called Threatened Voices to help track suppression of free speech online. It features a world map and an interactive timeline that help visualize the story of threats and arrests against bloggers worldwide, and it is a central platform to gather information from the most dedicated organisations and activists, including Committee to Protect Bloggers, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Reporters without Borders, Human Rights Watch, CyberLaw Blog, Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists, Global Voices Advocacy.

What blogger, where?

Finding accurate information about arrested and threatened bloggers and online writers is difficult for several reasons.

First, the secrecy surrounding online censorship and repression makes it extra difficult to be accurate. Not a single week passes without stories of arrests of yet another online journalist or activist in countries like Egypt or Iran, but the details and reasons are often shrouded in mystery.

Second, there is still some confusion about the definition of a “blogger”. Professional journalists are increasingly migrating to online media and blogs in pursuit of more freedom, blurring the old lines of definition. And many so-called cyber-dissidents in China, Tunisia, Vietnam, or Iran, do not have personal blogs. Other times, bloggers are arrested for their offline activity, rather than for what they have published online.

This confusion has sometimes made it hard for online free speech advocates to come up with a good strategies and partnerships to defend bloggers and online activists, but it has never been more important to try.

Let's work together

At Global Voices we engage a community of authors, editors, and translators, who help keep us all informed of free speech and human rights abuses. With Threatened Voices we aim to open the process of reporting up even further to any person who has information.

We're calling on those whose friends, relatives, colleagues, or compatriots, have been threatened to help create and update the profiles of those missing or under arrest, so we can seek additional sources, verify, and link to online campaigns dedicated to freeing them.

In the process, we are hoping to learn more about when, where, and to what extent bloggers are being subjected to abuse in different countries, so we can share that information widely with journalists, researchers, and activists, and work towards creating an internet where everyone can exercise their right to speak freely, and where bloggers in prison are not forgotten.

Help spread the word. Tweet, blog and update your facebook status about Threatened Voices!

On October 20th, 2009, Zouhaïer Makhlouf, a Tunisia Human rights activist and correspondent of Assabil Online website has been arrested for publishing a video report online about the environmental pollution in Nabeul (Dar Chaabane El Fehri), a coastal town in northeastern Tunisia.

According to reports released by several local human rights organizations, it seems that someone called Mourad Ladhib had brought a case against Mr Makhlouf accusing him of filming without permission.

Mr Makhlouf in turn, has denied the charges against him and refused to sign the police report arguing hat the subject of his online video report was part of the activities of the Democratic Progressive Party - a legal party of which he is an active member- to ivestigate social, economic and environmental issues in the area of Nabeul, adding that he didn't film any sensitive areas prohibited by the law and accusing the investigator of politicizing the case.

Mr Makhlouf has since been transferred to Mornaguia Prison in the suburbs of Tunis where he began a hunger strike on October 21st to protest against his illegal detention. Mr Makhlouf will be tried on November 3rd, 2009, on defamation charges and could be sentenced to up to one year in prison, under the Tunisian Telecommunications Code.

On October 26th, Tunisian Security services and plainclothes police surrounded the office of the Democratic Progressive Party in a bid to block a rally in support of the detained activist. Furthermore, and on the same day, State Security also surrounded the house of Mr Makhlouf preventing his friends from contacting Mr Makhlouf's wife to persuade her to stop a hunger strike that she began on October 22nd in support for her husband.

Despite the continuous threats and harassments that he is subjected to, Zouhaïer Makhlouf is one of the most active human rights activist both online and offline. He has published several human rights testimonies (video, audio and textual) which broke the silence on many sensitive issues and human rights abuses faced by tunisian activists and former political prisoners.

October 23, 2009 - Vietnamese authorities have arrested another blogger after sending nine internet activists to prison on two to six years terms for expressing their views on the internet.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was arrested on the evening of October 8, 2009 after the police sent plain-clothes officers to her house to harass her, her husband, and their 13-year-old daughter. The officers hit Thuy with bricks, causing her a head injury. Thuy and her husband were then taken away by the police, leaving their daughter at home alone.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy suffered an injury to her head and her mother (right). [Source: Free Tran Khai Thanh Thuy Blog]

Thuy traveled to Hai Phong earlier that day to support six fellow activists who were held on trial. She was stopped by the police and taken away without cause. After several hours of being held incommunicado, she was released, then arrested again the same evening.

This is not the first time Tran Khai Thanh Thuy has been arrested for her blogging and activism. She was jailed for nine months in 2007 for speaking up and helping aggrieved farmers seek justice for expropriated farm lands. During her imprisonment, she suffered from diabetes and severe tuberculosis but was denied medical care.

Since her release in February 2008, she and her family have been under constant police surveillance and harassment. Her home has been vandalized with human feces.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was charged with assault. Vietnamese state-controlled media reported that she and her husband beat and injured another man, hence her assault charge.
A picture of a man bleeding was posted on the state media's website, Dan Tri.

The doctored photograph of Nguyen Manh Diep’s injuries [Source: Free Tran Khai Thanh Thuy Blog]

Vietnamese bloggers studied the picture and stated that digital data encoded in the picture showed that it was taken on February 28, 2005. However, the picture on the website beared a time-stamp that read October 9, 2009. Many Vietnamese bloggers believe the picture was orchestrated by the police to frame Thuy.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy is an Honorary Member of English PEN, an NGO working to promote literature and human rights, and the 2007 recipient of Human Rights Watch’s Hellman/Hammett Award.

Thuy's blog can be found at http://trankhaithanhthuy.blogspot.com. We are urging bloggers to raise Tran Khai Thanh Thuy's case by supporting her blog as well as writing to your diplomatic representative in Hanoi to intervene in this case. You can also visit the campaign blog http://freetrankhaithanhthuy.wordpress.com.

* This article has been written with the collaboration of Viet Tan - a Vietnamese pro-democracy group.

به کمک تُر و وردپرس، ناشناس وبلاگ بنویسید

The Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress and Tor guide is now available in Persian thanks to this translation by an Iranian blogger and friend who wants to remain anonymous.

The guide outlines several methods of protecting one’s identity in order to avoid retaliation and can considerably reduce the risks that a blogger’s identity will be linked to his or her online writings through technical means.

به کمک تُر و وردپرس، ناشناس وبلاگ بنویسید is availble for download as a PDF file. You may need to install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. If you experience difficulties viewing PDF format online, try this linkable and blogging-friendly HTML version.

Please download the guide and help disseminate this important information. Feel free as well to help us translating the guide into your own language.

The guide is also available in the following languages:

English
French
Portuguese
Arabic
Chinese
Italian

For further information please contact us at: advocacy [ at ] globalvoicesonline [ dot ] org

به کمک تُر و وردپرس، ناشناس وبلاگ بنویسید

Blog Anonimo con Wordpress e Tor

The Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress and Tor guide is now available in Italian thanks to this translation by Jan Reister from Nazione Indiana blog.

The guide outlines several methods of protecting one’s identity in order to avoid retaliation and can considerably reduce the risks that a blogger’s identity will be linked to his or her online writings through technical means.

Scrivere un blog anonimo con Wordpress e Tor is availble for download as a PDF file. You may need to install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. If you experience difficulties viewing PDF format online, try this linkable and blogging-friendly HTML version.

Please download the guide and help disseminate this important information. Feel free as well to help us translating the guide into your own language.

The guide is also available in the following languages:

• English
• French
• Portuguese
• Arabic
• Chinese

For further information please contact us at: advocacy [ at ] globalvoicesonline [ dot ] org

Blog Anonimo con Wordpress e Tor

According to eyewitness reports cited by the International Federation of Journalists :

five gun wielding masked men in a minibus intercepted Mr. al Maqaleh's car on Taiz Street in Sana'a. They bundled him into another vehicle. In dozens of instances, plain clothes intelligence operatives driving vehicles with military plates have snatched journalists off the street who have then “disappeared” and often tortured.

Reports say that Mohammed al Maqaleh, has been abducted after writing about the humanitarian situation and the fighting in the northern province of Sa'ada between the army and Shia rebels.

The International Federation of Journalists (IJF) is calling for the release and safekeeping of the Abducted editor. A Facebook group has also been created in support of Mohammed al Maqaleh.

In May 2007, Yemen's Ministry of Telecommunications blocked access to Al Eshteraki website for its coverage of the armed clashes in Sa'ada province.

During the 8 hours of arrest, blogger Abdallah Zouari was asked to disclose the passwords of his email accounts and interrogated about his most recent report published the day before on the banned Tunisnews website.

Mr Zouari was questioned about Human rights group's members who have visited him during the last seven years and his interviews with the media. Mr Zouari was warned to stop making any statement that could tarnish the image of Tunisia, or face a smear campaign they can run against him by disseminating fake pornographic video for the purpose of sullying his reputation.

Since his release in 2002, after spending 11 years in jail, Mr Zouari is still being confined to an internal exile in a rural district, 500 kilometers from his family's home in Tunis, despite a court order issued on August 2nd, 2009 that ended the seven years of house arrest.

Mr Zouari is placed under round-the-clock police surveillance, prevented from accessing the Internet and prohibited from using local Internet cafés. He has been arrested several times for protesting the banishment and mistreatment and for communicating with the outside world through the Internet.

Abdallah Zouari is blogging at Citizen Zouari‬. His blog is among tens of other critical blogs that are blocked in Tunisia.

Since the end of last year, authorities in Vietnam have taken further steps to restrict freedom of expression by unleashing a systematic campaign against bloggers and internet activists. At least 15 bloggers have been arrested and harassed since September 2008.

Nguyen Xuan Nghia, Nguyen Van Tuc, Ngo Quynh, Nguyen Van Tinh, Nguyen Kim Nhan, Nguyen Manh Son, Pham Thanh Nghien and Vu Hung were all arrested in September 2008 for posting writings online regarding sovereignty disputes with China. Also in September 2008, Blogger Nguyen Van Hai, writing under the pen-name Dieu Cay, was sentenced to jail for “tax evasion” after he had planned a peaceful rally against the Beijing Olympic torch relay.

In May 2009, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, known by his blogging name ChangeWeNeed, was arrested for posting online critiques of the government.

Three months after, Bui Thanh Hieu (alias blogger Nguoi Buon Gio) was arrested for criticizing government policies on China. Journalist Huy Duc was dismissed from his newspaper job under pressure from authorities after writing about the Berlin Wall on his personal blog, Osin.

Journalist Pham Doan Trang, who has a blog and writes for the online newspaper VietnamNet, was detained after criticizing the harassment of Vietnamese journalists by Chinese embassy officials.

Blogger Sphinx was detained for posting on his blog a picture of himself wearing a T-shirt saying “Paracel and Spratly islands belong to Vietnam. ”

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, alias blogger Me Nam (Mother Mushroom), was also arrested. She posted pictures wearing a “stop bauxite mining in Vietnam” t-shirt.

Global Voices Advocacy welcomes the recent release of Bui Thanh Hieu, Pham Doan Trang and Sphinx and calls on the Vietnamese government to release all bloggers and internet activists remaining in prison.
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls Vietnam one of the “10 worst countries to be a blogger. ”

Reporters Without Borders lists the Vietnamese government as an “enemy of the internet. ”

Despite the restrictions posed by authorites, Global Voices Advocacy encourges all Vietnamese citizen journalists to continue to exercise their freedom of expression online.

Bloggers can always use our Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress and Tor guide to protect their identity, avoid retaliation and considerably reduce the risks that their identity will be linked to their online writings through technical means.

The web has become a critical tool for over 20 million Vietnamese internet users to access and share information beyond the censorship of state-run media.

All information in this post has been provided by Viet Tan , a Vietnamese pro-democracy group.