Stories about Advocacy from May, 2008
Introduction about censorship in Uzbekistan
Now Uzbek bloggers have problems with renewal of their blogs. Sometimes in order to post information they send it by e-mail to their friends outside Uzbekistan and they publish it. This situation reduces democratic processes in the country. Not all bloggers have reliable friends outside the country and to make a request to post your new article every time is not comfortable.
India: Google assists police in Orkut user's arrest
With the arrest of Orkut user Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid last weekend, Google has joined Yahoo! on the list of multinational American internet companies that have enabled foreign law enforcement authorities to prosecute netizens in their countries; in this case, the 22 year-old Indian IT worker has been charged under two...
China: Political blogger arrested, computer confiscated
Guo Quan, co-founder of China's Netizen Party and litigant in a recent lawsuit against Yahoo!, had his computer confiscated over the weekend and is now halfway through a ten-day detention period. According to the Guardian newspaper, Guo's arrest, carried out as he was walking his son to school, comes “because...
Letter from Egyptian blogger in hunger strike after detention and torture
Below is a translation by Amnesiac of a letter handed out at a Journalists’ Syndicate protest about the individuals still being detained in connection with the April 6th strike, among them blogger Kareem El Beheiry
Egypt: Torture for Bloggers and Activists
Egyptian bloggers, cyberactivists and activists on the ground continue to pay the price for speaking up against the rising cost of living and calling for higher wages and a better life. What started as a call for a strike on April 6, quickly spiralled out of control, with a face off between rioters, protesters and the police. Here's an account of what has happened and is still happening to some of the activists who have used the worldwide web to spread news of what is happening at home.
Syria: Three-Year Sentence for Blogger Tariq Baiasi
On Sunday 11-5-2008 the State Security Court in Damascus stated its verdict on the Syrian blogger Tariq Baiasi who was held in detention since 7-7-2007. Tariq was detained for leaving a comment on websites disfavored by the Syrian government.
Malaysia: Vigil for jailed Raja Petra this evening
Take note of what's been happening in Malaysia these past few days since popular blogger and political commentator Raja Petra Kamarudin, 58, was imprisoned on Tuesday after a trial which saw him charged with sedition for having written a blog post. If the Malaysian government was truly worried about bloggers...
Saudi Arabia: Freedom for Fouad Al Farhan
Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan is now a free man, after spending 137 days in detention in Jeddah. While bloggers have all along speculated why he has been held by the authorities for this long, Arab bloggers are unanimously excited over his release. And they also share their hopes for the release of other jailed bloggers.
