Stories about Advocacy from March, 2009
Belarus: Bloggers Helped Reinstating Teacher Fired by the British Company Branch on Political Ground
Bloggers in Belarusan Internet (ByNet) has launched an extensive campaign to reinstate a teacher of English Marjana Hruździłovič which had been fired from the Belarusan SOL Language Centre that acts at permission and under license of the non-governmental organization ‘SOL. Sharing One Language' funded by the UK government. The reason for the teacher's dismissal had been her objection to the remark of one of the students who said occasionally in a class that the celebration of Belarusan Freedom Day on March 25th is attended by ‘idiots and degenerates'.
“Matroudine”, website of Tunisian students on Hunger Strike censored
Tunisia authorities have blocked access to the Matroudine website dedicated to provide information and support for the five students and activists from the Tunisian General Student Union (UGET) who went on hunger strike to protest their arbitrary exclusion from Tunisian universities and deprivation of their right to education because of their activism within the UGET.
Egypt : Detained Bloggers complain Torture and Ill treatment
[ Update- Dia Eddin Gad has been released today ] While the recent months have been witnessing a considerable number of arrests to Egyptian bloggers, most of them are facing ill treatment in their detentions. Egyptian blogger Dia Eddin Gad is suffering health problems in his cell in Katta Prison, where he has been locked since he was kidnapped on 6th February.
Planning International Day of Solidarity with Persecuted Bloggers
What:Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, an Iranian blogger, died tragically in prison on March 18, demonstrating the sad fact that a blogger’s life can be lost as easily as a blog can be filtered by authorities. Bloggers have been praised on many occasions for their contribution and value to the information...
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger Dies in Prison
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18. In December, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mir Sayafi was...
Malaysia: Rex Judicata
Six Malaysian Netizens will be charged on 13th March 2009, according to news reports. The charges are in relation to their alleged insulting of Sultan Azlan Shah on the Internet. The six will be charged in differing states within Malaysia, two of which will take place at the Sessions Court...
Anonymous Blogging with WordPress & Tor Updated!
I’m pleased to announce that the third update to the Anonymous Blogging guide with Wordpress & Tor is now available online! This update introduces the Tor Browser Bundle, an open source version of a portable browser developed by Tor Project, that lets you use Tor with zero install. Tor Browser is a great pre-configured Tor bundle with self contained Mozilla Firefox browser for USB drives or any other portable media (SD Card, Hard Drives, Compact Flash Card).
Egypt: Detained blogger Ahmed Abou Doma is at risk of torture
The detained blogger was mentally and physically abused in Al-Khalifa police station, while being transferred to prison. He was beaten up by sticks and his body was standing in a harmful posture for long hours.
Bangladesh: YouTube and File Sharing Sites Blocked
Internet users in Bangladesh are not able to access YouTube since Friday (March 6, 2009) evening. Soon people discovered that other Social Media and file hosting/sharing sites like Esnips, mediafire etc. were also not accessible. Apparently these are blocked by the firewalls at IIG (International Internet Gateway) as these can...
Thailand: Web director arrested for “allowing offensive comments”
Prachatai web director Chiranuch Premchaiporn was arrested by police yesterday for “disseminating lese majeste content on the website.” To put it in another way, she was arrested for allowing comments on the website which the police deemed as offensive to the monarchy. Chiranuch is now out on bail.
Hassan Barhon: yet another Moroccan blogger sued for defamation
Moroccan blogger and anti-corruption journalist, Hassan Barhon, who has been arrested since February 25th for exposing a corruption case involving the prosecutor-general for the king of Morocco at Tetouan’s court of appeals, Mohamed Masmouki, is due to appear before a court in Tetouan today.
