I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.	If you disagree...  I will kill you

UN Human Rights Council passes motion against defamation of religion

From MediawatchWatch
From IFEX

European countries are arguing forcefully that free speech is the basis for the enjoyment of all other cultural and political rights, and Islamic countries are taking the line that protecting religious sentiments is the most pressing task of our time.

The choice would almost seem to be a moot one, given the daily acts of torture, extrajudicial killing, imprisonment and denial of basic rights going on around the world every day, but certain countries not usually considered the greatest defenders of liberty have made the problem of 'defamation of religion' a central issue of debate in the UN Human Rights Council.

Thanks to Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia, among others, resolutions urging a worldwide ban on 'defamation of religion' have become a regular fixture in the one-year old council.

Unfortunately the United Nations Human Rights Council has now passed a resolution urging a global prohibition on the defamation of religion. For “religion” read “Islam”, because the main thrust of the resolution focussed on that particular belief system. This is unsurprising, as the resolution was pushed through by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference countries, and opposed only by European countries plus Canada, Japan, and South Korea.

The resolution is said to: expresse deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations.

It makes no mention of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism or any other religion besides Islam, but urges countries to take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement and religious hatred, hostility, or violence.

It was passed by a 24-14 vote.

Needless to say, the Islamic countries and their allies (China, Cuba, Russia) don’t exactly have the greatest human rights records, especially when it comes to freedom of expression, which, according to the resolution: may … be subject to limitations as provided by law and necessary for respect of the rights or reputations of others … or morals and respect for religions and beliefs.

Mobile phone porn banned in China

I would have thought that anything to do with porn would have been banned already

From China Daily

Beijingers who send pornographic text messages or pictures on their cell phones may face fines up to 3,000 yuan (US$385) and two weeks in administrative detention, the local public security department has warned.

Those who sell such content can face jail terms between six months and three years, according to China's criminal law and the law on public security administration.

Over the past three weeks, Beijing police have arrested 19 second-hand cell phone dealers who were found selling mass storage devices containing pornographic pictures or films. The mass storage chips, which can hold a 60 minute-long film, were being sold for five or six yuan (US$0.64 to 0.77) each, a spokesman with the Beijing Public Security Bureau told Xinhua.

It's also illegal for the public to download pornographic content from the Internet or to forward it to friends, he said, adding that the severest penalty in such cases would be 10 to 15 days in detention plus a fine up to 3,000 yuan.

Calls for Internet cafe filters in Peru

We don't get to hear much from Peru, but predictably they are suffering from the same problems of mean minded nutters as the rest of the world.

Based on an article from Living Peru

Civil representatives from the southern Peruvian province of Arequipa have increased operations that call for the immediate placement of pornography control filters in all internet cafes located throughout southern Peru's largest city.

Sonia Sanchez, Manager of Arequipa's Gestion Social, a public advocacy group, indicated that the operations, which began last February, will cease when: all internet cafe operators become responsible and place the filter in their establishments.

Sanchez informed that the operations are unpredictable in nature, since they occur at all hours of the day and target every internet cafe in Arequipa.

Additionally, the public advocate called for separate designated areas in cafes where under-age children can surf the internet worry free.

The campaign's 'success' has brought much satisfaction to Gestion Social and its ultimate goal is to spread the initiative throughout the entire department.

Arequipa city officials are also contemplating making the measure a city wide requirement. According to Sanchez, making the measure a city ordinance stands a good chance of becoming official at the end of April.

China blocks 1.8 million blogs

From Daily Tech

According to an announcement made by LiveJournal, China has officially blocked the popular online blogging site from its citizens. China's censor locked out about 1.8 million blogs, of which 8,692 are self-reported Chinese bloggers.

This isn't the first time that China has blocked LiveJournal. This block is just in time for China's National People's Congress meeting in Beijing. According to Xiao Qiang, founder of the China Digital Times, the move is historical to the meeting: The security is tight and the control is upgraded because they don't want [political voices].

Chinese officials did not release a statement as to why LiveJournal was blocked, but according to Xiao, the government likely put up a blanket-restriction to target a few, or possibly one blogger. Xiao claims it is possible that Chinese officials simply wanted to block out a single blogger or a specific post, but blocked out all of LiveJournal anyway.

China blocks more blogs

From Shanghaiist
see Great Firewall of China to check on blocked sites

The Chinese government is once again tightening the screws of internet censorship. Specifically, the new changes are targeted against China's bloggers and their 34 million blogs. LiveJournal was an early casualty of the new enforcement, as well as Xanga, and now, it seems that BlogSpot has been blocked again.

If you wish to check for blocked sites, you could test for them here, if that site were not also blocked. Naturally, we here at Shanghaiist are absolutely thrilled with these developments, and we feel that the emperor's clothes are perfectly exquisite.

Satellite channel blocked by the Thai authorities

From CPJ

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the censorship of a new satellite television station by Thai authorities, part of an ongoing ban against the broadcaster since the military seized power in a coup last September.

Over the weekend, government agencies blocked news programs carried by PTV, or People’s Television, which was established last month in Hong Kong by politicians from ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai political party.

A PTV employee told CPJ that access to their station was first blocked on Sunday, approximately 10 hours after its maiden broadcast. PTV was unclear about what footage, if any, may have driven the government to censor its broadcasts.

The station had failed to air on March 1, after the state-run Communications Authority of Thailand and the Telephone Organization of Thailand, which together control the country’s telecommunications infrastructure, had declined to give PTV the Internet access it needed to launch the new channel. To bypass the state agencies, PTV joined with Star Channel MV1, one of 18 satellite broadcasters in the country.

Top military leaders had earlier indicated that they would not interfere with PTV’s news broadcasts if the station abided by rules it has imposed on state-controlled television stations, including a ban on broadcasting any news footage or interviews that feature Thaksin. The government has on several occasions blocked news spots that featured footage of Thaksin, including reports from international news broadcasters CNN and BBC.

Wide ranging human rights resolution passed

From GayNZ

The European Parliament is to call on the Nigerian Government and Parliament not to adopt the proposed 'Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act' in its current form.

If passed, the Nigerian bill would mean anyone who speaks out or forms a group supporting lesbian and gay people's rights would be imprisoned. Virtually any public discussion or visibility around lesbian and gay lives would be silenced.

Members of the European Parliament voted 61-24, with one abstention, on a wide-ranging human rights resolution that included a call to abolish the death penalty and to intervene in individual cases of persons tried under Sharia law and sentenced to death, amputation, flogging or other inhuman and degrading treatment that violates the Nigerian Constitution as well as international human rights law.

Pakistan police smash up TV station

From The Independent see full article

President Pervez Musharraf's regime in Pakistan is resorting to increasingly heavy-handed methods to quell protests against him that are growing by the day.

In Islamabad yesterday hundreds of police fought protesters outside the Supreme Court. And as the protests continued, riot police stormed the Geo private television station, which was broadcasting pictures of the protests, tear-gassed the staff and smashed up the studio.

Several high-profile figures were arrested for taking part in demonstrations around the country, including a former president and the leader of one of the main opposition parties. An MP claimed he had been beaten by police at the demonstrations.

Inside the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary was attending his second closed hearing before a special tribunal. At the centre of the row is President Musharraf's attempt to sack Chaudhary.

The authorities had already ordered one of Geo's most popular news programmes off the air for its critical coverage of the President's move against Chaudhary. As the channel defied pressure not to broadcast images of the protests, riot police burst into its Islamabad studio to shut it down by force.

But the tactic appeared to misfire badly when Geo was able to broadcast live images of the helmeted policemen forcing their way into the building.

Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards

From the BBC see full article
See also IFEX

Five "defenders of free speech" have been honoured at a London awards ceremony.

The annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards salute people who have contributed to the defence of freedom of expression. They are given to those who use film, the law, books, journalism, campaigning or whistleblowing to achieve this. The awards' organisers said each winner was symbolic of under-reported stories.

The whistleblower award went to Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer in the Shandong province of China. Known as the "barefoot lawyer", he is a blind activist who publicised reports of forced abortions, as late as eight months pregnant, and sterilisations in the city of Linyi to enforce China's one-child policy. Chen was sentenced in August 2006 to over four years in prison for property damage and organising a crowd to disturb traffic.

The 2007 award for journalism went to 22-year old blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman, who wrote under the name Kareem Amer. He was recently sentenced to four years in prison after using his web log to criticise the country's top Islamic institution, al-Azhar university, and President Hosni Mubarak, whom he called a dictator.

The literature award went to assassinated Lebanese journalist Samir Qasir, well known for his criticism of the former pro-Syrian Lebanese authorities, for his book Being Arab. Qasir died in a Beirut car bomb attack in 2005.

The campaigning award went to Siphiwe Hlophe, from Swaziland, for her work with women who have HIV/Aids. Having suffered discrimination first hand when she was diagnosed with HIV, Ms Hlophe co-founded an organisation called Swazis for Positive Living which aims to fight gender discrimination related to HIV/Aids and help other victims.

This year's film award went to Israeli director Yoav Shamir for his film Five Days, a documentary about the Israeli Defence Force and the planned evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza.

Israel mandates biometric checks for adult web surfers

From X Biz

Members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, gave preliminary approval to a bill that would require Internet service providers to restrict access to websites with adult content.

The bill, which calls on ISPs to block minors from accessing adult websites that contain sex, violence or gambling, moved through the Knesset with unanimous support. Only one lawmaker from the 25 member body abstained.

According to the language of the bill, access to adult websites would require physical or biometric age verification in addition to a password.

The bill’s sponsor, Amnon Cohen, said newer computers have the capability to institute his proposal. Cohen said he proposed the bill because of national studies concluding that 60% of Israeli children between the ages of 9 and 18 have seen porn online.

The legislation also calls for a fine of nearly $5,000 for ISPs that fail to comply.

Absent from the bill is a definition of how sites would be classified as adult. Nor does the bill contemplate the technical or financial feasibility of its requirements.

The bill's definitions are flawed and it constitutes a violation of the right for privacy and freedom of speech, said Dr. Michael Birnhack of Haifa University's Faculty of Law. The bill does not define what is a site that deals with sex, and so it would appear that it is also meant to block access to sites explaining about human sexuality, open sex, gay and lesbian sites, or sites explaining about martial arts because they deal with violence.

Israel to require faxed ID to receive adult services

From Haaretz

Phone users wanting to receive erotic services on their cellular devices face a potential roadblock in the Communications Ministry. Anyone seeking such services will first have to fax or e-mail a copy of his identity card, including picture, according to a ministry plan. The ministry will hold a hearing on amending licenses of cellular operators in accordance with this regulation.

The ministry, however, faces harsh criticism for limiting only one area, while these services will still be available with relatively easy access on cable or satellite TV and with no restrictions on the Internet.

The ministry also withdrew from its earlier demand that cellular firms install systems for filtering pornographic content. Company heads railed against efforts to limit freedom of cellular surfing.

Turk punished for genocide denial

It seems a bit nasty to persecute someone for a belief they learnt in school and supported by their own government.

From the BBC see full article

A Swiss court has convicted a Turkish politician of racial discrimination for denying that mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 amounted to genocide. He was given a suspended sentence and fined $2,450 (£1,270).

The Swiss parliament has labelled the killings as genocide. Turkey firmly rejects the genocide allegation.

Nationalist leader Dogu Perincek was on trial for remarks he made in a public speech in Lausanne in 2005. Perincek, the head of the Turkish Workers' Party, had denied the charges: I have not denied genocide because there was no genocide, he told the court earlier this week.

A law criminalising the denial of genocide was adopted in 2003 by the parliament in the Swiss canton of Vaud, where Perincek made his remarks.

Twelve Turks prosecuted in Switzerland on similar charges in 2001 were acquitted.

Re-education for those addicted to the Internet

Based on an article from The Scotsman see full article

A military-style boot camp near Beijing is at the front-line of China's battle against Internet addiction.

The Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) in Daxing county uses a blend of therapy and military drills to treat the children of China's nouveau riche addicted to online games, Internet pornography, cybersex and chats.

Supposedly concerned by a number of high-profile Internet-related deaths and juvenile crime, the government is now taking steps to stem Internet addictions by banning new Internet cafes and mulling restrictions on violent computer games.

The government-funded Daxing centre, run by an army colonel under the Beijing Military Hospital, is one of a handful of clinics treating patients with Internet addictions in China.

Serious Indian TV to be limited to after 11pm

From RxPG news

The Indian government has drawn up the first formal content code for TV channels.

The code will prescribe a watershed time band for TV viewing. The source said films with ‘A’ and ‘U/A’ censor certification, and other programmes for adult viewing, would be permitted across channels from 11pm to 5am. Only those films and programmes certified as ‘U’ will be allowed outside that time band.

The content code is believed to envisage the creation of a panel to monitor self-regulation. Indian Broadcasting Foundation, the association for TV channels, may act as the monitoring panel.

The Broadcasting Bill is expected to be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

China 'needs' more censorship

From RxPG news

China needs a law to restrict a 'violent culture' in films and Internet to protect the youth from being corrupted, a Chinese lawmaker said.

Only legislation can limit the violence-dominated content in media, said Peng Fuchun, a member of the National People's Congress. He said a violent culture was rapidly spreading in China, impacting the society negatively.

The lack of a film rating system and an effective TV censorship had left teenagers exposed to violent scenes, Peng said. He also blamed film and TV producers for promoting their products with violence, horror and crime as selling points.

Fu said that many online games and about 70% of non-education Internet information contain violence: Online war games make young people to fight and kill in the cyber space, while heroes in films, TV dramas and cartoons, promoting violence, become their idols.

China has witnessed 68% rise in juvenile crimes in the past five years said a survey by the China Youth and Children Studies research group this year.

Turkey bans YouTube as they take offence at video taunts

From the BBC see full article

Access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube has been suspended in Turkey following a court order.

The ban was imposed after prosecutors told the court that clips insulting former Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had appeared on the site.

According to Turkish media, there has been a "virtual war" between Greek and Turkish users of the site, with both sides posting insulting videos.

The clip prompting the ban reportedly dubbed Ataturk and Turks homosexuals. The offending videos sparked a storm of complaints to YouTube and the clips were removed, but the court order goes further, blocking all access to the site.

Insulting Ataturk, the founding father of modern Turkey, or "Turkishness" is an offence which can result in a prison sentence.

Turkish visitors to the site are now greeted with a message in English and Turkish reading "Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court".

Paul Doany, the head of Turk Telecom, the country's largest telecoms company, said that they had blocked access to the site as soon as the court order came through. Doany said that for its part Turk Telecom will continue to enforce the ban as long as the order stands.

The European Union, which Turkey is hoping to join, has long called for an easing of Article 301, the law which prevents insults to Turkish culture, arguing that the law places severe restrictions on free speech in Turkey.

Turkey restores YouTube after offending video was removed

From The Sydney Morning Herald

Internet users in Turkey regained access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube on Friday when a court revoked a ban imposed because a clip was judged to have insulted the country's founder.

Once we received the court decision revoking the ban, we allowed access to YouTube, according to Turk Telekom, Turkey's biggest ISP.

The company had blocked access to YouTube on Wednesday on a court order following press reports over a video, submitted by a Greek user, that allegedly insulted the country's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Later that day, the same court ruled, after a petition from Turk Telekom, that it would cancel the ban if the offending video was removed from the website.

The ban was strongly criticized as censorship in the press and by the general public. The Turkish press reported that YouTube had removed the video after being bombarded by thousands of e-mails from protesting Turks.

Book Store to continue fight against Canadian Customs

From Xtra

The Little Sister's book store may continue its legal fight against censorship at the border, despite being denied advance costs by the Supreme Court Of Canada.

We've been encouraged by other people not to let up, says Little Sister's manager Janine Fuller. We're taking a deep breath and looking at where we stand.

The bookstore, which has been fighting the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) formerly known as Canada Customs, was denied funding by the high court on Jan 19, seemingly making it impossible for the store to continue its current fight.

But now Fuller says the bookstore is considering fighting on based on private donations and smaller-scale legal tactics.

Even if the store can't afford to fight another large-scale case, Fuller says she'd hate to see all the work that's gone into the current case go to waste: This case has piled up an incredible amount of evidence and witnesses and I'd hate to see that end up on the cutting-room floor. We're talking to our lawyers about other smaller cases, even if it's not the huge case.

CBSA hasn't seized any material since the current case began, but she doesn't think it's a sign that they've eased up: I think, as usual, they're just holding off. During a court case, they don't usually seize material.

In 2000, the Supreme Court Of Canada ruled that CBSA was unfairly targeting queer bookstores and materials and ordered the agency to stop. But Fuller says the agency didn't follow the court's orders, and that CBSA has actually added definitions to their obscenity regulations that disproportionately target queer material: After 2000, they added bootlicking and fisting to the regulations. It was quite appalling to think our community might face the brunt of those seizures.

Cheques can be sent to the Little Sister's Defence Fund c/o BC Civil Liberties Association, 425-815 West Hastings, Vancouver, BC, V6C 1B4. Receipts will be issued for donations of $10 or more.

Prosecuted for showing implied respect with the word 'Mr'

From the BBC see full article

A Kurdish politician in Turkey has been sentenced to six months in prison for referring to jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan as "Mr Ocalan".

A court in Diyarbakir said the use of "Mr" by Ahmet Turk implied respect for Ocalan, seen as a criminal in Turkey. Ocalan is serving a life sentence after he was found guilty of treason for leading the Kurdish armed campaign in which more than 30,000 people died.

Ahmet Turk was sentenced by the court in south-eastern Turkey on a charge of supporting a criminal in a speech he made in January 2006.

It was the second conviction for the leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in seven days. Last week, Ahmet Turk, alongside a DTP deputy leader, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for distributing party materials in the Kurdish language. Turkish law allows distribution of political literature only in Turkish.

According to one tally, more than 50 DTP members of the pro-Kurdish DTP have been arrested and at least seven senior officials charged in less than a fortnight, our correspondent says.

Party officials argue they are victims of a sustained campaign of harassment, saying the authorities are trying to close the party down before a general election later this year.

Turkey debates a wide range of websites to block

Based on an article from Sunday's Zaman

Members of the Turkish Parliament recently debated banning Web sites that publish materials countering the "indivisible unity
of the Turkish state."

Members of the Parliament's Justice Subcommittee debated banning Web sites that publish materials countering the "indivisible unity of the Turkish state" and agreed to include separatist crimes in a draft prepared to prevent child pornography and Internet crimes. However, the committee left the final decision to the upper-committee.

The committee consisting of officials from the Justice Ministry, academics and lawmakers noted the supposedly negative effects of separatist propaganda on children and the young, and agreed to block all separatist Web sites, particularly those affiliated with the terror network the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The draft stipulates a court verdict within 24 hours to shut down or block access to any website that publishes separatist materials.

The draft is expected to be enacted in March. Speaking at a Justice Committee meeting on the draft, the Justice Minister noted the number of Internet cafes was increasing nationwide and warned against the negative effects if they were not reigned in: Turkey is today facing the misuse of technology. We know from recent tragic events that the Internet is misused and materials that encourage drug use, sexual abuse, gambling and other bad habits are widely viewed in Internet cafes.

The draft contains the following regulations:

• Access to Web sites publishing materials that encourage sexual abuse, drug use, pornography, prostitution, suicide and gambling will be blocked.
• If the server or domain name provider is located overseas, the request to block access to such Web sites will be presented to the Telecommunication Board and the board will warn the concerned ISP to tackle the issue.
• If the ISP fails to abide by the regulations, the board will give the concerned party a three day deadline. At the expiry of deadline, the server will be fined YTL 10,000 if it refuses to tackle the problem. The license of ISP could be cancelled if it fails to comply with the decision.
• Owners of ISPs that fail to block access to banned Web sites could be sentenced up to three years imprisonment.
• The Telecommunications Board will be entitled to stipulate in license agreements with Internet cafes the use of filters and content blocking software for Internet services.

Adult toys and DVDs illegal together

Based on an article from AVN

Retailer Greg Sakas is calling out to the adult industry for help in his fight against police and religious nutters who are attempting to shut down his North Carolina business. This week, local authorities intend to charge Sakas with a third-class misdemeanor under a state law that prohibits the sale of adult DVDs and novelties under the same roof.

In late January, New Bern police raided Sakas' Pure Bliss outlet, seizing the store's inventory and records. According to Sakas, the action against him is the first salvo in a Christian Coalition campaign designed to rid North Carolina of pornography.

I'm the first person in North Carolina to ever be charged on this, Sakas told AVN. The Christian Coalition is looking at this as the springboard to a major fight in which they can shut down all the adult stores in North Carolina, and beyond. Everybody in the industry needs to fight this.

The Christian Coalition filed a complaint with the New Bern police, who applied for a search warrant on Jan. 29.

The police chief went ahead with the raid without even discussing it with the D.A., Sakas recounted. Six vice and narcotics officers came in like they were after a major seizure of narcotics. We've never had one person question what we were doing; we had a license to operate, with the city fully knowing we had adult material. They confiscated the fax machine, the computer, our vendor list, invoices, the DVR [surveillance cameras] and all of our paperwork from the past year; we had to estimate our sales tax at the end of the month. They took all the movies out of the store, and all of the printed matter except for the tattoo magazines. No one signed off on this, and they had no list or description of anything they took - it felt like we were in Nazi Germany.

In the weeks since the raid, New Bern police have placed Sakas and his store under surveillance. When employees began bringing video and magazine inventory back into Pure Bliss this past weekend, the police immediately arrived on the scene to block their efforts.

Heatwave Entertainment's sales and marketing VP Alex also contacted AVN to voice his concern over the case: If the other side wins, then they're just going to go after everybody else in that state…and then, it's going to be other states. That's why this is so important; everybody needs to be aware of this and support the cause.

Update:  Charged

March 7th

A store manager was arrested last night for a third-degree misdemeanor stemming from a Jan. 26 police raid on the store. New Bern police have also charged Sakas and three other employees with the same misdemeanor under a state law which prohibits novelties and videos from being sold under the same roof. Further charges may be pending.

Cuba ejects critical journalists

From Ledger-Enquirer

In the harshest crackdown in years on foreign correspondents based in Havana, the Cuban government has ordered at least three of them - including the Chicago Tribune's - to stop writing because of their "negative" reporting.

The government last week ordered veteran Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent Gary Marx to stop covering Cuba immediately and gave him 90 days to leave the island, said Tribune managing editor for news George de Lama.

Mexico City's El Universal reported that its correspondent in Havana, Cesar Gonzalez-Calero, and an unidentified correspondent for the BBC got the same orders. More are expected to follow.

The sanctions come at a tense time for foreign journalists in Cuba. Although Cuba has always restricted news coverage of its affairs, reporters on the island say the pressures against filing negative reports intensified after leader Fidel Castro became sick in July and was replaced by his brother, Raul.

Raul had been widely expected to be more pragmatic and open to reforms than his brother, but journalists in Havana have said several have been called in for extended questioning about their stories since Raul took over.

Egypt bow to US request to block satellite channels

From the BBC

Egypt has stopped the transmission of a private Iraqi TV station which glorifies the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.

The United States has privately asked the Egyptian authorities to stop al-Zawraa which is carried on Nilesat, a government-owned TV satellite.

Mishan al-Jaburi, the owner of al-Zawraa says political reasons were behind the Egyptian decision. He accused Egypt of bowing to American pressure to stop carrying al-Zawraa.

The channel shows footage of attacks by Sunni groups against US and Iraqi forces. It also shows images of bloody and mutilated bodies of women and children which it identifies as Sunnis killed by US soldiers and Shia militiamen.

Al-Zawraa is still being carried by Arab Sat, which is jointly owned by all Arab countries.

Somalia to send censors to radio and TV stations

From CPJ

Somalia’s UN-backed transitional government said they would censor three private broadcasters over their coverage of deadly unrest in the capital Mogadishu, according to news reports and local journalists.

At least 12 people died and thousands fled the city on Monday after fierce artillery exchanges between Ethiopian-backed government troops and unknown fighters, according to international news reports. The fighting was the fiercest since the government took Mogadishu from Islamists last December.

The transitional government’s National Security Agency (NSA) ordered the executives of HornAfrik and Shabelle media groups, the two biggest media houses in Mogadishu, and Radio Banadir to stop reporting on government military operations and the flight of civilians from the capital, according to news reports and local journalists.

We were invited and warned to avoid certain news, Radio Banadir Director Ahmed Nur Ali told CPJ. The NSA will provide a written “code of conduct” in the coming days, he said. Officials announced that they would send censors to the stations to edit their news.

Iran closes website showing president watching female dancing

From The Guardian

An Iranian website fiercely critical of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been shut down in an apparent fresh crackdown on anti-government dissent on the internet.

Baztab, a fundamentalist site which has previously accused Ahmadinejad of betraying the Islamic revolution by attending a female dance show, has been closed for acting against the constitution and undermining national unity.

The order coincided with the confirmation of Gholamhossein Elham, who has supported restraints on press freedom, as Iran's new judiciary minister. Elham, previously the government's official spokesman, last year urged prosecutors to pursue news outlets that printed "lies" about Ahmadinejad's government.

His appointment came as the government disclosed new measures to monitor and restrict unofficial news websites.

Baztab is one of Iran's most widely read political sites. It has been a staunch critic of the government's economic policies, which have produced surging inflation and high unemployment. The website also posted video footage purportedly showing Ahmadinejad watching a female dance performance at the recent Asian Games in Qatar, in breach of Iran's prohibition on women dancing in front of men.

The culture and Islamic guidance ministry said: Considering the large amount of such material, [Baztab] was recognised as an illegitimate internet site and its continued activity is illegal and banned.

Access to the site is now blocked on most Iranian internet service providers.

Update: Parliamentary Protest

More than 130 Iranian parliamentarians have protested to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad about the banning of a conservative news website that has been critical of the president.

In a letter to Ahmadinejad today, 136 lawmakers demanded the lifting of the ban.

Egyptian Blogger's family disowns son on trial for contempt of religion

From Michelle Malkin
See also Free Kareem

There's a horrid development in the case of Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, the Egyptian blogger on trial for posting to his website statements calling for equal rights for women and protection of free speech, as well as other statements critical of the Egyptian government and Islam. The Free Kareem website reports:

The family of Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, accused of “contempt of religion”, has disowned him before his court verdict session on the upcoming Thursday. His father, a retired mathematics teacher, has demanded applying the Sharia ruling on him by giving him three days to repent, followed by having him killed if he does not announce his repentance.

The father of the accused also described the organizations that are working on having his son acquitted as “monkey rights” organizations, in his own words. He also described his son as the “monkey” who has imitated the atheists of the West in their intellectual thinking.

The family also said that they will announce their disownment of their son on the Internet as well...

Amer will learn on Thursday whether he faces 10 years in jail, following a trial that has been condemned by human rights groups. He is the first person to be prosecuted in Egypt for online writings; observers fear this may mark a new clampdown on freedom of speech...

His lawyer, Gamal Eid, said last week: I am very pessimistic about the verdict, but I have great hope for the appeal.

Malcolm Smart of Amnesty International said: Karim Amer's trial appears intended as a warning by the authorities to other bloggers who dare criticise the government or use their blogs to spread information considered harmful to Egypt's reputation.

Blogger sentenced to 4 years in jail

From The Independent
See also www.FreeKareem.org

An Egyptian blogger was sentenced to four years in jail yesterday for articles published on his website.

Abdel Kareem Soliman, 22, a former law student from Alexandria who used the internet alias Kareem Amer, was convicted of inciting hatred of Islam and insulting the President, Hosni Mubarak.

The harsh sentence marked the first time that an Egyptian blogger has been formally prosecuted for an opinion published online. Gamal Eid, part of Soliman's defence team, said: This is a dark day for all who are interested in freedom of expression and belief in Egypt. Four years is too much, we were expecting no more than one year. He is just a student, and hasn't committed any crime - he has just published his opinion.

Soliman was arrested last November, following a complaint by al-Azhar University, his former place of study and Sunni Islam's most important institution. He had referred in his blog to companions of the Prophet Mohamed as "terrorists", to al-Azhar as "the university of terrorism" and to President Mubarak as the "symbol of dictatorship".

Amnesty International said the conviction was a slap in the face for freedom of expression and added that the internet was the new front in the battle between those who want to speak out and those who would stop them.

While the Egyptian government refused to comment on the case, Soliman's provocative writing won him few sympathisers in Egypt's mostly conservative, Muslim society. Many believe that he went too far and the case has brought to the fore a debate about the limits of free speech in a predominantly religious society. A lawyer, who attended the court, said: I was hoping that he would get a harsher sentence... There are things that one should not talk about, like religion and politics. He should have got a 10-year sentence.

Soliman's lawyers are preparing his appeal.

A sample of Kareem's blogging

From MediawatchWatch
See also www.FreeKareem.org

Here is a transcript of one of the articles which got him Abdel Kareem Soliman banged up for 4 years:

The Naked Truth of Islam As I Saw It In Maharam Bey Riots

The Muslims have taken the mask off to show their true hateful face, and they have shown the world that they are at the top of their brutality, inhumanity, and thievery.

They have clearly shown their worst features and have shown that in dealing with others they are not governed by any moral codes.

From what I have seen yesterday of the events at Maharram Beh, which were quite shameful, and have shown me more facts that they have tried to cover over the centuries.

They have indicated that Islam is a religion of peace and forgiveness, but their true face has been uncovered to show barbarism and thievery and fanaticism and not acknowledging others, and attempting to remove them from existence.

Some may think that the actions of the Moslems does not represent Islam and has no relationship with the teachings of Islam that was brought by Mohamed 14 centuries ago, but the truth is that their actions is not different from the Islamic teachings in its original form when it has urged people to deny others and hate them and kill them and take their property, things that they know well but they try to deceive people by falsely defending the teachings of Islam by extremists and they are hiding from the truth and they prefer living a lie.

I have seen with my own eyes the thugs as they break into our Christian brothers’ stores after the whole area of Maharram Beh was completely out of control of the government authorities, and I saw them as they ransack the contents of the store right and left, amidst cheering and shouting extremist Islamic slogans, and I saw them stealing the money from inside the drawers of the cash registers and splitting it among themselves as if it is justified by being owned by what they call the infidels and the worshippers of the cross.

I saw them break into a liquor store owned by a Coptic merchant Labib Lotfy and I saw them smash everything they can get their dirty hands on, including the refrigerator and the scale and the boxes and liquor bottles. I saw some of them stealing liquor bottles so they can get drunk after a hard day’s work against the Coptic infidels.

It is worth mentioning that although some people may think that this Christian-owned liquor store was particularly targeted because the owner is selling the forbidden alcoholic beverages that is forbidden in Islam, but another liquor store in front of the Christian-owned store happens to be owned by a Moslem merchant, and none of the thugs dared to attack, as they did with the Christian-owned store. Now you can see the hateful sectarian actions.

What the Moslems did yesterday in a very vulgar and criminal and horrible way proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that they don’t acknowledge others or their rights of existence or their rights to live with the freedom of expression and also consider them less than them, and these actions should be fought and exterminated for is it right to leave these horrible human beings to do what they want and kill, destroy, steal, and burn??!!

The Islamic teachings that was brought by Mohammed 14 centuries ago should be faced with courage and boldness, we should expose and show its faults and warn humanity of its dangers. We should, even though we are different –look with reason to these teachings that urges people, human beings, to become monsters that don’t know anything in life except killing and looting and plundering and raping and pillaging.

We should stand courageously and boldly against these teachings that became a plague on humanity and is not supported except by extremists like bin Laden and al Zarqawi and al Zawaheeri and the thugs that assaulted our Coptic brothers and burned their homes and stole their properties, and tried to assault their religious men and destroy their churches.

We should take off the religious and sectarian gown and look at matters in a more humane way. We should hold trials to all the acts of terrorism and extremism, that our Islamic history have kept their names and their criminal actions starting with Mohamed ibn Abdullah and his company of murderers like Khalid ibn el Waled and Omar ibn el Khattab and Saad ibn Abbi Waqqas and Moiizah Bin Shaabah and Samra bin Gandab and the kings of Beni Ummaya and Beni al Abbass and al Osman, and ending with the Moslem criminals of the modern day that became more famous than movie stars and singers.

We should show the world the truth of these criminals that unfortunately have become role models for our youth and our children and our women. We should expose their false teachings and show the world that they are a big danger that should be exterminated and removed from its roots.

Before you put on trial the people that are responsible for the crimes that occurred on Black Friday in Maharram Beh, you should first put on trial the dirty teachings that caused them to go on a rampage of stealing and plundering and looting.. put Islam on trial and sentence it and its symbols with a figurative execution so that you can be sure that what happened yesterday will never be repeated again.

For as long as Islam exists on this planet all your efforts to end wars and disputes and upheavals will fail because Islam’s dirty finger will be found behind every catastrophic event to humanity.

Philippines continues to be a dangerous place for journalists

From CPJ

Hernani Pastolero, editor-in-chief of the community newspaper Lightning Courier Weekly, was shot dead in front of his home Monday morning in Sultan Kudarat township, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

Pastolero was shot twice in the head by an unidentified assassin who escaped on foot. Local Police Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao told local press that police investigators had already compiled a list of suspects, but as of today he had not ordered arrests. He declined to speculate about a possible motive for Pastolero’s killing.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether Pastolero’s killing, the first in the Philippines this year, was related to his work as a journalist.

We hope authorities at the local and national levels will bring the killers of Hernani Pastolero to justice, and not let the case linger unresolved, as so many others have, said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered the Philippine National Police to investigate the case and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunyes condemned the killing.

GMANews.TV said the National Bureau of Investigation was investigating Pastolero’s connection to a land conflict between residential lot owners and a large private landholder.

According to CPJ research, three Filipino journalists were killed in connection with their reporting last year, making the Philippines on par with Afghanistan as the deadliest place in Asia to be a news reporter.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is currently conducting an independent probe into the recent rash of extrajudicial killings, including the unresolved murders of journalists, across the Philippines.

Belarus Internet cafes to spy for the KGB

From Charter 97

From now on an owner of an Internet-Cafe or a person authorized by him is to keep a log of domain names of sites read by users. A log of domain names is to be stores for at least 12 months and if necessary given to officers of state security, law-enforcing and state inspection agencies.

This demand is contained in a decree of Belarusian government“with the aim to regularize relations in the sphere of computer clubs and internet-café business. in case a user is suspected of a computer crime, the administration of an Internet-café is to inform relevant law-enforcing agencies immediately.

In line with the decree of the government, it is prohibited to distribute information forbidden for distribution in public communications network in Internet-cafes, to make attempts of unsanctioned access to informational systems of public-service communications networks, and to use programmes propagating cult of violence, cruelty, pornography.

After threats linked to death of Hrant Dink

From The Telegraph

The Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk is living in exile in the United States and is believed to be in fear for his life.

Amid a climate of intimidation that has seen the prosecution and even murder of dissident intellectuals throwing into doubt Turkey's aspiration to the join the European Union, Pamuk, who is living in New York, is said to have told friends he has set no deadline for his return. Instead, according to the prominent Istanbul columnist Fatih Altayli, the writer has quietly gone into exile.

Following the murder of an ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, last month, Pamuk expressed fears for his own safety. The writer enraged Turkish nationalists by acknowledging that under the Ottoman empire Turks had triggered the genocide of one million Armenians nearly a century ago.

During the 1990s, Pamuk, whose novels includes Cevdet Bey and His Sons and The Black Book, began to write candidly about human rights issues and free speech in Turkey. The country's authorities vociferously campaign against any suggestion that the state has inherited responsibility for the unacknowledged massacre of Armenians.

In an interview with a Swiss newspaper last year, Pamuk said: One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands but no one but me dares talk about it.

Two weeks ago, Pamuk abruptly cancelled a speaking tour of Germany, fearing that his engagements would expose him to hostile elements within the diaspora. Yasin Hayal, a nationalist charged with incitement to murder Dink, made what appeared to be a threat against Pamuk. He said: Orhan Pamuk be careful.

In meetings with Western leaders, Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, has moved to address concerns that the law granted a veneer of legitimacy to the shadowy figures who were threatening its liberal intellectuals. He has promised reforms of an ambiguous law that allows nationalists to demand punishment for those they accuse of insulting the Turkish nation.

Gul admitted that Turkey's standing had been damaged by Dink's murder and the threat to Pamuk.

Japanese government wound up by biography about princess

From The Telegraph

Japan's extreme sensitivity over its royal family was laid bare when it reacted furiously to an unauthorised biography of its most famous princess.

Lodging a formal protest with the government of the author's native Australia, the Tokyo government described the account of the life of Princess Masako as "disrespectful and distorted" and demanded an apology.

The rare intervention was delivered via the Japanese embassy in Australia. Ben Hills, the Australian author and a former journalist in Tokyo, refused to apologise yesterday and accused Japan of attempting to censor his book, Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Princess Masako, wife of Crown Prince Naruhito, has been suffering from a depressive illness which has kept her from performing almost any royal duties since December 2003. Hills attributes her illness to the treatment she has endured since marrying into the royal family in 1993.

She has been allowed on only a few official visits overseas and has endured intense pressure to produce a son to secure the line of succession. In the event, the couple have only a daughter, five-year-old Princess Aiko, and the line of succession is now expected to revert to Prince Hisahito, Aiko's five-month-old cousin.

Japanese journalists traditionally report the imperial family in a reverential way. Honorifics and especially polite terms are used whenever writing about them. Hill's book, released in Australia and the United States but not yet in Britain, argues that the "tragic" story of Masako's marriage makes Princess Diana's ordeal look like a picnic.

Update: Japanese Publishers Back Out

Kodansha, one of Japan's largest publishing firms, said it was pulling out of a Japanese edition because of a loss of trust in the author after he refused to acknowledge alleged errors in the book. The company also pointed to cultural differences that made the book problematic in Japan.

Proposal to install state Internet filter in Norway

From Slashdot
see also original article (in Norwegian)

A Norwegian Web filtering system, comparable to the Great Firewall of China, has been proposed to the Norwegian legislature.

It would, if enacted, block all Web sites and servers that contain hate material (racial hate, pro-Nazi sites, hate towards the government, etc.), most kinds of pornography (not only child pornography), foreign gambling sites, and sites that share copyrighted or other material that it is not legal to share.

Reactions have been mixed; however they are mostly negative.

Thai TV soap offends Laos and is pulled

From the Bangkok Post

The Thai soap opera Pleng Rak Song Fang Khong (The Mekong Love Song) was yanked from Channel 7's schedule after the government of Laos complained that several scenes were inappropriate.

Souvanna Phouyavong from the Lao embassy in Bangkok, said the Information and Culture Ministry asked station executives and the show's producer, to adjust some parts of the programme that Lao officials consider "inappropriate".

Channel 7 decided to replace it with another show.

There were at least three parts of the programme that upset Lao authorities, said Souvanna, including a scene where an actor gives dok champa (plumeria flower) to his loved one, but she refuses to accept it. The character is so disappointed with her response that he throws the flower into a garbage bin. Souvanna said dok champa is the national flower and official symbol of Laos, and it was considered inappropriate for the actor to discard it in such a way.

There was also a scene in which a character proposes to his girlfriend. In Lao tradition, this should be presided over by senior members of both families: In the programme there were no phu yai [village bigwig] at the ceremony and this is inappropriate from a Lao point of view.

Other parts of the programme could also create misperceptions about Lao women, Souvanna said.

Accredited Censorship in Turkey

From Today's Zaman see full article

The Hrant Dink murder will be remembered not only for its shocking impact but also for the imprint it left on the press. The largely abhorred murder caused a chronic problem of the Turkish media to resurface: accreditation.

The accreditation of TGRT TV, which broadcast camera footage of the suspect Samast, who was taped with the Turkish flag in hand,  was revoked by the Turkish General Staff. Unless the TV station is re-granted accreditation, its reporters will not be allowed in military facilities.

Accreditation is, in fact, a fairly recent phenomenon that has only spread after diversification in the media. With the influence of the opening up during Prime Minister Turgut Özal's governance, the number of media organizations operating in various areas has dramatically increased. Private TV stations, which began broadcasting in the 1990s, became the turning point for the transformation from the single-channel era to the diverse broadcasting world. The diversification created the need for accreditation. Today, a number of state institutions, including the General Staff, resort to accreditation and restrict the access of the disliked media organizations into the institution concerned.

While accreditation is announced publicly for some occasions, sometimes only certain reporters and organizations are invited to official events, where the undesired are left out through non-invitation.

The fundamental problem with accreditation practices in Turkey is vagueness. The institutions relying upon this practice are often reluctant to publicize their rationale behind their specific preferences.

The Press Council made an attempt in May 2003 to ensure the adoption of objective accreditation criteria. Chairman Oktay EkÅŸi invited the General Staff to announce their accreditation criteria.

The council noted that some leading media bodies, including Kanal 7, Samanyolu TV, Zaman daily, Yeni Åžafak daily and Vakit daily were left out in the General Staff's accreditation list. Asserting that this situation caused doubts to arise about the objectivity of the accreditation criteria of the General Staff, the council called on the General Staff to announce its criteria. In an unsurprising reply, the General Staff said there was no change in its accreditation criteria.

Today, the combined circulation of papers not accredited by the General Staff is 1,040,000, which constitutes one-fifth of Turkey's total national circulation.