By: RFE, January 6, 2010
A rally was held in central Almaty today in support of jailed journalists in Kazakhstan, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports. The event was held under the banner “Freedom to journalists convicted for their professional activities” and marked the first anniversary of the arrest of Ramazan Esergepov, editor of the weekly newspaper “Alma-Ata Info,” who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2009 for publishing classified documents.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
Burmese journalist imprisoned
By: Terry Evans, Scoop, January 7, 2010 A Burmese freelance video reporter has been handed a 20-year prison sentence, bringing to 13 the number of imprisoned journalists and bloggers in Burma today. Hla Hla Win was first arrested on 11 September 2009. In October she received a seven-year sentence for possessing an illegally imported motorcycle. When the junta learned she was associated with an exiled news organisation, she was charged and found guilty of violating the Electronics Act, which prohibits the transmission of information critical of the military regime via the Internet. On 31 December 2009, Hla Hla Win had 20 years added to her original seven-year sentence. Read full article… Burmese whistle-blowers sentenced to death Burma must win ‘second independence’ Burma: Army men edit ethnic Kachin newspaper Planting seeds of change for Myanmar |
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EAST ASIA
Hong Kong: Chinese official asks for protests to be peaceful
By: Straits Times, January 7, 2010 China’s top official in Hong Kong made a rare appeal for pro-democracy protests to remain peaceful as a politician close to the central government warned it will send in troops if the demonstrations get out of hand, a report said on Thursday. The remarks were made after thousands of people took to the streets on New Year’s Day to call for universal suffrage and for the release of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Read full article… Vaclav Havel protests jailing of Chinese dissident China: China reportedly sends crowd-control armored vehicles to Iran Liu Xiaobo’s case shows harsh Chinese sentencing trend for freedom of expression China: Writers rally for Liu Xiaobo China: Xinjiang bans separatist talk China: Jailed dissident appeals |
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OCEANIA
Three books on Papua to be banned
By: Free West Papua, January 6, 2010 The Indonesian government still thinks it is necessary to ban books considered dangerous to the nation’s unity. Certain books could form the wrong collective conscious and trigger a separatist time bomb. “We do not want to see Indonesia separated,” said the Head of Research and Development of the Justice and Human Rights Department Hafid Abbas in his office yesterday. He deemed that separatists know the hardship of armed resistance so they chose to do their campaign through publications. Read full article… |
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AFRICA
Bus strike chaos in Kenya
By: Xan Rice, The Guardian, January 5, 2010 Owners of “matatus”, which serve as the main form of public transport in Kenya, say they were protesting harassment and extortion by police officers. Millions of Kenyans were forced to find different and occasionally dangerous ways of getting to work and school – including hanging on to the sides of trains – during a second day of strikes by commuter minibuses. Read full article…
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GFI releases “New Haven Declaration” as a step forward in the fight for human rights
By: Monique Perry Danziger, Global Financial Integrity, January 7, 2010 Global Financial Integrity (GFI) released today a statement-dubbed the New Haven Declaration-which debuts a new partnership between humans rights and financial transparency advocacy groups. Today’s announcement follows a meeting of prominent human rights and financial transparency organizations at Yale University in early December, 2009. The groups discussed the link between illicit financial practices, secrecy in global finance and their adverse impact on human rights. Read full article… How the mobile internet could change everything By: Luke Allnutt, RFE, January 6, 2010 While the defining technological shifts of the 2000s were the ubiquity of mobile phones and the growth of the Internet, in the next decade these two trends will converge: the rise and rise of the mobile Internet. It is a shift that will present great opportunities for prosperity and democratization, but also grave possibilities for tyrants and extremists. Read full article… Ten tactics rights activists can use Ten tactics for turning information into action |
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Reprise du procès de la militante islamiste Nadia Yassine, maintes fois reporté
By: France 24, January 7, 2010 L’affaire Nadia Yassine débute le 2 juin 2005, à la suite d’un entretien accordé à l’hebdomadaire marocain “Al-Ousbouiya al-jadida”. Dans cette interview, elle exprime clairement ses positions concernant la monarchie et le système de gouvernance du Maroc. Elle déclare préférer “la république à la monarchie”, cette dernière “ne [convenant] pas aux Marocains”, avant d’ajouter que “les jours de la monarchie sont comptés” dans le pays. Poursuivie pour “atteinte à la monarchie”, son procès débute le 28 juin 2005. À peine ouvert, il est immédiatement reporté. À son arrivée au tribunal, quelque 300 militants sont là pour lui manifester leur solidarité, de même que les télévisions du monde entier, venues couvrir l’événement. Read full article… Un vidéaste tibétain condamné à six ans de prison Une collaboratrice de la Democratic Voice of Burma condamnée à vingt ans de prison : un “verdict effrayant” |
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SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa
By: Sokari Ekine, The Progressive Pan-African Publisher, January 2010 SMS Uprising provides a unique insight into how activists and social change advocates are addressing Africa’s many challenges from within, and how they are using mobile telephone technologies to facilitate these changes. This collection of essays by those engaged in using mobile phone technologies for social change provides an analysis of the socio-economic, political and media contexts faced by activists in Africa today. Read full article… A Thousand Suns
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Ethiopia: Conference to ask what future might hold
By: UNPO, January 6, 2010 The Oromo-American Citizens Council will convene on 13 March 2010 its fourth international conference looking at human rights and democracy for Oromo. Read full article…
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Egypt: Bloggers name and shame torturers
By: Cam McGrath, IPS, December 21, 2010 People might expect fresh-faced Noha Atef to spend a lot of time writing blogs and perusing social networking sites, but they are often surprised by the content of her posts and tweets. The 25-year-old Egyptian journalist uses the Internet to expose police abuse and torture in her home country. Atef’s blog, ‘Torture in Egypt’, is the most comprehensive site of its kind in the Middle East, with reports, photos, video clips and a library of articles aimed at exposing the brutality of Egypt’s police and security forces. Read full article… Gandhi and the new popular movemenets in Europe |