· April, 2009

Stories about Legal Threats from April, 2009

Egypt: Local Report Documents Violations against 43 Internet Users

  29 April 2009

The prominent Egyptian NGO Hisham Mubarak Center for Law (HMCL) issued a report, titled “Egypt on the Crossroad …2008“, documenting the status of freedom of expression in the country during the year 2008, including the detention and harassment of bloggers. The report (download the report in Arabic) has an exclusive...

Malaysia: RPK in hiding

  25 April 2009

Popular Malaysian blogger and editor of the Malaysia Today website, Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), failed to attend his sedition trial on April 23, 2009. As a result, the Sessions Court in Petaling Jaya issued a warrant of arrest against RPK. News reports state that Sessions Judge, Rozina Ayob, issued the order after prosecutor,...

Madagascar: Transitional government is trampling on freedom of speech

  24 April 2009

A series of unfortunate decisions taken by the Andry TGV Rajoelina High Authority for the Transition (HAT) government is seriously threatening freedom of speech in Madagascar. First, there was the arrest of three demonstrators, most famously, “Razily“, the young man seen bearing a flag in this amateur video, before being...

Egypt: A New Detention Order for a Blogger Arrested Since 2007

  22 April 2009

In an unexplained action, Egyptian Ministry of Interior issued a new detention order for blogger and activist, Mos'ad Abu Fagr. The detained blogger was transferred again to Borg El Arab prison in Alexandria instead of north Sinai prison. This transfer imposes hardship on Abu Fagr's family to visit him, as they are based is the Sinai. Abu Fagr was arrested on 26 December 2007, but the court and D.A issued e

China: Free Wu Baoquan

  21 April 2009

Soon after Wang Shuai's defamation case spread widely via media report and got strong public support, the Henan province police apologized to Wang and he was given a symbolic compensation of RMB783.93. However, another outraging case has been exposed in inner Mongolia. A netizen, Wu Baoquan (吴保全), who had exposed...

Egypt: An Appeal For The Imprisonment Of A Blogger

  19 April 2009

An appeal for the sentence on the Egyptian blogger Ahmad Saad Abou Doma was presented yesterday. Lawyers from Hisham Mubarak center for Legal Aid requested the cancellation of a sentence of one year in prison and asked for a new trial to Doma, as he was trialed in a military...

Thailand: Nine new charges against Prachatai webmaster

  17 April 2009

Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of independent Thai online news portal Prachatai, was arrested on March 6 under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act. Her charges resulted from allowing comments posted by readers of Prachatai’s online discussion fora alleged to be lèse majesté.

China: Netizen jailed for 8 days for mocking local government

  16 April 2009

A 24 year-old netizen Wang Shuai was jailed for 8 days for posting pictures that mocked at illegal land requisition in Henan Ningbao county in 6 March. Latest update on 17 of April from jinhua.cn via sz7 in the comment: Henan province police chief apologized to Wang and he was...

Tunisia: Blogger's Home Raided, Laptop and CDs Robbed

  11 April 2009

The house of the Tunisian journalist and blogger Zied el-Heni has been raided last night (April 10, 2009). In a blog post published today, Zied wrote that his laptop and CDs which contain all his work have been robbed: "I am sorry to inform you that my house has been raided and robbed on April 10, 2009. They stole my laptop and CDs which contain the efforts of my work day and night...

Egypt: A Blogger Disappears After His Release

  8 April 2009

Although he was released by the Public Prosecutor, Egyptian blogger Abdel Rahman Fares (25 ) is still missing. Fares who blogs at Lesani Howa Qalami (My Tongue is My Pen) was arrested on April 5, while handing out flyers in his city of Fayoum, calling people to take to the...