· July, 2010

Stories about Legal Threats from July, 2010

China: Uighur blogger sentenced to 15 year imprisonment

  24 July 2010

According to uighurbiz.net, Uighur reporter and blogger Gheyret Niyaz(海來特.尼亞孜)has been sentenced to 15 year imprisonment on July 23 under the charge of “endangering national security” In Urumqi, Xinjiang. The main reason for the prosecution was his interview with overseas media outlet on the Xinjiang 7.5 riot last year. He was...

A Jordanian student sentenced to two years in prison over IM

  19 July 2010

According to the Next Web - Middle East, citing the Ammannet website, a Jordanian computer engineering student, by the name of Imad Al-Ash, has been arrested since February, 2010, and sentenced on July 13th, 2010, by state security court to two years in prison over charges of lèse majesté for sending an IM (Instant Message) to his friend

Côte d'Ivoire: Three online journalists arrested for publishing a leaked report on alleged corruption

  15 July 2010

According to the blog of Le Nouveau Courrier, three journalists from this Ivorian daily have been arrested since Tuesday July 13th for publishing a leaked report on alleged corruption in the cocoa and coffee trade in Côte d'Ivoire. The three journalists – editor Saint Claver Oula, publisher Stéphane Guédé and managing editor Théophile Kouamouo were arrested by plain-clothes police on public prosecutor Raymond Tchimou Fehou’s orders and taken into custody after refusing to reveal their sources during a surprise visit at the Nouveau Courrier's offices.

Egypt: Blogger Released After More Than two Years in Detention

  14 July 2010

After about three years of detention, the Egyptian blogger Mus'ad Abu Fagr was finally released on Tuesday, June 13th, 2010. Though more than eight release orders were issued to him since his arrest on 26 December 2007, the Ministry of Interior used to renew each time his detention. The decision to set Abu Fagr free came as part of an effort to reduce growing tensions between Egyptian Security Services and Sinai Bedouins.

Lebanon: Three Arrested for Facebook Postings

  8 July 2010

Lebanese Naim George Hanna, 27, Antoine Youssef Ramya, 29, and Shebel Rajeh Qassab, 27, have been arrested for posting Facebook statuses against the Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. The Lebanese online community is outraged because of the invasion of their cyberspace and here are some of their reactions.

China: Online grumble punished with one-year reform-through-labour

  6 July 2010

Tang Lin joined the “Kidney-stone-baby parent” network in 2008 as he suspected the cause of his baby's death was due to melamine contamination of infant milk formula. Since then, he kept paying visit petition to the Chinese authorities but was neglected. According to nddaily.com (via 163.com page removed), in May...