· April, 2011

Stories about Legal Threats from April, 2011

MENA Journalists & Cyber Activists: In the Line of Fire

  27 April 2011

From Morocco to Bahrain, everyday people have taken on the cast iron hold of dictatorships and absolute monarchies resulting in an extraordinary collective awakening that has paved the way for epochal change in the region. The youth movement, which lies at the core of the uprisings, continues to play a prominent role in the pro-democracy and pro-reform demonstrations, which have swept through the region, unabated by government clampdowns or concessions.

Azerbaijan Deports Swedish Television Crew

  25 April 2011

The Commitee to Protect Journalists reports that Azerbaijan has deported a Swedish television crew which had arrived to film a documentary on human rights situation in the country. “According to CPJ sources and local press reports, plainclothed men detained journalists My Rohwedder Street, Charlie Laprevote, and Charlotta Wijkström at a protest...

The US government forcing twitter to hand over personal data on its users.

  22 April 2011

Adapted from a RWB article. The US Department of Justice is so determined to prosecute WikiLeaks and its leading supporters. “After exerting pressure on Paypal, Visa, MasterCard and Amazon, the US government is now stepping up its harassment of WikiLeaks and its supporters,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The federal government...

Bahrain: Pro-Government Activists are Blogging too

  18 April 2011

Demands for change in Bahrain and recent incidents of violence against those demanding reform is being chronicled by number of bloggers. They present struggle within the country and also how external forces are influencing events. Adding another dimension to the discussion, pro-government and pro-establishment bloggers are also making their side heard online. Suhail...

Middle East Feels Threatened by Bloggers

  11 April 2011

Such has been the role of bloggers and citizen journalists in fueling the region's season of fury against dictatorship, they are being seen as a threat to status quo. Now a campaign of arrest, intimidation and harassment is being launched against them. In Bahrain, cyber activists and bloggers are facing...

Egypt: Blogger Sentenced to 3 Years for Insulting the Military

  11 April 2011

Along the many years where the former president Hosni Mubarak ruled the country we didn’t witness large scale of cases where a blogger gets jailed for a blog-post. The first case in Egypt was in 2007 when Kareem Amer was sentenced for 4 years in jail based on blog-posts, he was charged for insulting Islam and Mubarak.