· December, 2011

Stories about Legal Threats from December, 2011

Turkey: No tweets from the courtroom!

  “Today the judge is more strict” says the tweet, “One undercover police for each row! All monitoring the ones who are tweeting!“ In Istanbul-Turkey, today is the 2nd day...

27 December 2011

Iran: Blogger May Face Death Penalty

Several bloggers and news sites reported [fa] that Mohammad Reza Pour Shajari, a jailed blogger , may face charge of ‘Waging War Against God’ (moharebeh). A death sentence can be...

22 December 2011

For Bloggers at Risk: Creating a Contingency Plan

In 2011, we have witnessed the incredible power of bloggers and social media users capturing the world’s attention through their activism. At the same time, regimes appear to be quickening the pace of their cat-and-mouse game with netizens, cracking down on speech through the use of surveillance, censorship, and the persecution and detention of bloggers. Aware of the risks they face, some bloggers have created contingency plans to protect themselves and contacts in the event of an arrest. Here are some suggestions.

22 December 2011

Bahrain: Blogger Zainab Al-Khawaja Brutally Arrested

Bahraini blogger Zainab Al-Khawaja, whose tweets @angryarabiya are keeping the world up-to-date with atrocities committed by the Bahraini regime against protesters, was brutally arrested on Friday. The mother of a two-year-old, whose father and husband are in jail, has been detained for seven days pending investigation. Netizens were on the ground and documented her arrest.

17 December 2011

Syria: Free Razan Ghazzawi

Syrian authorities have arrested blogger Razan Ghazzawi on the Syrian-Jordanian border today. Ghazzawi, who was arrested on the Syrian-Jordanian border, was on her way to Amman to attend a workshop on press freedom in the Arab world. Her arrest has drawn criticism and anger from bloggers and activists around the world, who called for her immediate release.

5 December 2011