· May, 2013

Stories about Legal Threats from May, 2013

Interview: Ali Abdulemam on Human Rights in Bahrain

  30 May 2013

Bahraini blogger, political activist, and Global Voices author Ali Abdulemam, who had been living in hiding in Bahrain for two years, appeared in London in early May, where he has been granted political asylum by the British government. Global Voices Advocacy Director Hisham Almiraat interviewed Abdulemam shortly after his escape from the island nation.

Chad-Senegal: A New Axis of Blogger Persecution?

  18 May 2013

On May 7, Chadian blogger Makaila Nguébla, who had lived in exile in Senegal for eight years, was arrested by Senegalese intelligence services and deported to Conakry (Republic of Guinea) from Dakar. Nguébla is the editor of the collective blog Makaila Info, an information and opinion site that is highly popular among Chadians inside the country and abroad. Advocates fear this may be part of a larger trend of online censorship and blogger persecution in Chad.

Malaysia: News Sites Face Attacks on Eve of Elections

  4 May 2013

The general election campaign period in Malaysia has triggered what independent news site MalaysiaKini is calling “China-style censorship.” In recent weeks, independent news sites Harakah Daily and MalaysiaKini have suffered from DDoS attacks and connection disruption at the ISP level. With elections on May 5, both sites are calling on ISPs and government officials to protect the open Internet.

In Violation of Constitution, Ethiopian Blogger Will Face 18 Years in Prison

  3 May 2013

On May 1, the Ethiopian Supreme Court upheld the conviction and extreme sentence of award-winning online journalist Eskinder Nega, who now faces 18 years in prison. Mohamed Keita of the Committee to Protect Journalists said in response to the Court’s ruling, “The persecution of Eskinder and other journalists is the hallmark of a regime fearful of the opinions of its citizens.”