Stories about Feature from March, 2009
Belarus: Bloggers Helped Reinstating Teacher Fired by the British Company Branch on Political Ground
Bloggers in Belarusan Internet (ByNet) has launched an extensive campaign to reinstate a teacher of English Marjana Hruździłovič which had been fired from the Belarusan SOL Language Centre that acts at permission and under license of the non-governmental organization ‘SOL. Sharing One Language' funded by the UK government. The reason for the teacher's dismissal had been her objection to the remark of one of the students who said occasionally in a class that the celebration of Belarusan Freedom Day on March 25th is attended by ‘idiots and degenerates'.
“Matroudine”, website of Tunisian students on Hunger Strike censored
Tunisia authorities have blocked access to the Matroudine website dedicated to provide information and support for the five students and activists from the Tunisian General Student Union (UGET) who went on hunger strike to protest their arbitrary exclusion from Tunisian universities and deprivation of their right to education because of their activism within the UGET.
Egypt : Detained Bloggers complain Torture and Ill treatment
[ Update- Dia Eddin Gad has been released today ] While the recent months have been witnessing a considerable number of arrests to Egyptian bloggers, most of them are facing ill treatment in their detentions. Egyptian blogger Dia Eddin Gad is suffering health problems in his cell in Katta Prison, where he has been locked since he was kidnapped on 6th February.
Sudan: Activist arrested for his online support to ICC Arrest Warrant for Omar al-Bashir
On the night of March 5th, 2009, Sudanese security forces had carried out a raid on the house of internet activist and lawyer Abdel Hakim Abdel Rahman Nasr only few hours after he expressed his support to the ICC Arrest Warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on the online International Forum for Nubia of which he was a moderator.
China: Youtube confirms blocked. For what reason?
Update: Youtube unblocked in March 27 with country preference setting. While Chinese foreign ministry spokesman refused to confirm Youtube had been blocked and stressed that China is not afraid of...
Planning International Day of Solidarity with Persecuted Bloggers
What:Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, an Iranian blogger, died tragically in prison on March 18, demonstrating the sad fact that a blogger’s life can be lost as easily as a blog...
Iran: When the Internet is Viewed through a Filter
When it comes to filtering the internet, Iranian authorities target many political and social blogs and websites, depriving many from receiving information and expressing their ideas. However, the government does not have well-defined red lines, and it changes its filtering policies often. In this post we discuss several issues related to filtering and clarify some common misunderstandings.
China: Grass Mud Horse Disappeared in Google and Yahoo Search
Two days ago, a notice was distributed among online forum managers asking them not to continue the Grass Mud Horse Hyperbole by active moderation of posts. The latest report from...
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger Dies in Prison
Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18. In December, he was sentenced to two and half years...
Maldives: Dissident And Anti-Islamic Sites Blocked
Several dissident and alleged anti-Islamic websites were filtered recently in Maldives. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs ordered the Telecommunication Authority of Maldives (TAM) to block access to those websites.
Kazakhstan: Filtering of the blogs expands
Blogs on mail.ru - popular Russian information, entertainment and mail portal - have become the second victim of blockage campaign in Kazakhstan after LiveJournal. Access via national telecom operator is denied only to blogs, all other services of the portal work fine. Access to the blogs section is possible via anonymizers.
Mauritania: Online Journalist Arrested, News Website Blocked and Journalists Sit-in Attacked
Update: 18 March 2009- Abbass Ould Brahim was released after being held for three days, and the Taqadoumy website was allowed to reopen 24 hours after the Nouakchott prosecutor’s office ordered its closure - Abbass Ould Braham, a Mauritanian online journalist was arrested this past Monday, 16 March 2009, for an article he published on Taqadoumy website. News of his arrest was reported by Taqadoumy.com and echoed by number of Mauritanian websites. Abbass's article "Deep into Mauritania: A Cross-Section of the new Mauritanian Regime" (in arabic) deals with the August 6 coup d'état, the Junta and the Mauritanian political system.
UAE: YouTube Ban Possible, Goodbye Flickr
Bloggers in the UAE are worried that YouTube may be banned in the Emirates, after access to photography hosting site Flickr has been totally blocked. According to Press reports, YouTube is ranked among the top 10 most popular sites in the UAE and news about its possible censorship has sparked debate in the blogosphere.
Egypt: Two Bloggers Were Tortured During Detention
Two bloggers were separately tortured in Egyptian State Security headquarters. One of them is now released, while the other has been receiving treatment in prison. After his release, the Egyptian blogger Mohamed Adel told an independent local newspaper that he was subjected to torture by the State security agents during the first 17 days of his detention.
China: Mourning for Intellectual Websites
This week, two more influential websites have been forced to close, one is Pauwang（泡網）, one is Wei-cheng Za-Wan（圍城雜文）. Pauwang is among one of the longest history BBS in China and...
Malaysia: Rex Judicata
Six Malaysian Netizens will be charged on 13th March 2009, according to news reports. The charges are in relation to their alleged insulting of Sultan Azlan Shah on the Internet....
Anonymous Blogging with WordPress & Tor Updated!
I’m pleased to announce that the third update to the Anonymous Blogging guide with Wordpress & Tor is now available online! This update introduces the Tor Browser Bundle, an open source version of a portable browser developed by Tor Project, that lets you use Tor with zero install. Tor Browser is a great pre-configured Tor bundle with self contained Mozilla Firefox browser for USB drives or any other portable media (SD Card, Hard Drives, Compact Flash Card).
Egypt: Detained blogger Ahmed Abou Doma is at risk of torture
The detained blogger was mentally and physically abused in Al-Khalifa police station, while being transferred to prison. He was beaten up by sticks and his body was standing in a harmful posture for long hours.
Bangladesh: YouTube and File Sharing Sites Blocked
Internet users in Bangladesh are not able to access YouTube since Friday (March 6, 2009) evening. Soon people discovered that other Social Media and file hosting/sharing sites like Esnips, mediafire...
Thailand: Web director arrested for “allowing offensive comments”
Prachatai web director Chiranuch Premchaiporn was arrested by police yesterday for “disseminating lese majeste content on the website.” To put it in another way, she was arrested for allowing comments on the website which the police deemed as offensive to the monarchy. Chiranuch is now out on bail.
