ISSUE #71 CONTENTS:
- The Campaign to Muzzle Wael Abbas, Part 26
- Iranian Nobel Laureate Blasts Nokia
- Algeria Blocks Internet Radio
- Quiz: What's to fear in Tehran's Vanek Square?
SPOTLIGHT CASES:
The Campaign to Muzzle Wael Abbas, Part 26
Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas has again been threatened with six months in jail. This time around the charge against the outspoken blogger is for “providing a telecommunications service to the public without permission,” i.e., sharing his Internet service with a neighbor. A few months ago, Abbas stood charged with damaging an Internet cable, though the case was ultimately dropped. Authorities apparently hope to wear down the young cyber-journalist - whose blog has exposed graphic videos of police torture - with an endless series of pseudo-legal maneuvers.
"This sentence was issued through a twisted legal path and reveals an invisible hand manipulating the case," commented Rawda Ahmed, Abbas’s lawyer. “To manufacture one charge after another until one finally sticks makes a mockery of the law,” she said. Abbas, who represents a leading voice in an anti-torture campaign in Egypt, has yet to go to trial in this new case.
The perpetual legal barrage targeting Abbas reflects a new strategy being adopted by regimes across the region. Prominent dissidents like Abbas - who regularly appears on international TV like the BBC - are apparently too high-profile to jail for their outspoken advocacy. Instead, activists are hit with mundane criminal charges, like Tunisian journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, now jailed for three years over allegedly assaulting a woman. The question in Cairo is whether the latest criminal complaint against Abbas will succeed in muzzling the muckraking journalist.
Iranian Nobel Laureate Blasts Nokia
Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer who gained international acclaim for her human rights advocacy, has accused Finnish telecom firm Nokia of helping the Iranian regime suppress freedom of expression. The Iranian feminist, currently in exile, said Western firms are undermining opposition to Tehran's authoritarian regime and called for international economic sanctions. “Unfortunately, a certain number of firms support the Iranian regime in its repression and censorship,” she said. "When it comes to commercial contracts, human rights fall by the wayside.”
Pressure continues to mount on Nokia to cut ties with the Iranian regime. The Nobel laureate’s announcement comes as several multinational tech firms are taking a stand against repression by dictatorial regimes. Google just decided to end automatic censorship of search results inside China, and Godaddy.com has also announced it will no longer register Chinese domain names. (this withdrawal is due to Chinese government regulations requiring access to photos, phone numbers, and business backgrounds for anyone seeking to register a website). A few months ago, Siemens announced that it would cease new business in Iran.
In the wake of these pullouts, the question is whether the campaign against Nokia – including AIC’s letter-writing campaign with over 11,000 participants – will finally compel the telecom giant to pull out of Iran. Indeed, the negative impact of telecommunication’s monitoring – provided via international corporations – was underlined last week with news that dissidents are being sentenced to jail for criticizing the regime in private phone conversations.
Algeria Blocks Internet Radio, Seeks to Consolidate Media Monopoly
The Algerian government seeks to control popular media in the country through a range of innovative means, including controlling the supply of ink to newspapers and licensing all printing presses. On the airwaves, government-controlled radio and TV stations dominate. And now the regime is extending its reach to Internet radio. The latest independent voice to be blocked: Radio Kalima-Algérie.
The Kalima radio station was developed in partnership with a Tunisian independent radio station of the same name, which has faced similar restrictions from authorities from Tunis. The intra-Maghreb partnership aims to bring a fresh voice to North African publics, utilizing the Internet and European satellites to broadcast into the country. But on March 17, Kalima’s website was suddenly blocked inside Algeria and its audio feed was dropped mysteriously from the EURO satellite, Eutelsat, based in France.
Radio Kalima-Algérie has in the past reported the murder of the head of the police criminal investigation department and has reported cases of alleged corruption in which government officials are implicated. A cyber-crime law adopted in Algeria in July 2009 gives the authorities the legal means to block websites. “We fear that this act of censorship heralds the start of government control of the Internet in Algeria,” said Reporters Without Borders in a statement. "This case stems in part from the fact that the government has a monopoly of broadcasting in Algeria. We urge the authorities to open up broadcasting for the sake of news diversity."
QUIZ: What dangerous element in Tehran’s Vanek Square was covered up in time for Nowruz?
ANSWER: Green sidewalk marking. Two weeks ago, municipal workers in Tehran were filmed painting over green sidewalk marking with black. This may simply be an aesthetic decision, but Iranian officials have definitely come down with a strange case of “chlorophobia”, i.e., a fear of the color green. After post-election protestors adopted green as their symbolic color, Iranian authorities seem to be removing any public displays of green – even the green band at the top of the national flag (as seen in recent Ahmadinejad press conferences, where the green part of the flag has been re-colored blue or splashed over with black).
BECOME A PARTNER IN CRIME:
Here are quick ways to contribute to the Middle East civil rights movement:
- Forward CRIME to friends & encourage them to subscribe.
- Write a letter to imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer.
- Join 11,000 others in demanding Nokia stop aiding Iran's crackdown.
- Enter HAMSA's Dream Deferred essay contest.
