Full Coverage: Freedom of expression

29.06.2005 Mikael Storsjö is a man who hosted web pages of the Chechen news agency on a Finnish server which resulted in the Finnish security police coming after him hours after opening the site. How did an IT-entrepreneur become involved with the Chechen resistance movement? Storsjö prefers to talk about freedom of speech rather than having a narrow discussion on terrorism; he thinks both sides of the conflict should be heard equally.

29.06.2005 Police in Zambia have threatened to charge radio host and commentator Anthony Mukwita with sedition after a June 10 broadcast on privately owned Radio Phoenix in which he read an anonymous fax criticizing the government.

29.06.2005 Journalists in Pakistan have reportedly filed dozens of access to information requests in the past six months as a result of workshops on press freedom organised by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF). Since December 2004, PPF has held workshops in seven communities throughout the country to train journalists on press freedom monitoring and free expression advocacy.

27.06.2005

23.06.2005 Paul Foreman et Vincent Hoedt ont été arrêtés à la fin du mois de mai. Tous deux étaient accusés de publication de fausses informations, de nuisances envers la société soudanaise et d’espionnage, suite à la publication en mars du rapport "L'écrasant fardeau du viol: violence sexuelle au Darfour". Ils avaient été relâchés sous caution et n’avaient pas été autorisés à quitter le pays.

20.06.2005 Les membres de l'IFEX attirent l'attention sur le Code pénal algérien, que les autorités invoquent pour incarcérer les journalistes qui couvrent d'un ?il critique le gouvernement et les forces armées. Au cours de la dernière semaine, au moins quatre d'entre eux ont été reconnus coupables de diffamation pénale et trois se sont vu infliger des peines d'emprisonnement. Il y a encore des centaines d'autres affaires pendantes contre les journalistes.

17.06.2005 On 14 June 2005, Lusaka police questioned Anthony Mukwita, a Radio Phoenix "Let the People Talk" programme host, over a fax anonymously sent, which he had read on air during the 10 June edition of the programme. The fax accused the government of condoning corruption and warned that the country might slip into anarchy as a result.

17.06.2005 At a Baghdad conference this week, over 200 Iraqi journalists demanded greater press freedom in the war-torn country. Working under dangerous conditions, Iraqi and foreign journalists shared their experiences, including being targeted by both insurgents and Coalition forces.

13.06.2005 Bolstered by the Supreme Court stay order against the Nepalese government for closing down the radio syndication service, Communication Corner, FM radio owners in Nepal have intensified their nationwide protest programme. The FM radio owners have decided to register their protest by defying the government order and simultaneously broadcasting news of King Gyanendra’s departure for Doha on 13 June at 8 PM on all FM stations throughout the country.

11.06.2005 La sécurité mondiale et la « guerre contre le terrorisme » dominent aujourd’hui le programme politique au niveau international. Sous la poussée des États-Unis, un nombre croissant de mesures « antiterroristes » et de « sécurité » sont adoptées par des pays du monde entier. Ce nouveau paradigme « sécuritaire » sert à restreindre les libertés et à accroître les pouvoirs policiers de façon à exercer un contrôle toujours plus grand sur les personnes et les populations.

08.06.2005 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) has upset the Uzbek authorities by filing vital eyewitness accounts of the recent massacre in Andijan together with credible estimates of the death toll. Now one of the IWPR journalists has been arrested.

03.06.2005 The Democratic Voice of Burma has launched a new local language satellite TV channel with the support of US and European donors. Burma is one of the world's most impenetrable countries for independent media.

01.06.2005 Civil society groups met last week to input to the UK government's preparation for the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) in November. Although the UK will be in a strong position as the voice of the EU, there is little sign that the government will adopt key NGO concerns on internet freedoms and the digital divide, let alone the unsuitability of Tunisia as host for the event.

01.06.2005 A writ petition has been filed before the Nepalese apex court by the Managing Director of Communication Corner Pvt Limited, Gopal Guragai, seeking the court's interim order to repeal the government's order banning the organisation producing news items for FM radio stations in Nepal.

01.06.2005 A writ petition has been filed before the Nepalese apex court by the Managing Director of Communication Corner Pvt Limited, Gopal Guragai, seeking the court's interim order to repeal the government's order banning the organisation producing news items for FM radio stations in Nepal.