PRESS RELEASE
Tunisia: Freedom of expression must be protected in the fight against terrorism
ARTICLE 19 is concerned by the Prime Minister’s recent announcement that new measures would be implemented following the terrorist attacks on Mount Chaambi on 17 July, during which 15 soldiers were killed. In a decision dated 19 July, the government ordered the immediate closure of unauthorized radio and television stations, mosques and social media pages, as well as the suspension of all activities by organizations deemed to have links with terrorism.
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Add Your Voice: Africa Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms
ARTICLE 19 together with other civil society organisations have initiated a ‘Draft Africa Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms’ which aims to identify and define the principles which we believe should form the basis for protecting the internet in Africa.
The draft is now open to public consultation, available
online until 4 August 2014.
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UK: House of Lords Report Advises Restraint on Social Media Offences
The House of Lords Communications Committee released its Report on Social media and criminal offences following a short inquiry on 1 and 9 July 2014. The Committee found that there is no need to adopt new legislation to criminalise revenge porn, trolling, virtual mobbing or cyberbullying but recommended identity checks prior to the opening of social media accounts. ARTICLE 19 welcomes the Committee’s findings as a step in the right direction but warns against a crackdown on anonymity.
Read more >GUEST POST
Iran: Tyranny of Like
Arash AbadpourAfter an Iranian cleric smashed the “wicked culture of sufficing to two children” in a video which went viral on the social media, Iran Wire ran a cartoon by the well-known Iranian artist Touka Neyestani.
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Time for Rouhani to Take Imminent Action – The implications of Jason Rezaian’s Arrest
“Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” Potter Stewart, in dissenting opinion in Ginzburg et al v. United States (1965).The above observation by Stewart couldn’t ring truer than it does with Iran. To an extent it is a platitudinous reference to make, yet the of arrests of US-Iranian journalist Jason Rezaian and his journalist wife, Yeganeh Salehi, as well as a photographer and her partner, indicates a rise in hardliner fears of increasing momentum for change in Iran.
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