Thirteen people were arrested in Vietnam over blogging and publishing posts on Facebook in Vietnam, Amnesty International reports. The arrests follow the approval of a new cybersecurity law which will take full effect in January 2019. According to Amnesty International, sentences of up to 15 years were handed to five protesters under Article 79 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, over “activities…
Gilgit-Baltistan Police has reportedly blocked 141 social media accounts over anti-religious and anti-state publications. Five people are facing legal charges for violating the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 over “spreading religious hatred and posting anti-state content online”. DOWN reports that Special Branch Additional Inspector General (AIG) Hanifullah admitted that social media accounts are being monitored for anti-state content and…
Creative Commons, with support of the Jimmy Wales Foundation, launches a Memorial Fund Grants and Fellowship in Memory of Bassel Khartabil: Creative Commons is accepting applications for two new opportunities to continue the legacy and impact of Syrian Palestinian Open internet activist Bassel Khartabil. The Bassel Khartabil Memorial Fund, launched in August 2017 at the behest of his family, will provide grants…
Roya Nobakht, a UK-Iranian citizen who was jailed in Iran over criticizing government on Facebook, was released on Friday, August 25, 2017, after serving 5 years in prison. She is currently subjected to a 2-year travel ban until her reduced 7 years imprisonment sentence will be completed. Roya Saberinejad (also spelled “Saberi-Negad”) Nobakht is a 49-year-old Iranian-British woman, who served time…
Iranian cartoonist “Eaten Fish” has been detained in the Australian-run Manus Island detention centre since 2013. As Canberra aims to close the controversial site in Papua New Guinea in October, activists are campaigning for his resettlement; but his fate remains unclear. Trauma tends to mute the most piercing of ordeals. But Iranian cartoonist Eaten Fish still manages to draw the unspeakable,…
Celebrated Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart’s arrest is a symbol of Turkey’s media purge orchestrated by President Erdoğan. As his trial is put on hold, his fellow cartoonists call for an end to censorship, It has long been the duty of cartoonists to analyse, mock, and satirise the world’s political events – especially those concerning the powerful. But in some parts…
Troubling news coming out of Syria about the death of Bassel Khartabil, the Wikipedian and Head of Creative Common in Syria, who has been imprisoned in Syria since March 15, 2012. Bassel was reportedly executed shortly after his disappearance in 2015, but no formal information was ever given to his family and loved ones. Bassel is a Palestinian Syrian national whom his…
