Some links concerning harrassment of journalists and news related bloggers

Monday, 14 January 2013

Bombs explode outside Greek journalists’ homes

SEEMO expresses alarm at continuing incidents of violence

By: SEEMO Staff

Dogs stand at the burnt entrance of a building following a series of arson attacks against journalists in Athens on Jan. 11, 2013. Small makeshift bombs exploded early on Friday outside the Athens homes of five Greek journalists working for major media outlets, in an apparent protest over coverage of events linked to the country’s economic crisis, police said. REUTERS/John Kolesidis

VIENNA, Jan 14, 2013 – The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), said today that it was alarmed at reports of bombs being placed outside the homes of a number of journalists in Athens, Greece, last Friday.

Small homemade bombs, made with the use of gas canisters, exploded in the early morning hours in front of the homes of five Greek journalists in the Athens districts of Lykavittos, Agia Paraskevi, Alimos, Maroussi and Penteli.

According to the Greek authorities, the journalists targeted included Antonis Liaros, George Oikonomeas, Antonis Skyllakos, Petros Karsiotis and Chris Konstas. In each case, the explosion damaged the entrance of the building, but no one was injured. In the case of Oikonomeas, the attack was in front of his former residence.

The anarchist group “Lovers of Lawlessness” said the attacks were made to protest coverage of the country’s financial crisis seen as sympathetic to the government.

Simos Kedikoglou, a Greek government spokesman, said on Friday: “This is an attempt to openly terrorise the media, a vital part of our democracy.” He noted that the attacks came a day after protesters barged into a radio station.

Yesterday, the home of the spokesman’s brother, George Kedikoglou, was targeted by a group of unknown perpetrators who broke a window of the residence and threw in a Molotov cocktail, starting a small fire.

“This is a new, worrying escalation of violence against media and journalists in Greece,” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “SEEMO is alarmed at the number of violent cases and different forms of pressure directed at journalists in Greece over the past 12 months.”

According to SEEMO, there were 38 cases of press freedom violations or attacks on journalists in Greece in 2012. SEEMO today renewed calls on authorities in Athens to urgently investigate the attacks and to find the perpetrators and any masterminds.

http://www.freemedia.at/press-room/public-statements/press-releases/singleview/article/bombs-explode-outside-greek-journalists-homes.html

Ahmed Mansoor on blogging his way into a UAE prison

Published on: October 18, 2012

One of the United Arab Emirate’s most prominent human rights activists, Ahmed Mansoor was imprisoned in 2011 for criticising the country’s leadership. Here he discusses the death threats, defamation campaigns and physical attacks he continues to face for speaking his mind.

Video here

Ahmed Mansoor is one of five prominent human rights activists in the United Arab Emirates who were detained in April 2011 and charged that June with opposing the Emirati government, inciting demonstrations and insulting the country’s leadership. These charges stemmed from a website Mansoor managed called uaehewar.net where bloggers criticised government officials.

Mansoor was sentenced to three years in prison but released after just seven months when the president pardoned him and the other four activists. He says media reports on their imprisonment “enlightened people about the reality of the case, because inside the UAE the campaign was really [a] smear [campaign]” (3mins 36secs). He also believes media attention around the 16-day hunger strike he and others undertook in prison might have expedited their pardon.

While in prison and since his release, Mansoor has been the target of online death threats, defamation campaigns and physical attacks. He says the government has done little to address these assaults.

Mansoor says his laptop was attacked by “a very sophisticated version of malware apparently that the authorities in the region have been using against individuals, which allows authorities to gain illegal access to someone’s emails and computer” (8mins 2 secs). Personal emails and phone records were used as evidence in the trial against him. His passport has also been confiscated by the government since his arrest, and he has been unable to leave the UAE.

In response to our sixth draft principle and whether violent intimidation has caused him to self-censor criticism of the government, Mansoor says: “The only limits that I put to myself are the ethical limits…I believe free speech is the prerequisite for any development to happen in any place and any country, and I’m driven totally by my passion and my love to this country” (15mins 32secs).

http://freespeechdebate.com/en/media/ahmed-mansoor-on-blogging-his-way-into-a-uae-prison/

January 23, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized

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