Egyptian Christian imprisoned for 6 years on charges of “Contempt of Islam.”

This was paired with charges of insulting President Mursi, both statements allegedly posted on Facebook. (Read)



 (Image: al-Jazeera)

Freedom of Expression Issues in Tunisia

The recently-elected Tunisian government has appointed new individuals to head positions in major media outlets. Attacks by the Tunisian police on journalists, writers, and artists continue. (Read)

Syrian Blogger's Mom Kidnapped

The Syrian blogger Lubna Mari has been an outspoken critic of the Assad regime. Recently her mother was kidnapped by government minders in an attempt to lure Lubna back into Syria and stop her from speaking out against Syrian leadership and its human rights abuses.

Lubna says in the al-Arabiya article that she was suspicious when her mom’s phone had been off since August 13th, went back up randomly, followed by a call from her mom asking her to return to Syria because she was undergoing a medical operation.

She continued by saying this was really out-of-character for her mother and she felt instantly suspicious because her mom had been encouraging her to leave Syria and not come back for any reason out of fear for her daughter’s safety.

The circumstances of this kidnapping are unique because Lubna Mari and her family belong to a minority faction, the Alawites, which is the same group Bashar al-Assad himself belongs to.

She criticized her fellow Alawites for their silence against the regime and said that she and her mother never imagined this kind of treatment as punishment from the government because they are innocent of any crime. She claims that all she did through her continued criticism was ‘try to build a new Syria. A Syria for everyone.’

The regime is making a huge mistake by thinking it will get good human rights publicity by kidnapping and threatening a blogger's mother. That is my only commentary on that issue.

Journalists Censored in Egypt

Journalists Censored in Egypt

 

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information is reporting media censorship and press interference in Egypt.
This is crucial news as it comes soon after the presidential elections. The effected media outlets as reported by ANHRI are as follows:

• Al-Gomhuria Newspaper, “The Republic”, (here), in which was censored an entire Culture section page covering freedom of expression.
• Al-Musawar Magazine, “The Photographer”, which had to halt publishing the final book “Returning from The Brotherhood’s Paradise”, referring to the Islamic Brotherhood.
• An edition of an additional unnamed paper was also confiscated because of an article contained therein written by the Editor commenting on the Egyptian state intelligence community.

This all comes after a start in prosecution of certain journalists including:

• Abdul Haleem Qandeel; Editor of Sawt Al-Umma
• Adel Hamoudeh; Editor of Al-Fajr
• Islam Afifi; Editor of Ad-Dustour
• Pharaohs Channel, a news station, was also cancelled for one month under accusations of ‘criticizing the president of the republic and inciting violence’.

The ANHRI said that that these are the most violent attacks on Egyptian journalism and media after the January 25th Revolution which brought about regime change in Egypt. They also mentioned these actions are in contrast to the statements made by the new president, Mohammed Mursi, respecting freedom of expression.