2 July 2008

BLOGGER ARRESTS HIT RECORD HIGH, U.S. REPORT SAYS


More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a recent University of Washington report.

Since 2003, 64 people unaffiliated with news organisations have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, according to the 2008 World Information Access (WIA) report. And last year, three times as many people - 36 - were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, the report revealed.

More than half of arrests since 2003 were made in China, Egypt and Iran, but British, French, Canadian and American bloggers have also been detained. The average prison sentence for blogging was 15 months, while the longest sentence recorded was eight years.

Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. The report said the rising number of arrests indicates blogging's growing political importance, especially in times of political uncertainty such as around general elections or large protests.

This year, the report predicts the number of bloggers arrested will exceed 2007 numbers thanks to greater popularity of blogging as a medium, greater enforcement of net restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the U.S.

Visit these links:
- WIA report: http://www.wiareport.org/index.php/56/blogger-arrests and http://www.wiareport.org/index.php/2008-briefing-booklet/
- BBC story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7456357.stm
- Ars Technica (technology news website) comment: http://tinyurl.com/4sutxp
(2 July 2008)



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Also from the Communiqué, 2 July 2008

INTERNATIONAL: DART CENTER FELLOWSHIPS TO IMPROVE COVERAGE OF TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE 2 July 2008 INTERNATIONAL: COURAGE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS HONOUR CYPRIOT, AFGHAN WOMEN 2 July 2008 PALESTINE: PALESTINIAN WINS CRNI'S COURAGE IN EDITORIAL CARTOONING AWARD 2 July 2008 ROMANIA: 50 PERCENT OF NEWS MUST BE POSITIVE, SAYS DRAFT LAW 2 July 2008 CUBA: CUBA: RELEASE JAILED JOURNALISTS, IFEX MEMBERS URGE CASTRO 2 July 2008 MONGOLIA: PRESIDENT DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AMID VOTE PROTEST 2 July 2008 BELARUS: GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON INTERNET NEWS, INDEPENDENT MEDIA 2 July 2008

International

Twitter urged not to cooperate with censors 27 January 2012 Online freedoms threatened by another step towards treaty's adoption, says RSF 19 December 2011 Lucrative surveillance market fed by desire to hunt down dissidents, reveal WikiLeaks Spy Files 6 December 2011 Arrest warrant against former ICTY spokeswoman 18 November 2011


 
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