Internet Blotter
Egyptian blogger Karim Amer is finally free after four years in prison. Iran launches yet another police force to deal with the Internet, headquartered with the Revolutionary Guard. Its commander says the state plans to quadruple its Internet control budget. Google lobbies U.S. policymakers to consider online censorship a free trade issue. Is breaking into…
In exile in the U.S., Ethiopian journalist struggles forward
After almost a year in exile in America, an icy ocean away from his home in Ethiopia, journalist Samson Mekonnen, left, only recently received his work permit in Washington. In the interim, like most journalists undergoing the emotionally and financially grueling resettlement process, he has relied on friends, family, and international organizations like CPJ to…
Internet blotter
CPJ protested the arrest of Bahrain blogger Ali Abdel Imam back in September — The Wall Street Journal has a story on his continuing detainment. Activism around the imprisonment of Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan continues: PEN Canada is focusing on his case and Canada and France’s foreign ministers have urged his release. Local Thai ISPs are…
Internet Blotter
Omid Memarian gives insight into the Iranian hardliner in-fighting that led to “blogfather” Hossein Derakhshan’s arrest and sentencing.Pakistan blocks Facebook, but doesn’t block militant jihadi sites.What happened when the authorities shut down the Internet in China’s Xinjiang province.”Deleted” Facebook photos can stay available for years (from the excellent Ars Technica, now banned in Iran).Quote of…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, October 2010 CPJ announces 2010 press freedom awardsMedia repression in Iran, Ethiopia, Russia and Venezuela will be under the spotlight next month when CPJ presents the 2010 International Press Freedom Awards in New York City. CPJ announced the winners this month:Dawit Kebede of Ethiopia, Nadira Isayeva of Russia, Laureano…
Using new Internet filters, Afghanistan blocks news site
Until recently, Afghanistan’s Internet has been notably free of government censorship. That stems largely from the limited impact and visibility of the Net domestically: The Taliban banned the Internet during its rule, and despite a recent boom in use, the nation has only a million users out of a population of about 29 million. But…
Derakhshan case: When keeping quiet does not work
The severity of the nearly 20-year jail sentence handed down to veteran Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, left, has shocked many exiled Iranian journalists and bloggers with whom I’ve spoken. It’s also reinforced their belief that the best way to help jailed colleagues is not through quiet diplomacy but by making a lot of noise.
CPJ to honor brave international journalists
Writers and editors from Ethiopia, Russia, Venezuela, and Iran to receive International Press Freedom Awards. Aryeh Neier to be honored with Burton Benjamin Award. New York, October 5, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor four courageous journalists with its 2010 International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in November. Dawit Kebede of Ethiopia, Nadira…
Nadira Isayeva, Russia
2010 CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee CPJ/Rodney Lamkey Jr. Isayeva, 31, has incurred the wrath of security services in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus for her relentless reporting on their handling of violence and militant Islam in the region. As editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Chernovik (Rough Draft) in the southern republic of Dagestan, she has…
Dawit Kebede, Ethiopia
2010 CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee CPJ/Rodney Lamkey Jr. Kebede, 30, was one of the first journalists to be jailed for independent reporting on Ethiopia’s 2005 election violence. And he was among the last to be released under a presidential pardon nearly two years later. Unlike many of his colleagues who went into exile, Kebede…