News
The Media Legal Defence Initiative, International Federation for Human Rights and Media Defence – Southeast Asia today filed an amicus curiae submission in the appeal of magazine editor Somyot Phruksakasemsuk, addressing the Thai courts’ refusal to grant bail pending his trial and appeal.
Read more...On World Press Freedom Day 2013, the Media Legal Defence Initiative and a coalition of media freedom groups including the Indonesia legal center for journalists, LBH Pers have called on the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions to renew investigations into the murder of Indonesian journalist Udin.
Read more...Victor Ndoki is the editor of the weekly newspaper “Les Nouvelles du Pays”. In April 2009, the paper published an article reporting governmental investigations into the Minister of Communication who had deposited 600 million FCFA, intended for the visit of Pope Benedict the XVI to Cameroon, into his personal account. The investigations implicated a number of high-ranking officials at the Ministry of Communication. More than two years after the piece was published, one of them brought defamation charges against Ndoki, who had written the report, and the newspaper itself.
Read more...We are looking for individuals with a passion for media freedom, and who share our mission to help journalists and independent media outlets defend legal cases against them and ensure they can do their job without harassment.
As a Trustee, you will play a vital role in supporting the governance and strategic direction of MLDI, and in turn ensure we continue to help people contribute to a democratic society in which citizens are informed on matters of public interest and are able to participate in democracy and hold those in positions of power to account.
Read more...The Media Legal Defence Initiative and Bytes for All have submitted a letter of allegation to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, calling for an end to the blocking of websites by the Pakistani government.
As a result of a deliberate government policy, numerous websites are currently unavailable in Pakistan, including YouTube and several news websites. Several other websites, including Twitter and Facebook, have been blocked in the past.
Read more...The Media Legal Defence Initiative, together with eleven other human rights organisations, has submitted requests for urgent action to three United Nations Special Rapporteurs and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, calling for the immediate release of Vietnamese human rights lawyer and blogger Le Quoc Quan.
Read more...MDLI and Media Defence - Southeast Asia have submitted an amicus curiae brief in the appeal hearing of Cambodian broadcaster Mam Sonando. Mr Sonando, the 71 year old director of Radio Beehive, was last year sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly inciting violence and instigating rebellion. He is a prominent human rights defender and has been imprisoned twice before for publicly criticising the Cambodian government.
Read more...The much-awaited day for oral arguments against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 last Tuesday, 15 January, started very early for me. While I was asked the week before to bring a wide screen Powerpoint projector to the Supreme Court, I was only told on the same day to set it up as early as 12pm. I was told this at 11am. So while I would have wanted to spend time with fellow netizens encamped at the corner of Taft and Padre Faura, I did not have the time to do so.
Read more...Mr Quan was arrested on 27 December 2012 on charges of alleged tax evasion. He has been held incommunicado and went on hunger strike on December 30. The current state of his health is unknown.
Read more...Nigerian corruption and human rights website, Sahara Reporters has won summary judgment in a $100 million libel and invasion of privacy case brought against it by US lawyer Ephraim Ugwuonye.
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