Freedom of expression and privacy risks across the ICT sector

The BSR report ‘Protecting Human RIghts in the digital age’ describes the evolving freedom of expression and privacy risks faced by information and communications technology (ICT) companies and how these risks can be more effectively mitigated by the industry.  It focuses on the issues for telecommunications services; cell phones and mobile devices; internet services; enterprise [...]

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law – Daphne Barak-Erez and David Scharia In the recent case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a criminal prohibition on advocacy carried out in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign [...]

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law – Daphne Barak-Erez and David Scharia In the recent case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a criminal prohibition on advocacy carried out in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign [...]

Saudi Arabia to remove books deemed to promote terrorism

An official at the Saudi Education Ministry said last week that the kingdom plans to remove books from school libraries that are deemed to encourage terrorism or defame religion. The official said Tuesday the ministry has created a book review committee that will begin work soon. No further details were immediately available. The official spoke [...]

UN report confirms gap between law and reality, torture, secret detentions and police harassment in Tunisia under Ben Ali

The United Nations just published a report on its website which describes the fact-finding mission of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism in January 2010. On the basis of the evidence he gathered, he observed a pattern of unacknowledged detention being used vis-à-vis terrorist suspects. During the [...]

Cables describe suspicions of Syrian government involvement in 2006 anti-Western cartoon protests

Cable 06DAMASCUS404 from the fifth of February 2006 describes how the Syrian regime seemed to have benefited from the rioting with enhanced legitimacy in several ways. Civil society contacts noted that SMS text messages were sent to cellphones two days before, announcing a demonstration on February 4, in front of the Danish Embassy. These contacts [...]

China Sentences Uighur to Life for Reporting Riots

(AP) — A Uighur journalist who worked for an official Chinese radio service was sentenced to life imprisonment for transmitting information about the 2009 ethnic riots in western China — one of dozens jailed since the violence, an overseas Uighur advocacy group said. Memetjan Abdulla, a 33-year-old journalist with the Uighur language service of China [...]

Russia Uses Extremism Law to Target Dissenters

Rights activists say the vaguely worded legislation, first passed in 2002, is increasingly being exploited by the authorities to persecute religious minorities, especially Jehovah’s Witnesses, intimidate the media and clamp down on opposition activists. The law — ostensibly aimed at combating potential terrorist threats — was used earlier this year to fine two prominent Moscow [...]

French Counter-Terrorism head discusses expulsions of Imams and airport security measures in leaked cable

Christophe Chaboud, the Ministry of Interior’s counter-terrorism coordinating chief discussed in 2006 the terrorist threat in France with the US embassy. He discussed two preventive measures in France: the deportation of imams and airport security. Chaboud proudly touted the expulsion of 54 imams from France since 2001. The imams were expelled from France for allegedly [...]

YouTube is letting users decide on terrorism-related videos

YouTube and its parent company, Google, have been criticized by lawmakers for refusing to prescreen militant speeches and propaganda videos that have been cited in more than a dozen terrorism investigations over the last five years. Now the LA Times reports that rather than submit to policies that many argue would amount to an erosion [...]