Global Free Speech Update

 

 

Pakistan: YouTube and Wikipedia join the growing list of internet sites (over 450 according to WaPo) blocked because of content deemed offensive to Islam. The crackdown started last week when Facebook was blocked after users were invited to post drawings of the prophet Muhammad.

Equatorial Guinea: Rights groups are urging UNESCO to reject a three million dollar donation from President Theodoro Obiang that would be used to fund an international prize in life sciences. In a letter delivered on Friday, the group called Obiang "one of Africa’s worst violators of press freedom," adding that several international journalists have been targeted by his regime.

Philippines:  Ranks as the world’s deadliest country for journalists in 2009, according to Reporters Without Borders. Thirty journalists were among the 50 people killed in a political massacre in November, and reporters continue to be targeted in the aftermath of national elections.

Kazakhstan:  Draft provisions of the national Code on Administrative Offenses raise international free speech concerns, say media rights groups familiar with the proposed law. On the table are media registration requirements and troubling content prohibitions, including restrictions on the ability of journalists to speculate about the outcome of a pending trial, and excessive limits on broadcasts that contain foreign language programming.

-Kathleen Bergin