Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.Of particular interest to the UAE community may be that the WIA Report 2008 also explores "diversity in the ownership of media assets in the 15 largest media markets in the Muslim world, and the ideological diversity of political content online in 74 countries with large Muslim populations."
In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.
More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.
Citizens have faced arrest and jail for blogging about many different topics, said the World Information Access (WIA) report.
Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticised public policies and took political figures to task.
The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the "growing" political importance of blogging.
16 June, 2008
BBC: Blogger arrests hit record high
The BBC reports that, world-wide, blogger arrests tripled between 2006 and 2007. The arrests are concentrated in three countries - China, Egypt and Iran:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
very interesting indeed..
i guess makes you ponder each blog's content policy in light of the significance of blogging during these complex times..
I've done well to stop blogging ha! ;)
On a serious note, what are UAE laws re: blog AND comments' content?? Anyone?
The note that appears on top of the comment box here is a tad intimidating! Well, not that it's ever stopped me saying what I had to say. But still, prevention is better than cure as they say. Or something like that.
Post a Comment
NOTE: By making a post/comment on this blog you agree that you are solely responsible for its content and that you are up to date on the laws of the country you are posting from and that your post/comment abides by them.
To read the rules click here
If you would like to post content on this blog click here