Persecution of political bloggers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Persecution of political bloggers is the political repression of bloggers for their ideas and views expressed in the Internet. The persecution is usually conducted by state authorities or security services and may include harassment, intimidation, judicial prosecution, or extrajudicial punishment.
Along with development of the Internet, state authorities in many parts of the world are moving forward to install mass surveillance of the electronic communications, establish Internet censorship to limit the flow of information, and persecute individuals and groups who express “inconvenient” political views in the Internet. In liberal democracies the right to criticize the government without interference is considered an important element of free speech. However in regions where print and broadcast media are tightly controlled,the anonymous online postings may be the only source of information about the experiences, feelings, and opinions of ordinary citizens.
Many cyber-dissidents have found themselves persecuted for attempts to bypass state controlled news media. Reporters Without Borders has released a Handbook For Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents and maintains a roster of currently imprisoned cyber-dissidents. The Committee to Protect Bloggers has been created [2]
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[edit] Iran
Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi was imprisoned for published an open letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His pregnant wife and other bloggers who commented on the arrest were imprisoned too. [1]
[edit] Egypt
Several bloggers in Egypt are arrested for allegedly defaming the president Hosni Mubarak or expressing critical views about Islam [2] Blogger Karim Amer has been convicted to four years of prison [3].
[edit] China
Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Jintao ordered to "maintain the initiative in opinion on the Internet and raise the level of guidance online," [3] "An internet police force - reportedly numbering 30,000 - trawls websites and chat rooms, erasing anti-Communist comments and posting pro-government messages." [4] However, the number of Internet police personnel was challenged by Chinese authorities [5] Amnesty International blamed several companies, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, of collusion with the Chinese authorities to restrict access to information over the Internet and identify cyber-dissidents by hiring "big mamas" . [6]
It was reported that departments of provincial and municipal governments in mainland China began creating "teams of internet commentators, whose job is to guide discussion on public bulletin boards away from politically sensitive topics by posting opinions anonymously or under false names" in 2005 [7] Applicants for the job were drawn mostly from the propaganda and police departments. Successful candidates have been offered classes in Marxism, propaganda techniques, and the Internet. "They are actually hiring staff to curse online," said Liu Di, a Chinese student who was arrested for posting her comments in blogs [7]
[edit] Russia
It was reported that state-sponsored information warfare teams ("internet brigades") have also been created in Russia. [8] These teams reportedly conduct psychological operations on-line against political bloggers, including dissemination of disinformation and preventing free discussions of undesirable subjects in blogs and internet forums by using cyberstalking, cyber-bullying and other psychological warfare methods. [9].
Director of analytical department of Federation Council of Russia Alexander Usupovski [4] dismissed the existence of such brigades as "conspiracy theory" [10]. However, Russian "internet brigades" resurfaced in Poland. According to Polish newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny, "at least a dozen of active Russian agents work in Poland, also investigating Polish internet. Not only do they scrutinize polish websites (like those supporting Byelorussian opposition), but also perform such actions, as – for instance – contributing to internet forums on large portals (like Gazeta.pl, Onet.pl, WP.pl). Labeled as Polish Internet users, they incite anti-Semitic or anti-Ukrainian discussions or disavow articles published on the web." [11] The teams of "Live Journal fighters" are reportedly created by "Russia the young" organization controlled from the Kremlin [5]. "[This] work in Live Journal is extremely important", said Vladislav Surkov, a top aide to Vladimir Putin [6].
The alleged FSB activities in the Internet have been described in a short story "Anastasya" by Russian writer Grigory Svirsky who was interested in moral aspects of their work [12] He wrote: "It seems that offending, betraying, or even "murdering" people in the virtual space is easy. This is like killing an enemy in a video game: one do not see a disfigured body or eyes of the person who is dying right in front of you. However, human soul lives by its own basic laws that force it to pay the price for the virtual crime in his real life". [9]
[edit] Tunisia
Lawyer and human rights defender Mohammed Abbou was imprisoned for criticizing torture on a web site. [13]
[edit] Vietnam
Nguyen Vu Binh was imprisoned for writing about violations of human rights, and Truong Quoc Huy was arrested for discussing political reforms in Internet chat room [14]
[edit] References
- ^ Connor, A. (2005), Not just critics, BBC News, 20th June 2005. Retrieved on 29th November 2006.
- ^ Egypt arrests another blog critic, BBC News, 20th November 2006. Retrieved on 29th November 2006.
- ^ China's Hu vows to "purify" Internet, Reuters, Jan 24, 2007
- ^ War of the words by Guardian Unlimited, February 20, 2006
- ^ Ｗho are China's Top Internet Cops?
- ^ Amnesty International joins multi stakeholder initiative on internet and human rights
- ^ a b China's secret internet police target critics with web of propaganda, by Jonathan Watts in Beijing, June 14, 2005, Guardian Unlimited
- ^ Commissars of the Internet. The FSB at the Computer. by Anna Polyanskaya, Andrei Krivov, and Ivan Lomko, Vestnik online, April 30, 2003 (English translation)
- ^ a b Eye for an eye (Russian) by Grigory Svirsky and Vladimur Bagryansky, publication of Russian Center for Extreme Journalism [1]
- ^ Conspiracy theory by Alexander Usupovsky, Russian Journal, 25 April, 2003
- ^ Operation "Disinformation" - The Russian Foreign Office vs "Tygodnik Powszechny", Tygodnik Powszechny, 13/2005
- ^ " Grigory Svirsky Anastasya. A story on-line (Full text in Russian)
- ^ Two years behind Tunisian bars for speaking out Statement by Amnesty International
- ^ Free Vietnamese Internet dissidents!, Statement by Amnesty International
[edit] External links
- The Internet and Human Rights by Amnesty International
- Today, our chance to fight a new hi-tech tyranny by Guardian Unlimited
