Adil Soz – International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech

An open letter by 44 organisations calls Iraq’s proposed Information Technology Crimes law a threat to the fundamental freedoms necessary for the evolution of free speech and a vibrant press. The law will come to vote in the Iraqi Council of Representatives in April.

The editor of the independent weekly newspaper “Vzglyad” was granted a pardon and released after nearly two months in a pre-trial detention centre in Almaty.

Fifty IFEX members and other rights groups call on the Bahrain authorities to release from prison human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, whose life is at risk since beginning a hunger strike on 8 February.

Twenty-nine IFEX members have signed a letter to the Prosecutor General about the detention of editor Igor Vinyavsky, whose detention is believed to be politically motivated, calling for him to be released and for the evidence leading to his arrest to be made public.

Gennady Pavlyuk, who wrote under the pseudonym Ibrahim Rustambek, died after he was bound in tape and pushed out of the window of an apartment building in Almaty.

Adil Soz and seven other media organisations say that parts of the proposed “Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting” do not conform with international access to information standards.

Some of the blogs on the portal allegedly violated the law on “disseminating materials containing propaganda for terrorism, religious extremism, and incitement to commit acts of terrorism”.

The new law stipulates that legal bodies suing mass media outlets and journalists “for the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation” cannot claim financial compensation for moral damages.