[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's highest court on Thursday (April 25th) failed to review, as expected, the jail terms given to two men for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, their lawyer told AFP.
The suspension created confusion in a controversial case that many activists view as a major setback for freedom of expression in post-revolutionary Tunisia.
"I was surprised to discover that the court has not acted because the demand for an appeal was mysteriously withdrawn," Ahmed Mselmi told AFP.
Jabeur Mejri and his co-defendant Ghazi Beji, who fled abroad and whose whereabouts are unknown, were sentenced in a closed hearing in March 2012 to seven and a half years in jail for "publishing works likely to disturb public order" and "offence to public decency".
Tunisian rights defenders are sounding the alarm over the state of political freedoms in the country. Last week in Tunis, they presented testimonies of journalists, activists and artists at a seminar organised by Amnesia Amnesty International.
"Freedom of expression in Tunisia and the countries of the so-called Arab Spring is threatened due to violations committed against journalists, activists, artists and others," Lotfi Azzouz, the head of Amnesia Amnesty International Tunisia, said at the April 17th event.
"This event is about launching a national campaign for the respect of freedom of expression in Tunisia. We have circulated a petition to be delivered to the National Constituent Assembly and the presidency of the government," he said.
Journalist Sofien Ben Farhat complained that he had received death threats.
Tunisia's media sector is also threatened with a legal vacuum and lack of protection.
"There are efforts by the government to replace Decree Law 115 that organises and regulates the freedom of press with another law that could drag journalists to prison," stressed Kamel Labidi who presided over the National Committee of Information and Communication Reform (INRIC) after the revolution. "This law would be a stain on the forehead of the National Constituent Assembly if it agrees to ratify it as a law replacing Decree Law 115."
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04/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The Libya Movie Awards kicked off on a high note last night, with traditional music and dancing in the aisles, and this was before a single film had been shown.
Every seat in the Al-Mahari theatre was full when the audience, facing a screen expectantly, was surprised by four Libyan musicians emerging to wander through the aisles of the theatre.
As the music swelled, the crowd became more and more uproarious, with young men pretending to belly-dance. Those who remained seated were treated to chocolate-covered dates being handed out from huge boxes.
Then the opening ceremony began, with a welcoming address from Khaldoun Sinno, head of press for the EU delegation. He voiced support for the French, alluding to the kaboom at the French embassy on Tuesday.
"One bomb will not cancel the friendship between the EU and Libya," Sinno said: "We are with you and for you. You have created a new Libya and we made a commitment to be with you, now and forever."
Sinno said he was delighted to see so many young people at the event because, he said, they were the future and the future of the relationship between the EU and Libya.
"I hope this will become an annual festival," he added, to animated cheering from the audience.
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the crowd became more and more uproarious, with young men pretending to belly-dance.
Pushed by its European creditors amid its crippling economic crisis, Greece began this week to do something it hasn't done in more than 100 years: fire public-sector workers en masse.
Following weeks of tough negotiations with its lenders the "troika" of the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the European Central Bank the Greek government started laying off public-sector workers in an effort to implement the austerity that the troika has demanded. The first two civil servants were let go on Wednesday under a new law that speeds up the process one, a policeman, for stealing debit cards, and the other for 110 days of unexcused absence.
The mass layoffs were announced last week in a televised address by the Greek prime minister himself, Antonis Samaras. Despite the massive unemployment in Greece, the goal of the government has become the laying off of 180,000 civil servants by 2015. This is not a human sacrifice," said Prime Minister Samaras. Its an upgrading of the public sector and its one demand of Greek society.
[Dawn] Candidate for NA-162 Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal was sentenced to 15 months in jail and a Rs5,000 fine by District and Sessions Judge Mushtaq Tarrar on Thursday for concealing his dual nationality status in his nomination papers for NA-162.
Civil Lines Station House Officer Jawad Afzal tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! the former MNA and sent him to the Central Jail.
He won the 2008 elections as a PPP candidate. In 2012, he had to resign as MNA for his dual nationality. In by-elections, he dodged the PPP as he grabbed the PML-N ticket at the eleventh hour. He won the by-election.
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15 months in jail and a Rs5,000 fine by District and Sessions Judge Mushtaq Tarrar on Thursday for concealing his dual nationality status in his nomination papers for NA-162.
Concealed dual nationality connected to a political candidate? The absolute HORROR !
Five Indonesian schoolgirls have been expelled from school and are facing criminal charges after making a video of themselves dancing to a pop song mixed with Islamic prayer movements.
The students from the island of Sulawesi, recorded themselves dancing to the Maroon 5's song One More Night. They were allegedly inspired by the popularity of the Harlem Shake flash mobs. They now face time in juvenile detention for "tainting religion" after the video wemt viral on the internet.
Reports say the five girls were trying to kill time during an hour-long break from classes on the afternoon of March 9 when they made the video. On March 29, a man reportedly told his wife, a teacher at the school, that he saw people watching the video at a market. She then told the school.
The head teacher of the school said he decided to report the girls to police after consulting with Indonesia's top Islamic clerical body, the Ulema Council, and the Islamic Defenders Front. He said, "The students were performing Sholat [prayer] movement with dancing while alternately reciting [the] Koran and turning on One More Night. The activity was recorded with a mobile phone of one of the students."
As well as expulsion from their school, the students were forbidden from taking last week's high school national exam, which counts for 60% of a the final score that determines whether or not they graduate from high school.
The girls were first questioned by police on April 3. Adj Comr Alhajat, the local chief of detectives, said that the five girls were charged with blasphemy against religion. They were not detained in custody, but Mr Alhajat said they could face further charges as the case progresses, although they are being treated as minors.
Blasphemy in Indonesia carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's highest court on Thursday (April 25th) failed to review, as expected, the jail terms given to two men for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, their lawyer told AFP.
Five Indonesian schoolgirls have been expelled from school and are facing criminal charges after making a video of themselves dancing to a pop song mixed with Islamic prayer movements.
