Crisis: International
Indon edition of Playboy suspended
About 300 protesters broke into the editorial office of Playboy magazine in Jakarta in April, forcing the publication to suspend operations.
Violent anti-pornography protests by religious groups forced the magazine to stop operating barely two weeks after its launch.
Playboy Indonesia, a toned-down version of the US-based adult magazine famous for featuring nude women, became controversial in the predominantly Muslim nation after the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) opposed it for spreading pornography. The Indonesian government has tried to downgrade opposition to the magazine by implementing anti-pornographic laws even as Erwin Arnada, editor of the magazine, specified that the Indonesian version’s content would be different from the original US version.
Playboy, which features articles on fashion, entertainment and sports, has also been known to publish liberal opinions on major political issues.
Chinese cyber dissident gets 12 years
Chinese cyber-dissident, Yang Tianshui, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for posting anti-government articles online.
The sentence was given on May 16 to Yang who had reported on human rights violations and tortures inflicted by activists. He posted his articles on the Chinese version of the online news media Epoch Times. He was arrested without warrant on Dec. 24 in Hangzhou by plainclothes agents. His trial was completed in three hours. As he was being held in custody for several weeks, he was not allowed visits from his family.
Also known under the name Yang Tongyan, he had already served a 10-year prison sentence from 1990 to 2000 for “counter-revolutionary” crimes.
5 media workers killed in Iraq
Five journalists and media workers were killed in as many days in Iraq during the week of World Press Freedom Day.
On May 5, freelance journalist Abdel Magid al Mohammadaoui was found dead in Baghdad, while the body of TV reporter Saud Mazahem al Hadithi of satellite station Al-Baghdadia was found the same day. Al Hadithi had been kidnapped a few days before. According to his family, his body showed signs of torture. On May 7, a car bomb exploded in the garage of Baghdad-based newspaper Al-Sabah. The bombing killed Ismail Mohammad Khalaf, the paper’s printing shop technician, while injuring more than 20 other employees and journalists. Then on May 9, the bodies of reporter Muazaz Ahmad Barud and soundman Leith Al-Dulaimi both from the Iraqi TV station Al-Nahrain were found in the al-Widha district, 32 km south of Baghdad. Both men, who were in their late 20s, were shot in the chest.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 69 journalists and 25 media support workers have been killed in Iraq since the war began on Mar 20, 2003.
Blogspot banned in Pakistan again
The Pakistan Tele-communication Authority (PTA) resumed on May 6 its ban on blogspot.com just three days after lifting the block on the domain.
The ban was imposed March 3 in adherence to the Pakistan Supreme Court’s ruling, which instructed the PTA to ban 12 websites that highlighted the allegedly blasphemous cartoons on the prophet Muhammad.
Rather than blocking the offending blogspot sites, the PTA chose to ban the entire blogspot.com, one of the most popular blog-hosting domains hosting approximately 10 million blogs globally.
A campaign (don’t-block-the-blog) and mailing list (action group against blogspot ban in Pakistan) have been launched, highlighting the incident on the blogspot domain, opposing a blanket ban on any website and showing support for free internet speech in general.
Thai telecom firm withdraws suit vs media activist
Telecommunications company Shin Corp. has withdrawn its defamation suit against press freedom activist Supinya Klangnarog and the staff of Thai Post daily newspaper. The withdrawal was made on May 8 after the Bangkok criminal court acquitted both defendants on March 15. Shin Corp demanded 400 million baht (over US$10 million) in damages after Thai Post published an interview with Supinya in July 2003 alleging the company has financially benefited from the fact that Thaksin Shinawatra—its founder—is now prime minister. Thaksin recently resigned from his post.
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