Reporters Without Borders was relieved to learn of the release on bail two days ago of Palestinian reporter and blogger Yousef Shayeb after the payment of two bonds of 5,000 Jordanian dinars (5,200 euros) each.
Today, as people increasingly turn to the internet to conduct important aspects of their lives,
we have to make sure that human rights are as respected online as offline. After all, the right to express one's views, practice one's faith, peacefully assemble with others to pursue political or social change – these are all rights to which all human beings are entitled, whether they choose to exercise them in a city square or an internet chat room. And just as we have worked together since the last century to secure these rights in the material world, we must
work together in this century to secure them in cyberspace. http://venitism.blogspot.com
Hillary Clinton asserts this is an urgent task. It is most urgent, of course,
for those around the world whose words are now censored, who are imprisoned
because of what they or others have written online, who are blocked from
accessing entire categories of internet content, or who are being tracked by
governments seeking to keep them from connecting with one another.
However, the organization remains concerned that the investigation is still open. "We demand that the charges against the journalists be dropped immediately," it said. "This harassment must cease."
Shayeb had been in detention since 26 March after libel suits were brought against him by the Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Malki, and the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in France, Hael Al-Fahoum, his deputy Safwat Ibraghit, and the widow of Brigadier General Jad Tayeh, an officer in the Palestinian Authority's intelligence service.
Hillary Clinton says that when ideas are blocked, information deleted,
conversations stifled, and people constrained in their choices, the internet is
diminished for all of us. What we do today to preserve fundamental freedoms
online will have a profound effect on the next generation of users. More than
two billion people are now connected to the internet, but in the next 20 years,
that number will more than double. And we are quickly approaching the day when
more than a billion people are using the internet in repressive countries. The
pledges we make and the actions we take today can help us determine whether that
number grows or shrinks, or whether the meaning of being on the internet is
totally distorted.
The suits were prompted by an article Shayeb wrote for the Jordanian daily Al-Ghad in January about irregularities within the diplomatic mission in France. He quoted unidentified sources as implicating Ibraghit in cases of corruption with the complicity of his boss, Al-Fahoum, the head of the Palestinian National Fund, Ramzi Khouri, and foreign minister Al-Malki.
It also referred to the fact that Ibraghit was the son-in-law of General Tayeh, who was assassinated by a militant group in 2006.
Shayeb's sources also accused Ibraghit and some of his colleagues of putting pressure on Palestinian students living in France to monitor the activities of Islamist groups there and in other countries on behalf of Palestinian - and maybe foreign - intelligence.
The day after the article was published, the journalist was questioned for several hours by Palestinian intelligence officials then released. Two months later, he received a summons from the Ramallah attorney general.
Uri Rosenthal, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, points out that standing up for freedom online is the logical next step to our age-old endeavor for freedom of speech. For centuries, this fundamental freedom has been the driver of democracy. The fight for freedom of speech continues. But in the last decades, it has taken on an extra dimension, that of freedom online. Freedom of speech online is no different from freedom of speech offline. Only now, we are faced with new technological possibilities and challenges.
Shayeb's lawyer Daoud Darawi told Reporters without Borders he was originally held in police custody for 48 hours and was questioned at length by the attorney general. Darawi said he and a representative of the Palestinian Journalists Union were present during the interrogation. Shayeb was ordered to reveal the sources for his article and was accused of causing discord and harming the security of the Palestinian Authority.
Faced with the journalist's refusal to reveal his sources, although the order had no judicial backing, a Palestinian Authority court decided on 28 March to extend his detention by two weeks.
Palestinian law guarantees the right of journalists to maintain the confidentiality of their sources unless a court rules that identifying them is necessary for state security or to prevent the commission of a crime.
After his detention was extended, Shayeb began a hunger strike, despite suffering from diabetes and a heart condition. He was then placed in solitary confinement and was refused visits except by the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights and the Red Crescent, seven days after his arrest. He was not questioned during this time and his lawyer was unable to visit him.
He was released two days ago and was immediately admitted to hospital because of his deteriorating health. He was able to return home the following evening.
The investigation remains open and Shayeb is awaiting a date for the start of his trial. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of 6 million dollars.
The persecution of Greek dissident bloggers is a worrying example of how freedom on the net is under increasing threat. As more people use cyberspace to communicate, obtain information, express their views, socialize, and conduct commerce, governments are stepping up their efforts to regulate and control it. Tight control on the internet impinges on our freedom of speech, association and assembly. And it means that violations of other human rights are kept away from us.
In October of 2010, an unknown American, member of Crystal Clear Forum, an American Yahoo Group, used as pseudonym the name of Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, to post a single message about Turkey. The unknown American did not violate any law because, according to the Supreme Court of USA, anybody can use any pseudonym or pen name. For example, thousands of people use Obama's name as a pseudonym. It's considered an honor, not a forgery. http://venitism.blogspot.com
Only spoofing is forgery. The unknown American would have used spoofing if she used Xenogiannakopoulou's email which is marilxen@gmail.com. Instead she used mariliza.xenogiannakopoulou@yahoo.com which is not Xenogiannakopoulou's email. The unknown American posted on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crystalclearforum with her pseudonym using a kind of literature called Lyric Essay, which uses emotion and color to enlighten a message.
Some malevolent blogbusters misinformed Xenogiannakopoulou that the culprit was I, Basil Venitis, just because my name was mentioned in the post! As a result of this misinformation, on October 18, 2010, a gang of six brutal cybercops of the violent Greek Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) broke into my home in Athens and into my college office, and stole my computers, software, files, documents, and personal data.
The cybercops locked me in jail for a night, they humiliated me with handcuffs, fingerprints, mug shots, and lies, leaked false information to the media parrots, and the Greek government initiated sham court proceedings for a stack of charges, including forgery and treason! There was neither pillow nor toilet facility in my jail cell. I had to urinate in a bottle! I, a 65 year old with heart problems, was not allowed to keep my hypertension pills with me. There was neither toilet paper nor soap in the whole CCU jail facility.
But that's not the end of the story. My nerves are broken by no accuser showing up during my court trial! The judge always has to postpone the trial for another day and so it goes ad infinitum. Meanwhile, I always have to show up and waste the whole day waiting as there is no definite timing for the hearing, but only a day. I and my lawyer have to be in the courtroom the whole day until the judge calls my name. Then the judge calls the name of the accuser, nobody replies, and the judge postpones the trial for another day. This has happened five times so far! This is a real Greek tragedy! Justice delayed is no justice, justice perpetuated is hell.
JAILBIRD FOR A NIGHT
By Basil Venitis
venitis@gmail.com
http://venitism.blogspot.com
Big brother checks the internet
For things you criticize
To shut your mouth on the net
To shut your mind on the sky.
Cops busted my home
And stole my computer
Hard disk on their comb
blogger on their mooter.
They threw me in jail
For speaking my mind
My words are out of jail
Revolting in a kind.
This jail is awful
Without pillow alone
Urinating in a bottle
And the girl next cell begins to moan.
Screaming in the dark of jail
Guards pretending they are deaf
She is a girl, she is frail
She is missing her Jeff.
I can smile at the old days,
I was a handsome professor then.
Those were real happy days
Happy memory lives again.
Lesmiserables in jail
Kleptocrats out of jail
This is hell on Earth
It's shame and pain.
Time for a real revolt
To bring a real change
To bring the looting to a halt
Kleptocrats should not escape.
Kleptocrats must be laughing
Premier must be happy,
This is stupid and disgusting,
Government has a party.
Harmglads sleeping before dawn
Silence cut with a cry
Jailbird could be reborn
Coming back to a happy life.
My memory leads me
Finding strength within
People really love me
A new life should begin.
Waiting for the sunrise
Thinking of a new life
I mustn't give in
A new day will begin.
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