Editorial  |   Poking fun is no laughing matter  |   Filling an important gap  |   The minister, the journo and the ladies  |   Rwanda oppressed by memory of genocide  |   Nigeria case is real-life thriller  |   Caseload  |   Vietnam: standing up for one who stood up

The MLDI has worked in several countries around the world. This map shows the location of the ongoing cases detailed below and in the main articles of this issue.

The MLDI currently supports several hundred journalists facing trial around the world. Many of these involve partner organisations or individual lawyers. Often journalists approach us directly for assistance.

Since our formal launch last November we have seen a marked increase in requests for support. One of our main cases at the moment is the appeal of Sri Lankan journalist J S Tissainayagam. Last year the High Court in Colombo sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment for allegedly inciting hatred and supporting terrorism - one of the harshest penalties ever against a journalist in that country. The charges arose from articles criticising the government's treatment of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians affected by the civil war there, and for raising money to fund the magazine in which the articles were published. This January, the Court of Appeal released him on bail.

Another troubling case in which we are involved is that of the Vietnamese lawyer, Dinh Cong Le, described on page 14. This case has serious implications for the defence of journalists in Vietnam. We worked with the International Bar Association and International Commission of Jurists to send trial observers and are looking into international avenues of appeal.

Several requests for assistance have been received from Cameroon in the last few months. Cameroon, which appears among the bottom third of countries in the annual press tables compiled by Freedom House, has numerous restrictive criminal laws on its books that are used to harass journalists. Corruption is widespread, and journalists put themselves at risk by writing almost anything that touches on figures in power. One case in which we are currently helping concerns the editor of the Cameroon Post and a journalist who face criminal libel charges brought by a regional ruler. The Post had written a story that the ruler, Fon Doh Gwanyin, had been beaten up by prisoners, which the Fon deemed defamatory of him.

In another African case we are helping the Zambian Watchdog, an online news outlet read by Zambians across the world, which is appealing to the Zambian Supreme Court to set aside a defamation judgment against them. Two businessmen alleged that comments defamatory of them were left on the site. The Zambian Watchdog could not afford to hire a lawyer to defend itself in the initial proceedings, and so a default judgment was entered. With MLDI's help, they will now be able to have that set aside.

We have launched several interventions in potentially standard-setting cases. The UK has been a busy jurisdiction in this regard, and the cases in which we intervene can sometimes be very controversial. Our role in these interventions is not to argue either party's side, but to draw the attention of the court to wider implications. In January 2010 we requested permission to intervene in an application to the European Court of Human Rights by Max Mosley, a prominent figure in the world of motor sport, who had won damages for breach of privacy News of the World, after the British tabloid had falsely accused him of taking part in a "sick Nazi orgy."

He has asked the court to rule that any newspaper wishing to publish a story that would touch on someone's private life must notify the person affected beforehand. Our intervention argues that a ruling by the Court to that effect would be a worrying precedent across Europe and a constraint on media freedom, since it would make it easy for any 'target' to stop or delay publication by launching legal proceedings.