Keeping the channels open: reflections on the importance of freedom of expression online
Recently, we’ve seen governments across the world introduce legislation that is incompatible with international human rights standards and imposes prohibitive policies on bloggers and online media outlets that are simply exercising their right to freedom of expression. While the future of communicative technologies is still expansive and untapped, it is important to fight for our […]
Media Defence Intervenes Before European Court in Important Environmental Journalism Case
Media Defence and ARTICLE 19 have filed an intervention before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of Bryan and others v. Russia. This case concerns the events that followed the boarding of the ‘Arctic Sunrise,’ the Greenpeace vessel that was seized by the Russian authorities in September 2013, and the detention of the crew on […]
UPDATE: ECOWAS Court delivers landmark decision in one of our strategic cases challenging the laws used to silence and intimidate journalists in the Gambia
On 14 February 2018, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) delivered a landmark judgment (available below) in which it found that the rights of four Gambian journalists had been violated by the actions of the Gambian authorities, and through the enforcement of laws criminalising speech. The judgment also […]
European Court finds that Turkish journalists’ detention amounted to unjustified interference with right to freedom of expression
The European Court of Human Rights today handed down judgment in two high profile cases against Turkey relating to the arrest and pre-trial detention of journalists Sahin Alpay and Mehmet Hasan Altan. The journalists were accused of attempting to overthrow the government following the July 2016 coup attempt. The cases against the journalists were based on their writings […]
Media Defence Intervenes in European Court Case on Media’s Right to Access and Report from Defamation Proceedings
We have filed a third-party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Gleb Vyacheslavovich Paykachev v. Russia. In this case, the public and the media were excluded from attending defamation proceedings that had been brought by a police officer against a news website. “This case concerns the fundamental concept of ‘open […]
The European Court of Human Rights finds Russia Violated Ukrainian Journalist’s Rights at Protest
The European Court of Human Rights has found a violation of the right to freedom of expression in Butkevich v Russia, a case involving the arrest, detention and conviction of Maksim Butkevich, a Ukrainian journalist covering a street protest at the 2006 G8 Summit in St Petersburg. At the time of his arrest Mr Butkevich […]
European Court considers Media Defence intervention on “defamation of the dead”
The European Court of Human Rights has found a violation of the right to freedom of expression in MAC TV v. Slovakia – one of the few cases in which the Court has considered the human rights implications of controversial stories following the death of an individual. In 2010, a Slovakian television channel, JOJ PLUS, broadcasted a programme […]
Constitutional Court of Montenegro finds failure to investigate violent attack to be a violation of journalist’s right to life
The Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) and Human Rights Action (HRA) welcomes today’s decision of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro which unanimously found that Tufik Softić’s right to life had been violated due to the ineffective investigation into his attempted murder since 2007. It is the first time in its history that the Constitutional Court of Montenegro has awarded compensation for the moral […]
Journalist wins landmark case on Montenegrin authorities’ failure to investigate attacks
In a case supported by the Media Legal Defence Initiative and Human Rights Action, the investigative journalist Tufik Softić has been awarded €7,000 for the harm caused by the Montenegrin authorities’ failure to effectively investigate two violent attacks aimed at silencing him. In November 2007, whilst working as a radio reporter for Radio Berane and as a correspondent for the […]
“An appalling violation of the right to freedom of speech”
Imagine if you woke one day to find that your government had switched off the internet. On 17 January 2017, this was the reality for 5 million people in Cameroon. The blackout was widely seen as a direct response to growing anti-government protests in their regions. The authorities kept them disconnected for three continuous months. […]
Free Expression Organisations Intervene on Cases of Detained Turkish Journalists Before the European Court of Human Rights
Leading freedom of expression organisations have submitted third-party interventions in ten cases against jailed Turkish journalists to which the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has given priority status. The interventions offer detailed legal analyses of the principles at stake in the cases of the detained journalists. The cases before the ECtHR concern the detention […]
The European Court Considers Media Defence’s Joint Intervention in Important Decision on Intermediary Liability
The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed the claim made, in Tamiz v. UK, by a British politician that his right to reputation had been violated because he was refused permission to sue Google Inc. for allegedly defamatory remarks on the Blogger.com platform. Media Defence co-ordinated a coalition of eight interveners in the case, who urged […]