Human rights lawyer detained for blogging and advocacy must be released
Nguyen Van Dai – a prominent human rights lawyer and blogger in Viet Nam is being detained incommunicado for exercising his right to free speech. Nguyen Van Dai has been in prison since 16 December 2015 when he was arrested on a trumped-up charge of “conducting propaganda” against the state. Media Legal Defence Initiative is working […]
The European Court of Human Rights and Access to Information: Clarifying the Status, with Room for Improvement
On 8 November 2016, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights handed down a much-anticipated judgment on the right of access to information. While the Court was clearer and firmer than it had ever been before on the status of the right to access information as part of the right to freedom of expression […]
Landmark European Court Judgment is Victory for Access to Information
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, in a judgment published today, has recognised that a right of access to information is an important component of the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision is a victory for journalists, bloggers and NGOs who rely on access […]
A Victory in the Fight for Freedom of Expression in Vietnam
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for the release of a Vietnamese photojournalist, Mihn Man Dang Nguyen, who is currently serving a prison sentence for documenting events and issues that the Vietnamese Government did not wish to be publicised. The UN Working Group Opinion comes in response to a petition filed by […]
Persecution of journalists: the Gambia brought before ECOWAS Court
Oral arguments were heard on 11 October 2016, at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice sitting in Abuja, in a case against the Gambia. The case, which is supported by the Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI), has been brought by the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) and four individual Gambian journalists currently living in exile. […]
Alaa Abd El Fattah must be released, says UN group
Egyptian human rights activist and blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah, currently serving five years in prison for his participation in a peaceful demonstration, is being detained arbitrarily and must be released, said the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Wednesday 29 June. This followed a petition to the Working Group by Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) and the Electronic Frontier […]
Vietnam bloggers jailed for human rights reporting must be released
Bloggers Nguyễn Hữu Vinh and Ngô Hào, are both currently serving sentences in Vietnamese prisons for their online reporting of human rights abuses. Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI), and students from the University of Edinburgh’s Freedom of Expression Law Clinic, today filed petitions to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, urging the Working Group to […]
African Court landmark ruling on criminal libel: Burkinabe journalist awarded compensation
On 3 June 2016, Burkinabé journalist Lohé Issa Konaté was awarded $70,000 in compensation for the harm he suffered as a result of his year-long detention for charges of criminal defamation. Following a landmark ruling in Konaté’s case in December 2014, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled today that Burkina Faso should pay $70,000 in damages […]
Journalist Khadija Ismayilova released from prison in Azerbaijan
On 25 May 2016, award-winning Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was released from prison in Azerbaijan. Through her courageous reporting, Khadija exposed evidence of corruption by the President of Azerbaijan, later confirmed in the Panama Papers. Following an unfair trial she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on sham charges and had been in prison for almost […]
The Gambia: imperilled free press seek urgent help from ECOWAS Court
The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold a hearing in Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday in the case of Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) and others v. The Gambia, brought with the support of the Media Legal Defence Initiative. The case was filed in December 2015 on behalf of four […]
Media Defence asks ECtHR to strengthen protection for intermediaries
The Media Legal Defence Initiative has co-ordinated a coalition of eight interveners who have urged the European Court of Human Rights to strengthen its protection of intermediaries following its recent judgments in Delfi v. Estonia and MTE and Index.hu v. Hungary. The coalition has submitted written comments in Tamiz v. UK; a case brought by Payam Tamiz, a former […]
European Court clarifies intermediary liability standard
On 2 February 2016, the Fourth Section of European Court of Human Rights handed down its judgment on intermediary liability in Magyar Tartalomszolgáltatók Egyesülete andIndex.hu Zrt v. Hungary (Application No. 22947/13)([2016] ECHR 135). The judgment attempts to clarify the Grand Chamber’s findings in Delfi v. Estonia, whilst distinguishing that case on the basis that it involved “clearly unlawful […]