The baby and the bathwater: Free speech and online extremism
BY TAUHID ZAMAN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 04/22/19 04:15 PM EDT As a Muslim American, I was shocked by the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand that took the lives of 50 completely innocent people and injured scores of others in March. The tragedy was made more sickening by the fact that the alleged gunman, reportedly […]
Marc Lamont Hill UN Speech That Got Him Fired From CNN
Marc Lamont Hill UN United Nations Speech That Got Him Fired From. CNN severed ties with contributor Marc Lamont Hill on Thursday, following comments the university professor made about I and Pal in a speech at the United Nations. “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” a CNN spokesperson said Hill urged […]
Federal judge rules Trump’s Twitter account is a public forum
A federal judge in New York has ruled that President Donald Trump cannot block people from following or viewing his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account. While the case will likely be appealed and could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, the decision is a resounding victory for the First Amendment right of citizens to speak to and disagree with government officials in the […]
Debate: Is freedom of speech absolute?
Hate crimes are on the rise across the West, igniting debates around free speech. From arguments in the US about whether white supremacists should be given platforms to say bigoted things, to claims that free speech is under attack at universities worldwide, the issue has been hotly debated and sometimes politicised. So, should free speech […]
Raif Badawi’s Wife Calls on Crown Prince to End Ordeal
The wife of Saudi writer and blogger Raif Badawi, Haider, has called on the newly-appointed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to “write a new history,” release prisoners of conscience and end her husband’s ordeal, in an exclusive interview with Newsweek. Last week marked five years since Saudi Arabia jailed Badawi for advocating greater freedoms […]
Reporters face 70 years in prison over anti-Trump march
Even when heavily armed riot police closed off a square block and surrounded protesters, media workers and legal observers alike, independent journalist Alexei Wood did not realise he was about to be arrested. “It didn’t even cross my mind that was what was happening,” the 37-year-old photographer and videographer told Al Jazeera.
Pakistan: Death penalty for blasphemy on Facebook
A Pakistani court has sentenced to death a man who allegedly committed blasphemy on Facebook, a prosecutor said, in a first such case that involves social media. The conviction of Taimoor Raza, 30, came after a high-profile crackdown against blasphemy on social media by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Blasphemy is a highly […]
A Message to President-Elect Trump About Freedom
President-elect Donald Trump, the American people voted you as the future 45th President of the United States and entrusted you with many missions and responsibilities. As head of a great democracy you will be the defender of what the forefathers of the American nation cherished the most: liberty and freedom of speech for all the […]
Mauritania: Muslim Leaders Call Blogger to Be Executed
An influential group of Muslim clerics has called for the execution of a blogger sentenced to death in 2014 for apostasy, despite calls for clemency by human rights organizations. Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, 29, posted a blog in December 2013 that critiqued connections between Islam and class discrimination in Mauritania, a conservative Islamic republic.
Raif Badawi’s Advocates To Go To U.N. To Demand Release
Defenders of imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi are readying to take his case to the highest levels of international diplomacy after Saudi Arabia rejected a call to release him and allow him to join his family in Canada. Stephane Dion, Canada’s foreign minister, has requested that Badawi be released to the country, where Canadian authorities […]