Headlines
United Kingdom: Government vows to reform "laughing stock" libel law
Turkey: Kurdish editor gets 138 years
International: UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize open for nominations
Free Expression Spotlight
While Tunisia continues to implode with protests against unemployment and corruption, officials are doing their best to
ensure the public doesn't know what's going on. They pulled the usual stunts: arrested journalists, censored opposition
newspapers and obstructed reports and broadcasts, report members of the IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG) and
other IFEX members. But this time, the authorities have gone even further - harvesting passwords and usernames of
bloggers, reporters and political activists to identify protest leaders and delete or compromise their email and
Facebook accounts. Read more>>
Regional news
Eight months after violent clashes between anti-government groups and state security forces, the Thai government has
finally lifted the emergency decree on Bangkok and three nearby provinces, reports the Southeast Asian Press Alliance
(SEAPA) - but rights activists have little faith that much will change. Read more>>
UNITED KINGDOM: GOVERNMENT VOWS TO REFORM "LAUGHING STOCK" LIBEL LAW
The U.K.'s coalition government has promised sweeping changes to England's much-criticised libel laws, paying tribute to
Index on Censorship's libel reform campaign which has "led the debate on this issue for so long." Read more>>
TURKEY: KURDISH EDITOR GETS 138 YEARS
Turkey continues to use jail sentences to silence Kurds, handing down an outlandish prison sentence of 138 years to the
former editorial manager of Turkey's only Kurdish daily on charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK", the militant
Kurdistan Workers Party, report IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and
Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Read more>>
Also in this issue
This week, two journalists for Somalia's leading independent media station Radio Shabelle were beaten by soldiers and
officers of Somalia's transitional federal government while covering an innocuous football cup ceremony. The motive may
have been a recent Radio Shabelle broadcast that revealed government corruption at the Mogadishu port. Incidents like
these seem to be on the rise, says the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) in its year-end report. Read more>>
INTERNATIONAL: UNESCO WORLD PRESS FREEDOM PRIZE OPEN FOR NOMINATIONS
Organisations working in the field of journalism and free expression are invited to submit nominations for the 2011
UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The deadline for submissions is 15 February 2011. Read more>>
ENDS