CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘freedom of speech’ Category

Journalist claims victory in protection of sources ruling: “Police were right to ask a journalist to reveal source material for a book about terrorism but the terms of the order obtained were too wide, the High Court has ruled. Arguments on what the terms of the production order should be will be heard this week.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Law: Wicked thoughts are not a crime – yet - The Telegraph: By Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor, Last Updated: 10:06PM BST 18/06/2008

The ‘lyrical terrorist’ case has highlighted the ambiguities of a law designed to prevent atrocities .

You can think what you like. That was what the Director of Public Prosecutions told a conference on Monday organised by the free speech group Index on Censorship. Sir Ken Macdonald’s remarks were backed up by Home Office minister Tony McNulty.

‘We do not seek to outlaw thought,’ Mr McNulty said. ‘We do seek to outlaw actions, in some cases.’

The Government’s aim was to find a balance between ‘the sanctity of an individual’s free speech and the security of the wider society’.

The summary of the decision of the Court of Appeal in R v. Samina Malik (aka the Lyrical terrorist) is provided below. The Court of Appeal has her conviction overturned.

R v Malik [2008] All ER (D) 201 (Jun)
Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers CJ, Goldring and Plender JJ
17 June 2008

The defendant was arrested by police officers at her home address where she lived with her parents and siblings. The premises were searched and a number of items seized. They included a computer as well as a number of publications which appeared to support violent jihad, a number of poems written by the defendant using her pen-name ‘the lyrical terrorist’ and a number of documents containing writings on subjects such as weapons and interrogations. Subsequently, the hard drive of the computer was analysed and found to contain the material later relied upon by the prosecution at her trial for terrorism offences.

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CPS Press Release : CPS response to Samina Malik appeal: “CPS response to Samina Malik appeal
17 June 2008

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided not to seek a retrial in the case of Samina Malik after the Court of Appeal quashed her conviction for collecting information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Sue Hemming, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, said: ‘Since Ms Malik’s conviction, the law has been clarified by the Court of Appeal. The result is that some of the 21 documents we relied on in Ms Malik’s trial would no longer be held capable of giving practical assistance to terrorists.

‘However other documents in her possession, including ‘the al-Qaida Manual’, ‘the Terrorist’s Handbook’, ‘the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook’ and several military manuals, clearly retain that potential.. We therefore have no doubt that it was right to bring this prosecution.

‘Nevertheless, taking into account the time Ms Malik spent on remand before her first trial, and the likely non-custodial sentence she would receive upon conviction in a retrial, we have decided not to seek a retrial on those manuals.

‘Ms Malik was not prosecuted for her poetry. She was prosecuted for possessing documents that could provide practical assistance to terrorists. Furthermore she was prosecuted after, working airside at Heathrow, she had supplied information about airport security procedures to Sohail Qureshi.

‘That very day he was arrested trying to board a flight to Pakistan carrying equipment he admitted he was taking to terrorists in Pakistan. He later admitted he was going there to fight himself and he pleaded guilty to a terrorist offence.’
Notes to Editors

1. A Court of Appeal decision in February 2008 in the case of R v K clarified the meaning of Sec 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The court ruled that an offence would be committed only if the document or record concerned was of a kind that was likely to provide practical assistance to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. A document that simply encouraged the commission of acts of terrorism was not sufficient.
2. In November 2007, Ms Malik was found not guilty at the Old Bailey of an offence under Sec 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (possession of an article for terrorist purposes) but guilty of an offence under Sec 58. Sec 58 says: A person commits an offence if - (a) he collects or makes a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or (b) he possesses a document or record containing information of that kind. The maximum sentence at Crown Court is 10 years.”

Nadine Strossen resigned as president of the American Civil Liberties Union after serving for more than 17 years.

The Serene Life of a Fighter for Civil Liberties: “Nadine Strossen served as the president of the A.C.L.U. for 18 years.”

(Via NYT > Freedom of Speech and Expression.)

American Exception - Unlike Others, U.S. Defends Freedom to Offend in Speech - Series - NYTimes.com:

By ADAM LIPTAK, Published: June 12, 2008

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A couple of years ago, a Canadian magazine published an article arguing that the rise of Islam threatened Western values. The article’s tone was mocking and biting, but it said nothing that conservative magazines and blogs in the United States do not say every day without fear of legal reprisal.

Things are different here. The magazine is on trial.

Two members of the Canadian Islamic Congress say the magazine, Maclean’s, Canada’s leading newsweekly, violated a provincial hate speech law by stirring up hatred against Muslims. They say the magazine should be forbidden from saying similar things, forced to publish a rebuttal and made to compensate Muslims for injuring their ‘dignity, feelings and self-respect.’

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, which held five days of hearings on those questions here last week, will soon rule on whether Maclean’s violated the law.

The Indypendent » War on Terrorism Moves to Internet: By Jessica Lee, From the June 6, 2008 issue | Posted in National

Thwarted in an attempt to pass the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, which critics say could redefine some First Amendment and traditional protest activities as terrorism, members of Congress are pushing forward with measures such as censoring the Internet to combat what they claim is a grave threat of ‘homegrown terrorism’ by Islamic extremists.

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Senator targets YouTube, but law (section 230, CDA) not on his side | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Sen. Joe Lieberman wants YouTube and its rivals to delete any videos produced by al-Qaida, other Islamic terrorist groups, and any suspected sympathizers. But because there’s no U.S. law requiring deletion–at least not yet–there’s not much the onetime veep candidate can do except complain.

On Monday, the chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee suggested in a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt that the company wasn’t doing enough to remove videos that are violent or could be used by terrorist groups to enlist followers. ‘By taking action to curtail the use of YouTube to disseminate the goals and methods of those who wish to kill innocent civilians, Google will make a singularly important contribution to this important national effort,’ Lieberman wrote.

The New Order: When reading is a crime: “

Download a book, get arrested

Is this what it is going to be like? When simple possession of a proscribed document will be enough to see you clapped in irons and whisked down to the local police station?…

“

(Via The Register - Public Sector.)

Turkish Press Scanner - Turkish Daily News May 27, 2008: ” Turkey one of 13 to ban YouTube – Vatan

Google and Reporters Without Borders, or RWB, have responded to court decisions that ban access to YouTube in Turkey, daily Vatan reported yesterday.

YouTube has only been banned in 13 countries around the globe and they are Brazil, Indonesia, Armenia, Morocco, Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, United Arab Emirates, China, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Turkish Internet users have been unable to access the world’s largest video sharing Web site YouTube in the past month, due to consecutive court orders. Access to YouTube was barred first on April 24, then on April 30, and lastly on May 5. In a statement last week, RWB declared this situation ‘unacceptable.’ The organization’s statement read that authorities would close down the whole site because of a few videos they find ‘shocking.’ It added, ‘Article 5651 that grants prosecutors the right to close any Web site that insults Atatürk or incites drug use, pedophilia, suicide, or prostitution in 24 hours, is being abused. We ask authorities to explain their reasons for the ban.’ During a speech on freedom of expression on the Internet, YouTube’s parent company Google’s Deputy Legal Counselor Nicole Wang said even though they have been in contact with Turkish authorities in the past couple of months, they have had a difficult time finding out even which videos were the cause of complaints. “