Netizen Report: Young political cartoonist Atena Farghadani on trial in Iran.

Netizen Report: Young Political Cartoonist on Trial in Iran

Netizen Report: Young Political Cartoonist on Trial in Iran

Future Tense
The Citizen's Guide to the Future
May 21 2015 2:16 PM

Netizen Report: Young Political Cartoonist on Trial in Iran

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The Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. It originally appears each week on Global Voices AdvocacyEllery Roberts Biddle, Mohamed ElGohary, Hae-in Lim, and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

Iranian activist and artist Atena Farghadani is facing charges of spreading propaganda against the system and insulting members of parliament and the supreme leader for a cartoon she drew and published online depicting Iran’s members of parliament as animals voting on a law that would restrict women’s access to contraception. Atena has been held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods since her arrest in August 2014 and went on a hunger strike to protest prison conditions three weeks after her second confinement. Amnesty International is leading a call to action in support of Atena.

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Bahraini activist back to prison over tweets
A Bahraini court upheld a six-month sentence for Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Human Rights Centre, for comments he made on Twitter criticizing police defectors who joined ISIS. He may face a longer jail term pending an investigation for other tweets.

PayPal blocks donations for Russian opposition report
Electronic payment service PayPal has blocked an account that sought to collect donations to print a report written by late opposition politician Boris Nemtsov presenting evidence of Russia’s involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. According to PayPal’s support team, PayPal does not allow “any political parties or political causes in Russia to receive donations due to the complexity of complying with local rules which require validating the identity of users.” It is unclear how it defines “political causes” or whether these rules apply to accounts registered in other countries.

Hacking is illegal in Britain (unless you’re the government)
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Belgium slams Facebook over unauthorized tracking
Belgium’s Privacy Protection Commission lambasted Facebook for disregarding European privacy laws by tracking users without prior consent and for dodging inquiries from regulators. According to Reuters, the commission urged Internet users to install privacy software to protect themselves from Facebook’s tracking systems, whether or not they have a Facebook account (which is good advice all around).

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