• Customers use computers at an internet cafe in Hefei, Anhui province on March 16, 2012.
    © 2012 Reuters
    China: Renewed Restrictions Send Online Chill

    The Chinese government’s further tightening of internet controls and mandating real name registration threaten security and privacy of internet users. On December 28, 2012, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body, passed the “Decision to Strengthen the Protection of Online Information.” The Decision contains troubling provisions that require internet access and telecommunications providers to collect personal information about users when they sign up for internet access, landline, or mobile phone service.

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Internet Freedom

  • Kuwait: Drop Charges for ‘Offending Emir’
    Apr 15, 2013
    The Kuwaiti authorities should drop criminal charges against dozens of online activists, journalists, and politicians for legitimately exercising their rights to freedom of expression. The authorities should also withdraw charges and overturn the sentences for at least 10 people already convicted in such cases, as recently as April 15, 2013.
  • Algeria: Activists Barred from World Social Forum
    Mar 27, 2013
    Algerian authorities illegally restricted rights to free movement when they barred 96 Algerian civil society activists from travelling to Tunisia, without giving any reason.
  • Iran: Prosecute Officials in Detained Blogger’s Death
    Mar 7, 2013
    Iran’s judiciary should conclude a speedy, independent, and transparent criminal investigation followed by prosecution of those believed responsible for the death of the blogger Sattar Behesht. Beheshti died in the custody of Tehran’s cyber police in November 2012. Iranian officials should stop harassing his family and hampering their efforts to seek justice and ensure that those responsible for the blogger’s death are held to account.
  • Kuwait: Court Acquits Activists of ‘Offending Emir’
    Feb 14, 2013
    The acquittal of five Kuwaiti online activists charged with “offending the emir” could help ensure that Kuwaitis can freely express critical political opinions.
  • Should Companies Take Responsibility for Repression?
    Feb 13, 2013
    The Arab uprisings have been a poignant reminder of how the Internet can promote free expression and assembly, but also how governments can try abuse it. The medium used by demonstrators to organize protests and bring medical supplies to Tahrir Square, for example, was also used by the government to pinpoint human rights defenders for arrest, harassment, and even torture.
  • Kuwait: Rights Setbacks Amid Political Crisis
    Feb 12, 2013

    (Kuwait City) – Human rights conditions deteriorated in Kuwait in 2012 during an ongoing political crisis, Human Rights Watch said today at a news conference for its World Report 2013. The security forces used what appeared to be excessive force to disperse stateless bidun residents and anti-government demonstrators on multiple occasions, and authorities briefly banned protests in October. 

  • Iran: Consolidating Power as Elections Near
    Jan 31, 2013
    Authorities arrested, detained, and harassed some of Iran’s most celebrated rights lawyers, and stepped up their assault on critical journalists, bloggers, and their families in 2012, HumanRightsWatchsaidtodayinitsWorld Report 2013.The government also prevented reformists and opposition leaders from participating in parliamentary elections, and is holding the opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard under house arrest as Iran prepares for its presidential election in June 2013.
  • Venezuela: Halt Censorship, Intimidation of Media
    Jan 12, 2013
    Venezuela should end censorship and intimidation of media that challenge the official line regarding President Hugo Chávez’s health and inauguration, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • China: Renewed Restrictions Send Online Chill
    Jan 4, 2013

    The Chinese government’s further tightening of internet controls and mandating real name registration threaten security and privacy of internet users. On December 28, 2012, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body, passed the “Decision to Strengthen the Protection of Online Information.” The Decision contains troubling provisions that require internet access and telecommunications providers to collect personal information about users when they sign up for internet access, landline, or mobile phone service.

  • Saudi Arabia: Website Editor Facing Death Penalty
    Dec 22, 2012
    Saudi authorities should immediately drop all charges against the detained editor of a website created to foster debate about religion and religious figures in Saudi Arabia
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