Today marks 4 years since Apple Daily was forcibly shut down in Hong Kong. Its founder, British citizen Jimmy Lai, has spent over 1,600 days in solitary confinement.
I was proud to receive a special edition from Reporters Without Borders honouring the 7 jailed journalists.
Today marks four years since the last edition of Apple Daily - and its founder Jimmy Lai (a British national) is still in a Hong Kong prison.
Great to meet with Reporters Without Borders to receive a special copy they've produced marking the sad anniversary - very timely with today's China audit.
Hugely proud of this initiative yesterday - The spirit of Apple Daily lives on!
We join 20 orgs in a letter to PM Keir Starmer to urgently raise concerns about the ongoing detention of British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah, as well as the rapidly deteriorating health of his mother, Laila Soueif. #FreeAlaa
Read the letter ⤵️
www.englishpen.org/posts/campai...
Really important that MPs hear from trans legal experts about what the Supreme Court ruling actually means for trans people, not what the papers are reporting.
Ask yours to attend 👇
Currently at the @rsf.org UK launch of the World Press Freedom Index.
The global state of press freedom is now classed as a “difficult situation” for the first time, and the fall in the economic indicator is shocking. The RSF Index provides a dire warning - as well as a guide to solutions.
The RSF World Press Freedom is out now, with the UK coming in at 20th. This is a slight climb in rankings, but it comes amid a global decline.
Read and share the Index, and reach out for further information or comment!
#WorldPressFreedomDay
Jimmy Lai has been imprisoned in Hong Kong since 2020. He now faces further charges which could result in a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Join the call to #FreeJimmyLai & send him a message of solidarity through our letter-writing campaign, #PENWrites.
www.englishpen.org/campaigns/pe...
#Sudan: 2 years of war = 7 journalists killed + 17 media professionals imprisoned. One journalist and one media worker are still being held, while another has disappeared. The international community must force the warring parties to protect journalists.
Six months after Alaa Abdel Fattah completed his prison sentence — and one month since #UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called #Egypt’s President Sisi to discuss his case — the British-Egyptian blogger remains in jail. RSF calls for his immediate and unconditional release 👇 rsf.org/en/freealaa-...
#USA Trump administration has abruptly placed all VOA staff on administrative leave. RSF condemns this decision as departure from the U.S.'s historic role as a defender of free information & calls on the U.S. government to restore #VOA & urges Congress to take action against this unprecedented move
#US: Following the Trump administration’s orders to dismantle the USAGM, RSF is sounding the alarm over the dangers facing USAGM staffers worldwide, including nine detained journalists. We call on the international diplomatic community to mobilise to ensure their safety and freedom.
At a press conference in London with RSF in October 2024, Zamora's son warned of the risk of his father’s re-imprisonment - this has now come to pass. His case is emblematic of how a legal system can be weaponised and how publishers can be targeted to silence an entire news outlet.
On the occasion of 8 March, RSF salutes the work of investigative journalist Hanin Gebran, released from the jails of the former Syrian dictatorship 3 months ago. RSF continues to investigate in order to identify her torturers and calls for justice for all persecuted female media professionals.
RSF calls on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to meet Sebastien Lai, as a Hong Kong court announces further delays to his father Jimmy Lai’s trial.
rsf.org/en/freejimmy...
We are very concerned by news that British-Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah began a hunger strike on 1 March after hearing news of his mother's hospitalisation. We call on Egypt to release Alaa immediately and unconditionally.
rsf.org/en/rsf-calls...
RSF is at the UK Media Freedom Forum this week where there has been enormous support for jailed British-Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah. The message from delegates is clear: It is time to #FreeAlaa!
Delighted to be here at the Media Freedom Forum today, with an impressive line up of speakers and some vital topics being raised. Follow along online 👇
This 👇 And not just more engagement, but the quality of engagement and genuine curiosity - it is a real breath of fresh air!
Laila has been on hunger strike for nearly 150 days in an effort to secure her son, Alaa's, freedom. She has now been hospitalised as a result.
Keir Starmer met with her just over a week ago and promised to do all he could to see her son freed: We need decisive action from the UK government now!
Standing up to the authoritarian wave requires more than cheerleading for democracy; it demands making democratic societies more participatory, responsive, and adaptable at all levels, from local to national, in response to the societal shifts driven by the Internet over the past 15 years.
Useful piece by @stephenstroud.bsky.social on how to deal with vexatious litigation.
bylinetimes.com/2024/04/05/l...
This reads like the opening paragraph of a novel so bleakly dystopian you'd put it down after five pages
Spoke on BBC 5 Live this morning about Labour's policy of denying citizenship to refugees based on manner of entry. Long and short of it is that it will have no impact on channel crossings, it will violate international law, and it will leave people seeking safety in limbo and facing more fear.
The change to the citizenship guidance had immediate effect - anyone who applies for citizenship as of 10 Feb is impacted.
That includes people who have had refugee status for several years, as well as those who are waiting for a decision on their asylum claim.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Free speech news
Absolutely spot on - I've seen a huge amount of outrage (including from Musk himself) that USAID has been 'propping up foreign journalists', particularly in Ukraine, as if this is not a policy designed to directly further American interests - in the case of Ukraine, by countering Russian propaganda.
Did you know that 25 Palestinian journalists are still being arbitrarily detained by the Israeli army?
Find out more about each of them here, as Reporters Without Borders calls for their release 👇
rsf.org/en/rsf-deman...
UK: We joined Laila Soueif - mother of detained British-Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah - outside Downing Street yesterday on day 134 of her hunger strike, to call on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to urgently meet her and to intervene personally to secure her son's freedom.
tinyurl.com/3z63meed
Musk tweet boasting of "feeding USAID into the chipper"
![“I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said. “And I actually checked with him a few times [and] said ‘are you sure?’”
The answer was yes, he said.
“And so we’re shutting it down,” Musk said.
USAID staffers were told that the agency’s headquarters in Washington will be closed Monday amid the turmoil.
In an email to staff early Monday, the agency’s leadership said: “Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely … with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2rrp7amblhg3xoly5n5huiqv/bafkreihfrxbqqzx6xoeoudgfglj52il2ts26n2dkmxhq6ulwdbt7thegzy)
“I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said. “And I actually checked with him a few times [and] said ‘are you sure?’” The answer was yes, he said. “And so we’re shutting it down,” Musk said. USAID staffers were told that the agency’s headquarters in Washington will be closed Monday amid the turmoil. In an email to staff early Monday, the agency’s leadership said: “Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely … with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership.”
The executive branch does not have the legal right to cancel appropriated spending or eliminate agencies created by Congress.
Trump and Musk are doing both. Entirely lawless and unconstitutional.
The world's largest provider of food assistance shut down.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
