Freedom of Speech Roundup

In the weekly Freedom of Speech Roundup, Sampsonia Way presents some of the week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi makes his debut speech at the United Nations UN General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting. Photo: YouTube, Russia Today.

In U.N. Speech, Egypt’s Morsi Rejects Broad Free Speech Rights

Los Angeles Times. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi urges the U.N. to consider cracking down on expression that defames religions, and he outlines ambitions for his country’s influence in the Mideast. Read Here

Vietnam Convicts 3 Bloggers for Anti-Government Posts

The New York Times. “A Vietnamese court issued jail sentences ranging from four to 12 years on Monday to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses, corruption and foreign policy.” Read Here

Syrian TV Journalist Shot Dead While Reporting in Damascus

The Guardian. A correspondent for Iran’s Press TV was reportedly shot in the back September 26 while reporting on explosions in Damascus. More than 20 foreign and Syrian journalists have been killed in Syria since March 2011. Read Here

Pundit for MSNBC, CNN, Arrested After Vandalizing Anti-jihad Poster in New York

The Examiner. Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-American columnist who frequently appears on CNN and MSNBC, was arrested for defacing an anti-Muslim ad in the New York subway system. Read Here

Journalist Mona Eltahawy defaces an American Freedom Defense Initiative ad in the New York subway and is subsequently arrested. Video: New York Post.

Rushdie and After: Freedom, Censorship, and the Arab Spring

The New Yorker. With the release of Joseph Anton: A Memoir, the price for Salman Rushdie’s head has been upped to $3.3 million. Rushdie responds to the “Innocence of Muslims” violence: “I always said that what happened to me was a prologue and there will be many, many more episodes like it. This is one of those.”
Read Here

Jail, Censors Leave Imprint on Exiled Myanmar Artist; Chief Censor in Myanmar Caps His Red Pen

Bloomberg Businessweek. After spending time in a Burmese jail for performing on the streets of Rangoon, artist Chaw Ei Thein fled to the United States in 2009, where she was granted political asylum. Here she talks about artistic freedom in Burma. Read the Interview Here

The New York Times. Mr. Tint Swe was Myanmar’s last censor in chief, the powerful arbiter of what the public would read — and what was deleted from official history. Read Here

Belarus’s Illusion of Democracy

Index on Censorship. Polling day procedure may have been in place, but censorship ruined any chance of a free parliamentary election in Europe’s last dictatorship, says Andrei Aliaksandrau. Read Here

Iran to Launch Giant Domestic Intranet

Al Jazeera. Though officials have long spoken of creating a domestic intranet, according to a new announcement, made by a government deputy minister, the domestic ‘net will be fully implemented by March 2013. Read Here