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| Iraq | |
| Rights groups slam IraqÂ’s Internet law | |
| 2012-07-13 | |
| BAGHDAD - An Iraqi draft law that would jail web users for life for a variety of ill-defined crimes has been condemned by rights groups and activists who have slammed its vague language and hefty penalties. Human Rights Watch has warned the bill would “constitute serious curtailments” of Iraqis’ freedoms, while activists have questioned many of the bill’s provisions. Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said in a statement: “This bill would give Iraqi authorities yet another tool to suppress dissent, especially on the Internet, which Iraqi journalists and activists increasingly turn to for information and open debate.” MPs defend the current draft of the bill by saying it was written at the height of Iraq’s bloody war. But while it may look to deter insurgents, its wide-ranging provisions apply to all sectors of society, in a country where Internet penetration was just 1.1 per cent in 2010, according to the International Telecommunication Union. The draft law stipulates jail terms of up to life imprisonment for “undermining the independence, unity, or safety of the country, or its supreme economic, political, military, or security interests”, according to an HRW translation.
Life imprisonment is also a potential penalty for those guilty of “inflaming sectarian tensions or strife; disturbing security and the public order; or defaming the country” or “publishing or broadcasting false or misleading events for the purpose of weakening confidence in the electronic financial system, electronic commercial or financial documents, or similar things, or damaging the national economy and financial confidence in the state”. One article stipulates a one-year jail term for “any person who encroaches on any religious, moral, family, or social values or principles or the sanctity of private life using an information network or computer devices in any shape or form”. Another calls for a minimum three-year sentence for those who “disrupt intentionally the computers and the Internet devoted to the public interest, or damage or hinder their functions”, according to a translation compiled by the Belgium-based Institute for International Law and Human Rights. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 free speech is unislamic |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-07-13 11:41 |