Lawyers Without Borders

Egypt: Armed Forces Drop Defamation Charges Against Woman Blogger

Reporters Without Borders hails yesterday's decision by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces not to press defamation charges against the blogger Asmaa Mahfouz for comments about the military that she posted on online social networks.

The decision was announced in a communiqué, in which the council urged Egyptians to "express their positions and opinions responsibly, without insult or abuse."

Leading woman blogger could be tried by court martial over Tweet August 16th, 2011

Reporters Without Borders condemns a decision by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to prosecute a blogger, Asmaa Mahfouz, over several messages criticizing the council that she posted on Facebook and Twitter.

Agence France-Presse said Mahfouz was to be tried by court martial but Mahfouz said on her Twitter account that she had not yet received a summons and did not know whether she was to be tried by a civilian or military court.

"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces promised on 16 July to stop prosecuting civilians before military courts," Reporters Without Borders said. "If Asmaa Mahfouz is now to be tried by court martial on a charge of defaming the council, it would violate the principle of due process, as the military would be both judge and plaintiff. We call the immediate withdrawal of all the charges against her."

Although former President Hosni Mubarak is now being tried, the army forces continues the former regime's methods of censorship and intimidation, announcing that there will be "no tolerance of insults directed at the armed forces," a statement worthy of the most authoritarian regimes.

As wells as defaming the Supreme Council, Mahfouz is charged with inciting violence, disturbing public order and spreading false information. In one of her Tweets, she called for more justice: "If justice is not met, no one should be upset if armed gangs take to the streets and carry out a string of assassinations. As long as there is no law, and there is no justice, no one should be upset about anything.

DSK case: New York judge ordered to drop all chargeson DSK ...

A New York judge on Tuesday ordered the dropping of all charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, will soon be free to leave the U.S. after three months of an extraordinary legal saga that has derailed his presidential ambitions.

At a hearing shipped in 15 minutes, Justice Michael Obus has unsurprisingly followed the prosecutor who had asked him on the eve of the case.

Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Deputy Orbon repeated in a Manhattan courtroom packed, as the maid who accused DSK to have sexually assaulted on May 14, lied repeatedly to investigators and that In this context, it could not be a credible witness in a trial. And added that he could not be established independently that his sexual relationship with Dominique Strauss-Kahn on May 14 had been imposed.

Anne Sinclair, DSK’s wife, still in first place, drank in his words.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was to get his passport in the day did not recover as Wednesday, the earthquake on the East Coast has forced the closure of the judiciary, his lawyer said.

After the hearing, DSK has spoken for the first time since he had pleaded not guilty June 6

“It’s the end of a terrible ordeal and unfair. I’m relieved for my wife, my children, my friends, all who have supported me (…) I can not wait to return to my country but I ‘I still have a few things to do before you can leave and I will speak more fully when I am back in France, “said the former head of the IMF in front of his TriBeCa home, south of Manhattan.

In a written statement, he thanked his supporters after these months of “nightmare” and said he was eager to “resume a more normal life.”

Earlier in the morning, Kenneth Thompson, counsel for Nafissatou Diallo, 32, had an approach of last-minute attempt to obtain a Court of Appeal the appointment of a special prosecutor who would have replaced the Attorney Vance . But his request was denied. Therefore, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be able to retrieve his passport by Monday evening, announced his lawyers.

Without, poems

Borders, frontiers of identity, nation and state

Lawyers in Society, Comparative Theories

Life without Ed, how one woman declared independence from her eating disorder and how you can too

The World Without Us