HUMAN Rights Watch has called for the release of Egyptian TV journalist and blogger Abd al-Monim Mahmud. 

Here’s an excerpt from the Human Rights Watch statement posted on the Human Rights Education Associates site.
 

Around midnight on April 14, security forces at the Cairo airport detained
`Abd al-Monim Mahmud, a 27-year-old journalist for the London-based
satellite channel Al-Hiwar and prominent blogger affiliated with the
Muslim Brotherhood, as he attempted to travel to Sudan to do reporting for
an Al-Hiwar segment on human rights in the Arab world.

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YOU heard that right.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who isn’t exactly known for being a fan of press freedom, has come to the defense of Malaysian bloggers.

As we’ve blogged previously here and here, the Malaysian government has been critical of blogging.

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A SINGAPOREAN agency announced Monday it was looking into extending regulation to new media, which includes websites and blogs, Agence-France Presse reports.

It says the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore is currently seeking public reaction to its Media Market Conduct Code. Implemented in 2003, the Code regulates the print and broadcast media, including the newspapers and television. But with the emergence of new media, the agency feels it is time to revisit the Code.

Excerpt:

“The media landscape has changed since 2003, and a good example is the adoption of different business models by traditional and new media players,” said Ling Pek Ling, director for media policy at MDA.

“With the emergence of new media markets and the introduction of HDTV and IPTV services, it is timely for us to look at how we can update our code to meet the needs of the media industry,” she said.

The story notes that the MDA is “responsible for the country’s censor board.”

It ends:

In a country where all local broadcasting outlets are government-owned and newspapers are expected to be “partners” with the government, many people have turned to websites and blogs for alternative views of the city-state’s political and social issues.

I RECEIVED an e-mail from a Malaysian journalist last week. It was about a story from Malaysiakini.com highlighting a recent warning from its Internal Security Ministry against newspapers quoting or citing “anti-government” content from blogs and online portals.

Unfortunately, Malaysiakini.com’s story is only available for its paying subscribers. But for the purpose of our discussion on blogs and free expression, I have picked a few points from the article to highlight:

• The Ministry sent a letter to newspapers reminding them of the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984. According to Section 8A(2) of the law, newspapers should ensure “correctness and truth of news before publishing them.”

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