Constitutional Law

International Civil Liberties Round-Up

Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez, using his decree powers, has replaced the nation’s two main intelligence agencies with ones controlled by Chavez. He called on Venezuelans to help the agencies apprehend threats to national security.

China: Police in Dujiangyan rounded up hundreds of parents protesting the deaths of children during the recent earthquake, many of whom died when their school buildings collapsed. According to media reports, the authorities’ effort to muzzle the parents’ protest was “the strongest sign so far of the government’s growing impatience with public airing of grievances over unsafe school construction.”

Singapore: Authorities arrested and charged a California-based blogger with insulting a public servant. The blogger, Gopalan Nair, a former Singapore lawyer and a U.S. citizen, was apprehended by authorities after posting articles on his blog criticizing a judge and telling Singapore authorities that he was “within your jurisdiction,” giving his hotel address and phone number.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on June 08, 2008 (boomark / email).