Daily Times

Critics viewed that Pakistan should allow freedom of speech, without mentioning that many liberal democracies, claiming to be the champions of free speech, have arrested and convicted innumerable social media activists for a wide range of Internet crimes. Following examples of such legislation all over the world show that the concept of social media crimes is quite useful for the security and integrity of society and public/private bodies, but in many cases, legislation infringes upon legitimate freedoms and rights of citizens.

In India, The New York Times reported on May 23, 2016 that a journalist in the troubled Indian state of Chhattisgarh was arrested after he had posted a message on social media criticising the police and calling for legal protections for reporters in the violence-scarred region. The post for which he was arrested was circulated on WhatsApp. The journalist was accused of circulating misleading and obscene material. The Indian example shows the injustice of convicting a citizen who has legitimate, albeit misconceived, concerns about the responsibilities of the police authorities.

To quote another example, an Indian medical student was arrested in 2012 over a Facebook post questioning why her city of Mumbai should come to a standstill to mark the death of a prominent politician. Her friend was arrested for liking the post. Both were charged with engaging in speech that was offensive and hateful.

In France, following the series of terrorist attacks in Paris in early January 2015, at least 54 people were detained by police for defending or glorifying terrorism. A number of the cases including one against a comedian was believed to be connected to outlandish social media comments. In the United States, which otherwise portrays itself as a ringleader of free speech, does not tolerate social media activists who have been found triggering ‘unrest’ in society. The USA Today reported on July 10, 2016 that after a 37-year-old black man was shot and killed outside of a Louisiana state convenience store by two white police officers, the police had rounded up over 100 activists, including a social media activist, Deray Mckesson, who had actually posted video of the police shooting online, hence setting off angry protests. On this video, the accused Mckesson could be heard talking with fellow protesters and describing what he said was provocative police behaviour against protesters.

In another case, in 2009, a New York man was arrested and his home was searched. He was placed under a $25,000 bail for tweeting police movements to help G20 protesters in Pittsburgh avoid law enforcement agencies. The Pittsburgh Summit was the meeting of G20 heads of state/heads of government to discuss financial markets and the world economy.

According to an August 28, 2016 Wall Street Journal report, which had actually quoted a Fordham University’s Centre on National Security research, approximately 100 individuals have been arrested in the United States since early 2014 on charges related to providing support to the Islamic State or Daesh. In 69 percent of the cases, officials found the individuals had watched or read the electronic dispatches of Daesh. The arrests have helped the American government, because since June 2014 there has been a 45 percent drop in pro-Islamic State tweets, said US government officials, citing data analytics technology that tracks Islamic State’s presence on social media. In Australia, a teenager was arrested prior to attending a Pink concert in Melbourne for tweeting: “I’m ready with my Bomb. Time to blow up.” The tweet had actually referenced lyrics from an American pop star’s song “Time bomb,” but the Aussie police were rattled and unnerved. In the UK, in February 2016, the British police arrested a Scottish citizen under the Communication Act for insulting and offensive Facebook comments made about recent arrivals in Scotland. It is imperative to note that the British police have promised not to tolerate any speech that could cause offence on social media regarding Syrian migrants.

In another case from Britain, a 22-year old man was arrested for “malicious communication” following Facebook messages made in response to the murder of a soldier Lee Rigby, and another user was arrested after taunting an Olympics athlete about his dead father. More recently, the British police arrested a 19-year-old man over an “offensive” tweet about a bin lorry crash in Glasgow that killed six people. TV personality Katie Hopkins, known for her controversial tweets, was also reported to the Scottish police following some tasteless tweets about the Scots. The incident had prompted the Scottish police to post their now infamous tweet declaring they would continue to “monitor comments on social media.” In Bahrain, in October 2014, the BBC had reported that a leading Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was arrested over Twitter remarks deemed “denigrating” to government institutions. Rajab was often seen in the forefront of such demonstrations and was a vocal critic of the ruler, King Hamad al-Khalifa. He was then a prominent voice on social media, with almost 240,000 followers on Twitter. Rajab was given a six-month suspended sentence over a tweet in which both the country’s ministry of interior and ministry of defence allege that he “denigrated government institutions.” Rajab was released last year after two years in prison over charges that included sending offensive tweets. Rajab’s experience is not unique in Bahrain. In May 2013, five men were arrested for “insulting the king” via Twitter. In Turkey, a former Miss Turkey was arrested and tried for sharing a satirical poem criticising President Tayyip Erdogan in 2014 on her Instagram account. According to the May 31, 2016 edition of The Telegraph, the beauty queen, Merve Buyuksarac, was sentenced to 14 months in prison. This shows the intolerance of government officials toward criticism, which is the right of every citizen. If people are not allowed to express their political views then there is little doubt that no healthy political change or movement would take place.

In Saudi Arabia, in 2014, a Saudi women’s rights activist Souad Al-Shammari was arrested during an interrogation over some of her tweets. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights said the charges against her included “calling upon society to disobey by describing society as masculine” and “using sarcasm while mentioning religious texts and religious scholars.” In China, the renowned Chinese online activist, Cheng Jianping, was arrested on her wedding day in 2010 for “disturbing social order” by retweeting a joke by her fiancé. She was sentenced to one year of “re-education through labour.”

Twitter is officially banned in China, and the microblogging site Weibo is a popular alternative.

In 2013, according to the BBC, four Weibo users were arrested for spreading rumours about a deceased soldier labelled a hero and used in propaganda posters. The four were said to have “incited dissatisfaction with the government.” In light of the foregoing it may be said that while the adoption of concept of social media crimes is a progressive and pragmatic step for Pakistan, a Pakistan already rattled with terrorism, it should be used to counter extremism and hatred within the society rather than to cut roots of democracy by infringing rights to freedom of speech, especially concerning freedom of political views.

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The writer is a graduate of LUMS and currently serves as an MPA of Punjab. She tweets at @hinaparvezbutt