Freedom of Tweet: 10 Years in Prison for 96 Characters
Jean Ramses Anleu has an account on Twitter (@jeanfer). And like most of us on the micro-blogging platform, Anleu talks about the local and national happenings of his country.
The main difference between the rest of us and Anleu is that he was arrested for posting a tweet.
Anleu lives in Guatemala, where a law has been in effect to prevent any action on any medium that could lead to financial panic. According to elPeriodico de Guatemala, decree 64-2008 makes expressing, elaborating, divulging or reproducing, in any media or communications system, false or inaccurate information that strikes against the faith of clients, users and investors of any institution overseen by the Guatemalan Superintendencia de Bancos, the entity that oversees national financial institutions.
Guatemala finds itself in a state of unrest already following the murder of the attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg on May 10. The manner that these events are related gets a little complex, so bear with me: Rosenberg was representing Khali Musa, whose name as a prominent businessman, had been used extensively to legitimize the dealings of Guatemala’s Banrural bank, after Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom’s administration appointed Musa to join the bank’s board as director. Musa had refused, weary of the extent the institution was involved in financing drug-trafficking and money laundering. To prevent the information from going public, Musa and his daughter were murdered. Rosenberg continued his investigation of his client’s murder until he, too, was murdered this month.
But Rosenberg left a video (video is in Spanish, with English subtitles. You can also read the English translation here).
The video went viral, informing hundreds of thousands of people around the world about what was happening in Guatemala. From Time:
In the 18-minute tape, a seemingly calm Rosenberg, sitting behind a desk and microphone, alleges that Colom, the First Lady and two associates were involved in murder, corruption and money laundering. The group, he says, filtered public funds through a state-owned bank for personal gain and to finance drug traffickers.
It was in response to this video and the events surrounding it that Jean Ramses Anleu formulated the tweet that now finds him in jail (translated from Spanish): “first real action: withdraw funds from Banrural and break the bank of the corrupt.”
Anleu has been fined US$6,500 and may be sentenced to ten years in prison for his tweet.
I’m South American. I wasn’t born in time to see my family ousted in a military coup, but the fear of these tactics—the silencing, apprehending and “disappearing” of dissidents, is seared in my DNA.
We didn’t have the internet then.
But we do now. What are we going to do with it?
Of possible interest:
Guatemala: “El Efecto Streisand,” Update on Twitter User Arrested For One Tweet On Political/Financial Crisis by Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing has updates on the situation.
Petition to free Anleu on PetitionOnline.com (Spanish). It has 486 signatures at the posting of this piece.
Use the hashtag #escandalogt in Twitter search to read more about the unrest in Guatemala and #freejeanfer to keep up on the developments surrounding Anleu.
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May 21st, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Saw this in the news a while ago. It’s very chilling to see this kind of state power used against citizens.
OMG, Jeffrey Hendersons last blog post: Newt Gingrich and Bill O’Reilly call for mandatory drug testing for all citizens
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May 22nd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
This is more than just a speech issue, this is an attempt to incite a run on the (national) bank. You can just say anything you want, any time you want and not expect consequences. (Try threatening to kill President Obama and see what happens).
Jeanfer knew about the law, knew about the crisis, and still attempted to incite rebellion. The government exists to promote the common good, which includes the financial stability of the nation. Jeanfer was trying to aggravate the crisis, and possibly effect a coup.
The pen is indeed more powerful than the sword, and with power comes responsibility. I suspect jeanfer has learned some responsibility as a result of this experience.
OMG, Marks last blog post: I’m Goin’ Through the Big ‘D’ and I Don’t Mean Dallas
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May 24th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
[...] up from time to time can be a good thing, no matter how strongly you feel. It’s not always about what you say, but how you say it” said Hning Swara in her post [...]