حرب قضائية على الحقيقة

In sophisticated ways, but with the sole aim of protecting their interests and covering up their abuses, enemies of freedom of information have launched an innovative and abusive campaign to use the judicial system. This campaign is represented by what are known as “silencing the public proceedings” (SLAPPs), which are legal procedures that prevent the completion of investigations or the publication of their results in the media. But its consequences go beyond that, as it also paralyzes citizens’ exercise of freedom of expression, and intimidates those who might report similar crimes or investigate human rights violations. Scrutinizing some of the most prominent Strategic Intimidation Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) cases - by name - we find religious groups, lobbyists, corporations, foundations, and their favorite victims: environmentalists, investigative journalists, human rights activists, and artists. This systematic text explains these legal maneuvers, and identifies measures taken to protect us from them. Our era has its own forms of censorship; Identifying and curbing one of them, at least in truly democratic societies, is the urgent task we address in these pages.