Archive for January, 2009

Academic faces charges over book

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Giles Ji Ungpakorn, professor of political science at the University of Chulalonkorn, has been charged with insulting the king in his book A Coup for the Rich, published in 2007. (more…)

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Russia: crimes without punishment

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

nastya-baburovaThe murder of Anastasiya Baburova (right) and Stanislav Markelov is part of a brutal trend. Russians who stand up for human rights may pay with their lives, says Tanya Lokshina

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Reporter held by Fatah

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Index on Censorship has received a report that Al-Ahram Weekly‘s correspondent in the West Bank, Khalid Amayreh, was arrested by the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service last night following a interview with Al-Quds TV station in which he accused the PSS of preventing Palestinians in the west bank from organising massive pro-Gaza demonstrations. (more…)

Journalist Baburova dies in hospital

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasiya Baburova died in hospital yesterday evening after being shot in the head in central Moscow yesterday. Human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was also killed in the attack. Read more here

Obama: a fresh start

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Barack ObamaBarack Obama has promised to run the most transparent administration in history. He could make a good start by opening the government’s files on torture, says Jameel Jaffer
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Novaya Gazeta reporter shot

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Anastasiya Baburova, a reporter for Novaya Gazeta, the Russian newspaper funded by Alexander Lebedev, was seriously wounded in a shooting incident in Moscow earlier today. (more…)

Writer sentenced for lèse majesté

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Australian writer Harry Nicolaides has been sentenced to three years in prison in Thailand for insulting the king in his book Verisimilitude. Read more here

Sir John Mortimer, 1923 – 2009

Friday, January 16th, 2009


Author and barrister Sir John Mortimer died this morning at the age of 85. Sir John was a great champion of free expression, defending many writers and publishers against obscenity charges in the 1970s.

In one of his last interviews, he talked to Index on Censorship about the notorious Oz trial of 1971, as well as Gay News and Inside Linda Lovelace, two other publications he defended. Here we reproduce that interview.


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