The week in free expression 31 October – 7 November

7 Nov 2025 | Africa, Americas, Bahrain, Europe and Central Asia, News and features, Russia, Sudan, Tanzania, United States

Bombarded with news from all angles every day, important stories can easily pass us by. To help you cut through the noise, every Friday Index publishes a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression. This week, we look at journalists under threat in Sudan and a Russian street musician continuing to take a stand.

Sudan: RSF releases video of missing journalist

Sudan’s RSF (Rapid Support Forces) have released a video admitting to the detention of a missing journalist.

Muammar Ibrahim, a freelance journalist, went missing on 26 October in El-Fasher, with a video circulating on Telegram of him being surrounded by armed men.

Ibrahim was thought to have been detained by RSF fighters, a fact that was confirmed in a video released by the RSF on 3 November in which Ibrahim is accused of being biased, and himself states that the investigation against him is due to his description of the RSF as a militia.

The video follows a statement from an RSF spokesperson to Al-Jazeera in which he said: “I have no knowledge of the arrest of Sudanese journalist Muammar Ibrahim”

Bahrain: Calls for release of prisoner after hunger strike

Calls have been made for the release of a prominent human rights defender in Bahrain following a hunger strike.

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, co-founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been imprisoned in Bahrain since 2011 and is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in demonstrations during the pro-democracy uprisings in the country.

This coincides with a wider hunger strike throughout Bahrain’s Jaw prison involving more than 90 prisoners who are protesting against deteriorating conditions in the prison. This type of protest is not uncommon in the prison, with 800 prisoners taking part in a 2023 hunger strike.

Russia: Another sentence for 18-year-old street protest singer

Russian street musician Diana Loginova, also known as Naoko, has been sentenced to 13 days in jail for her performances of banned songs that went viral recently.

Loginova is the singer of St Petersberg band Stoptime, known for their street performances around the city.

This is the second detention she has faced in the last month, having just finished her previous sentence of 13 days; the singer still faces charges of discrediting the army, a charge that may lead to longer imprisonment.

Watch the video of one of Stoptime’s performances that has caused these charges here. For non-Russian speakers, the translation is here.

Tanzania: Crackdown on protest after incumbent wins 98% of presidential vote

A violent crackdown has begun following country-wide demonstrations that erupted during last week’s presidential elections in Tanzania.

Opposition party Chadema claims there have been 2,000 people killed so far, however these numbers have not been independently verified. The government has denied the use of excessive force against protesters.

The demonstrations began on election day last week and led to the deployment of the military to enforce a curfew across the city of Dar es Salaam.

On 1 November Tanzania’s electoral body declared Samia Suluhu Hassan, the incumbent president, winner with 97.66% of votes. Most of her rivals were either imprisoned or barred from taking part in the elections.

Internet watchdog Netblocks announced on 3 November that a five-day internet shutdown had been eased.

USAI: Trump facsimile takes the stage

US President Donald Trump has been accused of posting AI-generated videos of himself on social media again this week.

Trump is no stranger to AI video generation at this point, becoming a regular poster of content such as a video depicting himself flying a fighter jet and images of himself as a character from the Halo video games.

As AI videos become more and more realistic, Trump’s use of the technology sets an alarming precedent for its use by politicians globally, with the risk of it being used against political enemies increasing daily.

Watch one of the uncanny videos here, in which the apparent AI Trump stands behind a podium and recites his own TruthSocial posts.

Contents – Land of the Free? Trump’s war on speech at home and abroad

25 Jul 2025 | Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, DR Congo, Georgia, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Magazine Contents, Malawi, Nigeria, Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Volume 54.02 Summer 2025, Zimbabwe

Contents

Has the USA, the so-called Land of the Free, become a dangerous country for those who question its government?

Such a notion is, of course, in opposition to the country’s founding principles. Enshrined in the 1791 First Amendment to the US Constitution are citizens’ fundamental freedoms – including freedom of religion, speech, the press, protest and petition. Conveniently glossing over its dark history of colonisation and slavery (whi=ch would continue for nearly a century after the First Amendment was ratified), it signified the USA as a global bastion of democracy, equality and civilised values. Now, Trump appears to be metaphorically setting fire to the paper these principles are written on.

This is having profound impacts within the USA and around the world. Trump was inaugurated for his second term only six months ago, but already he has sought to deport people for their views on Israel and Palestine; threatened universities with eye-watering financial sanctions if they do not adhere to his ideological viewpoints; slashed the budgets of state-funded broadcasters; deployed the National Guard to police protests, a tactic used by military dictatorships; and dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), stopping the work of human rights groups globally.

In this edition, we explore these attacks on free speech at home and abroad.

Up Front

The American Nightmare: Sarah Dawood
Fundamental freedoms are being rapidly dismantled in the “land of liberty”

The Index: Mark Stimpson
A close look at upcoming elections, El Salvador and the attitudes of US border agents

Features

The forgotten Caucasus conflict: JP O’Malley
With journalism restricted, it’s not easy to get to the truth about Azerbaijan and Armenia

Attacked on all fronts in the West Bank: Sarah Dawood
A human rights lawyer who has seen Israeli prisons from the inside

Is this how it is in Somalia?: Abdalle Ahmed Mumin
Journalists criticising the government take their lives in their hands

“People are terrified to speak their minds”: Ruth Green
From a questionable offer of a Georgian literature award comes the perfect opportunity to speak out

The plight of Boualem Sansal: Clemence Manyukwe
Algeria’s answer to Orwell has found himself in a dystopian situation

Climate protest feels the chill: Sally Gimson
Just Stop Oil go on one final outing before hanging up their orange t-shirts

The forgotten Syrians: Mawada Bahah
Assad might have fallen, but hundreds of his critics are still locked up in Lebanon

Going underground in beijing: Murong Xuecun
Singing on the subway can quickly become an act of dissent

From protest to social post: Tiléwa Kazeem
Nigerians are taking to TikTok to voice their frustrations

Special Report: Land of the Free? - Trump's war on speech at home and abroad

American dissident: Martin Bright
Lessons in resistance from those who have been here before

Trump’s first days under scrutiny: Mark Stimpson
A whirlwind of executive orders, and the real impact for free expression

Radio silence: Rebecca L Root
Left without funding, Radio Free Asia is fighting to stay on the airwaves

Borrowing from Erdoğan’s playbook: Kaya Genç
Culture wars in the USA meet culture wars in Turkey

The war on truth: Maksym Filipenko
A new comic from a Ukrainian artist gets to the heart of US interests

Silence is survival in Haiti: Gabriella Jóźwiak
The withdrawal of USAID has left press freedom in tatters

Good news for tyrants: Danson Kahyana
Is the suspension of USAID empowering African dictators?

Land of the litigious bullies: Nik Williams
A road trip across the home of strategic lawsuits that stifle dissent

The rise of the newsfluencer: Liam Scott
Falsehoods, conspiracies and a place in the press pool

Why the UK needs to step up on international aid: Emily Couch
Freedom and human rights are being deprioritised

Befriending the Kremlin: Alexandra Domenech
When Trump and Putin cosy up, there are consequences for the world

An un-American story: Katie Dancey-Downs
Control the books, control the narrative

No power to the people: Mackenzie Argent
US universities have become battlegrounds for free speech

Comment

What we all lose when we lose LGBTQ+ rights: Matthew Beard
Hungary’s Pride event went ahead despite a ban but other spaces for freedom are shrinking

Votes for men?: Raina Lipsitz
It might be time to get the Suffragette banners out of storage

Democratic backsliding: Jemimah Steinfeld
The UK’s free speech record is shaky – but US right-wingers are looking in the wrong place

Lost in translation: Clive Priddle
The era of a less diverse USA, where international literature is turned away

Culture

Goodness Gracious Me in the age of Trump: Salil Tripathi
A new (and unofficial) scene from the hit comedy sketch show pits India against the USA

Documenting Ukraine’s war has a deadly cost: Victoria Amelina, Mark Stimpson
An exclusive extract from the war diary of a writer killed by Russia

The trouble with love: Keletso Thobega
A new anthology paints a picture of queer activism in Africa

A silent life under the Taliban: Sarah Dawood, Barin
When Afghan women are forbidden from speaking, one author writes regardless

Hamilton star on freedom’s fragility: Giles Terera
Taking centre stage to have the last word

Editor's Note, 20 August 2025, Index on Censorship magazine 54.02: Upon further review of the article in this magazine "Reporters branded as traitors", Index's editorial team have determined the article did not meet our editorial standards and it has been removed.

Contents – The forgotten patients: Lost voices in the global healthcare system

9 Apr 2025 | Afghanistan, Botswana, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Iran, Israel, Magazine Contents, Palestine, Russia, Slovakia, Somalia, Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Volume 54.01 Spring 2025

Contents

Modern medicine is a wonderful thing. Before Edward Jenner’s development of the smallpox vaccination in 1796, infectious diseases and viruses killed millions. The introduction of anaesthetic gases during surgical procedures in 1846 eliminated the excruciating pain of surgery. And before Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928, people died unnecessarily from cuts and grazes.

But the benefits of modern medicine are not felt equally around the world. In this issue, we explore the forgotten patients in global healthcare settings – the marginalised groups who fall through the cracks or are actively shut out of healthcare provision, then ignored or silenced when they raise concerns.

Just like free speech, healthcare is an indisputable human right. But for many around the globe, both these rights are being removed in conjunction with each other. Through telling their stories, this edition aims to shine a light on these injustices and – we hope – empower more people to speak up for the right to health for themselves and others.

Up Front

A bitter pill to swallow: Sarah Dawood
Not all healthcare is made equal, and pointing this out can have serious consequences

The Index: Mark Stimpson
From elections in Romania to breaking encryption in the UK: a tour of the world’s most pressing free expression issues

Features

Rape, reputation and little recourse: Samridhi Kapoor, Hanan Zaffar
Indian universities have a sexual violence problem that no one is talking about

Georgian nightmare: Ruth Green
Russian-style laws are shutting down more conversations in Georgia, with academia feeling the heat

Botswana’s new era: Clemence Manyukwe
From brave lawyer to president – could the country’s new leader put human rights front and centre?

Venezuela’s prison problem: Catherine Ellis
The disputed new president has a way of dealing with critics – locking them up

Forbidden words: Salil Tripathi
The Satanic Verses is back in India’s bookshops. Or is it?

The art of resistance: Alessandra Bajec
A film, a graffiti archive and a stage play: three works changing the narrative in Tunisia

A tragic renaissance: Emily Couch
The pen is getting mightier and mightier in Ukraine

In the red zone: Alexandra Domenech
Conscription is just one of the fears of an LGBTQ+ visual artist in Russia

Demokratia dismantled: Georgios Samaras
The legacy of the Predator spyware scandal has left a dark stain on Greece

Elon musk’s year on X: Mark Stimpson
The biggest mystery about Musk: when does he sleep?

Keyboard warriors: Laura O’Connor
A band of women are fighting oppression in Myanmar through digital activism

Behind the bars of Saydnaya prison: Laura Silvia Battaglia
Unspeakable horrors unfolded at Syria’s most notorious prison, and now its survivors tell their stories

Painting a truer picture: Natalie Skowlund
Street art in one Colombian city has been sanitised beyond recognition

The reporting black hole: Fasil Aregay
Ethiopian journalists are allowed to report on new street lights, and little else

Special Report: The forgotten patients - Lost voices in the global healthcare system

Whistleblowing in an empty room: Martin Bright
Failures in England’s maternity services are shrouded in secrecy

An epidemic of corruption: Danson Kahyana
The Ugandan healthcare system is on its knees, but what does that matter to the rich and powerful?

Left speechless: Sarah Dawood
The horrors of war are leaving children in Gaza unable to speak

Speaking up to end the cut: Hinda Abdi Mohamoud
In Somalia, fighting against female genital mutilation comes at a high price

Doctors under attack: Kaya Genç
Turkey’s president is politicising healthcare, and medics are in the crosshairs

Denial of healthcare is censoring political prisoners – often permanently: Rishabh Jain, Alexandra Domenech, Danson Kahyana
Another page in the authoritarian playbook: deny medical treatment to jailed dissidents

The silent killer: Mackenzie Argent
A hurdle for many people using the UK’s National Health Service: institutional racism

Czechoslovakia’s haunting legacy: Katie Dancey-Downs
Roma women went into hospitals to give birth, and came out infertile

An inconvenient truth: Ella Pawlik
While Covid vaccines saved millions of lives, those with adverse reactions have been ignored

Punished for raising standards: Esther Adepetun
From misuse of money to misdirecting medicines, Nigerian healthcare is rife with corruption

Nowhere to turn: Zahra Joya
Life as they know it has been destroyed for women in Afghanistan, and healthcare provision is no different

Emergency in the children’s ward: Shaylim Castro Valderrama
The last thing parents of sick children expect is threats from militia

Comment

We need to talk about Sudan: Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Would “a battle of narratives” give the war more attention?

RFK Jr could be a disaster for American healthcare: Mark Honigsbaum
An anti-vaxxer has got US lives in his hands

The diamond age of death threats: Jemimah Steinfeld
When violent behaviour becomes business as usual

Free speech v the right to a fair trial: Gill Phillips
Are contempt of court laws fit for the digital age?

Culture

An unjust trial: Ariel Dorfman
A new short story imagines a kangaroo court of nightmares, where victims become defendants

Remember the past to save the future: Sarah Dawood, Diane Fahey
Published exclusively, the issues of antisemitism and colonialism are recorded through poetry

Where it’s more dangerous to carry a camera than a gun: Antonia Langford
A singer meets filmmakers in Yemen, and both take risks to tell her story

The fight for change isn’t straightforward: Shani Dhanda
The Last Word, on exclusion and intersectional discrimination

Telling fact from fiction

4 Oct 2024 | Israel, News and features, Newsletters, Palestine, Sudan

If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? This well-known philosophical question most likely stems from the work of 18th century philosopher George Berkeley, who questioned the possibility of “unperceived existence”. In other words – did something really happen if no one is around to witness or perceive it?

This might seem a lofty and pretentious way to start this week’s Index newsletter. But the first-hand observance and subsequent documentation of events is the fundamental basis of rigorous journalism, and enables injustices to be accurately reported around the world. It provides us with the ability to understand truth from falsehood. And it is being increasingly undermined.

Journalistic “black holes” are appearing in conflicts globally, stopping the world from being able to witness what is happening on the ground, and therefore causing us to question reality.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, triggered by Hamas's incursion into Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has banned foreign media access in Gaza. Only very limited international news crews are allowed in under strict conditions. This has left the world reliant on press statements, the words of government officials, and individual Palestinian journalists, who have risked their lives to showcase the brutality of the war on social media.

And many have lost their lives in the process. According to investigations by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), as of 4 October 2024, at least 127 journalists and media workers are among the more than 42,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis killed since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the organisation started gathering data in 1992. The CPJ has determined that at least five of these journalists were directly targeted.

Major broadcasters have also been targeted. Last month, Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank was raided and shut down for 45 days by Israeli soldiers, following the closure of the channel’s East Jerusalem office in May, on claims that they are a threat to Israel’s national security. But as Al Jazeera English’s Gaza correspondent Youmna El Sayed writes for Index this week, such shutdowns of legitimate news providers prevent global audiences from being able to see the pain and suffering that is being endured by both Palestinians and Israelis, encouraging misinformation to propagate.

As hostilities escalate across the Middle East, news channels continue to be curtailed. This week, an air strike destroyed the headquarters of the religious al-Sirat TV station in Beirut, Lebanon, on grounds that it was being used to store Hezbollah weapons, a claim which Hezbollah denies. Foreign correspondents are, however, still allowed in Lebanon - but in Iran all broadcasting is controlled by the state, with foreign journalists barred, meaning access to objective reporting is essentially impossible.

Outside of the region, other countries’ severe reporting restrictions and intimidation of journalists have made it difficult for global audiences to comprehend what is happening in conflicts. This includes Kashmir, the disputed mountainous region between India and Pakistan, and Sudan, where it is estimated that 90% of the country’s media infrastructure has been wiped out by the civil war.

What is the impact of this? The worrying rise in press suppression not only creates huge risks for journalists, but severely curtails people’s ability to understand geopolitics, conflict, and in future, historical events. It stops us from being able to weigh things up and form opinions based on what we have perceived.

Ultimately, it is impossible for any news producer, whether they be an individual correspondent or a major broadcaster, to be truly “objective”. People are driven by motives, both emotional and financial, and their own lived experiences. A news organisation, backed by a particular country or group, will appear truthful to some and severely biased to others.

But the only way to ensure some level of objectivity is to retain access to a broad range of sources, from the BBC to Al Jazeera, helping us form a more rounded world view. To go back to Berkeley’s philosophical analysis, the only way to verify the truth is to have the privilege of witnessing the evidence. Without this, it becomes virtually impossible to be able to tell fact from fiction.

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