Eritrea, worst of the worst
Freedom of expression is stifled in Africa’s youngest nation, says Peter Martell
(more…)
Index on Censorship welcomes reversal of United Kingdom Supreme Court anonymity
Index on Censorship today welcomes the UK Supreme Court’s decision to recall orders for the anonymity of terror suspects subject to asset-freezing in the first case heard by the UK’s Supreme Court.
Jo Glanville, editor of Index on Censorship, commented: “This is an important decision. For the very first case heard by the Supreme Court to be held under conditions of anonymity would have been a blow to the concepts of a free press and open justice, which should be at the core of the court’s operations.”
Index on Censorship was party to a challenge to the anonymity orders in the case of A, K, M and HAY v HM Treasury.
Delivering the judgement, Lord Rodger commented: “If newspapers can identify the people concerned, they may be able to give a more vivid and compelling account which will stimulate discussion of the impact of freezing orders and their impact upon the communities in which people live. Concealing their identities simply casts a shadow over entire communities.”
The Supreme Court replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom in October 2009.
Read the Supreme Court judgment here
Also read: Mark Stephens on the Supreme Court’s “alphabet soup”
French commission reignites burka debate
France steps closer to banning the Islamic face veils in public, reports Natasha Lehrer
PAST EVENT: Koestler – The Indispensable Intellectual
Tuesday 16 February 1pm
Michael Scammell discusses his acclaimed biography of Arthur Koestler –– writer, journalist and author of Darkness at Noon, one of the finest political novels of the 20th century.
Koestler was witness to some of the major events of his day: a young communist who turned against Stalin after the first show trials, an early chronicler of Zionism, a prisoner during the Spanish Civil War, a refugee from Nazi Europe. Koestler was ahead of his time: an intellectual and visionary, whose novels, non-fiction and adventurous life story are a fascinating chronicle of the last century.
Michael Scammell is the award-winning author of Solzhenitsyn, A Biography. He has translated numerous books from Russian, including Nabokov’s The Defense. He is the founder and first editor of Index on Censorship and is a vice president of International PEN. He teaches at Columbia University.
To reserve a place call: 0207 324 2570 or email [email protected]