Booker prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson gave the keynote address at last night’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, sponsored by SAGE
Reporter Sergei Topol was beaten around the head on Wednesday as he left his home in Moscow, leaving him hospitalised. Topol published a series of articles in 2008 in which he alleged that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was going to leave his wife for a 27-year-old Olympic champion gymnast. Putin denied the claims at the time, and told journalists to keep their “snotty noses” out of his private life. Topol’s assailant is unknown and police have declined to comment on the motive.
Security forces opened fire on protesters in the southern city of Daraa on Wednesday, killing at least 25 demonstrators. While activists claimed that many more had been killed, hospital sources reported 25 bodies with bullet wounds. Security forces have come down hard on recent demonstrations, with at least 32 protesters having been killed since Friday 18 March.
The 11th annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, sponsored by SAGE, were presented tonight (24 March) at a ceremony in London hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby