18 Jan 2012 | Index Index, minipost
The Maltese government have announced plans to over-haul censorship laws which affect stage performances and films. A three week consultation process has been launched with regards to newly proposed laws which aim to “fulfil the aspirations of the artistic community.” Tourism and Culture Minister Mario de Marco explained that the proposed amendments will move towards a system of self-regulation. The amendments also propose that the cinema and stage regulations will be transferred from the police laws to the law which regulates the Malta Council for the Arts. De Marco regretted that current laws may have failed some people.
18 Jan 2012 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Iran’s Supreme court has upheld the death sentence against a Canadian web designer. Saeed Malekpour was sentenced to death last January for “anti-government agitation and insulting Islam,” following his arrest in October 2008. He was accused of creating a site Iran claims was used to post “pornographic” images. Malekpour, whose sentence was upheld yesterday, was arrested whilst visiting his ailing father. The designer’s family confirmed the sentencing after the Revolutionary Guard pressured for him to be executed. Malekpour has reportedly been singled out for especially harsh treatment during his time at Evin Prison.
18 Jan 2012 | Events
Date: 1 March
Time: 7-8.30pm
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE
Speakers: Pavel Litvinov and Michael Scammell, chaired by Jo Glanville
Tickets: free, register here
Acclaimed writer and founding editor of
Index on Censorship Michael Scammell and former Russian dissident Pavel Litvinov discuss the nature of censorship and the future of freedom of speech. It was Pavel Litvinov’s courageous public appeal to the West for help, during a Soviet show trial in 1968, that inspired the creation of
Index on Censorship magazine, a forum for banned writers, artists and intellectuals in the struggle against censorship. Forty years on, as Index on Censorship celebrates its anniversary, this will be a rare opportunity to hear an illuminating discussion from two leading voices in the history of free speech.
Michael Scammell is the author of The Indispensable Intellectual, the authorised biography of Arthur Koestler. Pavel Litvinov is a writer, physicist and human rights activist.
18 Jan 2012 | Asia and Pacific, News and features
As religious leaders call to ban Salman Rushdie from the Jaipur festival in India, Salil Tripathi reports on the country’s “sepulchral silence”
** Update 20 January 2012 ** – Salman Rushdie tweeted this morning:
Read more here
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