Index on Censorship
Azerbaijan: Eynulla Fatullayev pardoned

Azerbaijan: Eynulla Fatullayev pardoned

Azerbaijan journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has been pardoned by the country’s president Ilham Aliyev, according to a report on the News.az website.

Fatullayev’s name featured on a list of prisoners to be released on the morning of Friday 27 May.

Fatullayev, who worked as a reporter on Elmar Huseynov’s magazine Monitor and later founded and edited Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaycan, served almost four years in prison.

Index on Censorship, English PEN, Article 19 and Amnesty led an international campaign for the 34-year-old editor’s release.

Natasha Schmidt, Assistant Editor of Index on Censorship said:

“We’re absolutely delighted that Eynulla will be freed. This comes more than a year after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that he should be released. Only last month Index lobbied European leaders to ensure that this judgement was enforced and that freedom of expression is upheld. It is of concern however that bloggers and Facebook activists are still in prison.”

read more
Belarus: Irina Khalip sentenced to two years

Belarus: Irina Khalip sentenced to two years

Journalist Irina Khalip has been given a two-year suspended sentence for participation in “mass disturbance” after December’s disputed Belarusian presidential elections.

Novaya Gazeta correspondent Khalip, 43, is married to presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, who was sentenced to five years in a labour camp on Saturday (14 May). The couple have a four-year-old son, Danil.

read more

Ai Weiwei keeps his beard

Last Friday, a newspaper editorial musing on the missing artist Ai Weiwei was blocked online. The editorial, which was appeared in the Southern Metropolis Daily, marked the third anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake, an event that Ai investigated....

read more
Should we scrap superinjunctions?

Should we scrap superinjunctions?

Ahead of tomorrow’s crucial European judgment on privacy and prior notification, we recap Max Mosley and John Kampfner’s recent privacy debate. Are court gagging orders on newspaper exposés an abuse of privacy laws by the rich, or a safeguard against tabloid intrusion into family life?

read more
SUPPORT INDEX'S WORK