China’s phantom Jasmine pro-democracy protests have turned into a news story about news journalists. The heavy-handed treatment of foreign reporters --- detained in an underground bunker, shadowed, beaten, harassed and threatened --- has now become...
The families of political prisoners detained in Belarus after the 19 December election have instructed a London law firm to launch civil proceedings against the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko. This is the first time that a serving...
London Imam Usama Hasan has been caught up in a storm of religious controversy over his views. In an article from the Index archive, he argues that Islam traditionally embraces debate
Apple should be part of the open online society, rather than the architects behind a system of control, argues Bill Thompson
Influential US and British actors and musicians including Oscar winners Kevin Spacey and Kelvin Kline, the Pet Shop Boys, Jude Law, Sienna Miller, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Tom Stoppard and Samuel West, have been put on a “blacklist” of artists banned...
His three-year defamation battle may be over, but Hardeep Singh still faces an uphill battle to recover his costs
Venezuelan journalist Clara Fernandez has been killed in a shooting in Valencia. She was allegedly caught in crossfire in a fight between two rival gangs. The details relating to her death are as yet unclear. The Venezuelan National Journalism...
Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for religious minorities has been assassinated . Bhatti, a Christian, was a vocal opponent of the controversial blasphemy law and had repeatedly asked for it to be reformed. Pamphlets found at the scene of his killing...
Index on Censorship award nomineee Natalia Radzina of Belarus's Charter 97 has revealed that the KGB tried to recruit her as an informant. She alleges that KGB officers psychologically tortured her whilst she was held at the KGB detention centre in...
Censorship and its fear-fed sibling, self-censorship, frequently take on farcical qualities in China. One of the most eloquent speeches on this subject for a long time was given by a young Chinese writer, Murong Xuecun, last week. The 30-something...
“Listening to the fear in people’s voices had been heartbreaking but not hearing anything was terrifying.” Filmmaker Huda Abuzeid on bringing Libyan voices to the world
Chief editor Ram Pukar Raut, and editor Pravin Sharma Jha, of the New Times Today have been arrested by police in the Southern Nepalese district of Rautahat. They were charged with having links with a militant underground group, and printing a...