Manal Omar says European controversies about “burkinis” are patriarchal and patronising
The other side of the swimsuit story
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Index on Censorship
US students in anti-Islam shirt row
A lawyer for a Florida school district says a handful of students have been sent home from schools this week for wearing shirts that read "Islam is of the Devil." The shirts are connected to a local church called the Dove World Outreach Center who...
Rai TV refuse to air critical documentary
In Italy state-owned TV channels have refused to show the trailer of the latest documentary by Erik Gandini, Videocracy, which looks at the rise of Berlusconi’s TV stations and impact on the Italy's customs and ethics. In a press statement...
Kazakhstan editor jailed
Ramazan Yesergepov, the editor of an independent weekly paper in Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata Info, has been jailed for three years on a charge of "collecting information that contains state secrets." He was sentenced in the absence of a lawyer, his...
Groucho Club in libel action
Renowned London media club moves to halt publication of claims in “exposé”. Index on Censorship and Journalism.co.uk report
Coverage clampdown on Iran trials
The fourth session of the mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, including journalists, took place in Tehran yesterday and has been criticised for procedural irregularities and only allowing state-owned media coverage. The defendants were...
Malaysian officials seize magazine
In Kuala Lumpur, copies of the inaugural issue of Gedung Kartun magazine have been confiscated by officials due to a "lack of publication permit" as well as for "content checking." The magazine’s editor-in-chief and well-known cartoonist Zulkiflee...
PR firm screening Afghanistan reporters
Stars and Stripes military newspaper has reported that US army commanders in Afghanistan are rejecting requests from reporters who want to "embed" with troops because their prior coverage was considered to be negative. Read more here
Poll shows disquiet over UK policing
A YouGov poll commissioned by Christian Aid said that half of UK adults think that policing of environmental protests is too heavy handed or involves too many officers. Of those surveyed, 18% said they were put off joining protests and 33% said...
Azerbaijan: new charge against bloggers
An additional charge of “intentional physical violence” have been brought against Adnan Hadji Zadeh and Emin Milli, two bloggers who have been held on a hooliganism charge since July in Azerbaijan. The new charge carries a maximum sentence of two...
Journalist murdered in DRC
In the Democratic Republic of Congo Bruno Koko Chirambiza, a news presenter for a local, privately-owned radio station has been murdered. He was the third radio journalist to be murdered in Bukavu in the past two years, following Didace Namujimbo...
Radio station threatened in Somalia
The National Union of Somali Journalists has expressed its outrage at the continued suppression of media rights in the Gedo region by the Islamist group Al-Shabaab. The NUSJ report detailed how Radio Markabley was ordered to fire two of its...