Four men charged in connection with the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya have been acquitted by a Moscow court. Read more here
Politkovskaya accused acquitted
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Index on Censorship
Christian preacher banned from UK
Controversial American preacher Fred Phelps has been banned from entering the UK. Phelps, leader of the vehemently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, had planned to come to Britain to protest against a play condemning homophobic violence. Read more...
Libel costs ‘shackling newspapers’
An Oxford University study has found that conditional fee agreements are proving a bar to UK newspapers defending libel actions. Read more here
Lieberman and Specter introduce ‘libel tourism bill’
US senators Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter have introduced the Free Speech Protection Act to the Senate. The act is designed to protect journalists, and would give courts the ability to bar enforcement of foreign libel judgments if the material at...
Pakistan ban on reporting on judges
A blanket ban on reporting about superior court judges was implemented by high court judge Mian Najamuz Zaman in Lahore on 13 February. This decision came after journalist, Ansar Abbasi, wrote a report linking a high court judge with an organised...
Index on Censorship at Modern Liberty
More on the Convention on Modern Liberty
Criminal minded
The Italian government is attempting to make web-based dissent a crime, says Cecilia Anesi A new bill has come before the Senate, giving the interior ministry the power to order Internet providers to remove criminal content within 24 hours or face...
Mexican journalist killed in gun attack
A gun attack in the southern city of Iguala, Guerrero State on 13 Feb left photographer Jean Paul Ibarra of local daily El Correo dead and reporter Jenny Luliana Marchán of Diario 21 injured. The two journalists were riding on a motorcycle on their...
Tamil journalist killed in air raid
Reporter Punniyamurthy Sathyamurthy was killed during an air raid carried out by the Sri Lankan Army on the north of the country on 12 February. He had been reporting in the contested region of Vanni, where rebel Tamil Tigers (LTTE) have recently...
India’s culture of grievance
The legal system forces once proud newspapers to grovel when faced with pressure from religious groups, says Salil Tripathi The Statesman is one of the oldest English language newspapers in India, with an illustrious history. Its editors and...
The Satanic Verses at 20
On 14 February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran declared a death sentence on novelist Salman Rushdie after the publication of The Satanic Verses. Twenty years on Lisa Appignanesi, recalls how a ground-breaking, visionary novel was hijacked and...
Index on Censorship on Newsnight
Index on Censorship editor Jo Glanville was a guest on the BBC's Newsnight on Thursday night, discussing the Geert Wilders controversy. You can watch it here (five minutes in).