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Sri Lanka: Colombo Telegraph facing censorship despite presidential promise

 alt informationThe Colombo Telegraph, Sri Lanka’s most iconoclastic investigative news website, is gearing up for this year’s second national election. And once again they face the threat of censorship -- despite a presidential promise to bring it to an end

Sri Lanka’s media needs reform — can new President Sirisena deliver?

 alt informationThe country needs a constitutionally recognised national commission to oversee media reform and ensure freedom of expression is properly defended, writes Rohan Jayasekera

Leaked document reveals how EU cut commitment to greater official openness

 You can find support for the public’s right to access official information in the strangest places. Like a private EU policy paper draft. As leaked to and published by the whistle-blowers’ website Wikileaks. Rohan Jayasekara writes

Tunisia’s press faces repressive laws, uncertain future

 The press in Tunisia is caught between the restrictive legal framework of the Ben Ali regime and the uncertainties of the post-revolutionary transition, Rohan Jayasekera, Ghias Aljundi and Yousef Ahmed report.

The future of internet governance? I wouldn’t start from here

 After two weeks of negotiations, the threat of extended government influence over the internet remains. Rohan Jayasekera looks back on WCIT Plus: Dominique Lazanski on how the UK stood up for online freedoms at WCIT

The future of internet governance? I wouldn't start from here

 If there was ever any doubt that the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) was the wrong body to run the internet, you only needed to look at its handling of its own World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT), which ended today in Dubai in a little resolution but a lot of dispute. With the conference […]

Why aren't we talking about protecting free speech online at WCIT?

 Today is International Human Rights Day, so with the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) meeting in Dubai to reframe its guiding texts, adding a few lines reminding states of their human rights obligations should be both desirable and simple. Not quite. The ITU’s 3-14 December World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) is seeking to update its rules for the internet […]

Greece: Europe must defend free speech

 The European Union has a duty to speak out against increasing censorship, writes Rohan Jayasekera Asteris Masouras and Veroniki Krikoni: Greece: Free speech faces abyss

Britain should not put Saudi oil before Bahraini blood

 British politcians' fear of upsetting "allies" has meant oppression in the tiny gulf nation is ignored, says Rohan Jayasekera

A tale of two Australians

 Rohan Jayasekera: A tale of two Australians

Friends of Index's Tunisia Monitoring Group take place in new government

 Rohan Jayasekera: Friends of Index's Tunisia Monitoring Group take place in new government

UAE 5 jail sentences a stain on Abu Dhabi's independence celebrations

 Rohan Jayasekera: UAE 5 jail sentences a stain on Abu Dhabi's independence celebrations