As the Asian city-state marks its 50th anniversary of independence, Salil Tripathi examines the country’s fuzzy relationship with free expression

As the Asian city-state marks its 50th anniversary of independence, Salil Tripathi examines the country’s fuzzy relationship with free expression
“Tonight, please don’t forget to laugh and dream out loud, that would be the best tribute you could pay to Sabeen”, said Mahenaz Mahmud via video at Unsilencing Pakistan, a Thursday 23 July event co-hosted by Index on Censorship at London’s Conway Hall.
The 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
Index calls on Malaysia to immediately drop all charges against Zunar and respect free expression
Cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, aka Zunar, currently faces a record number of nine simultaneous charges under Malaysia’s controversial sedition act in a trial that is scheduled to begin on July 7.
Index on Censorship joins Article 19, English PEN, Media Legal Defence Initiative and PEN International in writing to the Malaysian prime minister calling for the charges against cartoonist, Zunar, to be dropped.
Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, aka Zunar, is facing nine charges and 43 years in prison under Malaysia’s sedition act, with the trial set to start on 20 May
Washiqur Rahman and Ajivit Roy were killed because they were atheists who refused to keep quiet about their beliefs
Malaysian political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque “Zunar” was charged with nine counts of sedition for tweets posted following a controversial court ruling.
The continued detention of five activists arrested ahead of International Women’s Day could be a turning point for Chinese feminists — for better or worse, writes Jemimah Steinfeld