At her speech in the House of Commons, Maryam Alkhawaja asked MPs to put pressure on Bahrain to commit to reforms and free political prisoners, including her father and sister. Here, the prominent human rights defender denounces Britain’s indifference
Index on Censorship’s conference
Taking the Offensive, held at London’s Southbank Centre highlighted how artistic freedom in the UK is under threat. The conference focused on how arts organisations support artistic freedom especially when controversy is arises
PLUS: Artistic freedom under threat, says Southbank director
Fifteen years after she was detained for allegedly perpetrating a terrorist attack in Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar, and eleven years after she was acquitted of those charges, the Turkish sociologist Pınar Selek again found herself on the wrong side of...
A recently released report from the European Union contains recommendations that would endanger media freedom, says Kirsty Hughes
December provided further evidence that the Russian authorities’ prime targets in their quest to censor allegedly illegal websites are not those containing content harmful to children, as they have claimed, but those publicising “extremist”...
Prominent journalist and activists Emin Milli and Khadija Ismayilova were among those detained in Baku today as people demonstrated in support of civic action in Ismayilli earlier this week. Protesters posted photographs and videos of clashes...
This week the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) did not pass a resolution pressurising Azerbaijan to release or retry its political prisoners. Rebecca Vincent looks at how the body’s lack of pressure further endangers free expression in the country
The future for political prisoners in Azerbaijan looks bleak after politicians at the Council of Europe (CoE) failed adopt an important resolution today calling for more than 80 cases to be resolved. Azerbaijani authorities repeatedly deny the...
30 Jan: Amazing Azerbaijan! A film screening and discussion
Autocratic, authoritarian and totalitarian states take it upon themselves to actively stifle freedom of expression. These states can look very different – “socialist” North Korea may seem very different to “theocratic” Iran, but even with vastly differing cultures and political landscapes, we can draw similarities between the methods used by these regimes to suffocate and in some cases entirely suppress free speech