A UK civil servant is in court today, charged under the Obscene Publications Act, after posting a story describing the kidnap and torture of members of pop group Girls Aloud on a web forum. Read more here
Turkish publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, honoured by the International Publishers’ Association for his ‘exemplary courage in upholding freedom to publish’ this year, details the historical and political context behind repression of free speech in Turkey...
This week's convictions of three British men on terrorism offences showed that there is still much to learn about jihadist groups in the UK and internationally. In an article in the new issue of Index on Censorship, Newsnight's Richard Watson...
Seeking offence, as Christians have done in the case of Terence Koh's Jesus statue, is the tactic of the vindictive and the bullying, writes Padraig Reidy Many of us have been in the situation at some point, whether at school, on the street, or in...
UK political blog Harry's Place may be removed by webhost Daily.co.uk after a complaint from an academic whom it claimed had posted links to neo-Nazi articles in an online debate. The blog published a comment made by Sheffield-based UCU activist...
Today's apology to Salman Rushdie in the high court could take the chill off future defamation cases. Index on Censorship reports Salman Rushdie set a new standard for libel actions today, following former police officer Ron Evans's apology to the...
The Terrorism Act has again proved to be much too broadly defined for comfort, writes Jo Glanville Aabid Khan, Sultan Muhammed and Hammad Munshi were all found guilty under the Terrorism Act this week. Between them they had what’s been described as...
Aabid Khan and Sultan Muhammad, both 23 and from Bradford, have been sentenced to 12 and 10 years respectively after being found guilty of possessing or making documents promoting terrorism. The two were convicted along with 18-year-old Hammaad...
The United Nations is right to condemn Britain's free expression record. But its criticisms would hold more weight if it demonstrated a stronger anti-censorship line itself, writes Jo Glanville The UN Human Rights Committee’s shaming report on the...
The UK government’s record on free expression has been harshly criticised in a United Nations report. Defamation laws allowing for ‘libel tourism’, and sweeping incitement to terrorism legislation, were singled out as dangers to free speech. Read...