Musab Shamsah was sentenced for mocking religion and publishing content that could be deemed offensive to religious groups. Alice Kirkland reports
Kuwait: Twitter user imprisoned for five years for ‘insulting’ Muhammad
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CATEGORY: News
Hooliganism, the dictator’s catch all crime
Former Soviet countries use the vague charge to crack down on protest and dissent, Padraig Reidy writes
Pakistan: Marchers aim to raise awareness of Baloch disappearances
The country’s media labelled a “very willing accomplice” to the disappearances of thousands of Baloch nationalists, allegedly at the hands of state security apparatus. Zofeen Ebrahim reports
Index awarded prestigious Kesten prize
Index on Censorship was in Darmstadt, Germany, last week to receive the prestigious Hermann Kesten literary prize from German PEN. The prize is given in honour of Hermann Kesten, the German novelist, who left Germany for Paris in 1933. From Paris,...
Macedonia: ‘Critical media is vanishing’
Following the arrest of a journalist on espionage charges, the heads of Macedonia’s journalist association and trade union explain the decline of the country’s media freedom
Doris Lessing: Books for the hungry
“The most popular book everywhere is George Orwell’s Animal Farm”, Lessing writes from Zimbabwe in 1999
Egypt moves to lower expectations for new constitution
Public service messages on Egyptian radio stations candidly tell listeners that a new constitution currently being drafted by a fifty-member panel “won’t be the best that the country has had”. Listeners are assured however, that the new charter will not be Egypt’s last. Shahira Amin reports
UAE: Activist sentenced to two years in prison for tweeting
Waleed al-Shehhi was accused of “endangering state security” and “harming the reputation of the state” for tweeting about a trial
Pakistan: debate rages over Malala book ban
“I am Malala” is accused of being against Islam and the constitution, but some prominent Pakistanis see the censoring of the book in private schools as a loss to millions of children, writes Zofeen Ebrahim
Google wants to “go even further” with transparency
The web giant says US national security claims hold back its reporting of government user requests, reports Padraig Reidy