Blogger Ahmad Abu Khair was arrested on Sunday morning while driving from Banias to Damascus, it has been reported. Charges are unknown. The arrest came a few days after the Syrian blogger Tal al-Mallouhi was sentenced to five years in prison for...
CATEGORY: News and features
German journalists released in Iran
Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch, the German journalists imprisoned in Tabriz have been released, after the government reduced their 20 month sentences for reporting on the case of a Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery in 2006. The German...

Webmaster trial in Thailand: A case of ‘shooting the messenger’
The case of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the webmaster on trial in Bangkok, has far-reaching implications for freedom of speech – not just in Thailand, but in the wider region too, argues Gayathry Venkiteswaran

John Kampfner: When tyrants want tear gas, the UK has always been happy to oblige
The revoking of arms licences to Libya and Bahrain won’t last. British firms will be back, argues John Kampfner

What’s behind Bahrain’s protests?
Eric Avebury outlines the systematic repression that has brought the people of Bahrain onto the streets
Belarusian dissident jailed for four years
Belarusian dissident Vasily Parfenkov has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment following his hearing on Thursday. He was convicted of breaking the window of a parliamentary building during protests against President Lukashenko's re-election...
China: Journalists attacked while visiting detained human rights activist
Journalists trying to visit Chen Guangcheng, a human rights activist who is under house arrest, have come under attack to stop them from meeting him. A number of reporters have been attacked by men in plain-clothes who have set up checkpoints...
Liberia: Journalist beaten by police
Journalist, Fumbah Kanneh, was attacked and beaten by police while covering an international women's football match between Liberia and Ghana on 13 February. The police spotted him as he videotaped them manhandling spectators who had invaded the...
Turkish foreign minister rejects US comments on press freedom record
Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu has dismissed remarks made by the US ambassador in Ankara. Diplomat Francis J Ricciardone expressed concerns about press freedom in the country. His comments came in response to the detention of four...
Colombia: Journalist’s home firebombed
On Wednesday 16 February, an unidentified group threw a firebomb at journalist Rodolfo Zambrano's home in Bolivar. He was unharmed as he was not there at the time. The attack caused damage to the exterior of his house, but firefighters were able to...