With maybe hundreds of human rights activists named in the WikiLeaks files, and frontman Julian Assange threatening to throw them open to the world, it’s time for fair assessment of the potential threat to free expression advocates argues
Rohan Jayasekera
CATEGORY: News and features
Radio journalist charged over Kenyan election violence
Press censorship feared in Eastern Africa as the ICC indicts first media personality.
Ernest Waititu reports

Belarus: KGB issues warrant for Nikolai Khalezin
Nikolai Khalezin in hiding after the KGB issue arrest warrant for the co-founder of the Belarus Free Theatre. Mike Harris reports

Speaking out for Jafar Panahi
Index on Censorship calls on the head of Iran’s judiciary to overturn the prison sentences handed down this week to the film directors Jafar Panahi and
Mohammad Rasoulof

“Twitter joke trial” Paul Chambers wins right to appeal
Trainee accountant Paul Chambers, who was convicted of sending a “menacing communication” after he joked on Twitter that he would blow Doncaster’s Robin Hood Airport “sky high” if his flight was affected by weather, has won the right to appeal the decision, Index on Censorship has learned
Jafar Panahi jailed, banned from film directing
Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to six years in prison for "colluding in gathering and making propaganda against the regime". Panahi has also been banned from directing films or speaking to the press for 20 years.

Belarus: Artists, activists facing detention and trial
Entire staff of Charter97 held by KGB – Index on Censorship learns of prison abuse – Natalia Koliada released
Belarus Free Theatre’s Nikolai Khalezin sought by police
Index has learned that Special Forces broke into the apartment of Nikolai Khalezin, art director of Belarus Free Theatre, this morning [20 December] and arrested him. He is reported to have been taken to unknown destination. He is already third...
Belarus: Opposition candidates beaten, arrested
Reports are emerging from Belarus that opposition leaders Andrei Sannikov, Nikolai Statkevich, Rygor Katusev and Vitaly Rymanshevsky have been arrested by police. Sannikov had earlier declared a provisional coalition in Belarus, after thousands...
Belarus Free Theatre founder detained
Index on Censorship has learned that Natalia Koliada, a founder member of the Belarus Free Theatre, has been detained by authorities in Minsk. Koliada has been unable to contact other members of the dissident theatre group. Tens of thousands of...