My victory over “his Holiness” reignites the debate on the place of religion in secular courts but the ordeal is not over yet. Hardeep Singh reports from the libel coalface
Nightmare on holy street
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CATEGORY: News and features
Iran: Hossein Derakhshan trial begins
After 21 months, the trial of Iran’s blogfather, controversial blogger Hossein Derakhshan finally begins
Plus Iran’s satellite silence, Irena Maryniak talks to Sadeq Saba, head of BBC Persia
Iran’s satellite silence
Irena Maryniak talks to Sadeq Saba, head of BBC Persian service, about the channel’s future, signal jamming and impartiality
Russia’s rules of engagement
Independent Radio station Ekho Moskvy is well known in Russia as a bastion of free speech. Editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov tells Maria Eismont about everyday dealing with death threats, censorship and the Kremlin
Pakistan: court orders Google ban
The Lahore High Court has ordered that several websites, including Google, Yahoo, Amazon and YouTube should be blocked by the government. The move came after the court found that the sites carried and promoted "blasphemous" material . Earlier this...
Libel lawyer to sue Press Complaints Commission
Solicitor Mark Lewis has issued a libel writ against the Press Complaints Commission. Lewis, a highly-regarded defamation lawyer, claims the PCC libelled him, after evidence he gave to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee concerning the...
Looking for America
Talk radio is the right-wing’s battleground for the soul of the USA, but Joe Queenan isn’t listening
Libel: Thai travails
Tesco has dropped its libel case against Thai columnist Kamol Kamoltrakul (pictured). But the libel laws in Thailand are still hostile to journalists, as Sinfah Tunsarawuth explained in Index on Censorship’s “Big Chill” issue
Why has the left become so illiberal?
Has the left lost its way on liberties? Or has it always had an authoritarian streak? Francesca Klug asks how we reconcile equality with liberty
Aung San Suu Kyi: Freedom from fear
Burmese pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi marks her 65th birthday under house arrest today. Here, we republish an article she wrote in honour of her father Aung San, which first appeared in the January 1992 edition of Index on Censorship magazine.