The ‘religion’ section in Egyptian national identity cards may now be left blank, after a court ruling on 16 March. Computerised ID cards were introduced in 1995, and forced people to identify themselves with one of the three main religions: Islam,...
Journalist Abdulkarim Al Khaiwani has been pardoned again by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Al Khaiwani had already been pardoned last September after being sentenced to six months in prison on a charge of ‘collaboration with the rebellion in the...
A senior editor of the Wall Street Journal is being taken to court by the Singapore government. On Friday 13 March a High Court judge granted an application by the Attorney-General to start proceedings against Melanie Kirkpatrick for “actions which...
Muntazer al Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who sparked headlines worldwide after throwing his shoe at George Bush, has been sentenced to three years in prison. Read more here
Hundreds of political workers in Pakistan have been arrested ahead of a nationwide march due to take place on Thursday. Spearheaded by opposition leader Nazwar Sharif, the march is being coordinated to start at different cities throughout the...
The al Jazeera bureau in Gaza City had a bomb left outside its office doors on 7 March. They station received a warning call at 7.30pm. Personnel were immediately evacuated and informed Palestinian police, who were able to defuse the device. Read...
Human rights groups are urging Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft not to become complicit in Internet censorship, declaring 12 March World Day Against Cyber Censorship. Read more here
My history book is the latest victim of the Kremlin's attempts to rehabilitate the Soviet Union, says Orlando Figes Yesterday, the Moscow publishing house Atticus Group (Inostranka) cancelled a contract to publish my latest book in Russia. The...
The United States has followed Canada and Israel in boycotting a UN conference on 'anti-racism' to be held later this year in Geneva. A State Department spokesman cited US difficulties with attempts at the conference to equate Zionism with racism,...
It's not just Jack Straw who's playing fast and loose with freedom of information, says Chris Ames. Heathrow campaigners are finding it impossible to get a straight answer from the Department for Transport Following Jack Straw’s veto of the release...