The daily risk of intimidation, murder and kidnap is well documented in Iraq. The scale of the country’s health and humanitarian crisis is less understood. Journalist, photographer and human rights activist Sajida al Ebadi, 32, from Basra in...
Yemen and Kuwait have both bound themselves to a number of international human rights treaties guaranteeing freedom of expression, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to ‘seek, receive,...
Getting 16-year-old Linda Playfoot to take her school to court for not letting her wear a ‘purity ring’ to classes was as clever a way of wrong-footing liberal folk as I’ve seen. Strict adherence to school uniforms is the sort of thing religious...
What took al Qaeda so long? Ayman al Zawahiri has been a little slow in making a response to Salman Rushdie’s knighthood. Is it perhaps because there actually hasn’t been much Muslim anger – beyond a few pockets of politically motivated protest? Al...
‘It became quite hard to imagine normal life again,’ Johnston said of his ordeal. ‘The last 16 weeks have been the very worst of my life. I was in the hands of people who were dangerous and unpredictable. I literally dreamt many times of being free...
How many times is Israel going to make an example of Mordechai Vanunu? He was released from prison in 2004 after serving 18 years – much of it in solitary confinement. He has just been jailed again for ‘talking to foreigners’. The stringent terms...
Journalists and environmental activists investigating deforestation in Cambodia are facing harassment, death threats and censorship after a report accused senior officials within the country’s government of involvement in illegal logging,...
Salman Rushdie is back in the limelight in the Islamic world – this time as Sir Salman. His inclusion in the Queen’s birthday honours list this year has rekindled memories of 1988-89, when the publication of his controversial book The Satanic...
Anyone who believes in the rights to freedom of expression and information must welcome Gordon Brown’s promise of a more open government. An open government is one which hears the voices of its citizens - all its citizens - even when their demands...