Imprisoned newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev has lost an appeal against his drugs conviction. Baku Appellate Court dismissed Fatullayev's plea to have his sentence reduced by two months. Fatullayev had the term of his detention prolonged by eight...
An amendment to youth welfare legislation set to go before the Tokyo Metropolitan General Assembly today could potentially ban all provocative visual depictions of “nonexistent minors”. The action is part of an attempt to crackdown on child...
Lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been charged with subverting state power, Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi made the annoucement during a news conference with David Miliband on Tuesday. Gao, noted for taking on high-profile cases against the Chinese...
On 13 March, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez called for new internet regulations and demanded that authorities crack down on a news website he accused of spreading false information. Chávez claimed the Noticiero Digital website had falsely...
The Asian Human Rights Commission yesterday condemned the Indonesian governments ban of books and films under the guise of maintaining “public order” and “state unity”. The banned material covers subjects including the 30 September Movement and the...
Editor-in-chief of the Firat newspaper Hacı Boğatekin has been sentenced to five years in jail. Bogatekin was charged with "insult" and "defamation" and "attempting to influence a fair trial". Three other journalists were charged with similar...
A media ban on a corruption trial involving several leading Jordanian figures and the former Minister of Finance has been issued by a military court in Amman. The case, involving the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, first came to light after...
Afghanistan has watered down plans to ban the media from reporting on live attacks. Authorities had claimed such reports would embolden militants, but an outcry resulted in a new resolution being hammered over three days. The new resolution bars...
A recent report by the OpenNet Initiative has revealed that search terms in both Arabic and English relating to homosexuality are censored in some Middle Eastern countries. The study showed that the level of censorship on Microsoft’s Bing ranged...
Reports are reaching Index on Censorship that the office of Charter 97, the Belarusian democracy campaigning organisation, has been raided by authorities. Computers and other equipment have been seized and Head of Press Natalia Radzina is believed...