A BBC news team trying to reach the town of Zawiya were detained, beaten and subjected to mock executions by pro-Gaddafi forces. The team of three were detained on Monday at an army roadblock and taken to a military barracks in Tripoli where they...
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Yemen: Anti-government protester killed by security forces
Security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters trying to join a camp at the University of Sana'a, killing one and injuring 100. The police were accused of using tear gas and rubber bullets, and firing live rounds into the crowd....
Yemen: Journalists at risk as protests spread
The government may claim that media workers are protected, but the reality on Yemen’s streets is very different, says Iona Craig
Human rights activist detained in Qatar
Blogger and human rights activist, Sultan al-Khalaifi, has been detained by security forces after criticising the country's censorship rules on his blog. Khalaifi, who is founder of a rights group campaigning on cases of detention in Qatar, has...
A tradition of female campaigning
A sense of a time that slipped between our fingers, or a consciousness, of a strength retained and a power that it is still within our grasp…one feeling evolved into the other watching this historic clip (Facebook) from 1979 on the first day of a...
Standing with banned musicians on Music Freedom Day
What would you do if the music you wanted to make were forbidden ? What if someone in power didn't want it heard? Would you be silent? Or would you play it louder ? I first heard the voice of Mahsa Vahdat at the height of the people’s uprising in...
Iran: Journalists in exile receive death threats
While a government crackdown on opposition leaders and activists inside Iran continues, those living in exile have not been spared either. Several Iranian journalists and writers living abroad have received messages threatening "ultimate...
Opposition leaders arrested in Iran
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and their wives have been arrested and taken to the Heshmatiyeh jail in Tehran, it has been reported. The pair were previously put under house arrest after they called for demonstration,...
International media coverage was key to breaking through Gaddafi’s wall of silence
“Listening to the fear in people’s voices had been heartbreaking but not hearing anything was terrifying.” Filmmaker Huda Abuzeid on bringing Libyan voices to the world
Oman: Six protesters killed in clashes with police
Pro-reform demonstrators in the industrial town of Sohar have clashed with police, leading to the deaths of six protesters. The protesters, demanding political and economic reforms, had blocked roads, attacked government buildings, and tried to...
