CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa

Iran: website editor arrested

Hassan Nobakhtian, the editor of conservative website Nosaki, was arrested on 25 February, despite having had no complaints brought against him. The...

Britain: cabinet minutes to be released

by Padraig Reidy | 26 Feb 08

The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has ruled that minutes of cabinet meetings in the days leading up to the Iraq war should be released....

Jail for comedian who dared to mock president

by Index on Censorship | 21 Feb 08

A Tunisian comic may have paid a high price for making fun of the country’s leader, writes Rohan Jayasekera Index on Censorship is calling for the...

Dodgy and dodgier

by Padraig Reidy | 20 Feb 08

The release of a draft of the British government’s dossier on Iraqi weapons confirms suspicions but also raises more questions, writes Chris Ames...

Iraq dossier draft released

by Index on Censorship | 18 Feb 08

The 2002 draft of the British government’s dossier on Saddam Hussein’s weapons capabilities has been released by the Foreign Office. The government...

Iran: leading women’s magazine shut down

by Padraig Reidy | 31 Jan 08

Iran’s Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance has suspended feminist monthly Zanan (Women) for “publishing information detrimental to...

Websites blocked in Yemen

by Index on Censorship | 29 Jan 08

On 19 January, three domestic news and opinion websites were blocked to users in Yemen by the government-owned Internet provider. The sites joined a...

Iraq: journalist detained

by Index on Censorship | 25 Jan 08

Rashid Majid Al-Sari, editor of biweekly newspaper Al Fatah, was arrested and his computer and personal files confiscated by US troops at his...

Victory for freedom of information campaigner

by Jo Glanville | 23 Jan 08

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has lost an appeal to prevent the release of a document that formed part of the government's case for invading...

“We know where you live”

by Index on Censorship | 12 Nov 07

Iranian intelligence is using new interrogation tactics on journalists reports Maziar Bahari who received an invitation to tea at an upmarket hotel...