Mordechai Vanunu, the former Israeli nuclear plant technician who spent 18 years in prison for exposing the country’s nuclear arsenal, was jailed again on 23 May. He was found guilty of “unauthorised meetings with foreigners” which include...
Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit filed a lawsuit against opposition writer Hamdi Kandil for insult and libel on 19 May. Kandil wrote an opinion piece in Al-Shuruq newspaper, entitled Huan al Watan Wa Huan Almutan (Humiliation of homeland...
Al-Jazeera was suspended from operating in Bahrain on 19 May. The government said the news channel was "flouting the laws regulating the press and publishing" in the country and did not comply with “professional norms.” The bureau's suspension...
Film-maker Jafar Panahi has been imprisoned in Iran since 1 March after the government accused him of making a documentary about last year’s presidential election. He was to be on the Palme d’Or judging panel at the Cannes film festival this week...
A Kuwaiti journalist was hospitalised over the weekend after refusing medication and beginning a hunger strike in protest at his 11 May arrest. Government critic, Mohammed Abdel Qader al-Jassem, claims he was arrested for political reasons. The...
The Kuwaiti media have been banned from reporting on the dismantling of an Iranian spy network by prosecutor-general Hamed Saleh Al-Othman. The spy ring--- which was publicly revealed on 1 May--- was gathering information about Kuwaiti and US...
Egyptian author Youssef Ziedan faces a five-year jail term after being accused of insulting Christianity in his prize-winning novel Azazeel (Beelzebub). Set in 5th-century Egypt, Alexandria and northern Syria, Ziedan's novel tells the story of an...
Hundreds of university students assaulted a local parliament building in Erbil, the capital of Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on 10 May. The students were taking part in an angry protest against the abduction and killing of Kurdish student...
Maziar Bahari sentenced by Iran in absentia — 13 years and 6 months in jail and 74 lashes
Freelance journalist Sardasht Osman was found dead yesterday in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Osman, who was abducted on 5 May, had been tortured and shot twice. His family believe he was targeted because of a critical article...