CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa

Author arrested in Sri Lanka

Expatriate Sri Lankan author, Sarah Malini Perera, has been arrested in whilst on holiday Sri Lanka for writing two books— From Darkness to Light and Questions and Answers—about her conversion from Buddhism to Islam. Perara, who has lived in...

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“There is no difference between journalism and intelligence”

Cyber Wars

Citizens, states and corporations are battling for online space. What happened to the dream of global communication? Ron Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski report

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EU calls for Iran to end jamming of foreign media

EU foreign ministers have described the current situation in Iran as “unacceptable”, in a joint statement they call for an end to the jamming of satellite broadcasts  from international news networks.  In the crackdown since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s...

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Jordanian court bans reporting of corruption trial

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...

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Microsoft Bing filters gay and lesbian search terms

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...

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Egyptian blogger facing military court

Student and blogger Ahmed Mostafa is facing a military court after a prosecutor announced on 1 March that they would push ahead with charges of 'publishing false information about the military establishment'. There has been no investigation into...

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Hamas detain Paul Martin for another 15 days

Paul Martin, the British freelance journalist who was arrested on 14 February whilst attending the trial of Hamas activist Mohammed Abu Muaileq, has had his detention extended by a Hamas military court. Martin, who is accused of helping the former...

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Military trial for Egyptian blogger

Ahmed Mostafa, an engineering student at the University of Kafr el-Sheikh, faced a military court on 27 February, accused of "publishing false information about a military institution". Mostafa, 20, was arrested on orders from the military...

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