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...
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
“There is no difference between journalism and intelligence”
Maziar Bahari was imprisoned by the Iranian regime for attempting to report on 2009’s disputed election. He describes his ordeal, and suggests what can be done to help journalists jailed by the Islamic Republic
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
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...
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...
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...
PAST EVENT: Our society will be a free society night
Free Iranian Journalists: Maziar Bahari presents Our society will be a free society – Friday 19 March
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...
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...
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...