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...
Elton John was banned from playing a private show on 18 May after the head of Egypt’s musician union denounced his “anti-religious sentiments”. Union head Mounir al Wasimi said John should not be allowed to perform in Egypt because he is “a...
Twoal-Jazeera reporters were prevented from covering a demonstration in the West Bank on Friday by the Israeli military. They were detained for four and a half hours before being released and told to never return. Cameraman Majdi Bannoura and...
A team of lawyers called for the ban of Arabic classic A Thousand and One Nights on 17 April. The lawyers, from the "Actio popularis" group, filed a complaint with the prosecutor general, demanding that the book be confiscated and its publishers...
Index on Censorship contributor
Fred Halliday has died at the age of 64. Here, we republish a typically insightful Halliday article on the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2001