The 21 June ban of Arabic Gulf News has been lifted. The Bahrain newspaper came under fire after criticising the Iranian leadership. Read more Read more here
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Iran: academics held
Seventy university professors who met with opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi in Tehran have been arrested. Read more here
Jordan: poet sentenced for “slandering Islam”
Poet Islam Samhan has been sentenced to one year in prison and fined of 10,000 dinars (approx. US$14,100), after he used verses from the Quran in his poetry. Read more here
Staff of Mousavi newspaper arrested
Twenty-five members of the staff of Kalemeh Sabz, a newspaper owned by presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, have been arrested in Tehran. Read more here
Habitat uses Iran election tags to generate Twitter hits
Furniture company Habitats Twitter account used hashtags such as #Iranelection and #Mousavi in order to ensure the company’s messages regarding their products would be seen by a mass audience. Twitter members use hashtags to help them narrow their...
Egyptian writer prevented from travelling
Released political prisoner and writer Abd Al-Monem Monieb was detained in Cairo airport for 45 minutes by state security officers. Their actions prohibited him from travelling to Lebanon where he was due to publicise his book on Islam in Egypt....
Nokia Siemens aiding Iran phone monitoring
As protests continue in Iran, details are emerging of the technology used to monitor citizens. Nokia Siemens Network has confirmed it supplied Iran with the technology needed to monitor, control, and read local telephone calls. It told the BBC that...
Iran: Maziar Bahari
Index on Censorship calls for the release of renowned Canadian-Iranian journalist and filmmaker On Sunday (21 June), the Canadian-Iranian journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari was arrested in Tehran. He is currently being detained and has not been...
Journalist Maziar Bahari arrested in Tehran
Iranian-Canadian documentary maker and journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested after police raided his Tehran home on Sunday morning (21 June). He is currently being held without charge. Over 20 journalists have been arrested since the beginning of...
Tech giants rush Farsi versions
In light of the situation in Iran, search giant Google has stepped up work to release a tool that will translate Farsi into English and Facebook will be launching a Persian version. Both companies stress privately that there is no political...
