A draft has been passed on its first reading by the Iranian parliament which proposes to apply the death penalty to bloggers and website editors who ‘promote corruption, prostitution or apostasy’. According to article 3 of the bill, judges will be...
Abdul Karim al Khaiwani, former editor of now blocked website al-Shora.net, has been sentenced to six years in jail for distributing publications allegedly calling for solidarity with Houthi rebels in the south of the country. Mr al Khaiwani had...
A recent French court decision leaves us no closer to the truth about footage that shook the Middle East, writes Natasha Lehrer A seven-year debate over the authenticity of the footage of the death of Mohammed al Dura in the arms of his father...
The decision to bar Norman Finkelstein from entering the country is a spectacular own goal for Israel, writes Daphna Baram American Jewish academic Norman Finkelstein is a persona non grata in Israel. He found out about it when he attempted a visit...
Recent factional fighting in Beirut saw journalists come under attack, writes Charles Chuman On 7 May 2008, Hezbollah and its allies in the Lebanese opposition began dismantling the authority of the Lebanese government. The army and police force...
Eugenie Dolberg and Maysoon Pachachi remember a brave activist and journalist killed in Iraq earlier this month Sarwa Abdul Wahab Al Darwish was a 36-year-old Iraqi journalist from Mosul. On 4 May, Sarwa was in a taxi, returning from the market...
Mohamed Al-Daradji’s film Ahlaam (Dreams) won the Index on Censorship Film Award last Monday. He was interviewed by the BBC World Service's World Today about the award and the film. Click below to listen. Mohamed Al-Daradji interview
Richard Butler, a British journalist working with American network CBS, has been freed after being held hostage for two months. Read more here
A High Court judge today rejected an attempt by the UK Defence Secretary to ‘gag’ coroners. Lawyers for Des Browne had challenged critical comments made by Andrew Walker, an Oxfordshire coroner, at the inquest of Private Jason Smith in November...
An amnesty panel in Baghdad has cleared AP photographer Bilal Hussein of charges of conspiring with Iraqi insurgents. Hussein has been held by US forces since April 2006. AP chief Tom Curley welcomed the decision, and called on the US to release...