Once the Islamic republic’s biggest cultural event, the Tehran International Book Fair has wilted under President Mahmood Ahmadinejad’s hardline government. Maral Mehryari reports on the recession in Iran’s publishing industry.
In the last week, Bahrain’s treatment of its citizens and their right to free expression has been repeatedly in the news. Sara Yasin reports on a spate of developments that raise questions about the Bahraini government’s commitment to free speech.
Since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago, artists have been active in breaking Egypt’s age-old taboos around sexual violence, especially since sexual harassment has been on the rise.
Melody Patry reports.
This week an order was for the release of imprisoned Yemeni journalist Abdul-Elah Haidar Shaye. But the last time this happened, Barack Obama stepped in and Shaye remained in jail. Will the reporter now walk free? Iona Craig reports
Syria appears to be cut off from internet access, according to reports from web monitoring groups. Google's transparency report shows that access to its services has been cut off in the country since 22:00 local time on Tuesday. Similarly, web...
Moroccan atheist Imad Eddin Habib is now on the run, after police began searching for him last week. Habib told Irshad Manji‘s Moral Courage TV that officers confronted his father, asking him to bring an end to his son’s activism. Habib is the founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims in Morocco, which aims for the “application of a secular constitution.” The 22-year-old student has gained a reputation for his activism and controversial posts online, including a photograph of himself eating ice cream during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Shortly before he went into hiding, Habib was featured in an article on a high profile Moroccan news site, and police were searching for him hours after it was published. Atheism is […]
The press in Tunisia is caught between the restrictive legal framework of the Ben Ali regime and the uncertainties of the post-revolutionary transition, Rohan Jayasekera, Ghias Aljundi and Yousef Ahmed report.
The post-Mubarak press is sensational, tabloid and segmented media, reflecting the deep polarization in the country, Shahira Amin reports.
Rights groups have decried the draft legislation, arguing that it is even more restrictive than the current Mubarak-era Law 84, Shahira Amin writes from Cairo.
Prompted by the Egyptian defence minister’s denials that troops had killed or tortured protesters, a group of activists have been screening videos showing official brutality, Shahira Amin reports from Cairo.