A popular Iranian singer has been sentenced to a year in prison after releasing pro-opposition songs online. During the protests that occurred in the wake of the disputed 2009 presidential elections, Arya Aramnejad angered officials by uploading...
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Tunisia: Fraud squad interrogates publisher over opinion piece
The fraud squad questions the publishing director of an e-magazine over an opinion piece which criticised a Tunisian financial institution. The police accused Hamza Lakhoua from the French-speaking Espace Manager of “publishing false information”...

Tunisia: Government plans raise concerns of internet censorship
Tunisian prime minister Hamadi Jebali has outlined government plans to “secure the electronic space of the country”, sparking fears that the government plans to reinstate internet censorship. The programme will bring together a team of experts not...
Dining with despots
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa recently secured an invite to Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee luncheon. According to the Daily Mail, the Queen invited King Hamad because it “would have been very rude to have left anyone off of the list.”...
Iran: Detained web expert reportedly pressured to work on National Internet project
Mohammad Solimaninya, an Internet and social network expert who has been detained for the past three months, is reportedly being pressured to work with the Iranian government on the creation of a National Internet. Solimaninya ran u24, a popular...

Bahrain Grand Prix should not proceed
Index’s new CEO Kirsty Hughes calls on the organisers of the Bahrain Grand Prix to cancel the race
Tunisia: Index alarmed by attacks targeting media, artists, activists and academics
10 April 2012 (IFEX-TMG) - The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG), a coalition of 21 IFEX members which includes Index, is alarmed by ongoing attacks targeting journalists, artists, performers...
Tunisian cabinet lifts ban on protests on Habib Bourguiba Avenue
On 11 April the Tunisian Cabinet lifted a ban on protesting on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis. In a communiqué released on 28 March, the Interior Ministry prohibited all “forms of collective expression” on the avenue, after receiving “complaints”...
Kuwait: Writer imprisoned
Kuwaiti writer Mohamed al-Melify was jailed for seven years on Monday on charges of spreading false statements via Twitter. He was arrested last February, and the Kuwait Criminal Court found him guilty of spreading false news about sectarian...
Turkey: Publisher Ragip Zarakolu released pending trial
Eminent Turkish free expression champion Ragip Zarakolu was freed from prison in Turkey pending trial along with 14 others yesterday. Zarakolu, director of the Belge Publishing House, which has published works on taboo subjects such as the Armenian...