The regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was an enemy to internet freedom. Significant resources were spent on censorship of the web. The Tunisian Internet Agency (established in 1996, and known as the ATI by its French acronym), was the regime’s...
Comic actor Adel Imam has been sentenced to three months in jail for "insulting Islam" after a case was brought against him by Islamist lawyer Asran Mansour. Imam, an actor for more than 40 years, is well-known throughout the Arab word. It is...
Canadian Naser Al Raas was arrested and detained today after he attended a court due to hear his appeal against his five-year prison sentence. The 29 year-old IT-specialist had been in hiding since being sentenced on 25 October 2011, he feared...
Last week, Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority wrote to Index, to address our criticisms of media censorship in Bahrain. Let's go through their clarifications: Bahrain continues to work closely with the media and to provide them with greater...
Shahira Amin speaks to Egypt’s iconic blogger, who was released from jail last week
Ten months in a tiny prison cell with padded walls and flickering lights have done little to alter 26 year-old Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil's views on the military government running Egypt in the transitional phase. Instead, his confinement...
When Index on Censorship visited Bahrain on a fact finding mission late last year, officials repeatedly pledged to maintain a transparent relationship with the international community. Now that undertaking seems just another broken promise. Three...
My name is Ihsaan Azab. I'm 20 years old, and I was born in America. I lived half my life there and the other half in Egypt. I grew up in free country and knew how it felt to express myself. I moved to Egypt 10 years ago, but I still didn't realise...
Popular Tunisian journalist Haythem El Mekki, is under enormous pressure to resign from national television after been accused of bias. Mekki has been suspended from his position at Tunisian TV station El Watanya I, where he co-hosts a programme...
One year on, protesters are still demanding freedoms in the square that became a byword for the Arab Spring. Shahira Amin reports