Syrian journalist Mazhar Tayyara was killed by government forces' fire in the city of Homs, a centre of the Syrian resistance against President Bashar al-Assad, on 4 February. Tayyara, a stringer for Agence France-Presse and other international...
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Iran: Internet censorship increases
Internet censorship has dramatically increased in Iran over the last week. On 7 February, internet users in Iran began reporting an increase in the blocking and filtering of certain kinds of internet traffic in the country. Many users complained of...
Bahraini activist serving life sentence writes letter from prison
Prominent Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja has been serving a life sentence since April 2011 for his involvement in anti-government protests last year. Al-Khawaja, who is also a Danish citizen, recently wrote a letter from prison to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to push for his release
Hamza Kashgari targeted under guise of “religious offence”
Following the deportation of Hamza Kashgari to Saudi Arabia where he faces the death penalty, Myriam Francois-Cerrah explores the real reason the journalist is being targeted
Malaysia: Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari deported
Malaysian authorities have deported a Saudi journalist accused of insulting the prophet Mohammed on Twitter, it was reported today. Newspaper columnist Hamza Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia after tweeting a mock conversation between himself and the...
International human rights observers arrested at Bahrain protest
US Citizens Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath were arrested by Bahraini security forces in the capital Manama on Saturday (11 February) during a peaceful protest. Protesters had marched into the city center to reestablish a presence of nonviolent,...
Abdel Aziz-Al-Jaridi faces prison time for defaming Al-Jazeera anchor
On 10 February, Abdel Aziz Al-Jaridi, director of two daily newspapers, Al-Hadath and Kul-Anas, will appeal a defamation conviction. Al-Jaridi was sentenced to four months in prison by the first instance court on 13 June 2011 for defaming...
Journalists denied entry to Bahrain as anniversary of unrest approaches
Yesterday, Bahraini authorities denied visas to a number foreign journalists ahead of the anniversary of Bahrain's 14 February uprising. Journalists from the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, Associated...
Blocking porn marks key test of net freedom in Tunisia
The fall of the regime of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali has allowed internet users in Tunisia to enjoy a period of unfettered web access after the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) turned off its censorship machines. Now the internet censorship debate has...
Egypt: journalists attacked by security services
Two journalists were shot by security services, and another detained whilst covering the political unrest in Egypt over the weekend. Mahmoud al-Ghazali, Nile TV correspondent, was shot with pellets early on Saturday morning, whilst reporting on...
