Ozan Kilinc, editor of Kurdish newspaper Azadiya Welat, has been sentenced to 21 years in jail for publishing 'Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) propaganda'. Comments or acts judged supportive of the PKK are a serious crime in Turkey. The PKK, branded...
Twenty-five Lebanese Shiite publishing houses have been barred from exhibiting books during the annual fair in Manama on 17 March 2010. Al Wassat daily newspaper reports that although a black list has been issued by the Bahraini authorities, the...
An Iraqi photographer who was arrested in his Mahmudiya home by the US military on 1 September 2008 has been released. Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed was held for 17 months without charge at Camp Cropper, near Baghdad, despite a ruling by Iraq’s central...
Police have seized a Polish cultural centre in the town of Ivyanets outside Minsk. An activist who was travelling to the centre has also been detained. President Lukashenko claimed in 2005 the organisation responsible for the centre was trying to...
Moscow gay pride parade organisers have complained to the European Court of Human Rights about the ban on the 2009 parade. Moscow’s Mayor Luzhkow has previously labelled the parade “satanic” and the case follows a number of unsuccessful appeals...
The number of Freedom of Information requests refused by the UK government increased to 22 per cent in the last three month period on record, compared to 15 per cent in the comparable period in 2005. Read more here
Luiz Claudio Cunha, journalist and author of the book "Operation Condor: The kidnapping of the Uruguayans", is facing charges for "moral harm" against João Augusto da Rosa, former member of the secret police during the Brazilian dictatorship....
The Iranian authorities have launched a new webmail service intended to be a substitute for public employees currently using Gmail, Yahoo mail or Hotmail accounts. The new Iran.ir webmail service is easier to control than the foreign services...
Three of the Muslim Brotherhood’s senior leaders, including Mahmoud Ezzat, the Brotherhood's deputy leader, were detained alongside at least 11 other members for engaging in banned political activity. Although the Muslim Brotherhood is banned, its...
Two reporters from The Monitor newspaper, Angelo Izama and Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi Izama lost an appeal to compel the government to release papers relating to oil deals, when the judge decided the information was not in the public interest. Izama...