The newly re-elected government of Mahinda Rajapaksa has been accused of orchestrating a fresh crackdown on the media after a series of websites were blocked and their offices closed. Journalists claim they have been harassed and assaulted, others...
A 15-year-old girl has been sentenced to jail for nearly eight years after having been arrested at a demonstration in support of the banned Kurdish group PPK. The girl has been convicted of 'terrorist' offences, including ‘crimes on behalf of an...
Today’s decision not to uphold a “super-injunction” claimed by England football captain John Terry is a blow for press freedom.
Two men accused of plotting to overthrow the regime were hanged in Tehran yesterday. Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, 19, were convicted of being ‘enemies of God’. The pair were the first to be put to death after more than 100 dissidents were...
The full membership of the Justice Department's libel working group, which convenes tomorrow (28 January), has been announced. The working group will be chaired by Rowena Collins-Rice, Director-General, Democracy, Constitution and Law and Chief...
Venezuela's media regulator has ordered that RCTV be removed from transmission by cable providers. RCTV's terrestrial licence was revoked in 2007, in an act seen by many as revenge for the station's support for a coup against President Hugo Chavez...
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lifted the travel ban on two prominent Muslim scholars, Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib. The American Civil Liberties Union had been due to challenge Ramadan's ban in federal court yesterday. Jameel Jaffer,...
Journalist Stanley Kwenda has fled to South Africa after alleging that he received a death threat by telephone from a senior police officer, linked to a story he wrote in The Zimbabwean. The newspaper says that "‘impeccable sources" have supplied...
On 18 January at least 30 women were detained in Kampala while attempting to deliver a petition calling for the resignation of the electoral commission chief Badru Kiggundu, who they say is unable to organise credible and fair elections, scheduled...
Following violent clashes in Nairobi on 16 January that left five dead, Kenyan police have arrested more than 300 people, including 16 Somali MPs. Last week's demonstration were organized to demand the release of Abdullah Al-Faisal, the...