Former Index award winner Idrak Abbasov urges Christiane Amanpour, the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and Journalist Safety, to call for the release of Azerbaijan’s jailed journalists and human rights defenders
CATEGORY: Europe and Central Asia
New extremism laws would stifle free speech
The UK Home Secretary’s preview of a proposed new counter-extremism bill raises the stakes for freedom of expression in the United Kingdom. Index on Censorship is disturbed by the potential impact on free speech embedded in the proposals.
Azerbaijan: Appeal from jailed journalist Khadija Ismayilova postponed indefinitely
Ismayilova, one of Azerbaijan’s most celebrated investigative journalists, today had her appeal over a criminal libel conviction postponed indefinitely
Joint letter to Lord Sebastian Coe about Azerbaijan and the European Games
Index on Censorship and a number of other organisations have signed a joint letter to Lord Sebastian Coe of the British Olympic Association, to highlight violations against freedom of expression and threats to human rights defenders in Azerbaijan ahead of the European Games
Rebecca Vincent: Britain’s next prime minister must use European Games to stand up for human rights in Azerbaijan
In helping to whitewash Azerbaijan’s ever-worsening image, the UK would only end up tarnishing its own, writes Rebecca Vincent.
Padraig Reidy: Ten years after the Danish Mohammed cartoons, we’re still having the same argument
Is there hope for resolution any time soon? I fear not.
Media freedom in Europe needs action more than words
Freedom of expression is an assumed right in the European Union. But that assumption is little more than an idea anchored in our mental routine.
Dunja Mijatović: The good fight must continue | Mass surveillance: Journalists confront the moment of hesitation | The women challenging Bosnia’s divided media | World Press Freedom Day: Call to protect freedom of expression
Padraig Reidy: Imagine being Katie Hopkins
What if your job, your career, was winding up an entire nation?
Dunja Mijatović: The good fight must continue
Media freedom advocates must continue to move forward and provide the defenses necessary for free expression and free media to flourish. Complacency is not an option. Solidarity, however, is.
Azerbaijan: Seven things you need to know ahead of the Baku European Games
How can journalists effectively cover the European Games given the full scope of social and political issues in Azerbaijan? An expert panel discusses.
Mass surveillance: Journalists confront the moment of hesitation
Following Edward Snowden’s revelations outlining the capabilities of intelligence agencies to monitor private online communications journalists are confronting a moment of hesitation.
Jodie Ginsberg: “I believe in free expression, but…”
The decision by six authors to withdraw from a PEN American Center gala in which Charlie Hebdo will be honoured with an award once again emphasises the dangerous notion that some forms of free expression are more worthy than others of defending













