An 11-year-old girl with Down’s Syndrome was last week arrested in Pakistan, after an angry mob demanded that the girl be punished for allegedly desecrating the Qur’an --- the Islamic holy book. The young girl is a resident of a Christian...
A controversial fatwa issued by a prominent Muslim cleric sanctioning violence against anti-Muslim Brotherhood activists planning demonstrations in Cairo on 24 August, has sent shockwaves throughout Egyptian society, triggering public outcry and...
Index on Censorship condemns the sentencing of human rights defender and Index award winner Nabeel Rajab to three years in prison
Tunisia's data protection authority is in the process of amending the country's 2004 privacy law, which will regulate the use of personal data. Hacking into activists’ emails, tapping into dissidents’ phone calls, or installing surveillance...
The month-long suspension of a privately-owned Egyptian TV channel for "defamation and incitement to violence" has triggered an outcry in Egyptian media circles amid fears of regression in freedom of expression gained after the country's January...
Tunisia's ruling party, the Islamist Ennahdha movement, seek to criminalise blasphemy. The Ennahdha party filed a blasphemy bill on 1 August in response to what their leaders describe as “a continuous increase in number of offences against the...
Since March, Emirati authorities have arrested over 50 activists and human rights defenders in a widespread crackdown on dissent. Index joins a group of international rights groups in calling on UK Foreign Minister William Hague and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to push for the prisoners’ release
In an unexpected move on 4 July, the National Authority for Information and Communication Reform (INRIC) held a press conference announcing the end of its activities after disagreements with Tunisian PM Hamdai Jebali's government. The media reform...
Atheist Ghazi Beji, who was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in absentia last March for insulting Islam has written an apology to Muslims. Beji, who fled the country before being sentenced for publishing a satirical book entitled "The...
In an unexpected move on 4 July, the National Authority for Information and Communication Reform (INRIC) put an end to its activities. INRIC was created after the fall of the 23-year rule of Zeine el-Abidin Ben Ali last year to help reform the...