27 Jun 2025 | Africa, Americas, Asia and Pacific, Australia, Belarus, Europe and Central Asia, Hungary, Israel, Kenya, Middle East and North Africa, News, Palestine, United States
In the age of online information, it can feel harder than ever to stay informed. As we get bombarded with news from all angles, important stories can easily pass us by. To help you cut through the noise, every Friday Index publishes a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression. This week, we look at Hungary’s banned Pride demonstration, and mass anti-government protests in Kenya.
Pride in spite of the law: Hungary’s LGBTQ+ march to go ahead in violation of police ban
On Tuesday 18 March, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party led by Viktor Orbán rushed a bill through parliament banning LGBTQ+ pride marches, sparking outrage from the EU and activists. The ban was made on the grounds that such events are allegedly harmful to children, with Orbán stating “We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids.” This put Budapest’s annual Pride march, scheduled to take place on Saturday 28 June, in jeopardy – but Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community is refusing to back down.
The march, which marks the 30th anniversary of Budapest Pride, is scheduled to go ahead with backing from Budapest’s liberal mayor, who has taken the step of organising the event through the city council under the name “Day of Freedom” to circumvent the law against LGBTQ+ gatherings – but the city police, still under the control of Fidesz, will be moving to quash these efforts. Those partaking in the event will be targeted by facial recognition technology and could face fines. With more than 200 Amnesty International delegates set to march alongside thousands of Hungarians in solidarity, Saturday is likely to see a clash between Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community and the state police.
Brutality begets brutality: Kenyan protests against government cruelty result in further loss of life
On 25 June 2024, a mass protest outside parliament in Nairobi against tax rises escalated into a tragedy, with Kenyan police officers firing on protesters as they attempted to storm the parliament building. The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights announced that 39 had been killed in the nationwide demonstrations, and it was recently revealed by BBC Africa Eye that some officers had shot and killed unarmed protesters. Marking a year since this incident, Kenyans took to the streets this week to demonstrate against the government, and further brutality has followed.
Amnesty International Kenya has reported that 16 people were killed at the anniversary protests on 25 June 2025, with approximately a further 400 injured. CNN witnessed police firing live ammunition to disperse peaceful protesters, and the government regulator, Communications Authority of Kenya, issued an order for all local TV and radio stations to stop broadcasting live coverage of the protests. Tensions have been on the rise in recent months, with the murder of Kenyan blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody, and the shooting of street vendor Boniface Kariuki at a demonstration in Ojwang’s honour inflaming the situation further.
Free at last: Pro-Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil released
Palestinian-Algerian activist and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was released from his detention in a Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on the evening of Friday 20 June after 104 days in detention.
Khalil’s arrest sparked a national outcry. A prominent pro-Palestinian activist on Columbia’s campus, he would sometimes act as a spokesperson for the student protest movement, making him a prime target for ICE’s crackdown on immigrant protesters – despite Khalil holding a green card, which grants an individual lawful permanent resident status in the USA.
He was arrested without a warrant on 8 March 2025. Charged with no crime, Khalil was earmarked for deportation by Secretary of State Marco Rubio under the belief that his presence in the country had “foreign policy consequences”. This move was deemed unconstitutional, and Khalil was released after a Louisiana judge ruled that Khalil was neither a flight risk nor dangerous, and that his prolonged detention – which led to him missing the birth of his son – was potentially punitive.
Khalil returned to the frontlines of protests just days after his release, but his feud with the Donald Trump administration is far from over. The government is reportedly set to appeal the ruling to release Khalil, and rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have suggested that there could be a long legal road ahead.
Unfairly dismissed: Australian journalist wins court case after losing her job over Gaza repost
Australian journalist Antoinette Lattouf has won her court case against Australia’s national broadcaster, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), with a judge ruling she was unfairly dismissed from her job after sharing a post on social media about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Lattouf reportedly shared a post by Human Rights Watch that accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza in December 2023, resulting in her sacking from her fill-in radio presenter role just hours later.
ABC claimed that the post violated its editorial policy, but after the ruling has apologised to the journalist, saying it had “let down our staff and audiences” in how it handled the matter. According to The Guardian, the broadcaster had received a “campaign of complaints” from the moment Lattouf was first on air, accusing her of anti-Israel bias based on her past social media activity. It has also been reported that due process around Lattouf’s dismissal was not followed, with the allegations in the email complaints not put to her directly prior to her sacking.
Justice Darryl Rangiah ruled that Lattouf had been fired “for reasons including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza”, in violation of Australia’s Fair Work Act. Lattouf was awarded 70,000 Australian dollars ($45,000) in damages. She told reporters outside the courtroom “I was punished for my political opinion”.
Sudden freedom: 14 Belarusian political prisoners freed from prison following US official visit
During the visit of the US special envoy Keith Kellogg to Belarus’s capital Minsk, dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka made the surprise move of releasing 14 political prisoners from detention on 21 June 2025. The US brokered deal, reportedly led by Kellogg, saw the release of prominent Belarusian activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski who was arrested in 2020 and sentenced with 18 years in prison after declaring his intention to run for president. Also released was journalist Ihar Karnei who worked at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for more than 20 years.
Tsikhanouski has recounted his experience in prison as being “torture”. He said he was kept in solitary confinement and denied adequate food and medical care, and he lost more than 100 pounds during his five years’ imprisonment. He told the Associated Press that prison officials would mock him, saying “You will be here not just for the 20 years we’ve already given you – we will convict you again” and “You will die here.”
Tsikhanouski is the husband of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who following his arrest took his place in running for president and became the main opposition leader in Belarus. Now living in exile in Lithuania, the two have been reunited in Vilnius – but Tsikhanouskaya insists that her work is not finished with reportedly more than 1,100 political prisoners still remaining inside Belarusian jails.
17 Jun 2025 | Americas, News, Newsletters, United States
When photojournalist Linda Tirado was covering a Minneapolis protest in May 2020 – days after George Floyd was killed – she was shot in the face with a plastic bullet. Tirado has since spoken about the traumatic brain injury she suffered on that day, which has changed her life. Rubber bullets. Plastic bullets. These are not harmless deterrents – they are weapons. And once again they’re being used against journalists in the USA. According to a database maintained by the Los Angeles Press Club, more than 30 cases of “police violence” against journalists have been reported over the past week in LA alone.
It’s not just tragic when this happens to journalists. It’s symbolic. If you’re a reporter and you saw the footage of Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi crying in pain upon being shot in the leg, you’d think twice about how – and even if – you cover the next protest. And that hesitation? That’s one way censorship takes root.
In LA, the intimidation escalated in other ways. As law enforcement deployed bullets, bean bags and tear gas against both protesters and press, a police helicopter circled overhead and issued a warning: “I have all of you on camera. I’m going to come to your house.” Was it a bluff? Maybe. But again that’s not the point. “Even if it were a joke, it was clearly designed to make the public afraid to exercise its First Amendment rights to protest and to hold government officials, including LAPD officers, accountable for their actions,” said Jonathan Markovitz, staff attorney at ACLU of Southern California.
In another example of escalating authoritarianism, the narrative has been spun. While there was some vandalism and violence, accounts suggest it was small-scale (see a comparison here to the 1992 unrest in LA following the brutal assault of Rodney King for reference). President Donald Trump ran with a different line. He called the protests a “rebellion” against the government and said LA “would be burning” because of “paid insurrectionists” and “paid troublemakers” – language used to both turn people against the protesters and justify the heavy-handed response. Yesterday the Northern District Court of California ruled “his actions were illegal”.
Some are calling LA a dress rehearsal for the midterms. I’d say the show has already started. Trump threatened to forcibly put down any protests that interfered with the military parade he ordered for his birthday on Saturday. Despite this millions did take to the streets across the USA, but sadly not without violence – a gunman shot two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses early Saturday morning, killing one of the couples, with subsequent protests cancelled in the state, while in Texas, the state Capitol was evacuated following a “credible threat” against legislators planning to attend a protest.
A sober reminder – we’re just six months into Trump’s second term. Over two years into his first term, Jan Fox wrote for Index that “many worry that the country of some 329 million people, which has prided itself on modelling the greatest democracy in the world, is not immune to unpicking some of its checks and balances”. Accuse me of Trump derangement syndrome all you want – I’d say we’re already beyond the point of just worrying.
13 Jun 2025 | Americas, Asia and Pacific, Bangladesh, Colombia, Europe and Central Asia, Italy, Mexico, News, United States
In the age of online information, it can feel harder than ever to stay informed. As we get bombarded with news from all angles, important stories can easily pass us by. To help you cut through the noise, every Friday Index publishes a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression. This week, we look at how one European government is targeting journalists with spyware, and the crackdown on protest in Los Angeles which has pitted the US president against the governor of California.
State-sponsored espionage: Italian government revealed to be using spyware on activists
On 5 June 2025 an Italian parliamentary committee admitted that the country’s government had been using a product of Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions to view encrypted messages between Italian activists involved in migrant rights. The spyware service, called Graphite, allowed the operators to view private WhatsApp conversations between activists. That the Italians had been using Graphite spyware had been made public knowledge in February 2025, and Paragon reportedly cut ties with the Italian government as a result, claiming that they had breached the terms of the contract by targeting members of civil society.
Though the parliamentary committee admitted that the government had been using the software, they denied that Italian journalist Francesco Cancellato, editor of news website fanpage.it had been targeted. An investigation by Citizen Lab has since revealed that both Cancellato and the head of Fanpage Ciro Pellegrino had indeed been hacked by Graphite spyware, although those responsible have not been identified. Fanpage, based in Naples, has been repeatedly critical of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but the government denies any involvement in the hacking of these two journalists. The parliamentary committee stated that all surveillance was done in accordance with national law – but the case has sparked outrage over the use of spyware across Europe, and an EU parliamentary debate on the matter has been scheduled for 16 June.
The battle of Los Angeles: National guard summoned to crack down on mass protests against ICE
Over the last week, the state of California has been gripped by unrest. Protests that started in response to workplace raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have grown into a daily occurrence, with riot police called in to enforce a night-time curfew imposed by city mayor Karen Bass – who has demanded that ICE leave the city. President Donald Trump has responded to these protests against ICE with a fierce crackdown, claiming that he must “liberate” Los Angeles from protesters and calling both the National Guard and the Marines to the city. This in turn sparked a feud with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who accused Trump of a “brazen abuse of power” and claimed that “democracy is under assault before our eyes.”
The protests have been largely peaceful, but were met with a stern crackdown that turned violent. Videos have circulated of protesters being trampled by officers on horseback and beaten with wooden batons; numerous journalists have reported being shot with rubber bullets, and tear gas has been used against non-violent demonstrators. The repercussions of the protests have stretched beyond the streets of Los Angeles. California senator Alex Padilla was pinned to the floor and handcuffed during a press conference by Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem when he stood to ask a question, an incident which Governor Newsom described as “outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful”. Despite a federal judge ruling that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard was illegal, an appeals court declared that Trump will maintain temporary control of the guard – signalling that this long week of unrest is far from over.
A lapse in defence: Colombian presidential candidate shot in the head had security reduced on day of attack
On 7 June 2025, Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe was shot twice in the head at a campaign rally in Bogotá. Uribe survived the attack and has undergone major surgery, but his condition is still extremely serious – and it has been revealed that his security detail on the day of his attack was reduced.
Colombian president Gustavo Petro announced on 9 June that Uribe’s protection team was found to have been reduced from seven to three people ahead of his rally in Bogotá, and called for an investigation into the incident. Uribe’s lawyer Victor Mosquera stated that he has filed a criminal complaint against his security detail, alleging that he had made over 20 requests for increased security in 2025. Two individuals have been arrested, including the alleged shooter – a 15-year-old boy who reportedly stated he acted “for money, for my family”.
The attack brings back unwanted memories of a nation fraught with violence. Uribe’s mother, Diane Turbay, was kidnapped and murdered by the cartel of Pablo Escobar in 1991. Human Rights Watch report that homicides and kidnappings in the country have gone up 20.9% and 34.8% respectively since 2016.Frontline Defenders have identified Colombia as the most lethal country in the world for human rights defenders.
A tragic loss: Dhaka University student takes his own life following harrassment over social media post
24-year-old Shakil Ahmed, a fine arts student at Dhaka university in Bangladesh, took his own life in the early hours of Tuesday, 10 June, after he had received threats over a post on Facebook.
Reports from Singair police station state that an old post by Ahmed, in which he allegedly wrote derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad, resurfaced and went viral on Facebook. Ahmed’s cousin, Mukta Akter, stated that during the night of 9 June, several hundred people from the surrounding areas converged upon Ahmed’s family home, threatening him and his family over the post despite him already deleting it. Ahmed then made a series of Facebook posts claiming that he did not insult Prophet Muhammad, but that he had “lost the respect of his people” and wrote in one last post that “I cannot live in this world knowing I have destroyed my parents’ dignity”.
Detention and oppression: Indigenous activists in Mexico violently repressed
The Hñöhñö (Otomi) people are an Indigenous group live in Mexico’s central plateau, largely in the state of Queretaro. On 4 June 2025, two young Hñöhñö people were reportedly arbitrarily detained by police while on their way to work in the settlement of Santiago Mexquititlán. A community group organised a peaceful protest against their detention, but they were reportedly met with violence from the Querétaro State Police (POES).
POES agents reportedly violently detained five of the protesters and held them incommunicado for several hours, while the remaining demonstrators were surrounded by police forces. Hñöhñö human rights defender Estela Hernández Jiménez was one of those detained while attempting to document the arrests of the two Hñöhñö youths. She was reportedly beaten and abused by several police officers, before they took her into custody. Jiménez, who was released later that evening, claims she was physically and sexually assaulted by officers. Local human rights groups have condemned the incident claiming that it is part of a wider systematic effort of violence against Indigenous communities in Mexico by the state, dubbing it a “war of extermination”.
2 May 2025 | Asia and Pacific, Burma, News
Blocking international media from reporting in Myanmar following the huge earthquake in March shows the military junta does not tolerate press freedom, experts say.
A huge 7.7 earthquake struck central Myanmar on 28 March, mostly impacting Mandalay and Sagaing, causing the death of thousands of civilians and the collapse of homes and buildings.
International media outlets flew from all over the world, hoping to get inside Myanmar to cover the disaster. Most had flown into Bangkok, Thailand, where the tremors of the earthquake hit, causing a 30-storey skyscraper to collapse with dozens of construction workers trapped underneath.
But the Myanmar military, officially the State Administration Council, claimed the situation was too dangerous for reporters, and also said accommodation options were limited for reporters entering the country.
Journalist struggles
Silvia Squizzato, an Italian journalist for Rai TV, says she was informed that entering Myanmar brought risks.
“As soon as I arrived in Thailand, I called the Italian embassy in Myanmar to ask if they could help me speed up the visa process, as it takes at least three months to get a journalist visa,” she said. “The Italian embassy repeatedly said it wasn’t possible; they also repeated that entering Myanmar with a tourist visa was too dangerous given the civil war in the country.”
Because of the rejection of a visa, Silvia and her outlet were unable to report on the ground.
“We couldn’t report on the earthquake up close, it was very frustrating. The military junta doesn’t want journalists in the country but neither do various rebel groups. I interviewed many refugees from Myanmar, and they all didn’t agree with this choice,” she added.
Arjan Oldenkamp, a cameraman for RTL Nederland, was another journalist who flew from Europe to cover the disaster. He had travelled all the way from Amsterdam to Bangkok, in the hope that he would get into Myanmar.
“[It was frustrating] for me as a cameraman,” he said. “I wanted only one thing: to get the news right, especially in a place like Myanmar. I would have liked to make a good report. We could not get to the core of the earthquake, it was very frustrating for me. After all, I had flown 13 hours only to be told that we could not get there.”
Damage done
At least 3,700 people have been killed in Myanmar because of the earthquake, with more than 5,000 injured. Recovery efforts are still ongoing, nearly a month after the quake struck.
The earthquake has caused damage to more than 50,000 buildings with nearly 200,000 people displaced, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
For those who have survived the disaster, the cost of rebuilding their homes is unmanageable, and many have been left without food, water or shelter. Bill Birtles, Indonesia correspondent for Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), says if the military had allowed foreign media to enter, more aid and assistance could have been provided from the international community.
“We simply went to the embassy in Bangkok and were told to contact the Ministry of Information in Myanmar via generic email, and only after they ordered it could the embassy begin accepting and processing materials in Bangkok,” he said. “It was obvious there wasn’t a clear way to apply for the J [journalist] visa.
“I think, had the military government allowed international media crews to easily enter, they could have shown the devastation more easily to global audiences, which potentially could have increased the global aid response,” he added.
International aid
The quake did see the military make a rare plea to the international community for aid.
Teams from the UK, USA, China, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Korea pledged millions of dollars in emergency aid, while Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, India, Japan, Singapore and Russia sent rescue units to help with the emergency.
But relief efforts have been complicated, as Myanmar has been suffering from a brutal civil war since the military coup of 2021.
The Myanmar military has been in battle with resistance groups, including the National Unity Government of Myanmar, and ethnic armed organisations. Today, the junta has full control over less than a quarter of the country’s territory.
But any international aid that has come into Myanmar has had to go via major cities, including the capital Naypyidaw, Yangon and Mandalay. These cities are controlled by the Myanmar military, which has raised concerns about how the aid will be distributed to earthquake-affected areas, such as Sagaing, which is partially under the control of opposition groups.
Even though state-controlled media outlets from China and Russia, two of the Myanmar military’s few international allies, were provided some reporting access, international media reporting on the ground in Myanmar has been limited. The BBC managed to get a team into Myanmar via India, while Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse (AFP) already had small teams in Myanmar when the earthquake struck.
Local criticism
Tin Tin Nyo, the managing director of Burma News International, said the military has restricted local media, too.
“The blocking of international media demonstrates that the military junta does not tolerate press freedom or free flow of information,” she said.
“They want to prevent the media from uncovering their mistreatment of the people and their negligence regarding public wellbeing and safety. This pattern will likely extend to various disasters and human rights violations occurring in Myanmar. They have clearly restricted not only local media but also international media from conducting ground reporting on the earthquake and its aftermath, which gravely impacted on the relief and recovery process,” she added.
The Independent Press Council of Myanmar (IPCM) has called the military’s decision to ban international media a “blatant violation of press freedom”.
“The exclusion of international media from reporting on the earthquake’s aftermath, as indicated by General Zaw Min Tun’s pronouncements, is a blatant violation of press freedom and a deliberate attempt to obscure the scale of the disaster. We categorically denounce this obstruction and insist upon the unfettered right of journalists, both domestic and international, to report on this crisis, for the sake of the affected population, the international community, and humanitarian aid organisations,” an IPCM statement read.
Myanmar press freedom environment
The denial of international media only adds to the dire environment for press freedom in the country.
For years, the Myanmar military has cracked down on independent media over the past four years with outlets having their media licences revoked. Hundreds of journalists have been arrested, dozens have been detained while others have been killed. Two freelance journalists were shot dead last year during a military raid. Access to information in the country remains difficult, as journalists continue to be targeted by the military authorities.
As part of that crackdown, the junta has used other tools to prevent information flow into the country.
In January, the military enacted a new cybersecurity law in Myanmar that banned the use of virtual private networks (VPNs). Myanmar also had the most internet shutdowns across the world in 2024, according to a report released earlier this year by digital rights group Access Now. It revealed that most of the 85 shutdowns came at the hands of the military authorities.
