US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi has left Iran, and flown to Austria with her family after being acquitted of espionage charges on Monday. A film on censorship in Iranian music, co-scripted by Saberi and directed by 2006 Index on Censorship award winner, Bahman Ghobadi premiered at Cannes Film festival yesterday. Read more here
Memorial’s historical archive must be restored immediately. An open letter from Orlando Figes and some of the world’s leading academics
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The European Arrest Warrant is a valuable tool, writes Chris Huhne, but it should not be used to restrict freedom of expression
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A Tunisian comic may have paid a high price for making fun of the country’s leader, writes Rohan Jayasekera
Index on Censorship is calling for the release of Tunisian comedian Hédi Ouled Baballah, who has been jailed on the basis of suspect evidence, apparently in punishment for mimicking the country’s president.
The trigger seems to have been a private recording (available here) of comedian Hédi Ouled Baballah’s satirical imitation of Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali that has spread across the country by mobile phone.
Index on Censorship, together with fellow members of the Tunisian Monitoring Group (TMG) of international free speech groups, believes that Ouled Baballah was targeted by police and framed for drugs and currency charges as punishment for the popular satire.