11 Jul 2025 | Africa, Asia and Pacific, Bangladesh, Israel, Middle East and North Africa, News, Palestine, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia
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 the arrest of a Palestinian newspaper editor, and how the Bangladeshi prime minister ordered violent protest crackdowns.
Hold the front page: Palestinian newspaper editor arrested by IDF
In the early hours of 7 July, veteran Palestinian journalist Dr Nasser al-Laham was arrested inside his home by Israeli forces.
58-year-old al-Laham has been working as a journalist for over 30 years, and is the editor-in-chief of Palestinian news agency Ma’an. He is also the director of Al-Mayadeen TV’s Palestinian office, a Lebanese news channel that is reportedly affiliated with Hezbollah, according to Haaretz.
Ma’an has reported that the raid on al-Laham’s home, located in the village of al-Duha, west of Bethlehem, was destructive. Soldiers reportedly ransacked the property, confiscating computers and phones and destroying personal items before detaining al-Lahham. Al-Mayadeen described the raid as “brutal and repressive” and called for his immediate release.
Al-Lahham’s detention was brought before Ofer Military Court for a hearing on Thursday 10 July, resulting in his detention being extended by a further nine days. Arrested on suspicion of “supporting and inciting terror” due to his role at Al Mayadeen, he joins a long list of Palestinian journalists targeted by Israel since war broke out following the 7 October 2023 attacks and kidnappings by Hamas. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have labelled Palestine as the world’s most dangerous state for journalists, with almost 200 reporters killed in Gaza by the Israeli army over the first 18 months of war, and at least 42 of those likely killed due to their work.
Caught on tape: Former Bangladesh prime minister found to have authorised protester shootings
BBC Eye have verified a recorded phone call that reveals former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina authorised the use of lethal force against protesters in the mass uprising against the Bangladeshi government that took place in summer 2024.
The student-led uprising began in July 2024 when protesters took to the streets to demand an end to the job quota system that reserved public sector jobs for the descendants of war veterans. The Bangladeshi government cracked down on these protests as they increased in fervour, implementing national curfews and cutting internet access, and responding to demonstrators with lethal force. Armed forces mobilised against peaceful protesters, and the UN report that as many as 1,400 people were killed in just 46 days of protests. The harsh response only led to further demonstrations until Hasina resigned and fled the country on 5 August last year. It brought to an end her second period of rule which had lasted 15 years by that time.
Hasina was tried in absentia for crimes against humanity by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), and leaked audio of a phone call with an unidentified senior government official marks the most damning evidence of her direct involvement in the atrocities. Hasina is recorded saying she authorised security forces to “use lethal weapons” against protesters and that “wherever they find [them], they will shoot”.
Hasina, alongside two senior officials, were indicted by ICT on 10 July 2025 for crimes against humanity, and court proceedings for the three will begin on 3 August. Hasina lives in self-imposed exile in India, and has dismissed the trial as being politically motivated.
Arresting all rivals: Tunisian opposition leader sentenced to 14 years in prison
Rached Ghannouchi, co-founder and leader of Tunisian opposition party Ennahda, is one of at least 18 politicians and officials sentenced to lengthy jail terms on 8 July 2025 in President Kais Saied’s mass crackdown on dissent. Ghannouchi, who has been imprisoned since 2023, was sentenced to up to 14 years in jail, the latest of a number of charges issued against him in recent months that total more than 20 years behind bars.
Such harsh prison sentences have become the norm for those seen as “conspiring against state security” in Tunisia; Nadia Akacha, Saied’s former chief of staff, and Rafik Abdessalem, Ghannouchi’s son-in-law and former foreign minister were also each handed a 35-year prison sentence in absentia for their alleged offences, as well as for “forming an organisation and conspiracy related to terrorist crimes”.
In 2021, Saied suspended elected parliament and began ruling by decree in what many described as a coup. Since this takeover, opposition politicians and dissenters have faced increasing repression; Ennadha’s party headquarters were shut down in April 2023, and numerous journalists have been imprisoned for “broadcasting false information”.
A war on reporting: Sudanese forces arrest freelance journalists
Independent Sudanese journalists Nasr Yaqoub and Mohamed Ahmed Nazar were arrested on Monday 7 July by soldiers affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the North Darfur region of Sudan.
Yaqoub and Nazar were reportedly in a shop when they were arrested by members of the Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council (SLM-TC). Two days earlier, Yaqoub was also the victim of an assassination attempt by an officer also affiliated with the SAF; he was allegedly shot after refusing to hand over a device connected to the internet via Starlink.
The two operate as freelance journalists, using Starlink to cover the Sudanese civil war since it began in April 2023. They post updates to their popular Facebook accounts – Yaqoub has 5,000 followers on the platform, while Nazar has almost 10,000 – working to keep people informed on a conflict that has very few active reporters. Starlink has become crucial for any reports on the conflict, with internet access being routinely blocked nationwide as part of the war effort.
The SAF has claimed that Yaqoub was arrested for directing “severe insults” at the officer who shot him, and that internet restrictions were necessary to prevent “collaborators” from relaying information to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
A violent crackdown: Anti-government protests met with violence in Togo
Since 26 June, thousands have taken to the streets of Togo’s capital Lomé to protest constitutional reforms that may allow President Faure Gnassingbé to remain in power indefinitely, after he was sworn in with no term limit, and presidential elections were abolished. These protests were met with repression, and now reports are trickling in detailing the violent crackdown carried out by Togo forces.
At least ten people are thought to have died in the protests. Lomé residents report security forces entering people’s homes, beating civilians and firing tear gas. Videos verified by Al Jazeera show men in plain clothes, believed to be officers, dragging civilians away.
The spark that lit the demonstrations was the arrest of popular Togolese rapper Tchala Essowè Narcisse, known as Aamron, whose music denouncing corruption and state neglect garnered him a following on social media. He was arrested without a warrant and held incommunicado for 10 days, according to his lawyer, and a video surfaced where he reported being held in a psychiatric facility.
The protests were led by young people, many of whom have never known a leader other than Gnassingbé. Togo has been under the rule of the Gnassingbé family since 1967, apart from a three-month period in 2005 following the death of Faure’s father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma. Faure has ruled since, and his latest constitutional reforms were described by the Touche Pas à Ma Constitution coalition as “a coup against the Togolese people”.
10 Jul 2025 | Europe and Central Asia, News, United Kingdom
What’s one book that changed how you see the world?
Books can transform us. They open up new perspectives, help us understand lives different from our own, and spark ideas we might never have imagined. The freedom to read – to explore, question and connect through stories – is a vital part of any free and open society.
But that freedom is under threat.
Around the world, writers face censorship, imprisonment and violence simply for putting words on a page. Booksellers from Iran to Belarus, Israel to Hong Kong have been harassed and silenced. Publishers in China and Russia are being pressured and censored. In places like the USA, Brazil, Hungary and even the UK, books are being banned and pulled off the shelves in libraries because of the ideas they hold and the questions they raise.
Why? Because stories are powerful. Because reading can challenge the status quo.
Banned Books Week UK returns from 5–11 October 2025. It’s a week to celebrate the books that have been challenged, removed or silenced, and to stand with the people who write, sell and share them. Join Index on Censorship in honouring the right to read freely and the courage it takes to speak up. In partnership with the International Publishers Association and Hay Festival Global.
Get Involved!
- Booksellers and libraries are invited to host displays, organise events or highlight books that have been banned or challenged around the world.
- Writers and readers are encouraged to celebrate books that have come under fire ( globally or locally)
- Publishers and literature organisations are invited to join the campaign, whether curating online reading lists, hosting events or posting online
Email: [email protected] to take part.
About Banned Books Week UK
Index on Censorship is the UK partner for the USA Coalition, which runs ‘Banned Books Week’. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. Typically (but not always) held during the last week of September, the annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas. You can read more about Banned Books Week here: About | Banned Books Week.
Banned Books Week UK is led by Index on Censorship as a parallel campaign to Banned Books Week in the USA. It ran successfully for a couple of years prior to the pandemic and is re-launching in 2025. Index invites booksellers, libraries, literary organisations, publishers, schools, writers and any other organisations interested in getting involved with the campaign. The aim of Banned Books Week UK is to become a truly nationwide campaign. Follow us on X.
10 Jul 2025 | Europe and Central Asia, News, Newsletters, Turkey
Above is the cartoon that led to the arrest of several journalists in Turkey this week. It appeared in LeMan, the long-running Turkish satirical magazine that’s been poking fun at power for over 30 years. On the left of the image is a bearded man wearing a taqiyah – a Muslim skullcap – who introduces himself as Muhammed. On the right, a man in a top hat, resembling the traditional attire of Haredi Jews, says he’s Musa. Both have wings and are shown hovering above burning buildings and flying rockets.
According to LeMan, the character of Muhammed “is fictionalised as a Muslim killed in Israel’s bombardments”. A statement on X said: “This cartoon is not a caricature of the Prophet Muhammed, PBUH [Peace Be Upon Him]… There are more than 200 million people named Muhammed in the Islamic world.”
Despite this clarification, backlash at what has been perceived as a swipe at Islam has been swift and severe. On Monday, police raided LeMan’s Istanbul office, which was surrounded by an angry crowd, and arrested staff. On Wednesday an Istanbul court charged four team members with “publicly demeaning religious values” and ordered them detained pending trial. One of the four, cartoonist Doğan Pehlivan, was also accused of “insulting the president”. Two more LeMan employees are under investigation and appear to be outside the country. Authorities have also apparently banned the latest issue, ordered it pulled from newsstands and blocked access to LeMan’s website and social media accounts in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally condemned the cartoon, calling it “a vile provocation.”
All of this over a cartoon. A cartoon that wasn’t even about the Prophet Muhammad. Even if it were, this response would still be indefensible. Religions can and should be open to critique or satire. Criticising belief systems is not the same as attacking believers.
As veteran Turkish journalist Can Dündar told me this week, “Like many autocrats, Erdoğan is intolerant of humour.” He fears the chilling effect this latest crackdown could have. “This may silence already-frightened humour magazines altogether.”
LeMan has long been a thorn in Erdoğan’s side, and there’s a chance this is being used as a pretext to shut them down. It’s also no coincidence this is happening in a country where Erdoğan has increasingly embraced religious conservatism – a shift our brilliant contributing editor Kaya Genç has documented over the years (see here for example). But joining the dots doesn’t do anything for those who are now in jail for exercising their rights to artistic and media freedoms. We owe it to them to raise our voice and do what we can to get them out.
2 Jul 2025 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa, News, Newsletters
As I wrote the newsletter last week we were closely following events in Iran but didn’t have a full picture in terms of free speech ramifications, in part because of censorship itself – internet blackouts and media bans meant that information was slow to leave the country. One week on, it’s different. Many alarming stories have emerged.
The conflict between Israel and Iran was of course marked from the start by free speech violations – early on there was the bombing of Iranian state television. Then later there were strikes on Tehran’s Evin Prison. While these acts may have been intended as symbolic blows against key institutions of Iranian repression, the consequences were grimly real: media workers killed, political prisoners endangered. And in between? Lots of repression.
At Index, some developments were personal, including when our 2023 Arts Award winner – the rapper Toomaj Salehi – disappeared for three days. Beyond our immediate network, according to the Centre for Human Rights in Iran, more than 700 citizens have been arrested in the past 12 days, some for alleged “espionage” or “collaboration” with Israel. There have also been six executions on espionage charges carried out, with additional death sentences expected.
The Supreme Council of National Security announced that any action deemed supportive of Israel would be met with the most severe penalty: death. The scope was broad, ranging from “legitimising the Zionist regime” to “spreading false information” or “sowing division”.
As mentioned above, Iran also began restricting internet access before shutting down access altogether. Officials claimed the blackout was necessary to disrupt Israeli drone operations allegedly controlled through local SIM-based networks. The result: ordinary Iranians were cut off from vital news. International journalists from outfits like Deutsche Welle (DW) were banned from reporting inside Iran. The family of a UK-based journalist with Iran International TV was even detained in Tehran, in an attempt to force her resignation. Her father called her under duress, parroting instructions from security agents: “I’ve told you a thousand times to resign. What other consequences do you expect?”
Yet amid the bleakness, there have been a few positive instances. Iranian state media aired a patriotic song by Moein, a pop icon long exiled in Los Angeles. Some billboards replaced religious slogans with pre-Islamic imagery, such as the mythical figure Arash the Archer. There has also been an unexpected digital reprieve: on Wednesday, following the agreement of an Israel-Iran ceasefire deal brokered by the US administration the day before, Iranians reported unfiltered access to Instagram and WhatsApp for the first time in two years.
Given everything else it feels unlikely that this openness will last. This week’s proposals by Iran’s judiciary officials to expand espionage laws and increase the powers of Iran’s sprawling security apparatus imply as much, too. So while the world’s eyes might have moved away from Iran, our gaze is still there – documenting the free speech violations and campaigning for their end.
