1 Aug 2025 | Africa, Americas, DR Congo, Europe and Central Asia, Israel, Middle East and North Africa, News and features, Palestine, United Kingdom, 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 the killing of a Palestinian activist, and how Jewish comedians had their shows cancelled at Edinburgh Fringe.
Death for a documentary: Palestinian who worked on “No Other Land” killed in West Bank
Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist and community leader in the West Bank who worked on Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot and killed outside a community centre on Monday 28 July.
The suspected shooter, identified as settler Yinon Levi, was sanctioned by the UK and EU last year. The incident was recorded, and was posted on X by No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham. Following the shooting, an ambulance arrived to collect Hathaleen, and despite an autopsy being completed on Wednesday, the Israeli army is reportedly refusing to return his body to his family.
The military has set out demands to the family, including that no mourning tent be set up near Hathaleen’s home, and that he be buried in a nearby city rather than his home village; demands that his family have refused. More than 70 women in the village of Umm al-Kheir where the shooting took place have begun a hunger strike in response to the withholding of Hathaleen’s body, as well as continued arrests and detention for the citizens of the village since the incident. In contrast, Levi was released on house arrest on Tuesday.
Hathaleen had reportedly warned UK parliament about threats to his life before the incident, and he is not the first activist who worked on No Other Land to be attacked. The Palestinian co-director of the film, Hamdan Ballal, was beaten by masked settlers outside his home before he was detained by the IDF in March 2025.
Show’s over: Jewish comedians have Edinburgh Fringe shows cancelled over safety concerns
Two Jewish comedians have had their shows cancelled at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over “safety concerns” raised by staff at the venue.
Rachel Creeger was one of the comedians to have had her show at Whistlebinkies – the venue in question – cancelled. She told Jewish News that she had previously performed there twice before, and that it was a “safe and happy space” for her. She received the call that her show was cancelled two weeks ahead of the performance date, with bar staff reportedly feeling unsafe with the extra security that was recommended for Jewish comedians.
Phillip Simon, the other comedian due to perform, also had a run of performances at Banshee Labyrinth cancelled. The venue claimed that they had made this decision after screening his social media account, picking out photos from a vigil marking 100 days since the 7 October attack, as well as messages mocking Greta Thunberg’s attempt to bring aid to Gaza via a flotilla. They stated that these posts signified views at odds with Banshee Labyrinth’s “stance against the current Israeli government’s policy and actions”. Simon rejected this claim, arguing that he had only ever supported “freeing the hostages and finding a way for peace”, and that he was “cancelled just for being Jewish”.
The bans have drawn much criticism, with shadow Scotland Secretary Andrew Bowie stating this incident “speaks very ill of the state of affairs in this country” regarding antisemitism. Festival organisers reportedly attempted to find alternate locations for the performances, but the short notice of the cancellations meant that none could be found; the performances have been removed from Fringe Festival’s website.
Taking the government to court: Palestine Action granted permission to challenge their proscription
A co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, has won the right to challenge the proscription of the group as a terrorist organisation in court in a landmark ruling, with a hearing scheduled for November.
Palestine Action was banned under anti-terrorism laws after two members of the group broke into RAF Brize Norton airbase and defaced aircraft. Since then, more than 200 people have been arrested for expressing support for them – a charge punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In July, Laura Murton was threatened with arrest by Kent police under the Terrorism Act despite showing no direct support for Palestine Action, with police being recorded telling her that the phrase “Free Gaza”, which she had written on a sign, was “supportive of Palestine Action”.
Mr Justice Chamberlain, ruling on the case, cited incidents like Murton’s as being “liable to have a chilling effect on those wishing to express legitimate political views”. He stated it was “arguable” that the proscription of the group amounted to a “disproportionate interference” to the rights of freedom of expression and of assembly as they are described in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This sentiment echoes that of UN human rights commissioner Volker Türk, who argued that the proscription of the group was an “impermissible restriction” on freedom of expression.
No questions allowed: Three DRC journalists detained for attempting to question a minister
On 23 July, three journalists from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were allegedly beaten and detained by officials after they visited the office of the Tshopo province’s Minister of Finance Patrick Valencio to question him about his appearance in, and alleged funding of, a TV series.
The journalists – KIS24 Info’s Steve Paluku, ElectionNet’s Paul Beyokobana, and Kisangani News newspaper’s Sébastien Mulamba – were reportedly beaten with sticks by officials before being taken to a local police station, where they were forced to stay overnight. Released the next day, the three have been ordered to the prosecutor’s office to meet Valencio.
DRC has repeatedly proven to be an unsafe country for journalists; The African nation ranks 133rd out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index, with more than 50 attacks on journalists and newsrooms being reported in regions of the country mired in conflict with neighboring Rwanda.
Under watchful eyes: USA placed on civil society watchlist
The United States has been placed on a watchlist compiled by global civil society organisations highlighting “serious concerns regarding the exercise of civic freedoms” in the country, alongside nations such as El Salvador and Kenya.
The monthly watchlist, compiled by civil society watchdog CIVICUS, is intended to draw attention to countries in which civil liberties, such as freedom to protest and the free operation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are in steep decline. CIVICUS states that the US “appears to be sliding deeper into the quicksands of authoritarianism”.
Mandeep Tiwana, secretary general of CIVICUS, cited such incidents as the deployment of over 2000 members of the national guard to counter anti Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests as reasoning for the US’s place on the watchlist. Tiwana said these incidents were “incompatible with the essence of democracy” and a “preferred tactic of despots around the world”. Tiwana also denounced the targeting and arrest of journalists such as Mario Guevara, who was detained after reporting on the “No Kings” protests in June, as well as the attacks on those who “express solidarity with Palestinian rights,” such as Mahmoud Khalil.
The US is joined on the watchlist by El Salvador, who have built a strong relationship with the US since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term as president, as well as Turkey, Serbia, Kenya, and Indonesia.
4 Nov 2024 | Awards, Fellowship 2024, News and features, Press Releases
Today, Index on Censorship announces the shortlist for its annual Freedom of Expression Award. The shortlist of 13 organisations and individuals from nine countries across five continents, highlights how free expression can be protected at a time of growing instability, authoritarianism and censorship. Each nominee covers diverse and critical issues such as the treatment of political prisoners in conflict zones, empowering citizen journalism and accountability, championing independent journalism, defending the rights of women and the LGBTQ communities, opposing war propaganda and authoritarianism, celebrating local languages, cultures and identities and countering disinformation.
Divided into three categories: Arts, Campaigning and Journalism, the annual award is an opportunity to celebrate the courage and creativity of the journalists, artists, campaigners and dissidents who, against all odds and at times facing threats of persecution, harassment, imprisonment or death, speak out and speak up to defend human rights and democracy.
The short list announced today is:
Arts
- Atena Farghadani (Iran) – An imprisoned cartoonist and visual artist who has used her art to defend human rights and democracy in Iran.
- Jota Ramos (Colombia) – An Afro-Colombian musician currently under house arrest after ongoing threats and persecution for his music and campaigning.
- Aleksandra Skochilenko (Russia) – An anti-war musician, artist and campaigner who was imprisoned for her creative opposition to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Campaigning
- Diala Ayesh (Palestinian Territories) – A lawyer and prison advocate who has campaigned for the rights of prisoners in Israel and Palestine, who was detained by Israeli authorities and remains incarcerated.
- Fundamedios (Ecuador) – A media freedom monitoring watchdog working to protect journalists and media workers across Latin and South America.
- Kuchu Times (Uganda) – A media and campaigning organisation working to protect and support the LGBTQ community amid increased legal persecution.
- Tanele Maseko (Eswatini) – The widow of murdered human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko has faced intimidation and threats continuing his legacy, fighting for justice and defending human rights for all.
Journalism
- Chutima Sidasathian (Thailand) – A journalist and citizen advocate has faced a litany of legal threats for her work exposing financial wrongdoing in rural communities across the country.
- Nasim Soltanbeygi (Iran) – A journalist who reported on the Women, Life, Freedom protests and women’s rights issue who has been imprisoned and persecuted for her reporting.
Jemimah Steinfeld, CEO of Index on Censorship said:
Judging these awards was a truly humbling experience. I am always overwhelmed by the bravery of our award nominees and no more so than this year. The march of authoritarianism has seemingly picked up pace across the globe but it’s heartening to know that everywhere there are still people willing to fight for what is right, even if they end up paying an extreme price in doing so. I look forward to celebrating the winners later on this year and want to say my own thanks to everyone on the shortlist – you are all inspiring and make the world better.
Sir Trevor Phillips OBE, the Chair of Index on Censorship said:
It’s always one of the hardest moments of the year – we are always faced with candidates for the awards who are talented, impactful and courageous. It’s humbling – but always worthwhile because we know from the dictators’ regular annoyance at the winners that they really make a difference.
The Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award, established in 2001, has long championed those who have risked everything for the right to speak out and defend democracy and human rights. Previous winners include the imprisoned Iranian rapper, Toomaj Salehi; the Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai; the global whistleblowing platform, Wikileaks; the Turkish artist, Zehra Dogan; Honduran investigative journalist, Wendy Funes and many others.
This year’s shortlist demonstrates the creative, courageous and diverse voices opposing authoritarianism and silence. The winners will be announced on 20 November at a ceremony in London. The jury panel for the 2024 awards is made up of Baroness Hollick OBE; Ziyad Marar, President of Global Publishing at Sage; Sir Trevor Phillips OBE, chair of Index on Censorship; Ben Preston, Culture, Arts and Books Editor of The Times & Sunday Times; Jemimah Steinfeld, CEO of Index on Censorship.
ENDS
Media contact:
Index on Censorship is a non-profit organisation that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide, including by publishing work by censored writers and artists and monitoring threats to free speech. We lead global advocacy campaigns to protect artistic, academic, media and digital freedom to strengthen the participatory foundations of modern democratic societies. www.indexoncensorship.org
4 Nov 2024
JOURNALISM AWARD SHORTLIST The Journalism category pays tribute to courageous, high-impact and determined journalism that exposes censorship and threats to free expression. This year’s nominees are Stanis Bujakera (Democratic Republic of Congo), Chutima Sidasathian...
16 Jul 2024 | News and features, Rwanda
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame has won 99.15% of the vote in this week’s presidential poll, a margin of victory so high that even Belarusian dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka has baulked at claiming such a high figure in his own rigged elections.
Rather than being a vote of confidence, the main reason for Kagame’s overwhelming “victory” was the lack of opposition.
Last month, Rwanda’s opposition leader, Diana Rwigara said that after all the time, work and effort she had put in, she was very disappointed she had been barred from contesting the country’s 15 July presidential election.
Rwigara also failed to run in the 2017 presidential poll as she was charged with inciting insurrection, an accusation levelled years earlier against her late father Assinapol Rwigara, before he died in a suspicious car accident which his family says was an assassination.
“@PaulKagame why won’t you let me run? This is the second time you cheat me out of my right to campaign,” Rwigara posted on social media platform X formerly known as Twitter.
Following Rwanda’s elections on Monday, Kagame’s only opposition were two little known candidates. Rwigara and five others including two of his major challengers, Victoire Ingabire and Bernard Ntaganda, had been barred from the ballot.
Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission said the incumbent got 99.15% of the vote.
Kagame, who was key to a scheme to process asylum seekers arriving in the UK “illegally” – an initiative now scrapped by the new Labour government – has been in power since the end of the country’s genocide in 1994.
Countless critics have been jailed or killed since then. One of them, Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina, known for sheltering hundreds of people during the genocide was jailed for supporting terrorism in 2021 after being arrested while he was travelling internationally. His sentence was later commuted, and he was allowed back to the USA.
In an interview with Index, Jeffrey Smith, the executive director of Vanguard Africa, a non-profit group that works with activists to support free and fair elections, said the election outcome does not reflect the will of the people.
“In Rwanda, there is freedom of expression. But that freedom is limited to expressing support for Paul Kagame and his ruling party — whether coerced or otherwise,” he said.
“These latest so-called ‘election’ results — a sort of performative art perfected by Kigali — clearly establish the Kagame dictatorship as among the most effective and effectively brutal police states of the 21st century.”
It’s a view shared by Ingabire, one of the opposition leaders who was barred from both the 2017 and 2024 elections. Ingabire published an opinion article in May in which she said Rwanda’s election will entrench the persistent suppression of opposition voices.
In January 2010, after 16 years in exile, Ingabire returned to Rwanda with the intention to register her political party and run for president but was arrested and jailed for 15 years. Kagame later pardoned her after international pressure but she has been prevented from leaving the country. There is an international campaign: #CallKagameforVictoire for heads of government around the world to ask Kagame to end Ingabire’s persecution.
“My trial, marred by irregularities and a lack of minimum fair trial standards, ended with a harsh sentence for crimes including ‘genocide ideology’, a controversial offence that has been used to silence dissent,” Ingabire wrote in her opinion article.
Ingabire said the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights later ruled in 2017 that her rights to freedom of opinion and expression had been violated, a verdict she says which highlights the broader issues of legal restrictions on speech and the challenges faced by political opposition in Rwanda.
Ingabire said many international observers see Rwanda as an exemplary country as it adeptly orchestrates communication campaigns and disseminates compelling narratives globally showcasing its purported capability to address both domestic and international challenges that include counterterrorism.
The country has also deployed Rwandan soldiers in multinational peacekeeping missions.
“This carefully crafted public image is not reflective of reality,” she said.
In Professor Nic Cheeseman’s book How to Rig an Election, he quotes President Aliaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus saying he ordered his 93 percent 2006 election victory to be changed to around 80 percent because more than 90 percent would not be psychologically well received.
The author, who is professor of democracy and international development at the University of Birmingham, told Index in an interview that Kagame’s margin of victory speaks volumes.
“If Lukashenka, the last dictator of Europe, thinks that winning more than 90% in an election is psychologically implausible, it is pretty clear that 99% tells us as much about President Kagame’s desire for absolute control as it does the wishes of the Rwandan people,” said Professor Cheeseman.
According to Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2024 report, Kagame’s government has suppressed political dissent through pervasive surveillance, intimidation, arbitrary detention, torture, and renditions or suspected assassinations of exiled dissidents.
“The practical space for free private discussion is limited in part by indications that the government monitors personal communications. Social media are heavily monitored, and the law allows for government hacking of telecommunications networks. Rwandan authorities reportedly use informants to infiltrate civil society, further discouraging citizens from voicing dissent. Individuals have been forcibly disappeared, arrested, detained, and assassinated for expressing their views,” said the report.
Apart from autocratic rule at home, last week the head of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), accused Rwanda of supporting 23 March Movement (M23) rebels that are committing atrocities in the neighbouring country.
In January, Burundi rebels closed its borders with Rwanda after accusing its neighbour of funding rebel attacks.
