Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-Australian writer, journalist and broadcaster
Contents – The forgotten patients: Lost voices in the global healthcare system
Contents
The week in free expression: 29 March–4 April 2025
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 will publish a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days. This week, we look at how Myanmar’s devastating earthquake is being exploited for political repression, and the destruction of a national museum.
Natural disaster: Myanmar blocks aid and access to earthquake-affected regions
On 28 March, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Mandalay in central Myanmar, causing immense destruction and claiming thousands of lives. It is the most powerful earthquake to hit the country for over a century, and Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of Myanmar’s military junta, has reportedly exploited the disaster as a weapon against his enemies. Myanmar has been engaged in a deadly civil war for more than four years since the military took power via an armed coup in 2021. It is estimated that the military controls just 21% of the nation, including the key cities, with the rest in the hands of armed resistance forces. In the aftermath of the natural disaster, the junta has been accused of blocking aid to regions of the country that have been severely affected and which are under control of resistance groups, leveraging checkpoints to block humanitarian workers and crucial medicine from reaching those who need it most. Furthermore, foreign journalists are allegedly being blocked from entering the country to report on the catastrophe amid reports that the junta has continued to conduct airstrikes on affected regions. Native journalists already face immense free speech restrictions in Myanmar, with many sent to prison or forced into exile for reporting on the atrocities committed by the junta. With little reporting on the ground, Myanmar’s response to one of the worst disasters in its history is shrouded in darkness.
Cultural destruction: The looting of Sudan National Museum
Since 15 April 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a devastating conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). According to the United Nations (UN), more than 11 million people have been internally displaced, and tens of thousands have been killed, with the RSF being accused of genocide in the Darfur region of the country. But the damage goes beyond the human cost of war, striking at the heart of Sudan’s cultural heritage. After the SAF recaptured Sudan’s capital Khartoum from RSF control last month, Sudan’s national museum was almost completely ransacked by fleeing RSF paramilitaries. Display cabinets were shattered, artefacts looted, and precious gold and stones were also taken. It was estimated that the museum held approximately 100,000 artefacts of immense historical value, dating back to the Nubian Kingdom, the Kushite empire and Christian and Islamic eras, including some of the oldest mummies in the world – now, all that remains are the largest statues that proved too cumbersome to steal. With these priceless items likely smuggled out of Sudan to be sold abroad, this will have a permanent, devastating impact on both the cultural wealth of the country and its ability to record its history.
Following the USA’s footsteps: EU citizens face deportation from Berlin for pro-Palestine protests
The detention and threat of deportation of pro-Palestine activists on Visas or green cards under the Donald Trump administration has been widely reported on in recent weeks, with the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil sparking uproar and raising many questions over the right to protest in the USA. This may have set a precedent for how western countries respond to people publicly displaying criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Germany, in particular, appears to have been increasingly prioritising crackdowns on pro-Palestine protests. Immigration authorities in Berlin have ordered three EU citizens and one American to leave the country by 21 April or face deportation following their participation in a university sit-in at Berlin’s Free University protesting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The four individuals have been accused of antisemitism and supporting terrorism, and of constituting a threat to public safety. However, lawyer Alexander Gorski, who is representing the protesters, said that despite concerns from Berlin’s immigration office over the legality of removing EU citizens, the country’s Department for Interior and Sport overruled these objections and went through with the order. The four protesters, none of whom hold any existing criminal convictions, have appealed the decision.
Protest crackdown: Metropolitan Police raids Quaker meeting house to arrest activists
Following the trend of protest crackdowns in democratic nations, London’s Metropolitan (Met) Police broke new ground on 27 March by raiding a Quaker meeting house in Westminster to arrest six women involved in a meeting with activist group Youth Demand, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Youth Demand is a group that organises for climate causes and in solidarity with those affected by the war in Gaza. According to reporting by The Guardian journalist George Monbiot, one woman arrested wasn’t an activist but was a student journalist covering the meeting; she was detained for 16 hours, with no contact permitted with her family or friends. A spokesperson for Quakers in Britain said that this is the first time “in living memory” that anyone has been arrested at a Quaker Meeting House, which is the Quakers’ place of worship. This led to Quaker members holding a silent protest outside New Scotland Yard on 3 April. These arrests mark a chilling continuation of the UK police’s trend to silence protesters, as Index has previously covered.
Oil over people: Thousands displaced in Uganda following oil pipeline construction
Uganda’s burgeoning oil industry is reported to be of huge fiscal benefit to the nation, strengthening economic growth and opening up thousands of jobs for locals, with 14 oil fields and a heated oil pipeline under construction with investments to the tune of $15 billion. However, this oil rush comes at a cost – both through contributing to the climate crisis, and uprooting the lives of thousands. A report by Kampala-based non-profit Haki Defenders Foundation and the University of Sheffield released on 1 April revealed that planned resettlement for those displaced by the oil pipeline was inadequate, with overcrowded resettlement camps and lack of access to basic infrastructure such as water and medical care. Monetary compensation was also so low that those who received it could not afford to relocate anywhere else. This injustice has also stepped into the terrain of free speech violations; it has been reported that those who have protested peacefully against these new projects have faced violent crackdowns from security forces over the past few years, with 11 protesters being imprisoned in Kampala in February.
It’s been quite the year for freedom of expression
Hello, readers. This will be our final newsletter before Index wraps up for the holiday season. It’s been quite the year for freedom of expression, and whilst it’s not easy to summarise in one email, we’ve had a go. We’ve seen severe violations by repressive governments – but we’ve also seen remarkable acts of defiance by political activists, journalists and protesters.
These acts of defiance leave room for hope. In Russia, the year started with the suspicious death of Alexei Navalny whilst in detention, arguably Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic (you can read an obituary by journalist John Sweeney here). But it was then punctuated with the release of opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza in a prisoner swap in August, after relentless campaigning led by his wife, Evgenia, who we ultimately awarded in this year’s Freedom of Expression Awards.
Another huge win for international protest was the release of Iranian political activist Toomaj Salehi in December, following his death sentence being overturned in June. Of course, there are many activists who remain behind bars and Index will continue to campaign for their release. Dozens of pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong – the Hong Kong 47 – were given harsh prison sentences of between four and 10 years in November, whilst prominent Chinese #MeToo activist (and previous Index award winner) Sophia Huang Xueqin was sentenced to five years in June. British-Egyptian political activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah was also denied freedom, even after serving his five-year jail term.
Throughout the year, we’ve seen media workers and independent reporting targeted in the most pernicious ways, including through targeted murder, particularly in war zones such as Gaza. Palestine has now become the most dangerous place to be a journalist, and you can read Al Jazeera English journalist Youmna El Sayed’s first-hand account on the risks of covering the conflict here. Meanwhile, media workers in Sudan face similar threats and persecution with seldom international attention, in what has been described as the “forgotten war”.
Alongside the brave pursuits of journalists, regular citizens have also stood up to their governments – with varying degrees of success. Alleged fraudulent elections in Georgia, Mozambique and Venezuela have caused the public to take to the streets in defiance of corruption. Whilst peaceful protests have resulted in violent crackdowns, there is cause for hope: a citizen-led democratic activism project in Venezuela was used to capture accurate voting tallies, and could prove to be a blueprint for fighting election fraud globally in the future, reported Martin Bright. And who could forget South Korea’s “no worries if not!” moment – when president Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt at enforcing martial law was shut down within six hours thanks to mass assembly.
As we approach 2025, an uncertain future awaits. Repressive laws in Afghanistan have caused it to become the world’s most silenced nation, particularly for women, who under terrifying Taliban morality laws can no longer speak in public. Next year, will the international community stand up for women in the country and rally against what human rights groups are calling “gender apartheid”?
In the USA, a second Trump presidency could also bring with it a chilling impact on free expression, particularly for minority groups. You can read Emma Briant’s fascinating piece on the potential effect on university free thought in the “Land of Liberty” here. Meanwhile, the overthrowing of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s repressive regime means thousands of political dissidents have been liberated from the dictator’s inhumane prisons – but what could a future rebel-run regime really mean for the country’s freedoms?
We’ll be back in January. In the meantime, do make sure you read our latest magazine issue, Unsung Heroes: How musicians are raising their voices against oppression. If you’d like to subscribe, we have a special offer running until 3 January – you can enjoy 30% off an annual digital subscription by using the discount code Winter24 at checkout here, meaning it costs just £12.60.
Wishing you all a restful break, and hopefully a brighter 2025.