![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/mena-syria-trial-koblenz-germany-anwar-raslan-atrocities-getty-768x511.jpg)
Justice for Syria, surviving Egypt’s republic of fear, and spyware targets women rights defenders
January 2022 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/mena-egypt-protest-italy-patrick-zaki-sanaa-seif-prison-getty-768x511.jpg)
Unjust sentences in Egypt, and states of heightened surveillance
December 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mena-iran-isfahan-protest-water-river-police-getty-768x511.jpg)
Sham trials in Egypt, water protests in Iran, and Pegasus spyware targets Palestinian activists
November 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/mena-israel-palestine-terrorist-organizations-protest-tel-aviv-getty-768x511.jpg)
Content suppression, terrorism designations, and perpetual states of emergency
October 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/mena-egypt0humanrights-un-us-blinken-getty-768x511.jpg)
Biden’s betrayal, an Alternative Dubai Expo, and unjustifiable Facebook censorship in Palestine
September 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/mena-tunisia-protest-new-government-police-getty-768x511.jpg)
Mass surveillance, press crackdowns, and punishing prisoners of conscience – impunity reigns in MENA
August 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![Supporters of President Kais Saied set up the Tunisian flag on the roof of a store as riot police stand guard in front of the parliament building, in Tunis, 26 July 2021, after Saied decided to freeze parliament and sack Hichem Mechichi’s government. Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/mena-tunisia-president-kais-supporters-coup-getty-768x511.jpg)
Spyware, hunger strikes, and alleged coups: A summer of suppression in MENA
July 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/MENA-yellow-rgb-768x497.jpg)
‘The Smartphones are listening’: Regulating exports and abuses of cybertools
Reflecting on events from the first half of 2021, IFEX’s Middle East and North Africa Editor explains how increasingly sophisticated digital surveillance tools are being sold to and deployed by authoritarian states in the region to target human rights defenders, and how civil society is defending the right to privacy and digital free expression.
![London, United Kingdom, 3 July 2021. A man wearing a mask featuring an image of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and holding a noose takes part in a demonstration against political executions in Egypt, Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/mena-egypt-sisi-protest-london-political-executions-getty-768x511.jpg)
Weaponizing terrorism laws in Egypt, Palestinian women journalists targeted, and Iran’s endemic impunity
June 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![Journalists sit on the rubble of the al-Jalaa Tower, which housed international press offices, following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip 15 May 2021, MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/mena-palestine-rubble-al-jalaa-tower-journalists-getty-768x511.jpg)
Checked expression in Iraq, unchecked repression in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and censoring Palestine
May 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![Israeli security forces forcefully push out Palestinian protesters near a barrier blocking access, outside the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, 25 April 2021, AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/mena-palestine-israel-damascus-gate-police-protest-getty-768x511.jpg)
Battling apartheid, fake news laws, and a prison-industrial complex in MENA
April 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![Members of Jordan's Darak forces (gendarmerie) stand on guard as protesters demonstrate against measures imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 amidst concerns over the economy, in Amman, Jordan, 15 March 2021, KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP via Getty Images](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/mena-jordan-gendarmerie-protest-covid-getty-768x511.jpg)
Silencing dissent in MENA: How authorities are targeting exiles, journalists and prisoners of conscience
March 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![A protester wears a mask depicting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman with his hands painted red next to people holding posters of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, during a demonstration outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, 25 October 2018, YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mena-saudi-arabia-us-khashoggi-mbs-bin-salman-getty-768x511.jpg)
In MENA: The search for justice in a pandemic of impunity
February 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![A young woman in front of a line of riot police during a demonstration against police repression and calling for the release of recently detained protesters, Tunis, Tunisia, 30 January 2021, Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/mena-tunisia-protest-police-repression-defund-arab-spring-getty-768x511.jpg)
MENA’s Winter of Discontent: Old grievances, new suppression tactics
January 2021 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![An Amnesty International action calling for the release of Saudi activist Loujain Al-Hathloul, on International Women's Day, Paris, France, 8 March 2020, Jeanne Menjoulet/Flickr, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/mena-saudi-arabia-loujain-al-hathloul-activist-women-flickr-768x511.jpg)
Fear and loathing in MENA: Arrests, prison sentences, and surveillance
December in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
![](https://ifex.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/mena-saudi-arabia-france-protesrt-loujain-women-prison-getty-768x511.jpg)
Image-laundering, shrinking spaces, and words that escape prison walls
November in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX’s Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.