Vengeful crackdowns and MENA’s battle for access to information
September 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.
Indecent repression: MENA governments target dissent, debauchery, and TikTok
August 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.
In MENA: A summer of protest, COVID-19, and state repression
July 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.
Egypt’s TikTok crackdown, Iran’s Orwellian tactics, and Nabeel Rajab goes free
June 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.
MENA region battles the infodemic: From fake news to hashtag-washing in the region’s ongoing information wars
While the world grapples with a global health pandemic, in the MENA region the spread of misinformation and disinformation seems to be outpacing the spread of the actual disease. Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah looks at the nature of information disseminated online and civil society’s attempt to combat it.
Under lockdown: States of perpetual emergency, the death of satire, and the return of the Lebanon protests
May 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.
How authorities in MENA are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to silence critical voices
April 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.
Misinformation, censorship and the prisoners’ dilemma: COVID-19 takes its toll on free expression in MENA
March in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup, based on member reports and news from the region.
Shrinking civic space in Lebanon, Facebook targets Palestinians, and Iran’s information control deepens Coronavirus crisis
February in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup, based on member reports and news from the region.
Sextortion, harassment, and deepfakes: How digital weapons are being used to silence women
In his contribution to IFEX’s series marking International Women’s Day, Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah paints a disturbing picture of the rise in digital attacks and the direct connection between online and offline violence against women in the region.
Saudi hacking and sportswashing, Egypt’s lethal prisons and Iraq’s deadly protests
January in Middle East and North Africa: A roundup of key free expression news, based on IFEX member reports.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince allegedly hacked Jeff Bezos to silence negative coverage
IFEX members raise press freedom concerns and call for an investigation into the hacking of Jeff Bezos’s phone by Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman.
Terrorizing Iraqi protesters, misbehaving in Egypt, repression in Palestine and a ‘mockery of justice’ in Khashoggi murder verdict
December in Middle East and North Africa: A roundup of key free expression news, based on IFEX member reports.
Women on protest frontlines in Lebanon, critics kidnapped in Egypt, and the weaponisation of teargas in Iraq’s protests
November in Middle East and North Africa: A roundup of key free expression news, based on IFEX member reports.
Autumn of Discontent: A season of protests, violent suppression, and Internet censorship
October in Middle East and North Africa: A roundup of key free expression news, based on IFEX member reports.
Protests rattle Egypt, Bahraini women political prisoners expose abuse, and journalist jailed over abortion
September in the Middle East and North Africa: A roundup of key free expression news, based on IFEX member reports.