Middle East & North Africa

GCHR’s annual report highlights challenges to freedom of expression and civic space in MENA, showcasing its ongoing advocacy to support HRDs and civil society to counter growing repression.

The Index reveals a sharp rise in online hate speech against Palestinians by Israeli social media users, as online platforms fail to control inciting and violent content.

The report examines the rise in targeted online attacks against women field reporters, how they navigate these threats, and the urgent need for legal and policy reforms.

The report reveals Bahrain’s ongoing persecution of minors for political dissent, detailing coerced confessions, prolonged detentions, and inhumane prison conditions.

AFTE examines how Egypt’s media regulator exploits the fight against fake news to stifle independent journalism and restrict access to vital information, calling for urgent reforms in line with international human rights standards.

7amleh’s report examines how Israel’s digital repression silences Palestinian voices, restricts online spaces, and deepens systemic injustice.

The report observes that rights violations are escalating in tandem with a systematic strategy involving all state institutions, which has compounded the political, economic and social crises that continue to plague Egyptians.

Journalists, lawyers and other Human Rights Defenders in Lebanon working in the context of the war report severe attacks on those exercising their freedom of expression; these include killings, physical attacks, pressures to censor their work, and online intimidation.

The report highlights direct testimonies from Palestinian influencers, journalists, and media outlets who have faced Meta’s discriminatory practices.

The report details the array of tactics employed by the Algerian government to silence dissent beyond its borders, drawing troubling parallels to authoritarian practices of countries like China and Egypt.

7amleh’s report exposes bias against Palestinian rights advocacy in tech, urging companies to protect employees’ freedom of expression.

In this report, Maharat examines the dynamics of the media war taking place in Lebanon surrounding Israel’s military offensive against Hezbollah. It underscores the importance each conflicting party assigns to media as a tool for psychological warfare.

This report aims to highlight the increasing violations faced by journalists and the impact of these assaults on their freedom and their ability to practice their profession under difficult and complex circumstances.

This SCM study highlights the need for effective mechanisms to address widespread abuses against journalists in Syria.

This new study from 7amleh reveals how online harassment and cyber surveillance of young Palestinians has sparked a chilling rise in self-censorship.

ARTICLE 19 examines how the Iranian regime is strengthening its hold over the internet through its Supreme Council of Cyberspace (SCC), with ever-increasing powers and under a new hardline leadership.

ARTICLE 19 reviews the draft Right to Information Act prepared by the Government of Iraq and finds that in its current form, it is incompatible with international standards on the right to information.

7amleh reveals how the EU legislation contains significant loopholes that could exacerbate human rights violations against Palestinians.

SMEX examines platform content moderation policies for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region.

A new study examines discrimination and censorship concerns within the EU, affecting both Palestinians and global advocates for Palestinian human rights.

An average of 23 violent or hateful pieces of content were published against Palestinians every minute after 7 October, reports 7amleh.

An overview of the threats and dangers posed by AI tech on Palestinians and advocates.

Human Rights Watch found that the problem stems from flawed Meta policies and their inconsistent and erroneous implementation, overreliance on automated tools to moderate content, and undue government influence over content removals.

The report provides an overview on the reality of the Israeli surveillance systems industry, outlines its impact on the human rights of Palestinians and implications worldwide.

As we publish the investigations from this project, GCHR’s Journalists’ Protection Coordinator Zaynab Al-Khawaja says, “While working on this project I have been overwhelmed by how much my colleagues on the ground have to face and overcome, and I have been very scared for them.”

This report outlines the volume, nature, and patterns of inflammatory and violent speech in Hebrew directed at the village of Huwara on Twitter between the beginning of the year and the end of March, which contributed to the implementation of a number of attacks by settlers on the villagers and their properties and causing harm to them.

The May 11, 2022, killing of Al-Jazeera Arabic correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh is part of a deadly, decades-long pattern. Over 22 years, CPJ has documented at least 20 journalist killings by members of the Israel Defense Forces.

The report examines the use of digital targeting by security forces and its far-reaching offline consequences – including arbitrary detention and torture – in five countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia.

This report diagnoses the state of digital freedoms, and outlines the most prominent patterns of digital rights violations and their trends during 2022.

In Bahrain, much attention is paid to the victims of torture immediately after the event, but those same victims can sometimes be forgotten when new, equally horrible treatment against equally innocent people comes to light.

A rise in serious violations against journalists last year included the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh and Ghufran Warasneh, documents a new report from Mada Center.

The human rights crisis in Egypt has persisted and even worsened over the last three years, as confirmed by the mid-term report submitted by the Egyptian Taskforce for Human Rights{1} to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism at the United Nations.

This report takes stock of progress made towards accountability for the killing and injuring of protesters and activists committed during, and in the wake of, the 2019-2020 uprising across central and southern Iraq.

Gender-based violence has seen a dramatic increase in the Palestinian digital space over the last several years, reveals this new report from 7amleh.

A report published by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights to mark the International Day to End Impunity

Bahrain death sentences follow torture, sham trials.

Human Rights Watch documents a range of tactics that, when used together, form an ecosystem of repression, aiming not only to muzzle dissenting voices but to scare off all potential critics.

The report shows how leading pro-government TV anchors and state-controlled media in Egypt are used to launch and then amplify smear campaigns against the few journalists still critical of the government.

New survey demonstrates an urgent need for comprehensive privacy and data protection Palestinian legislation that can protect all citizens’ right to privacy and ensure accountability.

This report sheds light on the issue of privacy and data protection in Palestine, examining the extent to which Palestinians’ privacy is respected and personal data protected.

A mission to Iraq found that human rights defenders, journalists and activists still hold onto hope for an end to the extreme human rights violations, but urgently need international support to help promote human rights, press freedom and accountability.

The report examines how Iranian authorities systematically violate people’s right to protest and assemble, deceive and lie about the violations they commit, and unlawfully keep people seeking transparency and accountability in the dark.

Maharat Foundation and Madanyat Association work with UN Women to monitor television and social media1 concerning violence against women in politics in the period prior to the 2022 parliamentary elections. This summary provides a quick overview of the findings during the months of February and March.

According to the BCHR Annual Report, the human rights situation did not improve in 2021. The authorities are still intolerant to dissent and criticism and restrict Bahrainis’ exercise of internationally-guaranteed fundamental rights.

This report issued by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) documents over a dozen cases of torture in Iraqi prisons, which are described as some of the most horrific prisons in the world, where continuous torture practices take place in the absence of any effective government measures to prevent or at least limit them.

Ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections, Maharat Foundation examines Lebanon’s TV coverage of electoral campaigns, highlighting violations, and the marginalisation of women from the media space.

The guide takes readers on a journey all too familiar to many Syrians, from the immediate aftermath of a loved one’s disappearance – and the frantic search for answers – through the painful process of settling the disappeared person’s affairs.

“This report, which is rich with documented facts and detailed case studies, confirms that torture in the UAE is systematic. Furthermore, as a totalitarian state, torture is carried out on direct instructions from the highest authorities in the country.”

The report highlights digital rights violations of Palestinians and pro-Palestinian advocates online, at the hands of the three authorities, as well as different social media companies in relation to the escalations and developments on the ground.

The specific focus of this report is on the intersections between freedoms of speech, expression and press, the right to privacy and governments’ responses to the pandemic.

This brief explores the repressive elements of media and technology-related laws in Sudan and how they have been used to undermine freedom of expression and other civil liberties in the aftermath of president Omar al-Bashir’s April 2019 overthrow.

Ten years on, the pro-democracy movement leaders are still behind bars, the major opposition political parties are outlawed, and the only independent newspaper in the country is indefinitely suspended. The Government of Bahrain’s (GoB) crackdown on free expression is in full force, as well as attempts to intimidate its critics into silence.

Journalists in most MENA countries continue to face all forms of repression, intimidation, and harassment, including the use of the judiciary to prevent them from carrying out their professional journalistic work. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has documented many cases of journalists murdered or abused, most carried out with total impunity.

The study indicates a noticeable increase in the use of hate speech among Palestinians on social media platforms, influenced by events and tensions in regional politics, as well as by global events generally. Hate speech is influenced by internal disturbances and changes in the Palestinian scene, particularly at the social and political levels, whether In the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, or in the 1948 territories.

This study seeks to identify the reality of privacy and protection of digital personal data in Palestine1 in terms of the collection, processing and use of Palestinian users’ data. It addresses some of the human rights violations faced by Palestinian users as well as the key parties that violate their data privacy.

The Public Prosecution needs to stop monitoring internet users out of respect for the privacy of citizens. The decision to establish the Monitoring and Analysis Unit (MAU) contradicts a number of laws and legal principles, not to mention the lack of transparency about the way it conducts its work.

The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression monitored 154 newspaper articles and more than 136 hours of television and radio broadcasts in the first three weeks of July 2020, to identify key indicators of how the Syrian media covered the pandemic news. The analysis of the data we obtained revealed significant gaps in the Syrian media’s coverage of the pandemic, especially in disseminating accurate information and correcting rumors.

The Israeli state routinely surveils and severely restricts Palestinians’ freedom of movement using myriad technologies, including biometrics, which result in furthering the policies of systemic segregation.

This research shows how the U.S. Department of Defense’s biometric programme was developed and implemented without prior assessment of its human rights impact and without the safeguards necessary to prevent its abuse. Its whereabouts and current use today remain unclear.

The study focuses on 7 topics:

• The media’s concerns regarding the parliamentary elections
• The demands of the October 17 Movement and television coverage
• Monitoring women’s representations in the media and their political participation
• Monitoring the priorities of traditional and alternative media
• The media’s interest in corruption issues
• The union and student elections and coverage by traditional and alternative media
• New influencers and media figures through social platforms

This report looks into the legal status, structure, formation mechanisms, and performance of four bodies to determine their shortcomings and to explain why they have not been able to achieve a noticeable improvement in the human rights scene in Bahrain – namely, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission (PDRC), the Office of the Ombudsman at the Ministry of the Interior (MOI Ombudsman), and the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR).

The report reviews ten years of violations against media and media professionals (from March 2011 until the end of 2020), and presents the implications of the conflict for media freedom and the impact on the work of the media.

The Ministry of the Interior, through the prison administration, continues to discriminate among prisoners, based on the prisoner’s background and the reasons for imprisonment.

Drawing on first-hand witness statements by survivors of torture, the report is a comprehensive study on the specific ways and means by which torture is perpetrated in Bahrain, with a particular focus on the period since the 2011 popular movement and the violent crackdown that followed.

The Arab Spring erupted a decade ago, yet the reasons behind this wave of uprisings remain unaddressed. The Arab Spring’s aftermath continues to ripple across the region, even in Tunisia, the only country that had progressed to democratic transition. These ripple effects have coalesced into unique forms, depending on the country. In countries such as Egypt, political repression has deepened, while the struggle over societal values are simply surface indicators of deeply entrenched issues. Meanwhile, armed conflict prevails in Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Iraq, where civil society has embraced a heroic role in its traditional and modern forms of organization. In Tunisia, Sudan, and Lebanon, where there is relative freedom, the political frontlines are clearer.

In this annual report, GCHR presents a summary of our e#orts in advocating for HRDs, activists, journalists and citizens in exercising their human rights and freedoms and protecting these rights in the region.

Assessing the Legal Framework concerning device seizures in Lebanon.

The information presented in this report is the first public account of Mansoor’s trial proceedings. It is based on statements from a source with direct knowledge of Mansoor’s case and it demonstrates the gross unfairness of both Mansoor’s trial and his appeal hearing– and how little the rule of law matters in the UAE when the country’s powerful state security agency is involved.

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, celebrated on 25 November, BCHR issued this report which seeks to address the deterioration of the human rights situation in Bahrain, particularly concerning women.

Journalists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continue to face grave violations of their civil and human rights, including murder by governments or armed groups, usually with total impunity. Countries such as Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen continue to be classified among the most dangerous places for journalists.

Government ordered Internet shutdowns are fast becoming a key tactic to disconnect people from each other and to prevent us from scrutinising our governments’ actions.

During nation-wide protests in November 2019 Iran’s government cut off the Internet for over 80 million people.  As the shutdown continued the authorities attacked and killed hundreds.

In recent months, since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the internet has been flooded with misinformation and fake news about the coronavirus. This led 7amleh to urgently consider how to more effectively research and monitor the phenomena of fake news in Palestine and engage the public in a conversation about media literacy, misinformation and fake news.

The October 17 uprising in Lebanon – fueled by rampant corruption and the country’s worst economic crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990 – has sparked a newfound collective consciousness  where the rights and identities of marginalized groups are part and parcel of the protests.

Since the release of ANHRI’s first report in 2004 tackling the Internet and Arab governments, which is published every two years, the fight is still going on. The issue has not been resolved for either of the conflicting parties: whether the governments with their various institutions or the Arab peoples who are using the Internet and seek change in the world.

A study on the conditions of prisons in Bahrain from 2011 to 2020, and it includes a commentary on the violated rights of prisoners, the most dangerous of which is the denial of treatment.

In this study, incidents related freedom of opinion and expression are documented in three categories: oppression campaigns against freedom of opinion and expression; freedom of expression is the weapon of the revolution; and, media institutions amidst the revolution

A brief reading of human rights trends in the Arab region.

The use of disproportionate, excessive force to disperse protests in violent repeated crackdowns, without ensuring that security operations pose a minimal risk to life, according to many people Human Rights Watch interviewed, was a deliberate attempt to intimidate the movement and break the resolve of protesters.

Identify, Expose and Hold Accountable those responsible for past crimes to prevent future crimes and protect journalists in the region

In the months leading up to the elections, mis- and disinformation spread widely across social media platforms, Facebook in particular. Its impact on the electoral process, voter turnout and public opinion became a major concern expressed by various parties, including civil society organizations and the country’s independent electoral authority.

Due to the state’s almost complete control over traditional media, social media platforms have become the main fora for free discussion of ideas and dissent; Facebook users are now the most prosecuted social media users in Egypt.

A report documenting human rights violations committed by the regime in 2018.

A comprehensive look at the core security agency driving Bahrain’s human rights crisis, Anatomy of a Police State is the first full study of the Ministry of Interior (MOI) police force’s integral role in the kingdom’s repression of dissent.

An Overview of Digital Rights Abuses of Palestinians

In its report, the Center examines Bahrain’s laws and legislation restricting the freedom of press work and shows the extent of its non-conformity with the international treaties, covenants and agreements. The report also documents violations of media workers since the popular protests beginning in 2011.

Arbitrary Arrest and Torture Under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas

The report is based on the study of Bahraini laws and legislation related to the prosecution of civilians in military courts and shows the compatibility of Bahraini laws with the International Bill and international laws.

Civil society leaders in Egypt are urging the U.S. government to continue to condition and withhold military aid to Egypt until the Egyptian government makes meaningful reforms to its human rights practices.

Digital rights and freedoms have been severely compromised by national cybercrime legislation and prosecution, and now judicially.

BCHR analyses how the Bahraini judiciary uses the language of ‘anti-terrorism’ law to justify suppressing dissent. They also do a comparative study of the relevant local and international anti-terror legislation, and the extent to which Bahrain is in line with international law, international conventions and human rights treaties.

In Egypt you can be detained, interrogated and tried in the same place without leaving or seeing a court.

Despite state-sponsored repression and social stigma, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Middle East and North Africa are finding ways to speak out. They are telling their stories, building alliances, networking across borders, developing national and regional movements, and finding creative ways to combat homophobia and transphobia.

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) documented during March 2018 a total of 46 violations against media freedom in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Freedom of association in Morocco witnessed relative improvement in 2016–2017. Yet the continued application of outdated laws governing civic activities forebodes a reinstatement of numerous arbitrary administrative and security practices that imperil civil society.

Police union activist Walid Zarrouk was sentenced to one year in prison for criticizing members of a counterterrorism unit on Facebook

Following a diplomatic crisis with Qatar, authorities blocked several Qatari-owned news sites that were deemed to promote the banned Muslim Brotherhood

Hackers linked to Iran have stepped up cyberattacks against Syrian opposition groups in a bid to disrupt reporting on human rights violations

The highly restrictive Press and Printed Press Materials Law of 2004 was updated in November 2016 to include specific clauses pertaining to online journalism, extending onerous limitations long placed on the traditional press to the online sphere

A court increased an activist’s prison sentence for advocating for human rights online from 9 to 11 years on appeal

Provisions in the new press code passed in June 2016 removed jail sentences for journalistic crimes

On several occasions, armed protestors stormed the offices of telecommunications providers to shut off internet access to rival cities in retaliation for alleged offenses

Hackers defaced the website of the Lebanese Medical Association for Sexual Health shortly after the organization launched a pro-LGBTI campaign

Prodemocracy activists were detained and prosecuted for their online activities

Dozens of people were detained for online activities, including administrators of social media pages or chat groups who were forced to delete or deactivate them

Mohamed Ramadan, a human rights lawyer, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a 5-year ban on using the internet, in retaliation for his political speech online

Starting in June 2016, broadband connections were suspended from 7pm to 1am in a daily “internet curfew” in the besieged town of Diraz, home to the persecuted Shiite cleric Isa Qassim

The lack of a comprehensive legal framework for privacy rights and data protection in Lebanon has led to the adoption of illegal mass surveillance programs and to the violation of individual and collective privacy without repercussions

This “LGBT Censorship in Lebanon” report tackles the impact of censorship, unequal treatment and the arbitrariness of legislation on the daily lives of the Lebanese LGBT Community and more generally all LGBT-related content in Lebanon.

In this report we take a closer look on how a traditionally safe space for free speech and expression was transformed into a space of unregulated arbitrary legal practices. We also examine the effect that the ever-changing political objectives, affiliations and temporal objectives all have on the frequency and severity of online political censorship cases.

In February, it was reported that the military censor had instructed dozens of bloggers and administrators of major social media accounts to submit security-related items for prepublication review, expanding a practice previously in place for traditional media.

Israeli forces arrested dozens of Palestinian journalists during 2016, accusing them of inciting violence or aiding banned militant groups. Some remained in detention at year’s end.

In June [2016], authorities blocked the website of the Middle East Eye, a news organization that provides independent coverage of the region.

At least three journalists were charged in military court for allegedly insulting the army through their work.

At least 14 journalists were killed in connection with their work during the year, the majority of whom died as a result of Syrian government air strikes or clashes between armed groups.

The Saudi government continued to shape media coverage of its war in Yemen, cracking down on critical local reporting and restricting access to Yemen by foreign journalists.

In May [2016], security officials detained three journalists from the Danish Broadcasting Corporation who were filming a migrant workers’ soccer tournament and, before releasing the group, confiscated their footage and forced them to confess to trespassing and filming without permission.

At least five foreign journalists were deported from Morocco after reporting on sensitive topics, such as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) issues, sex trafficking, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

The Communications and Media Commission (CMC) withdrew the television broadcast licenses of Al-Baghdadiya in March and Qatar’s Al-Jazeera in April for what critics said were political reasons.

The government issued new regulations banning news outlets from live streaming events.

As of December, there were eight journalists behind bars in Iran, down from 19 in 2015 and 30 in 2014, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Egypt was the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists in 2016, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), with 25 journalists behind bars as of December.

This report documents and analyses cases of violations that pertain to students’ right to assembly, organisation, education and freedom of expression.

In this report, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) examines the contributions of ACPRA within the larger context of the movement for civil and political reform in Saudi Arabia.

A series of repressive attacks against rights and human rights defenders

Although invalidated through a unanimous repeal by the Egyptian Parliament in 1928, the Assembly Law continues to be unlawfully exploited in tandem with the notorious Protest Law, passed in November 2013.

This report provides an overview of the state of online privacy and mass digital surveillance in Lebanon.

On the Syrian government’s ambitious plans and projects to monitor the national communications infrastructure, the technical details of which are revealed for the first time.

The MENA region is at the mercy of autocratic regimes, militias, and religious extremists enabled by the international community’s complicity

On current trends and threats facing Women human rights defenders.

a special report on prosecution of Palestinian journalists in relation to their social media activity.

An ANHRI report on the impact of the war on Yemen on freedom of expression

Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), and the Bahrain Institute for Right & Democracy (BIRD) analyze all the statements and resolutions of the member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), the European Parliament (EP), the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), and the UN Secretary-General since 2011 in order to track the international reaction to the deterioration of Bahrain’s human rights situation.

Through this report the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) aims to highlight cases of ongoing killings, attacks and threats against journalists and other media workers in four countries, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and makes recommendations to enhance their protection using international mechanisms including the United Nations system.

Do you know that you don’t really have the proclaimed “Lebanese Freedom of Speech” that you were told you had?

At least seven journalists and media workers were killed in connection with their profession, with most falling victim to air strikes by the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Hadi’s government.

In March, security agents temporarily detained a German sports reporter and his team for filming migrant workers without permission, confiscating their equipment and deleting their footage

Government officials and other powerful political actors brought numerous defamation cases against journalists during 2015.

In October, the government ruled that defamation charges against journalists and media outlets would be brought under the cybercrimes law, opening the way for prison sentences for offenders.

In February, authorities closed the Al-Arab television station just hours after it began operating because the outlet aired an interview with an official from the opposition group Al-Wefaq.

The Ministry of Communication continued to block the distribution of foreign media when it deemed their content objectionable.

In January 2015, police arrested several bloggers for allegedly insulting Saudi Arabia or its monarch.

A draft constitution containing some protections for media freedom was published in October, but it appeared unlikely to move forward until political actors could implement an agreement to end the civil war and form a unity government.

Authorities arrested and deported French, Dutch, and Italian reporters and placed travel bans on several Moroccan journalists, forbidding them from leaving the country and impeding their professional work.

A significant increase in violence against journalists was registered during the year, culminating in the assault by police officers of more than 30 journalists attempting to cover a high-profile terrorist attack in Tunis in November.

Israeli forces closed three West Bank radio stations in November for allegedly inciting violence, while the PA suppressed a Hamas-affiliated television station and sought to close the local office of a London-based Arabic news outlet.

Multiple convictions, detentions, and enforced disappearances were recorded during 2015 as the government cracked down on expressions of dissent online.

After national elections in March, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to serve as communications minister himself, giving him control over the regulation of various segments of the market.

A new counterterrorism law banned the dissemination of material that contradicts Defense Ministry accounts of militant attacks, severely curtailing journalists’ ability to report on national security topics.

IS maintained its campaign against freedom of expression, in part by issuing more videos of journalists’ executions.

The editors of three newspapers were arrested and charged with offenses that could carry the death penalty during the year, though all were released pending trial.

Amid the continuing military offensive in Yemen, the Saudi government aimed to shape media coverage, cracking down on domestic dissent and restricting access to Yemen by foreign journalists.

Iraq had one of the highest murder rates for journalists in the world. Among those killed were Thaer al-Ali, editor in chief of the Mosul newspaper Rai al-Nas, and Jalaa al-Abadi, a cameraman for the Nineveh Reports’ Network.

The Rouhani administration engaged in extensive internet surveillance and interference throughout the year, announcing in January that more than 130 Facebook pages had been closed and more than 30 internet users detained in connection with their online activity.

Despite the difficult situation in Palestine, politically and socially, Palestinian female journalists have been active and engaged in press offices and field work, and they have proven merit, professionalism, and courage while covering events in the field fraught with serious attacks and life-threatening risks.

“Overly broad” antiterrorism law introduced

Government rejects calls to block extremist content online

IS affiliated hackers step up attacks on citizens, journalists and groups documenting human rights abuses

Cofounder of Saudi Arabia Liberals website receives first 50 of 1,000 public lashes after Supreme Court upholds sentence

Seventeen-year-old rapper jailed under charges of “insulting a state institution,” “incitement to consume drugs,” and producing material “harmful to public morality”

“absence of legal protections for online users and widespread impunity for militias and vigilante groups”

Cybercrimes Bureau continues “to harass activists and journalists for their social media activity”

Facebook posters critical of “friendly” states increasingly under threat of arrest

Cartoonist arrested on charges of insulting state officials and spreading propaganda for posting image of reproductive rights vote

LGBT YouTubers face arrest under the crime of “inciting debauchery”

Bahraini national search engine proposed, would allow for easier filtering of search results by authorities

What is the correlation between the online and offline behaviour of Iranian citizens and the likelihood of their arrest in Iran today? Answering this question is the main focus of this new ARTICLE 19 report.

Ranked 158th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 127th in annual global media freedom report

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Ranked 145th in annual global media freedom report

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Iranians use proxy servers and VPNs to circumvent government filtering

Persistent failures of the Bahraini justice system since the BICI report

Ranked 112th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 127th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 155th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 190th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 157th in annual global media freedom report

Government releases Marsoum41, allowing citizens to request public documents electronically

University professors dismissed, arrested and killed for supporting Regime opponents

Journalists ordered to describe protestors as “vandals” and “saboteurs”

Human rights activist sentenced to 5 years in prison for uploading YouTube video documenting abuses against women

Ranked 188th in annual global media freedom report

“Print articles on security matters are subject to a military censor”

Rouhani government releases political prisoners, lifts restrictions on banned topics and reopens professional film association

Crackdown on Morsi supporters results in more than 1000 deaths

Anti-terrorism decree allows state to strip citizenship of protestors

Ranked 179th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 134th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 62nd in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 155th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 127th in annual global media freedom report

“Online tracking is a family affair”

“No Internet spring”

“Scoring high in censorship”

“Cyberspace ayatollahs”

“Tracking ‘cyber-criminals'”

“Journalists covering protests, ruling party are attacked and threatened”

“Freelance journalist is pardoned after three years in prison”

“More journalists are missing in Syria than in any other country in the world”

“The government shuts down the Internet to restrict coverage of protests”

“Authorities crack down on criticism of monarchy”

“The government remains unwilling or unable to rein in militias threatening the press”

“Government blocks hundreds of unlicensed websites, including major news sites”

“Israeli authorities arrest and detain Palestinian journalists, often without charge”

“Authorities silence journalists using detentions, raids, and litigation”

“Tensions between Hamas and Fatah continue to generate press violations”

“Iran remains one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists”

“Egypt ranked the third-deadliest country for the press in 2013”

“‘Blogfather’ Ali Abdel Imam flees Bahrain after two years in hiding”

Ranked 167th in annual press freedom index

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Ranked 172nd in annual press freedom index

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Ranked 137th in annual press freedom index

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Ranked 159th in annual press freedom index

Ranked 163rd in annual press freedom index

Journalists and bloggers face increased attacks from conservative militants

Peaceful Islamist groups and government critics continue to be arbitrarily detained

Tens of thousands subject to arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment, and torture

175 youth killed during mass protests

Founder of liberal website sentenced to six years in prison and 600 lashes for insulting Islam

Authorities shut down Muslim Brotherhood TV, raid Al Jazeera, arbitrarily arrest 40 journalists

“Qatar’s poor record on freedom of expression declined further with the announcement of a draft cyber crime law”

Al-Arabiya and Ma’an News Agencies ordered closed; decision later repealed

Right to freedom of assembly restricted both in law and in practice

Student, Abdessamad Haydour, continues to serve three-year prison term for calling King “dog,” “a murderer” and “a dictator” on YouTube

Two politicans face blasphemy charges with possible death sentences for 2012 election posters

Expression of gender and sexual identity met with torture by Security Forces

Law prohibiting criticism of Emir used to silence dissenting voices

260 news websites blocked in 2013

Maximum sentence for insulting the king increased from two to five years

Broadcast licenses of 10 pro-Sunni televisions stations revoked

No dissident commentary or critical reporting allowed

The report examines the growing perils of journalism in Syria, analyzing the evolution in the dangers and identifying the origins of the threats and difficulties that Syrian and foreign news provider have encountered during the 32 months of the conflict.

Ranked 172nd in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 182nd in annual global media freedom report

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Ranked 112th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 128th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 145th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 64th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 153rd in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 191st in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 140th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 188th in annual global media freedom report

Ranked 134th in annual global media freedom report

Documenting human rights abuses during the pro-democracy movement

“Professors practice self-censorship when dealing with sensitive topics like Western Sahara, the monarchy, and Islam”

“Lebanon has a long tradition of press freedom, though nearly all media outlets have ties to political groups”

Government introduces bill criminalising blasphemy but Emir rejects it

“The government monitors sermons at mosques, and preachers cannot practice without written government permission”

“Many ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities enforce gender separation, impinging on women’s rights in nearby public places and public transportation”

“Academic institutions operate in a highly politicised and insecure environment”

“Scholars are frequently detained, threatened, and forced to retire for expressing political views”

“Censorship, both official and self-imposed, is widespread”

“The government does not respect freedoms of expression and the press”

Cyber law passes giving authorities more latitude to crack down on activists using the Internet or social media to criticise the government or to organise demonstrations

Owner of private Nessma TV station, ordered to pay 2,400 dinar fine for “violating moral values and disrupting public order” for airing the movie “Persepolis”

The kingdom systematically arrests, tries, and imprisons the country’s most visible human rights activists

“University professors have been dismissed or imprisoned for expressing dissent, and some have been killed in response to their outspoken support for regime opponents”

Poet sentenced to life imprisonment for insulting Emir

“The year featured new rounds of arrests and incarcerations of human rights activists, including Nabeel Rajab and Zaynab al-Khawaja”

“Members of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) routinely raided printing facilities in 2012 to confiscate editions of newspapers considered to be in violation of the Act”

“Most newspapers rely on the central government for printing, and the state-owned advertising agency favors pro-government newspapers, encouraging self-censorship” 

“Civil liberties remained severely curtailed in the Gaza Strip in 2012, despite some loosening of religious restrictions on women”

“A series of anti-government protests in 2012 led to crackdowns on freedoms of expression and assembly”

Mission to UAE investigates crackdown on free expression in which 64 activists have been detained

BCHR’s report evaluates progress made by Bahrain on human rights violations, and marks anniversary of Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry

Badly Written Provisions and Draconian Punishments Violate Due Process and Free Speech

IFEX-TMG report outlines status of freedom of expression and association as well as judicial independence

Ayatollah Khamenei directly responsible for torture of journalists and bloggers

Journalist Hamza Kashgari faces death penalty for tweet deemed blasphemous by authorities

Journalists pay the price for power struggle between Fatah and Hamas

“Israel’s armed forces routinely carry out abuses against media workers in the Palestinian Territories with impunity”

Syria’s netizens “continue heroically to risk their lives to inform the world”

Women use social media to win the right to vote in 2015 elections

Netizens sentenced to death for online activities

Interior Minister threatens to jail “anyone posting online messages calling for demonstrations”

“In April Iraq’s parliament approved a Journalists’ Protection Law, intended to protect media workers and compensate them for injuries sustained while working”

Following pro-democracy demonstrations, online journalist Abduljalil Alsingace sentenced to life in prison, two journalists die in detention

Egyptian attempts to contain dissent by shutting down internet used as model for repressive regimes

New media legislation “portrayed as reform but actually imposed new penalties for critical reporting”

“In a move likely to restrict news coverage and commentary, the Israeli parliament passed an ‘anti-boycott’ law”

Iraq’s impunity rate, “three times worse than any other nation”

“Tehran continued to use the mass imprisonment of journalists to silence dissent and quash critical news coverage”

“Among the deadliest places for journalists in 2011”

“The Moroccan judiciary has frequently been used as a tool to silence the independent media”

672,000 websites blocked in 2010

Sudanese have lowest rates of telecommunications access in the region, making journalism difficult

Pro-government Syrian Online Army violently stole journalists’ social media passwords, defaced Facebook pages, and spammed opposition websites

“Facebook played a pivotal role in galvanizing the public outrage that culminated in the ouster of Ben Ali”

Security forces seize and burn newspapers to silence coverage of anti-government demonstrations

Since 2008, “a sharp deterioration” in press freedom

“UAE 5” arrested for organising online pro-democracy movement and held for eight months

Fall of Ben Ali regime leads to media pluralism and end of internet filtering

Sudanese journalists subject to “censorship, closures of newspapers, and arrests, prolonged detention and mistreatment”

“Lack of pluralism and high level of self-censorship”

Hamas stages illegal takeover of journalists’ union in Gaza City

Egypt plummets 39 places to 166th on press freedom index

In one of the world’s 10 most repressive countries, local and foreign journalists were systematically hounded from February 2011 onwards

Fourth worst nation for press freedom in 2011

Ranked 114 in annual press freedom index

Tied for 117th place in annual press freedom index

Local authorities cooperate with Syrian government in tracking down dissident journalists and bloggers fleeing to Lebanon

Ranked 78th in annual press freedom index

Few changes observed, police violence against journalists continues

“Hounding and humiliating journalists has been part of officialdom’s political culture for years”

Morocco falls five points to 138th place in press freedom index

“After the Libyan uprising began in February, there was an explosion in the number of media”

Tied for 122nd place in annual press freedom index

“Haaretz reporter Uri Blau is facing a possible seven-year jail sentence for possessing classified documents”

Iraq fell 22 places, from 130th to 152nd in annual press freedom index

Darfuri journalists and activists affiliated with Radio Dabanga face criminal charges punishable by death

“Intelligence forces arrested six persons who planned to found the kingdom’s first political party”

“Advisory Council approves new media law allowing criminal penalties against journalists who write critically on ‘friendly countries’ or matters pertaining to national security”

“Hamas banned three newspapers printed in the West Bank from distribution in Gaza”

Authorities restrict freedom of association and assembly “but tolerated spontaneous peaceful sit-ins and informal gatherings from late February to May 2011”

Police tolerated some large protests by thousands calling for political change, “but on some occasions attacked and beat protesters severely”

Tortured whistleblower being investigated for “publishing information harmful to the reputation of the Lebanese Military”

“Authorities continued to restrict free expression, increasing internet surveillance and arresting individuals for criticising the government”

Speech critical of the King, Islam and government officials and institutions remains criminalised

State security prosecutor investigates “treason” charges against NGOs not registered under Associations Law

Authorities use lethal force to suppress peaceful pro-democracy protests, over 40 killed during unrest including four tortured in custody

State of emergency lifted but freedom of expression, assembly and association still at risk

Authorities prosecute journalists in specialised criminal courts that fail to meet international standards of due process

Security forces arrest and hold in solitary confinement, Ahmed Mansoor, prominent blogger and member of Human Rights Watch’s MENA Advisory Committee

Religious protestors attack TV station after screening of animated film Persepolis and storm theatre screening documentary on atheism

Female critics targeted by gender