United Kingdom

The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition has sent a model anti-SLAPP law to the UK Secretary of State for Justice. The model law outlines how best the UK Government can make good on its commitment to reform the law to introduce robust anti-SLAPP measures and protect those holding the powerful to account.

In Spain, two journalists were arrested while filming an action by Futuro Vegetal activists at the Prado Museum in Madrid; in the UK, three journalists were arrested while covering Just Stop Oil protests on the M25 motorway in Hertfordshire.

Rather than strengthening rights, the UK has proposed repealing and replacing the Human Rights Act, and its new home secretary has previously called for withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights. There are also deep concerns over the government’s approach to refugees and gender and reproductive rights.

The prominent activist has entered a full hunger strike in protest of his unjust detention as Egypt hosts the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

In a joint letter to the UK Foreign Secretary, rights groups raise the draconian sentences handed to Salma al-Shehab and several others who have been imprisoned solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Investigative journalist Scott Stedman, his US media company Forensic News, and three of his colleagues, are facing legal proceedings over their reporting on a British-Israeli businessman summoned by the US Senate Intelligence Committee. The case is expected to go to trial before the end of 2022.

Assange faces up to 175 years in prison on charges linked to Wikileaks’s publication of information in the public interest.

CPJ is deeply saddened by reports that indicate that Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were killed while working in the Amazon, and urges Brazilian authorities to ensure a timely forensic analysis and, if their deaths are confirmed, to thoroughly investigate their deaths and bring all those responsible to justice.

Authorities lost precious time after Bruno Pereira and Dom Philips went missing. More than 30 hours later, the army command for the Amazon region – which has significant resources in the area – said it was still waiting for the order to join the search.

When the UK granted Alaa Abd El-Fattah citizenship in April, it took responsibility for upholding his rights. Civil society organisations, IFEX among them, urge the UK Foreign Office to act now to save his life.

“We ask you, Home Secretary, to honour the UK government’s commitment to protecting and promoting media freedom and reject the US extradition request. We ask you to release Mr Assange from Belmarsh prison and allow him to return to his young family after many years of isolation.”

So long as the US and UK governments are content to ignore the torture, unfair trials, and killing of protesters and government critics, Bahrain’s monarchy will feel at ease to continue its policy of systematic repression.

“When this lawsuit was filed more than two years ago, several organisations came together to call this legal action out as a SLAPP, aimed at intimidating and silencing Cadwalladr. We today reaffirm this characterisation and unreservedly reiterate our support for Cadwalladr as she continues to defend her public interest work,” the organisations, including IFEX, said.

“We condemn today’s decision, which will prove historic for all the wrong reasons. We fully believe that Julian Assange has been targeted for his contributions to journalism, and we defend this case because of its dangerous implications for the future of journalism and press freedom around the world” – RSF

IFEX joins civil society organisations in expressing serious concern at the legal proceedings that are being brought against journalist and author Catherine Belton and her publisher HarperCollins.

The joint letter urges the U.S. to drop its appeal in the extradition case of the Wikileaks publisher. A recent investigative report alleged that the CIA had plotted to kidnap and possibly kill Assange.