Freedom House

There is widespread speculation that Kapito was arrested in order to prevent him from testifying at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva at which Malawi’s final human rights report will be presented as a part of the Universal Periodic Review process.

The International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan, a coalition of international NGOs working to promote and protect freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, has condemned the blackmail and continued harassment of Ismayilova, one of the few independent investigative journalists working in the country.

Freedom House is very concerned that an article published on March 4, 2012 in “El Ciudadano” misrepresented their position on freedom of expression in Ecuador. The article included inaccurate facts about a meeting between representatives of the Ecuadorean government and Freedom House.

Fifty IFEX members and other rights groups call on the Bahrain authorities to release from prison human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, whose life is at risk since beginning a hunger strike on 8 February.

Freedom House welcomes the decision by the authorities to permit wrongfully charged foreign NGO workers to leave the country but remains very concerned about the fate of 14 Egyptians who remain in the country and continue to face spurious charges.

Efforts to increase internet censorship have reached worrying heights with the release of a request for proposals to build a system capable of blocking millions of URLs, says Freedom House.

WOZA leader Jenni Williams has been arrested nearly 50 times and has repeatedly been a target for mistreatment and harassment while in police custody.

A man reportedly stabbed Enass Musallam in the stomach and threatened to kill her if she did not stop blogging about political reform in the country.