Index on Censorship

David Satter, an adviser to U.S. government-funded Radio Liberty, was informed on 25 December that he was no longer welcome in Russia – the first time this has happened to an American reporter since the cold war.

While 2013 delivered a milestone transfer of government in Pakistan, the year brought despair and hopelessness to the country’s growing ranks of netizens.

Carol-singers, buskers, canvassers, clay pigeon shooters, nudists: All would be affected because they would all be guilty of behaviour which could “reasonably be expected to cause” annoyance, under a proposal to broaden the scope of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.

As journalists are detained and activists face violence and politically motivated charges, Egyptian authorities’ heavy clampdown on dissent increasingly targets non-Islamists.

In the days after the Gezi Park protests, Turkish playwright and author Meltem Arikan found herself at the centre of a government-led hate campaign that left her fearing for her life. Arikan, now living in the United Kingdom, left Turkey because of the vicious and sustained campaign against her on social media and TV. Here, she discusses her work and experiences with Index on Censorship Head of Arts Julia Farrington.

It is Reddit.com’s famed lack of censorship that has led opinion writers on both sides of the Atlantic to comment on the site’s new policy on climate change denial.

It is not uncommon across the world for performers to be attacked as a form of censorship, ultimately silencing what they are trying to say. Index on Censorship highlights five cases of artists who were persecuted for their work in 2013.

As Greece prepares to take on the presidency of the Council of the European Union on January 1, the country continues to grapple with the free expression fallout from its financial crisis.