Index on Censorship

Ahead of a court of appeal hearing on 28 May, IFEX-TMG urges judiciary to quash the seven-year prison terms handed down to Ghazi Ben Mohamed Beji and Jaber Ben Abdallah Majri for online publishing.

UPDATE: The president of IFEX member Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Nabeel Rajab, was re-arrested and sentenced to three years in prison on 16 August. Many other human rights defenders remain in prison, including BCHR’s founder Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, and his daughter, Zainab Al-Khawaja.

On 18 April, journalist Idrak Abbasov was brutally attacked while he reported on the demolition of houses in his village. Rebecca Vincent recently visited him at his home outside Baku.

Members of the band who have not yet been arrested are now in hiding, but they responded to interview questions by email.

The bill, which will curb aggressive libel lawsuits and protect free expression for journalists, writers and scientists, is the first wholesale attempt at reform since 1843.

The last year has seen tumultuous shifts for media freedom. But core problems still remain in the world’s troublespots, says Index on Censorship’s news editor, Padraig Reidy.

On 1 May, jailed journalist Eskinder Nega, facing the death penalty, receives in absentia the 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Thirty-two IFEX members are calling for his release, and an end to the use of national security legislation against all writers and journalists.

Hovhannes Ishkhanyan could be sentenced to up to two years in jail for his short stories about hazing rituals and abuse in the army.