PEN International

Since his detention, many human rights groups have campaigned for his release. On 21 April 2015, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared his detention a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and called for his release, yet the Syrian authorities refuse to free him.

Qatari poet Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb al-‘Ajami, imprisoned for nearly five years, has been pardoned and released. He was initially sentenced to life in prison because of his poetry.

A total of 30 defamation cases and eight sedition charges have been filed against editor Mahfuz Anam, after his admission that he had made a mistake by running corruption stories, based on uncorroborated information provided by Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency.

Over 40 human rights groups and more than 75 international cartoonists are calling for leniency for Atena Farghadani, an Iranian cartoonist currently wrongfully jailed.

Civil society groups express concern over the potential for overbroad anti-extremism practices to limit free expression

A Saudi Arabian court replaced a death sentence for Palestinian poet, Ashraf Fayadh, with an eight year prison term and 800 lashes on charges of apostasy.

International free expression groups condemn the government’s refusal to allow supporters to visit journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, who are behind bars for reports claiming that Turkey’s intelligence agency secretly armed Islamist rebel groups in Syria.

On 25 December 2015, Irakli Kakabadze was arrested and injured during a peaceful demonstration protesting the appointment of Judge Levan Murusidze to the Appeals Court of Georgia’s High Council of Justice in Georgia.