PEN International

Forty-two IFEX members and 15 partners appealed for global attention to stop detention, torture and threats to journalists and free expression activists, including to IFEX member Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

Bertrand Teyou was accused of ‘insulting’ President Paul Biya’s wife in his 2010 book “The Belle of the Banana Republic”.

In its seventh formal mission to Tunisia, and the second visit since deposed President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali fled the country, an IFEX-TMG delegation spent over a week meeting a wide range of stakeholders as part of the ongoing assessment of the state of freedom of expression in the country.

Lapiro de Mbanga was freed on completion of a three-year prison sentence for allegedly instigating anti-government riots.

Bertrand Teyou has been detained since November 2010 for “insulting” President Biya’s wife in a book published in 2010 and for attempting to hold a public reading of the offending text.

Dr. Alsingace was among 23 leading Shia activists freed in February 2011 following widespread calls for political reform and the release of political prisoners.

The sentence stemmed from an article published by Abdullah while in prison in 2009, criticising Syrian-Iranian relations.

Before his release, Dr. Abdul-Jalil Alsingace had been asked to sign a document promising not to criticise the government but he declined to do so.