Social Media Exchange (SMEX)

Articles by Social Media Exchange (SMEX)

A young woman checks her smartphone as people pass by on a busy street in the old part of the city of Tehran, Iran, 21 April 2017, Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images

ZooPark: New spyware campaign targets Android users in the Middle East

A cyber espionage campaign active since at least June 2015 is stealing private data from Android mobile devices in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Iran.

Protest in front of the Medicine Syndicate in Cairo, Egypt, in solidarity with 22-year-old student and political prisoner Ahmed el-Khatib, 30 March 2017 , Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Life after sentencing for MENA’s political detainees

In December, MENA activists focused on the plight of political detainees serving lengthy and unjust sentences in obscurity.

Houthi fighters pose in front of a damaged building on a street where Houthis have recently clashed with forces loyal to slain Yemeni former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, 6 December 2017, REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Why Yemen’s internet shutdowns are so dangerous to civilians

Blocking of news sites and internet shutdowns follow renewed attacks on journalists.

Military secure worshippers outside Al Rawdah mosque during the first Friday prayer after the attack in Bir Al-Abed, Egypt, 1 December 2017, REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Unapologetic crackdowns on dissent as greater instability rocks MENA

As the saga of Saudi’s hunted elites commanded attention across the Middle East and North Africa this November, news of the region’s less powerful prey fell by the wayside. Authorities in Kuwait, Bahrain, Libya, Morocco, and Egypt went after protesters, journalists, and human rights defenders critical of their regimes.

A woman walks past a shop window depicting Facebook and YouTube logos in Sidon, southern Lebanon, 28 June 2012, REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Online vigilantism: A threat to justice in Lebanon

The Facebook page “Where is the state?” regularly posts high-quality videos or pictures documenting alleged crimes in Lebanon. Sharing this information breaches these alleged criminals’ right to privacy and endangers their access to justice in the process.

Kem Ley, 4 June, 2016, AP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pressure mounts on Cambodia a year after Kem Ley’s killing

On the one-year anniversary of the death of popular Cambodian activist Kem Ley, civil society organisations from around the world reiterated their call for an independent inquiry.

Statement of Solidarity in Support of MENA HRDs for IFEX25

NGOs around the world ask authorities to stop campaigns of repression against HRDs and civil society organisations in the Middle East and North Africa region

Demonstration for Dawit Isaak 5000 days in jail, June 2015, Wikimedia Commons / Frankie Fouganthin

Is Dawit Isaak alive?

That’s the question 33 NGOs are asking Eritrea this World Press Freedom Day, after the Cano prize-winning journalist remains unheard from since 2005.