Full Coverage: Freedom of expression

19.11.2009 Raúl Castro's government has locked up scores of people for exercising their fundamental freedoms and allowed scores more political prisoners arrested during Fidel Castro's rule to languish in detention, says a new report.

16.11.2009 Judging by his recent statements, British Justice Secretary Jack Straw seems to expect a “thank you” note from Susan Alexander in the next few days. But Parliament has allowed the principle of open justice to be seriously undermined - which is why Alexander will not be writing a “thank you” note.

09.11.2009 Journalists from Azerbaijan, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia will be presented with International Press Freedom Awards this month.

24.10.2009 Hundreds of activist organisations had their internet service turned off after the US Chamber of Commerce strong-armed an upstream provider to pull the plug on The Yes Men.

19.07.2009 If you're a student blogger, remember that a prospective employer might just take a look. Global Health

13.03.2009 Twelve "Enemies of the Internet" - Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam - have transformed their Internet into an Intranet in order to prevent their population from accessing 'undesirable' online information,” says a new report.
+ handed to “Internet Enemy” embassies

16.02.2009 The spate of lese-majesty cases in Thailand is a manifestation of a turn away from the democratic and social developments of the 1990s and back towards the outdated authoritarianism of earlier decades, says an Asian rights group.

25.01.2009 A 2008 article traces the experience of Lilianne Nyatcha who is fighting oppression on behalf of women journalists in Cameroon

18.01.2009 The moving final testimony to press freedom by Lasanthe Wickrematunge, Editor of the Sunday Leader, written a few days before his murder in Sri Lanka.

18.01.2009 Timothy Garton Ash in the Guardian applauds the launch of BBC Persian TV, even though BBC cameras are banned from Iran.

05.05.2008 Attacks on freedom of press are akin to attacks on international law, humanity and freedom itself, said UN head Ban Ki-moon on World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3, drawing attention to the increasing targeting of journalists around the world and the failure to prosecute such crimes.

23.04.2008 Come May 10 and Burmese citizens will vote to endorse a constitution that took a decade and a half to be drafted. The military junta, however, seems to have its own plans to swing the tide in its favour.

22.04.2008 Frail but fierce Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike for the last eight years demanding a repeal of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur. The Act empowering armed forces to shoot and kill insurgents continues to be grossly misused in the north-eastern Indian state.

18.04.2008

15.04.2008 As a first legislative step towards getting rid of the remnants of Emergency, the new Pakistani government has tabled a bill in the national assembly seeking to revoke the draconian gag imposed on the country’s electronic media. A separate bill is also round the corner that will undo the restrictions on print media.

10.04.2008 Prominent citizens of India have written to the Prime Minister urging him to reconsider the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Bill, 2006. The proposed law gives authorities the arbitrary power to refuse or cancel registration of organisations, which may put NGOs critical of government policies at risk.

02.04.2008 Amnesty International has released details of prison sentences handed out by the Myanmar junta to 40 protestors. Three have been sentenced for giving water to monks on streets. The action is politically motivated and negates people’s peaceful exercise of their human rights, says the international rights body.

01.04.2008 The walls around McLeod Ganj, the northern Indian town in Himachal Pradesh, home to Dalai Lama, are drawing crowds of exiled Tibetans hungry for news. The community bulletin boards are the latest source of news from home as posters, banners, newspaper cuttings and letters fight the spaces for equal billing.

31.03.2008

20.03.2008 Human Rights Watch has condemned Nepal’s use of excessive force to silence and detain protesting Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu. Protests mounted in the capital since March 10 in reaction to Beijing’s violent suppression of protesters in Tibet and neighbouring provinces in China.