#freedom-of-expression

#freedom-of-expression

When Gabon's media regulator indefinitely suspended major social media platforms in February, citing security concerns during anti-government protests, it became the talk of town literally. Within weeks of the announcement, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass the restrictions surged in the central African country. When gendarmerie began stopping young men at road checkpoints in the capital Libreville and other urban centres to confiscate mobile phones with VPNs installed or detain the owners, warnings spread by word of mouth.

The trial focused on a 2024 track by Freeze Corleone in which he compared himself to a truck, a line seen as an allusion to an attack in Nice where a man drove a 19-tonne vehicle into crowds, leaving hundreds more injured.

The ALA documented 4,235 unique titles being challenged in 2025, the second-highest year on record for library challenges, just behind 2023's 4,240 challenges.

Alican Uludag has been charged with three criminal offenses: 'publicly insulting the president,' 'public dissemination of misleading information,' and 'publicly denigrating institutions of the state.' He faces up to 19 years in prison if convicted.

Campaigners believe Qesser Zuhrah was arrested due to an Instagram story that allegedly encouraged people to take direct action, highlighting concerns over freedom of expression.

I've reviewed the charge sheet and from reading it you wouldn't know what they've done wrong. We're seeing more and more people being charged under the UAE's cyber-crime rules.

Around 2013 in Taiwan's context, when Facebook started to take over the digital ecosystem in Taiwan, many local independent bulletin boards that had been formed for sexual minorities were shut down because they had no income from advertisements, and people were pushed into mainstream platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Meta, whatever, Twitter now X where sexual expression was usually reported or flagged.

Syaban Shadikillah, who has been living and working in Mareeba in the state's far north after moving to Australia in late 2024, insists his licence is valid and says he does not want to retake the photo. He said it was a matter of principle and freedom of expression, and that it was a violation of his right to wear religious headgear: the colander.

I think it's ludicrous to be perfectly honest, he told Guardian Australia, describing the works as an anti-fascist statement and noting the shut down had caused the cancellation of an interstate band's performance.

It started off as a normal Tuesday. On 25 March 2025 I reviewed applications from university students applying for a summer research position at my lab. I told friends I would bring pastries from Harvard Square for the Friday dinner we were planning. I finalized my schedule for an upcoming child development conference. I worked on my dissertation proposal. The day was busy but not unusual until I left home after quickly dressing for an iftar dinner at the interfaith center.

Behemoth regret to announce the cancellation of the band's scheduled performance on March 3 in Bangalore, India. Over the past few weeks, we and our team have received numerous credible threats stemming from religious Christian groups who have been applying pressure to authorities and to the promoter in an effort to stop the show from taking place. These threats have raised serious concerns regarding the band's safety and security, including the possibility of arrest or physical danger.

I didn't say anything special. I don't feel that. Why should I not express what I feel? Just because I'm a manager, said Guardiola. I don't agree but I respect all opinions. What I said basically is how many conflicts there are right now all around the world. I condemn all of them. If innocent people are killed, I condemn them all - not this country being more than the other one.

Moscow resident David Gevondyan, who is 22 years old, was given a fine for his post on European social media site VK. In his appeal, Gevondyan argued that he had not violated the law and that Queen's outfit choices did not constitute 'LGBT Propaganda'. According to Verstka, the court rejected his argument, noting that Gevondyan's page also showed photos of men kissing and men dressed in miniskirts. He was fined an undisclosed amount for all of the images.

The Mela comprises a series of themed and solo exhibitions, by international and Bangladeshi artists at venues across downtown Dhaka. Until 2024, Bangladeshi artists had to contend with the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian government, which monopolised access to funding and foreign collaboration. Many arts institutions were turned into propaganda machines, as Hasina's cultural officials 'just wanted to please the national leader,' one Bangladeshi artist told the Financial Times last year.

On average, the cartoons published on the Instagram account of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo get a few hundred reactions, but a recent drawing by cartoonist Eric Salch has prompted more than 15,000 social media users to express their dismay. It was published as Switzerland observed a national day of mourning to commemorate the victims of the deadly fire in a bar in Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve, which killed 40 people, most of them teenagers.

[We] reiterate this is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia's worst terror attack in history, it added. As a board we took this action out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event. Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies, the board wrote in its statement on Tuesday.

I felt that this is something that I could do personally, in order to address the problem of biodiversity decline and global warming, he said.

A second jazz band has pulled out of performing at the controversially renamed Trump-Kennedy center in Washington DC, giving just two days notice before their New Year's Eve gig was set to take place. The Cookers, described as a Grammy-nominated, all-star septet of legendary post-bop jazz musicians, have not given an explicit reason for their decision but in a statement posted on their website said: Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.

During its performance of " Swastika Eyes," the band displayed a short film that combines footage of the devastation of Gaza with pictures of political figures-including the U.S. and Israeli presidents, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu-with their eyes replaced by animations of the entwined symbols. The Roundhouse said it did not know the film would be shown and was "appalled that antisemitic imagery was displayed."

The legal action alleges Ireland's national broadcaster defamed the group by claiming they led antisemitic chants at the festival last June. The group's lead singer, Pascal Robinson-Foster, known as Bobby Vylan, led a chant of death, death to the IDF, a reference to the Israel Defense Forces, making global headlines and prompting a British police investigation. RTE's allegation that the band made antisemitic chants were categorically denied and entirely untrue, Phoenix Law Solicitors, a Belfast-based firm hired by the band, said in a statement.

If Palestine Action is still proscribed by the time my next book is due for publication, then that book will be available to readers all over the world and in dozens of languages, but will be unavailable to readers in the United Kingdom simply because no one will be permitted to publish it (unless I am content to give it away for free).

Sonia Dahmani, arrested in 2024 after questioning government policy on African refugees and migrants, says she hopes her release will mark end of nightmare' for herself and other prisoners. Tunisia has freed prominent lawyer Sonia Dahmani, a vocal critic of President Kais Saied, after a year and a half in prison. Dahmani, who is also a media commentator, is widely seen as a leading dissenting voice in Tunisia, and her arrest prompted local protests demanding her release and international criticism.

I'm glad the U.S. didn't send a delegation to COP30, the two-week-long U.N. "Climate Change Conference" in Brazil this month. This costly annual event accomplishes next to nothing (other than CO2 emissions from all the private jets flying in). Press releases touted the "progress" China is making in reducing greenhouse gases, while complaining the U.S. isn't "doing enough." The truth, however, was hidden away in some committee reports discovered by the Economist magazine of London.

The Crown Prosecution Service has appealed against a High Court judge's decision to overturn the criminal conviction of a man who burned a Quran outside the Turkish consulate in London. Hamit Coskun was initially found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence, having shouted "Islam is religion of terrorism" while holding the flaming religious text aloft outside the consulate in February.

Richard Falk, an international law expert from the United States, told Al Jazeera that he was questioned at Toronto Pearson international airport on Thursday alongside his wife, fellow legal scholar Hilal Elver. list of 3 itemsend of list A security person came and said, We've detained you both because we're concerned that you pose a national security threat to Canada,' Falk, 95, said on Saturday in an interview from Ottawa, the Canadian capital. It was my first experience of this sort ever in my life.

and the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) said in a statement on Monday that the journalist and commentator was punished for his criticism of Israel during his US speaking tour and not for any alleged wrongdoing. It is this simple: Sami never should have spent a single night in an ICE cell, Hussam Ayloush, the CEO of CAIR's California chapter, said in a statement. His only real offense' was speaking clearly about Israel's genocidal war crimes against Palestinians.

SOAS University, of which Hamdi is an alumnus, urge US authorities to ensure full transparency and due process' in his case. The London university where British political commentator and journalist Sami Hamdi completed his studies has called for full transparency and due process regarding his detention in the United States. In a statement published on Wednesday, SOAS University of London said it was deeply concerned by reports of Hamdi's detention, adding that there is no indication that Mr Hamdi has violated any laws.

I observe that large numbers of arrests have reportedly been made for displaying placards or banners expressing solidarity with the organisation or disagreement with the government's decision to proscribe it. I am aware that support' for a proscribed group is an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000. In this regard I recall that domestic legislation designed to counter terrorism' or violent extremism' must not impose any limitations on fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, that are not strictly necessary for the protection of national security and the rights and freedoms of others.