IFEX
IFEX is a nexus for free expression expertise contributed by over 100 member organisations, spanning 70 countries.
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- #Ecuador 🇪🇨 FUNDAMEDIOS reports the dismissal of the habeas data lawsuit filed by Pedro Bejarano for publishing an alert on attacks against freedom of expression attributed to him. (In Spanish)
- #Egypt 🇪🇬 CIHRS and rights groups demand a transparent probe after a pro-government journalist claimed he has information that forcibly disappeared former MP Mostafa El-Naggar was killed, saying this must be handled by courts, not media.
- #Chad 🇹🇩 @globalfreemedia.bsky.social condemns the arrest and threats against journalist Dikoua Innocent, warning that harassing reporters over natural resource governance chills public scrutiny.
- #Bangladesh 🇧🇩 @article19.bsky.social has expressed concern over the exposure of personal data of at least 14,000 journalists linked to security flaws in the Election Commission's newly introduced online accreditation system. 🔗 buff.ly/Vd2d05v
- #UnitedStates 🇺🇸 @pressfreedom.bsky.social shares accounts from Minnesota journalists reporting on ICE actions, highlighting the dangers they face, the pressure on local reporting, and the importance of community support to keep informing the public.
- #Syria 🇸🇾 New SCM investigation shows how coordinated #Telegram networks spread misinformation, graphic content, and sectarian hate during the As-Suwayda violence, while platform safeguards failed to stop it.
- #Turkey 🇹🇷 @bianet-eng.bsky.social report that 96 people were detained in raids on left wing groups and press agencies across 22 provinces. Among those targeted were youth and women's groups, environmentalists, journalists and union members. buff.ly/Tbp7ArG
- #Myanmar 🇲🇲 @pressfreedom.bsky.social "urges authorities to ensure Myat Thu Kyaw’s safety & well-being, end all forms of abuse in detention, and unconditionally release him, along with all journalists jailed for their work,” said Shawn Crispin of CPJ Southeast Asia.
- #Mexico 🇲🇽 @article19mxca.bsky.social warns that attacks from public authorities in Morelos are inhibiting journalistic work, encouraging self-censorship and heightening risks for the press. (In Spanish) buff.ly/8M05VX0
- #Iran 🇮🇷 Journalists Mehdi Mahmoudian and Vida Rabbani were detained for a peaceful statement backing protests. @pressfreedom.bsky.social says this deepens Iran’s crackdown on independent journalism and calls for their immediate release. buff.ly/APAYLbu
- #IvoryCoast 🇨🇮 The MFWA flags the irony of freeing youth leader Jean-François Kouassi from detention while condemning the suspended sentence imposed for his criticism of civil service recruitment. buff.ly/0BNIG4h .
- #Venezuela 🇻🇪 Ipys Venezuela reports that one month after January 3, the Venezuelan information space continues to be severely limited by direct controls, sanctions, public warnings and repeated use of state force.  buff.ly/6QLEC6w
- #Uganda 🇺🇬 Seminal documentary - The Woman Who Poked the Leopard - opens a window into the fearless feminism of Dr Stella Nyanzi. This profile deepens that view - showing how her “radical rudeness” challenges Museveni’s repression.
- #Ukraine 🇺🇦 Since the #Russia-Ukraine war of 2014, IMI has been doing invaluable work, providing the press with essential safety and reporting equipment - including 6843 bullet proof vests and helmets, and 1855 first aid kits. buff.ly/KzoZsFL
- #Belarus 🇧🇾 BAJ reports that jailed journalist and activist Vatslau Areshka has lost much of his vision in prison. Human rights defenders have categorised the 71-year-old as an extremely vulnerable prisoner due to his health. buff.ly/E4cwDYk
- #AsiaPacific 🌐 @sflcin.bsky.social reminded Indian authorities that "indefinite disruption to internet access imposed under an old law undermines public transparency and accountability and can have serious implications on fundamental rights as well as the economy."
- #Egypt 🇪🇬 CIHRS and rights groups question why Egypt’s National Human Rights Council kept its top GANHRI accreditation despite ongoing limits on its independence and weak prison monitoring. buff.ly/az3zFhX
- #Uganda 🇺🇬 @globalfreemedia.bsky.social says the expulsion of accredited RFI and France 24 reporters exposes how bureaucratic processes are being used to curb independent post-election coverage.
- #Nigeria 🇳🇬 Media Rights Agenda’s latest report - The Reign of Impunity, exposes a deepening free expression crisis - of laws weaponised, journalists surveilled, protests crushed, and state-backed impunity. 🔗 buff.ly/1E6fwmI
- #Myanmar 🇲🇲 This week marks the fifth year after the junta grabbed power again. In 2021, IFEX issued a statement calling for the release of detained protestors and journalists, and the restoration of media licenses revoked by authorities.
- #Cuba 🇨🇺 The Inter American Press Association denounces escalating repression against independent journalists in Cuba, including arbitrary detentions, harassment, and restrictions aimed at silencing critical reporting.
- #Turkey 🇹🇷 Furkan Karabay, Turkey’s most frequently arrested journalist, has been placed under house arrest. @pressfreedom.bsky.social calls on the authorities to immediately free him and let all journalists do their jobs without fear of retaliation. buff.ly/3MXy9cd
- #Afghanistan 🇦🇫 Afghanistan Journalists Center said the decision to revoke media licenses "is unlawful and constitutes a blatant violation of Afghanistan’s international obligations to uphold media freedom and freedom of expression."
- #Guatemala 🇬🇹 @article19mxca.bsky.social calls on magistrates of the Amparo Chamber of Guatemala’s Supreme Court to uphold due process and grant constitutional protection (amparo) to journalist José Rubén Zamora. (In Spanish)
- #Kuwait 🇰🇼 Blogger Salman Al-Khalidi has been sentenced to 15 years with hard labour over posts on X. @gulfcentre4hr.bsky.social says the verdict violates freedom of expression and urges protection for him as a political refugee.
- #Ghana 🇬🇭 As WSIS+20 shifts toward implementation, the MFWA cautions that country’s credibility in global digital governance depends on translating WSIS principles into inclusive, rights-respecting national practice.
- #Turkey 🇹🇷 @europeanjournalists.org condemns the increasing attacks on journalists in Turkey and calls on the authorities to free all those held behind bars. 🔗 buff.ly/6WmGw4h
- #MENA 🌍 As Israeli forces continue to kill Palestinian journalists with #impunity and bar international media from #Gaza, this January 2025 regional brief shows how this pattern has persisted in a climate of unchecked accountability. buff.ly/thhySDp
- #Philippines 🇵🇭 Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility joins the call of press freedom defenders, who say that any legal actions involving journalists must be handled with strict adherence to due process to avoid weaponizing the law against freedom of expression.
- #Global 🌐 Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ is an "attempt to sideline the UN by establishing a rival peace and security body", says @article19.bsky.social: it represents an "attack on inter international law that must be vehemently resisted". buff.ly/7RKnnF6
- #Pakistan 🇵🇰 Pakistan Press Foundation said that the sentencing of the two human rights lawyers represents a deeply troubling escalation in the use of cybercrime laws to target dissent and critical online expression in the country.
- #CostaRica 🇨🇷 @pressfreedom.bsky.social warns that press freedom in Costa Rica is under strain ahead of the presidential election, as journalists face increasing political pressure and hostile rhetoric.
- #Palestine 🇵🇸 Join @7amleh.bsky.social on 5 Feb for a webinar sharing new research and testimonies from Gaza’s digital workers on how genocide and blockade have devastated #Gaza’s digital economy, cutting off livelihoods, communication, and survival. Register here: buff.ly/76iyF8t
- #Ghana 🇬🇭 The MFWA says the alleged assault and detention of a Media General journalist in Walewale exposes growing security force impunity.
- #Lebanon 🇱🇧 New research from @SMEX.org shows how women used social media during the October war to produce their own narratives, contest propaganda, and claim political voice, even as platforms censored them and reshaped what the world could see. 🔗 buff.ly/l6TCe3D
- #Russia 🇷🇺 Natalya Estemirova was a human rights defender who documented torture, killings and disappearances committed by the Chechen authorities. She was murdered in 2009, and her killers enjoy impunity. Read about her case in our profile. buff.ly/uWjozNF
- #Uganda 🇺🇬CIPESA flags weak data protection capacity as a growing risk to privacy and public trust.
- #Belarus 🇧🇾 Yanina Pazniak was arrested last year together with her father, journalist Kiryl Pazniak, and accused of "extremism." BAJ and other Belarusian rights groups recognise her as a political prisoner and call for her release. buff.ly/FTn0bKq
- 🌏 @sflcin.bsky.social's paper dissects the full spectrum of the censorship measures after the #Pahalgam attack, separating platform compliance from direct state action, and analyzes how they expose deep flaws in India’s content blocking regime.
- #Colombia 🇨🇴 FLIP warns that presidential candidate and member of Fuerza Ciudadana Carlos Caicedo once again stigmatized and intimidated the press, reinforcing a hostile environment that puts journalists at risk. (In Spanish)
- #MENA 🌍 A new @gulfcentre4hr.bsky.social report documents how detention in Iraq, the UAE, and Bahrain enables torture when safeguards fail, from incommunicado custody to coercive interrogations and deaths in prison.
- #DRC 🇨🇩 @pressfreedom.bsky.social warns that attacks on reporters in M23-held areas are driving self-censorship and exile, constraining the public’s right to know. buff.ly/V19Xgr7
- This week in #FreeExpression updates: 🔹 #Turkey: travel ban extended for 19 Kurdish journalists 🔹 #Colombia: courts weaponised to silence journalists, warns IAPA 🔹 #Global: Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ undermines international law 📬 Read more #IFEXThisWeek: buff.ly/PD4ayQ1
- #Albania 🇦🇱 @article19.bsky.social, MFRR and others welcome recent amendments to Albania’s Criminal Code, which represent a positive step towards improving media freedom. However, the groups call for full decriminalisation of defamation. buff.ly/0Bw6NBF
- #Malaysia 🇲🇾 After an LGBTQI+ community event was forced to cancel when it got reported to authorities, several civil society groups signed a statement reminding the public that having a different sexual orientation is normal. @globalvoices.org
- #Cuba 🇨🇺 @pressfreedom.bsky.social condemns the sentencing of Cuban journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea to six years in prison after he was found guilty of protesting, and calls on Cuban authorities to free him and allow the free flow of information in the country.
- #Tunisia 🇹🇳 How did a decade of media freedom give way to renewed repression? This long-read from Nawaat traces Tunisia’s press history from independence to today, showing how unfinished reforms and political capture enabled the authoritarian return. buff.ly/YsdPcDP
- #Sierra Leone 🇸🇱The MFWA partner MRCG warns that unsafe digital spaces for women are rapidly eroding media freedom and women’s right to speak online.
- This week in #FreeExpression news: 🔹 #Palestine: impunity persists for Israel’s attacks on journalists 🔹 #Iran: women human rights defenders targeted amid crackdown 🔹 #India: AI-driven surveillance expands in public spaces 📬 Read more #IFEXThisWeek: buff.ly/PD4ayQ1
- #Georgia 🇬🇪 "The authorities are using newly adopted restrictions on public assemblies to arbitrarily detain and harass peaceful demonstrators", @hrw reports, "effectively making the right to protest in Georgia increasingly difficult and dangerous". buff.ly/ddPuEu0
