Thayyib Shaheem, a news editor and a political activist, was arrested on March 16 in the Maldives for criticizing a development project in the country on Twitter. Shaheem, who has about 22K followers on Twitter, was accused of “spreading panic and disinformation on social media” and now may face charges punishable by up to a year and 3 months in prison. Shaheem is a vocal…
Sina Dehghan, a 21-year-old man, was sentenced in Iran to death over criticizing Islam. He was arrested by security forces on October 21, 2015, at a military barracks in Tehran. Dehghan was charged under article 262 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code for ‘insulting the prophet’ of Islam; a criminal charge which is punishable by death. Dehghan was convicted at the Penal Court of the…
Merzoug Touati, an Algerian blogger, has been held behind bars in El Khemis prison since January 18, 2017, for conducting a video interview with a spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The interview was posted on Youtube on January 9 and shared on his blog Alhogra. The local police has reportedly confiscated the blogger’s computer and camera. Touati is facing charges under the suspicion…
Alexander Lapshin, a 40-year-old Russian-Israeli travel blogger, was arrested after writing critical posts against the Azeri regime. The popular blogger was extradited to Azerbaijan from Belarus on February 7, 2017, under the suspicion of crossing into Belarus illegally and visiting Nagorno-Karabagh, a disputed region between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Lapshin was arrested on December 15, 2016, in Minsk, Belarus. An international extradition warrant to Azerbaijan…
Sanat Dosov, a 46-year-old social activist and entrepreneur from Aktobe, Kazakhstan, was sentenced to 3 years in a penal colony for insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin on social media. Dosov has reportedly called Putin a ‘terrorist’ and a ‘fascist’, and shared a meme where Putin is presented next to notorious former communist leaders Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. Dosov was convicted under Article 174 of the Kazakh criminal code…
Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, an Iranian 36-year-old human rights activist and writer, was sentenced to six years in prison over charges of ‘insulting Islamic sanctities’ and ‘spreading propaganda against the system’ for her Facebook posts supporting political prisoners in Iran. Golrokh was arrested at her home by Iranian security forces without official summons on October 24, 2016. She was taken to the notorious Evin prison, where…
Kamal C. Chavara, a Malayalam writer and activist, was arrested on Decemberr 17 by Nadakavu police over a disrespectful post made on Facebook regarding the national anthem. The blogger is facing Sedition charges under Section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code. The blogger, known by the alias Kamalsy Prana, was taken into custody from Kozhikode following a complaint made at Karunagalapalli Police station by Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata…
