Azerbaijani Blogger and human rights activist Mehman Huseynov has been on a hunger strike in Baku prison since December 26, 2018, to protest against new charges of injuring a prison warden which he claims to be false. He claims that the purpose of the new false charges is to extend his prison sentence, as he’s due to be released in March 2019. Huseynov…
Bahrain’s high court has upheld the 5-year jail sentence against activist Nabeel Rajab over critical statements against the Yemen war which he posted on Twitter. The UN human rights office called for his release: “We urge the Government of Bahrain to stop criminalizing dissenting voices… We call on the Government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release prominent human rights defender…
Iranian blogger Vahid Sayyadi Nasir, a 28-year-old estate specialist and social media activist, died in prison on December 12, 2018, following a 60-day hunger strike. He was charged with “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the state” and sentenced to 5 years in prison over social media posts deemed to be critical of the regime. He was released in March, but was later…
Saeed Malekpour, a 43-year-old engineer and web designer, has been imprisoned in notorious Evin prison in Iran since 2008. He was sentenced to death following a conviction of masterminding an online pornography network. According to Malekpour’s supporters, he developed an Internet photo-sharing tool which was used without his knowledge to share pornographic photos. He was accused by Iranian authorities to “discredit the country’s…
Ugandan feminist activist, Dr. Stella Nyanzi, was arrested on November 2, 2018, over Facebook posts deemed to be offensive towards President Yoweri Museveni and his late mother Esteri Kokundeka. Nyanzi has been held at Luzira prison and is waiting for her trial. She is expected to take plea on charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication. Nyanzi is a prominent activist promoting…
Abdel-Khaleq Farouq was arrested by an arrest warrant of the Supreme State Security Prosecutions on October 21, 2018, alongside his publisher Ibrahim el-Khateib. The cause for the arrest is his latest book named: “Is Egypt Really a Poor Country?”, in which he challenges the economic policies of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. According to AP, Farouq was accused of spreading “fake news”, panelised in Egypt…
A parody video by Yang Kaili, a 21-year-old social media celebrity from China, has led to her detention. The online star, followed on live-streaming platform Huya by tens of millions of users, sang a part of the national anthem while dancing. As a result, she was detained on October 7 by Shanghai’s Jingan district’s police for “disrespecting” the national anthem. She…
