Audio: How Syria's conflict has changed the rules for freelancers

The implications of the decision by The Sunday Times to refuse all work out of Syria offered by freelancers.

Opinion: No free media with military censorship

IFEX member the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms responds to David Swick's piece about the challenges of reporting on Israeli-Palestinian relations.

The ups and downs of writing about Palestine and Israel… from North America

Journalism ethics professor David Swick offers advice to journalists wanting to cover a topic that engenders passionate disagreement and charges of biased reporting.

Video: Rami Jarrah on the rise of citizen journalism in Syria

Citizen journalist Rami Jarrah talks about why he risked his life to document a brutal government crackdown in Syria.

Authorities arrest dozens of protesters, writers

Authorities have arrested at least 22 protesters and nine activists and writers since late May, in what the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has called "the largest [crackdown] in months that has reached prominent members of the opposition and journalists."

Citizen journalists bear human cost of uprising

Five citizen journalists were killed in two days in Syria last month, cementing the country's position as the world's worst for journalists in 2012, say the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Press Institute (IPI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Authorities use deportation to quell dissent

One of the "UAE 5" activists who spent seven months in jail last year after posting anti-government statements is allegedly set to be deported to the Comoros Islands, a country near Madagascar that he has never visited, report Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Citizen journalist sentenced to death for giving TV interview

A citizen journalist was sentenced to death last week in Syria after giving a series of interviews to Al Jazeera, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). To help protect sources, CPJ lists four precautions international journalists should take.

Retrial announced for al-Khawaja and other activists

Bahrain has announced a retrial for hunger-striking political activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 others accused of plotting against the state in the Arab Spring protests last year, report the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International and Human Rights Watch. The IFEX members are disappointed that the activists remain in custody pending the retrial, and are calling for their immediate release.

Parliament considers death penalty for insulting God, Prophet

Kuwait's parliament has provisionally voted in favour of a legal amendment that could make insulting God and the Prophet Mohammed punishable by death, reports the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

IFEX members and partners urge Iraq not to pass overbroad, punitive cyber crimes law

A bill on "information-technology crimes" with particularly broad wording and harsh punishments is due to come before Iraq's parliament this month. More than 40 IFEX members and partners have banded together to try to stop it, at the initiative of ARTICLE 19 and Access Now.

On eve of peace plan, three more journalists killed

Syrian security forces shot and killed two freelance British journalists and wounded a third during an attack on Monday in Darkoush near the Turkish border, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Meanwhile, a Kurdish citizen journalist has been kidnapped and murdered, says Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

At least 31 extrajudicial killings since official commission of inquiry, says Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Since an official commission of inquiry reported last November, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) has documented at least 31 "extrajudicial killings" in Bahrain. Most of the deaths were from teargas inhalation, including three in the past week alone, and three were as a result of torture in custody, says BCHR in a new report. Human Rights Watch also issued its own report following a national commission's assessment that lauded the government's progress.

A year on, regime maintains free expression onslaught

On 15 March, the one-year anniversary of democracy protests in Syria, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found the government to blame for at least five of the eight journalists killed. Even with the international spotlight on recent unrest, journalists and bloggers continue to be targeted with arrests and detentions, and the staff of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) are still being held, report CPJ, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Violations by Palestinian security forces exceed those by Israeli forces in 2011, says MADA report

For the first time, violations of media freedoms in Palestine at the hands of Palestinian security services outnumbered those committed in 2011 by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), but the IOF violations constituted a "greater threat," says the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) in its annual report.

Deadly day for journalists in Homs

Two foreign journalists and a Syrian videographer have been killed by mortar shells in the Syrian city of Homs, which has been under siege this past month, report the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), the International Press Institute (IPI), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other IFEX members.

Activists attacked, arrested on protest anniversary

On Tuesday's one-year anniversary of Bahrain's uprising, security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters trying to retake Pearl Square, the epicentre of last year's protests, and arrested dozens - including several international observers, report the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and news reports.

Blogger faces charges of blasphemy, apostasy after Mohammed tweets

A Saudi blogger whose tweets about the Prophet Mohammed were deemed blasphemous and tantamount to apostasy has been deported from Malaysia back to Saudi Arabia, where he is certain to face trial and possibly the death penalty, report Malaysia's Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Human Rights Watch and other IFEX members.

Protesters, IFEX members mark uprising anniversary

Bahrain spent the week preparing for Tuesday's one-year anniversary of its uprising by deploying thousands of security forces to confront anti-government protesters, rejecting journalists' applications for entry visas, and arresting and deporting two international observers from the U.S. IFEX and its members are calling for support on 14 February to help avoid further violence. Find out what is happening and what you can do here.

Amid fresh bombing, security forces torture children, says Human Rights Watch

Syria's bloody crackdown on dissent does not discriminate by age: children as young as 13 have been detained and tortured with impunity by Syrian forces fighting opposition protests, documents Human Rights Watch in a new report.