27 Aug 2010 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost, News and features
Security guards who attacked two journalists may go unpunished after authorities refused to investigate the case. Elmin Badalov and Anar Gerayly were beaten by a wealthy businessman’s private security guards on 28 July.
The two newspaper reporters had been taking photos of luxury homes in the Baku region of Shuvlan, and were then held by the guards for three hours. Police acknowledge that Badalov and Gerayly sustained considerable bruising, but they claim that a medical examination shows this could have been caused by “a serious fall”. Authorities assured journalists last year that the ban on taking photos without consent would not be used against the media.
27 Aug 2010 | Events, United Kingdom
Right now, public libraries are censoring their readers’ choice of books – but is this ever acceptable? With demand from the public for extremist literature in some UK libraries, it is argued that the job of librarians is to defend social cohesion and avoid texts that may offend religious or ethnic minorities. As ever-limited public money pays for books, it is right for librarians to seek to provoke public debate, or should they get on with providing what the public wants?
A panel discussion with Lisa Appignanesi, President of English PEN; Douglas Murray, author of Hate on the State: How British libraries encourage Islamic extremism; Mike Clarke, Head of Camden Libraries; Tony Lacey, Publishing Director at Penguin Books.
Chair: Mike Harris, Public Affairs Manager of Index on Censorship
15 September, 5.30 pm
Free Word Centre
60 Farringdon Road
London EC1R 3GA
27 Aug 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Police arrested human rights campaigners and prevented them from gaining signatures for petitions at U2’s first concert in Russia, on 25 August. The tents of Amnesty International, Greenpeace Russia, and U2’s own charity the ONE campaign for Aids, were all removed by police. Campaigners were not allowed to hand out leaflets or talk to any of the 75,000 fans at the Moscow venue. Head of Amnesty International in Russia, Sergei Nikitin, said that the organistation had carried out similar publicity events at many of the band’s concerts in Europe.
25 Aug 2010 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features
Prohibitions on reporting on green movement leaders are just the latest restrictions imposed by the Islamic Republic. Negar Esfandiary reports
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