One year after access to information law 12.527/2011 was adopted, a new study conducted by ARTICLE 19 reveals that only 44% of public bodies respond satisfactorily to information requests from individuals and non-governmental organisations.

Samson Folarin, a reporter for The Punch newspaper, was assaulted and detained by police officers after trying to photograph a brawl between a police officer and a commercial tricycle operator. Police also seized Folarin's reporting equipment.

The International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan strongly condemns a series of repressive legislative amendments that Azerbaijan’s National Assembly adopted on 14 May 2013. The existing penalties for criminal defamation and insult have been extended to online content and public demonstrations.

A politician and his aides mauled and attempted to shoot members of a television crew covering an alleged vote-buying incident on the eve of the Philippine midterm elections.

Once the Islamic republic’s biggest cultural event, the Tehran International Book Fair – now in its 26th year — has wilted under President Mahmood Ahmadinejad’s hardline government.

Nineteen regional and international human rights organisations call on the Syrian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release and drop all charges against Mazen Darwish and two of his colleagues from the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM).

Abdulemam’s two years in hiding began shortly after the start of Bahrain’s political unrest in February 2011. He was sentenced in absentia to fifteen years in prison on charges of attempting to overthrow the monarchy. He has now been granted asylum in the United Kingdom.

On the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, states are urged to strengthen protections of the right to free expression for LGBT people and end impunity for violence.

Afghan journalist Mohamman Nasim Turak was stabbed by an unknown assailant and his body was left outside the village where he was killed.

A number of unidentified assailants viciously beat Ulugbek Azimov and two of his family members, after an alleged traffic incident in central Bishkek. The investigation should lead to identification and prosecution of the assailants and should examine all possible motives for the assault, including Azimov’s human rights work, Human Rights Watch said.

Richard Sayago, a parliamentary journalist and assistant, reported that he has been followed and has received threats by unidentified persons. He presumes these incidents are linked to complaints and irregularities he presented at the national assembly after the presidential elections.

The Iraqi government has hurled the country to the brink of a new civil war. In under a month, Baghdad launched a vicious assault on a Sunni protest camp, resulting in 44 deaths; executed 21 alleged Sunni terrorists in one day, and suspended the licenses of 10 satellite channels, 9 of them deemed pro-Sunni.

Imam Baba Leigh was detained incommunicado for five months and seven days for condemning the execution of nine death row inmates by the Yayha Jammeh-led government, describing the act as inimical to Islamic teachings and precepts. He was neither charged nor granted access to his family and lawyer.

It is well documented that Bahrain’s record on freedom of expression is deeply problematic, and the British government, one of Bahrain's major allies, is doing far too little to press the island country on freedom of expression issues and other human rights violations.

The Baha’i faith was founded in 19th Century Persia and currently constitutes the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to the International Press Institute, part of a revision of Denmark’s public information law would “prevent journalists from giving voters the information they need to ensure that laws and government policies are based on sound information, and to hold ministers, members of parliament and government officials accountable”.

After having witnessed the torture of young political prisoners at the hands of prison guards at Jaw prison, Nabeel Rajab requested that the International Committee of the Red Cross visit him in prison so he can provide them with a testimony, but was soon after removed from his cell to an unknown location.

A Filipino radio blocktimer received threats after an outgoing party-list representative running for mayor barged into his radio booth and verbally attacked him.

A recent government programme attempted to discredit Fundamedios and its executive director by accusing them of obtaining funds from USAID via "another NGO".

While the death of a young journalist reporting on a construction project was widely reported in the Chinese press and social media, critical questions have been raised around the details of her death - some of which indicate that important information is still censored even when a story is widely publicised.