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As the amount of the internet users grows rapidly each year all over the world, the internet becomes more powerful tool to express one’s opinion. The online activity is more visible; it affects more people and is treated as a real behaviour, not the virtual one. There is an obvious change of perception of the internet recently. The proof of it is imprisonment of two social network users in UK and three internet writers in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Vietnam.

Index on Censorship will be at all three of the main UK political parties’ conferences speaking about press freedom in light of the phone hacking scandal, recent concerns over privacy law and super-injunctions and our on-going Libel Reform Campaign.

Journalists examine what freedoms have been lost ten years after the World Trade Centre collapsed in the face of terror.

‘The Colonel’ is banned in its native Iran, where the office of censorship has prohibited publication.

There are two news from Azerbaijan this week. The first one is negative as the authorities in Baku demolished the building, which was used by several local NGOs as offices, as part of an urban renewal project. The second one is more positive because long years jailed journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has finally received compensation from the government and has established a new human rights movement.

London based human rights and freedom of expression organisation Article 19 congratulates the UN Human Rights Committee for the adoption of General Comment No 34, which strengthens the protection of international law on freedom of expression and provides authoritative guidance to state actors, including courts, on the development of policies and adjudication of matters affecting this right.

Women in many Arab states face discriminatory laws, experience violence and sexual harassment. Sometimes women are even punished for bringing these crimes to publicity. In Sudan the female journalist Amal Habani was sent to prison for reporting on the case of a Sudanese artist who had been raped following her arrest. Human rights defenders complain about inaction of Iran officials as they do not stop brutal sexual assaults in country and do not even condemn them.

The Anti-Boycott Law, the Law for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel through Boycott, was adopted by the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) and came into force on 11 July 2011. Article 19 and Index on Censorship expresses its serious concerns regarding the new Israeli law. The new law seriously hampers the fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and freedom of association in Israel.

Article 19 commends the current version of the Decree regarding access to the administrative documents held or produced by Tunisian public authorities and urges the Interim Government to accomplish it in a period of six month. Adoption of the Decree is an important milestone in process of democratic transition in Tunisia through building a culture of transparency, protecting the right to know and strengthening accountability.