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Two months after the presidential elections in Belarus, independent media outlets and human right defenders are still facing unprecedented levels of repression and harassment and the numbers of prosecutions are on the increase. Three journalists are still held in detention. All those who have been prosecuted continue to face the possibility of long years of imprisonment.

Join English PEN and other members of the Belarus Committee for a peaceful demonstration to call for the release of all prisoners of conscience and to show our solidarity with the people of Belarus.

Leading Iranian journalist Taghi Rahmani arrested on 9 February, several journalists and bloggers have been summoned for questioning by the Revolutionary Guards and the intelligence ministry in various parts of the country ahead of a demonstration called by government opponents for 14 February in solidarity with the Egyptian and Tunisian peoples.

Sri Lanka has been home to one of the longest civil wars in recent history, yet this conflict has gone relatively unreported and attacks upon journalists are widespread.

How do literary writers speak truth to power? What can novels, plays and poems say about world politics? Does censorship provoke new forms of creativity? And why is there so little contemporary British literature about political power?

This six-part course, led by Dr Sophie Mayer, will consider some of the best known and most dramatic challenges to free speech: attacks on poems, plays, novels and films.

Civil society organisations from around the world, including Article 19, Writers in Prison Committee and Index on Censorship, are calling on Egyptian and international bodies to respect freedom of expression and the right to information.

Tunisia’s peaceful move towards democracy is a good sign, regarding the events in other Middle East countries, notably Egypt, but also in Yemen and Syria. International organizations condemn Egypt’s attempts to control and disrupt the media and electronic communication. Country’s government is criticized for responding to protests with excessive force.

The Burmese government was urged by countries around the world during the tenth session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group, to end violations of the right to freedom of expression and other human rights, prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses, and begin a process of real reform in the country.