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British author Alan Shadrake was arrested in Singapore on 18 July for writing a book critical of the city state’s use of the death sentence. He was released on a bail on 20 July. If found guilty of criminal defamation, Shadrake could face up to two years in prison and a large fine.

On 15 July 2009, Natalia Estemirova, a representative of the Memorial Human Rights Centre in Grozny, was abducted and murdered. On the anniversary of her death ARTICLE 19 and other human rights organizations commemorated her work and reiterated calls for bringing perpetrators to justice. But despite the Kremlin’s pledge to punish her killers, there has been no prosecution so far.

Join us for an evening benefiting the first ever Burmese Arts Festival, an event designed to highlight the role of artists in bringing about change in Burma. The Festival will take place on 14-17th October 2010 at London’s Free Word Centre.

Two Russian art curators, Andrei Yerofeev and Yuri Samodurov, who staged an exhibition titled Forbidden Art 2006 featuring censored Soviet and post-Soviet art works, were convicted on 12 July by a Moscow court for “inciting hatred or enmity” and “denigration of human dignity.” Human rights organisation Article 19 condemns the fines the two men received as an outright attack on the right to freedom of expression.

Freedom of expression is not less important than freedom of “expression” as artist understand it. In June 2010 some movies and cartoons faced state’s censorship in Japan, Jordan and Malaysia. In Germany Jewish street dancers were attacked and in Islamic Republic of Pakistan music market was bombes for selling western video and music products. Find out more highlighted cases of artists around the world whose right to freedom of expression has been curtailed and abused.

The Azerbaijani authorities ignore pressure from the international community. Most recently, few days after the visit to Republic of Azerbaijan of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the editor Eynulla Fatullaeyv has been sentenced to 2,5 years imprisonment despite appeals from the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

After the recent execution of four Kurdish political prisoners on charges of moharabeh’ (enmity against God), human rights organisation Article 19 is very concerned that the execution of Zeinab Jalalian and 15 other Kurdish political prisoners convicted of the same charge is imminent.

On 1 July a group of journalists, artists and campaigners gathered outside the embassy of Republic of Belarus in London to express their dissatisfaction with recent measures taken by the Belarusian regime to increase censorship in the internet. Presidential decree that went into force on 1 July in the Republic of Belarus allows the monitoring of all national internet usage and empowers the authorities to block websites that provide information from independent sources.

On 24 June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution on the functioning of democratic institutions in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Article 19, the Human Rights House Foundation, the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee welcome the adoption of the resolution and call upon the Azerbaijani government to implement the recommendations contained in the resolution.