In his first legislative move as president, Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi passed a law on Thursday banning the pre-trial detention of journalists accused of “publishing offences”. The move came hours after a Giza criminal court decided to place Islam Afifi, chief-editor of Al Dustour newspaper, in preventative custody. Afifi was held last week on charges of […]

The International Press Institute’s executive director, Alison Bethel McKenzie, today issued an open letter to Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma urging him and the government to enact the long-awaited Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill. The bill, which would give Sierra Leoneans the right to access information from public institutions, has been several years in […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) today reiterated its call for the immediate release of Turkish journalist Cüneyt Ünal, who was reportedly captured by Syrian loyalist forces on Aug. 20. Ünal, a cameraman with the US-funded Arabic-language satellite station Al Hurra, was reportedly travelling near Aleppo alongside Japanese reporter, Mika Yamamoto, who was killed on Aug. […]

An information war has erupted around the world. The battle lines are drawn between those governments that regard the free flow of information, and the ability to access it, as a matter of fundamental human rights, and those that regard official control of information as a fundamental sovereign prerogative. The contest is being waged institutionally […]