Violent confrontations in Mexico City on 1 December between police and thousands of demonstrators protesting the swearing in of President Enrique Peña Nieto continue to reverberate, as human rights and media protection organisations grapple with how to guide protesters to exercise their fundamental free speech rights. Protesters took to the streets to express their unhappiness at the return of Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), back in power after a 12-year interval. Windows were broken and firebombs thrown and tens of protestors were arrested. The Federal District Human Rights Commission has accused the police of making arbitrarily arrests and suggested that there is evidence that four protestors were tortured by police officers. The Mexico City chapter of the freedom of expression group Article 19 has issued [...]

An Egyptian journalist covering Wednesday’s clashes outside the presidential palace in Heliopolis between Islamist supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi has been declared clinically dead after sustaining gunshot wounds to the head. 33-year-old Al Husseini Abou Deif —who worked for the independent Al Fagr newspaper — is the latest journalist to become a victim of the violence while reporting on the protests in Egypt. Another Egyptian journalist was killed while covering the 18-day mass uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak last year. Several journalists, Egyptian and foreign, have also reported assaults, sexual molestation and intimidation while trying to tell the story of Egypt’s turbulent transition. An witness who was standing next to Abou Deif when he was gunned [...]

Kim Kardashian flew into Bahrain’s capital today to launch the country’s first Millions of Milkshakes shop — but “sources” close to the reality TV star told TMZ that her trip to Kuwait and Bahrain is about more than promoting frozen drinks. According to the celebrity-stalking website, Kardashian wants to “use her celebrity to raise awareness about important issues in the area”, and while in Kuwait a few days ago she met with the US Ambassador to the country, Matthew Tueller. Before heading out to the region, Kardashian tweeted that the purpose of her trip was to “set the record straight”: According to TMZ, Kardashian will also be meeting with “local leaders”, but I have a feeling that won’t include human rights [...]

International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November, and since the start of the month, the campaign has highlighted activists, journalists, and dissidents who have suffered from impunity. Today the campaign highlights Bahraini activist Zainab Alkhawaja, who has been in and out of prison for her work speaking out against human rights abuses in the country.   It’s hard to keep track of how many times Bahraini Twitter activist Zainab AlKhawaja, 28, has been in and out of jail. AlKhawaja (@angryarabiya) has faced more than a dozen charges this year alone for speaking out about human rights violations in Bahrain, where dozens of people have been killed since pro-democracy protests began in February 2011. Officially, AlKhawaja has been jailed for “illegally” [...]

Journalists and activists were arrested and brutally attacked on Saturday, 17 November during an opposition protest in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. Despite wearing clearly-marked press jackets, a number of independent reporters were assaulted, including Yeni Musavat newspaper correspondent Farahim Ilgaroglu, Turan Information Agency eporter Etimad Budagov, Media Forum correspondent Amid Suleymanov and Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) correspondent Rasim Aliyev. There were also reports that those trying to photograph or video the protest were prevented from doing so — either through intimidation or direct violence. According to some reports, up to 30 opposition activists were arrested. As part of its commitments to a number of  human rights treaties including the European Convention on Human Rights, Azerbaijan must respect its [...]