“Sudan muffles critical speech through a long menu of direct and indirect tactics, violating the basic freedoms enshrined in the constitution,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Sudan should stop trying to silence anyone who says anything the government doesn’t like.”

Although Sudan’s 15 daily political newspapers have a greater semblance of freedom than the state-controlled broadcast media, the newspapers are subject to various methods of censorship and punitive measures for publishing articles on sensitive issues. The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is largely responsible for these tactics.

On April 3, 2013, NISS re-imposed direct pre-printing censorship on at least four independent dailies: al-Ayyam, al-Sahafa, al-Khartoum, and al-Youm al-Tali. The first two are being censored directly, required to clear the content of each edition with NISS officials in advance. The other two were later exempted from this process, but are still getting phone calls from security officials directing their coverage.

For example, after a police mutiny in West Darfur on April 21, an NISS official called al-Khartoum newspaper, one of the paper’s editors told Human Rights Watch: “They told us not to mention a single word outside the official statement of the Ministry of Interior on the events.”

On March 24, NISS confiscated al-Khartoum’s print run because the newspaper published a report about a protest planned by the families of six political detainees. Most of the detainees have been held for almost four months without any judicial review because they held talks in January with rebel groups in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

When the paper’s editors asked the NISS official who had the issue confiscated for an explanation, he said the paper “has already crossed the red lines too many times,” the editor told Human Rights Watch.

In September 2009, President Omar Al-Bashir announced the end of more than a year of pre-publication censorship for all newspapers, a system under which NISS officials visited the newspaper offices every night to screen draft copies and expunge any objectionable content on a long list of sensitive issues.

The banned topics included the armed conflicts in the country’s peripheries and the indictment of Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC). In announcing the decision to lift censorship, al-Bashir warned journalists not to cross the “red lines” and required chief editors of newspapers to sign a document obliging them to exercise “self-censorship.”

However, NISS officials continued to use various tactics to exercise censorship, ranging from making phone calls to issuing orders about coverage to confiscating entire editions or shutting down newspapers without court orders. On January 2, 2012, the NISS closed down the anti-government Ray Al-Sha’b and 10 days later the privately owned al-Wan, both without explanation. Al-Wan was allowed to resume publishing on March 15, 2012 while Ray Al-Sha’b remains closed.

On June 11, the NISS director-general, Mohammed Atta, suspended publication of the privately owned newspaper al-Tayyar, which remains closed. NISS suspended another privately owned daily, al-Jareeda, on September 27, but allowed it to resume publishing on December 15.

In August 2011, following South Sudan’s independence from Sudan, the NISS closed down six newspapers, including the anti-government Ajrass al-Hurriya, on the pretext that their shareholders include citizens from South Sudan. And in mid-2012, the government again stepped up harassment of journalists and censorship in the aftermath of fighting between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces at Heglig oil fields. In late 2011 and early 2012, NISS effectively blacklisted 15 journalists.

While many of the journalists were later allowed to resume work, Rasha Awad, a columnist, has not been permitted to write since NISS shut down Ajrass al-Hurriya, where she had worked. Haidar al-Mukashfi, a prominent columnist at al-Sahafa, was suspended for nearly a year, beginning on April 24, 2012, when he was summoned to the NISS media office in Khartoum, interrogated for four hours and ordered not to write again until he received further notice. He was only allowed to resume writing on April 12, 2013, after his editor-in-chief obtained permission from NISS.

More recently, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper al-Sahafa, al-Nur Ahmad al-Nur, said that NISS ordered him on April 3 to resign from his position because of articles the paper had run, or the NISS would ensure that the paper was closed down for good.

Sudan’s National Security Act of 2010 gives the NISS sweeping powers of arrest, search and seizure as well as immunity from prosecution for its agents. Sudan’s interim constitution of 2005 guarantees freedom of the press, however, and does not give the security apparatus any powers of arrest or authority over the press.

Sudan is a party to both the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and as such has undertaken legally binding obligations to respect free speech. The actions of the NISS against journalists and media outlets clearly violate these obligations, and the rights of Sudanese citizens, Human Rights Watch said.

“The security agency officials’ intimidation and threats of the news media are clearly designed to ensure that the Sudanese people are kept in the dark about sensitive topics that are of huge public interest” Bekele said. “The security’s agency’s censorship also underscores the need for urgent reform of national security laws in line with international standards.”

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, expressed concern that legal proceedings initiated against several media outlets in Kazakhstan might severely undermine media pluralism in the country.

“I recall that during my recent official visit to Astana the authorities assured me of their commitment to further improve media freedom. Recent developments, which may result in the closure of up to 30 media outlets, would send just the opposite message,” Mijatović said.

The office of the Almaty Chief Prosecutor on 20 November sent a petition to courts demanding that they close dozens of newspapers, television stations and websites on extremism charges. Among these media outlets are newspapers Vzglyad, Respublika and Golos Respubliki; K+ television station; and online news sites respublika-kz.info and stan.tv.

“In the letters I sent to Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov and Presidential Adviser Yermukhamet Yertisbayev on this matter, I stated that the courts should investigate the prosecutors’ demand with due consideration for media freedom and media pluralism. It is of utmost importance that print and online information resources remain accessible to the public in Kazakhstan,” said Mijatović.

“The government and the judiciaries should not fight threats to our societies on allegations alone, thereby jeopardizing media pluralism, which is a vital OSCE commitment. I remain hopeful that the Kazakh authorities will find a solution that will honor their OSCE media freedom commitments.”

Mijatović said she would continue to follow media developments in the country closely.

Freedom of expression seems to be very limited in Azerbaijan, the host of the upcoming United Nations-sponsored Internet Governance Forum (IGF). At least eight journalists and three human rights defenders are in jail, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper published today.

The 10-page briefing paper describes Azerbaijan’s record of imprisoning journalists, human rights defenders, and political opposition activists, in most cases on bogus criminal charges, in apparent retaliation for their political activism.

Among the journalists behind bars in Azerbaijan is Avaz Zeynalli, editor of Khural, a newspaper known for its tough criticism of public officials. Zeynalli’s reporting implicated in corruption a member of parliament from the ruling party who pressed dubious extortion charges against him. Zeynalli was arrested in October 2011 and is currently on trial.

The situation is unfortunate, especially since the Internet Government Forum is planned to take place in Baku from November 6 to 9, 2012; and this year’s theme is the role of Internet governance in promoting development. The annual meeting convened by the United Nations Secretary-General brings together governments, civil society, and others as equal partners to discuss public policy issues related to the Internet.

“The Internet Governance Forum’s theme recognizes the role Internet technologies play in enabling human development,” said Giorgi Gogia, senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Azerbaijan should protect its citizens’ ability to express themselves online and off without fear of reprisal.”

The international community expects to see formal convener of the Internet Governance Forum, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remind the Azerbaijan government of its human rights obligations, Gogia said. “The forum’s mandate includes strengthening civic engagement in Internet governance,” he continued, as “The best way for the Azerbaijani government to do this is by improving human rights.”

“The cases against Zeynalli sends chilling messages to journalists who dare to use media, including social media, to express their concerns about government actions,” Gogia said. “As a sign of commitment to the IGF’s human development focus, the government should release Zeynalli, and others who have been targeted for nothing else but speaking their minds.”

Azerbaijani authorities have also failed to hold accountable the people responsible for assaults and harassment against journalists. The briefing paper describes how Idrak Abbasov, a journalist for the Azerbaijani media watchdog Institute for Reporters’ Freedoms and Safety, was attacked in broad daylight by Azerbaijan State Oil Company (SOCAR) security guards when he was filming house demolitions. Abbasov lost consciousness and was hospitalized with multiple bruises.

Azerbaijani authorities limit freedom of expression in other ways, including by breaking up peaceful protests, often with violence, and arresting and sentencing peaceful protesters, organizers, or participants. Since early 2006, authorities have not authorized a single opposition protest in the centre of Baku. On October 20, 2012, police rounded up dozens of protesters in an unsanctioned rally in central Baku, forcing them into police cars and buses. Many were fined and released, but at least 13 were sentenced to up to 10 days of detention.

“With the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku in May, this is the second time in six months that Baku is hosting a major international event,” Gogia said. “The government shouldn’t just try to use those events to enhance its public image.”

“I am concerned about the new indictment brought against Ahmet Şık, which threatens him with three to seven years’ imprisonment for comments he made upon leaving Silivri prison in March,” said the Representative. “The new charges add to the climate of intimidation that Turkish journalists face when expressing critical or differing views.”

Ahmet Şık was released pending trial on 12 March 2012, after spending one year in pre-trial detention. In the trial that continues in September, he faces up to 15 years in prison for membership of an alleged terrorist conspiracy known as Ergenekon. Upon leaving prison, he accused judges, prosecutors and police officers of a conspiracy that put him, among many others, in prison, and said that justice would be served when those officials were imprisoned. The new charges, collected by 39 judges and prosecutors, accuse him of threatening and insulting public officials.

“I hope that the charges against Ahmet Şık will be dropped soon. Freedom of expression can not stop at speech deemed appropriate by the authorities. In democracies even critical and offending statements must be protected by the law, and public officials must tolerate a higher level of criticism from society,” Mijatović said.

“Authorities should fight speech they deem offensive by encouraging more speech and greater debate of all issues of public importance,” the Representative added. “Punishing critical statements with imprisonment or the threat of incarceration not only runs against OSCE commitments that Turkey has taken upon itself to meet, it also significantly harms pluralistic discourse and can lead to silencing democratic debate in society.”

During her visit to Turkey last December, Mijatović called for the release of all journalists from prison, and in March she publicly welcomed the release, pending trial, of Ahmet Şik and other journalists.

“Attacks against journalists are attacks against democracy,” stressed the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, in a joint news release.

Presenting their respective reports to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the experts urged governments, the international community, as well as journalists and media organizations, to act decisively to protect the lives of journalists and media freedom. La Rue cited in particular “the continuing repression of journalists and media freedom worldwide, aimed at suppressing information deemed ‘inconvenient,’ and increasing restrictions placed on journalists who disseminate information through the Internet.”

“States continue to utilize criminal laws on defamation, national security and counterterrorism to suppress dissent and criticism, including on Government policies, human rights violations and allegations of corruption,” he noted, adding that, “such ‘judicial harassment’ generates a climate of fear and encourages self-censorship.” Mr. Heyns underscored that impunity is “a major, if not the main, cause” of the high number of journalists killed every year.

“The countries where the highest numbers of journalists are killed are also, almost without exception, those with the highest levels of impunity,” he said.

“It is hard to imagine a world without journalists. Without their work, humanity would be reduced to silence, and yet a large number are killed every year with almost total impunity,” he added, noting that journalists are among the persons who receive the most death threats.

The two experts put forward specific recommendations in their reports dealing with material, legal, and policing measures of protection, ranging from public condemnation of attacks against journalists, support for press freedom by senior government officials and greater accountability to fight impunity.

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

Till now, the Arab states were heavily involved in the economic prosperity of many Arab news organizations. They were able to apply pressure in several ways, most notably through ownership or advertising. An example is Al-Jazeera, which was funded by the Qatar’s royal family, and which avoids any broadcasts critical of Qatar’s royals. A similar example can be found in Egypt, where the Al-Ahram newspaper is the country’s strongest paper in circulation, and was owned by President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

In the Middle East, pressure on the media is exercised also via the purchase of advertisement, but to a more significant degree than in the West. If not following the directives of the government, publications can suddenly find themselves without their largest client, and be effectively put out of business. An example comes from the United Arab Emirates, where major newspapers might not be owned outright by the regime, but receive heavy government subsidies, and need to honour such generosity, demonstrating respect of it.

The result of this situation isn’t simple at all. As Noam Chomsky states in Manufacturing Consent, “censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.” If this stands, the Arab countries need a period of transition from the present state to more democratic regimes; only then journalists will feel free to properly investigate on topics now felt untouchable.

There is hope for this. Nowadays, a mechanism of great impact has been put into motion in the Middle East; in spite of every possible pressure, citizen-reporters send out bits of what is investigative journalism in its most embryonic form. As a result, the mainstream media try to reinvent themselves, because they cannot ignore the value of these forms of news coverage.

As expected, the space in which Arabs reporters seem to be more comfortable to post information as they please is the cyber space. In Egypt this has become a well-known form of factual narrative output, and the government has been watching it for a long time. As a result, bloggers have been arrested, detained, interrogated; their activity in reporting rallies, politics as commented upon on the road, and the actions of the labour movement in Egypt, has become a thorn in the side of the old regime.

Egyptian journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy stated in a video interview, taken by WorldFocus  in 2008, that his career as a journalism-blogger was built by writing about the factual, standing with one foot in cyberspace and the other on the road. Unfortunately, this kind of career in Egypt involved a routine of arrests, questioning and torture. Today, el-Hamalawy is recognized as a prominent journalist, activist and blogger. However, this does not signify a change of major relevance in the way journalists are perceived in his country. As he reports in the article for The Guardian, ‘In Egypt, Mubarak’s repression machine is still alive and well’ (16 May 2012), a mechanism of censorship continues to function in his country.

Another Egyptian journalist, Nora Younis, whose career was launched by her courage as a prominent blogger using new media tools – for which she was awarded the Human Rights First Award in New York (2008) – joined AlMasry AlYoum in the same year. She is currently the head of a qualified multimedia desk team, which works closely with reporters, photographers and caricaturists to bring news to her people in the most informative way. She is monitoring the state of investigative journalism and oversees citizen journalism pages as well, in the understanding that much has to be done to obtain freedom for the media.

The question remains: how long will take to the Arab world to give life to independent investigative journalism? And which shape will it take in the near future?

The matter is pressing, especially as Arab governments continue to control the media through licensing, or not, the right to record events, take pictures, and enter archives. What is more, Arab journalists must often obtain government permits to work, losing them if they get too pushy; and deal with the Arab media charters, introduced in 2008, which consolidated Arab states’ grip on information.

Watching the Arab fight for media freedom gives a great sense of hope to the many Arabs living in Greece. Their vision for a democratic Middle East is mesmerizing, and much can come from it. Hopefully, it will also bring some great pieces of investigative journalism, written by courageous and determined Arab journalists.