From Bangladesh today comes news that prominent writer and blogger Avijit Roy was attacked and killed on a busy sidewalk as he and his wife Rafida Ahmed (seen with him in Twitter photo above) were returning from a Dhaka book fair Thursday night. She was injured but survived that attack. A group calling itself Ansar Bangla […]
Bangladeshi-American Blogger Murdered In Dhaka
As Egypt Sentences More Activists, Rights Groups Speak Out
Just last Sunday, Egyptian President President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi admitted that “innocent youths” may be held in Egyptian prisons, suggesting he would work for their release. The very next day, however, a Cairo court sentenced prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to five years in jail and fined him the equivalent of $13,000. El-Fattah […]
‘I Can’t Breathe’: Pussy Riot Releases Haunting New Video
One of my colleagues here at the VOA, corruption correspondent Jeffrey Young, drew my attention today to a new video by Russian “opposition rock” group, Pussy Riot–its first English-language single–titled “I Can’t Breathe.” It’s a tough video to watch: Singers Masha Alekhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova, dressed in the uniforms of Russia’s special riot police, are […]
Prominent Egyptian Youth Activist Gets Life In Prison
December 3, 2013: Ahmed Douma, an Egyptian youth activist who had played a prominent role in the April 6 youth movement, tweeted, “Security forces are arresting me this minute and taking me to Al-Basateen police station.” Later, he tweeted for the last time as a free man: “I’m now at Al-Basateen police station. I don’t […]