Iranian artist Atena Farghadani has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her works depicting national politicians as monkeys and goats as protest over plans to outlaw voluntary sterilisation and restrict access to contraception.  “Atena Farghadani has effectively been punished for her cartoons with a sentence that is itself a gross caricature of justice,” says Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for  Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa. (more…)

Pu Zhiqiang, the lawyer representing Ai Weiwei in his case to reclaim his visa from the Chinese has been arrested and detained by the government, after attending a meeting commemorating the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.  “The current suppression of rights lawyers is worse than in the 2011 ‘Jasmine’ period” says friend and colleague Teng Biao. (more…)