Global Free Speech

Global Free Speech covers international stories and trends affecting the right to speak, publish, and share ideas across borders. From government crackdowns to grassroots movements, this category highlights the global fight for free expression in diverse political and cultural landscapes.

Many in Hong Kong continue to fight against censorship (Diliff/WikiCommons) The website of The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK) has apparently been blocked in Hong Kong, the latest of a series of blockages in the city following the enactment of the draconian National Security Law (NSL) in 2020. Some using Hong Kong internet service providers including SmarTone, China Mobile Hong Kong, PCCW and CSL have found themselves unable to access the CFHK website. However, it appeared not to be a full blockage. The technical reason behind this remains to be investigated. Chloe Cheung, a former public affairs and advocacy manager at CFHK, was put on a Hong Kong police wanted list in December 2024 for “incitement to secession” and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security”, with a HK$1,000,000 (£94,400) bounty. In response to enquiries from Index on Censorship, a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Security Bureau replied: “Please approach the relevant internet service provider regarding the matter in question,” without confirming or denying the blockage. SmarTone, China Mobile Hong Kong, PCCW – CSL’s parent company – did not respond to emailed enquiries. The Security Bureau’s response was the same as the one given to Voice of America, when the news outlet reported in October 2024 that online magazine Flow HK, founded by exiled pro-democracy activists, was blocked. A month before the incident, the Hong Kong police had written to the American company Automattic Inc. – which is behind WordPress – demanding it take down Flow HK. Their request was declined and the website was subsequently blocked. Since last week, some using Hong Kong internet service providers including SmarTone, China Mobile Hong Kong, PCCW and CSL have found themselves unable to access the CFHK website The CFHK website home page (CFHK) The implementation rules for the Article 43 of NSL grants power to the Hong Kong police to require internet service providers to take down websites that are “likely to constitute an offence endangering national security or is likely to cause the occurrence of an offence endangering national security”. At least 10 websites have been blocked in Hong Kong since the enactment of the NSL, from the personal substack of American lawyer Samuel Bickett who writes about Hong Kong’s decline in human rights and sanction evasions, to UK-based advocacy group Hong Kong Watch and Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council. At least 10 websites have been blocked in Hong Kong since the enactment of the NSL Hong Kong has also blocked the online 8964 Museum, which commemorates the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China. Several Taiwanese websites have also been blocked, including the websites of the Transitional Justice Commission, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Responding to its website being blocked in Hong Kong, David Green, the head of UK communications for CFHK told Index on Censorship: “Requiring ISPs to participate in monitoring and censoring websites, deemed undesirable by the Chinese Communist Party, is reminiscent of how the mainland’s Great Firewall took shape. “If left uncontested, it’s only a matter of time before such blockages – of which there are already more than a few – multiply. Can we seriously expect the CCP to allow Hong Kongers continued access to the truth, now that they’ve criminalised remembrance of 4 June?” READ MORE

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The website of The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK) has apparently been blocked in Hong Kong, the…

Andrei and his wife Irina, following their release It is not often we share news with you that is so utterly joyous, but today marks one of those days. Our friend, former colleague and constant inspiration Andrei Aliaksandrau has been released from jail in Belarus. A journalist and political prisoner in President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s Belarus, Andrei’s stoicism and resilience epitomised the kind of democratic world so many Belarusians hope one day to build. We have always been proud to call Andrei a member of the Index family. For years we have campaigned and called for him to be let go, and while the news of his release alongside his wife Irina is welcome, it is a poignant reminder that so many in Belarus remain wrongfully detained. Index CEO Jemimah Steinfeld said: “It is hard to express the emotions of knowing our dear colleague Andrei is finally out of prison. After a long campaign – Andrei spent years in jail – it’s incredible to know he is at last free. Speaking on behalf of my colleagues, we are all overjoyed. “Andrei will never get back the time and it is hard to think of what he’s had to endure. Lukashenka’s Belarus remains rotten to the core, and Andrei’s release doesn’t change that. Many still languish in jail simply for asking for basic human rights and for democratic values. “Still, it provides comfort to think of him now reunited with his family, including his wife Irina who was also a political prisoner. Andrei is a lover of Scottish whisky and a Liverpool FC fan. I hope he can enjoy these and much more.” Detained in Correctional Colony No. 1, Andrei wrote this poem, which his colleagues at Index helped to translate from Belarusian to English. We’ll leave you with that: When you look out through the bars at the sky, It’s not bars you see but the sky overhead. Yesterday’s bread smells of mould and loss, but tomorrow’s smells like genuine bread.   You say: the sky is a trick of the light. But the bars are the trick of the light, I say! Because bars are a hashtag, just a habit, right? And this is the hashtag trending today.   Yet the sky cares nothing for hashtags at all, the sky has no thought for trends up ahead, it does not feel the ground where our feet fall, nor count the centuries and slices of bread.   The sky just draws clouds of cotton wool over time – this is all that goes on really. And the sky does not see any bars at all when it peers deep into the sky in me. READ MORE

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It is not often we share news with you that is so utterly joyous, but today marks one of those…

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