The week in free expression 31 October – 7 November

Bombarded with news from all angles every day, important stories can easily pass us by. To help you cut through the noise, every Friday Index publishes a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression. This week, we look at journalists under threat in Sudan and a Russian street musician continuing to take a stand.

Sudan: RSF releases video of missing journalist

Sudan’s RSF (Rapid Support Forces) have released a video admitting to the detention of a missing journalist.

Muammar Ibrahim, a freelance journalist, went missing on 26 October in El-Fasher, with a video circulating on Telegram of him being surrounded by armed men.

Ibrahim was thought to have been detained by RSF fighters, a fact that was confirmed in a video released by the RSF on 3 November in which Ibrahim is accused of being biased, and himself states that the investigation against him is due to his description of the RSF as a militia.

The video follows a statement from an RSF spokesperson to Al-Jazeera in which he said: “I have no knowledge of the arrest of Sudanese journalist Muammar Ibrahim”

Bahrain: Calls for release of prisoner after hunger strike

Calls have been made for the release of a prominent human rights defender in Bahrain following a hunger strike.

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, co-founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been imprisoned in Bahrain since 2011 and is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in demonstrations during the pro-democracy uprisings in the country.

This coincides with a wider hunger strike throughout Bahrain’s Jaw prison involving more than 90 prisoners who are protesting against deteriorating conditions in the prison. This type of protest is not uncommon in the prison, with 800 prisoners taking part in a 2023 hunger strike.

Russia: Another sentence for 18-year-old street protest singer

Russian street musician Diana Loginova, also known as Naoko, has been sentenced to 13 days in jail for her performances of banned songs that went viral recently.

Loginova is the singer of St Petersberg band Stoptime, known for their street performances around the city.

This is the second detention she has faced in the last month, having just finished her previous sentence of 13 days; the singer still faces charges of discrediting the army, a charge that may lead to longer imprisonment.

Watch the video of one of Stoptime’s performances that has caused these charges here. For non-Russian speakers, the translation is here.

Tanzania: Crackdown on protest after incumbent wins 98% of presidential vote

A violent crackdown has begun following country-wide demonstrations that erupted during last week’s presidential elections in Tanzania.

Opposition party Chadema claims there have been 2,000 people killed so far, however these numbers have not been independently verified. The government has denied the use of excessive force against protesters.

The demonstrations began on election day last week and led to the deployment of the military to enforce a curfew across the city of Dar es Salaam.

On 1 November Tanzania’s electoral body declared Samia Suluhu Hassan, the incumbent president, winner with 97.66% of votes. Most of her rivals were either imprisoned or barred from taking part in the elections.

Internet watchdog Netblocks announced on 3 November that a five-day internet shutdown had been eased.

USAI: Trump facsimile takes the stage

US President Donald Trump has been accused of posting AI-generated videos of himself on social media again this week.

Trump is no stranger to AI video generation at this point, becoming a regular poster of content such as a video depicting himself flying a fighter jet and images of himself as a character from the Halo video games.

As AI videos become more and more realistic, Trump’s use of the technology sets an alarming precedent for its use by politicians globally, with the risk of it being used against political enemies increasing daily.

Watch one of the uncanny videos here, in which the apparent AI Trump stands behind a podium and recites his own TruthSocial posts.