Syria's bloody crackdown on dissent does not discriminate by age: children as young as 13 have been detained and tortured with impunity by Syrian forces fighting opposition protests, documents Human Rights Watch in a new report.

Igor Vinyavsky, the editor-in-chief of one of the last remaining independent national newspapers in Kazakhstan, has a long history of being a thorn in the side of the Kazakh government. So IFEX members called his detention last month by Kazakhstan's security services "politically motivated." Adil Soz and 28 other IFEX members are rallying together for his release - and to draw attention to the growing trend of silencing those critical of the government in the wake of violent protests in Zhanaozen last December.

In a case that could have global implications, the UN Human Rights Committee for the first time has found that jailing a writer for libel represents a violation of freedom of expression, report the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) in the Philippines and the International Press Institute (IPI).

The Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council adopted the proposals of a working group that could be used to threaten the authority of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, report IFEX's Latin American and Caribbean group (IFEX-ALC), the International Press Institute (IPI) and other IFEX members.

Six men attacked a group of journalists seeking information pertaining to the killing of a 16-year old girl.

The Internet and mobile phones have opened up endless possibilities for free expression. But how best should we use this freedom? What limits should there be and what should be regulated by law? And who should decide? Oxford University has launched a multilingual platform, Free Speech Debate, to debate global norms for free expression - and wants you to join the conversation.

The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) is seeking nominations for its 2012 Courage in Journalism Awards, which honour women reporters around the world whose work puts them in danger. The deadline for nominations is 2 March 2012.

A Kampala court threw out forgery charges against managing editor Daniel Kalinaki and political editor Henry Ochieng.

"We alert the international community to this attempt to silence Ecuadorian journalists. This sentence is no more than a warning of what can happen to those who dare to investigate and denounce cases of corruption during the exercise of power," says Fundamedios.

IFJ issues its February 2012 bulletin on the state of press freedom in China.

Israeli forces raided the house of Suhaib Al-A’sa, arrested him and confiscated his mobile phones, recorder and his camera’s memory cards.

As the Tunisian Internet Agency has neither the financial resources nor technical capacity to establish a filtering system, it did not comply with the August 2011 court decision and referred the case to the country’s highest appeal court.

The website by the Andrey Rylkov Foundation advocates health-based drug policies and has been a vocal critic of the country's ban on methadone.

TFI journalist Jeremie Drieu and his local colleague Ahmad Salkida were in Jos to report on the recent unrest there when they were detained by soldiers who took them to a command center where they faced “increasingly hostile interrogation”, AP reported.

On February 5, the state-run MENA news agency announced that two investigative judges hand-picked by the government had referred 40 NGO staff to trial, both Egyptian and American nationals.

Alberto Rodríguez and Orian Brito posted images of armed children on their Twitter accounts and have, in the past, been critical of President Chávez.

Security services used excessive force against protesters headed towards the ministry of interior, arresting dozens and injuring hundreds.