Poet Naema Ahmed Ibrahim was sentenced in Hargeisa to three years in prison on 15 April 2018 on charges of statements she allegedly made in Mogadishu.

Poet Galal El-Behairy has been detained on charges of insulting the Egyptian army and Islam over lyrics for a song and latest poetry book.

Renowned science fiction and children’s stories author, activist and professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal was stabbed on 3 March 2018 a student at an Islamic school who claimed he attacked the writer because he was "an enemy of Islam".

Since the start of 2018, Egyptian courts have sentenced at least three women singers to prison for music that was considered to be immoral and insulting to Egypt.

On 23 January 2018, musician and 2010 Freemuse Award winner Ferhat Tunç was presented with a third indictment in four months over political messages posted on his social media.

Zimbabwean musician Jeys Marabini and his band were attacked by audience members for singing in their native IsiNdebele language during their performance at the inauguration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Croatian National Broadcaster HRT 2 temporarily removed, then later postponed, the broadcast of Pavo Marinković’s film “Ministry of Love” due to protests in front of the station by a war victims, veterans, and widowers.

Syrian filmmaker Muhammad Bayazid was stabbed on 10 October 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey, at a fundraising meeting for his upcoming movie "The Tunnel".

Egyptian female singer and dancer Fatma, popularly known as Eghraa was arrested on 20 December 2017 on charges of “inciting debauchery” and “violating public decency” for the viral music video of her song “I Want a Man”.

On 2 January 2018, Egyptian authorities arrested female singer Laila Amer on charges of “violating public decency” and “inciting debauchery” in a video for her song “Bos Omak” in which the singer belly dances and makes “provocative gestures”.