Poet will stay behind bars, having been sentenced to 3 years in prison and 10 000 Egyptian pounds (480 euros) fine in the Military Court in Cairo.

A fifth lawsuit has been filed against musician Ferhat Tunç, this time for “insulting the then Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım” on Twitter in 2016.

Russian theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov has been released from house arrest after 20 months of detention and announced his return to work.

Russian authorities have cancelled a youth theatre play for promoting “hatred against men and non-traditional family relations”.

The Tagansky Court in Moscow, Russia upheld the ban of the rapper Husky´s clip Judas as legal.

Swedish metal band Watain’s concert in Singapore was cancelled following concerns about its "history of denigrating religions and promoting violence".

Poet Abdirahman Abees has been released from custody in Somaliland after a court found he "exercised his freedom of expression" with his poetry readings.

Freemuse is pleased to learn that artist, activist and journalist Zehra Doğan has been released from a Turkish prison.

Uyghur singer Sanubar Tursun was due to perform in France in February, but she hasn't been seen in months.

Freemuse joins over 100 musicians, writers and artists calling on the Ugandan government to drop a draft law limiting artistic freedom of expression.