PEN’s Free Expression Digest brings you a daily curated round-up of the most important free expression-related stories from around the web. Subscribe here. *This mailing list is currently in BETA as we work out the kinks. Please send your feedback and suggestions to [email protected]

Egypt sentences 3 Al-Jazeera journalists to 3 years in prison
An Egyptian court sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed, and Peter Greste to three years in prison on Saturday for “spreading false news.” Rights advocates say their arrest is part of an ongoing crackdown on free speech. REUTERS

Azerbaijan: Court interrupts Ismayilova’s statement; verdict postponed
A verdict for investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova has been delayed once again. Ismayilova was reading a statement she had prepared for the final day of her trial when the court stopped the proceedings and adjourned the case until tomorrow. OCCRP

Egypt summons British ambassador after his critique of ruling against journalists
The Egyptian foreign ministry said Sunday that it had summoned the British ambassador to object to his comments on a recent court ruling to jail Al Jazeera journalists for three years, escalating the government’s defense of its crackdown on dissent.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
 
Two British journalists from Vice News detained in southeast Turkey
Turkish anti-terrorist police have detained a journalist, a cameraman and a fixer for Vice News for reporting from the predominantly Kurdish southeast without government accreditation, security sources said on Friday. They were filming clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants, the sources said. REUTERS
 
China arrests nearly 200 over ‘online rumors’
Chinese authorities have arrested 197 people who are accused of spreading rumors on social media about the recent stock market crash and the deadly explosion at Tianjin earlier this month. NPR
 
Canadian government suspends scientist for folk song about prime minister
Tony Turner, an environmental scientist working for a Canadian government agency, has been suspended and will be investigated for recording a protest song about the prime minister, Stephen Harper. In his spare time, Turner is “a mainstay on the Ottawa folk music scene,” according to a bio on his website. THE GUARDIAN
 
Fake EFF site serving espionage malware was likely active for 3+ weeks
A spear-phishing campaign some researchers say is linked to the Russian government masqueraded as the Electronic Frontier Foundation in an attempt to infect targets with malware that collects passwords and other sensitive data. ARS TECHNICA
 
Speech that enables speech: China takes aim at its coders
The maintainer of GoAgent, one of China’s more popular censorship circumvention tools, was forced to empty out the project’s main source code repositories last week. Technologists are now facing the same political scrutiny and intimidation in authoritarian regimes as independent writers, publishers, poets or journalists. EFF