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]

Lawyer: Turkey arrested journalists to deter foreign media
A lawyer representing two Vice News journalists and their assistant has denounced a Turkish court’s decision to arrest them on terror-related charges, calling it a government attempt to deter foreign media from reporting on the conflict with Kurdish rebels. AP
 
“They won’t break me,” says jailed Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova
As Khadija Ismayilova is given a seven-and-a-half year jail term, she tells judges that witnesses were pressured and testimony based on coercion and forgery. IWPR
 
Cameroon frees journalist arrested for investigating condition of Nigerian refugees
Cameroonian authorities on Tuesday freed a Lagos-based Cameroonian journalist, Simon Ateba, after detaining him for four days in the country’s far north region. Ateba was arrested by security forces while investigating the suffering of Nigerians who fled to Cameroon following attacks by Boko Haram on their communities. PREMIUM TIMES
 
Newspaper columnist kidnapped from her home in Nigeria
Nigerian newspaper columnist Donu Kogbara was abducted from her home early Sunday. Unidentified gunmen entered Kogbara’s home in Port Harcourt city, capital of Rivers state, captured the journalist, and drove her away in a jeep. CPJ
 
Yemen’s Houthi rebels thought to be holding 11 journalists hostage
At least 11 journalists are currently being held hostage by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Nine of the 11 journalists were abducted at the same time on 9 June from a Sanaa hotel. It is not known where the 11 are being held or what has happened to them. IFEX
 
China ramps up online censorship ahead of military parade
State-owned news agency Xinhua reported late on Wednesday that authorities detained and fined at least 15 people for spreading online rumors about “inside stories” and “reform programs” of China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army. CNBC
 
Documentary ‘The Wan Trial’ goes inside Thailand’s latest attack on the press
Since 2009, Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian have reported on the plight of Rohingya refugees who have fled violence in their native Myanmar only to become victims of human trafficking while seeking refuge in Thailand. In 2013, they were arrested and charged with criminal defamation and computer crimes HUFFINGTON POST
 
Judge: Rights of ‘tens of millions violated’ by NSA phone data program
A federal judge, whose ruling against the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone data was overturned by an appeals court last week, maintained Wednesday that he believed the surveillance program violated the constitutional rights of “tens of millions of people every single day.” USA TODAY
 
Book Review: The Red Web – Russia’s attack on internet freedoms
The Red Web is a masterful account of the struggle between two opposing forces – the Kremlin and its longstanding desire to control information versus the unruly and horizontally mediated world of ordinary digital citizens. THE GUARDIAN