Free speech is under attack, from Beijing to Istanbul | Timothy Garton Ash

Britain, the land of George Orwell, must stand up against this anti-liberal tide, and keep its government’s hands off the BBC

Wherever you look, free speech is under attack. In China, an independent-minded journalist disappears at the airport, one of many to be detained, censored and intimidated. In Egypt, an Italian student researching for his Cambridge University doctorate is found tortured and murdered, while hundreds of bloggers and activists have been detained. In Turkey, two prominent journalists are sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for publishing an important story about covert Turkish arms deliveries to Syria, while two more receive two-year sentences for reprinting cartoons from Charlie Hebdo. Since 2014 some 1,845 suits have been filed against people alleged to have “insulted” the thin-skinned Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Related: Turkish journalist Can Dündar jailed after surviving gun attack

What can we do? Secure free speech at home. Support those defending it in far more difficult conditions abroad

Related: The Guardian view on the Jan Böhmermann affair: no joke

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