@jemimahsteinfeld
CEO @indexoncensorship.org and journalist. Chat mostly human rights, free speech, politics, climate & China. Sometimes in Guardian, BBC, Independent, Prospect, Times, CNN etc. Author of book on sex & youth in China.
Seeing a lot of ayatollah apologists right now, including on this platform.
Not sure why some find it so hard to condemn both Netanyahu, Trump - and Iran’s regime?
Dubai influencers suddenly realising they’re in the service of a repressive regime. What a story of our times. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
Last year, the Russian authorities passed a slew of new laws set to come into force on March 1, 2026. Here’s how these rules, now in effect, will change everyday life in the country.
meduza.io/en/feature/2...
🚨📚⛔️#USA: In an extreme escalation of book bans, federal lawmakers have proposed a so-called “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act”. The bill would strip federal funding from schools nationwide that carry so-called “sexually oriented material”. 1/5
Here’s Hong Kong trying to pretend that it has rule of law and due process. Don’t be fooled #FreeJimmyLai hongkongfp.com/2026/02/26/b...
They beat a blind refugee who speaks no English for failing to obey police commands he could not understand. Then instead of apologizing, they charged him with possession of a “weapon”—HIS WALKING STICK. Then they dumped him miles from home without notifying anyone, after which he was found dead.
So pleased that the project to directly work with women in Afghanistan is ramping up. We can’t reach all women but in the few we do we hope many understand this - they are not forgotten. Here’s the latest letter - www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/02/unwr...
Today marks four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of #Ukraine.
Four years of senseless bloodshed. We continue to unequivocally condemn the violence and aggression and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
Revisit some of our coverage since the invasion⬇️
Narges Mohammadi is sentenced to more years in prison, this time an extra 7.5 years.
Why don’t the Iranian authorities just admit they have no intention of releasing her.
Like the tens of thousands they slaughtered they’re terrified of what she has to say.
Parking the fact that Lai is guilty of no crime according to any reasonable definition of crime, the HK court could have granted clemency, freed him & spun it as them being great and kind. That they didn’t shows just how fearful of Lai’s message they are. Hold on to that.
I had a lot of emotions following the Lai sentencing. So I wrote about them www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/02/we-m...
The others pleaded guilty in the hope that their sentences would be shorter.* Which they are. But are punishingly lengthy still.
*And, I'm sure this came into the equation for some of them: to avoid paying expensive legal fees. Which has to be factored into the lawfare being waged in Hong Kong.
The world has failed Jimmy Lai and his family. What a travesty
Just seen Trump post the most flat-out racist thing yet, which I don’t wish to repost. But I really hope any remaining fence sitters finally hop off and land on the side of respect, kindness and decency.
They don’t just cut ribbons! They’re the head of our state. It’s scandalous the way they’re treated as if above the law.
#China: Two journalists - Liu Hu and Wu Yingjiao - have been detained because of their reporting, which looked into corruption by a senior official. This is the kind of public-interest reporting that journalists are supposed to do. They should be released immediately.
Thank you :)
Of all the horrible things I’ve written about recently in the world this is the story that really broke me. Cruelty on top of cruelty on top of cruelty.
www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/02/in-i...
Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning.
Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.
It feels wrong to focus on an arrest amid mass slaughter but that instinct itself is misleading. An arrest by that regime is still an egregious act, and outrage doesn’t need to be reserved for the worst possible outcome.
#USA: Extremely concerned by the arrest of journalist #DonLemon for filming a protest. A federal magistrate judge reportedly declined to approve the arrest, raising serious questions about respect for the rule of law, as well as press freedom.
“Keen to learn & receptive”, “a huge Liverpool fan”, “he really loved Belarus”, “great fun!” That’s how lots of us remember our colleague Andrei who is spending his 5th year behind bars in Belarus for helping pro-democracy protesters.
I want him out. Now.
www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/01/bela...
Today our friend and former colleague #AndreiAliaksandrau spends another birthday behind bars in #Belarus.
Watch as Margaret Atwood, Nadya from Pussy Riot, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore & Trevor Phillips come together to recite his poem.
The authorities must #FreeAndrei ⬇️
youtu.be/PtYfwV-sTNA?...
I want to say this too: this victory was won because we had observers EVERYWHERE. ICE and CBP couldn't set foot in our city without cameras rolling. Much of the nation seemed determined to ignore our plight for weeks, but the avalanche of documentation we produced dragged the nation to us.
“Children suffered “so much psychological stress that parents said they were hitting their own faces or wetting themselves despite being potty-trained”.
Description from an ICE detention centre. And to protest this you run the risk of being killed.
It’s a disgrace what’s happening in the USA.
NEW: this is how the US press would report on this if it was happening in a ‘shithole country’. It’s an execution. But it also reveals how weak Trump really is
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
struck by how much places that do not usually do political journalism have stepped up in this time.
A really good read if you want more context to what’s happening in Uganda right now. And from a beautiful writer no less
Imagine facing a decade in jail simply for lighting candles to memorialise the dead. That’s Hong Kong justice for you www.bbc.com/news/article...