Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world. It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments in the field.
It’s graduation time: a moment of pageantry in gowns, caps, tassels, balloons, and in the many dais speeches about the future. But are the students being heard?
Two years since Columbia students sparked the largest anti-war movement across universities since the Vietnam War, campuses are not exactly silent. During Yale’s graduation ceremony this Monday, May 18, graduates held up protest signs, urging Yale to divest from Israel and weapons manufacturers, as unions demanded higher wages nearby. At Columbia’s own commencement on Wednesday, a few boos broke out.
Legal disputes continue. Last Friday, current and former students of the University of Texas at Dallas sued school officials and police over arrests at an anti-war protest and suspension of a pro-Palestinian group. Students even secured legal victories, as in the case of Columbia, when a court found the university’s disciplinary actions against protesters were “arbitrary and capricious”—see CGFoE’s analysis here.
Despite that, campus protests remain muted today. “[T]here is a sense or a recognition that the official and unofficial consequences of speaking out can be severe, and even life-altering,” Jameel Jaffer, Executive Director, the Knight First Amendment Institute, told The Yale Daily News. The case of Rümeysa Öztürk, featured this week, is only one chilling example: an international graduate student, Öztürk was unlawfully detained—by masked, plainclothes ICE agents—in retaliation for an op-ed she co-authored.
Last month, after completing her PhD, Öztürk chose to return to Türkiye, her home country. In a statement, she described US actions against her as “state-imposed violence and hostility” and expressed solidarity with other scholars who face fear and penalties based on their work and advocacy. “I invite all universities to do better about listening and valuing all of their students as equal community members,” Öztürk added, “rather than favoring some and silencing others.”
Photo: Protest at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on May 18, 2026. Credit: Ad Valvas
This Monday, May 18, Dutch police dispersed a pro-Palestine sit-in at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, thrashing batons, injuring two people, and arresting 22, after a campus protest escalated into the occupation of a building. VU maintained “the police intervention was necessary to ensure safety and order” on campus. “The demonstrators wanted to talk to VU,” a student union representative, who served as a liaison between the university administration and protesters, said. “That’s why they staged this occupation: to be heard.”
India
Nadia v. Ambedkar University
Decision Date: March 13, 2026
The High Court of Delhi ruled in favor of Nadia, a student, who was expelled for allegedly participating in a campus sit-down protest, which the university claimed violated a prior court order restricting her from such demonstrations. Despite her assertion that she “was merely present at the protest site to meet a friend,” the University penalized her. The Court reasoned that educational establishments must promote independent reasoning, and suppressing non-violent assemblies violates constitutional protections for free speech. Moreover, the Court deemed the expulsion an excessively harsh penalty.
United States
Rümeysa Öztürk v. Donald J. Trump
Decision Date: December 8, 2025
A United States District Court granted a preliminary injunction, ordering the government to reactivate a student’s foreign study record. The student had been arrested and detained and had her visa and study record terminated without clear notice or consistent justification (likely as a result of her authoring a student newspaper editorial about the university’s response to Israeli violations of international law), which resulted in the loss of her ability to continue her studies, work, and maintain related academic opportunities. The Court found a strong likelihood of success on the merits under the Administrative Procedure Act, and irreparable harm from the disruption to the student’s academic and professional development and concluded that the balance of equities and public interest favored relief, emphasizing that the government has no legitimate interest in maintaining unlawful action.
European Court of Human Rights
Khaghaghutyan Yerkkhosutyun v. Armenia
Decision Date: December 4, 2025
The European Court of Human Rights held that Armenia violated the right to freedom of expression of a non‑governmental organization by refusing to provide information about non‑combat deaths in the country’s armed forces. The NGO had requested detailed official data on fatalities occurring between 1994 and 2014 in order to analyze systemic problems and contribute to public debate, but the Ministry of Defense denied access, citing national security. The Court accepted that the refusal had a legal basis and pursued the legitimate aim of protecting national security. However, it found that the domestic courts had failed to carry out a proper proportionality analysis and did not give “relevant and sufficient” reasons for keeping the entire set of requested information secret. As a result, the blanket denial was not “necessary in a democratic society” and breached Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
● US: Reconstructing Free Expression. As part of its new initiative in response to the “full-scale assault on First Amendment rights,” the Knight First Amendment Institute is running a blog channel, with recent articles on support for local journalism, the role of independent public media, and the “Media Individualism Complex.” In related news, Joseph Zuloaga traces the Knight Institute’s past decade for the Columbia Daily Spectator. “We are, as a country, in this really perilous moment,” Executive Director Jameel Jaffer told Zuloaga. “I hope that the institute can play an important part in bringing the country back from that brink and building a stronger system of free expression that is more resistant to authoritarian impulses and attacks.”
● Serbia: Solidarity with Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation. Media freedom groups stand in solidarity with the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation after last week’s court decision ordered it to pay more than one million dinars (8,812 EUR) in damages. On May 15, the Second Basic Court in Belgrade held that the foundation had defamed those acquitted of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, a prominent Serbian editor and newspaper founder. In the case of Ćuruvija, who was assassinated in 1999, impunity persists: in 2024, the Appeals Court acquitted the accused on all charges—read CGFoE’s earlier analysis here. Ćuruvija’s daughter Jelena referred to the latest setback as “the double injustice of being denied justice for 27 years and now being on the defendant’s bench [ourselves].”
● Americas: Tackling Arbitrary Digital Surveillance, by Verdiana Alimonti. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a guide for governments in the Americas to address the widespread abuses of digital surveillance by states. Based on the guarantees of privacy, data protection, and access to information established by the Inter-American Human Rights System, EFF outlines the safeguards and institutional mechanisms required to protect individuals across the region. “The cost of inaction is measured in eroded democracy, chilled expression, and diminished trust between states and their citizens,” the report warns.
On Saturday, May 16, in London, the UK, tens of thousands marched for two rival demonstrations—a far-right rally and a counter-march, which also marked Nakba Day—resulting in 43 arrests. In other Nakba commemorations: in Cape Town, South Africa, protesters demonstrated at the country’s oldest remaining colonial building; police beat and pepper-sprayed protesters in Berlin, Germany; in Paris, France, 6 were arrested for unfurling a Palestinian flag on the Eiffel Tower. Also on Saturday, in Vienna, Austria, thousands protested Eurovision’s inclusion of Israel, while Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, and Slovenia boycotted the song contest. That day in Tunis, Tunisia, an anti-government protest denounced the economic crisis and the crackdown on dissent. On Monday, in Caracas, Venezuela, students protested for justice for political prisoners after the death of a mother whose son died in custody.
As fuel prices hit a record high, protests erupted in Nairobi and across Kenya. On Monday, May 18, public transport operators launched a nationwide strike. Clashes with the police led to several deaths, dozens of injuries, and hundreds of arrests.
Background & Demands: With the global oil market disrupted by the US-Israel war against Iran, Kenya’s energy regulator raised retail fuel prices by 23.5% last week, after a 24.2% hike the previous month. Transport fares and costs of basic goods increased sharply. “This action is not only for transport operators, but for every Kenyan citizen,” said the Transport Sector Alliance, calling for protests and demanding a rollback of the price increases. Earlier protests, “Total Shutdown Tuesday,” took place last month.
Significance: The nationwide strike and protests paralyzed the country early this week. Kenya has experienced recurring cycles of economic unrest since 2023, with the 2024 Gen Z uprising and sustained protests in 2025.
State Response: Anti-riot police used tear gas, clashing with protesters; witnesses said police had opened fire in Nairobi. More than 700 people were arrested in connection with the protests, which the interior minister described as “illegal.” The Law Society of Kenya and the Police Reforms Working Group documented the detention and hospitalization of a Nairobi Central Station Police Commander, following his decision to release 64 protesters on bond.
Toll: At least four people were killed, and more than 30 were injured.
Results: On Tuesday, May 19, transport operators suspended the nationwide strike for one week to allow consultations with the government.
FoE Violations: The protests unfolded against a well-documented background of systematic restrictions on protest rights in Kenya. A coalition of human rights groups, including Amnesty International Kenya, urged all actors to exercise restraint and protect the right to peaceful assembly and expression, calling for investigations of the killings. The coalition also explicitly rejected the government’s “economic sabotage” narrative, used against protesters, as “far-fetched and disproportionate.”
● New Resource: CFOM Launches Online Training on SLAPPs. The Centre for Freedom of the Media at the University of Sheffield just launched a training tool focused on how to recognize Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs).
● IWMF Announces Winners of the 2026 Courage in Journalism Awards. The International Women’s Media Foundation honors Elaheh and Elnaz Mohammadi (Iran), Georgia Fort (the United States), Nay Min Ni (Myanmar), and Frenchie Mae Cumpio (the Philippines) for their commitment to exposing the truth under extreme danger and pressure.
This newsletter is reproduced with the permission of Global Freedom of Expression. For an archive of previous newsletters, see here.
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