Threats from the state have led many journalists across the world to flee their home countries to report from elsewhere. But for many the intimidation did not stop when they left

Illustrations by Joe McKendry

Fardad Farahzad, journalist, Iran International

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Activists say little has changed in treatment of migrants and refugees under Donald Tusk’s new government

The case of a woman from Eritrea who was forced to give birth alone in the forested border area between Poland and Belarus has raised questions about the new Polish government’s response to the continuing humanitarian crisis at the border between the two countries.

The previous, rightwing government of the Law and Justice party (PiS) used the migration issue to score political points and was accused of encouraging rights abuses by guards along the border, with reports of frequent violent “pushbacks” of people to Belarus.

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Two Polish citizens detained earlier on suspicion of attacking Russian opposition figure Leonid Volkov in Lithuania

A Belarusian national has been detained in Poland on suspicion of ordering the attack on a top Russian opposition leader, Leonid Volkov, on Moscow’s behalf, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, has announced.

Volkov, a close aide of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was briefly admitted to hospital last month after he was ambushed and attacked outside his house in Vilnius , the capital of Lithuania. The assailant smashed open Volkov’s car window and repeatedly struck him with a hammer, breaking Volkov’s left arm and damaging his left leg before fleeing the scene.

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Katsiaryna Novikava is one of hundreds of political prisoners in country ruled by dictator Alexander Lukashenko

A political prisoner in Belarus has shed light on the country’s brutal prison system by smuggling out her story written on pieces of toilet paper.

Katsiaryna Novikava, 38, described being repeatedly beaten by security forces after she was detained in June 2023 wearing only a nightshirt. She became one of hundreds of political prisoners in the country of 9.5 million people ruled by authoritarian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

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State investigations say they have received numerous reports as officials repeat claims that Ukraine and west involved in assault

The final death toll from the Moscow concert hall terrorist attack could be much higher than the 140 confirmed dead, with Russian state investigations saying they have received 143 reports about people who had gone missing .

The investigative committee said in a statement that 84 bodies had so far been identified.

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Exclusive: Guardian investigation for podcast series Black Box reveals names connected to app that generated nonconsensual images of underage girls around the world

• Prologue: the collision – podcast

The first Miriam al-Adib learned of the pictures was when she returned home from a business trip. “Mum,” said her daughter. “I want to show you something.”

The girl, 14, opened her phone to show an explicit image of herself. “It’s a shock when you see it,” said Adib, a gynaecologist in the southern Spanish town of Almendralejo and a mother of four daughters. “The image is completely realistic … If I didn’t know my daughter’s body, I would have thought that image was real.”

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President Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent has continued as many forced into early votes

Polls have opened in Belarus’s tightly controlled parliamentary and local elections that are expected to cement the rule of the country’s authoritarian leader, despite calls for a boycott from the opposition, which dismissed the balloting as a “senseless farce”.

Alexander Lukashenko, the president who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for nearly 30 years, accuses the west of trying to use the vote to undermine his government and “destabilise” the country of 9.5 million people.

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Death of Russian opposition leader will add to anxiety of Maria Kolesnikova’s family who have not heard from her for a year

It has been more than a year since relatives and friends have heard from Maria Kolesnikova. The Belarusian activist is one of 1,416 political prisoners behind bars as part of a crackdown that has maintained pace this year before parliamentary elections this weekend.

“The last letter from [Maria] was received on 14 February 2023,” her sister wrote last week. “Since then, which is exactly a year ago, we have not received any reliable information about her.”

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The drama, which won a Venice film festival prize, was called ‘Nazi propaganda’ by proponents of Poland’s right-wing migrant policy

Polish film director Agnieszka Holland’s prize-winning refugee drama Green Border is to be released in Poland, weeks before the country goes to the polls on migration matters, in defiance of a major backlash from the right-wing conservative government.

Holland’s black-and-white film, which scooped up the special jury prize at last month’s Venice film festival and will be released in her native country on 22 September, is told from the perspective of a Syrian family trying to flee into the EU via Belarus, as well as that of a Polish border guard having qualms about the brutal treatment of refugees.

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