Freemuse

In early 2026, Freemuse published its annual report on the State of Artistic Freedom documenting attacks on artistic freedom worldwide throughout 2025. This update examines developments in Türkiye in the first half of 2026. While concerns about judicial politicisation under the AKP government have long been raised in Türkiye, recent developments suggest increasing judicial intervention in political processes.

Visual artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara arrived in the United States on 18 July, after approximately ten days during which Cuban authorities concealed his whereabouts. State security agents removed him from Guanajay Prison near Havana on 7 July and took him to an undisclosed location, two days before he was due to complete his unjust five-year sentence for “contempt”, “public disorder” and “insulting national symbols”.

Freemuse condemns the detention of Moroccan filmmaker and rapper El Mahdi Lyoubi, known professionally as Black Wind, and calls for the immediate end of the charges against him and his release from custody. El Mahdi Lyoubi has been in police custody in Casablanca since Monday evening 13 July. He appeared before the prosecutor on Wednesday 15 July, who ordered that he remain in detention. His first hearing has been postponed to 22 July. He is currently held at Oukacha prison in Casablanca.

Comedian Deniz Göktaş’s stand-up show “Ölü Deniz/ Dead Sea,” performed across Türkiye for nearly three years, has come under government scrutiny due to the political topics it addresses.

In early 2026, Freemuse published its annual report on the State of Artistic Freedom documenting attacks on artistic freedom worldwide throughout 2025. This regional update examines developments in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus in the first half of 2026. This period demonstrates that artistic freedom remains deeply intertwined with wider political and social tensions across Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus.

In April 2026, the government of Viktor Orbán was removed from office after his Fidesz party was defeated in the parliamentary elections by the opposition Tisza Party, ending Orbán’s 16 years in power. Throughout the Orbán regime, independent arts and culture came under sustained pressure, with artists and cultural workers frequently at the forefront of political repression.

Freemuse joins the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk in calling on film workers, rights organisations, institutions, and individuals worldwide to support Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter Omar Salah Marei, who has been held in pretrial detention since 11 May 2026.

What does it mean to make art in a small state like Malta? Sara Whyatt speaks with Rachelle Deguara, artist, writer and activist, about artistic freedom, funding, and the quiet mechanisms of institutional power. As she puts it: ” The system lacks a healthy distance between art, politics, and power.” I want to start with funding, since it seems to shape so much of what artists feel able to do. How have funding criteria or institutional expectations affected your artistic practice?

What does it mean to make art in a small state like Malta? Sara Whyatt speaks with Rachelle Bezzina, artist, writer and activist, about artistic freedom, funding, and the quiet mechanisms of institutional power. As she puts it: ” The system lacks a healthy distance between art, politics, and power.” I want to start with funding, since it seems to shape so much of what artists feel able to do. How have funding criteria or institutional expectations affected your artistic practice?

Ahead of the United Republic of Tanzania’s appearance before the UN Human Rights Council on 5 November 2026, Freemuse and Selam have submitted a joint Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report commenting on the state of artistic freedom in Tanzania. The UPR process of every UN member State is conducted every four and a half years, and Tanzania will be reporting on the country’s human rights record in accordance with the regional and human rights instruments which binds it.