Thursday, 08 January 2026
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Regime change but no change in Venezuela

Nicolás Maduro in handcuffs – it’s the image so many Venezuelans have wanted to see since he took over the presidency following Hugo Chavez’s death in 2013. So when Maduro was dramatically captured on Saturday, a few took to the streets to celebrate. This included a street vendor in the western state of Zulia, who shouted that the autocrat who’d once danced at rallies could now dance in prison. Two days later, the vendor’s wife said he had been arrested ([link removed]) . The police demanded $1,000 for his release and the family had to ask relatives for help and hand over bags of their own fruit and vegetables to police. This story is not an isolated incident. Maduro is gone but his brutal apparatus remains.

On Monday, Delcy Rodríguez, the country’s vice president, was sworn in as interim president. Described by opposition leader María Corina Machado as “one of the main architects of torture, persecution [and] corruption,” ([link removed]) Rodríguez has already issued an emergency decree requiring police to search for and arrest anyone “involved in promoting or supporting the armed attack by the United States of America”. The decree has resulted in a marked increase in the number of police and security forces on the streets, especially the so-called colectivos, masked men carrying rifles. They’ve set up checkpoints and boarded public buses, demanding access to people’s phones. Scores of journalists have also been detained, as have civilians and protests have been banned.

That this level of crackdown is very much on brand for the Venezuelan government is of consolation to no one. Nor was Donald Trump’s flagrant dismissal of any international rules-based order that led to Maduro’s arrest. But let’s quickly reflect on Maduro’s rule, which was a toxic mix of despotic and chaotic. At the start a drop in oil prices, mismanagement of resources and corruption led to a dire economic and humanitarian crisis. International news homed in on the impact on toilet paper (which ran low), while we examined how newspapers were shuttered ([link removed]*1cv7eql*_up*MQ..*_ga*MzQyNTU0NDcwLjE3Njc4ODY4Mjk.*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3Njc4ODY4MjkkbzEkZzEkdDE3Njc4ODY4MzYkajUzJGwwJGg5OTg5MzIxMjY) . When people protested – and they did – they were met with extreme force and incarceration, a pattern that continued throughout the years. In 2019, Venezuela was officially named the worst country in the world for the abuse of judicial power
([link removed]*yje5og*_up*MQ..*_ga*MjAyNTczOTE4MS4xNzY3NzgxMTQ2*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3Njc3ODExNDUkbzEkZzAkdDE3Njc3ODExNDUkajYwJGwwJGgyMDgxMzAwNTk5) . In 2024, it had the most political prisoners in Latin America. There was even a name given – Operation Tun Tun (Knock Knock) – to refer to the post-2024 election arrests, a reference to the chilling and widespread practise of knocking on people’s doors in the dead of night.

The repression under Maduro was a big reason we gave an award at the end of last year to the journalist Carlos Correa ([link removed]) . Working in the media there is no mean feat. It demands courage and that deserves credit.

Trump declared on Tuesday that “a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas” would be closed. He was likely referring to El Helicoide, a notorious prison where dissidents are held, including some we featured in this grim piece ([link removed]) . But when I last checked, on Wednesday, it was still very much open.

Jemimah Steinfeld

CEO, Index on Censorship


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Rival groups fling accusations of AI use in Iran protests

Mass protests have continued across Iran, spreading to 37 cities, Human Rights Activist News Agency reports ([link removed]) . Over 40 children have been arrested so far, with at least three minors killed ([link removed]) as Iranian forces attempt to crack down on demonstrations.

Videos of the protests spread online, with some including chants of slogans critical of the current regime. A representative of Khamenei alleged that the videos were dubbed using artificial intelligence ([link removed]) by outlets in rival nations. Meanwhile, activists allege ([link removed]) that government-affiliated agents are behind the AI-edited videos, accusing the government of trying to reframe the protests as a monarchist movement.


Retrial of Kurdish journalist in absentia leads to longer conviction

Kurdish journalist Perihan Kaya has been sentenced to over 18 months ([link removed]) ' imprisonment in a retrial following an initial sentence of one year and three months handed down in 2021. Kaya was originally charged with “disseminating terrorist propaganda”, however her new sentence was increased based on her alleged membership in the shuttered Free Journalists’ Association (ÖGD).

This is not the first time Kaya has faced legal threat in Turkey with a previous imprisonment in 2005. She fled Turkey in 2022.

Kaya was awarded the 2025 Press Emblem Campaign award ([link removed]) .

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A number of Pakistani journalists living abroad have been convicted by an anti-terrorism court ([link removed]) this week. Accused of inciting violence following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2023, two YouTubers and a number of journalists are among those handed life sentences, with police ordered to arrest and imprison them if they return to Pakistan.


** Flashback
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In Iran women’s bodies are the battleground

by ([link removed]) Kamin Mohammadi

Volume 52, Issue 1 ([link removed])

The beginning of 2026 and Iran’s economic crisis sparked new protests across Iran, leading to more than 30 deaths and the arrests of at least 2,200 demonstrators. Many are asking whether this time will be any different or whether Khameini’s iron grip will continue.

This week, we revisit an article by exiled Iranian writer Kamin Mohammadi written in the wake of the death of Mahsa “Jina” Amini in 2022 and the protests that followed. Read more here ([link removed]) . ([link removed])


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The world is becoming more authoritarian and our work calling out human rights abuses and promoting freedom of expression in countries such as Tanzania, Hong Kong, Iran and Turkey has never been more important.

By supporting Index on Censorship today, you can help us in our work with censored artists, jailed musicians, journalists under threat and dissidents facing torture or worse.

Please donate today ([link removed])

Photos by: (Maduro) Eduardo Ripoll Vidal/Alamy Live News; (Mahsa Amini) Sophie Mess/Peachzz/Loco Steve/ CC BY-SA 2.0

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