PEN’s Free Expression Digest brings you a daily curated round-up of the most important free expression-related stories from around the web. Please send your feedback and suggestions to [email protected]

Bahrain sentences activist to year in prison for ripping king’s photo
A Bahraini court sentenced a political activist to one year in prison for tearing up a photo of the king in 2014. The Bahraini Court of Appeals confirmed the conviction of Zainab al-Khawaja on charges of insulting the king and reduced her sentence from three years in prison to one, Amnesty International reported. REUTERS

Islamists issue death threat against leading Bangladeshi blogger
Imran H. Sarker, one of the most widely read and popular bloggers in Bangladesh with nearly a million followers on his social media handles, says he has received a death threat from the ‘Islamic State’ via Facebook. Four bloggers have been murdered in the country this year. DW

Travel ban prevents Honduran journalist from attending hearing *PEN Case List
TV presenter Julio Ernesto Alvarado, the target of government harassment and abusive judicial decisions in a defamation suit, was prevented from flying to Washington yesterday to attend an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing on his case, on the grounds that his passport required further verification. REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Egyptian police storm offices of journalist training foundation
Amnesty International says masked and armed Egyptian security forces raided the office of an organization in Cairo that trains and aids journalists. The forces reportedly detained all staff members present in the office of the Mada Foundation for Media Development, later releasing females but keeping some 20 male staff members on the premises. U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

Ugandan journalists threaten media blackout on police
Journalists in the Busoga region of Uganda have threatened to boycott covering police and its activities following the shooting of one of their colleagues during a foiled opposition rally. Vincent Mukisa was shot and injured by a rubber bullet while covering a blocked rally for the Forum for Democratic Change. THE OBSERVER

Nigeria, Angola, and Morocco call for an international access to information day
The countries are co-sponsoring a resolution passed by the Executive Board of UNESCO to proclaim September 28 as “International Access to Information Day”. Media Rights Agenda Executive Director Edetaen Ojo said, “When the resolution is finally passed…it will be a gift to the world that Africa can be justly proud of.” IFEX

Portugal’s journalists under pressure from Angolan money
In their search to invest their oil and diamond money in Europe, the Angolan oligarchy has bought strategic positions in the Portuguese media in recent years — a bid to gain prestige while silencing news concerning endemic corruption and human rights violations of the regime headed by José Eduardo dos Santos for the past 36 years. INDEX ON CENSORSHIP

A jailed activist’s 3-D models could save Syria’s history from ISIS
When Bassel Khartabil first began creating photographic three-dimensional models of the ancient ruins known as Palmyra, he hoped to preserve one of Syria’s greatest archaeological treasures. Ten years later, Khartabil is a prisoner of Syria’s fascist Assad regime, and Palmyra is being systematically destroyed by ISIS. Now Khartabil’s friends and fellow activists hope his 3-D models might save not only Palmyra, but Khartabil himself. WIRED