PEN’s Free Expression Digest brings you a daily curated round-up of the most important free expression-related stories from around the web. Subcribe here.  *This mailing list is currently in BETA as we work out the kinks. Please send your feedback and suggestions to [email protected]

Two suspected Islamists arrested over killing of secular Bangladeshi blogger
Bangladeshi police have arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of secular blogger Niloy Neel earlier this month – the fourth such attack this year. THE GUARDIAN
 
Journalist murdered in India
A part-time scribe working for a local Hindi daily was murdered in Baxariya locality of Faridpur. A police patrol team late last night found two persons dragging a body on the Station Road when the officials intervened, they said. His head had been crushed with a heavy object, police said. THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
 
Egypt should release Shawkan, photojournalist detained for two years
Shawkan was arrested on August 14, 2013, while covering the dispersal by security forces of the Raba’a Al-Adawiya sit-in protest in Cairo, which left hundreds dead. Egypt should release Shawkan since he has been in prison for two years without a trial and the criminal code stipulates a two-year maximum for those jailed without a trial. COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
 
China turns down parole bid from jailed Nobel Peace Laureate *PEN Case List
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has denied an application for parole by jailed Chinese Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, a Hong Kong-based rights group reported, as U.S. and Chinese officials geared up for an annual dialogue on human rights in Washington on Thursday. RADIO FREE ASIA
 
China’s censors scramble to contain online fallout after Tianjin blast
Censorship rates on the social network Weibo were up tenfold after the Tianjin blast compared to earlier in the month, said King-wa Fu, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s journalism school who built censorship tracker Weiboscope. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
 
Azerbaijan jails rights activists Leyla and Arif Yunus
Leyla Yunus was given an eight-and-a-half year sentence while her husband, Arif, was jailed for seven years on charges denounced as politically motivated. Rights activists slammed the court’s decision as an attempt by Azerbaijan’s iron-fisted authorities to block the couple’s work on human rights. THE GUARDIAN
 
Turkey leads the world in Twitter censorship — and no other country is even close
Twitter’s transparency report shows that more than 70% of government takedown requests came from Turkish authorities — the company received 408 court orders and another 310 requests from government authorities to remove content “based on violations of personal rights and other local laws.” BUSINESS INSIDER
 
Seven reasons why criminal defamation should be declared unconstitutional
Following the spate of arrests under section 66A of the Information Technology Act, for innocuous comments by teenagers, cartoons, political satire and political speech which was struck down by the Supreme Court in March, the time has certainly come for it to examine the criminalisation of speech under the Indian Penal Code. THE WIRE