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]

Cumhuriyet reporter facing 23 years in jail appears before court reporter
Canan Coşkun, who faces 23 years and four months in prison over a Feb. 19 report that claimed members of a pro-government jurists union purchased homes at reduced prices from a state-run real estate company, appeared in court at the İstanbul Courthouse on Thursday. Coşkun is being charged with “insulting a public official because of his position” in the indictment. TODAY’S ZAMAN  

Facebook releases report of governments that request (and block) the most content
Facebook on Wednesday released its biannual Global Government Requests Report, which covers 93 countries and encompasses the period from January to June this year, shows the U.S. far outstripping the others in requests for user data, followed by India and the U.K.. India also tops the list of governments that blocked Facebook content in their countries. TIME  

French journalist confronts President Rouhani with picture of an Iranian woman without a hijab
An Iranian journalist who launched a ground-breaking Facebook page against enforced hijab scored a small victory on Wednesday after President Hassan Rouhani was confronted with a picture of woman without a headscarf from her campaign, My Stealthy Freedom. A Frech journalist presented Rouhani with a woman holding a scarf high above her head and asked Rouhani if he felt shocked or offended by it. In response, Rouhani refused to back down on the law. THE INDEPENDENT

Jailed Saudi blogger not well, wife says *PEN CASE LIST
Ensaf Haidar, the wife of Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years and 1000 lashes for criticising the Saudi religious police, says his health is deteriorating. Haidar, who lives in Canada with her children, said her husband has high blood pressure and his lashings could resume at anytime. SBS

Malaysian journalist groups want Parliament coverage restrictions lifted
Journalist organisations have decried the recent restrictions on the number of journalists allowed to cover Parliament proceedings in a joint statement on Friday, raising concerns over the ruling that from Nov 16 news agencies would only be allowed to assign three journalists each to cover Parliamentary proceedings. THE STAR

Free Speech Bites: Ma Jian and Timothy Garton Ash
Nigel Warburton speaks to novelist Ma Jian, a veteran of the Tiananmen Square protests, on political and artistic freedom in China, and to professor Timothy Garton Ash on global free speech standards INDEX ON CENSORSHIP