2005-2014

Poland has freed the journalist who started a three-month jail term on Monday, becoming the only person in the European Union serving a criminal sentence for libel. The constitutional court finally decided to suspend implementation of his prison sentence for libel and set him free. CENTRE OF ATTRACTION: Polish President Lech Kaczynski seen here during his swearing in ceremony in Warsaw, in

Following the US air strikes in Pakistan's Bajaur Agency on January 13 that killed 18 people, mostly women and children, the local administration has stopped both Pakistani and foreign press persons from entering the area in a bid to "prevent Bajaur from becoming another Waziristan," Asia News International (ANI) has reported. RAZED: A Pakistani house damaged in the American airstrike. Pakistani

Hundreds of members of the radical pro-government Young Patriots militia seized control of the state television and radio broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI) Wednesday, broadcasting calls for protests against the French and UN presence in the country, according to local sources. They were also said to ransack a community radio station that refused to allow them on the air

Iraq has recommended that US authorities release six of the eight Iraqi women in military custody, but has denied that it was part of a bid to free a kidnapped American journalist, according to Al-Jazeera. The kidnappers of Jill Carroll have threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed by Friday, January 20. WILL HER DEADLINE BE MET? Christian Science Monitor freelancer Jill...

Three journalists in China have been given heavy prison sentences after writing about illegal land confiscation in a magazine that had no official licence in the southeastern province of Zhejiang. LAND AND DISPUTE: Farming land on the outskirts of Beijing. Two journalists in eastern China have been sentenced to up to 10 years in jail for publishing an unauthorized magazine that exposed local land

The Cambodian government may have timed the release of four imprisoned government critics — a union leader, a radio journalist and two social activists — to coincide with a visit by a diplomat of the United States which had condemned the arrests, but it is far from dropping defamation charges against them. MARCH TO FREEDOM: Human rights leaders Kem Sokha (4th R), Pa Nguon Teang (3rd R)

A Vietnamese court has sent a former magazine deputy editor to prison for posing as a government official and cheating some businesspeople of nearly US$426,000. The Hanoi People’s Court Wednesday sentenced Nguyen Trong Giac, formerly of Thi Truong Gia Ca (market & price) magazine, to 11 years and his accomplices, Dao Huu Nghi and Nguyen Duc Loi, to 14 and 12 years. Giac, 55 pretended to be deputy...

A group of about 30 supporters of a Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) corporator ransacked the office of an eveninger here this evening. The assailants entered the office of 'Saanjvarta', situated in Nirala Bazar locality at around 2000 hrs, and ransacked the office by partially damaging the office furniture, fans, tables and window panes, the sources at the newspaper's office told UNI. Angered...

MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - The prosecution in the trial of two ethnic Chechens and a Moscow notary accused of killing Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov will start to present evidence Wednesday when the trial resumes behind closed doors at the Moscow City Court after a six-day adjournment. Prosecutors claim Chechens Kazbek Dukuzov, Musa Vakhayev and notary Fail Sadretdinov gunned down...

18 January 2006 -- The trial of three ethnic Chechens accused of involvement in the killing of U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov has been delayed. Lawyer Ruslan Zakalyuzny said the trial was put off until an unspecified date because the presiding judge is ill. However, court spokeswoman Anna Usacheva said the trial was delayed because one of the defense lawyers was systematically violating court...