2005-2014

Ulises González García, editor of Mexican regional weekly La Opinión, who was abducted from his home in Jérez, in the state of Zacatecas, on July 29, was released in the early hours of August 9 and was rushed to a private hospital for treatment to the injuries received during his abduction, some of which appeared to have been caused by torture. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) expressed...

Supporters of President Hugo Chávez's government painted the façade of the Globovisón television station's headquarters with messages backing Chávez and with the logos of Venezuela's United Socialist Party (PSUV). The incident took place in Caracas on July 28, according to delayed reports by Instituto Prensa y Sociedad de Venezuela (IPYS-Venezuela) The individuals responsible for the graffiti...

Venezuelan newscaster Alexander Mireles has said that his radio programme "Hablando Claro y Raspao", broadcast by radio station Class 98.7 FM, was taken off the air on July 6 because Teodoro Bolívar, governor of the State of Cojedes in central Venezuela, bought all of the station's air time, according to delayed reports. Mireles, who is critical of Bolívar's administration, told Instituto Prensa y...

The mayor of the Serbian city of Zajecar, Bosko Nicic has decided to prevent all directors of companies and public institutions in the city from making statements to the media without his prior consent, according to the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO). Directors of companies and public institutions now feel that they must fear for their jobs if they do not comply with the directive...

Eliseu Felício de Souza, also known as “O Zeu,” a gang member who has been on the run for the past three years after being convicted for his role in the 2002 murder of TV Globo reporter Tim Lopes, is openly operating as drug dealer in a northern district of Rio de Janeiro, according to a new TV Globo report. He took advantage of a “semi-release” programme to escape. The report broadcast by TV...

The Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) has sued magazine Rojname for $1 billion. A report published in the magazine on July 20 had accused the KDP and its ruling coalition partner, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), of helping smuggle refined petroleum products into Iran in violation of the international sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic by the UN Security Council. The article accused the...

Burundian police on Tuesday arrested Thierry Ndayishimiye, chief editor of the private weekly Arc-en-Ciel, on defamation charges related to a story about alleged government corruption, according to New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ndayishimiye is the second Burundian editor to be jailed in less than a month. The state prosecutor summoned Ndayishimiye to a...

The transmissions of Pakistan's two leading private TV news channels were blocked, and copies of two newspapers were burnt in Karachi and some other parts of the country. The incidents were carried out Sunday by activists of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in reaction to the airing and printing of news about the hurling of shoes at PPP Co-Chairman and President of Pakistan, Asif Ali...

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (IJAS/NUNS), the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), local Press and the the Independent Journalists' Association of Journalists of Vojvodina (IJAV/NDNV) have urged the government to ban the work and operations of extremist, fascist, neo-Nazi and racist groups in Serbia. The latest case of the beating of journalist Teofil Pancic...

Authorities have passed a restrictive order that has stopped journalists from going to report on Sunday's deadly mudslide in north-west China. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has learnt that a restrictive order was sent by China's Central Propaganda Department on August 8 which stated that no journalists should be sent to the vicinity of the mudslide in Zhouqu County, Gannan...