2005-2014

Local police arrested one of the alleged gunmen in the 2005 killing of journalist Philip Agustin on May 13 in Pampanga, a province approximately 81 km from Manila, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). The Philippine National Police in Central Luzon arrested Nilo "Boy" Morete in Poblacion village, Mabalacat town, Pampanga at around 3:30 p.m. (local time) on May 13...

Sierre Leone journalist Sylvia Blyden has been forced into hiding after receiving death threats, while another, Umaru Sitta Turay, suffered a vicious knife attack, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Both journalists were targetted for attack because they had allegedly “libelled” Sierra Leone’s president, RSF said, urging the head of state to call off the “witch-hunt” against...

Authorities in Malawi should immediately release three journalists arrested today in a police raid on an opposition radio station, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. The country is holding general elections between Wednesday and Thursday. The 4 a.m. raid targetted Joy Radio, a station owned by former president and opposition leader Bakili Muluzi, in the commercial city of...

A freelance Filipino journalist, Carlos Conde, has alleged that that his name appeared on a 2007 official Armed Forces "order of battle" document, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Conde said he is concerned that the official document amounts to a "hitlist" that contains more than a hundred names, mostly and members of anti-government groups. The names, Conde said, are...

The Thai government has announced its plan to regulate the programme content of radio stations and cable and satellite TV stations in the country, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has reported quoting media reports. The Bangkok Post quoted on May 14 Prime Minister's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey as saying the government will ban any programme, whether broadcast over community...

A journalist from Bangued was unharmed after gunmen fired at her family's house on May 14, delayed reports have said. Bangued is the capital of Abra, a province approximately 408 km northwest of Manila. Marjorie Bandayrel-Trinidad, news editor of the weekly community newspaper Abra Today, said she and her husband were awakened by the sound of breaking glass at around 3:30 a.m. (local time) on May...

Sitta Turay, editor-in-chief of the Freetown-based bi-weekly newspaper New People, was violently attacked on May 14 by two functionaries of the ruling All People's Congress Party (APC) for allegedly defaming President Ernest Bai Koroma, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has reported. An MFWA correspondent said that two men stormed Sitta Turay's office and accused him of using his...

Writer and journalist Michel Kilo, who was released from Adra prison in Damascus at midnight on May 14 on completing a three-year sentence, was immediately taken to the Damascus headquarters of the intelligence services and has been held there ever since, undergoing interrogation, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. His family has told Paris-based RSF its concern is compounded by the...

Sri Lankan authorities have arrested three Tamil doctors - Thangamuttu Sathiyamorthi, Thurairaja Varatharajan and V. Sunmugarajah - for providing the news media with information about the humanitarian situation in Vanni, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “The government will be held responsible if the army’s military victory is accompanied by such criminal acts of revenge...

A Belarusian journalist who is frequently detained and subjected to all-night interrogations by police, a Cameroonian radio journalist whose broadcasts on human rights and press freedom have put her life at risk and an Iranian journalist whose reports about sensitive social and political issues have led to multiple arrests are recipients of this year’s International Women’s Media Foundation’s...