2005-2014

A judge has ordered the release of French freelance photographer Jean-Paul Ney, who has been held in custody for 15 months in connection with an alleged “plot” to undermine Cote d’Ivoire's peace process, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Ney, who spoke by phone from Maca prison in the capital Abidjan to the worldwide press freedom organisation’s secretary-general, Jean-François...

Qatari authorities have hardened their stand towards the Doha Centre for Media Freedom. Hajar Smouni, head of research at the Centre and a former member of the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) staff, was prevented from leaving Qatar Tuesday. “The Doha Centre has for months been struggling to keep its independence and is under pressure from the Qatari authorities,” RSF secretary-general...

Two commercial TV presenters, Fahim Kohdamani of Emroz and Ajmal Alamzai of Ariana TV, were arrested in Kabul on Monday. Alamzai was released late Monday night but Kohdamani is still being held, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “We call for Kohdamani’s immediate and unconditional release,” Paris-based said. “The Afghan government has again failed to respect press freedom, arbitrarily...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Some 200 secular, religious and media groups from around the world on Wednesday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to reject a call from Islamic countries for a global fight against "defamation of religion." The groups, including some Muslim bodies, issued their appeal in a statement on the eve of a vote in the Council in Geneva on a resolution proposed by the 56...

Anil Mazumdar, the editor of Assamese daily Aji, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in front of his house in Guwahati on Tuesday night. Majumdar was returning home from office around 10:30 pm when he was attacked.

Serbian authorities must step up their investigation into the killing of journalist and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija, the International Press Institute and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation, said Wednesday, one month before the 10th anniversary of his death. Slavko Ćuruvija was shot dead by two masked men in front of his home in the centre of Belgrade on April 11, 1999, Serbian...

The media in Myanmar (Burma) are alarmed at the plan of the junta's Press Scrutiny and Registration Board—better known as the Censors' Board—to censor the digital copies of articles to be published in Burmese journals and magazines, according to Mizzima News. Burmese journalists said they see this new system as impractical as the Internet speed in the country is too slow for downloading and...

Jawed Ahmad, an Afghan journalist who worked for Canadian media, including the broadcaster CTV News, was gunned down on March 10 by two men in a vehicle as he was getting out of his own car in the centre of the southern city of Kandahar, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Ahmad, also known as Jojo Yazemi, died on the spot. His body was taken to a nearby hospital where members of his...

Vadim Rogozhin, managing director of the independent media holding company Vzglyad in the southern city of Saratov, was hospitalised in serious condition on March 10 after surviving a brutal attack last week, his company said in an official statement, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Two unidentified assailants attacked Rogozhin, 38, as he was leaving an elevator at his...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of the manager of the Poobalasingam Book Depot bookshop in Colombo, who was arrested by anti-terrorism police at his home in the Colombo suburb of Wellawatte on March 5 for sending copies of Ananda Vikatan, a Tamil weekly magazine published in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to another branch of the same bookshop in Jaffna, in the...