2005-2014

4 March 2009

Leading Swiss TV reporter arrested in Thailand, then forbidden to leave country

Christoph Müller, a leading Swiss TV reporter and producer, was handcuffed and arrested on arrival in Thailand on February 27, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He was freed on bail 24 hours later but the police confiscated his passport and he is forbidden to leave the country until further notice. His employer, the German-language Swiss TV station SF, has described the measures as a...

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4 March 2009

Army silences broadcast media in Guinea-Bissau after chief of staff and president murdered

Guinea-Bissau’s broadcast media were allowed to resume operating shortly after midday on Monday after being ordered off the air Sunday night following the murder of the armed forces chief of staff, which was followed in turn early Monday by the murder of President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira. “Amid the current instability, we urge all of Guinea-Bissau’s actors, especially the armed forces, to...

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4 March 2009

Sudan expels British-tunisian journalist over Darfur crisis and arms industry

Sudan has deported Tunisian journalist Zouhir Latif. Latif, who has political refugee status in Britain, was put on a flight bound for London on Sunday, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). A freelance journalist who works for France 24’s Arabic-language service and the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, Latif was arrested at his home by intelligence agents on February 27 and was held for 48 hours...

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4 March 2009
Woman journalist freed after 3 months after being charged with plot to overthrow Mugabe

Woman journalist freed after 3 months after being charged with plot to overthrow Mugabe

Former journalist Jestina Mukoko, who was abducted by Zimbabwean security agents three months ago, has been released from prison. Mukoko was recently taken to a clinic in Harare, where she was treated for high blood pressure and injuries that doctors said were consistent with torture. “Mukoko was unjustly held for three months in very disturbing conditions,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said....

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4 March 2009

Newspaper editor jailed for libel in Algeria, daily fined for article on Muslim cleric

Algerian newspaper editor Nedjar El-Hadj Daoud has been arrested after a local court in Ghardaïa (467 km south of Algiers) confirmed a six-month prison sentence for libel that was originally imposed in 2005, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He edits Al-Waha, southern Algeria’s only regional newspaper. The six-month jail sentence was originally passed by a Ghardaïa court on November 14...

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4 March 2009
US journalist held at Tehran's Evin prison, accused of working illegally in the country

US journalist held at Tehran's Evin prison, accused of working illegally in the country

Freelance US journalist Roxana Saberi is being held at Tehran's Evin prison, where political prisoners are routinely detained, according to international news reports. Saberi is an American citizen as well as an Iranian national. Detained in late January, Saberi has not had access to an attorney, and has been incommunicado for over a month. Reuters quoted Alireza Jamshidi as saying that Saberi is...

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4 March 2009

Two journalists released by Palestinian Authority in West Bank, one still in prison

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has released two journalists in the West Bank on Monday, but yet another remains in custody, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The PA's Preventive Security Service freed Samer Khuaira, the Nablus correspondent for the London-based al-Quds TV station. Khuaira was arrested on January 24 after being summoned to the service's Nablus offices. He...

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4 March 2009
Journalist who covered Kyrgyrz president's decision to close US airbase stabbed in Bishkek

Journalist who covered Kyrgyrz president's decision to close US airbase stabbed in Bishkek

An unidentified attacker stabbed a reporter outside his newsroom in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, Tuesday, according to the regional news site Ferghana. Syrgak Abdyldayev, a political reporter and commentator with the independent newspaper Reporter-Bishkek, was attacked at around 7 p.m., Ferghana reported. Abdyldayev, 47, is currently hospitalised with 12 stab wounds and a broken arm, Reporter...

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4 March 2009

Political reporter and commentator Syrgak Abdyldayev stabbed in Bishkek

An unidentified attacker stabbed a reporter outside his newsroom in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, on March 3, according to the regional news site Ferghana. Syrgak Abdyldayev, a political reporter and commentator with the independent newspaper Reporter-Bishkek, was attacked at around 7 p.m., Ferghana reported. Abdyldayev, 47, is currently hospitalised with 12 stab wounds and a broken arm, Reporter...

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3 March 2009

Supreme Court in Brazil grants extension for suspension of 1967 press law

Brazil's Federal Supreme Court (STF) has made a "preliminary" decision to extend a suspension of 22 clauses—including 20 articles—of the draconian February 9, 1967 press law. The clauses at issue that allow prison sentences for offences of "defamation", "denigration" and "insult", were suspended for the first time for a period of six months, by the country's highest jurisdiction on February 27...

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