2005-2014

The Swaziland High Court on Tuesday convicted Bheki Makhubu, editor of the independent newsmagazine The Nation, and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko in relation to articles that appeared in February and March criticising Swaziland's chief justice, according to Makhubu's lawyer and a report by The Associated Press. The two have been in custody since April and denied bail throughout. They have not...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Iraqi authorities to carry out an immediate and thorough investigation into a vicious attack on the Baghdad office of the Al Ta’khi newspaper on Monday evening, 14 July. IFJ’s affiliates, the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate (KJS) and the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate (IJS), have strongly condemned the attack on the paper which...

A bill introduced in the Australian parliament on Wednesday could result in journalists being targeted for prosecution and jail for reporting on intelligence information. The bill includes the creation of a new offense punishable by five years in prison for "any person" who discloses information relating to "special intelligence operations," reports said. In special intelligence operations...

A Pakistani television journalist was convicted on charges of travelling to Afghanistan without travel documents and sentenced to four years in prison, Pakistani officials said on Sunday. He had initially been accused of spying by Afghan authorities, according to news reports. An Afghan court in eastern Nangarhar province convicted Faizullah Khan, a reporter for the Karachi-based privately owned...

At least two journalists were wounded, another arrested, and a newspaper office raided in the past week in Iraq amid heightened political uncertainty and violence, according to news reports and local press freedom groups. The violations come as Iraqi authorities struggle to break political gridlock and form a new government while battling an insurgency spearheaded by the Islamic State, an Al-Qaeda...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today has criticised the UK government’s hasty move to rush through a controversial data retention law that will allow the government to have greater control of personal data of citizens and journalists. “It is shocking that the UK government is pushing through a law that has just been invalidated by the European Court of Justice (ECJ),” said...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in its criticism of the harsh prison sentence imposed on TV journalist Faizullah Khan and is demanding the Afghan government immediately review the case with a view to granting Khan early release. On July 12 Khan, a reporter for ARY News TV based in Karachi, was sentenced to four years jail for...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is distressed at the recent imprisonment of five journalists from the Yangon-based Unity weekly news and current affairs magazine and the arrest and detention of four more journalists from the Bi Mon Te Nay (Midday Sun) newspaper in Myanmar. On July 10 reports said the Pokokku District court had sentenced four journalists and the CEO of Unity to 10...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) in welcoming the court verdict on the case of murder of journalist Yadav Poudel on July 10, 2014. A joint bench of Justices Udaya Prakash Chapagain and Gunaraj Dhungel at the Appellate Court handed over life imprisonment to Yubaraj Giri, Somnath Dhakal and his wife Manju Dhakal. The...

The Ethiopian government should end its politicised prosecution of nine Ethiopian journalists arrested in April, the Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded. The journalists and their lawyers were shut out of court room hearings in recent days. In hearings at the Arada First Instance Court in the capital Addis Ababa on Saturday and Monday, police said that they had wrapped up their...