2005-2014

A Tamil journalist was killed in a Sri Lankan Army bombardment on the north of the country, an incident that the has been described by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) as a "war crime". Punniyamurthy Sathyamurthy was killed during an air raid on February 12 on Thevipuram, Mullaithivu district in the region of Vanni, being fought over by the army and rebel Tamil Tigers (LTTE). He had recently filed...

A gunman killed a photographer and injured a reporter in the southern Mexican city of Iguala, Guerrero state on Friday last, according to international news reports. Photographer Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez, 33, from the newspaper El Correo was shot three times and died at the scene. Reporter Yenny Yuliana Marchán Arroyo, 22, from the daily newspaper Diario 21 was hit three times in the legs and is...

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed deep concern over the attack on private television station TV Alter in Athens, Greece, on February 17. According to SEEMO, around 7:15 p.m., four armed men fired shots and threw a suspected explosive device outside the premises of TV Alter's central offices in Athens. No injuries were reported. The attack happened before the station's...

The Indonesian government should launch an immediate investigation into the death of journalist Anak Agung Prabangsa, a reporter with the Indonesian-language Radar Bali daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded. On Monday, Prabangsa's body was found floating off the coast of Bali island's Bias Tugel beach near Padangbai Bay. The 41-year-old journalist was first reported missing on...

Geo TV and the News daily correspondent Musa Khankhel was shot dead Wednesday in Pakistan's northwest Swat Valley. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing, the first violation of a truce called Monday between the government and local militant groups. Khankhel had been covering a peace march led by Muslim cleric Sufi Muhammad, the father-in-law of local Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah...

The basic human right to freedom of expression is increasingly under threat as countries introduce and enforce laws that have been wrongfully legitimized by numerous United Nations resolutions on "defamation of religions." In a statement sent to the UN Human Rights Council today, Freedom House and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty strongly urged members of the council to reject any further...

More than six years after her detention and torture, Nepalese journalist Meena Sharma Tiwari has been granted compensation of 15,000 Nepalese rupees (150 euros) by the Appellate Court, the International Press Institute (IPI) has reported. Tiwari is the fourth Nepalese journalist to receive compensation in connection with detention and mistreatment by the authorities. "IPI welcomes the judgment as...

The Turkish interior minister has announced a new investigation into the role of the security forces in the 2007 murder of journalist of Armenian origin, Hrant Dink, according to delayed reports. Interior minister, Basir Atalay on February 4, following the publication of a report by the prime minister’s services (BTK), ordered the opening of an investigation into the responsibilities and...

The president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifah Bin Zayid Al-Nahyan, has suspended implementation of a media law which was adopted last month by the National Council, described by press freedom groups as worrying. The president intends to set up a special commission to carry out an exhaustive study of the law, taking account of opinion in the UAE, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has...

The editor and publisher of the Statesman were briefly arrested and then released on bail on Wednesday after being charged with hurting Islamic sentiments in an article. Ravindra Kumar, editor of the Statesman, and publisher Anand Sinha have been charged with "deliberate act with malicious intent to outrage religious feelings." “We arrested Ravindra Kumar, Editor , and Anand Sinha, Publisher...