2005-2014

Press freedom groups have expressed shock at the December 30, 2008 announcement that Cláudio Orlando "O Ratinho" do Nascimento, like Claudino "Xuxa" dos Santos Coelho before him, has been granted a partial release for "good behaviour." The two men, known members of a Rio de Janeiro gang, were sentenced in 2005 to 23 years and six months in prison for the June 2002 murder of TV Globo reporter Tim...

Safety remains the single greatest concern for media professionals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), despite the fact that statistically speaking attacks against the press and journalists are down. The decline was more likely attributable to censorship and self-editing on the part of journalists, rather than any improvement to the country's press laws. The findings are from Journalist en

Gunmen on a motorcycle Thursday shot and killed the editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper critical of the government, the second violent attack on media this week. Sunday Leader Chief Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga was in a car on his way to work when he was attacked, Wickramatunga's brother Lal told Reuters. "The gunman smashed the window of the vehicle and shot at him," Lal Wickramatunga said. Doctors...

A group of unidentified individuals bought off copies of the Perú 21 newspaper from newsstands in the district of Chosica, east of Lima, on January 3 ostensibly to stop the public from learning about allegations of fuel trafficking involving authorities and 27 police officers in the district, the Lima-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has reported. According to journalist Elizabeth Salinas...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has condemned officials from Al-Ahram Press for their refusal to print the latest edition of the opposition weekly Sout al-Ummah, until its editor, Abdel Halim Kandil, had removed his article criticising Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and the country's stance on the crisis in Gaza. Sout al-Ummmah was finally published on January 5 after the...

Every lawsuit that has been brought by members of the Universal Church against journalist Elvira Lobato, who works for the Folha de São Paulo newspaper, has thus far been won by the journalist, the ssociação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI) has reported. Winner of the 2008 Esso Journalism Award, the most important prize given to Brazilian news people, the reporter was targeted with...

The Uruguayan Senate has approved a bill that provides for modifications to several articles of the country's press law, in addition to articles in the Criminal Code. The modifications include significant elements affecting defamation and the offence of "insult to authorities" (desacato), the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has reported. The bill was unanimously approved...

Two journalists and three leading civil society members have been detained at the Libreville headquarters of the criminal investigation police of Gabon for the past week—longer than the legal period for police custody—without any explanation being given. Other journalists have been questioned in connection with the case in the past few days, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “The...

Adnan Demir, editor of liberal Turkish daily Taraf is facing trial for publishing confidential military information. The prosecutor at the Istanbul higher court on January 6 called for a sentence of 3-5 years against Demir, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The newspaper in October 2008 had carried a series of articles on an attack on October 4, carried out and claimed by...

Press freedom groups have called for a full "independent and exhaustive" inquiry into the shooting of an Iraqi woman journalist in Baghdad by American soldiers. Hadil Emad, 25, an editor with Biladi TV was shot and critically wounded by America soldiers as she was heading home in the al-Karrada district of Baghdad on January 1, 2009. A statement by the US military said that on New Year's Day US...