2005-2014

Kenyan police arrested several journalists and a large number of civil society activists on December 12 as they broke up a protest against the passage of the Communications Act, which allows the government to interfere with the independence of the media, the Nairobi-based Media Institute has reported. The morning crew for Kiss FM radio station, led by Kenya'a top female presenter, Caroline Mutoko...

A Sri Lankan court has ruled that an alleged confession made by senior Tamil journalist JS Tissainayagam while detained by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) was voluntary and admissible as evidence in his trial on terrorism charges, according to delayed reports. It is widely believed that Tissainayagam was forced to make a statement to TID under extreme duress. Giving evidence in Colombo...

Journalists are frequently being summoned for questioning by the Special Services of Kyrgyzstan, Adil Soz has reported. On December 5, the founder of the local Buran radio station, independent journalist Rakhmanzhan Islamov, was summoned for questioning at the Department of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) in the city of Tokmok. The independent press agency 24.kg reported that...

Obrian Rwafa, a news assignment editor with the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), was on December 13 abducted and severely assaulted by unknown assailants in Harare, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. Rwafa, who was admitted at a private hospital, reportedly suffered head injuries and bruises. He said three unidentified men who were driving a white...

The permanent secretary for information and publicity, George Charamba, and President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson have threatened to ban accredited foreign bureaus or local reporters working for foreign news organisations after accusing them of embarking on a propaganda assault on Zimbabwe, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. In an interview during the Zimbabwe...

Jordanian intelligence prevented Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), from entering Jordan on the night of December 15 and detained him for six hours at Amman's Alia airport before deporting him to Cairo. Gamal Eid was heading to Amman on his way back from Beirut after participating in the celebrations honouring Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the Al...

The chairperson of Namibia's Legislative body, the National Council, has called on the Ombudsman Office to investigate the Namibian's SMS readers' page and radio chat show programmes as to whether they are being used to demonise Namibian leaders. The Namibian publishes SMS messages from readers on various topics in Namibia. The call was made by Margret Mensah, chairperson of the National Council...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has expressed concern at the state of photojournalism in Europe following an EFJ seminar in Paris last weekend. "The importance of a photo, an image which tells a story and is an irreplaceable part of journalism, must be protected and treated as any other editorial creative work," said Arne König, EFJ President, who participated in the meeting on 'Photo...

Pakistani businessman Munir Mengal, a member of the Balochi minority who was arrested for planning to launch a Balochi satellite TV station and detained by military intelligence (MI) and the police, was kept incommunicado for 16 months under the orders of then President Pervez Musharraf. Mengal made this revelation to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) during an interview in a European country where...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has wlcomed the progress being made in the investigation into the abduction and torture of two journalists employed by Brazilian newspaper, O Dia, and their driver in the Rio de Janeiro favela of Batan on May 14. Three military police officers wanted in connection with the case—Fabio Gonçalves Soares (also known as 'Fabinho Catiri'), Marcos Antonio Alves da Silva...