2005-2014

Authorities in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syria have prevented four Arab journalists and human rights activists from attending the Arab Free Press Forum, an annual gathering in Beirut, Lebanon, that examines how independent media can be effective despite widespread repression in the region. The travel restrictions drew condemnation from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), the organiser of...

The Botswana Parliament on December 10 pressed ahead with passing of the controversial Media Practitioners Bill. The bill, which faced fierce objections and an outcry from the media and the public in general, is now at the parliamentary committee stage before the final vote, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). The bill provides for the setting up of a statutory media...

One of Haiti's best known journalists, Joseph Guyler C Delva, has been sentenced to a month in prison by a Port-au-Prince criminal court for defaming a senator, Rudolph Boulos, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Delva is still free pending the outcome of an appeal. The order was passed on December 10. Boulos sued Delva after he said Boulos had a US passport. This would preclude him from...

Peru President Alan García has indicated that he believes jailed TV presenter Magaly Medina should be released. He told a group of Medina supporters on December 10 that he thought the two months she has spent in prison were "sufficient" and that he would discuss the matter with justice minister Rosario Fernández. The host of a celebrity gossip show on privately-owned ATV, Medina has been serving a...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over the sidelining of journalist Javier Molina of Ecuadorian TV station Cablenoticias, which has been state-run since July 2008. Molina was the host of the political programme 'Sobremesas de entorno'. The journalist received three warnings from the new government-appointed management after the station was taken over, ordering him to modify his...

The Constitutional Court in Colombia ruled that the government cannot take measures to restrict a journalist's freedom of expression or right to information as a result of its obligation to provide the journalist with protection, the Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP) has reported. The ruling came after the court reviewed the case of a journalist who was under government protection as...

A former Voice of America (VOA) journalist and four soldiers have been convicted of state security crimes in Angola and sentenced to 12 years in prison in a trial that, Human Rights Watch (HRS) says, fell far short of internaitonal fair trial standards. On September 16, 2008, a military court in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda convicted former VOA journalist, Fernando Lelo, and four soldiers of...

Habib Papy Boubendji, an investigative journalist with Le Nganga, a satirical weekly in Gabon, was badly beaten by soldiers inside the presidential compound in Libreville on the night of December 5, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Boubendji, also known as Habib Bibalou, is now in intensive care in a military hospital near the capital where only his wife is allowed to visit him. "The...

One of Brazil's highest federal courts has ruled that a former mayor in the northeastern state of Ceará should be tried before an ordinary court for the 2003 murder of Nicanor Linhares Batista, the owner of Radio Vale do Jaguaribe, a radio station based in the town. The Superior Tribunal of Justice (STJ) passed the order against Maria Arivan de Holanda Lucena, the former mayor of Limoeiro do Norte...

A programme critical of Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, was taken off air recently, the Peru-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has said quoting delayed reports. Francisco Pinoargotti, director and presenter of Gama TV's programme 'Buenos Muchachos', which includes entertainment, satire and black humor, told IPYS that his programme was cancelled arbitrarily following orders issued by...