2005-2014

Abdel Fettah Ould Abeidna, the editor of the privately-owned Arabic-language weekly Al-Aqsa, has been imprisoned in Mauritanian capital Nouakchott on a criminal libel charge. Abeidna was immediately jailed Tuesday on his arrival from Dubai, from where he was extradited. “Abeidna’s imprisonment is disproportionate and counter-productive, and confirms the urgent need for a reform of Mauritania’s...

The remains of Jagat Prasad Joshi, a journalist with Maoist daily Janadisha in Nepal's Kailali district who went missing on October 8, have been found. Skeletal remains were found in a nearby forest on November 28, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. After a 52-day search, Joshi’s skeleton was found in Pragati Mahila forest, 500 metres from his home in Malakheti and less than a kilometre...

A new law that, if passed, will allow the Kenyan government to determine the content, style, manner and schedule of broadcasting, has drawn fierce resistance from the media industry. The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill 2008, which is now in its final stages of the legislative process in Kenya's Parliament, proposes to set up a communications commission appointed by the government to issue

Iran has lifted a ban on a film magazine which was ordered to halt publication in March for printing "decadent and corrupt" articles on foreign film stars, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting Fars news agency. Branch 27 of Tehran's public court has lifted the ban on Donya-ye Tasvir (World of the Image), Fars said. The AFP report said: [ Link] "We now hope to publish the new issue of...

Police officers beat journalist Mohamed Hussein with batons because he was covering the suddenly-imposed dawn-to-dusk curfew in Batticaloa on November 29, the Colombo-based Free Media Movement has reported. Hussein is associated with the Kalmunei media house, run by Inter News. According to FMM sources, on the morning of November 29, Hussein took a bus from Eravur to go to his work at the Kalmunai...

The government-controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) censored the BBC Sinhala and Tamil service programmes broadcast on November 27, five press freedom groups have said. Sections of the programme on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V Prabhakaran's "Hero's Day" speech and a Defence Watch press conference were censored, making them inaudible to listeners. Defence Watch...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the action of a British coroner investigating the killing of a journalist in Somalia who called on BBC to ensure journalists are never put under pressure to go on dangerous missions. Coroner Dr Peter Dean said he would be writing to BBC to stress that managers must recognise staff had an overriding right to turn down dangerous jobs...

Do you remember the BiTV lockout? Something worse than that happened on November 30, 2008. Sakaal Times, the English daily brought out in May (renaming the existing Maharashtra Herald) by the Sakaal group of Pune (of the Marathi daily Sakaal fame) and helmed by wannabe media baron Abhijit Pawar (nephew of Nationalist Congress Party-NCP leader, Union Minister and former Broard for Control of Criket

An Iraqi court on Sunday ordered the release of a freelance photographer working for Reuters after being held by US forces since early September, the news agency has reported. The Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruled there was no evidence against Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, and ordered that the US military release him from Camp Cropper prison near Baghdad airport. Iraqi prosecutors acknowledged in...

The Delhi operations of the Sakaal Times of the Pune-based Sakaal Media Group have been closed down without informing employees in advance. On November 30, the newspaper's journalists were taken aback to find the office locked and a lockout notice pasted on the doors. The anger of the 70-odd employees is not so much about the shutdown but that the Sakaal management did not inform them personally...