2005-2014

Tanzania has imposed a three-month ban on radical tabloid Mwanahalisi for allegedly publishing seditious articles. "The newspaper is fond of publishing articles that ridicule senior government leaders including president Jakaya Kikwete and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM)," information minister George Mkuchika told reporters in Dar es Salam on Monday. Mwanahalisi editor has Saed Kubenea denied...

Prosecutors on Tuesday sought a jail sentence of up to two and a half years for a Vietnamese journalist on trial for allegedly writing inaccurate stories about one of the country's most high-profile corruption cases, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Reporter Nguyen Viet Chien, 56, was charged with "abusing freedom and democracy." Another reporter, Nguyen Van Hai, 33, is facing the same...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the "unacceptable silence" of the Israeli authorities about Syrian journalist Ata Farahat, who has been held in custody for more than a year without any explanation. The Israeli media has been banned by court order from publishing news about the trial of the journalist, a correspondent for the Syrian daily Al-Watan and for Syrian public television, who...

Tunisia promotes itself as a progressive nation that protects human rights, but an investigation has found that it aggressively silences journalists and others who challenge the policies of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In a new report, 'The Smiling Oppressor', the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found that journalists are subjected to routine imprisonment, assault, harassment, and

Four Azeri journalists have been held without charge for more than 10 days, possibly in Tehran's Evin prison, while an Azeri journalist and blogger was sentenced to six months in prison on September 20 for her online articles, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. "These Azeris join the list of ethnic minority journalists held in Iran's prisons for criticising social inequality and...

The publishing licenses of two Rangoon-based weekly journals have been suspended by the Press Scrutiny Board (Censor Board) because of violation of its policy and regulations, Mizzima News has reported. The censor board last week suspended publishing of True News for two months and the Action Times for a month respectively for violation of the regulations of the censor board, media circles in...

A Niamey appeals court has freed Radio France International (RFI) journalist Moussa Kaka after he had spent more than a year in jail accused of collaborating with Tuareg-led rebels. The court Tuesday ordered Kaka's release and downgraded the charges against him. He was arrested in September last year charged with colluding with rebels who have been waging a guerrilla war in Niger's uranium...

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has pardoned outspoken editor Ibrahim Eissa from the two-month jail sentence the latter received for “publishing false information of a nature to disturb public order or security,” state-TV announced late Monday. An Egyptian appeals court on September 28 upheld a guilty verdict against Eissa who wrote stories questioning President Mubarak's health. Eissa, editor of...

The Azamgarh district administration lodged a police complaint against the owner of a hotel for letting out rooms to two foreign journalists who interviewed the families of two suspected terrorists, officials said, according to Indo-Asian News Service (IANS). According to reports, two journalists representing the news channel France 24 went to Azamgarh's Sanjarpur village, about 270 km from this...

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior has launched investigations into cases of 48 media personnel who were either killed or subjected to acts of violence, according to the director of the ministry's National Command Centre, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) has reported. Some details: "Investigations have been launched following the establishment of a partnership with the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory...