2005-2014

Two journalists and their companion were Friday abducted by the local Taliban in Pakistan's Mohmand tribal region even as scribes expressed concern at the deteriorating law and order situation in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, says a Press Trust of India (PTI) report. Reporter Pir Zubair Shah, photo-journalist Akhtar Soomro and Abdul Hassan, a leader of the local unit of the ruling...

There has been an upsurge in cases being brought against journalists in Kuwait, despite the fact it was the first Gulf state to decriminalise press offences. "The 2006 press law reform profoundly transformed the emirate's media landscape. We urge the authorities to continue to strengthen the protection of the right to be informed and to inform the public," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières...

The Kanifing Court trying Dida Halake, former Managing Director of the Observer Company Limited, publishers of the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper, on June 25 granted him bail after almost two weeks in detention. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that he was granted bail in the sum of 25,000 Gambian Dalasi (approx. US$11,901) and one surety to reappear on July 9...

Officers of the Institute for Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations (Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas, CICPC) have arrested Isaac Mollera Zárraga, the alleged murderer of journalist Javier García, who was found dead in his flat in Caracas on June 15, according to Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS). García, who was the host of RCTV Internacional television...

A reporter of a Rangoon-based weekly journal, Ecovision, has been charged with "committing crimes against public tranquility" and "inciting hatred against the government," according to Mizzima News. Ma Eint Khaing Oo of Ecovision was produced before the Tamwe Township Court in Rangoon Division for the first time on June 24 and charged under Section 505(b) and 124(a) of the Criminal Code. Offences...

Two journalists in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic have been convicted under the country's vague extremism law. Each has been sentenced to serve a suspended two-year prison term. Their newspaper has been shuttered. On June 25, the Kirov District Court in the regional capital of Ufa, in the central Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, convicted and sentenced Viktor Shmakov, editor-in-chief of the...

Local Taliban have threatened four journalists in the South Waziristan Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), warning them to give up their profession or face the consequences, Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has reported. According to press reports, the threat was issued in pamphlets circulated by local Taliban in the town of Wana in South Waziristan. The pamphlet...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have called for the immediate release from prison of celebrated journalist U Win Tin, whose health has deteriorated badly in the past few days. The 78-year-old is suffering from lung problems with severe asthmatic attacks which prevent him from sleeping and eating properly. A relative who visited him on June 28 found him thin...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on Mongolian authorities and political parties to protect journalists and guarantee media freedom after a series of incidents involving the press during violent demonstrations following the June 29 legislative elections. "We condemn the violence by demonstrators, who seriously injured three reporters," RSF said. "It is also very regrettable that the...

A reporter for Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper was denied entry into Beijing this week, the paper's chief editor said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. With just over a month to go before the start of the Beijing Olympics, the newspaper, known for its pro-democracy stance and critical Chinese reportage, said one of its senior reporters had been turned away at Beijing on July 1 and had...