2005-2014

Journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, whose residence was searched by Mexican military personnel in May 2008 and who has subsequently been harassed by members of the Army, has sought asylum in the United States, fearing for his life and that of his son. The correspondent for the regional newspaper El Diario del Noroeste in Ascensión, a municipality in the northwestern state of Chihuahua, Gutiérrez...

Saikou Ceesay, a reporter with the Banjul-based opposition Foroyaa newspaper, was arrested on June 15 and detained overnight in the Kotu police station in Kombo province, about 11 kilometres southwest of Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Ceesay was arrested at the police station while investigating the arrest and detention of pro...

A three-year jail sentence in absentia has been handed down to journalist Amal Eisa, formerly of the Qatari daily al-Sharq, for "defamation" on the basis of a complaint from the Hamad public hospital in Doha. "This extremely harsh penalty, even though partly linked to the absence of the journalist from the trial hearing, sends a dangerous signal to all journalists in the emirate," Paris-based...

Newspaper publisher John Woods was convicted in the Rarotonga High Court on two charges of contempt of court, reports Cook Island News. Fines amounting to approx. US$60 and court costs were imposed on Woods. The convictions were handed down against the 55-year-old Arorangi resident by Justice of the Peace John Kenning. Both charges relate to the breach of a gag order handed down by Justice...

Two unidentified men beat and stabbed Luis Pablo Guardado Negrete, deputy director of the local daily Noticias de la Bahía, on Saturday afternoon inside his office in the western Mexican state of Nayarit. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the local authorities to investigate the attack and bring all those responsible to justice. At 3 p.m. on Saturday, two men arrived at the...

A judge in Niger ordered the conditional release of a reporter for Radio France International (RFI) on Monday, but he stayed in jail because the public prosecutor lodged an appeal, a judicial source and RFI said, according to Reuters. Moussa Kaka, director of a private radio station and correspondent for French state-owned RFI, will stay in jail until an appeal court rules on his case. Kaka was...

An Iranian newspaper has been banned for criticising the performance of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the last three years, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported quoting official news agency IRNA on Sunday. The daily Tehran Emrouz (Tehran Today) had criticised Ahmadinejad's economic and foreign policies in a special bulletin Saturday on the occasion of the third anniversary of his election. "We have...

The police have booked cases against the activists of United Students Forum (USF), a fan outfit of the Telugu filmstar Chirenjeevi, for attacking a scribe of a regional satellite TV channel Saturday. The police said cases were registered against the USF activists for assalting reporter Ramesh, who was injured and later admitted to a hosptial. The scribe was attacked by the activists after covering...

An Azerbaijani journalist who has been honored by Amnesty International says authorities have prevented him from taking a flight out of the country, according to Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Aqil Xalil, a 25-year-old correspondent with Azadliq, Azerbaijan's largest opposition daily, was shortlisted for Amnesty's Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat. The award...

Authorities at Heydar Aliyev International Airport barred a reporter whose life has been threatened from leaving the country today, the Baku-based Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety said. Agil Khalil, a reporter for the independent daily Azadlyg, tried to board a flight to France Thursday morning when he was stopped by a plainclothes agent at a passport checkpoint. Khalil did not receive...