2005-2014

Reporters Without Borders joins the families and lawyers of imprisoned Kurdish-Iranian journalists Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed “Hiva” Botimar in urging them to call off the hunger strike they began on 14 July. The two journalists are currently under sentence of death. “They are now on the 47th day of their hunger strike and their condition is very worrying,” the press freedom organisation said...

The Burmese junta is resorting to all methods possible to prevent journalists, including those working for the foreign media, from covering a wave of unrest in response to an increase in the price of fuel. “The military’s response to the wave of protests against price increases since 19 August has again been heavy-handed repression, intimidation and censorship of Burmese journalists,” Reporters...

Radio Farda broadcaster Parnaz Azima, who has been trapped in Iran since January, is now facing a charge of acting against Iran's national security by working for the US-funded broadcaster. Azima is already facing charges of working with Radio Farda and spreading propaganda against the Iranian state. Azima and her lawyer, Mohammad Hossein Aqasi, have rejected the charges as baseless. Aqasi told

Saudi Arabia has indefinitely banned the distribution of a leading Arab newspaper, days after the paper carried a report about a Saudi extremist playing a key role in a violent Iraqi al-Qaida front group. It was unclear if the Iraqi article was the main impetus for the ban, or merely the culmination of several weeks of disputes, mostly on other issues, between the Al Hayat newspaper and the...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has freed one of three journalists accused of publishing "lies" about the ruling system in the Islamic Republic after his family paid bail of 500 million rials ($54,000), a news agency said on Wednesday. Farshad Gorbanpour, who worked for a pro-reform daily shut down in July, told the ISNA news agency he was released on Sunday from Tehran's Evin prison. The Paris-based...

(BIANET/IFEX) - The judiciary in Turkey has again blocked access to a website because of the content of one item on the site. Following the blocking of the alternative dictionary website "Eksisözlük" (literally, "sour dictionary"; http://sozluk.sourtimes.org/Default.asp? ) and the website Antoloji.com ( http://www.antoloji.com/ ), access to the website WordPress.com ( http://wordpress.com/ ) has...

The conviction and subsequent sentencing of the mastermind behind the murder of Paraguayan journalist Samuel Román is being seen as an out and out victory of justice in the battle for violent conspiracies against journalists in the country. The 450-mile-long Paraguay-Brazil border is known as a hotbed of corruption, smuggling and organised crime. After deliberating for more than 12 hours, a jury...

Another cartoon row seems to be brewing up in – this time in Sweden where a newspaper has published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog. Iran summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires on Monday to protest against the publication of the “disrespectful" drawing of the prophet. Leading figures in Sweden's media industry have backed newspaper Nerikes Allehanda, which has published the cartoon...

(CNSNews.com) - American Internet companies' operations in China are back in the spotlight, as Yahoo fends off a lawsuit brought on behalf of imprisoned dissident journalists and press freedom groups, who are expressing concern about a new "self-discipline" pledge designed to tighten controls on Chinese bloggers. Yahoo on Monday asked an Oakland, Calif., court to throw out the case brought by a...

The Malaysian government’s decision to suspend a newspaper for a month over printing a picture of Jesus smoking is being seen as a blow for free speech A woman walks past a newspaper stall in Kuala Lumpur in 2004. The Malaysian government's decision to temporarily shut down a newspaper for printing a picture of Jesus smoking is a blow for free speech, opposition leaders and a media watchdog said....