2005-2014

Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, a Guantanamo detainee since June 2002, has suffered a sharp deterioration in his health and is said to be fearing for his survival. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) voiced “deep concern” about al-Haj, whose lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith said yesterday after recovering his notes from US military censors that his client’s health has worsened considerably in recent days...

Journalist and blogger Bashar Al-Sayegh was released on bail yesterday after being interrogated for three days. Agence France-Presse said he was freed once the authorities were in a position to identify the person who posted the anonymous comment insulting the emir on Sayegh’s website. The authorities reportedly reached the preliminary conclusion that the comment was posted without Sayegh’s...

Russian journalist Larisa Arap has been released from a psychiatric clinic near the northern city of Murmansk where she had been held against her will for 46 days. The 48-year Arap, an active member of the opposition United Civic Front, was forcefully hospitalised in what she says was retribution for an article she had written denouncing abuse against patients at another local psychiatric clinic...

Reporting conflict has become the greatest challenge for journalists in the northeastern part of India which has been reeling under the impact of insurgency for almost half a century. They are performing their duty in a condition of great stress and strain. There have been glaring instances of journalists being targeted by separatist outfits, and threatened, assaulted and harassed by security...

(HRinfo/IFEX) - On 21 August 2007, HRinfo noted that the harsh sentence issued by Ras Kheima criminal court in U.A.E. against the head administrator of Majan website ( http://www.majan.net ) greatly threatens freedom of expression in the U.A.E.. On 8 August Muhamed Rashid Shouhi was sentenced to one year in prison, and instructed to pay a 50,000 Dirham (approx. US$13,600) fine and 30,000 Dirham...

New Delhi, Aug. 21 (PTI): N Ravi, Editor of The Hindu, was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Press Trust of India here today. Ravi, a former Washington correspondent of the newspaper and its Editor since 1991, succeeds R Lakshmipathy of Dinamalar. He has served as the PTI Chairman earlier also. Prof E V Chitnis, an eminent physicist, was elected the Vice Chairman...

Reporters Without Borders hails the release of three newspaper journalists - Addis Zena editor Wosonseged Gebrekidan, Hadar editor Dawit Kebede and Goshu Moges of Lisane Hezeb - who were set free along with some 30 other opposition members on 18 August under a pardon issued by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. “We can only welcome the release of these journalists, who had been imprisoned for about a...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned a communication ministry order on 8 August forbidding community radio stations to broadcast programmes of a political nature. The order, which will remain in effect during the campaign for municipal and departmental elections scheduled for 28 October, was issued under a 1995 decree banning “political proselytism” on such stations. “It is regrettable that...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned a physical attack on radio journalist Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Moghdad by the prime minister’s bodyguards on 16 August, as well as a charge of “libelling the First Lady” that was brought against newspaper editor Sidi Mohamed Ould Ebbe on 18 August, which could result in prison sentence. “Press freedom had made some progress in Mauritania, especially during the...

(IPYS/IFEX) - In a unanimous ruling made known on 9 August 2007, the Second Bench of the Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of three journalists of the Chilevisión (CHV) television station for the use of hidden cameras. Press editor Patricio Caldichoury Ríos, journalist Fernando Reyes Amín and producer Raúl Poblete Barrios each received a suspended three-month prison sentence. The court...