News

Four journalists with the Burmese weekly Unity, as well as the company’s CEO U Tin Hsan, have had their prison sentences reduced to seven years upon appeal, Mizzima News reported last week. The journalists had been originally sentenced in July to ten years in prison with hard labour by a court in the Magway Region of Myanmar for violating Sec. 3/9 of the country's 1923 Official Secrets Act after...

The International Press Institute (IPI) has welcomed a decision by prosecutors in Slovakia to drop criminal libel charges against journalist Dušan Karolyi. Slovakia’s General Prosecutor, Jaromír Čižnár, announced the move last week after previously committing to review Karolyi’s case in early September following outcry from regional press freedom groups, including IPI’s Slovak National...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined Iranian journalists in a renewed call for the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, to show courage and follow up on his election promises by proving his respect for media freedom and freedom of association. IFJ joined its affiliate, the Association of Iranian Journalists (AoIJ) and journalists from across Iran in a united appeal to...

The Senate President in the Philippines has filed a libel complaint in the Pasay City Prosecutor's Office against a journalist in Iloilo City. The journalist allegedly committed libel in posting a blog entry implicating the senator in a corruption issue, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). Iloilo City is approximately 600 km south of Pasay City, Metro Manila...

As French journalists Valentine Bourrat and Thomas Dandois begin their third month in detention in Indonesia, their support committee in France and Reporters Without Borders are launching a petition for their immediate release. The petition, which notes that “fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to inform, concern the immense majority,” has already been signed by leading journalists...

A Central Broadcasting Service (CBS) radio journalist, Ronald Ssembuusi has been convicted of criminal defamation by Kalangala Grade 1 Magistrate for voicing a story on November 17, 2011 implicating the former District Chairman Daniel Kikoola in the theft of solar panels donated by the African Development Bank, according to the Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda. “A statement...

Gunmen using large-calibre firearms fired at journalist Margarito Juárez’s home in Fresnillo, in the central state of Zacatecas, in the early hours of September 30 but failed to injure anyone although Juárez and his children were inside at the time. Juárez, who works for the newspaper Página 24 and Radio B15, said the shots penetrated several rooms including the bedroom where he was sleeping...

Two journalists have been mudered in separate incidents in Hafizabad, Punjab province of Pakistan in recent days. With the tally of journalists killed in Pakistan now reaching 13 this year, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has demanded that the Pakistan government take serious action on protecting the country’s media workers and heed global calls to tackle the country’s...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have condemned a violent tear gas attack on a BBC team by Turkish police on Sunday. According to media reports, the BBC team was filming protests by local and Syrian Kurds on the Turkish-Syrian border, near Kobane. As the team were leaving the protests Turkish police fired two canisters towards them...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with their affiliates, the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM) and the Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists (SSNM) on Monday issued a set of urgent demands necessary to set free Macedonian journalism and enable a culture of independence and quality journalism to flourish. Central...