News

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers has released its final statement on the case of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. The statement emphasises that, as a member of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan has agreed to abide by the final judgment of the court. "The November 11 ruling by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court makes Fatullayev's release possible. However, he remains behind bars and...

The Anglican Bishop for Western Buganda Diocese, Kefa Kamya Ssemakula, on December 6 assaulted Brian Luwagga, a photojournalist with Kamunye newspaper. Kamunye is a Luganda-based affiliate of the Red Pepper publication. Luwagga was photographing the bishop at the Masaka High Court premises, where he had been taken by Christian followers in the Diocese contesting the way his successor had been...

Lanka E News journalist Shantha Wijesuriya and Sirasa TV airport correspondent Premalal were attacked on December 7 by a group of persons purported to be Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) employees. Wijesuriya suffered serious injuries and had to seek treatment at a hospital, according to press freedom group Free Media Movement (FMM). According to reports, the journalists were assaulted by...

Berivan Eker, former editor-in-chief of the Renge Heviya Jine women's magazine, was arrested on December 5, IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET) has reported. Her predecessors, Gurbet Cakar, Sultan Sonsuz, Ruken Aktas and Sibel Esmer are all either convicted or facing prison terms. Renge Heviya Jine (The Colour of Women's Hope) is the only women's magazine in Turkey published in both Kurdish and...

ARTICLE 19 has welcomed the approval of the Access to Public Information Law by El Salvador's Legislative Assembly on December 2, and urged President Mauricio Funes to immediately sign and implement the legislation. The law marks a new era for freedom of information in the country. "The adoption of the Access to Public Information Law by the Legislative Assembly is an important step forward in the...

The State of Carabobo's Court of Appeals (in north-central Venezuela) has annulled the ruling that sentenced journalist Francisco "Pancho" Pérez to three years and nine months in prison, disqualified him professionally and politically for the same period of time, and ordered him to pay 1,250 Tax Units (approx. US$18,900). Pérez began practicing journalism again for the newspaper El Carabobeño on...

The International Press Institute (IPI) has released its report on the state of media freedom and media regulation in Zambia. Recently, authorities in the southern African country have called for the media to be regulated by statute, despite the fact that a voluntary regulatory body was established earlier this year. The Zambia Media Council (ZAMEC), as it is known, has not yet been launched...

Investigators in Thailand now believe that troops may have been responsible for the shooting death of Reuters cameraman Hiro Muramoto, on April 10, according to a leaked preliminary state probe by Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Reuters reported from Bangkok last week. Thai government investigators said in the report that the death of Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national...

The Khimki City Court has overturned the defamation conviction of editor Mikhail Beketov, a verdict that had been condemned in Russia and abroad, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists has reported. Beketov had been found guilty last month of slandering Khimki Mayor Vladimir Strelchenko in a 2007 television interview. In the interview, the journalist said his car had...

Belarusian authorities must stop harassing independent media outlets and journalists and allow them to cover the December 19 presidential elections without fear of reprisal, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. On Wednesday, the Minsk-based pro-opposition news website Charter 97 reported that authorities had opened their third criminal case this...