News

Violent attacks have been carried out against two journalists in the Moscow region. Both victims, Oleg Kashin of the business daily Kommersant and Anatoly Adamchuk of the independent weekly Zhukovskiye Vesti, have covered a contentious highway project that would go through a forest in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Kashin worked...

Burma must immediately release Toru Yamaji, a reporter with Tokyo-based APF news agency, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) hasdemanded. Yamaji, 49, was detained Sunday in Myawaddy, on the country's eastern border with Thailand while trying to cover the country's first elections in two decades, according to international media reports, which quoted Japan's embassy in Rangoon...

Crime reporter Carlos Alberto Guajardo Romero was killed on Friday during crossfire between the Mexican army and gunmen in the border city of Matamoros, the NewYork-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local news. The shooting was among a series of violent events that took place the same day in Matamoros, and led to the killing of Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén...

Héctor Camero, a representative of Radio Tierra y Libertad, a community radio station based in a poor neighbourhood of Monterrey (in the northeastern state of Nuevo León), was told on November 3 that he has been sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 pesos (900 euros) on a charge of “using, developing and exploiting radio frequencies without a licence.” The sentence deals another...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over the way authorities in Burundi are treating two journalists employed by the newspaper Iwacu, Elyse Ngabire and Dieudonné Hakizimana, who were arrested for unknown reasons on November 5, held incommunicado for 48 hours and released at noon Sunday. They have been told to appear before Bujumbura police chief...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the Syrian authorities to abandon an Internet communications bill that was drafted at the behest of Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri and was approved by the cabinet last week. If adopted by parliament, it is likely to have a serious impact on online free expression, which is already limited in Syria. Syria is on the RSF...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned Wednesday's arbitrary arrest of journalist Gafar Alsabki Ibrahim during a raid by intelligence officials on the independent newspaper Alsahafa. They took him away to an unknown location after making him surrender his mobile phone and preventing him from alerting his family. No reason was given for his arrest. The press...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reiterated its call for the release of Hojatullah Mujadadi, the only journalist detained in Afghanistan. According to the latest information it has obtained, Mujadadi’s arrest by the National Directorate of Security was based on a confession extracted by force from a young man identified as Veiss, an opponent of former Kapisa...

A bill was adopted by the Bulgarian cabinet on October 20 that would amend the criminal code section dealing with “crimes against the national and racial equality” of the country’s citizens. Prompted by Council of Europe recommendations, it would increase the penalties for discriminatory statements in the media to four years in prison and a fine of 5,000 to 19,000 levas (2,000 to 5,000 euros)...

Iraqi authorities have decided to close down Al-Baghdadia TV offices in Iraq. The closure of the Cairo-based satellite channel was announced after it broadcast the demands of gunmen who attacked a church in Baghdad on Sunday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Fifty-eight people were killed during the siege, according to news reports. On Monday, security forces...