News

The police on Wednesday closed down the Bengali-language, pro-opposition daily Amar Desh based in capital Dhaka, according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Police cited supposed publishing irregularities when they arrested acting editor Mahmudur Rahman early Wednesday, news reports said, but the shutdown appeared to be politically motivated. On Tuesday, the newspaper’s publisher, Hashmat...

Ten Radio Fahazavana employees, including six journalists, were placed in pre-trial detention in a prison in Madagascar on May 27 on charges of threatening state security and inciting revolt, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). They had been held in police custody since a May 20 raid on the station, which has been closed. “Radio Fahazavana’s employees have the right to a trial as soon as...

Israeli forces arrested 20 journalists aboard the humanitarian flotilla on Monday; three have since been released, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “We condemn the arrests of these journalists, who were on the boats reporting an unfolding news event,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Programme Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “Israel must give a full accounting of all...

Censorship attempts that accompanied Monday's deadly assault by Israel on a flotilla that was carrying humanitarian aid, 750 pro-Palestinian activists and several journalists to the Gaza Strip, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “We deplore this assault, which left a heavy toll of dead and wounded,” Paris-based RSF said. “The journalists who were on the flotilla to cover the...

The Zimbabwe Media Commission has decided to grant publishing licencs to The Daily News, the long-banned independent newspaper, and a handful of other publications, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Commission Chairman Godfrey Majonga announced on Wednesday that the licences would be issued immediately, marking the first time in nearly seven years that an independent daily...

Three Palestinian journalists have been physically attacked by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank in the past 10 days while a Palestinian journalist and an Israeli journalist have been arrested, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “The incidents are increasing,” Paris-based RSF said. “More than 30 journalists have been physically attacked and injured by members of the Israel Defence...

Sudanese authorities have charged an opposition journalist with terrorism and espionage and allegedly tortured him while in custody, according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the immediate release of Abu Zar al-Amin, deputy editor of the opposition daily Rai al-Shaab. Khartoum’s prosecutor-general charged al-Amin with “undermining the constitution,”...

The Press and Publication Court in Yemen handed down suspended jail sentences to an editor and four reporters on Monday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The sentences come just a few days after local media reported that President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned all journalists being tried or convicted of press offenses to mark the 20th anniversary of Yemen's unification. On...

Two months after the murder of Colombian journalist Clodomiro Castilla Ospino, the investigation is stalled and the victim’s daughter has been forced to flee her hometown of Montería after being followed and harassed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Castilla, editor and publisher of the local news magazine El Pulso del Tiempo, was shot by two unidentified assailants on a...

A former police officer has been convicted in connection with the 2009 murder of Venezuelan journalist Orel Sambrano in the northern city of Valencia, according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). A court in Carabobo state sentenced Rafael Segundo Pérez, a former Carabobo police sergeant, to 25 years in prison on Tuesday on conspiracy charges related to the murder, according to press...