News

Important testimony was given at the 13th hearing in the trial of Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink’s alleged killers in Istanbul on May 10, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). A witness, whose identity was not revealed, identified three of the defendants as being at the scene of Dink’s fatal shooting outside his newspaper on January 19, 2007. Testifying that the main suspect...

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has filed a criminal defamation suit against independent journalist Hamdi Kandil, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). He faces up to six months in jail and a discretionary fine if convicted. A prosecutor summoned Kandil on Tuesday to inform him of defamation charges brought in connection with a May 3 article in the opposition...

The Bahraini government has decided to indefinitely suspend Al-Jazeera from reporting from the Gulf kingdom, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On Tuesday, Bahrain’s Ministry of Culture and Information decided to “temporarily freeze the activities of the Bahrain bureau of the Qatari satellite news channel Al-Jazeera for having violated professional norms and for failing to...

Freelance Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi was killed and three international journalists were among dozens of people injured today during clashes in Bangkok, according to international news reports. The fighting followed a military operation to clear an area occupied for six weeks by anti-government protesters. Demonstrators attacked and threatened local media outlets for perceived...

Kuwaiti authorities have detained freelance opposition journalist Mohammed Abdulqader al-Jassem since Sunday on charges of “instigating to overthrow the regime,” “slight to the personage of the emir” and “instigating to dismantle the foundations of Kuwaiti society,” the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Al-Jassem is facing multiple charges in five other complaints and was...

In Delhi, Lok Sabha TV (LSTV) recently equalled the television ratings (TVR) of prominent news channels such as CNBC 18, Headlines Today and CNN-IBN, according to TAM India rating agency, according to the Hindu Businessline. The details: [ Link] With a TRP of .01, LSTV's viewership was higher than several international channels such as BBC and CNN. Similar ratings were recorded in Mumbai, where...

A raid was conducted in Madagascar Saturday on the opposition radio station Fréquence Plus that resulted in the arrest of an opposition leader while he was on a live radio programme, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists. The soldiers injured three journalists and destroyed the station’s equipment in 67 Hectares, a district in the capital, Antananarivo...

The Sudanese government has shut down opposition daily Rai al-Shaab and arrested three of its journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Security forces raided Rai al-Shaab’s offices in Khartoum on Sunday morning, confiscating copies and equipment and stopping all printing, according to local and international news reports. Deputy Editor Abu Zar al-Amin and two reporters...

Vedat Kursun, the former editor of Turkey’s only Kurdish-language daily, Azadiya Welat, was on Thursday given a sentence of 166 years and six months in prison by a court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Kursun was convicted under articles 314-3 and 220-6 of the criminal code and article 7-2 of the anti-terrorism law on charges of membership of...

The security situation for reporters has been deteriorating in Thailand as government forces and anti-government protesters exchange fire in the national capital. Three journalists were shot and injured on Friday when security forces and protesters exchanged fire that resulted in at least seven deaths and more than 100 injuries, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Three...