News

29 January 2010

Philippines: Journalist’s killer sentenced to life imprisonment

A life sentence has been passed on hitman Madix Maulana for the 2005 murder of radio journalist Edgar Amoro in Pagadian, on the southern island of Mindanao. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) regards it as an “encouraging sign” but believes the case should not be closed until the masterminds and accomplices have been identified and brought to trial. In a written message to RSF after sentencing, Amoro...

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29 January 2010

Morocco’s most critical publication faces closure

Liquidators took control of Morocco's most critical publication this week after a Casablanca commercial appeals court declared on Monday that Le Journal Hebdomadaire’s former publishing group, Media Trust, and its current one, Trimedia, were bankrupt, lawyers told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Aboubakr Jamaï, co-founder and former managing director of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, told...

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29 January 2010

Vietnamese writer jailed for spreading ‘propaganda’

A Vietnamese journalist has been awarded a jail sentence on charges that she spread anti-state propaganda, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Pham Thanh Nghien, a freelance writer, was arrested during a government crackdown on dissidents in September 2008 and originally charged with staging a protest against Vietnamese policy on a maritime dispute with China, according to...

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29 January 2010

Journalist ordered to pay damages, retract line about Soviet Union’s disappearance

A Moscow court has ruled against freelance journalist and former Soviet dissident Alexandre Podrabinek in a lawsuit by Second World War veteran Viktor Semenov, who claimed he was offended by an online article last September criticising government attempts to paint a rosy picture of the Soviet era. In its ruling, issued on January 27, the court ordered Podrabinek to pay Semenov 1,000 roubles (23...

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28 January 2010

Israel court quashes jail sentence against two journalists

Tthe Supreme Court in Israel on Thuesday overturned prison sentences of eight months, six of them suspended, against Khader Shahin, correspondent for Iranian Arabic-language television al-Alam, and his assistant Mohammed Sarhan, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. After the Israeli army launched operation Cast Lead on the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008, Shahin, living in Jerusalem, was...

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26 January 2010

Security forces now biggest enemy for Iraqi journalists

The latest series of bombings in Baghdad, Tuesday afternoon, were targeted at the city’s main hotels, which house many Iraqi and foreign news media. The offices of the Al-Hurra TV station were damaged and many journalists suffered minor injuries, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. RSF condemned this indiscriminate violence against Iraqi civilians but pointed out that the situation for...

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26 January 2010

As Sri Lanka election nears, pro-opposition writer vanishes

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the reported disappearance of Prageeth Eknelygoda, a political reporter for the Sri Lankan news website Lanka eNews. Lanka eNews Editor Sandurwan Senadeera told news organisations that Eknelygoda was last seen leaving the office on Sunday evening. He told news outlets that he fears the reporter may have been abducted. In its own account...

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25 January 2010

Sri Lanka: Political reporter and cartoonist missing in Colombo on eve of election

Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda went missing Sunday night in Colombo. A senior police official told Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) he was too busy with Tuesday's presidential election to make the case a priority. Eknaligoda, who writes political analyses for the Lankaenews website, left work at about 9 p.m. but did not arrive home and has not contacted any family members or friends. He...

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25 January 2010

Venezuela bars RCTV, 5 other stations from cable, satellite

Venezuelan regulators have ordered cable and satellite operators to stop carrying one of the country’s best known broadcasters, RCTV International, along with five other stations, alleging that the broadcasters violated a requirement to air President Hugo Chávez’s speeches., according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On orders from the National Telecommunication Commission (CONATEL)...

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22 January 2010

Journalist charged with defaming Uzbeks, faces 8 years jail

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Uzbek authorities to immediately drop all charges against Umida Akhmedova, a prominent photojournalist and documentary filmmaker who covers gender, ethnic, and cultural issues, and allow her to continue to do her work without fear of reprisal. On January 13, investigators with the city police department in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent...

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