News

Iraqi journalist Zohra al-Musawi was assaulted by unidentified men in the centre of Baghdad on October 4 while police and other members of the security forces look on without intervening, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Although Musawi, a presenter for satellite TV station Al Iraqiya, was wearing an Islamic veil at the time, clothes were torn off her as she was being beaten by her...

Eight Vietnamese bloggers received jail sentences last week on charges of anti-government propaganda under article 88 of the criminal code, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Vu Hung was sentenced to three years in prison in Hanoi on October 7. Pham Von Troi got a four-year sentence the next day. The six other bloggers were given jail sentences on the same charges in Haiphong on October...

One year ago, a court in the western autonomous region of Karakalpakstan sentenced journalist Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov to 10 years in prison on a charge of “possession of drugs for the purpose of sale,” a sentence that was upheld a month later by the supreme court despite the inconsistencies of the prosecution case and complete lack of evidence against him. Now aged 59, Abdurakhmanov has been held...

Prison sentences were given to journalists at the Azeri weekly newspaper Nota on defamation charges Thursday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Nota Editor-in-Chief Sardar Alibeili and reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu (also known as Faramaz Allahverdiyev) were given three-month prison terms, and staffer Ramiz Tagiyev was conditionally sentenced to six months of...

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned a October 7 police raid on the Tamil daily Dinamalar in Chennai and the arrest of its editor, B Lenin, over an article about Tamil actresses suspected of prostitution. Charged under the Tamil Nadu Women Harassment Act, he could remain in detention until October 21. “The police raid on Dinamalar was abusive and disproportionate and B Lenin’s arrest...

A Ljubljana appeal court has decided to lift an injunction against the Slovenian daily Dnevnik that barred it since August 2009 from publishing any news or negative comments about the person or professional activities of Italian businessman Pierpaolo Cerani, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The daily’s editor Ali Zerdin told the Paris-based RSF that the ruling on October 7 was “an...

A court in the western Venezuela state of Táchira has ordered that journalist Gustavo Azócar should remain in custody despite ordering the annulment of a criminal case against him, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). He is the only journalist currently in prison in Venezuela. Reporters Without Borders said it feared that the journalist was being hounded for his critical stance towards...

Soldiers in Conakry have been addressing journalists in a very threatening manner, with such comments as “If you go out the door, I’ll cut your tongue out,” “The next time things happen, we’ll know where to find you” and “We know you, we’ll make you pay.” Ten days after army Red Berets dispersed an opposition protest with a great deal of bloodshed in Conakry on September 28, Reporters Sans...

Algerian journalist and rights activist Hafnaoui Ghoul is on trial for writing articles critical of local authorities in Djelfa province, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ghoul, a freelance journalist and human rights activist affiliated with the ‎Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights‎, is facing numerous charges—criminal defamation, insulting government agencies, and...

The government’s decision to prosecute the company that published the new cartoon magazine Gedung Kartun for not having a permit is a setback for press freedom in Malaysia, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has said. The decision was announced by Jamilah Taib, the head of the interior ministry’s communication unit. The company insists it did get a verbal go-ahead. “We urge the interior ministry to...