News

Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, the young Afghan journalist who was sentenced to death and then to 20 years in prison for downloading an article about the rights of women in Islam, was secretly pardoned and released several weeks ago and left the country for fear of reprisals. Kambakhsh’s lawyer confirmed to Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) on Monday that his client was released several weeks ago after...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Moroccan authorities to end an investigation of two journalists who were interrogated for 40 hours over an article about the health of the king. Authorities have repeatedly pressed them to reveal their sources, according to their lawyer. Editor Ali Anouzla and journalist Bochra Daou of the independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula ‎were detained...

A Tunisian court has decided to recognise a pro-government board of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (NSTJ). Police Tuesday physically evicted members of the previous independent board from the syndicate’s offices, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists. A court in Tunis Tuesday ordered the transfer of the syndicate’s offices to the new...

Iranian authorities arrested one journalist Tuesday while security forces summoned another 15 who were among the signatories of a recent petition demanding the release of detained journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported. Morteza Alviri, a journalist aligned with defeated presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, was arrested by judiciary agents at his home today, local press...

Six prominent Gambian journalists were released on Thursday after President Yahya Jammeh pardoned them. The six journalists—Gambian Press Union Vice President Sarata Jabbi-Dibba, Secretary-General Emil Touray, and Treasurer Pa Modou Faal; Pap Saine and Ebou Sawaneh, publisher and editor of the Point newspaper; and Sam Sarr, at right, editor of Foroyaa newspaper—were convicted on August 6 on six...

A journalist who broke the story of a Russian cargo ship apparently hijacked by pirates has fled Russia fearing for his life, the Guardian has reported. Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the online maritime bulletin Sovfracht, said he had left the country after receiving a menacing late-night phone call. The newspaper reported: [ Link] Voitenko said an unidentified man called him on the night of...

An American fugitive, accused of murdering an aide to the late Shah of Iran in the United States, was made an editor of Iran’s English-language television network in Tehran, a report in the Times newspaper has revealed. Hassan Abdulrahman, who is wanted by the FBI for shooting dead Ali Akbar Tabatabai in Maryland, worked for Iran’s flagship broadcaster Press TV. A Press TV journalist who resigned...

A US federal judge has ordered the Cuban government and the ruling Communist Party to pay $27.5 million in damages to the mother of a journalist jailed since a 2003 crackdown on dissent. US District Judge Alan S Gold on Wednesday ruled in the case of Omar Rodriguez Saludes, who is serving a 27-year sentence in Cuban prisons that the judge described as "deplorable and degrading" in his 13-page...

The publisher of La Presse, Canada's second largest French-language newspaper, threatened on Thursday to permanently stop the presses unless its 700 employees agree to deep salary cuts before December, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). "We have three months ahead of us, enough time to discuss and sign a negotiated agreement allowing us to cut labor costs," Guy Creview, publisher of the...

The editor of a prominent Catholic newspaper that demanded Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi answer questions about a sex scandal resigned Thursday, saying he and his family were hurt by an attack on his reputation from a Berlusconi family newspaper, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The resignation highlighted Berlusconi's souring ties with the church, which objects to the Italian...