News

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the immediate release of Cuban independent journalist Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet, who was arrested after a verbal exchange with a policeman in Artemisa (in Havana province) on April 18. Du Bouchet, who is a reporter for Habana Press, an independent news agency, was previously jailed from August 2005 to August 2006 for a similar reason. “The brakes...

Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has sent emergency funds to help the dozens of Swat valley journalists who have been forced to flee the area because of fighting between the Pakistani army and the Taliban. More than 30 journalists and their families have had to seek refuge in Peshawar and other cities since the army launched its offensive against Islamist militants in the Swat valley...

US President Barack Obama intends blocking the court-ordered release of photos depicting the abuse of prisoners by US military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Given the administration’s pledge last month not to fight the court ruling, as well as President Obama’s emphasis on promoting transparency and open government when he took office, the decision is very disappointing,” Paris-based...

The Zimbabwe police conducted a raid on the Harare headquarters of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper on May 9 and the arrests of its director, editor and news editor two days later, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The three journalists were freed on bail after being held for 24 hours. “Zimbabwean journalists continue to be the victims of police brutality and judicial...

A Cuban independent journalist was sentenced during a summary trial on Tuesday to three years in prison on charges of "disrespect," journalists in Havana told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Thursday. According to the foreign-based Cuban news Web site Cubamatinal, Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, director of the Havana-based independent news agency Habana Press was also charged...

Police in Zimbabwe should immediately release Alec Muchadehama, a prominent human rights lawyer targetted for his work on behalf of journalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere and others, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Two agents of the Zimbabwe police's Law and Order section arrested Alec Muchadehama at the Rotten Row Magistrates Courts in Harare Thursday morning, according to a...

Israeli newspaper reporter Amira Hass was arrested at the Erez border crossing Tuesay as she returned to Israel after spending four months in the Gaza Strip reporting for the Tel Aviv-based daily Haaretz in violation of a military ban on Israeli citizens visiting the Palestinian Territories, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Hass told RSF that the Israeli police arrested...

Turkish journalist Aylin Duruoglu is being detained without justification, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Duruoglu, who edits the liberal daily Vatan’s website, gazetevatan.com, was picked up during a wave of arrests of suspected members of an outlawed armed organisation on April 27. “Duruoglu’s detention is unquestionably arbitrary," RSF said. “She has been wrongly...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned a court decision to continue investigating the charge of “disseminating information likely to upset the population” under article 322/1 of the criminal code that was brought against journalist Zeljko Peratovic in January at the behest at interior minister Tomislav Karamarko. It carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison as well as a possible fine...

A foreign travel ban has been placed on William Tonet, the editor of the independent Luanda-based biweekly Folha 8 (F8), whose passport was seized when he tried to cross by land into Namibia on May 9, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Tonet has been harassed by the authorities ever since the newspaper’s creation in 1995. “The persecution of Tonet because of the stories he publishes is...