News

19 February 2009

Journalists in Turkey face up to three years in prison for "acquiring classified information"

Two journalists, the daily Milliyet's Gokcer Tahincioglu and Vatan newspaper's Kemal Goktas, are on trial in Turkey over allegations related to articles revealing the unlawful authorization of security forces, police, the gendarmerie and the national intelligence service to monitor all electronic communication between citizens. Tahincioglu and Goktas are accused of "acquiring classified...

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19 February 2009

Swaziland church moves to ban media outlets from reporting on leadership dispute

The Jericho Church, an indigenous Christian denomination, has moved an application at the High Court of Swaziland to ban the media from reporting on the split that has rocked the Church as a result of a leadership dispute, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. The Church wants to gag the country's two daily newspapers, the Times of Swaziland and the Swazi Observer, as well as...

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19 February 2009

Unidentified journalist shot and wounded during police standoff at university in South Africa

An unidentified Pretoria News journalist was shot six times by the police during a standoff between the police and students at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria on February 11. Several people were injured when police fired a barrage of rubber bullets at hundreds of students protesting at the university. The journalist was rushed to hospital by paramedics, according to the Media...

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19 February 2009

Correspondent in Paraguay assaulted, receives death threat

Press freedom groups in Paraguay have condemned the death threat and assault against Aldo Lezcano, a correspondent for the daily ABC Color in Ybycuí, as well as the assault suffered earlier by Richard Villasboa and Blas Salcedo, of the Canal 13 television station. The Sindicato de Periodistas del Paraguay (SPP) has called on authorities to investigate these incidents and punish those found to be...

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19 February 2009

Newspaper raided in Morocco, editors harassed for wanting to write about king’s mother

The publisher and editor of the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Ayam were arrested and questioned for wanting to do a report about the king’s mother, a subject regarded as off-limits in Morocco, delayed reports said. “Police measures of this kind result in abuses that we find very disturbing,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “Political and judicial harassment of the Moroccan news media is...

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19 February 2009

Tamil journalist killed in bombardment amounting to "war crime"

A Tamil journalist was killed in a Sri Lankan Army bombardment on the north of the country, an incident that the has been described by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) as a "war crime". Punniyamurthy Sathyamurthy was killed during an air raid on February 12 on Thevipuram, Mullaithivu district in the region of Vanni, being fought over by the army and rebel Tamil Tigers (LTTE). He had recently filed...

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19 February 2009

Crime photographer shot dead, reporter injured in Mexico

A gunman killed a photographer and injured a reporter in the southern Mexican city of Iguala, Guerrero state on Friday last, according to international news reports. Photographer Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez, 33, from the newspaper El Correo was shot three times and died at the scene. Reporter Yenny Yuliana Marchán Arroyo, 22, from the daily newspaper Diario 21 was hit three times in the legs and is...

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19 February 2009

Gunmen open fire on private television station TV Alter in Greece

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed deep concern over the attack on private television station TV Alter in Athens, Greece, on February 17. According to SEEMO, around 7:15 p.m., four armed men fired shots and threw a suspected explosive device outside the premises of TV Alter's central offices in Athens. No injuries were reported. The attack happened before the station's...

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19 February 2009

Indonesian reporter's body found floating off Bali coast

The Indonesian government should launch an immediate investigation into the death of journalist Anak Agung Prabangsa, a reporter with the Indonesian-language Radar Bali daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded. On Monday, Prabangsa's body was found floating off the coast of Bali island's Bias Tugel beach near Padangbai Bay. The 41-year-old journalist was first reported missing on...

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19 February 2009
Reporter murdered, press club destroyed, journalist abducted in Pakistan's Swat Valley

Reporter murdered, press club destroyed, journalist abducted in Pakistan's Swat Valley

Geo TV and the News daily correspondent Musa Khankhel was shot dead Wednesday in Pakistan's northwest Swat Valley. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing, the first violation of a truce called Monday between the government and local militant groups. Khankhel had been covering a peace march led by Muslim cleric Sufi Muhammad, the father-in-law of local Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah...

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