News

The basic human right to freedom of expression is increasingly under threat as countries introduce and enforce laws that have been wrongfully legitimized by numerous United Nations resolutions on "defamation of religions." In a statement sent to the UN Human Rights Council today, Freedom House and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty strongly urged members of the council to reject any further...

More than six years after her detention and torture, Nepalese journalist Meena Sharma Tiwari has been granted compensation of 15,000 Nepalese rupees (150 euros) by the Appellate Court, the International Press Institute (IPI) has reported. Tiwari is the fourth Nepalese journalist to receive compensation in connection with detention and mistreatment by the authorities. "IPI welcomes the judgment as...

The Turkish interior minister has announced a new investigation into the role of the security forces in the 2007 murder of journalist of Armenian origin, Hrant Dink, according to delayed reports. Interior minister, Basir Atalay on February 4, following the publication of a report by the prime minister’s services (BTK), ordered the opening of an investigation into the responsibilities and...

The president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifah Bin Zayid Al-Nahyan, has suspended implementation of a media law which was adopted last month by the National Council, described by press freedom groups as worrying. The president intends to set up a special commission to carry out an exhaustive study of the law, taking account of opinion in the UAE, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has...

The editor and publisher of the Statesman were briefly arrested and then released on bail on Wednesday after being charged with hurting Islamic sentiments in an article. Ravindra Kumar, editor of the Statesman, and publisher Anand Sinha have been charged with "deliberate act with malicious intent to outrage religious feelings." “We arrested Ravindra Kumar, Editor , and Anand Sinha, Publisher...

Malaysian authorities have seized the latest editions of two opposition newspapers. Tempers have flared since last week when the National Front government took over the northern Perak state from the opposition after several of its lawmakers switched allegiance, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Details: [ Link] Tian Chua, information chief of the People's Justice Party, said at least 20,000...

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday ordered the state government to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to detained journalist BV Seetaramwhile partly allowing a habeas corpus writ petition by his wife challenging the detention. In her writ petition, Rohini, managing director of Chitra Publications, had sought release of her husband, editor of Mangalore-based Kannada eveninger Karavali Ale, contending...

Radio Kalima journalist Zakia Dhifawi was arrested by six plain-clothes Tunisian policemen Tuesday afternoon as she was leaving a trade union building in Tunis and was held for an hour at the Charles de Gaulle Street police station, where she was subjected to humiliating treatment. Kalima trainee journalist Faten Hamdi was meanwhile threatened with prosecution yesterday, three days after she was...

A Czech court has upheld a fine against reporter Sabina Slonkova for refusing to disclose the names of confidential sources to the state prosecutor. The case dates to February 2008, when online news portal Aktualne.cz posted video surveillance footage taken at Prague’s Hotel Savoy and leaked to Slonkova. The footage shows a clandestine meeting shortly before last year’s Czech presidential election...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Russian authorities to immediately investigate a death threat that was sent to a human rights research center. In an email, a neo-Nazi group threatened to murder a number of journalists and intellectuals in the next year, according to the recipient of the threat. The sender told Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy head of the human rights research center...