News

6 January 2009

Newspaper offices in Sindh stormed by armed men, staff warned of "extreme consequences"

Over thirty armed men belonging to the Sindh Nationalist Front (SNF) political party in Pakistan stormed the offices of Sindhi-language daily Awami Awaz and threatened its staff on New Year's Day, Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has reported. The intruders, who were led by Anwar Gujjar, SNF's media coordinator, held the staff hostage for about half an hour and inquired into the whereabouts of the...

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6 January 2009

Ten-point agreement signed between Nepal government and journalists federation

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the ten-point agreement between the Nepal government and the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), which led to the cancellation of a nationwide demonstration over growing attacks on the media. In signing the agreement on January 5, Information and Communications Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara reportedly said that the government...

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6 January 2009

Radio show host in Philippines comes under fire near his home

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over a murder attempt on Filipino radio journalist Cherie “Katribung Che” Indelible on January 2 in Kalibo, in Aklan province (in the northwest of the Visayas region). Indelible works for local state-owned radio dyYM (Community Broadcasting Information System) as news director and programme host. “With five journalists murdered, 2008 was one of...

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5 January 2009
British journalist, Spanish lensman freed by Somali abductors after spending 40 days in caves

British journalist, Spanish lensman freed by Somali abductors after spending 40 days in caves

A British journalist and a Spanish photographer abducted in Somalia were released on Sunday after being held in a series of caves for 40 days. British reporter Colin Freeman and Spanish photographer José Cendon, both employed by the London-based Daily Telegraph newspape, were abducted as they left from their hotel in Bosasso, in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland, on November 26. They...

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5 January 2009

Press freedom groups condemn attack by ETA on Basque television station in Bilbao

Press freedom groups have condemned the bombing of Basque public broadcaster EiTB by Basque armed separatist group ETA in the northern city of Bilbao on December 31 last. A large explosive charge left in a truck parked outside the EiTB building went off at 11:05 a.m., shattering windows but causing no injuries. An anonymous caller identifying himself as an ETA member warned the authorities in...

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5 January 2009

Azerbaijan ban on foreign radio stations called 'strategic error' by RSF

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed disappointment at Azerbaijan's National Television and Radio Council’s decision to ban foreign radio stations from broadcasting on local FM and medium wave frequencies from January 1. The December 30 decision withdraws the licences of foreign radio stations to broadcast on local frequencies. As well as RFE/RL, Voice of America and BBC, the measure...

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5 January 2009
US forces shoot and wound newly-married Iraqi female TV journalist for behaving 'erratically'

US forces shoot and wound newly-married Iraqi female TV journalist for behaving 'erratically'

US troops shot and critically wounded a newly-wed Iraqi female television producer on New Year's Day after she failed to heed warnings from soldiers in Baghdad, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting the military and her station. A US military statement said that Iraqi police and US soldiers had observed Hadil Emad, who had had failed to listen to warnings, behaving "erratically" before...

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5 January 2009

Against Gaza backdrop, Iran closes down daily for defending Israel's actions

The Iranian government has taken advantage of Israel’s offensive against the Gaza Strip to crack down harder on its critics, closing an opposition newspaper and dispatching its supporters to step up a campaign of intimidation against human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi. The Commission for the Authorisation and Surveillance of the Press ordered Kargozaraan’s suspension on December 31 under articles 5...

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5 January 2009

Algerian court hands down jail terms to two journalists in defamation case

An Algerian court sentenced an editor-in-chief and a journalist at the Algiers-based independent daily El Watan to a three-month jail term each for defamation late last month. Omar Belhouchet, editor of El Watan, and reporter Salima Tlemcani, were found guilty on December 23 last of defaming a faith healer and Islam in a 2004 article about the "charlatan-like practices" of the Algiers healer, said...

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5 January 2009

Journalist beaten, threatened in North Caucasus

Russian authorities should promptly investigate the attack on Zhanna Akbasheva, a correspondent for the Regnum news agency in the republic of Karachai-Cherkessia, in Russia's North Caucasus, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Akbasheva told CPJ that two men attacked her at around 5 p.m. on December 22 when she was walking toward the office of a state-funded Cherkess-language...

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