News

A former Voice of America (VOA) journalist and four soldiers have been convicted of state security crimes in Angola and sentenced to 12 years in prison in a trial that, Human Rights Watch (HRS) says, fell far short of internaitonal fair trial standards. On September 16, 2008, a military court in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda convicted former VOA journalist, Fernando Lelo, and four soldiers of...

Habib Papy Boubendji, an investigative journalist with Le Nganga, a satirical weekly in Gabon, was badly beaten by soldiers inside the presidential compound in Libreville on the night of December 5, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Boubendji, also known as Habib Bibalou, is now in intensive care in a military hospital near the capital where only his wife is allowed to visit him. "The...

One of Brazil's highest federal courts has ruled that a former mayor in the northeastern state of Ceará should be tried before an ordinary court for the 2003 murder of Nicanor Linhares Batista, the owner of Radio Vale do Jaguaribe, a radio station based in the town. The Superior Tribunal of Justice (STJ) passed the order against Maria Arivan de Holanda Lucena, the former mayor of Limoeiro do Norte...

A programme critical of Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, was taken off air recently, the Peru-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has said quoting delayed reports. Francisco Pinoargotti, director and presenter of Gama TV's programme 'Buenos Muchachos', which includes entertainment, satire and black humor, told IPYS that his programme was cancelled arbitrarily following orders issued by...

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is protesting the shutting down of Radio Markabley in the Bardhere District of Gedo Region in southwest Somalia by the Regional Islamic Administration. The head of security at the Islamic Administration in Bardhere, Sheik Barre Qoje, went to the newly established radio station on December 10 around 7:20 p.m. (local time) and ordered it to shut down...

Ohn Kyaing, a former Burmese journalist and member of the opposition National League for Democracy, who was arrested from his home on October 1 and held in Rangoon's Insein prison, has been released, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. NLD spokesman Nyan Win said Ohn Kyaing was in good shape and had returned to his home. "I am very happy that Ohn...

Ecuadorian journalist Milton Chacaguasay Flores, editor and owner of weekly newspaper La Verdad, was sentenced to ten months in prison for committing libel against Judge Silvio Castillo. The sentence was issued by a criminal court in the province of El Oro on November 15, the Peru-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has reported. The journalist was arrested on November 30 and imprisoned at...

Former Herald Sun editor-in-chief Bruce Guthrie has launched a $2.8million unfair dismissal claim against the Australian newspaper's publisher, News Limited. In a writ filed on Monday in the Victorian Supreme Court, Guthrie claimed that the company's decision to terminate his employment last month was "capricious, unfair and unreasonable" and a breach of contract, the Australian reported. Guthrie...

Kinshasa's N'Djili court has handed down 10 and nine-month sentences, respectively, to Nsimba Embete Ponte, editor of the Kinshasa-based, independent bi-weekly Interprète, and his assistant, Davin Tondo Nzovuanga, according to Kinshasa-based Journaliste en Danger (JED). The court's decision of November 27 was made public a week later. The two men were arrested by state security agents in March and...

Sabatina James has one wish. She wants to enjoy the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which is 60 years old this week. But the 26-year-old Austrian of Pakistani heritage, in hiding since becoming Christian, is at the center of a storm between Islam and international human rights law. After converting from Islam a few years ago, James had to flee from a father who...