News

The police have booked cases against the activists of United Students Forum (USF), a fan outfit of the Telugu filmstar Chirenjeevi, for attacking a scribe of a regional satellite TV channel Saturday. The police said cases were registered against the USF activists for assalting reporter Ramesh, who was injured and later admitted to a hosptial. The scribe was attacked by the activists after covering...

An Azerbaijani journalist who has been honored by Amnesty International says authorities have prevented him from taking a flight out of the country, according to Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Aqil Xalil, a 25-year-old correspondent with Azadliq, Azerbaijan's largest opposition daily, was shortlisted for Amnesty's Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat. The award...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has described as "absurd" a conviction for "electoral propaganda" against the daily A Folha de São Paulo and the magazine Veja after they published interviews with a prospective candidate for municipal elections in São Paulo in the south-east of the country. The worldwide press freedom organisation said the verdict placed an unacceptable limit on press freedom and...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by the closing of the alternative English-language biweekly the eXile in Moscow. The paper announced on its website last week that it was forced to shut down after nervous investors withdrew support in the wake of a politicised audit of its content. "Russian authorities are using politicized inspections and broadly worded extremism...

Kook TV, a local station based in Multan, in the east-central Pakistani province of Punjab, was attacked by about 60 people who stormed into its offices, assaulted one of its journalists, seriously injuring him, and inflicted about 1 million rupees (approx. 10,000 euros) in damage to equipment. Kook TV editor in chief Zubair Naseer told Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF): "Individuals...

The Chinese Embassy in Malawi has removed Wisdom Chimgwede, Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) editor, from the list of journalists travelling to China on a media tour it sponsored after receiving instructions from Malawi's Ministry of Information and Civic Education. The visit is slated to begin on June 21. The ministry had earlier on accused the journalist of writing negatively about the...

A Rabat court ordered the Arabic-language daily Al Jarida Al Oula to stop publishing hitherto unpublished testimony about repression under the late King Hassan II, which senior officials gave to an official truth commission called the Equity and Reconciliation Panel (IER). The court issued on Thursday the order in response to a request by Ahmed Herzenni, an official appointed by King Mohammed to...

Colombian journalist Mario Alberto Puello was freed from captivity on June 19 by members of the National Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberación Nacional, ELN) guerrilla group. ELN members handed Puello, who was abducted on February 17 in La Guajira department, over to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel, according to Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP). Puello and...

Authorities at Heydar Aliyev International Airport barred a reporter whose life has been threatened from leaving the country today, the Baku-based Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety said. Agil Khalil, a reporter for the independent daily Azadlyg, tried to board a flight to France Thursday morning when he was stopped by a plainclothes agent at a passport checkpoint. Khalil did not receive...

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Armenia's repeated denials of a broadcasting licence to the independent A1+ television station violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. According to the verdict, the Armenian government must pay the station 20,000 euros (US$31,000) in damages. Famous for its criticism of Armenian authorities, A1+ was forced off the air in...