News

(RSF/IFEX) - Another gang member, Bernard Joseph, was arrested on 20 November 2007 in connection with the 16 May murder of Alix Joseph, manager and programme host of Radio-Télé Provinciale, in the northwestern city of Gonaïves. Bernard Joseph was arrested in Port-au-Prince, "where he sought refuge in the hope of escaping prosecution," Gonaïves police commissioner Ernst Bouquet Dorfeuille said. He...

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF welcomes an appeal court decision overturning a 17-month jail sentence imposed in November 2006 on Mohammed Rashed Shehhi, owner of the website Majan.net ( http://majan.net/ ) for allegedly defamatory comments. On 19 November 2007, the Ras Al Khaimah appeal court ruled in favour of Rashed Shehhi, who had been sentenced in a lawsuit brought by a health ministry official, Dr Yasser...

(SEAPA/IFEX) - Malaysian's Internal Security Ministry has instructed the local press to refrain from reporting about a banned rally in the capital Kuala Lumpur on 25 November 2007, which is seeking the Queen of England's help in a class-action suit against Her Majesty's government. At least one newsroom received the order from a ministry official by telephone on 22 November, an industry source...

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF condemns the arrests of three foreign journalists and a Chinese camerawoman on 20 November 2007 in the northeastern province of Hebei and the central province of Hubei. "It is unacceptable that such practices are still taking place in China, despite the new regulations introduced in January for the Olympic Games," RSF said. Barbara Luthi, the Beijing correspondent of the Swiss...

NEW DELHI: A sting operation, showing how the lower judiciary could be exploited to obtain arrest warrants against anyone for a bribe, has boomeranged on the journalist with the Supreme Court adamant on his unconditional apology for bringing the entire judiciary to disrepute. A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal was on Thursday unmoved and...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged President Mamadou Tandja of Niger to take strong action for the release of two journalists accused of criminal offences following their coverage of the Tuareg rebellion in Niger. "We are very worried about the continued detention of our colleagues and the serious charges they face stemming from their professional work,"...

Siham Mustafa sits behind a radio microphone and clutches a piece of paper. She is ready to fight. Earlier in the morning, al Qaeda in Iraq had hacked her radio station's Web site and posted a letter promising "to kill everyone from Radio Dijla." It was the latest act of aggression against the renegade news and talk radio station that has overcome remarkable odds to remain one of the country's few...

Reporters Without Borders today expressed its deep concern at threats and attacks by elected officials against journalists in several parts of the country throughout November, including a murder attempt, and slammed government silence on the issue. The mayor of Huari in the west, his armed henchmen and several municipal officials came close to killing journalist José Ramírez Villacorta in an...

Reporters Without Borders condemns an arson attack early today on the printing press of the Sunday Leader media group, which is located in a high security area outside Colombo. The approximately 15 gunmen who staged the attack must have had support within the security forces, the press freedom organisation said. "Armed men have once again attacked a independent news media in a high security area...

Reporters Without Borders today called on the authorities to stop harassing journalists working for the Dubai-based satellite TV station Al-Arabiya. Two of the station’s journalists have been detained in the past three weeks after covering anti-government demonstrations. “This is not the first time that journalists trying to report on popular discontent have been prevented from working by the...