News

New York, July 19, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses its grave concern about new anti-terrorism legislation recently enacted in the Philippines. A top justice ministry official has said that in certain circumstances it would allow the government to wiretap journalists. While the Human Security Act (HSA) specifically prohibits the surveillance and interception of communications...

(JED/IFEX) - Pold Kalombo, a reporter with the Kinshasa-based weekly "Le Soft International", was sentenced in absentia by a Kinshasa/Ngaliema court on 18 May 2007 to six months' prison without bail and a fine of 20,000 Congolese francs (approx. US$40). Kalombo and his paper were also ordered to pay damages in the amount of US$150,000. Kalombo was found guilty of defaming SOCIR (Société congolaise...

(Adil Soz/IFEX) - Olga Ushakova, a journalist with "Ustinka Plus" newspaper in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan, is facing libel charges under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan over a 15 September 2006 article. The charges stem from a complaint filed by Eugeniyi Nazarenko, convicted on 31 August 2006 to three years in prison for "possessing a large quantity of drugs." In her...

(RSF/IFEX) - Alfonso Teja, television station TV Azteca's news director in the city of Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo León announced on 10 July 2007 that he had "given up hope" that two employees who went missing on 10 May, reporter Gamaliel López and cameraman Gerardo Paredes, will be found alive. "The state attorney general's office has told us the anti-kidnapping unit that was...

(FNJ/IFEX) - Gyanendra Khadka, vice president of FNJ's Bhojpur chapter and a reporter for the "Nepal Samacharpatra Daily", was attacked by a group of security personnel at around 8:00 p.m. (local time) on 10 July 2007 in Bhojpur, a district in eastern Nepal. According to Sahimaan Rai, president of FNJ's Bhojpur chapter, Khadka was attacked by a group of about six armed police personnel while he...

(CMFR/IFEX) - The Court of Appeals has downgraded to homicide the conviction for murder of the killer of dzMM senior editor Alberto Berbon in December 1996, citing the prosecution's failure to provide evidence for the "abuse of superior strength," necessary for a murder conviction. Convicted of murder by a regional trial court in 1999, Jose "Danny" Espineli's life sentence was reduced to...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, July 19, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today at the imprisonment of Anatoly Sardayev, founder and editor-in-chief of the independent weekly newspaper Mordoviya Segodnya (Mordoviya Today) in the city of Saransk, the capital of the central Russian republic of Mordoviya. The Lenin District Court in Saransk found Sardayev guilty on June 29 of...

(CMFR/IFEX) - After three long years, the wheels of justice may finally catch up with the killers of an Ilocano broadcast journalist, one of the 33 journalists killed in the line of duty during the Arroyo Administration. Currently being tried in Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 54, the Roger Mariano case is moving towards a resolution. Two witnesses have positively identified Senior Police...

An institute in Egypt has published a book on issues of free speech and religion, in response to the controversy over Danish cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammed. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) announced the publication of "Religion and Freedom of Expression: Freedom-Related Problems in Different Societies." The book aims to encourage dialogue between Egyptian and...

The BBC was plunged into fresh controversy yesterday over faked phone-ins after an inquiry unearthed serious breaches in six shows including the charity telethons, Comic Relief, Children in Need and Sport Relief. Mark Thompson, the corporation's director general, ordered all phone-related competitions on television and radio to cease from midnight last night, while interactive and online...