News

Manama: Saeed Al Hamad, a journalist at the centre of a growing controversy over his writings against Muslim Brotherhood leader Wajdi Ghunaim, yesterday dismissed a petition to sue him as "an attempt by a political society to exact revenge on his newspaper and to curtail freedom of expression." "The petition seeks to put pressure on Al Ayam newspaper in order to influence its liberal editorial...

Reporters Without Borders spoke of Tunisia's government methods of gagging all those who once dared to oppose it, as journalist Abdallah Zouari continued to pay a high price for his former work with "Al Fajr," the official organ of the Islamist movement Ennahda. As Zouari reached the 5 June 2007 date which should have ended his internal exile, he had an extra 26 months added to his banishment...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned new media censorship in Yemen, where access to at least two websites has been blocked since the start of the year, in one case for three months, and the information ministry is now censoring the distribution of news to mobile phones by SMS message. “It is disturbing that the Yemeni government is attacking new technology in this way,” the press freedom...

The detention of Al-Jazeera assistant cameraman Sami Al-Haj, who tomorrow begins his sixth year without charge or trial in the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is “unconstitutional and contrary to international law,” Reporters Without Borders said today, describing the detention centre as “one the biggest legal and humanitarian scandals of recent years” and reiterating its call for its...

The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has condemned the brutal murder of two prominent female journalists in Afghanistan. Koïchiro Matsuura decried the “cold-blooded killing Zakia Zaki, founder of one of the first community radio stations run entirely by women in Afghanistan, radio Sada — e — Sulh (Peace) in Jabul Seraj.” He noted that the murder...

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - ARTICLE 19 welcomes the Mexican Supreme Court's decision striking down amendments to the Law of Radio and Television The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice clearly ruled that amendments to the Law of Radio and Television, which had been enacted by the parliament violated the constitution and international human rights standards. This paves the way for the Federal Congress to...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- "I worry about CNN more than I do about CNN.com." Many news junkies already feel the same way, but when the person expressing concern about the state of the 24-hour TV news network is Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, the guy who ultimately runs both properties, it's pretty telling. Mr. Parsons, who was discussing the company's entire portfolio at a London media conference...

June 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian government officials have informed lawyers for Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima that they will not return her passport and that her case will have to be decided in court. Azima's lawyer, Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi, told RFE/RL by phone from Tehran on June 10 that the Iranian Information Ministry declined the latest request to return her passport, which was...

New York, June 11, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes as “long overdue” the release of Nguyen Vu Binh, a journalist imprisoned since 2002 for criticizing the government and freed less than two weeks before Vietnam’s president is due to meet with President Bush. “For nearly five years, Nguyen Vu Binh and family have suffered needlessly because of his work as a journalist,” said Joel...

IPYS/IFEX) - On 22 May 2007, Mario Silva, host of the state-owned television station Venezolana de Televisión's (VTV) opinion programme "La Hojilla", accused a group of journalists who have been critical of Hugo Chávez's government of receiving money from the American government in order to destabilize the State. The following day, the pro-government newspaper "Vea", stated that the journalists...