News

WINDHOEK, 4 May 2006 (IRIN) - Media freedoms remain under pressure in Southern Africa, but governments have turned to less conventional methods to limit journalists' rights, according to a new report by a regional watchdog. The annual publication 'So this is Democracy? – State of Media Freedom in Southern Africa 2005' by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), said while fewer rights...

(FLIP/IFEX) - Daniel Muñoz, a photographer with the international news agency Reuters, was attacked by a police officer during the 2 May 2006 disturbances associated with the transit strike in the capital city of Bogotá. The incident took place in the environs of one of the stations of the mass transit system "Transmilenio" in the northwest of Bogotá, when demonstrators who were trying to block a...

(New York, May 4, 2006) - Libya's most prominent political prisoner, Fathi al-Jahmi, faces a possible death sentence for slandering Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi and talking with a foreign official, who may be a U.S. diplomat, Human Rights Watch said today. "The Libyan government is taking great pains to introduce a democratic face to the world," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director...

New York, May 4, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent suspension of the twice-monthly private newspaper L'Enquêteur by Guinea's National Communications Council after it published an article critical of President Lansana Conté's government. Council Chairman Boubacar Yacine Diallo confirmed to CPJ via e-mail that the paper was suspended for two months on April 27 for...

NEW DELHI: This year clearly marks the second coming of dotcom companies in India judging by how heavily private equity investors and VCs are pumping money. Around $75 million has been invested by eight private equity players in seven Internet companies since the beginning of the year. So whether it is a Kleiner Perkins, Norwest, Westbridge or Reliance Capital, their funds have been directed...

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo does not understand or appreciate the role of press freedom in Philippine society, the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) said yesterday. In a strongly worded statement sent to the Inquirer ahead of World Press Freedom Day today, the group said Filipino journalists still had "reason to worry" despite the lifting of Presidential Proclamation No. 1017...

MIAMI, Florida (May 3, 2006) - A call to people throughout the Western Hemisphere to become involved in the right to inform and be informed was issued today by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), in commemorating World Press Freedom Day. The chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper...

(WiPC/IFEX) - On 3 May 2006, World Press Freedom Day, in Turkey trials continue against writers, journalists and publishers who have been charged with "denigration of Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. International PEN is calling for an end to all trials against writers for the peaceful expression of their views, and for the repeal of Article 301 that is in direct...

SANA’A, May 3 – Editor-in-Chief of Al-Balagh weekly was arrested last Wednesday morning and thrown in the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s prison without any obvious charges. From the jail cell, Abdullah Al-Wazeer told the Yemen Times on Telephone: "security authorities summoned me to the Criminal Investigation Bureau and told me that I am detained and will be referred to prosecution for a criminal...

ALGIERS - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has pardoned journalists sentenced to prison for defamation and insulting officials in the first such step since he took office seven years ago, his office said on Wednesday. The move, to mark World Press Freedom Day, covers reporters convicted of "gross insult to state officials, offending the president of the republic, injuring state institutions...