ARCHIVES: Ethics and Freedom
Moroccan information minister Khalid Naciri obtained the dismissal of Dubai TV chief editor Omar Makhfi and his brother, Jalal , the station’s Morocco correspondent, on June 21 because Jalal referred on the air to opposition calls for protests against tomorrow’s referendum in Morocco on a proposed constitutional reform. The journalists were fired two days after the minister gave a televised address about King Mohammed’s June 17 speech announcing the referendum, according to Paris-based press... MORE
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ernst Joseph and Wolf “Duralph” François , hosts of the programme “They said it” on Radio Prévention in the southwestern town of Petit-Goâve, who have been detained ever since their arrest during an appearance at the public prosecutor’s office on June 22. According to Petit-Goâve public prosecutor Alix Civil, they are charged with defamation, disturbing public order and... MORE
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has joined a renewed call by BBC staff worldwide for the immediate and unconditional release of the BBC’s correspondent in Tajikistan, Urinboy Usmonov , who has been held since June 13 in the northwestern town of Kujand and said it was very concerned about his plight. “The apparent dropping of the charge of belonging to an illegal political party, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, shows how very flimsy the accusations against him are,” the... MORE
Erwin Arnada, the former editor of the Indonesian version of Playboy magazine, was released June 24 after the supreme court accepted his appeal against a two-year jail sentence on a charge of indecency, overturning its own decision. He began serving the sentence last October. “Now it is proved, I am not guilty, journalism is not a crime,” Arnada said in his first Tweet after being freed from Cipinang high-security prison in Jakarta, where he spent eight months. He was jailed as a result of... MORE
As investigative journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener completed their 100th day in prison, hundreds of people marched down Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue on June 18 to demand their release and the release of all the other journalists detained in Turkey. It was the third big march since their arrest on March 6. There is no sign of any weakening in support for Sik and Sener, whose fourth request for provisional release has just been rejected by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office. They have yet to be... MORE
Belarusian authorities must end the retaliatory prosecution of Andrzej Poczobut , a Grodno-based correspondent for the largest Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza , and release him immediately, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Authorities put Poczobut on trial today in the western city of Grodno, local and international press reported. The trial is a closed one. He is being prosecuted for allegedly insulting and libeling President Aleksandr... MORE
Central African Republic authorities have charged the director of the independent weekly The Hills of Bangui , Faustin Bambou , with inciting hatred and disorder among the military forces and insulting the government, Bambou told New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The director was sent directly to Ngaragba Prison in the capital, Bangui. Four military policemen arrested Bambou at his office on May 27 and detained him at their Research and Investigations... MORE
The Supreme Court of Rwanda sentenced the exiled online editor of Umuvugizi , Jean Bosco Gasasira, on Friday to a two year and six month term in prison. Gasasira received this sentence for allegedly insulting Rwanda's president and inciting civil disobedience, local journalists told New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Gasasira believes the new sentence may stem from an online article he wrote that compared Rwanda's President Paul Kagame to Zimbabwe's... MORE
Rodion Marinichev , a special correspondent for the Moscow-based online broadcaster Dozhd (The Rain), has been deported from from Belarus, according to New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Police in Minsk detained Marinichev on Monday, after he interviewed Irina Khalip, a prominent Belarusian journalist who had been handed a suspended two year prison term. Following his detention, Marinichev was deported from Belarus that same day, local and international... MORE
The youngest son of Indonesia’s former President Suharto - Hutomo Mandala Putra was awarded on May 24 damages worth 12.5 billion Rupiah ($1.46 million) for a magazine article which described him as a “convicted murderer.” Also known as “Tommy Suharto,” the description in the article was a reference to his 2002 conviction for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge. “It is very disturbing that an Indonesian court awarded damages to Tommy Suharto for the publication of an article which... MORE
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