ARCHIVES: Harassed
Hakimeldostu Mehdiyev, the correspondent of the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety (IRFS) in Sharur, in the north of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, has been charged by the district prosecutor’s office with “diverting electricity” under article 189-1 of the criminal code. Sanan Pashayev, the official in charge of the investigation, made Mehdiyev signed an undertaking that he would not leave the Sharur district. The charge carries a maximum fine of 3,000 manat (2,600 euros), which... MORE
Harassment of the independent newspapers Narodnaya Volya and Nasha Niva continues despite last month’s withdrawal of a legal bid to have them closed. They have each been fined 14 million roubles (2,000 euros) for the warnings they had received from the information ministry in recent months. Narodnaya Volya has said it intends to appeal. “Two weeks after giving the two newspapers encouraging signs, the authorities have put on a new show of force by imposing a fine that penalizes journalistic... MORE
Security officials in Nakhchivan – an autonomous Azerbaijani exclave between Armenia and Iran – have been harassing journalists in an attempt to impose a news blackout on a death in detention and the disappearance of four other young people who had been summoned for questioning, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “After eliminating almost all the sources of news and information, Nakhchivan’s security services are carrying out intolerable human rights... MORE
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned last week’s seizure of all 40,000 copies of Izvestia Kaliningrada , a weekly published in Russia’s western exclave of Kaliningrad. It was the latest example of regional governors abusing their power to silence media that annoy them. “We are disturbed to see this form of censorship used more than once in a short space of time,” RSF said. “By confiscating newspaper issues, local authorities are deliberately suppressing... MORE
There has been an increase in threats and acts of intimidation against journalists in the southwestern port city of Karachi. Two TV reporters, Syed Shahryar Asim of Aaj TV and Malik Munawar of Channel 5, have been attacked in connection with their work in the past 10 days alone. “We urge the authorities to break the cycle of violence and impunity by investigating both of these cases thoroughly, and we remind them that the safety of journalists must be guaranteed if any democracy is to be able... MORE
There has been a series of attacks, threats and demonstrations since mid-June targeting the Agence France-Presse bureau in Amman and its chief, Randa Habib, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “The protests against AFP in Amman have taken a disturbing turn, with the demonstrators using threats and violence,” RSF said. “Intimidation attempts of this kind, which hamper the work of journalists, are unacceptable. We call on Yehya Saud, the parliamentarian... MORE
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the closure of the investigations unit at the daily China Economic Times at the behest of the newspaper’s management on July 18 and is concerned about the fate of Wang Keqin, the respected journalist who had run the unit for years, and the five other people in his team. The unit’s closure, which defies all editorial logic, comes at a particularly repressive time for those who defend fundamental rights and for... MORE
There has been a sharp decline in relations between the government and the media in Senegal amid a wave of protests against President Abdoulaye Wade, who announced on July 14 in Dakar that he planned to “keep hold of the helm come hell or high water.” Harassment of the Walfadjri media group has intensified in the past month or so. Four journalists with the daily Walfadjri l’Aurore were summoned to the Department of Criminal Investigations (DIC) on July 13 over a long article critical of the... MORE
Hakimeldostu Mehdiyev, a correspondent of the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS) in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, has repeatedly been harassed by officials for the past week. It is the latest example of the intolerance that the local authorities show towards the media in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave between Armenia and Iran, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. “This harassment of Mehdiyev on the most ridiculous pretexts must stop... MORE
Iraqi journalists are now often sued by politicians and public figures and, at the same time, are often the targets of physical attacks which, in many cases are carried out by members of the security forces, including the bodyguards of leading politicians. “These practices, which are designed to intimidate journalists and censor the media, constitute serious violations of freedom of expression and must stop at once,” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. In one... MORE
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