ARCHIVES: Harassed
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed shock at the spate of arbitrary arrests in Iraqi Kurdistan as it prepares to celebrate the 113th anniversary of the creation of the first Kurdish news media on Friday. Media freedom and security, which seemed better in Kurdistan than in neighbouring regions during the darkest years of the war in Iraq, have worsened a great deal in the past two months. We urge the international community to press the Kurdistan Regional... MORE
A bombing in the Minsk metro on April 11, which killed 13 people, has prompted a new round of official warnings to the Belarus news media similar to previous attempts to intimidate and silence them, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. “We urge the government to stop the almost daily harassment and threats against journalists who are just trying to do their job,” the press freedom organisation said. “The Minsk metro bombing must not be used as a pretext to... MORE
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) continues to be very concerned about the repression to which journalists have been exposed in Yemen since the start of a wave of street protests. In the past few days, journalists have been arrested, media have been attacked and newspapers have been confiscated. Journalist Ali Salah Ahmed was arrested Tuesday evening at Sana'a airport on his return from a visit to Germany, and was forcibly taken away to an unknown location. His... MORE
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the way that Hata Wahari , the president of the National Union Of Journalists Malaysia (NUJ), is being treated by his newspaper, the Kuala Lumpur-based daily Utusan Malaysia . The newspaper is owned by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), a political party that has played a dominant role in Malaysia since independence. An internal enquiry by the newspaper’s top management concluded on April 14 that Wahari... MORE
Many opposition and news websites have fallen victim to distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) in the run-up to Saturday’s election in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sarawak (on the island of Borneo), which is posing a challenge to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s 30-year-old rule of the state. “It is sad to see that election campaigns and freedom of information do not go together in Malaysia,” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “We condemn the use of... MORE
Authorities in the kingdom of Swaziland should allow the news media to report freely on anti-government protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after security forces harassed at least 10 local and international journalists covering a mass demonstration demanding political and economic reform after more than two decades of rule by King Mswati III. Police stopped reporter Niren Tolsi and photographer Lisa Skinner of the South African daily Mail & Guardian, confiscated their... MORE
Carabobo Stereo 102.3 FM, a radio station based in the northern state of Carabobo, has been off the air since the evening of March 18 when around 30 representatives of the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) turned up unannounced with soldiers, shut it down and seized its equipment, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Claiming to be carrying out a routine inspection when their arrived, the CONATEL officials asked the station’s... MORE
Threats and acts of intimidation against journalists are continuing in Iraqi Kurdistan as a wave of protests enters its 55th day in the autonomous region. “This situation is worrying,” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “Not a day goes by without a journalist being arrested, threatened or harassed. We reiterate our 25 March appeal to Iraqi Kurdistan’s authorities to accept that they have a responsibility to guarantee the safety of journalists and their right... MORE
Bahraini authorities lifted a ban on the main opposition newspaper Sunday after its three top editors resigned to save the paper from a campaign to muzzle anti-government media and crack down on the Shiite opposition in the Sunni-ruled Gulf nation. Al-Wasat , the country's most popular newspaper, did not appear Sunday after Bahrain's Information Ministry ordered it to close down. Al-Wasat's online edition was also blocked. The state-run Bahrain News Agency accused the paper of "unethical"... MORE
Hamas security forces assaulted and obstructed journalists trying to cover protests in Gaza on Wednesday last, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the assaults and called on the authorities in Gaza to end the harassment of journalists reporting from demonstrations. Police attacked at least five journalists while they were covering several peaceful protests organized across Gaza on Land Day, local journalists told CPJ. Commemorated... MORE
Pages
