ARCHIVES: Threatened
Molly Norris, a political cartoonist for Seattle Weekly , went into hiding in September because of threats made after her tongue-in-cheek call for an "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day," according to Seattle Weekly . The call was included in a cartoon Norris drew to protest a decision by the cable television network Comedy Central not to broadcast an episode of "South Park" that tested the Islamic taboo against depicting images of the Prophet. Norris' cartoon did not directly depict Muhammad, but... MORE
Barely 30 hours after an attack by armed assailants on the Noroeste newspaper building in Mazatlán, the newspaper has received a new threat from an unidentified caller demanding that it pay approximately US$15,000 in exchange for not "blowing up" its offices, the Centre for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET) has reported. Directors at Noroeste said that at around 10:40 a.m. on September 2, a person called the offices and demanded that the newspaper pay the money by 3:00 p.m. that afternoon... MORE
Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika last week threatened to shut down newspapers that “tarnish” his government’s image. The president, who was speaking at an agriculture show in the capital city of Liongwe, seemed to be referring to a story in the privately-owned Malawi News Daily , reports said. The story quoted a report from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an economic organisation of southern African states, which said over a million Malawians will need food aid following... MORE
A Zimbabwean minister who threatened to jail journalists who used information he said had been leaked from cabinet meetings, according to New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Information Minister Webster Shamu made the threat on August 4. Shamu said that journalists and ministers could face jail sentences of up to 20 years under the 1970 Official Secrets Act for using confidential information from cabinet proceedings to "further their political agendas."... MORE
France condemned the behaviour of one of its own military officers on Thursday, after a video appeared online showing him threatening a Togolese press photographer in Lome, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. The officer, a serving French colonel employed by the foreign ministry as an advisor to the Togolese military, is seen ordering the journalist to erase pictures from his camera and ordering Togolese police to arrest him. "Do you want someone to strike your camera, or what?" he demands... MORE
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), headed by the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, has been waging a hate campaign for the past week against Lvin magazine, accusing it of besmirching the memory of Barzani’s father, the late Kurdish nationalist leader Mullah Mostafa Barzani. The offending article in Lvin magazine, published on August 1, consisted of an interview with a student, Irfan Qani’ Fard, who is currently preparing a thesis at Harvard University on modern... MORE
There has been a series of fresh threats and acts of intimidation against journalists in Yemen. The political class seems to have no qualms about using violence against journalists who write about corruption or embezzlement. Utterly illegal and arbitrary arrests are becoming commonplace, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “The situation is becoming more and more worrying again after the encouraging signs in May when the authorities dropped proceedings... MORE
A member of Swaziland’s royal family has made death threats and outrageous claims against local journalists over their critical coverage of the country's leadership. During a July 21 public forum called the Smart Partnership National Dialogue in the central commercial city of Manzini, Prince Mahlaba, brother of Swaziland’s absolute ruler King Mswati III, was quoted by local media as saying: “I want to warn the media to bury things that have the potential of undermining the country rather than... MORE
Newspapers in Manipur failed to hit the stands on Friday as publishing houses and journalists decided against bringing out the issues in protest against threat to a scribe by hill-based militants. The All-Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) had launched a sit-in protest against the threat and decided to cease work on Thursday. AMWJU took the decision after Singlianmang Guite, a reporter of The Sangai Express received a threat from a militant outfit. According to a release issued by the... MORE
Threats have been made against the family of senior Sri Lankan journalist Gamini Pushpakumara. Pushpakumara, who is an executive committee member of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association (SLWJA) and secretary of the program producers' union of the state-owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), was summarily dismissed from employment at SLRC after presidential elections in Sri Lanka in January. The dismissal followed Pushpakumara's active leadership in the union's demands that the... MORE
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