Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the civilian and military authorities in Bangladesh to draw the appropriate conclusions from the case of FM Masum, a journalist employed by the English-language daily The New Age, who was arrested and tortured by an elite crime and counter-terrorist force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), on October 22 in Dhaka. Masum told Paris-based RSF from his...
Eight Vietnamese bloggers received jail sentences last week on charges of anti-government propaganda under article 88 of the criminal code, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Vu Hung was sentenced to three years in prison in Hanoi on October 7. Pham Von Troi got a four-year sentence the next day. The six other bloggers were given jail sentences on the same charges in Haiphong on October...
The government’s decision to prosecute the company that published the new cartoon magazine Gedung Kartun for not having a permit is a setback for press freedom in Malaysia, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has said. The decision was announced by Jamilah Taib, the head of the interior ministry’s communication unit. The company insists it did get a verbal go-ahead. “We urge the interior ministry to...
Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the acquittal of all the writers, bloggers and pro-democracy activists who are about to be tried in various courts after unexplained delays, with a danger of long jail sentences being imposed. Vu Hung’s trial in Hanoi Wednesday and Pham Van Troi’s trial the day after are expected to be held without guarantees for defence rights. Six other activists...
Urdu daily in Pakistan Asaap has alleged that Frontier Corps forces were posted outside its offices on August 1, 2009, questioning staff about connections with local insurgents, according to local news reports. The Frontier Corps is a local paramilitary unit stationed to quell a violent independence movement staged by Baloch nationalist groups in the province. In a front-page story on August 19...
The Philippine Supreme Court has granted a change of venue in the trial of a defendant in the attempted murder of radio journalist Nilo Labares, who was shot and injured in Cagayan de Oro City in March, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The transfer is the third venue change recently approved by the Supreme Court in a media attack. The defendant, accused gunman Bernardo...
It is no secret that Asia has emerged as the world’s most dynamic media market, where internet, broadband and mobile usage are exploding and the region’s newspapers - the world’s largest - continue to grow alongside digital media. This growth has now been quantified in World Press Trends, Asian Edition, the first regional edition of the annual global World Press Trends survey published by the...
Four journalists were among more than 7,000 prisoners being released under an amnesty announced by Burma’s junta on Thursday last. “I am happy to be free and I am going to continue working as a journalist,” Eint Khaing Oo said as she was freed from Insein prison, near Rangoon under an amnesty announced by the military government. Three other journalists, Kyaw Kyaw Thant and Monywa Aung Shin, were...
The Committee to Protect Journalists has welcomed a Supreme Court ruling in the Philippines granting a change of trial venue in the case against two suspects charged with ordering the March 2005 murder of investigative reporter Marlene Garcia-Esperat. The Supreme Court handed down the ruling on August 26 and Manila-based press freedom group Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)...
Long destabilised by efforts to defeat the Taliban, the southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar has become even more dangerous since the recent presidential elections. Besides the daily threat of being caught up in an attack by insurgent groups, several local journalists say they fear beatings, detentions, or worse in retribution for their reporting. Journalists say they are particularly
