Conflict Journalism

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO), its partner organization in Iraq, have condemned the threat of a wave of Al-Qaeda bombings against news media that has just been reported by the Iraqi interior ministry. Asking not to be named, a ministry official said on November 30 that Al-Qaeda was planning a campaign of car-bombings...

The body of Pakistani journalist Abdul Hameed Hayatan, 25, was found on November 18 near the Sami river in Turbat, in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to media reports. Hayatan, who wrote for a number of print dailies, was abducted along with a friend on October 25, while on his way home from a wedding in the city of Gawadar. His friends and family reportedly believed that Pakistani...

When the fourth hearing in imprisoned journalist Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae’s trial was held before a special state security court in Sanaa Wednesday, prosecutors submitted the contents of his computer as evidence. His lawyer, however, accused them of deception, pointing out that they had produced the computer seized when he was briefly arrested on July 11, not the one seized when he was arrested a...

The body of Abdul Hameed Hayatan, a young Baloch journalist who was abducted in the southwestern port city of Gwadar on October 25, was found beside the River Sami in Turbat, 40 km to the east, on November 18. His reporting critical of the Pakistani authorities and his support for the Baloch national movement were almost certainly the motive for his abduction and murder. “If the local and federal...

Turkey continues to abuse its anti-terrorism law to censor and punish journalists who raise the issue of its Kurdish minority or quote certain Kurdish leaders. Use of the law to prosecute journalists has increased since it was amended in 2006. Under article 7/2 of the law, propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organisation is punishable by imprisonment. As neither “propaganda” nor “terrorist...

Pakistani journalist Lala Hameed Baloch's body was found with gunshot wounds on Thursday outside of Turbat, in western Pakistan's Baluchistan province, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Hameed disappeared on October 25 while on his way from Turbat to his home in Gwader, according to the Gwader Press Club. Local journalists believe he was seized by Pakistani...

Mazen Mardan al-Baghdadi, a reporter for Al-Mosuliya television, was gunned down on Sunday in front of his home, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Iraqi authorities to thoroughly and transparently investigate the murder. Three armed men showed up at the journalist's house on Sunday at 6 p.m. and told al-Baghdadi's father they were with military...

Two incidents in recent weeks have again highlighted the dangers for journalists in Pakistan. One is the detention of Ghulam Rasool Khan in the eastern province of Punjab without due process since November 3. The other is the disappearance of Abdul Hameed Hayatan, also known as Lala Hameed, in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where his colleagues think he was abducted by security...

There has been an increasing climate of hostility for Spanish journalists in Morocco, highlighted by official measures to prevent Spanish journalists from covering clashes in the Western Sahara, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. On Monday, 10 Spanish journalists were prevented from reaching the Saharan city of Laayoune, which is part of an ongoing territorial...

Radio journalist Abdifatah Jama, who was imprisoned in August for airing an interview with an Islamist rebel leader in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, has been given a presidential pardon and released, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Jama, deputy director of Horseed Media, had begun serving a six-year prison sentence after being convicted on treason...