Radio Mada reporter Evariste Ramanantsoavina has been released in Madagascar after being held since May 5, when soldiers arrested him in order to force him to reveal the location from which the station was broadcasting in defiance of a closure order. “We are relieved to learn that Ramanantsoavina is free at last,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “It is nonetheless deplorable that...
Radio Shabelle journalist Abdirisak Mohamed Warsame on Friday became the third Somali journalist to be killed in the line of duty this year. Warsame, 24, was shot in crossfire as government forces launched an assault against Islamist guerrilla fighters in Somalia's war-ravaged capital, Mogadishu. Warsame, a producer for the leading independent broadcaster Shabelle Media Network, was scheduled to...
A freelance Filipino journalist, Carlos Conde, has alleged that that his name appeared on a 2007 official Armed Forces "order of battle" document, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Conde said he is concerned that the official document amounts to a "hitlist" that contains more than a hundred names, mostly and members of anti-government groups. The names, Conde said, are...
The Thai government has announced its plan to regulate the programme content of radio stations and cable and satellite TV stations in the country, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has reported quoting media reports. The Bangkok Post quoted on May 14 Prime Minister's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey as saying the government will ban any programme, whether broadcast over community...
Sri Lankan authorities have arrested three Tamil doctors - Thangamuttu Sathiyamorthi, Thurairaja Varatharajan and V. Sunmugarajah - for providing the news media with information about the humanitarian situation in Vanni, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “The government will be held responsible if the army’s military victory is accompanied by such criminal acts of revenge...
The situation in the Swat Valley has turned alarming with the Pakistani armed forces stepping up their operations against the Taliban there. Newspapers had already stopped publishing after the military imposed a curfew. Now journalists are fleeing to safer areas. The Khyber Union of Journalists has now urged the government to allow the media access to Mingora, the largest city in the valley. At a...
Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has sent emergency funds to help the dozens of Swat valley journalists who have been forced to flee the area because of fighting between the Pakistani army and the Taliban. More than 30 journalists and their families have had to seek refuge in Peshawar and other cities since the army launched its offensive against Islamist militants in the Swat valley...
Israeli newspaper reporter Amira Hass was arrested at the Erez border crossing Tuesay as she returned to Israel after spending four months in the Gaza Strip reporting for the Tel Aviv-based daily Haaretz in violation of a military ban on Israeli citizens visiting the Palestinian Territories, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Hass told RSF that the Israeli police arrested...
Turkish journalist Aylin Duruoglu is being detained without justification, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Duruoglu, who edits the liberal daily Vatan’s website, gazetevatan.com, was picked up during a wave of arrests of suspected members of an outlawed armed organisation on April 27. “Duruoglu’s detention is unquestionably arbitrary," RSF said. “She has been wrongly...
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the threats and intimidations against journalists in Somalia after the head of an Islamic militia group in Somalia warned journalists against reports which are critical of the movement. “We condemn this climate of terror and intimidation against journalists in Somalia,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office. “It is against...
