Conflict Journalism

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Syrian authorities to release journalist Mohamad Zaid Mastou, who was arrested on April 6 in Damascus by security agents and taken to an undisclosed location. "The manner of his arrest and the lack of information about his whereabouts raise concerns for his safety and wellbeing," said Jim Boumelha, IFJ President. "The Syrian regime...

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...

Press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on law enforcement in Honduras to stop attacking or prohibiting journalists from covering social unrest in the country. The attacks have come amid a national teachers' strike that has turned violent. Teachers, farmers, and anti-government activists demanding education reforms, and an increase in wages in the capital, Tegucigalpa...

Taha Al-Alawi, the head of satellite television station Al-Masar TV, was killed in the Werij district of southern Baghdad on Friday. Gunmen shot at the car in which he was travelling. Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) urged Iraqi authorities to carry out a proper investigation into this killing in order to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Impunity for...

Peasant, trade union and indigenous groups and affiliated news media are designated as “permanent military targets” in three leaflets apparently issued by paramilitary groups – the Black Eagles, “Rastrojos” and United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) – that have been circulating in the southwestern city of Popayán and the surrounding Cauca region since late February. The latest leaflet, dated...

A news blackout has been imposed by Iraqi authorities on events at Camp Ashraf, a camp in northern Iraq that houses 3,500 Iranian exiles. An attack by the Iraqi army yesterday reportedly resulted in the deaths of around 30 residents and many wounded. According to several news organisations, the camp is surrounded by armoured vehicles and army trucks. Journalists have been forced to remain at the...

The Libyan government has decided to deport 26 foreign journalists on the grounds that their visas had expired. The names of journalists, who had all been invited to Tripoli by the government, were posted last night in the lobby of the hotel where they were staying. They were initially told they would have to leave today. But the authorities announced today that their “departure was postponed...

Severe harassment by Palestinian Authority and Hamas security forces targeting Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza has had a pronounced chilling effect on freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. In a new report, Human Rights Watch called on Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza to hold their security forces to account for systematic, severe abuses and...

The International Press Institute (IPI) has obtained a report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) indicating that Turkey is currently holding 57 journalists in prison – apparently more than any other country. The report followed an analysis of more than 70 journalists the OSCE conducted in conjunction with Erol Önderoğlu, editor-in-chief of the BIANET Independent...

One of four Al Jazeera journalists detained by Libyan forces has been released after a bizarre turn of events that saw the team being arrested, freed and then rearrested. Lotfi Al Masoudi, a Tunisian national, crossed the border into Tunisia on Sunday night. An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the network is "glad to see the end of the ordeal that Lotfi unnecessarily went through" while calling for...