Conflict Journalism

A Palestinian journalist working for the independent Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency was kidnapped late Saturday night by five masked gunmen and held for 11 hours. Hafez Asakreh, who is one of the editors at the news agency, was on his way to work when he was abducted by the gunmen, who forced him into their vehicle and drove to an unknown destination. He was later released unharmed. According...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bilal Hussein’s career as a photojournalist nearly ended soon after it began. Hussein, who had been working for The Associated Press for about three months, volunteered to stay in his native Fallujah as U.S. forces prepared to assault the city to drive out Sunni religious extremists. It was a decision not taken lightly. Once known as the “city of mosques,” Fallujah had become the...

The US military says it will recommend criminal charges against an Associated Press photographer detained in 2006 on suspicion of helping Iraqi insurgents. The Pentagon says additional evidence has come to light proving Bilal Hussein is a “terrorist media operative” who infiltrated the news agency. The case will be passed to Iraqi judges who will decide if he should be tried. AP says its own...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's northern Kurdistan region have banned journalists from travelling to Kurdish rebel bases, officials said on Monday, accusing the media of aggravating the crisis with Turkey. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesman Jamal Abdullah said the semi-autonomous KRG would stop journalists going to Iraq's northern border and interviewing Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels...

An inquest report has established with great detail that the Indonesian army was responsible for the death of five British, Australian and New Zealander journalists in East Timor in 1975. The report clearly shows they were eliminated because they too much about Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor, which was just getting under way. “The detailed and courageous inquest conducted by Dorelle Pinch

(FNJ/IFEX) - Police interfered and arrested 25 journalists at a demonstration organized by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Kathmandu chapter from the Southern Gate of Singhadurbar, Nepal Government's Secretariat, on 15 November 2007, at 9:30 a.m. (local time). The demonstration was organized to protest against continuous attacks on and intimidation of journalists, demanding action be...

The civil war, internal displacement, limited access to information and restrictions on journalists’ freedom of movement have proved to be great obstacles to press freedom in Sri Lanka, particularly in the country’s eastern provinces. These are some of the findings of the fact-finding mission by representatives of the International Press Institute (IPI), the International Federation of

(FNJ/IFEX) - The body of murdered journalist Birendra Kumar Shah was found at around 2:00 p.m. (local time) on 8 November 2007 in Dumarwana village, near Tangiya colony in Bara district, about 160 kilometres south of Kathmandu. Binod Pyakurel, president of FNJ's Bara district chapter, said the police administration informed him that the body was found buried at a place called Bhaimathghat in the...

Reporters Without Borders today urged the authorities to stop the prosecution of Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, a freelance journalist and former editor of the now closed weekly Al-Shoura, on a charge of “publishing information liable to undermine army morale” under article 126 of the criminal code, for which the maximum penalty is death. “Khaiwani is critical of the government headed by President Ali...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has strongly protested against new restrictions imposed by Hamas on journalists in the Gaza Strip and the arrest of two journalists working for Hamas-run television by security forces controlled by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. On 5 November 2007, the Palestinian preventive security service arrested journalist Alaa al-Titi and cameraman Ossayd...