Ethics and Freedom

Local authorities in St Paul, Minneapolis, will not prosecute journalists who were arrested on misdemeanour charges during the Republican national convention on September 1. The Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper reported quoted St Paul mayor Chris Coleman as saying the city authorities have decided not to prosecute journalists charged with misdemeanour offences and that they will use a “very...

A Moroccan court decision Thursday overturned a two-year prison sentence and a fine against blogger and journalist Mohamed Erraji. On September 9, the court in Agadir, in southwest Morocco, convicted Erraji in a 10-minute trial¸ sentencing him to prison and a fine of 5,000 dinars (US$626), according to his family and local news reports. Erraji, 29, is a contributor to HesPress, a Moroccan daily...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has voiced its deep concern about an upsurge in fatwas (religious decrees) calling for the murder of journalists in the Arab and Muslim world. In the latest case, a high-ranking Saudi official, Sheikh Saleh al-Luhidan, president of the superior council of jurisprudence, issued a fatwa on September 12 calling for the murder of owners of Arabic satellite television...

The information and broadcasting ministry has issued advisories to India TV and Aaj Tak for spreading "misinformation, fear and horror" among people. It has advised the channels to exercise restraint in presenting issues. According to the Times of India, the ministry has also written to the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) to advise its members to...

Singapore's attorney-general's office has initiated legal action against the Wall Street Journal Asia and two editors over articles allegedly casting doubt on the judiciary's integrity, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). A statement on the website of the Attorney-General's Chambers on Friday said the articles "impugn on the impartiality, integrity and independence of the Singapore judiciary...

Press freedom organisations have urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to intercede on behalf of former journalist Ahmed Ghous Zalmai and Mullah Qari Mushtaq, who were sentenced Thursday by a Kabul court to 20 years in prison for publishing a Dari translation of the Koran. Dari is the Farsi (Persian) dialect spoken in Afghanistan. "We appeal to the president's spirit of tolerance and ask him to...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has urged President Abdoulaye Wade to quickly embark on a thorough overhaul of Senegal's press legislation after El Malick Seck, the editor of the Dakar-based daily 24 Heures Chrono, was sentenced to three years in prison on September 12 for an article claiming that the president was involved in money laundering. "This sentence reflects all the unfairness and...

An Egyptian court sentenced an editor to one year in jail on Wednesday for publishing a newspaper without a licence, the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported, Reuters has reported. The ruling permitted Ahmad Baker Seleem, editor of the Cairo Today newspaper, to pay 10,000 Egyptian Pounds ($1,845) in bail pending appeal, MENA reported. The sentence was handed down after the Cairo court...

A weekend newspaper cartoon depicting the head of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), Jacob Zuma, unbuckling his trousers allegedly to rape justice has sparked the ire of the party and its allies -- the South African Communist Party and the ANC Youth League, according news reports. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Sunday Times cartoon showed Zuma, who is fighting to...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has welcomed the release of a cameraman held by US forces in Iraq, and called on the military to release a freelance journalist working for Reuters who has been held since Tuesday. Omar Husham, 28‎, a cameraman with Baghdad TV‎, a satellite channel owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party, was freed on Friday without charges after one day in custody, according to...