Two journalists in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic have been convicted under the country's vague extremism law. Each has been sentenced to serve a suspended two-year prison term. Their newspaper has been shuttered. On June 25, the Kirov District Court in the regional capital of Ufa, in the central Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, convicted and sentenced Viktor Shmakov, editor-in-chief of the...
There has been an upsurge in cases being brought against journalists in Kuwait, despite the fact it was the first Gulf state to decriminalise press offences. "The 2006 press law reform profoundly transformed the emirate's media landscape. We urge the authorities to continue to strengthen the protection of the right to be informed and to inform the public," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières...
Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal on the appointment of the president of the French public television broadcaster, France Télévisions, contravenes international standards regarding the independence of public service broadcasting, and should be opposed, ARTICLE 19 has said. President Sarkozy suggested on June 26 that the president of France Télévisions should be appointed by the executive branch upon the...
Burma’s military government should immediately release all journalists arrested in connection with the Cyclone Nargis disaster, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Four journalists are being detained by Burmese authorities, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners Burma (AAPP), a Thailand-based assistance and rights monitoring group, and the Burma Media...
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the four-year prison sentence handed down to Nanjing journalist Sun Lin, who was charged with possessing illegal weapons and assembling a disorderly crowd. Sun’s sentence was delivered on Thursday in a hearing closed to his lawyers and family, according to the Associated Press (AP). In his trial, Sun and his lawyers argued that the charges...
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has protested the adoption by the Romanian Senate of a draft law obliging radio and television stations to transmit positive and negative news "in an equal proportion." "One can hardly think about a more absurd proposal than a 'good news and bad news' law," said EFJ Chairman Arne König on Tuesday. "This is obvious political interference in the editorial...
The Moroccan government should allow the news media to report on human rights abuses committed during the reign of King Hassan II, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said after a court ordered an independent newspaper to stop publishing victim testimony given to a royal truth and reconciliation commission. Ali Anouzla, editor of Al-Jarida al-Oula, a newly established daily, was ordered to...
Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has welcomed the "transparency" of a US Defence Department report released on June 16 confirming that US soldiers were responsible for the fatal shooting of Reuters soundman Waleed Khaled in Baghdad on August 28, 2005. Khaled drove with Reuters cameraman Haider Kadhem to the Baghdad district of Al-Adil to cover a situation in which an Iraqi police unit had been...
A 10-day prison sentence has been handed down to independent journalist Mazen Darwish, President of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, according to the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). He was sentenced under Article 387 of the criminal code for "defamation and insulting state administrative bodies". The verdict will appear on his record for a period of three to...
Angolan journalist Felisberto da Grâça Campos was sentenced Monday by an Angolan court to six months in prison for allegedly defaming former justice minister Paulo Tjipilika. The journalist was sentenced on charges of defamation, libel, and abuse of the press, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). Grâça Campos is the director of the weekly Semanario Angolese. The state argues...
