The International Press Institute (IPI) has expressed its disappointment at the adoption of a package of reforms to the Slovene penal code, which includes amendments that expand liability for criminal defamation. According to information before IPI, a government-backed bill containing sweeping reforms to the Slovene criminal code was introduced to the Slovene Parliament on January 28, 2008. The...
An Afghan journalist who faces the death penalty for blasphemy has begun his appeal hearings without a defence lawyer. Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, 23, on Sunday denied charges and said an earlier confession that prompted a court to sentence him to death in January had been extracted under torture, news reports have said. The charges against Kambakhsh relate to an article he downloaded from the...
In the long-standing battle for journalistic freedom, the victor is the Bush Administration and its embedded media program in Iraq. Journalists embedded with American troops emphasised military successes more often than they covered the invasion’s consequences for Iraqi citizens. These findings are from a study by sociologist Andrew M Lindner, writing in the spring issue of the American
There's renewed international concern for Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, a young Afghan journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy. The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders is urging the Afghan government to cooperate with the lawyer of Kambakhsh, who remains jailed in Kabul awaiting an appeal hearing, Radio Free Europe / Radoi Liberty (RFE/RL) has reported. Nearly two months have passed since...
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted Thursday on a White Paper that recognises the importance of sports journalism in Europe. Several MEPs had proposed amendments to the Mavrommatis report on sport, which would have severely limited the freedom of news media to report freely on sports events, for the enjoyment of their readers across Europe. Following a call by media and journalists'...
An Egyptian television agency boss was charged by a Cairo court Monday over helping to broadcast images of protesters tearing down portraits of President Hosni Mubarak during deadly food riots in April, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. Nader Gohar, who owns the Cairo News Company, was charged with not having a licence to provide satellite feed facilities to foreign channels following a...
The US-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp is the worst prison ever, Sudanese al-Jazeera journalist Sami al-Haj who was released from the prison days ago said Monday, according to a Xinhua report. In a speech broadcast live on Sudanese television, ai-Haj, who returned to Sudan on Friday, said he spent 2,340 days in the "most heinous prison mankind has ever known," and that jailers there insulted...
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has delpored deplores the Tunisian government’s apparent censorship of the opposition weekly Al-Mawkif. Over the past month, Tunisian authorities have prevented distribution of four successive issues of Al-Mawkif, published since 1984 by the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP). Rachid Khechana, editor of Al-Mawkif, told CPJ that plainclothes...
A young Afghan journalist, sentenced to death in January for spreading feminist criticism of Islam, has been granted an appeal, according to one of the international organizations monitoring his case, Bloomberg News has reported. Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, 23, was transferred on March 28 from prison in the remote province of Balkh, in northern Afghanistan, to capital Kabul, according to Jean...
The United States military said Monday that it would release Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein who has been jailed in Iraq without trial for two years on accusations of terrorism and kidnapping. The US military initially said it had more than enough evidence to hold him under a UN mandate, but on Monday, Maj Gen Douglas Stone, deputy commanding general for detainee operations, signed the...
