An American freelance journalist detained over his coverage of recent riots said Friday last he had been released, while authorities announced at least nine Egyptian journalists were being held, according to an Associated Press (AP) report. James Buck and his Egyptian translator were among several taken into custody in Mahalla el-Kobra, a northern industrial city where protests over high prices...
A proposed bill to amend the law on extremism will impose further restrictions on press freedom in Russia. Drafted by the prosecutor-general’s office, the bill was presented at a meeting organised by the Duma’s security committee on April 10. The proposed changes would allow prosecutors to exercise additional control over publications, especially websites. They would, for example, make it...
Contempt of court proceedings have been started against the editor and owner of a New Zealand newspaper over the publication of suppressed police evidence collected during last year's police raids in the Ureweras. Solicitor-General David Collins filed papers in the High Court in Wellington on Monday against editor Tim Pankhurst and Fairfax New Zealand, the publisher of the Dominion Post, according...
An Iraqi judicial committee has dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Associated Press (AP) photographer Bilal Hussein and ordered him released nearly two years after he was detained by the US military, the news agency has reported. Hussein, 36, remained in custody Wednesday at Camp Cropper, a US detention facility near Baghdad's airport. A decision by a four-judge panel said Hussein's...
The Supreme Court has questioned the bona fides of Vijay Shekar, journalist, and the Zee television channel in conducting a “cash for warrant” sting operation, in which an Ahmedabad magistrate issued warrants against the then President, the then Chief Justice of India and two others, according to a report in the Hindu. A Bench comprising Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justices RV Raveendran and...
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) have protested to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, against a UN decision to investigate the "abuse" of freedom of expression where it constitutes "religious discrimination." In a letter to Ban, the Paris-based WAN and WEF said a decision by the UN Human Rights Council to require its special rapporteur on freedom of...
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey has introduced a bill to soften a controversial article in the country's penal code outlawing criticism of Turkish identity. The proposal, the Southeast European Times website reported, contains amendments to the controversial Article 301, which decrees jail sentences of three years or less for insulting "Turkishness". Prosecutors have used...
Seven employees of a pro-peace radio station in Israel were released from jail Tuesday, a day after police raided the station's Jerusalem office and seized its transmission equipment, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. On Monday, police shut down the transmitter and closed the studio, saying the station was broadcasting without a permit. There are numerous pirate radio stations broadcasting...
Egypt has ordered the confiscation of a special edition of German magazine Der Spiegel about Islam that the government said insults the Muslim prophet Mohammed, Egypt's state news agency MENA said. Information Minister Anas el-Feki said the decision "comes in the context of defending Islamic values and standing firmly against those who try to insult the prophet, the Islamic faith, and religions...
Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of Ahmed Mahmud Hassan, of satellite al-Sumariya television, who has been held since March 30 by Iraqi authorities who have not given any reason for his arrest. Mahmud Hassan was picked up in Mahmudiya, 30 km south of Baghdad, while he was covering clashes between Iraqi forces and rebel insurgents. He is thought to be detained in a...
