Ethics and Freedom

The judge presiding over the trial of a fired astronaut temporarily sealed court documents that were to be released soon and asked the layers to limit mass media contacts. Lisa Marie Nowak's case has drawn international media attention. "I'm just trying to keep the media frenzy down to a dull roar," Orange County Circuit Judge Marc L. Lubet said. Lubet stopped short of issuing a gag order, but...

In a continued effort to suppress reform-minded critics, the Iranian government has sentenced yet another prominent journalist, Ali Farahbakhsh, to three years in jail and slapped him with a huge fine, partly due to a typo in the court documents. Farahbakhsh was convicted of spying in a trial held behind closed doors on Mar. 26. He was first imprisoned five months ago on his return to Iran after...

An Indonesian court has cleared Playboy Indonesia's editor-in-chief of distributing indecent pictures to the public and making money from them after a high-profile trial that exposed deep divisions in the Muslim-majority nation A group of Indonesian hardliner Muslims shout slogan after trial of editor-in-chief of Playboy Indonesia Erwin Arnada, Thursday, April 5, 2007, in Jakarta Indonesia...

The US blogger whose record 226 days in federal prison stirred debate about who qualified as a journalist and what legal protections journalists should receive, was freed Tuesday after releasing video footage sought by prosecutors about an anarchist protest. Freelance videographer Joshua Wolf speaks to the members of the media after being released from the Federal Correctional Institution in...

Thai media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul has been sentenced to two years in prison for slandering a government official during a live television broadcast on in November 2005. A Bangkok criminal court on Thursday last sentenced Sondhi in relation to comments he made on November 25, 2005 on his popular Muang Thai Rai Supda television talk show which accused former Deputy Transport Minister Phumtham...

Reporters Without Borders called today for the immediate release of freelance business journalist Ali Farahbakhsh, who was convicted of spying in a parody of a trial on 26 March and was sentenced to three years in prison and an exorbitant fine. “The same day that the UN Human Rights Council decided not to examine the situation in Iran, a journalist was the victim of the Islamic Republic’s...

MUMBAI: The privilege committee of the Maharashtra Legislature has recommended a 10-day imprisonment for the editor of a Marathi weekly for publishing a 'derogatory' article against Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar. The committee, headed by MLA Chandrakant Chhajed, tabled its report in the Assembly on Wednesday finding that Madhukar Londhe, editor of Sasemira published from Kolhapur, carried an article...

The Dawn Group of Newspapers, Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper and magazine publishing house, is facing serious economic pressures as well as legal harassment by the government of Pakistan for it coverage of events and policies related to militancy and security in the country. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (C) salutes during the Pakistan National Day parade in Islamabad March...

A beleaguered Robert Mugabe has now threatened foreign correspondents with unspecified government reprisal in capital Harare over alleged biased reporting. Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe at his birthday celebrations in Mkoba, Gweru, central Zimbabwe, February 2007. Mugabe has denounced opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as a stooge of the West in the face of mounting international...

Russia’s only female billionaire has won a defamation suit against the editor of Forbes Russia which had published a cover story on how she had acquired her fortune. Baturina's fortune almost tripled to $3.1 billion last year from $1.1 billion a year earlier, according to the US edition of Forbes' annual world wealth survey published this month. That ranked Baturina No 30 on the list of 52 Russian...