The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in Dubai to allow for due process in the criminal defamation trial of Mark Townsend, a freelance journalist and regular contributor to The Washington Times. The trial is set to begin on Wednesday. Townsend, 49, a former business editor of Khaleej Times, a 30 percent government-owned daily, was detained for several hours in August...
A Ukrainian television station, which had its broadcast frequencies cancelled over allegations of irregularities in the manner in which the stations were awarded their licences, has decided not to abide by the decision and will continue its terrestrial broadcasts. Channel ТVі called the action by the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting - which issues the licences -...
Chinese investigative journalist Xie Chaoping was released on bail in Weinan (in Shaanxi province) on September 17 for lack of evidence. After being held for 29 days for writing a book about the Sanmenxia Dam titled The Great Migration, he has been able to return to Beijing. “Xie’s release is excellent news but now he must he now be quickly cleared of the charges of illegal commercial activity...
Human rights reporter Azimjon Askarov was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Jalal-Abad region, southern Kyrgyzstan, on Wednesday, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Judge Nurgazy Alimbayev pronounced Askarov guilty on a wide range of charges, including complicity to commit homicide and murder of a police officer (two separate counts...
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expresses concern over the negative impact that a French national security bill known as LOPPSI 2 could have on online free expression. The version of the bill that was passed by the Senate on first reading on September 10 envisages an ineffective and dangerous online filtering system that could jeopardise the work of journalists...
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned businessman Stavros Vitalis’ libel action against journalist Takis Michas, which an Athens court is to begin hearing on the September 17. Vitalis is suing him over an article he wrote for the daily Eleftherotypi on July 25, 2009 in which he quoted from an article in the Serb weekly Global about the presence of Greek...
Even as the Indian home ministry issued an advisory urging the Indian media to help maintain communal peace and harmony in the wake of reports of a pastor in the United States threatening to burn the holy Koran, PoynterOnline.org has recommended guidelines on how to report the incident. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had issued a statement on Thursday saying, "While we await the action of the...
Iranian free speech defender Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer who has represented many imprisoned journalists, has now herself been arrested. She was arrested on September 5 on charges of anti-government propaganda and conspiring against the regime after responding to a summons from a revolutionary court prosecutor's office located inside Tehran's Evin prison. “Nasrin Sotoudeh has for the past year been...
China's colossal Sanmenxia dam has a new victim – Xie Chaoping, a journalist who was arrested without a warrant in the northeastern city of Weinan on August 19 after writing a book about the fate of those displaced by the dam, according to delayed reports. He is now reportedly being held by the Public Security Department in Beijing. Much has been written about this dam, a major source of...
Jullson Eninga, the editor of the daily Le Journal in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was released Tuesday, one day after the Kinshasa/Kalamu high court acquitted him of treason on the grounds that neither the facts of the case nor the legality of the charge had been established. “We are delighted that Eninga is finally free, especially as there was no basis for the charge on which he was placed...
