Ethics and Freedom

One year ago, a court in the western autonomous region of Karakalpakstan sentenced journalist Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov to 10 years in prison on a charge of “possession of drugs for the purpose of sale,” a sentence that was upheld a month later by the supreme court despite the inconsistencies of the prosecution case and complete lack of evidence against him. Now aged 59, Abdurakhmanov has been held...

Prison sentences were given to journalists at the Azeri weekly newspaper Nota on defamation charges Thursday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Nota Editor-in-Chief Sardar Alibeili and reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu (also known as Faramaz Allahverdiyev) were given three-month prison terms, and staffer Ramiz Tagiyev was conditionally sentenced to six months of...

A Ljubljana appeal court has decided to lift an injunction against the Slovenian daily Dnevnik that barred it since August 2009 from publishing any news or negative comments about the person or professional activities of Italian businessman Pierpaolo Cerani, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The daily’s editor Ali Zerdin told the Paris-based RSF that the ruling on October 7 was “an...

Algerian journalist and rights activist Hafnaoui Ghoul is on trial for writing articles critical of local authorities in Djelfa province, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ghoul, a freelance journalist and human rights activist affiliated with the ‎Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights‎, is facing numerous charges—criminal defamation, insulting government agencies, and...

The government’s decision to prosecute the company that published the new cartoon magazine Gedung Kartun for not having a permit is a setback for press freedom in Malaysia, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has said. The decision was announced by Jamilah Taib, the head of the interior ministry’s communication unit. The company insists it did get a verbal go-ahead. “We urge the interior ministry to...

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the acquittal of all the writers, bloggers and pro-democracy activists who are about to be tried in various courts after unexplained delays, with a danger of long jail sentences being imposed. Vu Hung’s trial in Hanoi Wednesday and Pham Van Troi’s trial the day after are expected to be held without guarantees for defence rights. Six other activists...

Journalist Aylin Duruoglu has spent nearly six months in Istanbul’s Bakirköy prison on unfounded charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation. The Istanbul prosecutor’s office requested a 15-year jail sentence for Duruoglu when she appeared in court on October 1, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Duruoglu was accused of belonging to an armed group called the Revolutionary...

Three Voice of America (VOA) reporters in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia were suspended Thursday, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Puntland’s Deputy Minister of Information Abdishakur Mire Adan issued a letter suspending all three VOA correspondents and any other VOA journalist from reporting in the region. The suspended VOA...

Urdu daily in Pakistan Asaap has alleged that Frontier Corps forces were posted outside its offices on August 1, 2009, questioning staff about connections with local insurgents, according to local news reports. The Frontier Corps is a local paramilitary unit stationed to quell a violent independence movement staged by Baloch nationalist groups in the province. In a front-page story on August 19...

The Italian editor whose newspaper is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday likened the situation to attacks on the American press during the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon. “Like the American journalists, our journalists were doing their work and were publishing information that had to be published,” said...