Community radio station Radio Diversia, which is active on human rights issues connected to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community in Bogota, received threats recently from a group calling itself "La Organización", the Foundation for Press Freedom has reported. The harassment against the station began on April 30 when unknown individuals stole various computers from the station...
A district court judge in Baku has sentenced Nazim Guliyev, an editor and the founder of the pro-government newspaper Ideal, to six months in prison on defamation charges, the Azeri Press Agency (APA) reported. Guliyev was jailed immediately. Judge Elman Akhmedov imposed the sentence on Wednesday, although the accuser, Sabira Makhmudova, said she wanted to withdraw her complaint, APA reported...
Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned journalist Elena Maglevannaya’s conviction by a court in the southern city of Volgograd of defaming the prison service in articles about torture in Russian prisons that she wrote for the website Vestnikcivitas. Some of the articles were about the case of Zubayr Zubayrayev, a young Chechen imprisoned in Volgograd. In a May 13 ruling, the court found...
The Kenyan government has finally published amendments to the Communications Act, which will delete a controversial clause that allows the government to raid broadcasting stations. The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Law 2008, which President Mwai Kibaki signed into law in January 2009, enables the state to raid broadcasting houses and destroy or confiscate equipment in the name of "public safety
An increasing number of lawsuits are being filed in Algeria against journalists for alleged defamation, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has eported. On May 11, Nedjar El Hadj Daoud, editor of the Al-Waha newspaper, was sentenced to six months in prison by the Ghardaïa court, confirming the 2007 and 2008 rulings. The sentence stemmed from the publication of a May 21, 2006 article...
Writer and journalist Michel Kilo, who was released from Adra prison in Damascus at midnight on May 14 on completing a three-year sentence, was immediately taken to the Damascus headquarters of the intelligence services and has been held there ever since, undergoing interrogation, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. His family has told Paris-based RSF its concern is compounded by the...
Pro-reform Iranian daily Yas-e-no was closed down on May 16, immediately after it brought out its first issue in five years, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The mouthpiece of the Participation Front, the main opposition party, it was closed on the orders of the Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance (an offshoot of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance...
Court proceedings have been initiated against five Moroccan journalists charged with "publicly harming" Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, left, and "hurting his dignity." The brief court hearing Monday, attended by a Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) representative, was adjourned until June 1 at the request of the journalists' lawyers, who learnt that the case was filed by the public prosecutor...
Iraqi trade minister Abdelfalah Al-Soudani’s has decided to withdraw the lawsuits he had brought against two independent daily newspapers, Al-Mashriq and Al-Parlament, over articles linking him directly to cases of alleged corruption. The minister had been demanding 150 million dinars (95,000 euros) in damages from Al-Mashriq and 50 million dinars (31,500 euros) from Al-Parlament. The move was...
A new wave of obstacles has been imposed by Myanmar's junta on Internet usage besides expelling two American journalism teachers on May 6. It is getting steadily harder for the Myanmarese (Burmese) to send emails or access websites while all means of communication were cut on May 14 around opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s home. “The increased restrictions on Internet usage following Aung San...
