Ethics and Freedom

Pierre Haski, the editor of the French news website Rue89, and one of his reporters, Augustin Scalbert, have been summoned for questioning by an anti-crime unit, the BRDP, in connection with a video of President Nicolas Sarkozy talking informally to TV studio staff before an interview without realising he was being recorded, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “We condemn this escalation...

A court in Casablanca sentenced on Monday Managing Editor Ali Anouzla and Publishing Director Jamal Boudouma of the independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula to two-month suspended jail terms each and a fine of 200,000 dirhams (US$24,190) for "defamation" and "insulting the judiciary," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported local news reports. Anouzla said his lawyer will appeal the...

Chun Keun Lee, a journalist employed by public TV station MBC, who was arrested March 24 evening in Seoul on the orders of the prosecutor’s office, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has reported. When a RSF representative met Lee on March 25, he said he knew he might be arrested in connection with a report about beef imports from the United States. After Lee’s arrest, the representative went to MBC...

A court in Colombia has issued an arrest warrant for prominent journalist Daniel Coronell for contempt of court after he failed to correct for a second time a story linking a local businessman to drug trafficking, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has learnt. CPJ has called on the judge to withdraw the contempt ruling until an appeal is heard. On March 18, the Penal Court of the Granada...

The two American women journalists who were arrested at the border between North Korea and China on March 17 have been transferred by the North Korean authorities to Pyongyang for questioning, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The detention of Euna Lee (who is of Korean descent) and Laura Ling (who is of Chinese descent) was confirmed by the North Korean press on March 21. The fact...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed its concern after five newspapers in Madagascar stopped publishing and several journalists were threatened and physically assaulted during the political upheaval of the past few weeks. The media has become the prisoner of a hostile climate for press freedom since the start of the power struggle between the president, Marc Ravalomanana, and the ousted...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ ) has condemned the timing of the Senegalese government's announcement that private broadcasters faced closure for nonpayment of licenses fees made on March 22, which was also local elections day in the country. "It is extraordinary for the goverment to make a statement directly threatening the closure of certain private media on the most important...

Mauritanian writer and journalist Abou Abbass Ould Braham, the editor of the news website Taqadoumy, was released on March 18 after being held for three days in the Mauritanian capital and that the website was allowed to reopen 24 hours after the Nouakchott prosecutor’s office ordered its closure, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “The closure of a website and the arrest of one of its...

A Bujumbura court has acquitted Jean-Claude Kavumbagu, the editor of the Net Press news website, of defaming President Pierre Nkurunziza, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He had been held since September 11 last in pre-trial detention in Mpimba central prison as a result of a complaint brought by the government secretary-general. The complaint was prompted by a report claiming that...

Local newspaper editor Mohamed Abdi Guled was released on bail on March 20 by a court in Hargeisa, the capital of the northern breakaway territory of Somaliland. The editor of the Hargeisa-based weekly Yool, Guled had to pay bail of 1 million Somaliland shillings (530 euros), Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. A court in Hargeisa had sentenced Mohamed Abdi Guled to five months in prison...