Ethics and Freedom

Two journalists and three leading civil society members have been detained at the Libreville headquarters of the criminal investigation police of Gabon for the past week—longer than the legal period for police custody—without any explanation being given. Other journalists have been questioned in connection with the case in the past few days, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “The...

Adnan Demir, editor of liberal Turkish daily Taraf is facing trial for publishing confidential military information. The prosecutor at the Istanbul higher court on January 6 called for a sentence of 3-5 years against Demir, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The newspaper in October 2008 had carried a series of articles on an attack on October 4, carried out and claimed by...

Ramazan Yesergepov, ailing editor of independent weekly Alma-Ata Info, was seized from an Almaty hospital on Tuesday by government agents, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB), whose agents seized Yesergepov, said in a statement that the editor was being investigated for allegedly disclosing state secrets, a crime...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed the decision of Belgian prosecutors to dismiss a complaint of bribery brought by the European Anti-Fraud Office against a Brussels-based journalist. After five years Belgium has finally cleared journalist Hans-Martin Tillack, a reporter for Stern magazine, over a complaint against him launched from within the European Union (EU) hierarchy....

Bolivian President Evo Morales is planning to launch a state-run daily newspaper later this month which would act as a counterbalance to the "anti-government" local media, Reuters has reported. "The state's going to have its own newspaper and I've told the media team that we should launch it on January 22," Morales was quoted as saying by the official news agency ABI on Sunday. During a radio...

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has approved a new media law despite local and international pressure to reject the legislation critics say undermines democracy, according to news reports. The amended media law provides for a new communications commission with powers to regulate broadcasting content and impose tougher fines or jail terms for press offences. "I have assented to the bill," Kibaki said...

The Lima-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has filed a complaint before the District Magistracy Control Office (Oficina Distrital de Control de la Magistratura, ODICMA) against judge Teresa Cabrera, who sentenced journalist Magaly Medina and television producer Ney Guerrero to serve prison terms in a defamation case brought against them by football player Paolo Guerrero. The sentence, which...

A Davao broadcaster was released on December 23, 2008 after having spent almost two years in prison in Davao del Norte following his conviction on charges of libel, according to Manila-based Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). Davao is a province located approximately 946 km south of Manila. Libel is a criminal offence in the Philippines. Alexander Adonis, formerly of Bombo Radyo...

An Algerian court sentenced an editor-in-chief and a journalist at the Algiers-based independent daily El Watan to a three-month jail term each for defamation late last month. Omar Belhouchet, editor of El Watan, and reporter Salima Tlemcani, were found guilty on December 23 last of defaming a faith healer and Islam in a 2004 article about the "charlatan-like practices" of the Algiers healer, said...

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush will go on trial this month on charges that carry up to 15 years in jail, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting a judge. Zaidi became a hero to many in the Arab world when he threw his shoes at Bush during the US president's surprise visit to Iraq on December 14. Investigating judge Dhiya al-Kenani rejected new...