Ethics and Freedom

The US military has refused to comply with the Iraqi central criminal court's order to release Reuters photographer Ibrahim Jassam. Maj Neal Fisher, a spokesman for detainee operations, said on December 10 that the US military was not bound by Iraqi court orders and would continue to hold Jassam on the grounds that he posed "a threat to Iraq security." Jassam was arrested at his home by US and...

Authorities in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syria have prevented four Arab journalists and human rights activists from attending the Arab Free Press Forum, an annual gathering in Beirut, Lebanon, that examines how independent media can be effective despite widespread repression in the region. The travel restrictions drew condemnation from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), the organiser of...

The Botswana Parliament on December 10 pressed ahead with passing of the controversial Media Practitioners Bill. The bill, which faced fierce objections and an outcry from the media and the public in general, is now at the parliamentary committee stage before the final vote, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). The bill provides for the setting up of a statutory media...

One of Haiti's best known journalists, Joseph Guyler C Delva, has been sentenced to a month in prison by a Port-au-Prince criminal court for defaming a senator, Rudolph Boulos, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Delva is still free pending the outcome of an appeal. The order was passed on December 10. Boulos sued Delva after he said Boulos had a US passport. This would preclude him from...

Peru President Alan García has indicated that he believes jailed TV presenter Magaly Medina should be released. He told a group of Medina supporters on December 10 that he thought the two months she has spent in prison were "sufficient" and that he would discuss the matter with justice minister Rosario Fernández. The host of a celebrity gossip show on privately-owned ATV, Medina has been serving a...

The Constitutional Court in Colombia ruled that the government cannot take measures to restrict a journalist's freedom of expression or right to information as a result of its obligation to provide the journalist with protection, the Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP) has reported. The ruling came after the court reviewed the case of a journalist who was under government protection as...

A former Voice of America (VOA) journalist and four soldiers have been convicted of state security crimes in Angola and sentenced to 12 years in prison in a trial that, Human Rights Watch (HRS) says, fell far short of internaitonal fair trial standards. On September 16, 2008, a military court in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda convicted former VOA journalist, Fernando Lelo, and four soldiers of...

A programme critical of Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, was taken off air recently, the Peru-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has said quoting delayed reports. Francisco Pinoargotti, director and presenter of Gama TV's programme 'Buenos Muchachos', which includes entertainment, satire and black humor, told IPYS that his programme was cancelled arbitrarily following orders issued by...

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is protesting the shutting down of Radio Markabley in the Bardhere District of Gedo Region in southwest Somalia by the Regional Islamic Administration. The head of security at the Islamic Administration in Bardhere, Sheik Barre Qoje, went to the newly established radio station on December 10 around 7:20 p.m. (local time) and ordered it to shut down...

Ohn Kyaing, a former Burmese journalist and member of the opposition National League for Democracy, who was arrested from his home on October 1 and held in Rangoon's Insein prison, has been released, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. NLD spokesman Nyan Win said Ohn Kyaing was in good shape and had returned to his home. "I am very happy that Ohn...