State Persecution

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...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed concern at the ongoing police persecution of two Ugandan journalists. The police's Media Offences Department has repeatedly interrogated the two over a story critical of the government's handling of an international security operation against the rebel Lord's Resistance Army last month, according to a local lawyer and journalists. The two...

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...

International press freedom groups have urged the Israeli military to put an end to targetting Palestinian media in the Gaza Strip and allow international journalists to enter the region to cover the conflict. On Monday, the eighth day of its military campaign, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired two missiles into the offices of the Hamas-affiliated Al-Risala newsweekly, according to multiple...

Israeli forces have arrested Iran's Al-Alam News Network's correspondent reporting from the occupied Palestinian territory. Khezir Shahin reporter of the Al-alam international News Network was taken in custody by the Israeli forces on Gaza Strip on Monday, the network reported Tuesday. The Israeli army issued a statement claiming the reporter was trying to illegally cover the Israeli operation...

The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) condemned Monday the attacks committed by the Israeli forces against Palestinian media in Gaza. In addition, PEC, in a statement issued in Geneva, said that it also deplored the fact that Israel is not allowing non-resident media in Gaza to cover the current conflict. PEC called upon Israel to implement UN Security Council resolution 1738 that forbids any attacks...

The Israeli ban on foreign journalists from entering Gaza to cover the conflict is a dangerous violation of press freedom that adds to "ignorance, uncertainty and fear" in the region, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said. IFJ says that the presence of independent reporters on the ground is needed to ensure that there are no flagrant abuses of human rights by combatants. IFJ's...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the ongoing legal harassment of BBC correspondent in Thailand, Jonathan Head. Police Lt Col Wattanasak Mungkandee filed a third criminal complaint this year against Head on December 23, alleging he had insulted the Thai monarchy in his reporting. The latest charges are related to a December 3 article in which Head speculated that the royal...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the intimidation of Tunisian journalists who tried to cover efforts on December 30 last by the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) to demonstrate against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Two journalists were assaulted and three faced harassment in Tunis, according to several CPJ interviews. Al-Jazeera correspondent Lotfi Hajji told CPJ...

A soldier killed Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan, shooting the veteran journalist twice in the head after stopping him in the Somali town of Afgoye on January 1 morning, three local journalists have told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The journalists said they had interviewed witnesses to the killing. "The transitional government must do everything it can to immediately...