State Persecution

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...

A total of 23 journalists remained jailed in connection with their work in Sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds held without charge, according to the annual report released of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Thirteen journalists were held in Eritrea, which was the fourth jailer of journalists worldwide behind China, Cuba and Burma. The survey found more Internet journalists jailed worldwide

Kinshasa's N'Djili court has handed down 10 and nine-month sentences, respectively, to Nsimba Embete Ponte, editor of the Kinshasa-based, independent bi-weekly Interprète, and his assistant, Davin Tondo Nzovuanga, according to Kinshasa-based Journaliste en Danger (JED). The court's decision of November 27 was made public a week later. The two men were arrested by state security agents in March and...

Hamas security forces have freed three Palestinian journalists who they had arrested last month and accused of fabricating news critical of the Islamist group, agency Reuters has reported. The journalists, freed on December 3, worked in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the Palestine Press, a local news agency with ties to the group's main rival, President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. The...

More Internet journalists are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium. In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, released Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists found that 45 per cent of all media workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors. Online journalists represent the largest professional category for the first time

Prominent Zimbabwean journalist and human rights activist Jestina Mukoko was abducted at dawn on Wednesday from her home near capital Harare. The journalist, a former broadcaster at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) then privately-owned Voice of the People (VOP), was snatched from her home in Norton, 40 kilometres from the capital, by 15 men in plain clothes, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human...

An Iraqi court on Sunday ordered the release of a freelance photographer working for Reuters after being held by US forces since early September, the news agency has reported. The Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruled there was no evidence against Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, and ordered that the US military release him from Camp Cropper prison near Baghdad airport. Iraqi prosecutors acknowledged in...

Ramattan news agency has closed down all its West Bank offices and suspended its website operations after security officers loyal to Paliestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas raided its headquarters in Ramallah and summoned eight employees for interrogation. Ramattan has accused PA of waging a campaign of harassment and intimidation against its staff in the West Bank. The independent agency...

Faten Hamdi, a reporter at Kalima Radio, was arrested by a group of policemen and violently dragged to El Gorjani Police Station after being physically assaulted in front of Tunis's Preparatory Institute for Art and Humanities Studies, the Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation in Tunisia (OLPEC) has reported. The Kalima reporter was on November 24 covering protests...

Seven-year jail sentences have been handed down to Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung, editor and manager respectively of the privately-owned Myanmar Nation, which has since closed down, Reporters sans Frontières and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. The two were sentenced on November 28 by a court in Thingangyun, near Rangoon under the Printers and Publishers Registration Act for being in...