State Persecution

Hundreds of Afghan journalists and writers took part in demonstrations on July 8 in 15 provinces to call for the release of Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, a young journalist under sentence of death. This exemplary show of solidarity came as Kambakhsh's appeal against his conviction has ground to a halt in Kabul and no date has been set for the next hearing. "The appeal court should have quashed Kambakhsh...

Turkmenistan has released a reporter working for US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after two weeks of detention, Reuters has reported quoting a RFE/RL statement. RFE/RL said last month Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributing reporter on its Turkmen service, was detained and tortured after he refused to stop working for the Prague-based broadcaster. "The move came amid growing pressure...

Two journalists in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic have been convicted under the country's vague extremism law. Each has been sentenced to serve a suspended two-year prison term. Their newspaper has been shuttered. On June 25, the Kirov District Court in the regional capital of Ufa, in the central Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, convicted and sentenced Viktor Shmakov, editor-in-chief of the...

A reporter of a Rangoon-based weekly journal, Ecovision, has been charged with "committing crimes against public tranquility" and "inciting hatred against the government," according to Mizzima News. Ma Eint Khaing Oo of Ecovision was produced before the Tamwe Township Court in Rangoon Division for the first time on June 24 and charged under Section 505(b) and 124(a) of the Criminal Code. Offences...

The Kanifing Court trying Dida Halake, former Managing Director of the Observer Company Limited, publishers of the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper, on June 25 granted him bail after almost two weeks in detention. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that he was granted bail in the sum of 25,000 Gambian Dalasi (approx. US$11,901) and one surety to reappear on July 9...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the authorities not to execute the warrant for the arrest of Mohammad Javad Haghshenas, the editor of Etemad Melli, a daily newspaper that is the mouthpiece of the pro-reform party of the same name. The warrant was prompted by an article critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that was previously posted on a blog. "Repressive measures against...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned a June 26 decision by a Nanjing court sentencing Chinese journalist Sun Lin to four years' imprisonment for "disturbing the social order" and "concealing a weapon". Sun, who writes for US-based website Boxun News under the pen name Jie Mu, and his wife He Fang were arrested on May 30, 2007, after reporting on civil rights violations...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the abusive behaviour by Israeli security agents towards Palestinian journalists moving around the Territories or returning from visits abroad. Paris-based RSF says it has recorded five incidents of wrongful arrest over a recent 10-day period. One journalist is still being held, while another needed hospital treatment after being subjected to brutality...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the abduction, torture, and forcible psychiatric hospitalisation of Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributing reporter for the Turkmen Service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), in the Western city of Bakhaden. According to RFE/RL, Durdymuradov was seized by agents of the secret police (MNB) from his Bakhaden home on June 20...

Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributing reporter for the Turkmen Service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), in the Western city of Bakhaden, has been abducted, tortured and subjected to forcible psychiatric hospitalisation. According to RFE/RL, Durdymuradov was seized by agents of the secret police (MNB) from his Bakhaden home on June 20 and forcibly taken to a local psychiatric...