State Persecution

Reporters Without Borders deplores A Kuwait City criminal court has withdrawn the licences of two weekly newspapers, Al-Abraj and Al-Shaab. The court in separate cases on March 8 fined Al-Abraj editor Mansur Ahmad Muhareb Al-Hayni and Al-Shaab editor Hamed Turki Abu Yabes 9,000 dinars (21,000 euros) each. Hayni was convicted of besmirching the prime minister’s reputation while Yabes was convicted...

Niger’s official media regulator summarily suspended Wednesday the FM broadcasts of France-based Radio France Internationale (RFI) for three months, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Authorities accused RFI of discrediting the government in connection with a day-long series of programmes on Monday about the detention of RFI correspondent Moussa Kaka. In a...

Gabon has banned a private newspaper for republishing a report on President Omar Bongo’s private wealth in France. The original story appeared in French daily Le Monde at the end of January. Gabon’s state-run National Communications Council accused Tendance Gabon, a private semimonthly, of spreading “a campaign of denigration” against Bongo after questioning Director Edwige Anyouzoa during a nine...

Deported US freelance journalist William Nessen left Aceh province for Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, according to Indonesian news agency Antara. Nessen who was barred from entering the province for having allegedly violated immigration rules left the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport at Blang Bintang for the Malaysian capital at 02.37 p.m. by a chartered plane, an Antara journalist observed. Nessen arrived...

The editor of a women’s rights magazine in Afghanistan was arrested in Iran on March 4 and continues to be held without charge. The Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association (AIJA) has reported that Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly Haqoq-e-Zan (Women’s Rights) magazine, was reportedly detained by Iranian officials in Qumm, near the Iranian capital Tehran. Documents, phones and a computer...

Six people affiliated with the Sri Lankan news website OutreachSL have been detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division of the Sri Lankan police force in Colombo since last week, according to Agence France-Presse and local news reports. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CJ) has urged the government of Sri Lanka to charge these journalists and media workers or release them...

The editor of an opposition daily in Azerbaijan has been sentenced to a four-year prison term on charges of hooliganism and inflicting minor bodily harm in November. He has been in custody ever since. Acording to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Genimet Zakhidov, editor the daily Azadlyg (Freedom), was secretly brought to the Yasamal District Court in Azerbaijan’s capital...

The Belarus government has been making selective use of politically motivated civil libel lawsuits against critics. Intolerant officials punish what remains of Belarus’ independent media with lawsuits that result in exorbitant fines, further debilitating the outlets. Since 1999, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented such targeted attacks against at least five

The Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of 18 member organisations of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) network, are appalled at the treatment of human rights activists Sihem Bensedrine and Omar Mestiri upon their arrival in Tunisia on March 3. Bensedrine is Secretary-General Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation in Tunisia (OLPEC), IFEX's...

The air transport office (ATO) prevented aerial news coverage by a local television news network of one of the largest protest rallies against Phillipines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo recently. ATO declared the air space above Makati City, where the rally was held, a "no fly zone" on February 29, according to the Manila-based Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility. The news helicopter of...