State Persecution

Gatot Machali, the manager of Radio Era Baru, a radio station based in Batam (in Riau province), appeared before a Jakarta administrative court Tuesday on a charge of “broadcasting without authorisation and disrupting neighbouring frequencies” under the Telecommunications Law He could be sentenced to six years in jail if found guilty. The court has not yet issued a verdict. Paris-based press...

On March 10, most privately-owned radio stations and newspapers in Lome, capital of Togo, suspended their normal activities in protest against the continued closure of three radio stations since December 2010. The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent in Togo reported that while the radio stations played music throughout the day, the newspapers, with the exception of state-owned...

New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed alarm about reported threats in prison against embattled editor Eynulla Fatullayev. According to CPJ interviews and local press reports, Fatullayev has feared for his life since his recent transfer to a new jail, prompting him to request that he be isolated from other inmates. Now in solitary confinement, his health...

Four New York Times journalists have been freed in Libya but 13 other journalists are either missing or reported in Libyan government custody, according to New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "Four journalists from Al-Jazeera, two from Agence France-Presse, and one from Getty Images are either being detained by Libyan authorities or are missing," said CPJ...

Mohammad Rafique Baloch, the vice-president of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), was abducted Monday in south Karachi and held for several hours. He was on his way to Karachi’s high court to defend pay and working conditions of journalists in Sindh province at a hearing initiated by the KUJ when the incident took place. It is quite clear that the aim of the attackers was to prevent him from...

Two Agence France-Presse journalists and a US photographer, according to information newly obtained by AFP, were arrested by pro-Gaddafi forces near Ajdabiya on March 19. AFP had not heard from its two reporters since the evening of March 18. The two AFP journalists are Dave Clark, 38, who is British, and Roberto Schmidt, 45, who has German and Colombian dual nationality. The US photographer who...

The owner and editor of the weekly Notillanos Plus, Vladimir Hidalgo, has said that since March 14 the distribution and sale of his newspaper has been prohibited within the municipality of San Fernando, in the southwestern Venezuelan state of Apure. Hidalgo said he did not receive any official notification of the measure, but rather found out via a notice published on March 14 in the regional...

Police in Buwama, Mpigi district (80 km south of Kampala), have arrested and detained Central Broadcasting Service (CBS FM) correspondent Yoweri Musisi over a story which alleged increased lawlessness in the area. CBS FM is owned by the Buganda Kingdom. Musisi was arrested on March 19 by armed policemen at Buwama trading centre on the orders of the officer in charge of the station, Abbey Ngaho...

Al-Jazeera said Sunday that Libyan authorities have been holding four of its journalists in Tripoli for several days, while Agence-France Presse reported that two of its journalists and a third journalist are missing in eastern Libya. On Saturday, the founder and manager of a Libyan online broadcaster was killed by gunfire while reporting from a battle outside Benghazi. New York-based press...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) is very worried about the fate of Stéphane Lehr, an experienced French freelance photographer working for Polaris Images, who went missing early Sunday afternoon shortly after arriving in Benghazi with a French TV crew. The head of Polaris Images, Jean-Pierre Pappis, said the last contact with Lehr was a message received at 7 a.m. New...