State Persecution

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed deep concern over a decision of the High Court of Sindh to dismiss two petitions by the owners of GEO Television network challenging bans imposed on four of its news, sports and entertainment channels after emergency rule was decreed on November 3. After 19 days of hearings, the court agreed on December 4 with the government’s...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Tuesday condemned as “intolerable and vindictive” the sentence handed down to Tunisian journalist Slim Boukhdir on charges stemming from a search by police on the group taxi he was riding in. It is the latest targeted attack on Boukhdir who has been frequently harassed by Tunisian authorities, IFJ said. “The authorities are using these charges to...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European regional group of the International Federation of Journalists, Tuesday called on the European Union to put in place procedures to protect journalists from unsubstantiated allegations of wrong-doing by Brussels officials. The call follows the European Court of Human Rights verdict last week that condemned the Belgian state for acting...

Supporters of Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who has been held without charge by U.S. officials in Iraq for 18 months, marked the year-and-a-half anniversary Friday by presenting an online petition with 1,500 signatures to several top federal officials, organizers said. In a letter faxed Friday to the White House, U.S. State Department, the Speaker of the House of Representatives...

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrests of several dozen journalists to prevent them from covering a failed coup attempt at a Manila hotel where around 30 soldiers had demanded the ouster of President Gloria Arroyo on 29 November 2007. The journalists were taken, their hands bound, to the National Capital Region Police Office in Bicutan, south-east of the capital. Police said they had...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned a 29 November 2007 search at the home of journalist and blogger Zhai Minglei, who was due the following day to answer an official summons linked to an investigation into the "illegal publication" of the magazine "Minjian" (Civil Society). Zhai posted on his blog, Yaobao, nominated for the international Best of the Blogs (BoB) awards, an account...

(RSF/IFEX) - Mahjoub Ourwa, the chairman of the independent Arabic-language daily "Al-Sudani", and Noureddine Medani, the newspaper's editor, were released on 29 November 2007 after spending 11 days in Omdurman prison, located north of Khartoum. The two journalists had been detained on 18 November for refusing to pay court-ordered fines of 10,000 Sudanese pounds (approx. 3,500 euros) each for...

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the way news media are being harassed to prevent them reporting the activities of the opposition parties taking part in this weekend’s parliamentary elections and by the way the public TV stations have systematically promoted Vladimir Putin’s candidacy. “Public opinion is being crudely manipulated,” the press freedom organisation said. “The international...

Nov. 26, 2007 · The U.S. military continues to refuse to release any evidence against an AP photojournalist, even as they plan to bring criminal charges against him. The military first took Bilal Hussein, a member of the AP’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning photo team, into custody in April of 2006 when Hussein provided shelter for several strangers after hearing an explosion on a nearby street in...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bilal Hussein’s career as a photojournalist nearly ended soon after it began. Hussein, who had been working for The Associated Press for about three months, volunteered to stay in his native Fallujah as U.S. forces prepared to assault the city to drive out Sunni religious extremists. It was a decision not taken lightly. Once known as the “city of mosques,” Fallujah had become the...