State Persecution

An Azeri court sentenced a journalist on Tuesday to 8-1/2 years in prison on terrorism charges and for inciting racial hatred, quadrupling his present jail sentence. A lengthy prison sentence handed down Tuesday by an Azerbaijani court to independent editor Eynulla Fatullayev. Fatullayev is already serving a two-and-a-half-year prison term for allegedly defaming Azerbaijanis in an Internet posting

He was an uncompromising journalist, he demanded press freedom in an east African country, and he was imprisoned for six years without any trial. Till today, Dawit Isaak awaits his fate in one of the 314 prison centres scattered throughout Eritrea. An Eritrean with Swedish citizenship, Isaak was arrested in September 2001 in Asmara along with 10 other journalists, including newspaper owners and

HARARE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe named a new board on Tuesday to consider an application to reopen the country's largest private newspaper, four years after it was banned. The government said it was replacing a commission which had rejected a licence application for Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe's (ANZ) Daily News and Daily News on Sunday, which have been critical of President Robert Mugabe...

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the prolonged detention of journalist Ata Farahat, who was arrested on 30 July and is being held in Al-Jalama prison (14 km southeast of Haifa). The organisation has been told he could be prosecuted for “collaborating with an enemy nation” but this has never been confirmed by the Israeli authorities. “Three months have gone by since Farahat’s arrest and we...

The global leadership of the International Federation of Journalists today protested over this week’s closure by the Russian fire authorities of the House of Journalists, a popular meeting place for reporters in central Moscow. The IFJ says the action is evidence of fresh intimidation of media and independent journalism by the Government of President Vladimir Putin in advance of Parliamentary...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is outraged at the continued detention of six journalists in Burma and is concerned for the safety of a photographer who has been missing since early October. IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said she is very concerned that journalists have been targeted in the latest crackdown on anti-government protests in Burma. Despite the UN General...

Press freedom in Tunisia is going thorough one of its worst phases. There have been blatant attempt to silence subversive voices through censorship and intimidation. Judicial courts are appallingly used to infringe on the fundamental human right to freedom of expression, enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Tunisia has both signed and

Egypt continues to imprison journalists and editors who publish stories critical of President Hosni Mubarak and other high officials. Activist advocating minority rights in the country are also detained and fined. Basic right of freedom of religion and fundamental right of free expression are being explicitly violated. Members and partners of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX)

Physical attacks against journalists have been the most common form of press freedom violations in Palestinian areas, according to a recent report. On many occasions, reporters and cameramen have been exposed to teargas and arrested. A report on press freedom in the Palestinian territories between January 1 and September 30 this year by the Palestine Partners Centre for Media Development has found

Singapore's control mechanism over foreign media has once again come to light wth the recent incident involving Financial Times. The newspaper had to pay damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father Lee Kuan Yewas for defamation, and was also compelled to apologise from the Lee family. According to the prosecution, the article seemed to suggest that Lee Jr might have got his job due to