State Persecution

When Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf moved to contain the judicial crisis engulfing his regime, the country's mainstream media were among the first casualties. But no threat was directed at Pakistan's radical jihadi press, which has been just as critical of the president's decision to suspend Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry three weeks ago. Critics say the discrepancy underscores how...

The US blogger whose record 226 days in federal prison stirred debate about who qualified as a journalist and what legal protections journalists should receive, was freed Tuesday after releasing video footage sought by prosecutors about an anarchist protest. Freelance videographer Joshua Wolf speaks to the members of the media after being released from the Federal Correctional Institution in...

Thai media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul has been sentenced to two years in prison for slandering a government official during a live television broadcast on in November 2005. A Bangkok criminal court on Thursday last sentenced Sondhi in relation to comments he made on November 25, 2005 on his popular Muang Thai Rai Supda television talk show which accused former Deputy Transport Minister Phumtham...

Reporters Without Borders called today for the immediate release of freelance business journalist Ali Farahbakhsh, who was convicted of spying in a parody of a trial on 26 March and was sentenced to three years in prison and an exorbitant fine. “The same day that the UN Human Rights Council decided not to examine the situation in Iran, a journalist was the victim of the Islamic Republic’s...

The Dawn Group of Newspapers, Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper and magazine publishing house, is facing serious economic pressures as well as legal harassment by the government of Pakistan for it coverage of events and policies related to militancy and security in the country. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (C) salutes during the Pakistan National Day parade in Islamabad March...

A beleaguered Robert Mugabe has now threatened foreign correspondents with unspecified government reprisal in capital Harare over alleged biased reporting. Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe at his birthday celebrations in Mkoba, Gweru, central Zimbabwe, February 2007. Mugabe has denounced opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as a stooge of the West in the face of mounting international...

Yahoo Inc. did not violate Hong Kong’s privacy laws when it provided prosecutors with information about a Chinese reporter accused of leaking state secrets, authorities said Wednesday. Shi Tao, a former journalist for the Dangdai Shangbao or Contemporary Business Newspaper in the central province of Hunan, was sentenced last year to 10 years on charges of leaking state secrets. Shi was alleged to...

The Turkish military has been classifying journalists by their perceived attitude toward the military and using that classification to grant or deny press accreditations. Leaked reports published in the Turkish press last week show that the news media is classified according to support for government policies and that the procedures for issuing press accreditation are used to undermine critical...

Iran has lifted a ban on a leading reformist daily but closed down two weeklies. The Iranian government Sunday lifted the ban on Shargh which had been shut down last September by Iran’s press watchdog. An Iranian woman looks at Shargh newspaper, before the popular daily was shut down last September. Iran’s hardline judiciary has closed down over 100 reformist and moderate publications and websites...

Two journalists were bruised by Israeli stun grenades at an Israeli military checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah Thursday. Rami al-Faqih, a correspondent for the local Al-Quds Educational Television, and Iyad Hamad, a cameraman for the Associated Press, were each hit as Israeli border police fired at journalists covering a peaceful protest marking International Women’s...