State Persecution

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has backed new calls from Sudanese and Arab world journalists for the release of Sami al-Haj, a cameraman working for Al-Jazeera, who has been held for five years, tortured and accused of terrorism offences at the notorious Guantanamo detention centre in Cuba. He has never been charged or brought to trial. According to Reporters sans Frontières...

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the government of Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to drop sedition charges against critical The Daily Tribune publisher and two columnists. In its February 14 case against publisher Ninez Cacho-Olivares and columnists Ramon Señeres and Herman Tiu-Laurel, the government said their writing could “lead or stir up the people against lawful...

A Swiss military court has indicted three Swiss journalists working for the weekly SonntagsBlick for publishing a leaked document last year “dealing with supposed places of detention and interrogation methods used by the US foreign intelligence service (CIA).” The SonntagsBlick scoop came just three days after European human rights watchdog, Council of Europe, launched an investigation into a...

The UN war crimes tribunal on Wednesday sentenced a Croatian journalist to three months in prison after finding him guilty of contempt for revealing the the names and personal details of confidential witnesses who had testified in one of its cases. Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetic awaits the verdict of his case at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, February 7...

The rise of popularly-elected autocrats worldwide is presenting an alarming new model for government control of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned. These leaders stand for election and express rhetorical support for democratic institutions while using measures such as punitive tax audits, manipulation of government advertising, and sweeping content restrictions to...

The Associated Press has repeated its call for the US military to charge or release one of its freelance photographers whose been jailed in Iraq without charge since April last year. The news wire service said yesterday that Bilal Hussein is accused of being a “security threat” though it stressed no evidence has been produced to substantiate the claim since he was arrested 10 months ago. An...

The Associated Press has repeated its call for the US military to charge or release one of its freelance photographers whose been jailed in Iraq without charge since April last year. The news wire service said yesterday that Bilal Hussein is accused of being a “security threat” though it stressed no evidence has been produced to substantiate the claim since he was arrested 10 months ago. An...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Arab journalists’ groups have called for urgent action to protect journalists working in the Gaza area of Palestine where they say threats from political extremists and recent violence against media have created a “climate of intolerable intimidation.” Palestinian policemen stand in front of the damaged office of Al-Arabiya television in Gaza...

Suspended sentences of three years in prison and fines of 80,000 dirhams (7,200 euros) were handed down by a Casablanca court on 15 January 2007 on Driss Ksikes, editor of the Arabic-language weekly “Nichane”, and one of his journalists, Sanaa Elaji, for attacking Islam and traditional morals in a feature about Moroccan humour. The court also ordered “Nichane” to be closed for two months. “We are...

A joint delegation of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) said today it is alarmed about the lack of transparency in President Hugo Chávez Frias’ decision not to renew the broadcast concession of the privately owned television station RCTV. This week, as Chávez was inaugurated for his third term, the delegation examined the highly polarized press conditions...