State Persecution

18 March 2011

Bangladesh editor released after nine months in prison on contempt charge

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has welcomed the March 17 release of Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of the opposition daily Amar Desh, on completion of an arbitrary jail sentence for contempt of court. Held for a total of nine months and 17 days, Rahman was greeted as he left prison by family members, opposition leaders and fellow journalists. The press freedom...

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18 March 2011

Regulatory authority closes down another radio station in Togo

Togolese authorities on March 16 closed down Radio Carré Jeunes, a community entertainment station, for an alleged "non-adherence to professional standards". The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent reported that the regulatory body, the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ART&P), which closed the station down, said it had given Radio Carré Jeunes until July 2011...

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17 March 2011
Foreign reporters still hounded, four New York Times journalists missing

Foreign reporters still hounded, four New York Times journalists missing

Four New York Times journalists – Beirut bureau chief Anthony Shadid, reporter and videographer Stephen Farrell and photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario – went missing on March 15 while reporting in the Libyan port city of Ajdabiya. In a report posted on its website Wednesday, the New York Times said it had received no news of the four since the previous day. It added that it was in...

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17 March 2011

Media observer arrested during Damascus sit-in

Mazen Darwich, the founder of the Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression, was arrested Wednesday while he attended a peaceful sit-in outside the interior ministry in Damascus as an observer. Around 30 of the demonstrators were also arrested, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “The Syrian government has been controlling news and information for years...

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17 March 2011
Hamas forces attack journalists covering Gaza protest calling for Palestinian unity

Hamas forces attack journalists covering Gaza protest calling for Palestinian unity

Hamas security forces attacked local journalists covering a peaceful demonstration calling for Palestinian national unity on Tuesday. At least one journalist was taken to the hospital after being beaten, according to CPJ research. New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the violence used against the press and calls on the authorities in Gaza to allow...

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17 March 2011
Mob damages press in Bahrain; Saudis oust reporter

Mob damages press in Bahrain; Saudis oust reporter

Armed assailants stormed the Manama printing facility of the Bahraini independent daily Al-Wasat early Tuesday morning, damaging the press and hindering production of the day's edition. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack, which came just as military contingents from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were enlisted to help contain political unrest in the kingdom. In...

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17 March 2011
Angola's ruling MPLA obstructing independent reporting

Angola's ruling MPLA obstructing independent reporting

Angola's ruling MPLA government must allow the press to freely cover public events, the Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Wednesday after a number of recent incidents in which authorities barred journalists from covering public events related to the country's opposition party. On Tuesday, police officers and clerks at Angola's National Assembly arbitrarily denied reporters access to a...

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17 March 2011
Iran: Human rights investigators needed to investigate crackdown on journalists

Iran: Human rights investigators needed to investigate crackdown on journalists

Iran has intensified its crackdown on media professionals. Agence France-Presse (AFP)’s bureau chief was expelled at the end of last week. In addition, accreditations for foreign media journalists have been revoked by the Iranian ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Abdolreza Tajik, who was awarded the RSF-FNAC press freedom prize in 2010, was given a six-year jail term for his work with the...

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16 March 2011

Turkey: Journalist faces complaint for interview with PKK leader

A trial has been opened against Radikal newspaper reporter Ertugrul Mavioglu following the filing of a complaint with the Istanbul Chief Prosecution, according to press freedom group BIANET. Mavioglu stands accused of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation" on the grounds of his interview with Murat Karayilan, leader of the armed outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), at the Qandil...

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15 March 2011

Heavy-handed raid by military police on Czech public TV station

A raid was conducted on the headquarters of the state TV station Česká Televize (ČT) on the evening of March 11 by around 10 armed and masked members of the military police, who searched the offices of investigative journalist Karel Rozanek and two colleagues for several hours and left with computers, notebooks, CD-ROMs, diaries and other personal items. “We are deeply shocked by both the purpose...

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