State Persecution

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers has released its final statement on the case of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. The statement emphasises that, as a member of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan has agreed to abide by the final judgment of the court. "The November 11 ruling by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court makes Fatullayev's release possible. However, he remains behind bars and...

Lanka E News journalist Shantha Wijesuriya and Sirasa TV airport correspondent Premalal were attacked on December 7 by a group of persons purported to be Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) employees. Wijesuriya suffered serious injuries and had to seek treatment at a hospital, according to press freedom group Free Media Movement (FMM). According to reports, the journalists were assaulted by...

Berivan Eker, former editor-in-chief of the Renge Heviya Jine women's magazine, was arrested on December 5, IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET) has reported. Her predecessors, Gurbet Cakar, Sultan Sonsuz, Ruken Aktas and Sibel Esmer are all either convicted or facing prison terms. Renge Heviya Jine (The Colour of Women's Hope) is the only women's magazine in Turkey published in both Kurdish and...

Belarusian authorities must stop harassing independent media outlets and journalists and allow them to cover the December 19 presidential elections without fear of reprisal, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. On Wednesday, the Minsk-based pro-opposition news website Charter 97 reported that authorities had opened their third criminal case this...

The Lebanese news website Al-Akhbar is being harassed after it published US diplomatic cables that were first disclosed by WikiLeaks. The website was hacked last week by unknown attackers, while the Tunisian government blocked domestic access to the site. Saudi officials blocked access to the independent website Elaph, which also published some of the cables. "We condemn efforts to restrict news...

There have been numerous cases of deliberate obstruction in Egypt of journalists trying to cover the second round of legislative elections on December 5, just as it had in the first round on November 28, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The landslide victory of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) was no longer in doubt after massive fraud during...

There have been a number of cases of police violence in Greece against journalists during the demonstrations of the past few weeks, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The level of violence employed by the police has been outrageous, it reported. Journalists said they were thrown to the ground and beaten, or were prevented from working by use of physical...

Libya Press news agency has decided to shut down its Tripoli office and leave Libya because security officials have said they "do not want any presence of the agency inside Libya," the agency said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday. Libya Press announced that it will resume work from several foreign capitals. The agency added that it informed its reporters that it "cannot offer...

New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the release of journalist Jean-Claude Kavumbagu after visiting him in prison in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura. CPJ made the call at a press conference marking the end of a four-day mission to Burundi. CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney and East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes on Thursday met Kavumbagu, editor of...

New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Saudi authorities to immediately release Mohamed al-Abdulkarim, an Islamic law professor, human rights activist, and the editor-in-chief of an online magazine. He was arrested on Sunday, two weeks after an article he wrote was published online. Al-Abdulkarim wrote critically about the Saudi Arabian royal family...