State Persecution

A government accusation that an Ecuadoran journalist "committed terrorism" is being described as retaliation for his harsh criticism of local authorities. On July 19, an unidentified individual tossed a tear gas canister to disperse a crowd during a visit of President Rafael Correa in the northern town of La Concordia, the Guayaquil-based newspaper El Universo reported. Gas reached the stage where...

A six-month jail sentence has been imposed by a Dakar court on Abdourahmane Diallo, the editor of the Express News daily, for defaming President Abdoulaye Wade's chief of staff, Pape Samba Mboup. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Diallo, who was tried in absentia, but he has not yet been detained. The Dakar criminal court that had tried Diallo in absentia finally issued its verdict on...

Policemen fired at the Baghdad home of the head of the Iraqi Press Agency, Haydar Hassoun Al-Fizaa, on August 27, injuring his wife and other relatives, before searching the premises and damaging furniture, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The attack on Al-Fazaa's home in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Shaab was carried by police officers...

Two-year jail sentences have been imposed on Sonam Rinchen and Sonam Dhondup, two students who helped to edit the Tibetan student magazine Namchak. Two other editors of the magazine, who were arrested at the same time as them in March, are still awaiting trial, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Their conviction has coincided with other cases of...

Latvian authorities are pursuing a criminal investigation into netizen Ilmārs Poikāns and journalist Ilze Nagla of the state TV station LTV1 for exposing a serious security flaw in the national tax office’s data storage system, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Using the pseudonym of Neo and portraying himself a member of a fictitious hacker group called...

Yemeni authorities have illegally detained journalists Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae and Kamal Sharaf for the past week. They were arrested in Sanaa on August 16 and 17 at a time when government forces are stepping up a military offensive in the south of the country against militants linked with Al-Qaeda. “The fight against terrorism does not justify the force disappearance of journalists,” Reporters...

The Turkish interior ministry has deported US journalist Jake Hess and ban him from re-entering the country. Arrested by anti-terrorist police in the mainly Kurdish southeastern province of Diyarbakir on August 11, Hess was deported on August 20 after being held for nine days. In its release in response to Hess' arrest, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) had demanded...

Venezuelan authorities Friday hastily quashed a ban on newspapers printing violent images after a firestorm of criticism from media outlets, rights groups and UN officials who branded it censorship, according to news reports. The announcement, made overnight to the state news agency AVN by the legal director of the public defender's office, Larry Davoe, reversed a court order this week imposing a...

The Bangladesh supreme court has imposed a six-month jail sentence on Mahmudur Rahman, the acting editor of the opposition daily Amar Desh, and a one-month jail sentence on Oliullah Noman, one of his reporters, for contempt of court, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim, the supreme court panel on Thursday found...

Iranian authorities have imposed a six-year prison sentence against journalist Badressadat Mofidi, according to New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Mofidi was formerly the secretary-general of the Association of Iranian Journalists in Tehran, an organisation that was established by prominent journalists in 1997 and shut down by the authorities in 2009. On...