State Persecution

South African journalists launched a campaign Sunday to fight what they say is an attempt to curtail media freedoms in a nation known for one of Africa's freest and most open constitutions, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. In a declaration published in all main Sunday newspapers, the South African National Editors Forum said media restrictions proposed by the ruling African National...

There has been a new wave of harassment and violence against journalists in the occupied Palestinian Territories as the political tension between Hamas and Fatah continues to take its toll on the media. In one of the latest cases, Ahmed Fayadh of the Aljazeeranet news website was beaten by police Thursday in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans...

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government, is pursuing a defamation complaint against an opposition weekly, Rozhnama. The complaint, filed under Saddam Hussein-era criminal statutes, seeks US$1 billion in damages and the closing of the newspaper, according New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "It...

If you’re a journalist trying to capture footage of political unrest in Thailand, be warned. Only a few have escaped unscathed from the hands of death while being among the fierce battles between security forces and protesters. Two journalists died and several others were injured during the country’s political unrest. New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has

The dramatic arrest of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika at the newspaper's Johannesburg offices has sparked outrage in South Africa. Wa Afrika was whisked away Tuesday by at least eight members of the police priority crimes unit the Hawks - without an arrest warrant - on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice, the newspaper reported on its website. Wa Afrika was driven off...

Fiji’s main daily newspaper, the Fiji Times, is up for sale following the military regime’s declaration of a media decree requiring all media outlets be owned 90 per cent by locals. The Times is wholly owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited. All Fiji media have been under martial law censorship for the last year but the Times has incurred the wrath of coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama, in part by...

The author of the Rolling Stone article that ended the military career of Gen Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, has been denied permission to join US troops fighting in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Defence Department spokesman Col David Lapan told reporters that freelance writer Michael Hastings was rebuffed when he asked to...

A one-year jail sentence and fine of 5 million CFA francs has been slapped by an Abidjan criminal court on Traoré Médandjé, a leading reporter for the daily L'Intelligent d'Abidjan, on charges of defaming and trying to blackmail a former health ministry official. The case was prompted by an article headlined “Vavoua's illegal boutique clinics,” published on September 4, 2009, in which Médjandé...

Timothy Kalyegira, a former Daily Monitor columnist and current publisher of an online newspaper, Tuesday became the first Ugandan to face sedition charges arising from the use of new media, the Daily Monitor has reported. Police on Monday summoned Kalyegira to appear for interrogation over reports that questioned whether it was really the Somali-based militants, the al-Shabaab, that bombed and...

Benin suspended Radio France Internationale (RFI) broadcasts for 14 hours on Tuesday and questioned one of its journalists after it aired reports on accusations against the president, witnesses said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The reports aired over the weekend as the tiny West African country celebrated 50 years of independence from France, with some 10 African heads of state...