State Persecution

A two-year jail sentence was passed by a court passed Thursday on Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, at the end of an incomprehensible and arbitrary trial, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Dehah, who was not freed in December on completing a six-month sentence of a charge of violating public decency, was convicted this time on charges of violating public decency...

The Belarusian police are increasingly harassing and intimidating independent journalists by charging them with relatively minor offences, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. In the latest case, Ivan Shulha, a journalist who works for the privately-owned satellite television station Belsat TV and who is an active member of the independent Belarus Association of Journalists (BAJ), was...

Muhammad al-Maqaleh, editor of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party’s news website Aleshteraki, who was detained in September has finally appeared in government custody. He is being held without charges, local news outlets reported, and alleges that he has been tortured, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Al-Maqaleh was detained by unidentified men in Sana’a after writing an...

Umuseso, one of Rwanda’s leading independent weeklies, could be closed down as a result of case brought by the public prosecutor’s office accusing it of libel and invasion of privacy for reporting that a government minister was having an extra-marital affair with the mayor of Kigali, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). A neighbourhood court in Nyarugenge is due to issue its verdict on...

An Egyptian criminal court on Tuesday sentence a journalist to one year in prison and a fine of 60,000 Egyptian pounds (US$10,500) on criminal charges filed by another journalist who is also a member of parliament, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. According to local news reports, Yasser Barakat, editor-in-chief of the weekly Al-Mougaz was convicted of defamation in a suit...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on judges in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, to drop their defamation lawsuits against three popular independent weeklies for damage amounts that would bankrupt them. Claiming that Ozodagon, Farazh, and Asia-Plus published biased and defamatory articles about them in late January, judges Nur Nurov and Ulughbek Mamadshoyev of Tajikistan’s...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for Saudi-run satellite operator Arabsat to return to air the Iranian-owned Arabic-language satellite channel Al-Alam, which stopped broadcasting January 27 without prior notice. In a statement published on its website, Al-Alam said that “Arabsat, in continuation of its censorship policies and as a move to confront the news networks which...

An opinion column in Uganda’s leading independent newspaper suggesting parallels between President Yoweri Museveni and former Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos led to criminal libel charges against two journalists Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said quoting local media reports. A magistrate in the capital, Kampala, charged Angelo Izama, a senior reporter, and Henry Ochieng...

An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison on Friday in connection with a January 2008 column that criticised Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists. Federal High Court Judge Mohammed Omar sentenced Editor Ezedin Mohamed of the Muslim-oriented newspaper Al-Quds to one...

A Tunisian appeals court on Saturday upheld a six-month prison sentence against journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, one of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali’s toughest critics, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Ben Brik was charged in November 2009 with assault, property damage, and violating public morality in connection with a purported attack on a woman, according to CPJ...