State Persecution

Soldiers in Conakry have been addressing journalists in a very threatening manner, with such comments as “If you go out the door, I’ll cut your tongue out,” “The next time things happen, we’ll know where to find you” and “We know you, we’ll make you pay.” Ten days after army Red Berets dispersed an opposition protest with a great deal of bloodshed in Conakry on September 28, Reporters Sans...

The government’s decision to prosecute the company that published the new cartoon magazine Gedung Kartun for not having a permit is a setback for press freedom in Malaysia, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has said. The decision was announced by Jamilah Taib, the head of the interior ministry’s communication unit. The company insists it did get a verbal go-ahead. “We urge the interior ministry to...

Iranian authorities decided to revoke the licences of three reformist newspapers on Sunday and Monday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The Press Supervisory Board revoked the licences of the Tehran-based dailies Farhang-e Aashti and Arman on Sunday, according to local and international news reports. On Monday, the same state agency’s offices in Fars province...

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the acquittal of all the writers, bloggers and pro-democracy activists who are about to be tried in various courts after unexplained delays, with a danger of long jail sentences being imposed. Vu Hung’s trial in Hanoi Wednesday and Pham Van Troi’s trial the day after are expected to be held without guarantees for defence rights. Six other activists...

Journalist Aylin Duruoglu has spent nearly six months in Istanbul’s Bakirköy prison on unfounded charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation. The Istanbul prosecutor’s office requested a 15-year jail sentence for Duruoglu when she appeared in court on October 1, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Duruoglu was accused of belonging to an armed group called the Revolutionary...

There has been a series of attempts to intimidate Jules Koum Koum, eeditor of Le Jeune Observateur, a Cameroonian weekly based in the southwestern city of Douala, according to Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF). “In recent weeks, this respected journalist has published several detailed and well-researched reports on corruption implicating a number of prominent people,” RSF said. “In so doing, he has...

Three Voice of America (VOA) reporters in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia were suspended Thursday, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Puntland’s Deputy Minister of Information Abdishakur Mire Adan issued a letter suspending all three VOA correspondents and any other VOA journalist from reporting in the region. The suspended VOA...

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) is extremely worried for the safety of Mouctar Bah, the Conakry correspondent of Agence France-Presse and Radio France Internationale, and Amadou Diallo, the BBC’s correspondent. After being threatened and roughed up by soldiers while covering the violent dispersal of an opposition demonstration two days ago in which hundreds died, they are now reportedly wanted by...

The Italian editor whose newspaper is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday likened the situation to attacks on the American press during the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon. “Like the American journalists, our journalists were doing their work and were publishing information that had to be published,” said...

A Moroccan independent daily has been closed down amid an escalating government campaign to silence critical journalists. On Tuesday, police prevented Taoufik Bouachrine, managing publisher and editor of the daily Akhbar al-Youm, and dozens of staff members from entering the offices of the Casablanca-based newspaper. The sudden move followed a statement from the Ministry of the Interior accusing...