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The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan warning that the move, which has been accompanied by the armed occupation of public television and closure of private media, would only make the situation in the troubled country worse. “The elimination of free expression and imposition of censorship will only increase levels of fear...

New York, November 4, 2007—The government of President Pervez Musharraf should withdraw the severe restrictions it has placed on Pakistan’s news media and allow independent television and radio stations to resume coverage of the country’s political crisis, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “President Musharraf’s drastic steps to silence news coverage make a mockery of his often...

November 4, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A Baghdad correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty missing for nearly two weeks was released by her captors. Jumana al-Obaidi, 29, works for RFE/RL's Arabic-language service, Radio Free Iraq. RFE/RL President Jeff Gedmin said, "All of us at RFE/RL are very relieved Jumana's ordeal is over." Gedmin added that "journalists like Jumana put their lives on the line...

Sydney, Australia (AHN) - Investigations are still underway over the death of a 29-year-old TV journalist in Sydney, Australia, who was found lifeless at around 4 p.m. Friday at a famous tourist spot - the Gap. The sudden death of Charmaine Dragun, news anchor of Channel 10, brought great shock to her family and colleagues, as they have known the victim as someone who was "full of life." Reports...

Reporters Without Borders today expressed deep concern after Pakistan’s president, General Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule and ordered a halt to broadcasts by privately-owned TV in all the country’s major cities. Mobile phone communications were also cut in some regions as the constitution was suspended and the country plunged into a deep political crisis. In Islamabad, police surrounded...

Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern today about the death threats that Joseph Guyler Delva, a news programme host on privately-owned Radio Mélodie FM, has been getting since 25 October. The head of a press freedom NGO called SOS Journalistes, Delva is also the director of an Independent Commission for Supporting Investigations into Murders of Journalists (CIAPEAJ), created on 10 August...

(PROBIDAD/IFEX) - Dagoberto Rodríguez, director of Radio Cadena Voces (RCV) radio station, fled the country with his family on 1 November 2007 after being informed by police that a death squad intended to kill him within 72 hours. PROBIDAD and Rodríguez believe that the alleged murder plot is related to his work, given that no one is aware of any other possible motive. Rodríguez, whose travel...

(BIANET/IFEX) - Necati Abay, publisher and spokesperson for the Platform of Solidarity with Imprisoned Journalists, wrote an article entitled "Another Journalist Has Been Murdered, the 'Good Kids' killed Hrant Dink" shortly after Dink's murder on 19 January 2007. Following the publication of the article, 20-year-old Mert Sahin threatened him with death. Sahin was then a student in Akyazi, in the...

(RSF/IFEX) - Germán David Almendárez Amador was arrested for the second time on 28 October 2007 on suspicion of fatally shooting journalist and comedian Carlos Salgado of Radio Cadena Voces on 18 October. Aged 29, Almendárez had been arrested two days earlier, but was released a few hours later for lack of evidence. A 9 mm pistol believed to be the murder weapon was found in one of Almendárez's...

(Mizzima/IFEX) - After about two weeks of slow Internet line recovery, users in Rangoon said on 1 November 2007 that access to the World Wide Web has been cut off once again. Internet users in Rangoon said the Internet lines, which have been accessible for 24 hours a day since mid-October, once again went off at about 8 a.m. (local time). Officials at Myanmar Teleport, one of only two Internet...