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(FMM/IFEX) - The Free Media Movement (FMM) expresses its dismay that the Government of Sri Lanka put out a gazette prohibiting news reporting on proposed military operations in the country. It was issued under the emergency regulations and called "Prohibition on publication and transmission of sensitive military information". The gazette would have made it illegal to report material "which...

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about the continuing threats to Claudia Julieta Duque, a UNICEF consultant and correspondent of Radio Nizkor (a station operated by the human rights group Equipo Nizkor), and about government doubts as to whether she should continue to receive special protection. On 29 August, an interior ministry offshoot, the Committee for Risk Evaluation and...

New York, October 31, 2007—Haitian authorities must fully investigate multiple death threats made against prominent journalist and press freedom advocate Joseph Guyler Delva, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “We call on Haitian authorities to conduct a speedy and thorough investigation into the threats against Joseph Guyler Delva and to bring all those responsible to justice,” said...

(APG/IFEX) - Since 24 October 2007, journalists Enrique Castañeda and Hilda Mérida, of the morning newspaper "El Periódico", have been receiving death threats. They believe the threats are in response to an investigation they have been carrying out in recent weeks of members of the Patriot Party (Partido Patriota, PP) who have been publicly linked to organised crime in the country. The PP's...

(JED/IFEX) - Eleven journalists working for various media outlets in Kinshasa were briefly detained and beaten, on 30 October 2007, in Kinshasa/Kasa-Vubu, by the police while covering an "unauthorised" demonstration of the opposition. According to information obtained by Journaliste en danger (JED), this demonstration organised by two members of the Union for the Nation (UN, Union pour la Nation...

(Adil Soz/IFEX) - The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech "Adil Soz" expresses its deep concern over the recent mass repression against independent media in Kazakhstan. Websites http://www.zonakz.net, http://www.geo.kz, http://www.kompromat.kz and internet radio station http://www.inkar.info remain blocked since 23 October 2007. The website http://www.kub.kz was removed...

(RSF/IFEX) - Ibrahim Manzo Diallo, the editor of "Aïr Info", a privately-owned fortnightly paper, based in the northern city of Agadez, was charged on 29 October 2007 with "criminal association" and was placed in pre-trial detention in Agadez prison, where he is being held with common criminals. No date has been set for a trial as the case is still being investigated, his lawyer said. "Bringing...

(CESO-IFJ/IFEX) - "La Verdad" magazine director Pedro Antonio Cárdenas, whose daughter was the target of an attempted kidnapping on 24 October 2007, received another death threat on 29 October at 10:49 a.m (local time). A male voice told him to remember that both Cárdenas and his family were military targets. This is the fourth death threat that the journalist has received in October. In a...

(MFWA/IFEX) - On October 2007, Mady Conde, associate managing editor of "La Nouvelle", a bi-monthly independent Conakry-based newspaper, was banned from engaging in any journalistic activity for one month by the National Communication Council (CNC), a media regulatory authority. "La Nouvelle" was also suspended by the CNC for the same period of time. A Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)...

HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwean authorities are to consider an application by a popular daily newspaper to resume publication four years after it was banned, a government minister announced on Tuesday. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told a news conference that the government had decided to revive a regulator with responsibility for issuing licences to media houses and the body would immediately...