Uncategorised

There is in Venezuela, as people of all shades of opinion broadly agree, freedom of expression. You have only to open an opposition newspaper, or turn on the TV, to realise that criticising the government is not merely permitted but exercised in full. That, however, is where the consensus ends. From the government's perspective, the opposition media are abusing this freedom to spread lies in a bid...

French journalist was found dead on August 2 in the apartment he was renting in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, the Radio Liberty reported quoting the country’s Foreign Ministry statement. Spokesman Ilyas Omarov said the reporter, whom he identified as Gregoire Debourgues, was working for a media consultancy group and preparing a report on Kazakhstan for the U.S. “Foreign Affairs”...

New York, August 2, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the continued harassment of Nosir Zokirov, a former correspondent for the Uzbek service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who has already served six months in prison on a specious charge of insulting a security officer. President Islam Karimov’s regime has continued persecuting Zokirov and his family since the...

M ubarak Defends Freedom of Opinion and Expression! A Victory for Freedom of the Press! The Press Decides the First Round — and The Fight Will Continue! Mubarak Delivers on his Promise and Sides with Freedom of the Press and Democracy! So screamed most Egyptian newspapers — state-owned, independent and opposition alike — a day after the People’s Assembly passed amendments to the criminal code...

(EOHR/IFEX) - On 12 July 2006, the Egyptian Organization For Human Rights (EOHR) issued its report on freedom of the press, entitled " Journalism In Egypt: Caught Between Laws And the Government". This report was prepared as part of an EOHR campaign calling for the removal of all restrictions to freedom of expression and opinion. The report discuses EOHR's perspective on the draft law which the...

MANILA • Gunmen killed a tabloid newspaper photographer and two left-wing activists in three separate shootings in the Philippines, the national police said yesterday. Nearly 1,000 leftist activists, community organisers, lawyers and journalists have either gone missing or been murdered since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001 and her government has been criticised for failing...

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 18 July 2006, journalist José Ursílio, editor-in-chief of the "Diario de Marília" newspaper, was the intended target of an assassination attempt, by a contract killer who confused him with another newspaper employee. The attack took place at the entrance to the newspaper's headquarters, in Marília, São Paulo district. Contract killer Evandro Quina shot at Almir Adauto, a driver...

New York, July 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the provisional release of journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage, who had been jailed for nearly 11 months by a traditional court trying suspects in the 1994 genocide. Rugambage was freed on Friday on the orders of the national committee overseeing traditional or “gacaca” courts following an investigation into procedural abuses in...

NEW DELHI, Jul 30 (IPS) - Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, is known as an island paradise for those who want to get away from it all. But, not so well known is the fact that it is a hell for journalists and dissidents who dare criticise the 28-year-old regime of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Gayoom is currently under severe criticism from international media groups for denying his country's 300...

Pakistan does not investigate murders of its own journalists as vigorously as it does of foreign journalists. An international press freedom group last week urged Pakistan to investigate the deaths of seven Pakistani journalists as diligently as it did the killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. ABDUCTED AND MURDERED: Hayatullah Khan, a Pakistani journalist, is seen during his funural near