Rome, 20 March (AKI) - A hundred years of censorship imposed by monarchies or dictatorships and threats of jail or even death against dissenting journalists, have meant that one the worst enemies of freedom of information in Iran is self-censorship, argues Iranian-Italian journalist Ahmed Rafat in a new book published in Italy this week. "The last spring - the battle for freedom of information in...
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lankan police last Monday questioned Lasanthe Wickrematunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, for two hours over spurious allegations that his weekly newspaper was "jeopardising the security of the country." The police investigation follows the publication on March 5 of an article entitled "The Tiger report on paramilitaries", which was based on a...
Iran's most prominent jailed dissident, Akbar Ganji, has been released. Ganji, a journalist, was jailed in July 2001. Ganji, whose jail term ended late Friday night, has been allowed home for the Iranian New Year holiday which starts Monday night. WITH OPEN ARMS: Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji being greeted at his residence after being released from Tehran's Evin prison. Ganji was arrested in
With just a day to go for the March 19 presidential election in Belarus, there are growing international concerns about the institutionalised harassment of the news media by present incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko. Lukashenko is seeking a third term in a vote that the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said "fell significantly short" of democratic standards. LOOMING LARGE
Nationalists opposed to Turkey's engagement with Europe have sought out sympathetic public prosecutors across the country to file criminal complaints against journalists, writers, and academics who favour European Union (EU) membership, a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found. DEEMED INSOLENT: Turkish journalist Haluk Sahin, left, arrives to a courthouse for a trial in
Nearly four months after Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government launched a crackdown on Ethiopia's press following post-electoral street protests, there has been an alarming deterioration in press freedom conditions. Self-censorship is rife, critical newspapers are shrinking in number and 14 journalists face charges that could bring the death penalty, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
A Thai criminal court has acquitted a press freedom activist who was sued for defamation by a telecommunications company that, until recently, was owned by the family of the Thai prime minister. VINDICATED: Thai media activist Supinya Klangnarong celebrates at the criminal court in Bangkok, Wednesday March 15, 2006. A Thai court cleared Supinya of criminal libel of the business empire founded by
The Uzbekistan government is tightening controls over local and foreign journalists working for foreign state-funded media. The cabinet approved regulations February 24 giving the Foreign Ministry wide discretion to issue formal warnings to foreign correspondents, revoke their accreditation and visas, and expel them. HEARTLESS ATTACK: Andijan residents carry back home their dead. According to the
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned of a dangerous escalation in the Yemen government's crackdown on the country's independent and opposition press–one that has grown bolder in exposing high-level corruption and tackling sensitive political issues. PULLED UP FOR BLASPHEMY: Mohammad al-Assadi (extreme right), editor-in-chief of the English daily Yemen Observer, stands in a
Despite pronouncements that the situation in the Philippines has "normalised" enough to warrant a lifting of a "state of emergency" declared by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last month, media harassment "arrogantly continues" in the country, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has alleged. A RESOUNDING 'NO': Filipino journalists clench their fists in protest over Philippine President
