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(SEAPA/IFEX) - On 4 August 2007, amid political tensions arising from the controversial formation of the new government, an unknown group of men attacked the office of a major newspaper, "Suara Timor Lorosa'e" (STL). STL managing director Francisco Belo Simoes Da Costa said most of the windows in the office have been destroyed. "It is really an attack against freedom of the press. People who don't...

Reporters Without Borders condemns the parliamentary human rights and media committee’s decision on 3 August to reject a request from the Belarus Association of Journalists (BAJ) that it should consider whether article 10 of the media law violates articles 33 and 34 of the constitution. Article 10 of the media law requires news media to register with the local authorities where their premises are...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Haiti has created an independent commission to speed up stalled investigations into the slayings of journalists in the impoverished nation. Eight journalists have been killed in the Caribbean country since 2000, and the notoriously weak and corrupt justice system has yet to convict anyone in the deaths. The nine-member body, made up of Haitian journalists, will review each...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the Pakistan government to release journalist Munir Mengal, who was just released from 16 months’ military detention only to be put back in jail under a 30-day custody order. According to reports Mengal, the head of the Baloch Voice TV station, was released by intelligence agencies on August 6 but was arrested soon after by police in...

The Malaysian government is still harassing bloggers and their families. Marine Lee, the wife of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, was questioned by police in a Kuala Lumpur police station yesterday about her husband’s Malaysia Today website, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who edits the independent website Malaysia Today, posted an article on July 11 that is

New York, August 9, 2007—A Senegalese government official accused of lying about his educational degree threatened reporters with violence this week, according to news reports and local journalists. Transport Minister Farba Senghor threatened over a newsroom speakerphone on Tuesday to “beat up” private daily Walf Grand-Place’s reporter Pape Sambaré Ndour, after calling the journalist a “bastard,”...

New York, August 9, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed deep skepticism about drug and weapons charges leveled against four reporters in northern Mexico covering a drug raid. The reporters were detained Tuesday by the Mexican army while they were covering a routine drug raid in the northern state of Coahuila. They have been charged with possession of a firearm and marijuana...

(HRinfo/IFEX) - On 9 August 2007, HRinfo called for the Syrian government to conduct a fair and honest investigation concerning the assault against Iraqi journalist Saif al-Khayat, who suffered serious violations at the hands of Syrian Political Security Forces before he was ordered to leave Syria in mid-June 2007. Al-Khayat had traveled to Syria to work as a member of the Japanese news agency...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned an attack by gunmen on Believers Broadcasting Network (BBN), a protestant-run radio station in Freetown, in the early hours of 4 August in which two radio presenters were shot and seriously injured. “Coming just a few days before general elections on 11 August, this armed attack should be taken seriously,” the press freedom organisation said. “We urge the...

A "spying" bill that would allow the Zimbabwean government to intercept mail, phone calls and emails without having to get court approval has been signed into law by President Robert Mugabe. Under the "Interception of Communications" law, service providers will be forced to install "enabling equipment" on behalf of the government, which would allow senior intelligence, police and revenue officials...