Reporters Without Borders today condemned harassment of the independent biweekly Novaya Gazeta, which announced on12 November that it has been forced to close its regional bureau in the southwestern city of Samara as result of the seizure of its sole remaining computer for alleged use of pirated software. The bureau produced a regional edition. “We deplore the insidious nature of the pressure...
An appeal court in Sanandaj, in Iran’s Kurdish northwest, yesterday reduced journalist Ako Kurdnasab’s sentence from three years to six months in prison after it overturned his conviction on a spying charge but upheld his conviction for “trying to overthrow the government by means of journalistic activities.” “We welcome the quashing of Kurdnasab’s espionage conviction but the fact remains that a...
November 14, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian officials have again imprisoned Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, the head of Iran's Democratic Front and the publisher of a now-banned weekly newspaper, "Payam-e Daneshjou-ye Basiji." Tabarzadi, 47, was originally accused by Tehran's Revolutionary Court on charges of forming Iran's Democratic Front, defaming Iran's supreme leader, distributing anti-establishment...
(IPYS/IFEX) - On 9 November 2007, Globovisión television station was accused of inciting the public to commit violence through their coverage of the violent acts against journalists and students during a 7 November march against the constitutional reform. The accusation was filed at the Public Prosecutor's Office by a member of Venezuela's United Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Unido de...
(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders welcomes the provisional release on 9 November 2007 of Felisberto da Grâça Campos, the editor of the weekly "Semanario Angolense", pending the outcome of his appeal against the eight-month sentence he received on 3 October on charges of defaming, insulting and denigrating a former minister. The judge who tried Grâça Campos originally ruled that he had to...
November 13, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Azerbaijan has imprisoned its third journalist in the past month, adding to its reputation as the leading jailer of journalists in Europe and Central Asia. Genimet Zahidov, an editor for the opposition daily "Azadliq" and vocal critic of President Ilham Aliyev's regime, was sentenced and sent to pretrial detention on November 11. He will spend two months in detention...
(SEAPA/IFEX) - Malaysian authorities have instructed the local media not to give coverage to a rally calling for free and fair elections, to be held on 10 November 2007 in the capital city Kuala Lumpur, reports the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), a SEAPA partner in Malaysia. [Editor's note: the rally took place on 10 November and was broken up by police.] The mainstream media - which are...
(BIANET/IFEX) - The Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV) has reacted to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments on the decision by the State Council's 13th Chamber to stop the ban on broadcasts relating to the 21 October 2007 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attack in Daglica, Hakkari, calling the prime minister's comments "lacking in legal judgement, deliberate and extremely unfortunate"...
(IRFS/IFEX) - On 11 November 2007, at the Yasamal District Court, presided by judge Tahir Ismayilov, a hearing on the pre-trial detention of "Azadlig" newspaper's chief editor Genimet Zahid was conducted. Zahid was brought to the court at about 8 p.m. (local time). At the end of the over one-hour long court process, which was closed to everyone except for Zahid's lawyers, Rashid Hajili and Osman...
(HRinfo/IFEX) - The Arabic Network for Human Rights information and Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law has sent a communiqué to the Egyptian Prosecutor-General, demanding that he investigate the torture of Karim Amer. Karim, an Egyptian blogger sentenced to prison for four years for "vilifying religions" and "defaming" the president, was tortured on the order and under the supervision of an...
