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22 June 2007

"Generos" journalist investigating political and police corruption in Sonora attacked, seeks asylum

(CENCOS/IFEX) - Amid the impunity currently the rule regarding attacks on journalists and media outlets, "Generos" newspaper journalist Claudio Tiznado has decided to ask for asylum in the United States, following an assault. "Generos" is a bimonthly newspaper based in Hermosillo, a city in the northern state of Sonora. Tiznado was assaulted at the end of April 2007. He believes the assault was...

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22 June 2007

"Hora Cero" staff erect barricades at newspaper's facilities for fear of incursion after new threat

(CENCOS/IFEX) - The staff of "Hora Cero" newspaper, a bi-weekly newspaper based in the city of Reynosa, in Tamaulipas state, northern Mexico, have built barricades at the newspaper's entrance, after receiving information that a group of people intend to mob the facility in response to the newspaper's publication of information on the misuse of public funds by Reynosa mayor Francisco Javier García...

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22 June 2007

Pakistan: Murdered journalist had received death threats over his reporting

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced revulsion at the murder of Noor Ahmed Solangi, a correspondent for the Sindhi-language newspaper "Khabroon" in Kingri, Sindh province. Ahmed Solangi, 34, died in a hail of nine bullets after he was ambushed by six people on motorbikes armed with Kalashnikovs, who shot him at point blank range as he was distributing newspapers on 17 June 2007. "We...

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21 June 2007

CJFE celebrates Quebec decision in favour of protection of sources

(CJFE/IFEX) - Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) commends the Quebec Labour Relations Board's decision to refuse to force Quebec journalist Karine Gagnon to reveal confidential sources in a hearing yesterday. Last November, Gagnon, of Le Journal de Québec, wrote a report about the potential health threat of asbestos in government buildings. Immediately after it was published, a source...

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21 June 2007

Turkey: Sociologist, magazine owner and editor face possible imprisonment over articlecc

(BIANET/IFEX) - Sociologist Ismail Besikci, known in Turkey for his enduring academic interest in the Kurds and for facing both an end to his academic career and imprisonment over his books, is on trial under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code. Besikci had written an article entitled "We did not talk, we had it printed", which was published in the monthly magazine, "Popüler Kürtür Esmer"...

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21 June 2007

ECHR condemns three rulings against journalists, accepts a fourth

(BIANET/IFEX) - On 14 June 2007, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decreed that freedom of expression was not curtailed in the case of Hünkar Demirel, the manager of the weekly newspaper "Yedinci Gündem", who appealed to the ECHR after he was convicted of "aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation by spreading propaganda". Demirel was put to trial over an article published in the...

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21 June 2007

Mali: Four newspaper editors join reporter and school teacher in jail over school essay making fun of imaginary president

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of a secondary school teacher and a total of five journalists who have been arrested over an article about a school essay on the comical indiscretions of an imaginary president. eThe teacher and an "Info-Matin" reporter were arrested on 14 June 2007. "Info-Matin's" editor and the editors of three other newspapers were arrested on 20...

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21 June 2007

Philippines: Journalist jailed in defamation case; libel laws "outdated

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has renewed its calls for the Philippines government to decriminalise libel, after another journalist was jailed for defamation in a lawsuit issued by a former congressman. According to IFJ affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Jofelle Tesorio, former correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and...

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21 June 2007

Liberia: Two journalists beaten by police and UN peacekeepers

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders condemns the use of violence by members of the national police and United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) against several journalists, including Daylue Goah of the privately-owned daily "New Democrat" and Evans Ballah of "Public Agenda", during a student demonstration on 19 June 2007. Goah was seriously injured. "Such police brutality against journalists...

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21 June 2007

Two CARICOM journalists expelled without justification

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders expressed surprise that the government of Antigua and Barbuda expelled the former editor of the daily "Antigua Sun", Vernon Khelawan, and a colleague of privately-owned Observer Radio, Lennox Linton, on 12 and 13 June 2007. Both men are citizens of countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), with agreements allowing free movement for...

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