Attacked

Algerian authorities have been urged to ensure an effective investigation into a murder attempt against Hafnaoui Ghoul, a journalist on the daily Al-Wassat and a human rights activist, at his home in Djelfa (250km south of Algiers) overnight on January 6-7. A group of hooded assailants armed with a knife were lying in wait for him, gagged him and ripped his clothes. They fled without being...

Police in the southern Tajik city of Kulob have detained two people for attacking Abdumumin Sherkhonov, the editor in chief of the newspaper "Pazhvok" and an RFE/RL freelancer. Both suspects have confessed to their participation in the attack. A third man sought for involvement in the crime has not yet been arrested. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported: [ Link] Sherkhonov says he was...

Masked gunmen in the Mexican city of Monterrey opened fire and tossed a grenade at the Televisa network's studio as it aired a nightly newscast. The assailants left behind a message warning the station about its coverage of drug gangs. During a live broadcast at 8:35 p.m. on Tuesday night, at least five masked gunmen riding in two pickup trucks fired high-caliber weapons and tossed a grenade...

International press freedom groups have urged the Israeli military to put an end to targetting Palestinian media in the Gaza Strip and allow international journalists to enter the region to cover the conflict. On Monday, the eighth day of its military campaign, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired two missiles into the offices of the Hamas-affiliated Al-Risala newsweekly, according to multiple...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over a murder attempt on Filipino radio journalist Cherie “Katribung Che” Indelible on January 2 in Kalibo, in Aklan province (in the northwest of the Visayas region). Indelible works for local state-owned radio dyYM (Community Broadcasting Information System) as news director and programme host. “With five journalists murdered, 2008 was one of...

Threats and physical attacks against Pakistani journalists in the northwestern Tribal Area of Bajaur, where fighting is continuing between the Taliban and security forces, remains as unabated. The issuing of a fatwa against two journalists and the firing of a rocket-propelled grenade at a press club are just a few recent incidents. "The Tribal Areas are being steadily emptied of their journalists

Press freedom groups have condemned the bombing of Basque public broadcaster EiTB by Basque armed separatist group ETA in the northern city of Bilbao on December 31 last. A large explosive charge left in a truck parked outside the EiTB building went off at 11:05 a.m., shattering windows but causing no injuries. An anonymous caller identifying himself as an ETA member warned the authorities in...

US troops shot and critically wounded a newly-wed Iraqi female television producer on New Year's Day after she failed to heed warnings from soldiers in Baghdad, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting the military and her station. A US military statement said that Iraqi police and US soldiers had observed Hadil Emad, who had had failed to listen to warnings, behaving "erratically" before...

Russian authorities should promptly investigate the attack on Zhanna Akbasheva, a correspondent for the Regnum news agency in the republic of Karachai-Cherkessia, in Russia's North Caucasus, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Akbasheva told CPJ that two men attacked her at around 5 p.m. on December 22 when she was walking toward the office of a state-funded Cherkess-language...

Kazakh authorities must launch a thorough investigation into the stabbing of Artyom Miusov, a reporter with the opposition weekly Taszhargan, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Miusov suffered serious internal injuries on December 30 last after an assailant approached him outside an Almaty supermarket, asked his name, and then stabbed him three times in the abdomen...