Attacked

A British photojournalist was severely injured after stepping on a makeshift bomb in southern Afghanistan. Giles Duley, a freelance photographer associated with the Camera Press Agency in London, was on a foot patrol with Afghan and American soldiers on February 7 near the village of Sangsar, in rural Kandahar Province, when he stepped on a pressure-plate that detonated a hidden explosive charge...

Miscreants on Friday allegedly assaulted a journalist of a daily in Pipili, nearly 20 km from Bhubaneswar, apparently because he was critical in his news item against the local notified area council (NAC) authorities, the Times of India reported. [ Link] The scribe, Rajat Ratan Das (39), was admitted to Capital hospital here with a fractured hand. Police arrested one person in connection with the...

As journalists face ongoing attacks and detentions in Cairo, they are increasingly concerned that state broadcasts are creating an atmosphere that is encouraging violence against the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. State television and radio, along with pro-Mubarak private stations, are giving frequent airtime to presenters and guests who claim that foreigners, including...

Dominican police wounded journalist Francisco Frías Morel on Friday as he was covering a funeral procession for a youth killed in a police shooting in the northeastern city of Nagua, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on local authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and to hold those responsible to account. "We condemn the use of...

A night-time attack was carried out by eight gunmen on Radio Paiman in the northeastern city of Baghlan on Monday. The assailants beat and gagged the guard and then destroyed all the equipment, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). No journalist was injured. “Attacks on journalists have increased since the start of the year, which makes their work...

There have been shocking attacks on BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, Al-Arabiya and ABC News journalists by Hosni Mubarak supporters who were reportedly accompanied by plainclothes police. The attacks took place during clashes in central Cairo’s Tahrir Square between supporters of the president and demonstrators calling for his resignation. “The use of violence against media personnel is especially shocking...

Belgian journalist Serge Dumont was arrested Wednesday in Cairo, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The Middle East correspondent of three newspapers – Belgium’s Le Soir, Switzerland’s Le Temps and France’s La Voix du Nord – was arrested and beaten by men in plainclothes at midday while in the central neighbourhood of Choubra. He was then taken to a...

Egyptian authorities have taken unprecedented measures to block media coverage of widespread protests against the government, which are on their fourth day. Cairo's news blackout has been widely condemned and authorities have been urged to immediately restore Internet and mobile phone services, end the targeting of the press, and allow media to conduct their work freely. Since Tuesday, Egypt has...

The home of Orley Antunes, owner and director of Morretes Notícia, a local daily published in the southern state of Paraná, was targeted in a bomb attack on the night of January 17, Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI) has reported. According to Antunes, the front door was opened and the bomb was launched towards the stairs that lead to the second floor. Antunes, who is 60...

Drug traffickers fired shots at a TV Globo helicopter in Rio de Janeiro on January 24, according to Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS). The TV crew was covering a police operation taking place in the favelas (shantytowns) in the Sao Carlos region of Rio de Janeiro, when it came under attack. During the operation, one drug trafficker was killed and three others were injured. The attack forced the...