Follow-up

29 July 2010

Court throws out 'extremism' case against Russian editor

Russian editor Pyotr Lipatov has been exonerated of charges that he fomented extremism by publishing articles that created “negative stereotypes and negative images of members of the security forces,” among other faults. A court on Tuesday threw out the case against Lipatov saying that the the expert testimony that prosecutors had relied upon to prove that the articles were extremist was...

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29 July 2010

Tunisian journalist in desert prison could die from untreated asthma attacks

Tunisian journalist Fahem Boukadous has been in extremely poor health since police arrested him on July 15 to begin serving a four-year jail sentence for covering protests in the Gafsa mining region in the spring of 2008 for the international satellite TV station El Hiwar Ettounsi. Boukadous, who suffers from acute asthma attacks and was undergoing medical tests when police arrested him, is being...

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28 July 2010

US reverses decision on visa denial to Colombian journalist

The US State Department has reversed its decision to deny a visa to a leading Colombian journalist whose reporting has been highly critical of the country's US-allied president. Morris, his wife and their two children can now travel to Harvard for a yearlong Nieman Foundation fellowship for mid-career journalists. "Happy, happy! This was terrible," a relieved Hollman Morris, an independent TV...

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28 July 2010

IPI denounces threats against journalists in India

The International Press Institute is concerned by reports that the media is facing harassment in India’s conflict-ridden northern and north-eastern states. In Manipur, where Indian security forces are locked in conflict with several armed separatist groups, local media have declared an indefinite cessation of publication on Friday in response to threats against S Singlianmang Guite, a local...

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27 July 2010

Al Arabiya channel has lost 15 employees since Iraq war began

Monday's bombing of Al Arabiya's Baghdad office brought the death toll of the channel's employees to 15 since the start of the war in Iraq in 2003. Four people were killed and 15 were injured on Monday when a suicide bomber detonated a 120kg bomb in a van outside Al Arabiya's Baghdad office at 9.25am Baghdad time. According to the Iraq-based Journalism Freedom Observatory, a total of 249 media...

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27 July 2010

CBI files appeal in Dinakaran newspaper office attack case

The CBI has finally filed an appeal before the Madras High Court Bench against a lower court verdict acquitting 17 persons, including a DSP, in the 2007 Dinakaran newspaper office attack case, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has reported. Stating that the Centre had taken time in granting permission to go in for the appeal, the CBI also filed a petition requesting that the delay be condoned. If the...

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27 July 2010

Iranian reporter released from house arrest in Italy

Iranian reporter Hamid Massouminejad is no longer under house arrest in Milan. Mohammadali Hosseini, Iran's ambassador to Italy, told the Iranian Students News Agenc (ISNA) that the Milan prosecutor signed the order of release which was also approved by the court interrogator on Monday. Hosseini announced that this did not mean that the file has been closed by described it as a "positive step"...

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27 July 2010

Far-left group claims responsibility for murder of Greek journalist

A far-left extremist group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the murder of a Greek investigative journalist who was gunned down in front of his Athens home last week, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). The group calling itself Revolutionary Sect sent a message to the Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea, claiming responsibility for the shooting of 37-year-old Socratis Giolias. The group did...

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27 July 2010

Ivorian journalists acquitted on criminal charges, due to be released

An Abidjan criminal court has acquitted the editor, managing editor and publisher of the Nouveau Courrier d’Abidjan newspaper, who had been originally been charged with theft of an official document, publishing information about a judicial case that has not yet been tried and revealing a confidential document. The three journalists, editor Saint Claver Oula, publisher Stéphane Guédé and managing...

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27 July 2010

Al Qaeda claims responsibility for bombing Al Arabiya office in Baghdad

The Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has taken credit for Monday's bombing at the Al Arabiya office in Baghdad on a website it often uses to communicate, suggesting the attack was in response to a broadcast about the influence of the extremist group. The programme was called “Creation of Death.” “Wait for more,” the group’s statement said. The capabilities of the group, which is homegrown but is believed...

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