One of Brazil's highest federal courts has ruled that a former mayor in the northeastern state of Ceará should be tried before an ordinary court for the 2003 murder of Nicanor Linhares Batista, the owner of Radio Vale do Jaguaribe, a radio station based in the town. The Superior Tribunal of Justice (STJ) passed the order against Maria Arivan de Holanda Lucena, the former mayor of Limoeiro do Norte...
Ohn Kyaing, a former Burmese journalist and member of the opposition National League for Democracy, who was arrested from his home on October 1 and held in Rangoon's Insein prison, has been released, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. NLD spokesman Nyan Win said Ohn Kyaing was in good shape and had returned to his home. "I am very happy that Ohn...
If state impunity itself over the scores of unsolved murder cases of journalists in Russia was not enough, press freedom groups now have to even prove that the killings were indeed murders. The death of Magomed Yevloyev, who succumbed to injuries in hospital after being shot on the temple while in police custody on August 31, had evoked criticism against the government and the police from
The killer of journalist Carlos Cardoso has been re-arrested, 36 hours after he made his third escape from Maputo’s high security prison, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Anibal Antonio dos Santos Junior, “Anibalzinho” is serving a 30-year-sentence for the November 2000 murder of the investigative journalist, who was the editor of the daily Metical. Police arrested the fugitive Monday...
Kurdish physician and freelance journalist Adel Hussein has been released from prison in Erbil (330 km north of Baghdad) under a pardon granted by the president of the Iraqi region of Kurdistan at the start of every religious festival, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Hussein had been in prison since November 24, when he was found guilty of offending public decency under article 403...
Journalists in Manipur have been assured of a high-level probe into the killing of a fellow scribe. The state government had lately decided to ask for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe to identify the killers of Konsam Rishikanta. A trainee sub-editor of the Imphal Free Press, an English daily, Rishikanta, was shot dead by miscreants in state capital, Imphal on November 17. The cabinet...
The man behind the 2000 murder of a prominent Mozambican investigative journalist escaped for the third time from custody on Sunday with the help of his prison guards, Reuters has reported quoting Interior Minister Jose Pacheco. Anibal dos Santos was serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in the gangland shooting of Carlos Cardoso, who was slain while probing a $14 million...
Citing the examination of “classified” material evidence, the presiding judge in the Anna Politkovskaya murder case trial again barred on Thursday the press and public from the hearing. The trial was re-opened for both on Friday. A witness testifying in the trial said on Friday that a bounty of $2 million was paid to carry out the killing. Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, who had previously served 12 years in...
Hamas security forces have freed three Palestinian journalists who they had arrested last month and accused of fabricating news critical of the Islamist group, agency Reuters has reported. The journalists, freed on December 3, worked in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the Palestine Press, a local news agency with ties to the group's main rival, President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. The...
Israel has lifted a four-week ban on international journalists entering Gaza and temporarily eased a blockade on shipments of goods to the coastal strip, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The announcement follows weeks of pressure from foreign governments and the leaders of major news organisations urging Israel to reopen Gaza to the media. Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said on...
