Harassed

Four female journalists were in a state of shock on Monday after reportedly being attacked, forced to strip and marched through a Sierra Leonean town by a pro-female genital mutilation (FGM) group, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. Witnesses said the four were accused of reporting on an anti-FGM campaign last Friday, which marked the international day of zero tolerance to female...

On two occasions, police officers in Tijuana, Baja California, northwestern Mexico, have raided the offices of the local weekly Balún Canán without a search warrant and have threatened and assaulted reporters, ARTICLE 19 and the Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social (CENCOS) have reported. In an interview, Juan Alfonso Ojeda, the editor and founder of Balún Canán, told CENCOS and ARTICLE 19 that...

Noor Hassan, a reporter for the Royal News television channel, was abducted on February 8 in Swat, the epicentre of fundamentalist militant insurgency in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). He was released the next morning in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has reported. Hassan told PPF that he, along with Royal TV reporter Mohammed Ilyas...

Two publications which recently came into the Swazi media scene have been threatened with closure for failure to register with government, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has eported. By law, all publications in Swaziland, including newspapers and magazines, are required to register with the government. Registration is accompanied by a bond of US$100. One of the publications, CAP...

The process to award four community radio licences, approved by the Swazi government in October 2008, has plunged into controversy and uncertainty, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). This follows a statement issued on February 5 by the Swaziland Radio Regulator stating that the four applicants short-listed for the licences have been disqualified as opposed to having their...

ARTICLE 19 has written to Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain, asking him to ensure that women's rights activist Ghada Jamsheer is protected from harassment and guaranteed her right to free expression. Jamsheer is leader of the Women's Petition Committee, which works to protect women and advocate for improved women's rights in the country's sharia courts. She has been repeatedly...

Journalists in at least three Iraqi cities were harassed on Wednesday as police, soldiers, prisoners, some government employees, and displaced persons kicked off the early voting phase of Iraq's provincial councils elections, according to local and international news reports and journalists who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In the southern city of Basra, 15 Iraqi reporters...

The editor of an independent newspaper in the West African nation of Niger was jailed Monday in connection with an investigative story alleging corruption in the finance ministry, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists. Boussada Ben Ali, managing editor of the weekly L'Action, was jailed at Niamey's main prison after a public prosecutor...

Francisco Farinango, a journalist on indigenous community radio, Inti Pacha, who was arrested during protests against a new mining law in the Pichincha region, northern Ecuador on January 20, was released the next day but still faces charges of “rebellion” along with two other community members arrested with him. “Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) welcomes the release of the journalist but once...

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed concern at the recent eviction of the Albanian newspaper TemA from its premises by Minister of Economical Affairs Genc Ruli. According to SEEMO, the Minister of Economical Affairs cancelled unilaterally and without any further notice the newspaper's 20-year-old contract for the premises. An unexpected police siege followed and the...