Harassed

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned a 29 November 2007 search at the home of journalist and blogger Zhai Minglei, who was due the following day to answer an official summons linked to an investigation into the "illegal publication" of the magazine "Minjian" (Civil Society). Zhai posted on his blog, Yaobao, nominated for the international Best of the Blogs (BoB) awards, an account...

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the way news media are being harassed to prevent them reporting the activities of the opposition parties taking part in this weekend’s parliamentary elections and by the way the public TV stations have systematically promoted Vladimir Putin’s candidacy. “Public opinion is being crudely manipulated,” the press freedom organisation said. “The international...

All four journalists arrested recently have been released by the Senegal government in a bid to “defuse relations" between the press and the government, but the storm has far from blown over. All four were released Thursday. Besides the four arrested journalists, who were all held in detention, a fifth has been facing defamation charges after he published a book that accused employees of

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists deplores the intimidation of journalists in the Nandigram area of West Bengal state in India by armed vigilantes belonging to the principal constituent of the state's ruling coalition. According to information received by the IFJ, heavily armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have been engaged over the past many days in an...

Reporters Without Borders today urged the authorities to stop the prosecution of Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, a freelance journalist and former editor of the now closed weekly Al-Shoura, on a charge of “publishing information liable to undermine army morale” under article 126 of the criminal code, for which the maximum penalty is death. “Khaiwani is critical of the government headed by President Ali...

Two French photojournalists have been formally charged in the eastern Chadian city of Abéché with “kidnapping minors” and “fraud” along with members of Arche de Zoé (Zoé’s Ark), the French charity whose activities they were covering. The two journalists are Marc Garmirian of the Capa news agency and Jean-Daniel Guillou of the Synchro X agency. Another French journalist, Marie-Agnès

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the prolonged detention of journalist Ata Farahat, who was arrested on 30 July and is being held in Al-Jalama prison (14 km southeast of Haifa). The organisation has been told he could be prosecuted for “collaborating with an enemy nation” but this has never been confirmed by the Israeli authorities. “Three months have gone by since Farahat’s arrest and we...

The Somalian government’s systematic harassment of journalists, its closures of media outlets, and its failure to investigate the killing of eight journalists have deeply damaged independent reporting in Somalia. On October 19, two unknown gunmen shot at close range Bashir Nur Gedi, the acting manager of Shabelle Media radio, outside a cafe in Mogadishu. He was returning home in the Hamar Jadid

The global leadership of the International Federation of Journalists today protested over this week’s closure by the Russian fire authorities of the House of Journalists, a popular meeting place for reporters in central Moscow. The IFJ says the action is evidence of fresh intimidation of media and independent journalism by the Government of President Vladimir Putin in advance of Parliamentary...

A bewspaper in the southern Russian city of Saratov is facing closure following the campaign launched against it by the United Russia party for “insulting” President Vladimir Putin in a cartoon on its front page. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the regional court of Saratov to act judiciously and avoid being manipulated when it rules on October 2 on a bid by the pro-Putin United