Harassed

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has reminded leaders from democratic countries attending the 15 and 16 December 2006 ceremonies marking the start of another five-year term for Gambian President Yahya Jammeh in Banjul that 16 December will be the second anniversary of journalist Deyda Hydara's still unpunished murder. The organisation said it particularly warned Taiwanese Prime Minister Su...

Reporters Without Borders has urged the Indian authorities, particularly Home minister Shivraj Patil, to provide clear and objective information about the detention of Abdul Rouf, a journalist on the Srinagar News, and his wife Zeenat Rouf. "The rule of law should be guaranteed in Kashmir as elsewhere in India. It is unacceptable that the security forces arrest, detain and charge journalists in...

A Sudanese journalist specialising in the war-torn Darfur region has been held incommunicado for five days without charge, journalists said on Wednesday. Abu Obeida Aballah covered the Darfur peace talks in Nigeria, forging contacts with many rebels there. Since a May peace deal, signed by only one of three negotiating rebel groups, violence has escalated with a dozen aid workers killed and tens...

AHMEDABAD: The editor of a Gujarati eveninger published from Surat was arrested on charges of defamation and using abusive language in his editorial. "The editor was arrested on Tuesday under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including 124 (a) for attempting to create hatred and contempt for the government, established by law," Surat Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha said. Samna editor...

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the detention today of Hangzhou journalist Zan Aizong. Authorities placed Zan under a seven-day administrative detention this evening after warning him to stop writing about arrests and injuries involving Christians protesting the July 29 demolition of a church, according to the Independent Chinese PEN Center. “The government has launched a...

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the release, on health grounds, of cyber-dissident and human rights activist Guo Qizhen, who was arrested at his home on 12 May 2006 and whose health, according to his lawyer, is worrying. The press freedom organisation also condemns the harassment of two other cyber-dissidents, Liu Shui and Xiong Zhongjun, who were forced by the police to leave the city...

Srinagar, May 13: Despite assurances by defence spokesman, Greater Kashmir’s Kupwara reporter was once again harassed by Army authorities for reporting from the spot the molestation of a woman and subsequent demonstrations and firing by Rashtriya Rifles soldiers of 30 RR in Aishpora, Handwara on Friday. The testimonies of the protesters reported were narrated by the people to Superintendent of...

Reporters Without Borders expressed dismay at the closure of Radio Raghav FM Mansoorpur 1 under the Indian Telegraphs Act after the station, which its founder said he launched for less than a dollar, garnered international plaudits. The radio, in Mansoorpur in Bihar state in the north-east, was set up without a licence by 22-year-old Raghav Mahto, an electronic equipment repairman. It broadcast...

Jammu: The Rajouri Police has arrested a local journalist and booked him under section 153 RPC for provoking the public. According to the sources, a person approached Shafiq Mir, reporter of Indian Express and chief editor of Kashmir Watch (Weekly) to publish some objectionable advertisement in his weekly. When Shafiq refused to publish the said advertisement the person approached another local...

Naxalite activities are making the Chhattisgarh government see red everywhere. Pushed on the backfoot over increased Maoist violence in the state, the government has decided one of the ways to control ultra-Left insurgency is by training its guns on the press. MINE ISN'T A RED HAND: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh after storming to power last year. Singh said in the state Assembly Friday,...