Harassed

Influential radio and TV anchor Carmen Aristegui was suddenly fired by the MVS media group on February 6, two days after referring in her weekday news programme on radio MVS and cable channel Canal 52 to claims by opposition legislators that President Felipe Calderón has an alcohol problem, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “The speed with which she was...

Ecuadoran authorities interrupted a news program critical of the Ecuadoran government on Monday to air an official rebuttal, a practice that has become standard in the administration of President Rafael Correa, according to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ called on Ecuadoran authorities to stop this practice, which has a chilling effect on public discourse. Last week during...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its European group, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have called for the immediate release of Belgian journalist Maurice Sarfatti, also known as Serge Dumont, who was arrested in Cairo by security forces and is being held at an unidentified military facility. Sarfatti, a reporter for a number of European newspapers, including the...

Two journalists employed by Télévision Notre Patrie (TVNP) – a pirate TV station based in the northern city of Bouaké that supports the former rebel New Force – were arrested on their arrival in Abidjan on January 28, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The two journalists – Sanogo Aboubakar, aka Abou Sanogo, and Kangbé Yayoro Charles Lopez, aka Gnahoré...

The press freedom scene is worsening in Sudan, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The country is already hostile to the work of journalists and seizures of journals and arrests of media professionals yesterday in connection with popular demonstrations raise fears of a major return of repression. “We condemn the wish of the Khartoum government to censor...

A pro-Gbagbo Notre Voie newspaper correspondent in Korhogo, a town located about 600km north of Abidjan, fled the town after persistent threats against his life by New Forces, an armed group in Côte d'Ivoire supporting Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized president of the country. The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent in Côte d'Ivoire reported that Silué Kanigui...

The Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH) announced that in the coming weeks it will present a report to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) about press freedom violations in the country, AFP reports. In recent months, two newspapers have alleged persecution at the hands of President Daniel Ortega, while an opposition TV network went off the the air several days ago. From the...

The Mae Sot Immigration office in Thailand freed John San Lin, a Burmese freelance journalist, and his colleague Pascal Schatterman, a Belgian national, on the evening of January 24, after they paid a fine of THB500 (US$16). The pair were fined for violating the Immigration Act and were released soon after, John San Lin told Mizzima. They were detained on January 20 in Mae Sot after returning to...

Sudanese authorities harassed, obstructed, and censored local and international news media covering this month's referendum concerning independence for South Sudan, a Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) analysis has found. South Sudanese cast ballots from January 9 through 15. Preliminary results show overwhelming approval for independence, although ballot-counting irregularities have been...

Yemeni journalist and activist Tawakkol Karman was released Monday, two days after her arbitrary arrest in Sana'a. Charged with “inciting disorder and chaos” and organizing unauthorised demonstrations and marches, she was freed on condition that she does not violate “public order and the law” again. Karman has been a leading figure in a three-week-old wave of protests demanding political reform in...