Imprisoned

Abdel Fettah Ould Abeidna, the editor of the privately-owned Arabic-language weekly Al-Aqsa, has been imprisoned in Mauritanian capital Nouakchott on a criminal libel charge. Abeidna was immediately jailed Tuesday on his arrival from Dubai, from where he was extradited. “Abeidna’s imprisonment is disproportionate and counter-productive, and confirms the urgent need for a reform of Mauritania’s...

Seven-year jail sentences have been handed down to Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung, editor and manager respectively of the privately-owned Myanmar Nation, which has since closed down, Reporters sans Frontières and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. The two were sentenced on November 28 by a court in Thingangyun, near Rangoon under the Printers and Publishers Registration Act for being in...

A Burmese court sentenced entertainer, blogger, and activist Maung Thura—known by his stage name, "Zarganar"—to 45 years in prison on November 20 for violations of the Electronics Act, according to Burmese rights groups and international news reports. Sports journalist Zaw Thet Htwe, and two other defendants were also sentenced to at least 15 years each in the same trial. All four still face...

A court in China's southwestern Sichuan province sentenced Chen Daojun, a writer critical of the government, to three years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power. His wife Zeng Qirong told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that she was present in the courtroom in the provincial capital, Chengdu, when her husband was sentenced after 30-minute trial...

The supreme court in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan in the west Uzbekistan has upheld a ten-year jail sentence for drug-trafficking against journalist and human rights activist Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The court in the capital Noukous passed sentence without taking into account defence argument that the authorities targeted him because of...

An Azerbaijani court convicted Ali Hasanov, editor-in-chief of the pro-government daily Ideal, on defamation charges and sentenced him to six months in jail, according to the head of the Baku-based Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), Emin Huseynov. The journalist was taken immediately into custody in court on Friday. His lawyer plans to appeal the ruling, according to Huseynov...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have expressed outrage at the two-year sentence passed on Ein Khaing Oo, a 24-year-old journalist with the weekly Ecovision Journal, for taking photos of Cyclone Nargis victims. Ein Khaing Oo was arrested in Rangoon in June 2008 and convicted on November 14. "This unjust sentence comes amid a wave of unprecedented sentences for...

Press freedom groups have condemned the continued imprisonment of Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman, a.k.a. Kareem Amer, who completed two years in prison on Friday. His lawyers from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and Hisham Mubarak Law Centre are still waiting the result of an appeal brought before Egypt’s Prosecutor-General. Amer’s lawyers hope to see justice done...

The Iraqi Kurdistan court of appeals should act immediately to overturn a judge's ruling on Tuesday to impose a one-month prison term against a journalist who published critical reports about the Sulaymania courthouse, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. The journalist's lawyer said newly adopted legislation does not appear to allow such a prison sentence. The Criminal Court...

Twelve prominent human rights activists, including three leading journalists, who advocate for reform in Syria have been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The leaders of the Damascus Declaration for Democratic Change—the largest opposition coalition in Syria—were sentenced on October 29 under criminal legislation that prohibits “spreading false news” and “weakening national sentiment”...