Imprisoned

A Cairo court has sentenced four independent editors to one-year jail terms for publishing “false information.” Editors Ibrahim Eissa of the daily Al-Dustour, Wael al-Abrashy of the weekly Sawt al-Umm, Adel Hammouda of the weekly Al-Fajr, and Abdel Halim Kandil, former editor of the weekly Al-Karama were convicted Thursday of “publishing false information likely to disturb public order” in a case...

A Cairo court has sentenced four independent editors to one-year jail terms for publishing “false information.” Editors Ibrahim Eissa of the daily Al-Dustour, Wael al-Abrashy of the weekly Sawt al-Umm, Adel Hammouda of the weekly Al-Fajr, and Abdel Halim Kandil, former editor of the weekly Al-Karama were convicted Thursday of “publishing false information likely to disturb public order” in a case...

Two Moroccan journalists who published a secret government document about terrorist threats against Morocco have been handed down prison sentences. Abderrahim Ariri, publisher of the Moroccan weekly Al-Watan Al An, and Mustafa Hormatallah, a journalist for the paper, were convicted Wednesday by a criminal court in Casablanca of “concealing items derived from a crime” under article 571 of the...

An Iranian journalist has been arrested after he presented himself to a Tehran court in response to a summons. Neither Soheil Assefi's family nor his lawyers know where he is being held or with what he is charged. Officials from the prosecutor's office searched his home on July 31, taking personal documents and his computer's hard disk. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of...

Ethiopia's High Court has imposed heavy prison sentences on four journalists jailed in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005, after the journalists waived their defence and pleaded guilty in anticipation of a pardon, according to the Comittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). All of them worked for now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies. Editors Dawit Kebede of Hadar and...

Reporters Without Borders called today for the release of Farshad Gorbanpour, who was arrested yesterday along with fellow journalist Masoud Bastani on the orders of Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi. Bastani was freed after several hours but Gorbanpour was transferred to Evin prison. This brings the number of journalists and cyber-dissidents detained in Iran to 11. Also yesterday, a Tehran...

Ethiopia’s High Court has handed down harsh criminal penalties, including life prison sentences, to six journalists and three publishers on anti-state charges in connection with critical coverage of the government during the deadly unrest in the aftermath of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005, according to local journalists. At least 200 people Monday packed the courtroom in the capital...

Reporters Without Borders has learned of the arrests of three more Iranian journalists, one of them two days ago. They bring the number of journalists detained in Iran to six. “The Iranian regime is one of the most repressive in the world towards the media,” the press freedom organisation said. “Independent journalists are closely watched and constantly harassed. Arrests are frequent, and months...

Five Malian journalists who covered a high school essay assignment — and the teacher who commissioned the lesson — have been convicted of insulting President Amadou Toumani Toure, according to news reports and local journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the verdicts, which stemmed from a classroom exercise about an imaginary presidential sex scandal, and called for the...

Ethiopia's High Court today convicted four editors and three publishers of now-defunct weeklies of anti-state charges linked to their coverage of the government’s handling of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005, according to local journalists. Two of the editors were convicted of charges carrying life imprisonment or death. The journalists were arrested after a massive government crackdown on...