Imprisoned

Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, continues to be detained illegally in Nouakchott’s Dar Naim prison although he should have been freed on December 24 on completing a six-month sentence on a charge of “offending public decency.” The good news is that, under pressure from his family, he has abandoned the hunger strike that was threatening his health, Reporters sans Frontières...

A court has imposed a 20-year jail sentence on Hla Hla Win, a freelance video reporter who provided material to the Burmese exile broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma. Detained since September, she was already given a seven-year sentence in October, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. “People had been expecting signs of an opening and goodwill gestures...

A Cameroonian newspaper editor, jailed this month after publishing a book excerpt that alleged sexual activities by President Paul Biya, was convicted on Monday of “insulting the head of state.” Judge Ibrahim Ba sentenced Jean-Bosco Talla, managing editor of the weekly Germinal, to a one-year suspended term and a fine of 3.15 million CFA francs (US$6,800), the paper’s editor-in-chief, Duke...

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the immediate release of Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, who should have been freed 10 days ago on completing a six-month jail sentence on a charge of “offending public decency.” Arrested on June 18 and convicted on August 19, Dehah began a hungerstrike on December 25 in protest against his continuing detention. “We urge the...

Two prominent Iranian journalists, Hengameh Shahidi and Saeed Laylaz, have been sentenced to extended prison terms. Shahidi was sentenced on Monday to six years and three months in prison, while Laylaz was sentenced to a prison sentence of no fewer than nine years, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local and international news reports. Shahidi‎, who is...

Prison sentences were awarded Wednesday to two Azerbaijani video bloggers detained in July on fabricated charges of “hooliganism” and “inflicting minor bodily harm,” the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Judge Araz Huseynov with the Sabail District Court in Baku handed Emin Milli, 30, who runs an online video blog known as ANTV, a two and a half year jail term...

Eight Vietnamese bloggers received jail sentences last week on charges of anti-government propaganda under article 88 of the criminal code, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Vu Hung was sentenced to three years in prison in Hanoi on October 7. Pham Von Troi got a four-year sentence the next day. The six other bloggers were given jail sentences on the same charges in Haiphong on October...

Prison sentences were given to journalists at the Azeri weekly newspaper Nota on defamation charges Thursday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Nota Editor-in-Chief Sardar Alibeili and reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu (also known as Faramaz Allahverdiyev) were given three-month prison terms, and staffer Ramiz Tagiyev was conditionally sentenced to six months of...

A court in the western Venezuela state of Táchira has ordered that journalist Gustavo Azócar should remain in custody despite ordering the annulment of a criminal case against him, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). He is the only journalist currently in prison in Venezuela. Reporters Without Borders said it feared that the journalist was being hounded for his critical stance towards...

Journalist Aylin Duruoglu has spent nearly six months in Istanbul’s Bakirköy prison on unfounded charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation. The Istanbul prosecutor’s office requested a 15-year jail sentence for Duruoglu when she appeared in court on October 1, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Duruoglu was accused of belonging to an armed group called the Revolutionary...