Imprisoned

A Thai criminal court decision has sentenced media owner, television commentator, and political activist Sondhi Limthongkul to two years in prison in connection with criminal libel charges filed by a former government minister. Sondhi posted 200,000 baht (US$5,882) bail and told courtroom reporters last thursday that he would appeal the conviction, according to local news reports. The court also...

A Mauritanian court has sentenced an online editor to six months in prison, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). A court in capital Nouakchott found Hanevy Ould Dehah, editor of the online publication Taqadoumy, guilty of acts "contrary to Islam and decent behavior" after he published an article about sex education, his lawyer Brahim Ould Ebetty told Agence France-Presse (AFP)...

Two Ethiopian journalists were thrown in prison on Monday after a judge convicted them under an obsolete press law in connection with coverage of sensitive topics dating back several years, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists and news reports. Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, editor of the weekly, Muslim-oriented newspaper Salafiyya, and Asrat Wedajo, former...

The Taraz Regional Court in southern Kazakhstan sentenced to jail Ramazan Yesergepov, editor of Almaty-based weekly Alma-Ata Info, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. On August 8, the court sentenced Yesergepov to three years in prison on a criminal charge of "collecting information that contains state secrets," the local press said. Rozlana Taukina, head of the Almaty-based...

A three-month jail sentence has been passed by a Niamey court on Abdoulaye Tiémogo, the publisher of the independent weekly Le Canard Déchaîné, on a charge of “discrediting a judicial decision.” “It is the decision (on Tuesday) to sentence a journalist to imprisonment that discredits Niger’s judicial system,” Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) said. “This comes just two weeks after eight newspaper...

Two journalists in Rwanda have been given prison sentences in separate cases in the past few days. Newspaper editor Asumani Niyonambaza was sentenced to two years in prison. Reporter Amani Ntakundi got a three-month sentence. “There were absolutely no grounds for these jails sentences,” Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has said. “Trials, threats, intimidation and smears are all used to...

A three-year jail sentence has been passed by a court in the southern city of Taraz passed on Ramazan Esergepov, the owner and editor of the Kazakh weekly Alma Ata Info, on charges of gathering and divulging classified documents under articles 172 and 339 of the Kazakh criminal code, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The trial, which ended on August 8 with Esergepov also being banned...

Uzbek authorities should immediately free the independent journalist Dilmurod Saidov, sentenced Thursday last to 12 1/2 years in prison following a flawed trial brought on politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch has said. The trial was riddled with procedural violations, and several witnesses ultimately withdrew their testimony, saying they had given false evidence, rendering his...

A journalist from China Central Television was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison with a four-year reprieve for accepting a bribe in northern Shanxi province, China Daily has reported. The Xinghualing District Court in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, convicted Li Min of accepting 37,000 yuan ($5,400) and using her job to lobby for a suspect in a case being investigated by the Xinghualing...

A Yemeni court has found journalist Anis Mansour from suspended daily Al-Ayyam guilty of "harming national unity, provoking sedition and rebellion, and ‎inciting people in the streets" and "taking part in unauthorised protests and promoting ‎secessionist slogans." He was sentenced on Wednesday to 14 months imprisonment, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The case was...