Legal Action

A former USA Today reporter who was ordered to pay hefty fines starting at midnight Tuesday for refusing to name confidential sources for a story, has been granted a stay, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting court sources. "It is ordered that the motion for a stay pending appeal be granted," a clerk at a US court of appeals in Washington told AFP, reading from the order. "Appellant has...

A federal judge in Washington has ordered a journalist to pay up to $5,000 a day if she continues to refuse to reveal her sources, acording to the Associated Press (AP). US District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that former USA Today reporter Toni Locy must pay the fines starting midnight on Tuesday next. The first week she is required to pay $500 a day, $1,000 a day for the second week and $5,000 a...

An Algerian court of appeals has upheld two-month jail terms for two journalists, including a Golden Pen of Freedom laureate, at the Algiers-based independent daily El Watan. The issue of decriminalising defamation in the country is once again back in the limelight. An appeals court, ruling on March 4, upheld defamation convictions against Omar Belhouchet, publisher of El Watan, and columnist...

A Canadian court has overturned a landmark 2004 court ruling that recognised journalists have a broad right to protect confidential sources, even in the context of police investigations. The Ontario Court of Appeal's decision last week resurrects a search warrant giving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) the authority to seize a document from a National Post reporter that went to the heart

An Afghanistan university student and journalist for daily newspaper Janan-e-Naw, Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, faces the death penalty at his upcoming trial, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Parvez was detained on October 27, 2007, in the northern Afghan city of Mazhar-e-Sharif, accused of “insolence to the Islam” after he allegedly downloaded an article from a Farsi...

Press freedom organisations have condemned a recent court decision in Finland against a staff photographer who took pictures during the “Smash ASEM” demonstration during the Asia Europe meeting in Helsinki on September 9, 2006. Staff photographer Markus Pentikäinen of the Finnish weekly Suomen Kuvalehti was convicted for refusing police orders to move away from the scene while he insisted on his...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has backed the call of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) for journalists in the country to stand in solidarity with six colleagues and a newspaper accused of libel by Ambrose Nmah, the general manager of a media group. Nmah, who also presents a news programme on the radio, is suing the journalists after they published a statement calling on the PUL...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has announced it support for the ”Stop Criminalisation of the Press” campaign by its local affiliate in the Philippines, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), after two incidents involving criminal charges against journalists resurfaced this month. Risang Bima Wijaya, a journalist and former general manager of Radar Yogya Daily, was...

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has threatened to ban live television reports about Pakistan’s national elections and impose penalties on journalists if they do not comply. According to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) affiliate, and reports by GEO TV and Dawn, PEMRA sent a letter of warning to the...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European group of the IFJ, has called for better protection of sources in France after the latest case against a journalist who has refused to reveal a confidential source. “It is urgent that a protection of sources law is passed in France”, said EFJ Chair Arne König. “Unfortunately we are not surprised by this event, which happened the day before...