Pro-Zelaya journalist gunned down in Honduras September 16, 2016 Nayana Jayarajan According to media reports, 26-year-old Nery Jeremias Orellana was riding a motorcycle to work in the morning when he was stopped and shot in the head by unidentified assailants. He was found on the road connecting San Lorenzo village to Candelaria. He died later in a hospital. Orellana headed Radio Joconguera de Candelaria in the […] Read more »
Greek journalist’s libel conviction overturned on appeal September 15, 2016 The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed an appeals court ruling overturning the criminal conviction of a prominent Greek investigative journalist for defamation. A three-judge panel of the Athens Court of Appeal on Monday unanimously threw out the conviction of Kostas Vaxevanis, editor of the investigative magazine HotDoc. A lower court sentenced him to 26 […] Read more »
Former editor-in-chief of women’s magazine arrested in Turkey September 15, 2016 Nayana Jayarajan The International Press Institute (IPI) is concerned by reports that two journalists working for the Renge Heviya Jine magazine in Turkey have been taken into custody for articles they wrote. On 5 December, authorities arrested the former editor-in-chief of the magazine, Berivan Eker, as she was on her way to a meeting with her lawyer. […] Read more »
Feature: Turkey trolls’ use of insults stifling reporting September 15, 2016 IPI Contributor Çağla Zimmermann Over the last decade, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have democratised the production and flow of news, allowing any user to play an active role in the news cycle. But that change has not come without a dark side. Increasingly, it has left journalists, citizen reporters and bloggers exposed to abusive behaviour, […] Read more »
Russian TV journalist stabbed to death September 15, 2016 Steven M. Ellis The International Press Institute (IPI) today called on Russian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the stabbing death of a journalist working for a regional television company in northern Russia. Anatoly Bitkov, the chief editor of Kolyma Plus regional television company, was found dead in his apartment this morning in the city of Magadan […] Read more »
Sami Jodat al-Rabah, Syria Islamic State group militants executed five Syrian media activists in December 2015, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The five are identified as Samer Mohamad al-Aboud, Mahmoud Shaaban al-Haj Kheder, Mohamad Abdulkader al-Essa, Mostafa Haj Hasa and Sami Jodat al-Rabah. They were captured by the group in October 2015 and killed for their […] Read more »
Mostafa Haj Hasa, Syria Islamic State group militants executed five Syrian media activists in December 2015, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The five are identified as Samer Mohamad al-Aboud, Mahmoud Shaaban al-Haj Kheder, Mohamad Abdulkader al-Essa, Mostafa Haj Hasa and Sami Jodat al-Rabah. They were captured by the group in October 2015 and killed for their […] Read more »
Mohamad Abdulkader al-Essa, Syria Islamic State group militants executed five Syrian media activists in December 2015, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The five are identified as Samer Mohamad al-Aboud, Mahmoud Shaaban al-Haj Kheder, Mohamad Abdulkader al-Essa, Mostafa Haj Hasa and Sami Jodat al-Rabah. They were captured by the group in October 2015 and killed for their […] Read more »
Mahmoud Shaaban al-Haj Kheder, Syria Islamic State group militants executed five Syrian media activists in December 2015, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The five are identified as Samer Mohamad al-Aboud, Mahmoud Shaaban al-Haj Kheder, Mohamad Abdulkader al-Essa, Mostafa Haj Hasa and Sami Jodat al-Rabah. They were captured by the group in October 2015 and killed for their […] Read more »
Samer Mohamad al-Aboud, Syria Islamic State group militants executed five Syrian media activists in December 2015, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The five are identified as Samer Mohamad al-Aboud, Mahmoud Shaaban al-Haj Kheder, Mohamad Abdulkader al-Essa, Mostafa Haj Hasa and Sami Jodat al-Rabah. They were captured by the group in October 2015 and killed for their […] Read more »
President of Puntland in Somalia should respect free expression September 14, 2016 Last week, IPI joined over fifty journalist unions and freedom of expression groups in signing a letter from the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) that calls on Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole to respect freedom of expression and refrain from attacks on journalists and the media. Since President Farole assumed office, independent media have […] Read more »
Fifth and sixth Somali journalists killed within a week September 14, 2016 Naomi Hunt Abdirahman Mohamud Ali is the fifth Somali journalist to be killed within a week, reports say. His beheaded body was reportedly found in Mogadishu yesterday, but no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. Ali, 26, reportedly worked for the news website cayaarahamaanta.com. Ahmed Abdulahi Fanah, 32, of SAPA News Agency, was shot to […] Read more »
How a €3 million libel suit led a Greek journalist to fight for legal change September 14, 2016 IPI Correspondent Lambrini Papadopoulou One can only imagine the feeling of satisfaction and vindication that Greek journalist Dimitris Hortargias must have felt on Dec. 22, 2015, when lawmakers overwhelmingly approved critical reforms to Greece’s Press Law, widely known then as the “press killer”. “All I was thinking on that day was that no other colleague of mine will have to […] Read more »
Journalist abducted and murdered in Pakistan’s Balochistan province September 13, 2016 Molly Ochs The International Press Institute (IPI) strongly condemned the murder of senior Pakistani journalist Razzaq Gul, a reporter at Express News in Turbat city, in southern Balochistan. Gul was found dead in the Kech district of Pakistan’s Balochistan Province on May 19, 2012. According to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Gul was reported missing near […] Read more »
Media workers killed in India, Pakistan and Syria September 13, 2016 Nadia Danecek The International Press Institute (IPI) condemned the recent killings of journalists in Pakistan, India and Syria and reiterated its deep concern over the disappearance of three journalists in Syria, who have been missing for several weeks. In Pakistan, Abdul Haq Baloch, 37, correspondent for ARY News television station and Secretary of the Khuzdar Press Club, […] Read more »
Environmental journalist killed in Cambodia September 13, 2016 Fatma Elshhati The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the killing of Hang Serei Oudom, a reporter with the Cambodian local language newspaper Vorakchun Khmer Daily. According to reports, Oudom, who had been missing since Sunday evening, was found dead yesterday in an abandoned vehicle in a cashew nut plantation in the northern Ratanakiri province, with several […] Read more »
IPI condemns spate of deadly attacks on Syrian citizen reporters September 12, 2016 Molly Ochs The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the continued attacks against citizen reporters in Syria by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. On May 27, three citizen reporters of the Shaam News Network were killed by security forces in the Al-Khalidiya neighborhood in Homs, according to Massoud Akko of the Syrian Centre for Media and […] Read more »
Journalist jailed in Chechnya on drug possession charges September 8, 2016 The International Press Institute (IPI) today expressed concern over the Sept. 5 sentencing of Zhalaudi Geriev, a journalist with the Russian news website Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot), by a court in Chechnya to three years imprisonment for alleged marijuana possession. IPI Director of Advocacy and Communications Steven M. Ellis expressed fears that the charges against […] Read more »
Bahraini cameraman shot dead September 8, 2016 Nisha Thanki 22 year old cameraman, Ahmed Ismael Al-Samadi was shot last night while covering a protest in Salmabad, according to reports. He was reportedly taken to International Hospital by his family and was later pronounced dead. According to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), a protest in Salmabad began peacefully and then was allegedly suppressed […] Read more »
Mexico: IPI calls for immediate investigation into latest journalist murders September 8, 2016 IPI Contributor Anne ter Rele The IPI global network for independent journalism condemns the killing of two Mexican journalists during the past week and calls for an immediate investigation by authorities in both cases. Last week, two veteran reporters in Mexico were murdered. On Thursday, October 28, reporter Fredy López Arévalo was murdered in his home in San Cristóbal de […] Read more »
Russian journalist murdered September 8, 2016 Steven M. Ellis Russian authorities said today that a journalist gunned down last night in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria may have been killed due to his work. The Investigative Committee of Russia suggested the link in a statement announcing that the Committee will head the investigation into the slaying of All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting […] Read more »
IPI World Congress 2011: Innovations in political cartooning September 6, 2016 Lin King, Adrienne Shih Amidst heavy topics such as Taiwan-China cross-strait relations and poverty in North Korea, “Innovations in Political Cartooning” seemed comparatively lighthearted. It was, in fact, a discussion of blatant infringements of free speech and the role of static images in the rapidly evolving electronic media. “With newspapers dropping like flies, cartoonists are often the first ones […] Read more »
Greek editor sentenced for criticising school director’s extremist views September 5, 2016 IPI Correspondent Lambrini Papadopoulou “There is no worse thing for a journalist than to sit in a courtroom and hear that he has been sentenced to prison for doing his job,” Greek journalist Stratis Balaskas recounts. Nearly two months ago, on July 11, Balaskas found himself exactly in this position after the Northern Aegean Court of Appeals confirmed a […] Read more »
Journalists killed in Syria and Pakistan September 5, 2016 Sasu Siegelbaum A well-known Syrian journalist working for a pro-government television channel was killed yesterday in a sniper attack near the country’s border with Lebanon, according to international reports. Al-Jazeera reported that Yara Abbas, 26, a war correspondent for the al-Ikhbariya television channel, was killed by opposition gunfire in an offensive by forces loyal to President Bashar […] Read more »
Missing journalist found dead in Pakistan September 5, 2016 The murder of Pakistani journalist Abdul Razzak Baloch, whose body was found last week, seven months after the journalist went missing on March 24, is a sad reminder of the challenges journalists face in Pakistan, the International Press Institute (IPI) said today. Baloch, a copy editor for the Balochistan-based newspaper Daily Tawaar, is the eighth […] Read more »
Honduran television journalist kidnapped September 5, 2016 The International Press Institute (IPI) is horrified by the kidnapping and possible murder of a well-known television journalist yesterday in Honduras’s second-largest city of San Pedro Sula. IPI urges police to continue their search for Anibal Barrow and to pursue all possible leads in bringing his kidnappers to justice. Barrow, 58, an agronomist and university […] Read more »
Honduran photographer killed three years after human-rights body requested his protection September 5, 2016 Scott Griffen A Honduran photographer who formerly worked for deposed president Manuel Zelaya was found dead last week in Tegucigalpa, three years after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested that the Honduran state guarantee the photographer’s “life and personal integrity”. According to the Honduras press-freedom group C-Libre as well as media reports, the body of […] Read more »
Fourth Brazilian journalist killed this year September 5, 2016 Jan Beyer The International Press Institute (IPI) today called on Brazilian authorities to fully investigate last Sunday’s killing of photojournalist Walgney Assis Carvalho. According to the news website em.com.br, Assis, who worked as a freelancer for the newspaper Vale de Arco, was shot while sitting in a fish restaurant in the town of Coronel Fabriciano, in the […] Read more »
IPI concerned by Bhutan defamation case September 2, 2016 IPI Contributor Tara Nissl A defamation case over a Facebook post that could force a freelance journalist in Bhutan to pay the equivalent of 10 years’ salary or go to prison – and its potential implications for regulation of social media – raise serious concerns, the International Press Institute (IPI) said today. Journalist Namgay Zam is on trial for […] Read more »
Coalition: Bahrain should free Nabeel Rajab immediately September 2, 2016 Prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, who has been held behind bars in Bahrain for 81 days, should be freed immediately and unconditionally, a coalition of 34 rights groups, including the International Press Institute (IPI), said today in a letter to Bahrain’s king. The groups made the call one day after the 52nd birthday of […] Read more »
IPI urges UAE to release Jordanian journalist September 1, 2016 IPI Contributor Tara Nissl The International Press Institute (IPI) today called on the United Arab Emirates to release a Jordanian journalist who has been detained for eight-and-a-half months, reportedly without charge. Tayseer al-Najjar, who works as culture reporter for the Emirates-based newspaper Dar, was prevented from flying to Jordan in December and then detained on Dec. 13. He was […] Read more »
Federal investigation of Russian editor’s 2013 murder urged September 1, 2016 The International Press Institute (IPI) and over 30 free expression groups yesterday called for Russia’s Investigative Committee to take over the investigation into the July 2013 murder of Dagestani editor Ahkmednabi Akhmednabiyev and to end the cycle of impunity for crimes against journalists in the country. The groups made the call to Aleksandr Bastrykin, head […] Read more »
Violence ‘the easiest way’ to deal with journalists in Russia September 1, 2016 The 2006 murder of Russian investigative journalist and International Press Institute (IPI) World Press Freedom Hero Anna Politkovskaya is emblematic of the state of impunity for such crimes in her country, yet she is only one of at least 62 journalists to have lost her life in Russia since 1997, according to IPI’s Death Watch. […] Read more »
