Yemeni journalist released two weeks after receiving five-year sentence February 2, 2011 Naomi Hunt and Gianluca Mezzofiore Yemeni journalist and Al-Qaeda analyst Abdulelah Haidar Shaia was released on Tuesday, two weeks after he was handed a five-year prison term for allegedly recruiting for Al-Qaeda and taking photos of potential Al-Qaeda targets for the Islamist terrorist group, reports said. He was released on a presidential order, according to news reports, although it was […] Read more »
Ukraine court upholds decision cancelling allocation of frequencies to broadcasters January 27, 2011 Ukraine’s Higher Administrative Court on Wednesday upheld a decision by a court in Kiev cancelling the allocation of broadcasting frequencies to two privately-run TV channels – TVi and 5 Kanal. A representative of TVi said the administrative court fully upheld the lower court’s decision without explanation or modification. The lower court last year cancelled the […] Read more »
Croatian President says he opposes proposal to criminalise defamation January 27, 2011 Croatian President Ivo Josipović said today that he opposes proposed changes to his country’s criminal code that would impose severe penalties for libel, including jail. The president told a joint delegation of the International Press Institute (IPI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) at a meeting at his office in Zagreb that he […] Read more »
EU telecoms chief says Hungarian media law may violate EU law on press freedom, broadcasting January 18, 2011 Steven Ellis The European Union’s Telecoms Chief said on Monday that Hungary’s new media law may violate EU laws on press freedom and broadcasting. European Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes told the European Parliament in a speech that she had contacted Hungarian authorities “to raise specific points on which the media law does not appear at first […] Read more »
Crackdown against independent media continues to grip Belarus January 14, 2011 Gianluca Mezzofiore Belarus secret service agents have raided the apartments of detained journalist Irina Khalip and her mother, Lyutsina Khalip, seizing the journalist’s computer, according to Charter 97, an independent news website. Lyutsina is currently struggling to prevent the authorities taking custody of her three-year-old grandson. A decision is expected at the end of the month, when […] Read more »
IPI World Press Freedom Hero Jiri Dienstbier passes away January 10, 2011 Gianluca Mezzofiore World press freedom hero and co-founder of Velvet Revolution newspaper “Lidové Noviny” (People’s News) Jiri Dienstbier died of natural causes on Saturday at the age of 73. From 1969 until the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, he was one of the major intellectuals associated with the dissident group Charter 77, a political and […] Read more »
IPI to hold 2011 World Congress in Taipei January 7, 2011 Michael Kudlak The International Press Institute (IPI) will hold its annual World Congress in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan), from 24-27 September 2011, the organisation today officially announced. The 2011 World Congress will mark the return of IPI’s annual event to East Asia after 12 years, when the world’s media community convened in Taipei in 1999. Themed “The […] Read more »
IPI top 10 press freedom stories 2010 December 31, 2010 This year ushered in a number of major setbacks for the media across the globe, including the threat of new, oppressive media laws, most notably in Egypt, South Africa, Zambia, Hungary and Bermuda, to name but a few countries. There were also at least 66 deaths of journalists reported in 2010, down significantly from the record 110 […] Read more »
The perils of reporting in Sudan December 6, 2010 Katy Glassborrow As I kiss my baby before he falls asleep every night, my thoughts always return to Abdelrahman. My colleague has a boy the same age as mine, and a girl of two years old. But he hasn’t kissed them goodnight for two weeks now. Abdelrahman was arrested on October 30 by the security services in […] Read more »
Azerbaijan court upholds ECHR decision to overturn journalist’s conviction on terrorism charges November 12, 2010 Nayana Jayarajan Azerbaijan’s highest court on Thursday upheld a 22 April decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), ordering the immediate release of Eynulla Fatullayev, an Azeri journalist who was sentenced in 2007 to eight-and-a-half years in prison for defamation and “fomenting terrorism” through his articles. As IPI reported at the time, the Court voted […] Read more »
On ‘Stand Up for Journalism’ Day, European Federation of Journalists throws weight behind Turkish media rights campaign November 6, 2010 Anthony Mills The Steering Committe of the Brussels-based European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on Friday 5 November lent its full support to a campaign by the Turkish ‘Freedom for Journalists Platform which seeks the release of all journalists currently imprisoned in Turkey. EFJ representatives, along with their colleagues from the NUJ branch and the AGJPB, demonstrated in […] Read more »
Killer in Hrant Dink murder to be tried in juvenile court October 25, 2010 Naomi Hunt An Istanbul court today agreed that Ogun Samast, the suspected gunman in the murder of Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, can be tried in juvenile court because he was 17 years old at the time of the shooting, news reports said. Hrant Dink, founder of Agos newspaper and an ethnic Armenian, wrote extensively on the killings […] Read more »
Four years on, IPI recalls unsolved murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya October 7, 2010 Alicia Versteegh Four years after Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and killed by an unknown assailant in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow her killers have yet to be brought to justice. Repeatedly criticised by rights groups over its handling of the case, the Russian government recently announced it was reinvigorating the investigation, […] Read more »
Interview with IPI Press Freedom Hero Akbar Ganji September 21, 2010 Andreas Hackl, Nicole Friesenbichler and Laura Pannasch Mr. Ganji, you spent six years in an Iranian prison. Since your release four years ago, you have been living in exile. What have you been doing since you were freed? I am working as an activist and write a lot, every day in fact. Even in prison, I never stopped writing. I criticize the […] Read more »
Interview with IPI World Press Freedom Hero Pap Saine September 21, 2010 Valentin Ladstaetter and Laura Pannasch As one of the 60 “World Press Freedom Heros”, to be honored at the IPI World Congress in Vienna this year, he dedicates himself to the struggle for press freedom. Speaking to Valentin Ladstaetter and Laura Pannasch, he talks about the country’s President Yahyah Jammeh and about the foundation of the first local independent newspaper […] Read more »
IPI General Assembly Resolution 2010: Press Freedom in Europe Meeting at their Annual General Assembly on 13 September 2010 in Vienna, Austria, the IPI members unanimously adopted a resolution condemning a deterioration in the press freedom climate in Europe, notably a strong trend by some established democracies to backtrack on legal guarantees of media freedom. Stay informed. Stay engaged. Join thousands of journalists who […] Read more »
IPI General Assembly Resolution 2010: Iran Meeting at their Annual General Assembly on 13 September 2010 in Vienna, Austria, the IPI members unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the government of Iran to release immediately all journalists currently in detention. Following the presidential election of 12 June 2009, after which the re-election of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad was proclaimed, dozens of journalists, […] Read more »
South Africa security minister should rework repressive information bill August 17, 2010 Naomi Hunt One week after sending an open letter to South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma expressing concern at moves by the government and the ruling ANC party to pass an Information Bill and create a Media Appeals Tribunal answerable to Parliament, the International Press Institute (IPI) today called on South African Minister for State Security Siyabonga Cwele to seriously […] Read more »
Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji declared IPI’s 59th World Press Freedom Hero August 9, 2010 Iranian journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji was today declared a World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute (IPI), in recognition of his decades of work defending freedom of speech and equal rights for all, in the face of continued harassment and imprisonment. Often called ‘Iran’s most prominent political dissident’, Ganji spent six years […] Read more »
Four kidnapped Mexican journalists still being held July 29, 2010 Naomi Hunt Four Mexican journalists abducted on Monday afternoon in the city of Gómez Palacio remain in the custody of a group of gunmen, according to news reports on Thursday. Gómez Palacio is located in the northern state of Durango, a region wracked by a brutal turf war between the Zetas and Sinaloa drug cartels. The four […] Read more »
Hollman Morris granted US visa following pressure from IPI and other international organizations July 28, 2010 The U.S State Department has reversed its decision to deny a visa to noted independent Colombian journalist Hollman Morris. Morris will now be able to travel to Harvard University to take up a year-long Nieman Foundation fellowship. The journalist, who is well-known as a vocal critic of Columbia’s outgoing president Alvaro Uribe and his administration, […] Read more »
IPI urges U.S State Department to reverse decision to deny Colombian journalist’s visa July 21, 2010 Nayana Jayarajan The International Press Institute urges the U.S State Department to reconsider its decision to deny a visa to independent Colombian journalist Hollman Morris. Morris, who was awarded the prestigious Nieman Fellowship to spend a year at Harvard University, was informed on 16 June that his visa had been rejected under the Patriot Act (2001) because […] Read more »
Timeline: Pius Njawe, 1957-2010 July 14, 2010 Alison Bethel McKenzie 1957 – Born Pius N. Njawé on 4 March at Babouantou in Upper Nkam in the Western Region of Cameroo 1972 – Njawé, age 15, obtains his first newspaper job as a paperboy for Seeds Africa newspaper. He would hold the position until 1974, after which he signed on as a reporter with La Gazette. 1976 – Njawé is arrested for […] Read more »
Gambian editor Pap Saine named IPI World Press Freedom Hero July 8, 2010 The International Press Institute today named Gambian publisher and editor Pap Saine an IPI World Press Freedom Hero in honour of his courageous work for press freedom in the face of attacks and harassment. Pap Saine is the publisher and editor of The Point, and the dean of Reuters’ correspondents in West and Central Africa. […] Read more »
Azerbaijan court sentences journalist to a further 30 months in prison July 8, 2010 Nayana Jayarajan A court in Azerbaijan’s Baku district of Garadag has sentenced opposition journalist Eynulla Fatullayev to an additional 30 months in prison. The journalist, who has been imprisoned since April 2007, was found guilty of illegal possession of narcotics, a charge based on small amounts of heroin which were allegedly found in his clothes in December […] Read more »
As Tunisian court upholds journalist’s sentence, IPI releases report on covering corruption in Tunisia July 7, 2010 Anthony Mills A day after a Tunisian appeals court upheld a four-year prison sentence for a journalist who covered violent protests against unemployment and corruption in the southern mining region of Gafsa, the International Press Institute (IPI) released a report outlining the pressure faced by journalists who cover corruption in Tunisia. The report follows IPI’s participation in […] Read more »
Polish journalists ‘blacklisted’, denied visas by China July 5, 2010 Louise Hallman A second Polish journalist has been refused a visa for China, three months after his colleague was also “blacklisted” and denied entry into the country. Konrad Godlewski, 34, a freelance journalist commissioned by Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s largest daily newspaper, was denied entry to China for the China-Europe Forum in Chengdu from 7-11 July, despite having been […] Read more »
Rwandan newspaper editor shot dead June 26, 2010 An unidentified gunman shot dead a journalist for a banned Rwandan newspaper on Thursday, according to media reports. Jean Leonard Rugambage, an editor for the local-language Umuvugizi newspaper, was shot twice in front of his home on the outskirts of the capital Kigali on Thursday night, a police spokesperson was quoted as saying. Umuvugizi’s editor, […] Read more »
IPI adds name to global coordinating committee of press freedom letter to Venezuelan president June 23, 2010 On Monday, 14 June 2010 IPI reported that Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for Guillermo Zualoga, the owner of Globovisión television station, and his son on charges of conspiracy and usury. Zualoga and his son were charged with business malpractice, after 24 new Toyota SUVs were found at one of their homes during a […] Read more »
IPI condemns passage of Tunisian act targeting free flow of information June 16, 2010 The Tunisian Chamber of Deputies yesterday passed a new law under which press freedom activists and other human rights defenders could find themselves jailed for up to 12 years in times “of war” – and five in peace time- if they lobby against Tunisia’s economic interests. The act amends Article 61 bis. of the […] Read more »
Turkish journalist sentenced under anti-terror law June 11, 2010 Nayana Jayarajan The International Press Institute calls on the judiciary in Turkey to overturn the sentence imposed on Irfan Aktan, a Turkish journalist, for an article he wrote in October 2009. The journalist was sentenced on 4 June to a year and three months in prison, and a fine of 16,000 Turkish Lira was imposed on Merve […] Read more »
IPI joins launch of TMG Tunisia mission report in Beirut June 7, 2010 The Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) yesterday unveiled the findings of its 7th Mission to Tunisia during a panel on the first day of the 4th Arab Free Press Forum in Beirut, Lebanon – an event attended by IPI Director David Dadge. The report, entitled Behind the Façade: How a Politicised Judiciary and Administrative Sanctions Undermine […] Read more »
Taiwanese journalists receive WHA accreditation for second year May 25, 2010 For the second year in a row, representatives of Taiwanese media were handed accreditation for the World Health Assembly (WHA), which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 17-21 May. The WHA is the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). Until 2008, the WHA had […] Read more »
