Journalist tortured by elite Bangladesh security forces October 28, 2009 Barbara Trionfi Bangladeshi journalist F.M. Masum, a staff correspondent of the daily New Age in Bangladesh, was on Thursday (22 Oct.) taken from his residence by members of the country’s infamous Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and was then held incommunicado, and brutally tortured, for over ten hours, before being released. Masum, who had injury marks all over […] Read more »
Ten years after murder of Financial Times correspondent Sander Thoenes in East Timor, ‘Frontline Club’ commemoration in London condemns impunity October 26, 2009 Barbara Trionfi Ten years after Dutch Financial Times correspondent Sander Thoenes was murdered in East Timor, participants at a commemoration held at the ‘Frontline Club’ in London demanded that the Indonesian authorities bring to justice those responsible for his killing. In September 1999, Thoenes went to East Timor to report on the aftermath of a referendum vote for independence […] Read more »
Trial begins against Armenian editor accused of “organising mass disorder” October 22, 2009 Colin Peters A court in the Armenian capital of Yerevan began hearing a criminal case against prominent newspaper editor-in-chief and opposition figure Nikol Pashinyan earlier this week. Pashinyan faces up to 10 years in prison for “organising mass disorder” and “assaulting a state representative.” Armenian authorities have accused Pashinyan of organising the March 2008 riots that followed […] Read more »
Journalist freed on bail in Iran October 20, 2009 Barbara Trionfi Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahar was released on bail from Tehran’s Evin prison on Saturday, 17 October upon payment of approximately $300,000 (US) bail. Bahar, a well-known documentary filmmaker and reporter for Newsweek, was held in prison without charges for 118 days in solitary confinement under accusation of spying. He was jailed on 21 June during the […] Read more »
Following mission to Russia, IPI warns impunity still gravest obstacle to press freedom October 14, 2009 Colin Peters Following a five-day IPI press freedom advocacy mission to Russia from 29 September – 4 October, IPI warned on Wednesday that the gravest press freedom concern in today’s Russia remains the impunity enjoyed by those who assault and murder journalists. IPI called for action on the part of Russia’s federal government to ensure that both […] Read more »
IPI takes Vienna Declaration on Terrorism, Media and the Law to EU Commission October 7, 2009 IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills visited the EU Commission last week to discuss with various EU officials IPI’s Vienna Declaration on Terrorism, Media and the Law. He was accompanied by the lead drafter of the declaration, Toby Mendel, now executive director of the Canada-based Center for Law and Democracy and formerly senior director for […] Read more »
The Vienna Declaration on Terrorism, Media and the Law PREAMBLE Participants at the IPI-CILS conference, “The War on Words – Terrorism, Media and the Law”, held in Vienna, Austria, on Oct. 5-6, 2009, reiterate that freedom of expression and of the media are fundamental human rights, enshrined in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Universal […] Read more »
As IPI press freedom advocacy mission arrives in Russia, journalist goes into hiding after receiving threats September 29, 2009 Nayana Jayarajan On the day an International Press Institute (IPI) advocacy mission arrived in Russia to discuss the state of media freedom in the country, reports emerged that Russian freelance journalist and human rights activist Alexandr Podrabinek has gone into hiding after angering members of a nationalist pro-Kremlin youth movement with an article he wrote criticising Russia’s […] Read more »
IPI/SEEMO Joint Statement: Turkey investigating journalist and celebrity over newspaper interview criticising government’s ‘Kurdish initiative’ September 24, 2009 Colin Peters, IPI Press Freedom Advisor for Europe and the Americas A Turkish public prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation into a celebrity and a journalist, over comments made in an interview printed in August in the daily Millyet newspaper which the authorities claim could “incite hatred and enmity,” IPI’s Turkish National Committee reported on Wednesday. Devrim Sevimay, a journalist at Millyet, and Hulya Avsar, a […] Read more »
PRESS FREEDOM UPDATE: Sri Lankan journalist appeals 20-year sentence September 17, 2009 The lawyer of a Sri Lankan journalist sentenced at the end of August to 20 years in prison under anti-terror legislation for criticizing the Sri Lankan government’s attacks against the Tamil Tiger rebels filed an appeal on Tuesday. Tissainayagam has been imprisoned since March 2008. J. S. Tissainayagam, who ran the North Eastern Monthly magazine, and was […] Read more »
In wake of deadly Uganda riots: journalist beaten and detained; four radio stations closed September 15, 2009 In the wake of deadly riots last week in the Ugandan capital Kampala, sparked by the controversial visit of a traditional king, a radio journalist was beaten and arrested, according to a fellow Ugandan journalist. News reports said that the Uganda Broadcasting Council (UBC) also closed several radio stations and suspended radio and television journalists, […] Read more »
999 PRESS FREEDOM CALL FOR JUSTICE: On 09.09.09, IPI reminds the world of its 9 remaining ‘justice denied’ journalist cases September 9, 2009 On the 9th of September, 2009, the International Press Institute (IPI) believes it is only fitting to call attention to the nine unresolved cases in its Justice Denied campaign, which highlights the unlawful imprisonment of journalists around the world and the impunity from which the murderers of journalists all too often benefit. Journalists are routinely […] Read more »
Afghan journalist originally sentenced to death receives presidential pardon in 20-year prison sentence September 8, 2009 A journalist for local Afghan newspaper Jahan-e Naw (New World) arrested in October 2007 in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, charged with blasphemy for downloading from the Internet an article critical of Islam’s position on women’s rights and distributing it to some of his fellow students, and sentenced to 20 years in prison – […] Read more »
Lubna Hussein convicted, ordered to pay €146 or go to prison for a month, in infamous trousers trial case September 7, 2009 Sudan has convicted journalist and former UN employee Lubna Hussein of violating the country’s decency laws, for wearing trousers, and has ordered her to pay a fine equivalent to about €146 – or spend a month in prison. ‘I will not pay the money and I will go to prison,’ Lubna told Reuters by phone […] Read more »
Mother of jailed Cuban journalist awarded US$ 27.5 million in compensation for emotional distress September 3, 2009 In an unprecedented ruling, on Wednesday, a United States federal judge ordered the Cuban Communist Party and the government of Raul Castro to pay a total of US$27.5 million to the mother of jailed Cuban journalist Omar Rodriguez Saludes – for whose release IPI has intensively campaigned as part of its Justice Denied Campaign. “This […] Read more »
Georgian opposition journalist released from prison after serving full four-year term for alleged ‘extortion’ August 27, 2009 Georgian authorities on Wednesday released journalist Shalva Ramishvili from prison, after he served a full four-year term for alleged blackmail. Ramishvili, a former reporter for – and part owner of – TV broadcaster ‘202’, has always protested his innocence, claiming his conviction was punishment for his criticism of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Ramishvili was the […] Read more »
Turkey bans Günlük newspaper over alleged ‘terrorist propaganda’ August 26, 2009 An Istanbul criminal court has ordered the closure, for one month, of Günlük newspaper – which is known for raising issues related to Turkey’s Kurdish minority – over an article considered by the court to constitute propaganda for a terrorist organisation. The article was published earlier this month. The verdict, handed down on Friday 22 […] Read more »
Azeri journalist serving time for alleged ‘espionage’ dies in prison, amid concern for other jailed journalists August 18, 2009 The International Press Institute (IPI) is saddened at the death in prison on Monday of Azeri journalist Novruzali Mammadov. The 68-year-old former editor-in-chief of Tolishi Sado (“Voice of Talysh”) was serving a controversial 10-year jail sentence handed down in 2008 for alleged “espionage.” Mammadov, who died of natural causes, had suffered deteriorating health since his […] Read more »
Lubna Hussein ‘trousers’ trial postponed to 7 September August 4, 2009 The trial of Sudanese former journalist Lubna Hussein, who faces 40 lashes after being arrested a month ago for wearing trousers, has been postponed, again, until 7 September, according to IPI member and CEO of Turkey’s Hurriyet media group Vuslat Doğan Sabancı, who is in Khartoum following the trial. The further delay is reportedly because […] Read more »
Trial of female journalist arrested for wearing trousers postponed until 7 September; second female journalist faces enormous fine for ‘defamation’ August 4, 2009 The trial of Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein, who faces 40 lashes after being arrested a month ago for wearing trousers, has been postponed, again, until 7 September, according to International Press Institute (IPI) fellow Vuslat Dogan Sabancı, who was in Khartoum for the hearing. Sabanci is a former board member of IPI and current CEO […] Read more »
Finnish journalist faces jail time in Slovenia over broadcast accusing government of corruption July 31, 2009 Slovenia has charged Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund with two counts of criminal defamation after a documentary he produced quoted unnamed sources as saying that members of the former Slovene government – including former Prime Minister Janez Jansa – accepted bribes in arms deals with Finnish arms maker Patria. Berglund made the allegations in a September […] Read more »
SOMALILAND UPDATE: Radio journalists arrested two weeks ago for allegedly inciting inter-clan violence in broadcast appear in court for third time July 29, 2009 Two Somaliland radio journalists arrested on 13 July for allegedly inciting inter-clan violence with a broadcast appeared in court for the third time on Tuesday, Hargeisa-based Media Rights Somaliland (MeRiS) told the International Press Institute (IPI) on Wednesday. At the hearing, witness Mohamed Nur Kaahin, a Gebilay province elder, testified that nothing in the defendants’ […] Read more »
Missing Nepalese journalist resurfaces, after fleeing threats over corruption article July 28, 2009 Shiva Oli, a Nepali journalist reported missing by his wife after he left his home in the Doti district in the far western region of Nepal on 25 July, was located on Tuesday morning when he contacted the police, the regional coordinator for the Far Western Region of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Manmohan Swar, […] Read more »
Sudanese police file complaint against female journalist over article defending women arrested for wearing trousers July 27, 2009 The public order police in Sudan have filed a complaint against female journalist Amal Habbani, editor of the “Tiny Issues” column in “Ajrass Al Horreya” newspaper over a 12 July story entitled “Lubna…A Case of Subduing a Woman’s Body,” in which she defended Lubna al-Hussein, one of 13 women reportedly arrested – and in some […] Read more »
With televised threat to journalists, Gambia’s President Jammeh fuels media climate of fear July 23, 2009 Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on Wednesday 22 July warned journalists against tarnishing Gambia’s image, in a statement to state-owned GRTS television. “Any journalist who thinks that he or she can write whatever he or she wants, and go free, is making a big mistake”, Jammeh declared. “If anybody is caught, he will be severely dealt […] Read more »
Gambia tries seven journalists for seditious publication, other offences July 3, 2009 The trial of seven Gambian journalists, who were arrested on charges of seditious publication on June 15, began today at a High Court in Banjul. According to the Media Foundation for West Africa, the journalists, who were originally slated to appear in court on July 7, were informed two days ago that their trial would […] Read more »
Tortured, then murdered: journalist found in shallow grave near Acapulco, Mexico June 30, 2009 IPI calls on the Mexican authorities to act immediately to stem the systematic killing of reporters, following the brutal murder of radio journalist Juan Daniel Martínez Gil near Acapulco on the evening of Monday 27 July. Gil’s murder is another example of the grave danger the media face in Mexico, which is the Western Hemisphere’s […] Read more »
Resolutions adopted at the World Congress and 58th General Assembly June 9, 2009 IPI Resolution on the Sentencing of US Journalists by North Korea IPI Repeats Call for Justice for Journalists Murdered in East Timor in 1975 IPI Resolution Against Efforts to Weaken Independent Media Councils Stay informed. Stay engaged. Join thousands of journalists who receive the IPI Weekly Digest—press freedom news, opportunities, and media innovation insights delivered […] Read more »
IPI General Assembly Resolution 2009: UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Meeting in their General Assembly on 9 June 2009 in Helsinki, Finland, IPI members called on the member countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council to respect the independence of its Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank La Rue. He has recently come under verbal attack by representatives to the Council […] Read more »
IPI General Assembly Resolution 2009: Venezuela Meeting at their annual General Assembly on 6 June 2009 in Helsinki, Finland, IPI members expressed concern at the worsening press freedom climate in Venezuela, and in particular at the ever more frequent harassment of television network Globovision and its employees. Venezuela’s independent and largely pro-opposition media have long been subjected to extreme pressure from […] Read more »
IPI Congress honours Russia’s Novaya Gazeta June 7, 2009 The International Press Institute today presented its annual Free Media Pioneer Award to Novaya Gazeta, a Russian newspaper that has withstood mounting government efforts to control the media and has paid dearly for its intrepid reporting over the last decade. The award was presented to Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov as IPI opened its World Congress and 58th General Assembly, an […] Read more »
Congress to show footage of new film on Balibo killings May 25, 2009 Balibo, a powerful film that relates the events surrounding the slaying of five journalists by Indonesian soldiers in East Timor in 1975, will be showcased at the upcoming IPI World Congress in Helsinki. The political thriller is told through the eyes of Roger East (played by Emmy Award-winning actor Anthony LaPaglia), an Australian who went […] Read more »
A newspaper ‘to serve society, not the state’: Russia’s Novaya Gazeta wins IPI Pioneer Award April 29, 2009 Novaya Gazeta, the crusading Moscow newspaper that has paid a deadly price for its reporting during a period when the Kremlin has sought to rein in independent media, has been named winner of the International Press Institute’s 2009 Free Media Pioneer Award. The award, announced to coincide with World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, […] Read more »
