Miklos Haraszti ends term as OSCE representative on freedom of the media March 8, 2010 Anthony Mills | Leave a Comment Miklos Haraszti will end his six-year term of office as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media on 10 March 2010. Haraszti, a Hungarian writer, journalist, human rights advocate and university professor co-founded the Hungarian Democratic Opposition Movement and was editor of the Beszélo journal, which was influential in shaping Hungary’s transition to democracy. […] Read more »
Officer who shot Russian journalist freed after just three months March 4, 2010 Louise Hallman | Leave a Comment A police officer who murdered an opposition journalist in August 2008 has been freed from jail after serving just three months of a two year sentence. Ibragim Yevloyev, a senior police officer in Russia’s volatile southern republic of Ingushetia, was found guilty of “reckless homicide resulting from improper performance of professional duties” in December 2009 […] Read more »
Health of imprisoned Tunisian journalist reportedly failing February 25, 2010 By Naomi Hunt, Press Freedom Adviser for Africa and the Middle East | Leave a Comment Tunisian Journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, who has been in custody since October 2009, is in danger of losing his life as a result of his failing health, poor prison conditions and negligent care by prison officials, according to reports from the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of 20 press freedom organisations. Ben Brik was […] Read more »
Turkey sentences Kurdish newspaper editor to 21 years in prison February 12, 2010 Barbara Trionfi, Press Freedom Adviser | Leave a Comment A Turkish court on 10 December sentenced the editor of a Kurdish newspaper to 21 years in prison for publishing what the court called Kurdish propaganda, only two weeks after the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to pay over 40,000 Euros to 20 Turkish journalists as compensation for having violated their rights. A […] Read more »
Venezuela orders cable networks to stop broadcasting opposition TV January 25, 2010 Anthony Mills, Press Freedom Manager | Leave a Comment The Venezuelan government on Saturday ordered cable networks to stop broadcasting opposition TV station RCTV. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had already faced international criticism in 2007, for forcing the station off free-access television. Chavez has long been accused by opposition leaders and press freedom observers of seeking to suppress private media in Venezuela, to snuff […] Read more »
Journalists in China warned over hacked Gmail accounts January 20, 2010 Nayana Jayarajan, Communications Officer | Leave a Comment The Foreign Correspondents Club of China warned its members in a statement on the Club’s website on 18 January that “foreign correspondents in a few bureaus in Beijing have recently discovered that their Gmail (Google) accounts have been hijacked.” Last week, Internet giant Google announced that its servers had been the targets of a highly […] Read more »
Critical Sri Lankan journalist granted bail January 11, 2010 Nayana Jayarajan, Communications Officer | Leave a Comment JS Tissainayagam, a Sri Lankan Tamil journalist who was sentenced to twenty years in prison in September last year after he criticised the government’s handling of an offensive against Tamil Tiger militants, has been granted bail pending appeal. An appeals court on Monday ordered the journalist to surrender his passport and pay bail of $500, […] Read more »
Five years on, murder of Gambian editor Deyda Hydara remains unsolved December 16, 2009 Naomi Hunt, Press Freedom Advisor for Africa & the Middle East | Leave a Comment Today marks the fifth anniversary of the brutal murder of Deyda Hydara, editor and co-founder of the Point daily newspaper in Gambia. Hydara was fatally shot by unknown attackers on 16 December 2004. The murderers remain at large. Disturbingly, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh seems uninterested in pursuing the murderers. In June this year, he told reporters that […] Read more »
European Court upholds right to protect sources December 16, 2009 Barbara Trionfi, Press Freedom Adviser | Leave a Comment In a landmark ruling on 15 December, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) confirmed the rights of news organisations to protect the confidentiality of their sources. With this ruling, five news organisations – The Guardian, The Independent, the Times, the Financial Times and Reuters – won a case against the Belgian-based brewers Interbrew. The news organisations brought the case before […] Read more »
“The government considers the press an enemy” says head of Bolivian media freedom organisation December 4, 2009 Colin Peters, Press Freedom Adviser for Europe and the Americas | Leave a Comment On Sunday 6 December, Bolivians will cast their votes in general elections, with the re-election of the incumbent President, Evo Morales, at stake. However, the voting will take place in a media climate that many among the country’s independent press describe as increasingly oppressive and aggressive. In recent weeks alone, attacks on the media have included […] Read more »
Yet another journalist sentenced to prison in Tunisia December 2, 2009 Naomi Hunt | Leave a Comment On Tuesday, a Tunisian court sentenced editor Zouhair Makhlouf to three months in prison for publishing a damaging interview without consent. He has also been ordered to pay 6,000 Tunisian dinar (about 3,100 Euro) in damages. His lawyers, who plan to appeal the decision, complained that the trial was unfair and that the judge interrupted […] Read more »
Tunisian journalist Taoufik Ben Brik sentenced to six months in prison November 27, 2009 Naomi Hunt | Leave a Comment Tunisian courts sentenced government critic Taoufik Ben Brik to six months in prison on Thursday for assaulting a woman in public, on charges that have been widely derided by free press and human rights group as baseless and politicized. Ben Brik was arrested on 29 October 2009 after a woman filed a complaint following a […] Read more »
Before assuming chairmanship of OSCE in 2010, Kazakhstan moves to further restrict media freedom November 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment Kazakhstan’s parliament adopted on Thursday 19 November a controversial privacy bill which critics say will place even greater constraints on journalists’ ability to carry out investigative journalism. The bill gives authorities the power to shut down publications and jail journalists for alleged violation of privacy. The bill, which needs only President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s signature before […] Read more »
IPI / SEEMO Joint Statement: Turkish journalist sentenced in absentia to over two years in prison for “insulting” public officials November 19, 2009 Colin Peters | Leave a Comment A journalist from Turkey’s Adıyaman province returned to his hometown last week after receiving medical treatment in Istanbul, to find that a local criminal court had sentenced him in absentia to over two years in prison for insulting public officials, reports IPI Turkey. Authorities in the eastern province’s Gerger district had brought criminal charges against […] Read more »
IPI India announces recipients of its annual award November 18, 2009 Barbara Trionfi | Leave a Comment The Week correspondent, Bidisha Ghosal, and the English-language daily Indian Express are the joint winners of the 2009 Award for Excellence in Journalism, presented by the Indian chapter of the International Press Institute (IPI). The award ceremony will take place in December. “IPI congratulates the recipients of the IPI-India award on their important achievement,” said IPI Deputy Director […] Read more »
Niger journalist imprisoned for ‘casting discredit on a judicial ruling’ released after two months November 2, 2009 Nayana Jayarajan | Leave a Comment The International Press Institute (IPI) welcomes news of the release of Niger journalist Abdoulaye Tiemogo, editor of the weekly Le Canard Dechainé, after two months in prison. As reported by IPI in September, Tiemogo was sentenced to three months in prison for “casting discredit on a judicial ruling” following a comment he made on a […] Read more »
Argentina moves closer to scrapping criminal defamation October 30, 2009 Colin Peters | Leave a Comment Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies on Thursday passed a bill removing prison sentences for slander and insult from the country’s penal code. Argentina’s Senate will now vote on the government-sponsored move. The executive branch introduced the proposal to reform the criminal offences of calumnias e injurias (slander and insult) on 11 September this year, in response to a […] Read more »
IPI begins press freedom advocacy mission to Russia October 29, 2009 Colin Peters | Leave a Comment An International Press Institute (IPI) advocacy mission arrived in Russia on Tuesday, 29 September 2009. During the five-day mission, the delegates will visit the cities of Moscow, Kchimki and Tomsk, to meet with local media and government officials and discuss the state of media freedom in the country. The IPI mission to Russia includes: IPI […] Read more »
Journalist tortured by elite Bangladesh security forces October 28, 2009 Barbara Trionfi | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 | Leave a Comment 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 »
