Free Press Watch
June 6: The latest press freedom news from around the worldPosted Jun 6 2011
Mexico
Mexican authorities last week found the body of a newspaper reporter who went missing in April.
Noel López Olguín was a columnist for La Verdad de Jáltipan. He was also a stringer for several other regional publications in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that López Olguín was a regular critic of corruption in local politics. His body was located following a confession from a member of a drug gang.
Drug-related violence now makes Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries for media professionals. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 12 journalists, including López, have been killed since 2010.
In related news, Mexican newspaper Vanguardia, based in the city of Saltillo, in the state of Coahuila, was the target of a hand grenade attack last week. Although many staff members were present at the time of the attack, no injuries were reported.
The attack is one of more than a dozen to directly target Mexican news facilities over the past year.
Honduras
At least three journalists have been the targets of attacks in Honduras in recent weeks.
Two of the victims — both news broadcasters — were shot to death. A third — a newspaper executive — was critically injured. Among the dead are Omega Vision television station manager Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco and Channel 24 television station owner Luis Mendoza.
Suspects have so far been arrested in only one of the cases.
Since the 2009 coup in Honduras, attacks on media professionals have increased dramatically. Supporters of deposed president Manuel Zelaya have been especially targeted, according to Freedom House, which has documented more than a dozen journalists killed over the past 18 months. Honduran authorities have only pressed charges in two of the ten murder cases that occurred in 2010.
Freedom House also reports a growing trend of self-censorship in the Honduras, where several news outlets have strayed from reporting on public affairs.
Pakistan
The body of journalist Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times bureau chief in Pakistan, was found last week shortly after his Sunday disappearance. Shortly before his death, Shahzad published a story blaming members of Al-Qaeda for a May 22 attack on a naval air station in Karachi.
Pakistan was the most dangerous country for journalists last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has documented 15 cases of journalists targeted and killed in reprisal for their work since 2002. None of the perpetrators of those crimes have been brought to justice.
Russia
In Russia last week, a suspect was indicted in the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Politkovskaya, a correspondent for the independent Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta, reported regularly on human rights abuses in Chechnya. She was murdered in October 2006 in her apartment building.
Egypt
The Committee to Protect Journalists has denounced the Egyptian military’s censorship, harassment and intimidation of several reporters critical of their leadership.
Since the armed forces took control of the country in February, CPJ reports, several journalists have been questioned about work, forced to cancel broadcasts and threatened with criminal charges if they continue to be critical of the armed forces.
In April, blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad was sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting the military” following an article he posted criticizing the military's decision-making process and lack of transparency.
“The military asserts that it is the guardian of the revolution,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “If that that's so, it should encourage, not repress, freedom of expression.”
Uganda
Timothy Kalyegira, online editor of the Uganda Record, is set to appear in court on June 30 to face charges of criminal libel.
Last year, the editor published two opinion pieces questioning whether the Ugandan government was somehow involved in a series of bombings that took place in July 2010. Somali insurgents claimed responsibility for the attacks, claiming the incidents were a response to Uganda's participation in African Union peacekeeping efforts.
Defense lawyers are challenging the legality of the charges.
Azerbaijan
Last week, independent editor Eynulla Fatullayev was released from prison after receiving a presidential pardon. Fatullayev spent the last four years behind bars on charges of defamation, terrorism, tax evasion, and drug possession. The Committee to Protect Journalists claims that the charges were fabricated in order to prevent him from publishing a series of exposés critical of the Azerbaijani government. That organization, as well as other advocates for press freedom, was part of an international effort to win Fatullayev’s release.