World Watch Archive / April 2008
Afghanistan
Student sentenced to death for supposedly distribu
Islamic clerics in the northern Balkh region of Afghanistan have sentenced a 23 year-old journalism student to death for distributing a 'blasphemous' anti-Islamic article. Parwez Kambakhsh, a journalism student at the Balkh University, and a reporter for the local newspaper Jahan-e-Naw, both located in the town of Mazar-i-Sharif, was sentenced in late January in a closed-door trial.
He is accused of downloading the article, which discussed the Koran and rights of Islamic women, and distributing it among friends, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Charges for possible authorship of the article are also in question. Kambakhsh denies either writing or distributing the article, and plans to appeal the decision. While there have been positive signs from Afghan politicians that Kambakhsh’s death sentence will be lifted, no actual legal action has taken place.
Journalist continues to be held at US Air Force ba
An Afghan journalist working for Canadian Television continues to be held without charge at the United States' Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Jawed Ahmad has been held at the base since October 2007, but the Department of Defense says the reasons for his ongoing detention are classified and cannot be released, the New York Times reports.
He was originally arrested at a NATO base in Kandahar, and then was transferred to the U.S. base, which is suspected of being a detention facility.
Armenia
Armenia in state of crisis over recent elections
Apparent supporters of election winner Prime Minister Serzh Sargsian attacked Armenian journalists covering the country's Feb. 19 presidential elections, according to IFEX. The journalists were attempting to document election fraud taking place at eight polling stations in Yerevan, according to Human Rights Watch. Apparently police and election officials observed the assaults, but did nothing to prevent them from happening. Charges of fraud included voter intimidation, ballot-box stuffing and the use of incorrect voter's lists.
President Robert Kocarian later declared a state of emergency in Armenia March 1 due to violent clashes between government troops and opposition supporters over the recent election results. Opposition supporters claim that vote-rigging allowed Kocharian’s successor to win easily. Journalists were ordered to only cite official sources when discussing the elections, says CPJ. Several independent and opposition news websites were blocked by the government, including those for news agency A1+ and newspapers Aravot and Aikakan Zhmanak. The Armenian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was also blocked the news agency Armenia Today reported.
Azerbaijan
Journalist attacked in Baku.
Agil Khalil, a 25-year old correspondent with Azerbijan's Azadliq daily suffered a deep chest wound after he was stabbed on March 13.
Azadliq claims the attack is related to Khalil's reports of investigating possible corruption in Baku.
The attack is the latest in a string of incidents targeting non-state media in Azerbijan, and comes days after the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report noted “significant deterioration” in the country's media freedom.
Khalil was beaten by two men in late February, after attempting to photograph the ruin of an olive grove on land that a local businessman wanted to build a private villa.
Azer Ahmedov, Azadliq technical director said Khalil received threats after filing a complaint with local police.
“For the past 10-15 days, Agil had been receiving phone calls from people threatening him or attempting to blackmail him,” Ahmedov told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “He was also being followed. He told us, after he was attacked that he recognized one of his assailants.”
Less than a week prior to Khalil's attack, Azadliq editor Ganimat Zahidov was sentenced by a Baku court to four years in prison for “aggravated hooliganism” and “assault and battery” linked to an incident in 2007 in which he was confronted by a stranger.
Azerbaijani officials have denied any connection to the attack.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s first freedom of information act was
Bangladesh’s first freedom of information act was drafted March 11 and is in the early stages of becoming a bill. The Right to Information Ordinance identifies 27 articles, and requires an information commission, which will have the power to fine and punish if information is not provided within time constraints. The ordinance was drafted by an eight-member committee headed by the joint secretary to the development wing of the information ministry, Kamal Uddin Ahmed and included a representative from the NGO Manusher Jonno Foundation.
The ordinance lists several exemptions to providing information, including state security, dignity, foreign policy, defense, commerce or trade interests, income tax and disclosures counter to public interest.
The ordinance draft was posted online, allowing the general public to provide feedback. Some, including The Daily Star, say the number of exemptions is too high. Changes to the draft have been suggested before passing the bill to parliament.
Bangladesh is one of 12 British Commonwealth countries without freedom of information laws. Democratic governments have been in place since 1991, but some laws, such as the Official Secrets Act of 1923, still limits the free dispersion of information.
Belarus
Independent Belarusian journalists face government
Two journalists from Nasha Niva an independent weekly, were harmed after attending a rally on March 25th, by opponents of current president Alexander Lukashenko that honored the 90th anniversary of the Belarusian People's Republic. Andrei Lyankevich and Syamyon Pechanko were detained and beaten by police. The later were charged with organizing the rally by the district court in Minsk and sentenced to 15 days in jail.
Raids of independent journalists' homes in various Belarusian towns by the Belarusian Security Service have also occurred, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reports. They were looking for “defamatory information” about the president by Polish-based broadcasters Belsat, Radio Raciya and European Radio from which they confiscated various media materials. The raids were related to a 2005 case that involved the publishing of satirical cartoons of the president on a pro-democracy Web site in Belarus It is a crime to “defame” the president and can be punishable by law. This is one of the many obstacles independent journalists face when trying to publish their work in the country.
Belarussian journalist jailed and then released ov
The Belarusian supreme court ruled in Jan. 2008 that Alexander Sdvizhkov, deputy editor of a former weekly newspaper in Minsk, is guilty of “inciting racial or religious hatred” for printing controversial cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in this newspaper, Zgoda. The cartoons were the same as those that incited riots when published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in 2005. The newspaper's management withdrew the newspaper edition with the offensive cartoons before all of them were distributed, yet the newspaper's offices were raided and shut down in March 2006, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Sdvizhkov fled to Russia but was arrested on his return in November 2007. He was sentenced to three years in jail in January but was freed in February because he had already served the reduced three-month term that the supreme court had changed. The sentence was reduced for various reasons, said Sdvizhkov's lawyer, including his and his mother's failing health, and his model behavior in prison. According to IFEX, his early release also may have been motivated by the recent passing of a resolution by the European Parliament, criticizing Belarusian authorities for their politically motivated imprisonments, including Sdvizhkov’s.
Central African Republic
The editor of a Central African Republic weekly ne
The editor of a Central African Republic weekly newspaper was sentenced to sixth months in prison Jan. 28. Faustin Bambou, editor of Les Collines de l’Oubangui was found guilty by the Bangui Magistrates’ Court for inciting revolt, abuse and defamation, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In a December 2007 article, Bambou reported that two Central African Republic ministers had taken 7 billion CFA francs (US $16million) in illegal commissions from a French company, according to local journalists. CPJ reported the embezzled money was earmarked to cover the salaries of civil servants.
CPJ condemns the sentence and believes that the ruling should be overturned. “The Central African Republic’s court ruling defies its own laws, which decriminalized press offenses three years ago,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “We call on the court to hear Faustin Bambou’s appeal immediately and overturn this faulty ruling.”
According to CPJ, Bambou was the second Central African Republic journalist sent to prison for his work since the country decriminalized press relations in 2005. In July 2003 Bambou was pressed by police to reveal his sources from a story, which claimed that a local businessman tried to extort the government, according to CPJ research.
China
China frees two journalists but jails another
The Chinese government freed two journalists in the past two weeks, yet the arrests continue. A Hong Kong journalist was released by the Chinese government Feb. 6 after serving two years in a Guangdong Province jail for charges of spying. Ching Cheong, a journalist for the Straits Times of Singapore, was sentenced in 2006 for supposedly selling state secrets to Taiwan through a foundation acting as a front for the country's espionage agency. The Xinhua News Agency said the government released him early because he confessed to more espionage of which the government was previously unaware, says the New York Times.
Yu Huafeng, former president of a liberal newspaper in Guangzhou, Nanfang Dushi Bao, was released from prison two days after Cheong, reports Reporters Without Borders. Yu was arrested in Jan. 2004 along with the newspaper's managing editor, Li Minying, and were both charged with corruption. The organization reports that Yu was set up by local officials for publishing anti-government articles. Since then, Yu's sentence had been reduced from the original twelve to seven due to multiple appeals.
Hu Jia, a dissendent journalist, was not so lucky. Dragged from his home by Chinese state police last week, he was charged with inciting subversion. Along with his wife, Hu protested China's human rights abuses by blogging about them online during their house arrests.
Croatia
On February 13, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
On February 13, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Croatia correspondent received a death threat. Drago Hedl, a 13-year RFE/RL investigative reporter was threatened because of his reporting about the trial of a suspected Croatian war criminal.
According to RFE/RL, Hedl said that he received several threatening phone calls in recent weeks and these acts of intimidation are attempts to stop his reporting.
“I will not give up,” Hedl said. “I will continue to tell the truth about the war crimes in Osijek and those responsible for the killings of civilians.”
For the past two years, Hedl has reported on the murder of Serb civilians in Osijek during the 1990s war. He has received many awards for his work, including The Knight International Journalism Award given by The International Center for Journalists.
Cuba
Cuban Foreign Minister signs covenant protecting f
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Feb. 28 that would allow more freedom of expression in addition to other human rights. Article 19 of the covenant specifically addresses freedom of expression, extending to the actions of seeking, receiving, and imparting information through any form. The minister added however that there would be additional provisions to the covenant by the government. There are currently 22 independent journalists in jail in Cuba, CPJ says, and adds that they should be released in accordance with the covenant.
Denmark
Danish newspapers reprint Mohammad cartoon; protes
On. Feb. 13 several Danish newspapers republished the cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad that caused international controversy more than two years ago. The cartoon, drawn by Jyllands-Posten cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, shows the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb in his turban.
The reprint was a response to the discovery of a plot by three Muslims to kill Westergaard. Reuters reports five daily newspapers, more than 10 smaller papers and one Swedish daily printed the cartoon to show solidarity.
Artistic representations of the prophet are considered offensive by most Muslims. After the cartoon was printed in 2005, Danish embassies were attacked in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and over 50 people were killed in riots.
Danish Muslims marched in the streets of Copenhagen in protest. Nearly 5% of the Danish population is Muslim.
Social workers think the reprinted cartoon may have helped fuel eight nights of riots that broke out in Copenhagen and spread to other cities. No official reason has been given for the riots, which involve youth, many with immigrant backgrounds. More than 25 people have been arrested for vandalism, which began Feb. 10. Reuters reports 28 cars and 35 garbage trucks were burned during the Copenhagen riots.
France
Le Monde annouces job cuts
French Newspaper, Le Monde, proposed 130 job cuts, mostly in the newsroom, to curtail financial losses in a staff meeting April 4th.
Losses for 2007 were reported at 20 million euros, adding to a total debt of 150 million euros, according to Reuters.
Le Monde hopes to get back in the black by 2010. The plan includes voluntary redundancy and forced layoffs, Chief Executive Eric Fottorino wrote in a public statement on Le Monde’s web site.
Unions have deemed the planned cuts unacceptable. Groupe Le Monde journalists have a blocking stake in the company and are able to veto the vote. If vetoed, financial relief would come from media conglomerate Lagardere, weakening holdings.
Daily circulation of the afternoon paper was estimated at 310,000 in 2007, higher than in 2006, but still short of generating profit.
Public TV and radio stations go on strike, Preside
About a dozen state TV and radio stations went on a 24-hour strike Feb. 13, the biggest strike in the industry since 1974, Reuters reports.
Radio stations dropped their news programs and played music, and TV stations ran a banner on the bottom.
The strike was in response to President Nicolas Sarkozy's announced plan to ban advertisements from the public broadcasting industry. Broadcast unions were unsure that the plan would deliver enough income.
The annual loss is estimated to be 1.2 billion euros or $1.75 billion, according to the Agence France-Presse. Sarkozy's proposed making up the loss with a tax on private channels and new technology, such as the Internet and mobile phones.
Sarkozy announced Feb. 17 that a commission will be created to evaluate current and future proposals. The commission will be composed of members of parliament and will report its findings by the end of May.
President Sarkozy sets lawsuit precedent
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has filed a criminal lawsuit against Le Nouvel Observateur magazine for an article published on its web site Feb. 6. The article was titled “The obsession with Cecilia” and claimed that Sarkozy texted his ex-wife Cecilia a week before marrying former model Carla Bruni, according to Reuters.
The text message reported in the nouvelobs.com article said, “If you return, I will cancel everything,” Sarkozy’s laqyer Thierry Herzog told French newspaper Le Parisien that the president never sent the message. Le Nouvel Observateur editorAiry Routier stands by the report.
This is the first criminal suit filed by a French president and the first lawsuit of a president against the media in 30 years, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The maximum sentence for the charge of forgery is three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Sarkozy and Bruni won a civil lawsuit against British airline Ryanair for an advertisement featuring their picture without their consent.
Gambia
Reporter is still detained Gambia
Five members of Gambia’s military or police force failed to appear at a scheduled hearing regarding the disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh, a former reporter for the Daily Observer. Three military officials and two police officers were scheduled to appear on March 1 before the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria.
Judgment of Manneh’s case was originally scheduled on Jan. 31, 2007, according to Foroyaa newspaper and several proceedings have since been delayed. Manneh went missing in July 2006 after he was arrested for passing “damaging” information to a foreign journalist, who wrote an article critical of the Gambian government.
According to the International Press Institute, Manneh was last seen at a Gambia hospital in July 2006 and the Gambian government says it is unaware of Manneh’s status.
The Media Foundation for West Africa filed suit over Manneh’s disappearance in June 2007. It has requested a court order to require the Gambian government to release Chief Manneh and compensate him, considering his detention violates the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
The Gambia Press Union (GPU) has expressed shock over the long detention of its colleague.
Madi Ceesay, President of the GPU told Foroyaa that Manneh is the longest ever detained journalist in Gambia.
Iran
Radio Farda journalist sentenced for “disseminatin
Parnaz Azima, an Iranian-American journalist, was sentenced in abstentia to a one-year jail sentence by Tehran’s 13th Revolutionary Court on March 1. She was accused of disseminating propaganda against Iran through her work at Radio Farda, co-operator Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said. Her plight began in Jan. 2007, when Azima’s passport was confiscated upon her arrival in the country. Four months later, she was charged by the Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court’s public prosecutor’s office for several offences, including propaganda. After posting over half a million dollars in bail, she was given back her passport in September, and left Iran for Prague where she still resides. She plans to appeal the decision, but if she loses, she must decide between losing her mother’s home which she put up as collateral for her bail, or returning to Iran to serve her jail sentence.
Iraq
CBS journalist freed in Basra
CBS News journalist Richard Butler was rescued by Iraqi forces April 13 – two months after being captured by gunmen.
Iraqi police entered a house in Basra’s Jibiliya section to search for illegal weapons as part of a nation-wide military sweep. They found Butler seated with a hood over his head and his hands tied behind his back, according to BBC News.
Butler appeared to be in good condition and has said he was not mistreated while held captive.
Butler and his Iraqi interpreter were kidnapped at the Sultan Palace Hotel in Basra Feb. 10, CBS News reported. The translator was freed soon after. CBS News did not release the names of both men for their protection during negotiations with their captors.
AP photographer released from U.S. custody
Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein was released from U.S. custody April 16. Hussein, an Iraqi, was seized April 12, 2006, on suspicion of aiding insurgents.
At the time, the Anbar province where he was arrested was threatened by a Sunni Arab insurgency, Reuters reports. Hussein was suspected of possessing bomb-making materials and agreeing to photograph insurgent explosions aimed at security officials, according to a U.S. military statement. The U.S. military released Hussein after reviewing the status of his case and deciding he no longer posed a security threat.
Hussein was based in Fallujah and one of his photos was part of an AP photo package that won a 2005 Pulitzer Prize award.
Eight other journalists are being detained by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to estimates by The Committee to Protect Journalists.
Two CBS journalists abducted in Basra
Two CBS journalists were abducted in the southern city of Basra Feb. 10. CBS News did not release the identities of the journalists out of concern for their safety, according to a public statement.
Iraqi police sources say the journalist and his interpreter were taken by gunpoint from the Qasr al-Sultan hotel, The New York Times reports.
Negotiators reached a deal with the kidnappers to release the captives Feb. 13, according to Reuters. The interpreter was released. The British journalist is still being held by unknown kidnappers. According to Shi'ite militia officials, the journalist is in good health and will be freed as soon as a time and place is decided.
Three journalists have been abducted in Basra since 2004, according to CPJ.
Head of Iraq’s journalist union killed
The head of Iraq’s national journalists' union died Feb. 27 from gunshot wounds after gunmen opened fire on his car four days earlier. Shihab al-Tamimi, 74, was shot in the face, chest and shoulder, according to Reuters.
Tamimi is an independent journalist for several newspapers, well-known for his opposing views of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Tamimi’s son, who was driving the car, was also wounded. Relatives have called the attack an assassination attempt.
Ireland
Four BBC journalists were arrested in County Doneg
Four BBC journalists were arrested in County Donegal during an Irish police anti-terrorist operation March 16. The journalists were meeting leaders in the dissident republican group Real IRA, the Guardian reports. The journalists were working on a program about the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement for the BBC Northern Ireland program Spotlight, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
Recent intelligence reports say Real IRA has imported Russian made rocket-propelled grenades north of Ireland. Members of the underground organization shot two off-duty police officers in Northern Ireland last November, vowing to increase violent attacks. Security had been on high alert due to the Queen’s visit to Belfast later in the week.
The four men were held in the county jail to investigate “ongoing paramilitary activities” and released the next day. The journalists have since received death threats from dissident republicans groups, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
Israel
Reuters Cameraman Killed in Gaza
Fadel Shana, a Reuters cameraman was killed by a tank shell April 16 in Gaza. According to the International Press Institute (IPI), Shana was killed near the Al Bureij refugee camp seconds after he left his vehicle to film an Israeli tank ‘dug in’ several hundred meters away. Shana’s colleague Wafa Abu Mizyed, a Reuters soundman, suffered a shrapnel wound during the attack.
Doctors at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital examined Shana and concluded that flechette darts fired from an Israeli tank shell caused his death. Reuters reported x-rays displayed showed several of the flechettes embedded in Shana’s chest and legs, while several more were found in his flak jacket.
According to The Guardian, Shana and Mizyed parked their vehicle approximately 200 meters short of Gaza’s main north-south Salahadin Road when the attack occurred. Both had been touring Gaza to report on the violence occurring there.
The Geneva Conventions 1977 Protocols state that journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in conflict areas are civilians, therefore are entitled to protection against dangers from military operations, including the right to not be a focus point of an attack.
As of April 17, the Israeli military did not comment on any impending investigation into the attack. An Israeli military official expressed “sorrow” for Shana’s death yet said the area was one of “ongoing fighting against armed, extreme and dangerous terrorist organizations on a daily basis. The presence of media, photographers and other uninvolved individuals in areas of warfare is extremely dangerous and poses a threat to their lives.” The Guardian reported that the Israeli military said that all of its weapons “are legal under international law.”
The Hamas government’s internal security services
The Hamas government’s internal security services detained a Palestinian newspaper bureau chief. Munir Abu Rizq, Gaza bureau chief for the daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida was arrested Jan. 15, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Local journalists told CPJ that Abu Rizq was accused of deliberately publishing fabricated news against Hamas. CPJ reports that Al-Hayat al-Jadida was warned months ago to change its editorial lines toward Hamas.
“We are troubled that a journalist has been held without charge by Hamas authorities and fear he is being punished for working at Al-Hayat al-Jadida,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “We call on authorities to charge Munir Abu Rizq with a recognizable offense or release him at once.”
According to CPJ, Abu Rizq is the second person affiliated with Al-Hayat al-Jadida to be arrested by Hamas.
Japan
Lawsuit to restore journalists' innoncence
An attempt to clear the names of several journalists convicted of promoting communism in the 1940s was denied March 13, The Japan Times reports. Over 60 journalists and editors were charged with violating the now-defunct Peace Preservation Law in connection with a democracy-advocating magazine article in the Kaizo (Reform) magazine.
Relatives of five deceased journalists filed a lawsuit to restore the journalists’ innocence. The men were found guilty of being involved in communist advertising and sentenced to two years in prison. Their relatives claim the guilty confessions were obtained through torture. They have been actively pursuing a retrial since 1986.
Kyrgystan
Kyrgyz authorities shut down Saipov murder investi
The Krygyz Interior Ministry's Investigative Committee has shut down the investigation into the murder of Alisher Saipov, former editor of the Uzbek-language weekly Siyosat, last October, yet again, according to Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ was informed by Saipov's family that this decision had been made by the committee because of “the inability to identify a suspect.” In February, a spokesman for the ministry has given conflicting information however, stating the reason the investigation has been stopped two suspected individuals had not been captured and no new evidence had been found. The following week the new Interior Minister Molodomusa Kongantiyev said the case would be reopened.
Malaysia
Journalist arrested for asking too many questions
Over 50 people were arrested during a protest rally against rising costs of fuel and other consumer goods at the Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur Jan. 26. Journalist Syed Jaymal Zahiid, a correspondent for the Malaysian news website Malaysiakini.com, was held for “asking too many questions,” according to The Star (Malaysia). He was charged with obstruction of a police officer, which carries a sentence of two yeares in prison and possible fines.
According to Jaymal, he identified himself as a journalist and was asking police why they were arresting the protesters.
Jaymal was released on bail after two days in police custody, during which he was beaten and assaulted, according to Malaysiakini editor K. Kabilan. Reports of alleged assault and illegal detention have been since filed.
Malaysiakini is a daily independent news organization, separate from the majority print and broadcast media that require licensing from the government or are owned by political parties.
Mexico
Photographer Gabriel Huge Córdoba was detained and
Members of the Mexican Federal Preventive Police (PFP) detained and assaulted photographer Gabriel Huge Córdoba on Feb. 25 after he sought to cover a fatal car accident involving police in Veracruz, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports.
Huge works for Veracruz-based daily Notiver as a crime photographer. He was among several local journalists at the scene of an accident involving a PFP convoy. PFP officers told reporters to leave but Huge stayed in a side street taking pictures. There the officers grabbed him, hit him with a riffle butt and took him away in a pick up truck.
He was driven around for several hours and repeatedly kicked in when he was taken to the Veracruz State Prosecutor’s office to be charged with insulting authorities.
The list of cases of illegal detentions and other acts of aggression against journalists have been increasing at an alarming rate reports the International Freedom of Expression eXchange.
Huge was later released and he is planning to file a formal complaint with the general prosecutor and to local human rights authorities.
Myanmar
Government hikes satellite fees, suspends newspape
The Myanmar government decided to dramatically increase satellite license fees from $5 to $800. The new fee took effect immediately, but residents were not notified of the change, the Associated Press reported. Most people will not be able to afford the new fee, deciding either to stop receiving the service or illegally obtain it.
People in Myanmar depend on satellite dishes to receive international news, which is banned by the military government.
The government also suspended publication of The Myanmar Times for one week because of articles that were published on the front page. One of them was about the increased satellite fees. The weekly newspaper was not given permission to print the article.
All Myanmar media are required to submit articles to the Press Scrutiny Board for review before printing. Editor-in-chief Ross Dunkley stood by the paper’s decision to print.
He told CPJ that approximately 20 percent of the articles presented to the board each week are rejected.
Two journalists arrested
Myanmar Nation magazine editor Thet Zin and office manager Sein Win Maung were arrested Feb. 15. Police searched the magazine office, retrieved documents and arrested the journalists without giving a reason, the Associated Press reports. Authorities also suspended publication of the magazine and lifted the suspension Feb. 28.
The journalists were held at Thingangyun prison for 10 days, charged with illegal publishing and printing and transferred to Insein prison.
Among the items taken are cell phones, documents, videos of anti-government protests, poems and a report on the country by a senior U.N. official.
Myanmar Nation is a small private magazine, published weekly with a small circulation.
Nepal
Media must follow election code of conduct
Several state-owned media organizations have broken the election code of conduct, according to The Kathmandu Post. Public and private media organizations must refrain from reporting news in a “prejudiced manner” and “biased for or against any party or its candidate” during the election season.
State-owned Radio Nepal, Nepal Television, the Gorkhapatra Daily and The Rising Nepal were accused of deliberately breaking the code.
The Election Commission asked officials of the offending organizations to adhere to the code, but the Nepali Congress has demanded stronger action by the commission and the Maoist leadership.
The code aims to prevent news organizations from supporting a particular party or spreading rumors. The code went into effect March 9 and all media organizations must observe a “silence period” from 48 hours before voting begins April 10.
Eastern presses stalled
Strikes by members of the Mahadhesis ethnic group stopped the presses in eastern Nepal Feb. 22. AsiaMedia reports six daily and six weekly newspapers in the district of Jhapa were shut down indefinitely due to a shortage of supplies and difficulties in distribution.
The United Democratic Mahadhesi Front has been carrying out a general strike in the Terai region since Feb. 13, affecting transportation, businesses and schools.
Protesters attacked the press and publication during the strikes and obstructed distribution of information, according to Nepal News. Several newspaper editors met with the agitators Feb. 21 to bring back supplies and guarantee the safety of journalists. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists chapter in Jhapa postponed their convention for the second time due to the effects of the strikes.
The UDMF party, which says it represents about half of the 27 million population, demands more participation in government decisions. The party says the southern plains region is underrepresented.
In April Nepal will hold its first elections since a 10-year insurgency with Maoist Communist party of Nepal ended in 2006. The UDMF has not entered candidates in the election, but the government has extended the deadline.
The International Press Institute opened a Press Freedom Monitoring Centre in Kathmandu Feb. 12. The center will monitor press freedom and freedom of expression in the months leading up to the election and try to increase international awareness of press violations in Nepal.
Pakistan
Pakistani journalist killed
The Pakistan Federation of Journalists Union and the Associated Press of Pakistan report that anonymous gunmen on motorbikes shot journalist Khadim Hussain Sheikh while he was leaving his home also by motorbike in Hub, a town north of Karachi in the volatile Baluchistan province. Sheikh's brother was also on the motorcycle during the shooting and received gunshot wounds. The country's Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman has opened an investigation for the murder. Sheikh was a stringer for Sindh TV and local bureau chief for the national Urdu daily Khabrein. Two other journalists have been murdered in the Baluchistan province so far this year.
Pakistan on way to lifting media restrictions on i
Members of Pakistan's newly elected government introduced a bill to Parliament on April 11 that would lift restrictions on independent media in the country previously imposed by President Musharaff. The bill would repeal measures such as confiscating equipment, stopping live coverage, and heavy fines television journalists could incur for defaming the president or the army. Musharraf was initially known as a champion of independent media when he first took power in 1999, but clamped down after they began condemning his policies, the New York Times reports.
Journalists in Pakistan face bodily harm
One journalist have been beaten and one shot to death in Pakistan within the past two weeks, according to IFEX. Aoun Sahi, a journalist of the News in Daska, Punjab province and his brother Ali Muslim, were beaten by police Feb. 5. The beatings started after Sahi showedpolice his press card after being stopped in the town of Sialkot during their travel on his motorcycle. The two were then taken to the police station where they received further beatings. The police chief of the town has suspended the two responsible police officers, and an investigation is being held.
Russia
Two Russian journalists killed
Two Russian journalists were found killed on March 21 according to Russian news sources. Both were responsible for covering the North Caucasus region.
Journalist Ilyas Shurpayev was found stabbed and strangled in his Moscow apartment. The suspects are two male visitors he admitted into his apartment the night of the murder around 2 a.m., according to his building's concierge. Shurpayev had recently moved to Moscow from his native Dagestan in the North Caucasus where he was a correspondent for Channel One, the Russian state television station. He had also previously worked in Dagestan for NTV, another state owned channel. The Investigative Committee of Russia's Prosecutor General's office has opened a criminal case into the murder, investigating Shurpayev's “private matters” and journalism for motive, the deceased's former employer Channel One stated.
News agency RIA Novosti reported that Gadzhi Abashilov, head of the state radio and television company Dagestan, was found shot dead in his car the same day in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. The Prosecutor General's office has also taken an interest in this case, with Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika heading the investigation himself. Chaika was the same prosecutor general in control of the murder investigation of journalist Anna Politskovskaya.
Slandering the President is now an "extremist
In a new effort to exert media control, the Russian government has taken an anti-extremist law to new heights. The law, initially meant to curtail extremist activities by groups such as Skinheads and ultranationalists, has been transformed into a weapon used against those critical of the government. An amendment added by President Putin in July 2006 now makes slandering a politician an extremist act. During two weeks in January, there were two new victims of this amendment.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Voice of Beslan, a group of mothers and survivors from the Beslan school siege in 2004, has become a target under this amendment. The group asserts that the government greatly mishandled the siege, with their troops causing further mortality than necessary. Furthermore, the group has asked the United States to conduct an independent investigation into the siege. Magomed Aushev, acting city prosecutor in Nazran, has charged Voice of Beslan with extremism under this new law based on their complaint.
In the northeastern Russian city of Vladimir, prosecutors have also opened a case against TV-6, a local TV station, for using a slang of President Putin's name, according to IFEX. On Nov. 30 of last year, reporter Sergei Golovinov used the word “Putting,” which plays upon the Russian word for rally, 'mitting,' and called the President's supporters Putinists. A local politician filled a complaint with the town's regional prosecutor's office. In follow up research, Nizhny Novogrod Linguistic University, a state run institution, found the words to be “insulting” to the President. Golovinov said these terms are in common use by the public and the media.
Police raid two Russian newspapers for counterfeit
Police raided two newspapers in Russia in one week for supposedly using counterfeit computer software, according to CPJ. Police in the southern Russian town of Togliatti stormed Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye, a local independent weekly, on Feb. 1. The policemen, members of the high tech crimes section of the local department, confiscated the newspaper's computers because of supposed use of pirated software. The staff, however, believe they were targeted because of their endorsement of the opposition candidate in the town's upcoming March 2 mayoral elections. The candidate, Sergey Andreyev, has been openly critical of President's Putin's party, United Russia. On Feb. 6, the publishing office of Minuty Veka, a weekly newspaper, was raided by St. Petersburg police for the same reason. All six of their computers were seized, and the publishing of the newspaper has since ceased. The newspaper's predecessor, Novy Petersburg, had been shut down by city prosecutors in November of last year for obstruction of justice and defamation charges. Its editor, Nikolai Andrushchenko, is still in jail since his arrest the same month.
Police in Russia's Ingushetia Region Harm Jou
Ingueshetia's regional police harmed Russian journalists covering Jan. 26 opposition protests by Ingushetians in the regional capital of Nazran, CPJ reports. The group was protesting government corruption, killings and arrests, and demanding the resignation of President Murat Zyazikov. Nine journalists and two human rights activists were detained at the local police station, and two of the journalists were beaten.
The journalists were either released or later deported out of the region. Journalists were from St. Petersburg-based Channel 5, Moscow-based radio station Ekho Moskvy, Novaya Gazeta, the Russian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, RIA-Novosti, and Moscow-based weekly Zhizn za Nedelyu.
Russian Union of Journalists in jeopardy
The Russian Union of Journalists may be forced to shut down due to pressure by Russian political bosses and the Russian government to vacate their premises. According to International Federation of Journalists, there has been pressure on the organization over the past year by state agencies to evict them from their current location that they have occupied for almost 30 years.
The organization, Russia’s largest NGO, said they were told the reason for the eviction is the lack of building safety. The government has also been attempting to sell the building to a private owner to kick the organization out from its location. IFJ believes the reason this treatment began was due to the criticism the Russian government received for the treatment of journalists during the World Congress of Journalists it held in June of last year.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi cleric condemns two of the country's jo
Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdul-Rahaman al-Barrak has released a fatwa on March 14 against two of the country's journalists for writing “heretical articles” that defy the Sunni Muslim belief that members of other religions who do not accept Muhammad as God's messenger are unbelievers. The two articles were written by journalists Yousef Aba al-Khail and Abdullah bin Bejad in the daily Al-Riyadh. The Sheikh has demanded their deaths if they did not repent their statements. None of this news was covered in Saudi print media, according to CPJ.
Senegal
Reporter attacked covering protest
Senegalese police attacked a reporter on March 30, who was covering a violent anti-government protest and raided the reporter’s television station later the same day. According to Reuters, Walf TV broadcasted images of police beating demonstrators during a protest attended by approximately one hundred people over high food prices near Dakar, Senegal’s capital.
Walf TV reporter Ousmane Mangane told the Committee to Protect Journalists that riot police used tasers on him while he interviewed an opposition member of Senegal’s cabinet on live television.
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Mangane was beaten with a baton as he confronted a parliamentarian being pushed by the police during the protest.
Two officials from the police’s Criminal Investigation Division arrived at Walf’s studios at approximately 5:30 p.m. local time and demanded the station hand over the footage, according to Walf TV Programs Director Aissatou Diop Fall.
Reuters reported three protestors were arrested, including the head of the Association of Senegalese Consumers, the organization that organized the march.
Several other journalists were also attacked by police during the protest, according to MFWA. One reporter’s press card was destroyed and another was forced to delete photos he had taken of the protest.
South Korea
Cross-media ownership may be possible for newspape
President Lee Myung-bak said on April 4 he would implement a “press-friendly policy” as part of new legislation set to increase media autonomy. He did not say when this law would be drafted.
The new law will replace the former Newspaper Law enacted in 2005, which prevented print media from owning shares of broadcast media and prohibited broadcast companies from infringing on other organizations’ territory. The Newspaper Law received criticism for allowing monopolistic newspapers to drive smaller newspapers out of the market, Kim Joo-eun, general secretary of the Korea Commission for the Press, told The Korea Times. Parts of the law were ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in 2006; however, the law remains.
Myung-bak said the new legislation would consider advances in technology, especially media convergence. He also said the law will improve financial problems newspapers have been facing in the past few decades. The newspaper legislation was part of Myung-bak’s presidential campaign. He began his presidency Feb. 25.
Sudan
Two Sudanese editors were detained Feb. 18 over pu
Al-Watan editor in chief Sid Ahmed Khalifa was questioned by the Khartoum state security prosecutor’s office about an article Khalifa published about changes in the Sudanese police force. Police also detained Al-Ahdath editor in chief Adil al-Baz for questioning. According to Committee to Protect Journalists, both editors were held overnight and released the next morning.
“We are troubled by the detention of Sid Ahmed Khalifa and Adil al-Baz,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “Such actions are designed to intimidate journalists, and prevent coverage of the security forces, which are a subject of public interest.”Reuters reported that Sudanese journalists protested the editors’ detention and more than 50 colleagues traveled to the National Press and Publications Council, Sudan’s official press regulator, on Tuesday to deliver a protest petition.
Taiwan
Taiwanese journalists ask U.N. for press credentia
Politicians and media advocacy groups are urging the United Nations to allow Taiwanese press access to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), the world’s largest health policy-setting body.
Taiwan is not a U.N. member nation; therefore, the U.N. does not allow Taiwanese journalists to report on WHA events.
Taiwanese news organizations have applied for and been denied press credentials every year since 2004, according to the Taipei Times. Taiwan has applied for U.N. observer status – participation in WHA without voting rights – for the past 11 years. In 2007, the government applied to become a full WHO member but was turned down.
Taiwan plans to apply for observer status and media organizations will try to gain access again this year, according to Radio Taiwan International. China opposes the bid since it claims Taiwan as territory and WHO recognition would mark Taiwan as an independent state. The U.S. also opposes the application because it only recognizes statehood.
The 2008 WHA will begin in Geneva on May 19.
Turkey
Two journalists are facing investigation for caric
The Turks, Musa Kart and Zafer Temocin both work for the Turkish daily Cumhurryet. They are facing criminal proceedings for caricatures that are deemed to have breached Turkish legislation criminalizing insults to the President.
In the cartoon drawn by Kart, the president is depicted as a scarecrow in a cornfield meanwhile Temocin pictures the President sitting in a money-filled envelope held by an Arabian prince.
If both of them are successfully prosecuted, they face four years imprisonment.
David Dadge, IPI director urged the Turkish authorities to drop all the charges, adding “At the time when the international community is encouraging the Turkish government to ease its restrictions on freedom of expression, it appears that it may be moving in the opposite direction.”
United States
USA Today journalist appeal has been upheld
Toni Locy’s, a former USA Today journalist, appeal has been upheld according to the Reporters Without Borders.
Locy was ordered to pay a $500 fine a day until she reveals her sources by Federal Judge Reggie Walton.
Walton ruled that Locy had to pay the fine because she did not name her sources for stories in 2002 when she wrote about a former army scientist as a suspect in a series of anthrax attacks.
The judge banned anyone to pay on her behalf and the fines would have increased to $5000 by April 3. If she still had not agreed to name her sources by then judge Walton would have ordered her imprisonment.
USA Today published two articles in 2002 under Locy’s byline concerning scientist Steven J. Hatfill and the late 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States.
Hatfill, who was never charged with a crime, is suing the U.S. Justice Department, citing the federal Privacy Act and accusing U.S. officials of leaking information about him to journalists who identified Hatfill as a “person of interest” in a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into the anthrax attacks, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports.
Venezuela
Police in Ospino shot at three Venezuelan journali
Police in Ospino shot at three Venezuelan journalists during a demonstration by businessmen Feb. 19. The police used violence to break up the demonstration wounding over 40 people including the mayor of Ospino, according to International Freedom of Expression eXchange. The journalists who came to interview the wounded people were then shot at by the orders of an unidentified police major.
Journalist Iliana Arias of the newspaper Diario Cantaclaro was not hurt but Carlos Quintero and Neiber Guillen from Portuguesa Televisión were beaten by police. Arias tried to flee the scene after hearing the police order to shoot. Police chased her and shot at her car. She then ran into a house to hide where the police could not find her.
Quientero was thrown to the ground and beaten and the police officer also pointed a gun at his face. Guillen’s camera was taken away but he could later recover it from the police station.
Vietnam
Journalist and activist released from prison
Novelist and journalist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was released from prison following a closed court hearing in Hanoi Jan. 31. Foreign journalists were not allowed to attend the one-day, sudden trial.
The dissident writer was convicted of “causing public disorder” and sentenced to nine months for breaking the penal code, the Associated Press reports. She was then released from jail for having previously served out her sentence.
Thuy was arrested April 21, originally for distributing information harmful to the state. While imprisoned, Thuy was not allowed visits or letters and preexisting medical conditions worsened after sleeping on the cement floor of her cell during colder winter months, according to Human Rights Watch.
She is the author of several novels and political essays, as well as an editor for a dissident newsletter To Quoc (Fatherland) Review. In 2007 Human Rights Watch honored her with a Hellman/Hammett grant recognizing courage while facing political persecution.
Two other dissidents were sentenced Jan. 29 to six years in prison for circulating pamphlets against the government. The Vietnamese government has been cracking down on those who challenge its one-party government, according to the AP.
Yemen
News sites blocked by government
Three Yemeni news web sites were blocked by a government-controlled internet service provider Jan. 19. YemenPortal, YemenHurr and Hour’s News became unavailable to domestic readers, while the sites remained intact outside of the country, English weekly newspaper The Yemen Times reports.
YemenPortal.net, a popular Yemeni news aggregator, displayed the following message on its page: “YemenPortal.net is currently blocked by the authorities and hence is not accessible to the public in Yemen.” YemenPortal founder and administrator Walid Al-Saqaf told CPJ he believes the site was blocked because it posted video footage of national security forces firing at a crowd of protesters in Aden Jan. 13.
The Ministry of Telecommunications denies blocking the web sites, but has not given possible reasons for the incident.
YemenPortal was the first news crawler and search engine in the Arab world, according to the Yemen Times, designed to search and present governmental, international, Arab, and independent news.
Al-Saqqaf has gathered support from other web sites to begin a campaign to pressure the government to stop blocking web sites. The group has set up alternative links to blocked sites that can be accessed in Yemen, for the time being.
Zimbabwe
New York Times correspondent was detained
A New York Times correspondent was detained by Zimbabwe police in Harare April 3. Pulitzer-Prize –winning New York Times reporter Barry Bearak was accused of practicing journalism without accreditation, national police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told Agence France-Presse.
The Times released a statement, which said the police detained Bearak, a Johannesburg-based reporter who was in Zimbabwe to cover the country’s presidential election. A U.S. consular official told Executive Editor Bill Keller that Bearak was being held for a “violation of the journalism laws.” According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Zimbabwe has one of the world’s most restrictive journalist accreditation laws.
The Media Institute of South Africa reported a large group of police descended on York Lodge, a hotel where several foreign journalists had been staying. According to the International Press Institute (IPI), Bearak was one of six people taken into custody by Zimbabwean police during the raid. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) correspondent Adrienne Arsenault said that she was also briefly detained by police on the same day. IPI reported that police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed that two reporters were arrested at the hotel and said that they were practicing journalism without proper accreditation.
CPJ reported March 27 that the Zimbabwean government used its journalist accreditation law, known as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to prevent most international media outlets from covering the country’s elections.