Archive for October, 2009
Friday, October 30th, 2009
American journalist Courtney C Radsch was fired from her post at Al Arabiya news on 5 October for uncovering breaches of safety at Emirates Airlines. Radsch had written an article on pilot fatigue in the airline. Within 24 hours of the article’s release, Radsch was made redundant. As visas are granted to foreigners on condition of employment, Radsch was given 30 days to leave the country before her visa expired. She left the country on 29 October. Journalists are discouraged from reporting on Emirates Airlines, as its chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, is also the head of the aviation authority and a member of the country’s ruling family.
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Friday, October 30th, 2009
Maria de los Ángeles González Hernández, columnist at the newspaper “El Político” has reportedly received a number of anonymous death threats by email, allegedly from local labour leaders in Xalapa, Veracruz, southern Mexico.
On 22 October, the journalist said she had received seven emails with threats against her and her family. According to Gonzalez, the threats could arise from a newspaper column in which concerns the triumph of independent workers in a contest to represent employees in negotiating the collective agreement of the sugar factory Ingenio El Potrero, managing to defeat the main union of the country, the Confederation of Workers of Mexico (CTM).
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Jagdish Grewal, founder and editor and editor of Brampton (Canada)-based newspaper “Punjabi Post” was attacked by three masked men armed with a baton and a gun outside the newspaper’s offices, on 23 October.
Mr. Grewal, who also hosts a daily Punjabi radio show, said it is highly probable that the attack was fuelled by his political views. He does not support the Khalistan movement — a separatist movement aimed at creating a Sikh homeland within India’s northern state of Punjab — and has received threats related to this and other political positions in the past.
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Public hearings into the Iraq war are set to begin on 24 November, the panel’s chairman Sir John Chilcot said today. But witnesses still do not know whether the evidence they give will ever make its way into the public domain, says Chris Ames
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
The road to greater surveillance and restrictions of liberties has been paved with good intentions from both the right and left, says Matthew Ryder. As the public mood changes, it is worth keeping this in mind
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
The pro-Kremlin youth organisation Nashi has launched a legal offensive against four European newspapers over allegations that its activists issued death threats against a journalist. Le Monde, Le Journal du Dimanche, The Independent and Frankfurter Rundschau reported that journalist Alexandr Podrabinek was the target of intensive harassment from Nashi after he wrote an article criticising the Kremlin’s attempt to rehabilitate Russia’s Soviet past.
Nashi refused this allegation and demanded a retraction or 500,000 roubles (£10,500) from all four newspapers in damages. Podrabinek also faces legal action from a World War II veteran, Viktor Semenov, and the Communist Party for his article. (RSF/Guardian)
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
The judge of the Alto Amazonas First Mixed Tribunal has initiated criminal proceedings against Acate Geovanni, director of Radio Oriente and Channel 8 TV, alleging that his coverage of a protest by indigenous people in May incited his audience to violence and public disorder.
The incident took place in Yurimaguas in northeastern Peru during protests by indigenous communities against legislative decrees over the use of land and natural resources in the Amazonian jungle. Over 30 people were killed during the protests.
According the judge, Acate used his media outlets for political ends to cause public disorder. His lawyer believes that the case represents an attempt to criminalize the editorial stance taken by Acate. (El Comercio)
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
F.M Masum, a journalist for the English-language daily The New Age, was arrested on 22 October and tortured in Dhaka. He was held by the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite crime and counterterrorist force. It is believed that his arrest and torture is in relation to The New Age having published articles linking the Rapid Action Battalion to extrajudicial executions and drug cases. Masum was freed after The New Age intervened on his behalf. (RSF)
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