Posts Tagged ‘defamation’
January 25th, 2012
Radio journalist Johnny Alberto Salazar has been found guilty of
libelling a lawyer, he is the first journalist to be jailed for defamation in the
Dominican Republic. Salazar made comments on his radio station about local murders and said that lawyer Pedro Baldera Gomez, who works for the Human Rights Commission of Nagua, had defended a number of thieves in the area. Salazar has been ordered to pay a one million Dominican Peso (approx. 16,705 GBP) fine and spend six months in jail.
January 9th, 2012
The author of a discredited report linking autism to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has filed a
defamation suit against the
British Medical Journal. Andrew Wakefield launched his libel case against three defendants in the
United States last week. The gastroenterologist is suing investigative journalist Brian Deer for a
BMJ article which analysed his data and accused him of fraud; BMJ editor Fiona Godlee who
supported the accusation in an editorial, and the BMJ as a whole. Wakefield claims that the journal acted with malice and suggests a conflict of interest because the BMJ receives money from vaccine makers GlaxoSmithKline and Merck.
January 4th, 2012
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood today announced
plans to sue an independent newspaper for allegedly insulting the leader and its female members. Newspaper Al-Fagr published an article on 29 December by Mohamed al-Baz in which he reviewed a book written by Entissar Abdel Moniem, a female ex-member of the Brotherhood who slammed the organisation for their position on women. Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghazlan said that al-Baz slandered the group’s leader and its female members, and they would not tolerate defaming “honourable people under the veneer of free opinion.” The paper has also
come under fire recently for printing articles against the ruling military leadership.
December 14th, 2011
As the controversy surrounding high profile defamation case of RTE and Father Kevin Reynolds continues, Michael Foley explores the involvement of the Irish government
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December 13th, 2011
Hulk Hogan is
suing his ex-wife for defamation following her comments regarding his sexuality. In her book Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes, the wrestler’s ex-wife Linda Bollea claimed Hogan had an affair with fellow wrestler Brutus Beefcake, and that he was violent towards her. Hogan, whose real name is Terrance Gene Bollea, filed the suit against the
“baffling” claims in Florida last week, and has demanded a jury trial.
December 6th, 2011
Zimbabwean police
stormed the offices of a daily newspaper, and arrested one of it’s journalists last week. Xolisani Ncube of Daily News was arrested on December 2, in connection with an article about a government minister that appeared in the paper last month. Newspaper editor,
Stanely Gama handed himself over to the police after being summoned for the same investigation. Police sources said it is likely the pair will be tried for criminal defamation following the article, “Chombo brags about riches”, in which they said Ingatius Chombo had bragged about his wealth.
December 2nd, 2011
Slander and libel have
been decriminalised by the
Mexican Senate. The senate approved the repeal of Articles 1 and 31 of the Crimes Act, with a
unanimous decision. Mexico have joined
El Salvador as the second Latin American country to decriminalise honour crimes. The decision follows the end of a seven-year defamation trial where the newspaper La Jornada accused magazine Letras Libres of
damaging its reputation. The court determined that freedom of expression supersedes the right to honour.
December 1st, 2011
The International Partnership Group of freedom of expression organisations visited Macedonia last month to assess the state of media freedom in the country. Mike Harris reports on the findings
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