Posts Tagged ‘journalist arrested’
May 18th, 2012
A journalist critical of the proposed union between
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia has been
arrested in Manama. Freelance journalist Ahmed Radhi was arrested on Wednesday (16 May), after he appeared on an interview on BBC Arabic Radio, and suggested that the union would justify the presence of Saudi troops in Bahrain. Security forces raided Radhi’s house at 4am in the morning, after the journalist reposted his comments on social media networks. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
May 17th, 2012
The editor of a Iraqi Kurdish magazine
has been arrested for reprinting an allegedly blasphemous article. Hamin Ary, editor of Kurdish and Arabic monthly publication Chirpa (Al-Hamsah in Arabic) was arrested on 7 May after publishing an article by controversial writer Goran Halmat. Ary was arrested for “offences that violate religious sensibilities”, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. The article, entitled “Me and God” was originally posted on Facebook in 2010, and was deemed “offensive to Islam”.
April 10th, 2012
A
Nigerian magistrate ordered the
arrest and detention of around 10 journalists on 4 April. A group of reporters who were covering the verdict from a coroner’s inquest were arrested after a woman, believed to be a prosecutor or a social worker, ordered journalists to leave the premises. The journalists attempted to explain why they were there to the woman, but arguments ensued. During the arguments, Magistrate Oshoniyi ordered the immediate arrests of the journalists. Following their arrest, the journalists were assaulted, beaten and harassed by police.
March 21st, 2012
A
Syrian journalist has been
beaten, arrested and detained whilst covering a protest in Damascus. Rudy Othman, a prominent freelance journalist, was arrested by security forces during a protest on Thursday, but his whereabouts, legal status, or condition have not been released by the Syrian government. This is the third occasion on which Othman, who has covered the Syrian uprising for a number of regional news outlets, has been detained.
March 19th, 2012
Two British journalists who were arrested and
accused of spying by a
Libyan militia group have
been released. Gareth Montgomery-Johnson and Nicholas Davies, who work for Iran’s state-owned Press TV were released on Sunday and cleared of all charges. The journalist’s were arrested on
23 February by a Misrata militia based in Tripoli in a direct challenge to the authority of the country’s government. The men were transferred to the custody of the Libyan government last Wednesday and released following questioning to establish if any crime had been committed.
March 19th, 2012
Three
Saudi web managers from news websites which cover political unrest are being
held in prison without charge. Habib Ali al-Maatiq and Hussein Malik al-Salam from Al-Fajr Cultural Network and Jalal Mohamed al-Jamal from news website Al-Awamia were arrested by security forces in February. The Al-Fajr Cultural Network website, which covers covers pro-reform protests in the predominantly Shia region, was taken down following the arrests. Al-Maatiq and al-Salam are reportedly being held in a prison in Dammam. Al-Jamal is believed to have been accused of “opposing the state” and “inciting” its downfall. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
March 6th, 2012
A
Somalian journalist has been
shot dead by gunmen. Ali Ahmed Abdi who worked for a Somali news website was shot in the head several times by masked men as he walked home on Sunday evening in the northern town of Galkayo. Until recently, Abdi had been working for the privately owned Galkayo Radio. Abdi is the third Somalian journalist to be killed this year. On Saturday, a media director in Puntland was
arrested and detained following the closure of radio station Radio Voice of Peace. Officials did not give motive for Ali’s arrest, nor the shutting down of the radio station.
March 5th, 2012
Two British journalists have been
accused of spying in
Libya by a militia group who arrested them last month. Gareth Montgomery-Johnson, 36, and Nicholas Davies, 37, from Iran’s state-owned Press TV
were arrested by the militia group in Tripoli on 23 February. In a late-night press conference, Dr Suleiman Fortia, a Misratan member of Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council showed what he said was suspicious material found on the two men, including a field dressing, photographs and a photocopy of an Iranian residence permit. Fortia added that the group had governmental authority to hold the men because they represented the “February 17 Revolution”.
