Mexico: Reporter goes missing with her son, aged two

A Mexican reporter has gone missing from her home in the state of Coahuila, along with her two-year-old son. Hypathia Stephanía Rodríguez Cardoso, crime reporter for Zócalo Saltillo newspaper, disappeared on Friday (8 June) after attending an event celebrating Freedom of Expression day. The journalist contacted colleagues around 2 AM Friday to tell them she had returned home safely, but did not turn up for work later that morning. According to relatives, her house had been ransacked. The disappearance comes less than three weeks after a crime journalist in Sonora, Marco Antonio Ávila García, was kidnapped and later found tortured and killed.

Syria: Foreign media threatened, journalists missing

Arab and foreign media who are in Syria “illegally” are being threatened by the information ministry. On 9 March, authorities threatened to take measures against Arab and foreign journalists who have entered the country “illegally” and against anyone cooperating with them. The minister accused journalists of fabricating reports, complicity with terrorists and suggested that covering the activities of those terrorists justified their crimes. Two Turkish journalists, Adem Ozkose, Middle East correspondent for Gercek Hayat magazine and columnist for newspaper Milat, and cameraman Hamit Coskun, who crossed into Syria a week ago, have been missing for four days.

Mexican journalist reported missing

Reporter Noel Lopez Olguin has gone missing in Veracruz state. The Head of the Veracruz State Commission for the Defence of Journalists claims that no one has heard from him since 8 May.  He travelled to the town of Soteapan in response to a telephone call. His car was found on the road to Soteapan, but his whereabouts remain unknown. Veracruz is often used as a transit point for drug cartels trafficking drugs to the USA. Paramilitary group Los Zetas is very active in the region, and kidnappings occur frequently.