Posts Tagged ‘press freedom’
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”.
May 17th, 2012
A former interior minister-turned-journalist was targeted in a
bomb attack in
Colombia earlier this week. Fernando Londoño Hoyos, who is now a radio station programme director and a columnist for various newspapers, was injured after a bomb was thrown onto his car bonnet in Bogotá. Londoño survived the attack, but his driver and bodyguard were killed and 39 others were injured. It is unclear who was behind the bombing.
May 15th, 2012
The
dead body of a kidnapped
Pakistani journalist was discovered in Karachi last week. Tariq Kamal was kidnapped on 6 May, along with his friend Fawad Sheikh, who was also murdered. Kamal was visiting a dangerous area of Balochistan for an exclusive report when he was kidnapped. The journalist’s family received a call from him informing them he was going to be killed by his captors. His kidnappers
later contacted his family to inform them that Kamal and Sheikh were killed because they were police informants.
May 11th, 2012
A senior radio journalist has been
kidnapped in
Honduras, outside the country’s capital Tegucigalpa. News presenter on HRN Radio Alfredo Villatoro
was abducted on the way to his office on Wednesday morning. The journalist’s captors contacted his family, and it is believed they will seek a ransom. Three people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping. The abduction comes three days after journalist and rights activist Erick Martínez Ávila was
found dead at a roadside.
May 11th, 2012
Two
Vietnamese reporters were
beaten while covering a local eviction. Nguyen Ngoc Nam and Han Phi Long, from state-run Radio Voice of Vietnam, were kicked and beaten as they attempted to report on the eviction of approximately 1,000 villagers from their farmland. The journalists were attacked by uniformed police, who ignored repeated explanations that they were members of the press. Twenty people were arrested during the clashes between the farmers and the police.
May 11th, 2012
Six TV stations have been
forced to close in
Guatemala, as a result of political pressure. Local stations in Mazatenango, Southern Guatemala were closed by Cable DX, after local mayor Roberto Lemus told the company he would not stand for criticism of his administration. TVI, which is managed by the Mayor’s nephew, is the only TV station now allowed to remain on air.
May 10th, 2012
A prosecutor in
Burundi has requested a
life sentence for a journalist facing charges of terrorism. Radio journalist Hassan Ruvakuki was arrested on 28 November 2011 after interviewing an alleged member of a rebel group based in Tanzania. The journalist and 22 others are charged with “participating in acts of terrorism”. Many of the defendants, including Ravakuki, refused to enter pleas, as they believe the trial violates procedural rules and basic defence rights. The court adjourned until 20 June.
May 10th, 2012
A journalist and human rights activist has been
found dead in
Honduras. Erick Martínez Ávila, who worked for the Honduran LGBT group Kukulcán, was found dead in a roadside ditch on 7 May. The journalist was reported missing on 5 May, and had not been seen in public since he attended a demonstration with the LGBT community on 1 May. The motive for the murder remains unclear, but it is believed the journalist was strangled.
