The Media High Council (MHC) in Rwanda have called for a three-month suspension to local language tabloid, Umuseso, for allegedly going beyond the boundaries of media rules by allegedly likening the current government to the one that was in power in the run-up to the 1994 genocide. Read more here
Greater protection from police for civil service “whistleblowers” has been urged by MPs in the wake of the arrest of Conservative frontbencher Damian Green. A cross-party committee of MPs suggests leaks within Whitehall should only be a criminal matter where there was a breach of the Official Secrets Act, or evidence of serious criminal misconduct such as accepting payment. Read more here
Iran’s police chief, Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, has acknowledged that protesters detained in post-election unrest were tortured in custody, but says the deaths of detainees were caused by illness, not torture. The police commander has fired the head of a detention facility that was ordered closed last month. Three guards at the Kahrizak prison have also been detained on charges of mistreating prisoners. Read more here
News that six Gambian journalists have been jailed for two years for “ridiculing the head of state” signals that the country has become one of Africa’s worst abusers of press freedom says AllAfrica.com’s Brian Kennedy. (more…)