9 Nov 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
The mother of journalist Nazanin Khosravani, who was arrested last week, says her daughter is being held in solitary confinement at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Azam Afsharian told Radio Free Europe that in a short phone call Khosravani had said she was being kept in Ward 209, which is run by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. Prior to the phone call, Evin officials had denied her daughter was even a prisoner there. Khosravani, who is currently unemployed but previously worked for reformist newspapers, was arrested on November 3.
9 Nov 2010 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Journalists on Croatia’s Glas Istre (Voice of Istria) newspaper have entered their third day of strike action. They are protesting against wages and work places cuts. The ownership of Glas Istre, until recently one of the few independent newspapers in Croatia, became increasingly doubtful throughout the past years. Croatia’s Journalist Union and IFJ back the strike.
This is the biggest uprising of print journalists in Croatia since Slobodna Dalmacija’s case in 1993, when the newspaper was privatised through a series of dubious administrative decisions. Since then, similar privatisation patterns were applied to many other Croatian media outlets.
9 Nov 2010 | Index Index, minipost
After last Saturday’s ruthless attack on Oleg Kashin, newspaper reporter Anatoly Adamchuk was beaten yesterday in the Russian capital. Adamchuk, who had reported on a protest against deforestation, was attacked by unidentified men in front of his newspaper office, in suburban Moscow.
Journalists are not the only media actors facing serious intimidation: Alexander Lebedev, owner of independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and Britain’s Independent and Evening Standard, suffered an attack on one of his banks just before the attacks on the journalists took place.
9 Nov 2010 | News and features
My Australian countrymen are a frank species. Compare and contrast the mealymouthed slogan used in a UK road safety campaign, “never EVER drink and drive” with the robust tagline used in my home state, “If you drink, then drive, you’re a bloody idiot.”
Unusually Hampshire Police have intervened in this cultural divide warning a local mechanic he could face prosecution for advertising an Australian engine starter called Start Ya Bastard — and yes it is a real product.
Nick Palmer, who sells the spray, has a large advert for the product on his van and has been told by police he could face prosecution for a Public Order offence; presumably a section five offence using abusive or insulting words that could cause harassment, alarm or distress. According to Metro, where I spotted the story, Hampshire police said: “If a complaint were to be received it could be regarded as an offence.”
Surely there is an obligation to treat such complaints with a little commonsense? What percentage of the public are alarmed and distressed by the word?
