Zahid Hussein, a cameraman for Express News TV, was beaten by the police for filming during clashes between armed groups in Peshawar. He was attacked after police noticed him filming them beating a man, Hussein said. He also had his camera confiscated, which was only given back to him after the video footage was deleted.
Suzanne Breen has been awarded damages in her libel case against the National Union of Journalists. She brought an action for defamation against the NUJ when the union’s magazine published a member’s letter concerning her stance on protecting sources in articles about the Real IRA. The settlement also included an apology and a retraction.
Cuban reporter Pedro Arguelles Moran has been released from prison on parole. He is the last of the journalists jailed during the 2003 “Black Spring” crackdown to be freed. In April 2003 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison under Law 88, for commiting acts “aimed at subverting the internal order of the nation”. He was released as part of an agreement brokered by the Catholic church in 2010.
Blogger and human rights activist, Sultan al-Khalaifi, has been detained by security forces after criticising the country’s censorship rules on his blog. Khalaifi, who is founder of a rights group campaigning on cases of detention in Qatar, has been in detention since March 2 after being contacted by state security. According to his lawyer he has been detained on numerous occasions in the past.