French journalists, Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier, have returned home after 18 months captivity in Afghanistan. The reporter and cameraman for television channel, France 3, were captured in 2009 while filming in the mountains of Kapisa. The pair were kept in solitary confinement for eight months and locked up for 23 hours a day. A media blackout was imposed on the French media throughout the first few months of their captivity out for “a political reasons and concerns for their safety”.
Police in Zimbabwe have arrested two journalists from the Sunday Standard newspaper: editor Nevanje Madanhire and reporter Patience Nyangove for publishing allegedly “false statements” about the arrest of a government official. The official, Jameson Timba is minister for the Movement for Democratic Change party and was arrested for reportedly calling President Robert Mugabe a liar. Mr Timba’s release was later ordered during a special hearing in the Harare High Court. It is a criminal offence to insult the President under Zimbabwean law. Nyangove and Ramakgapola were charged with “publishing false statements prejudicial to the state” and are due to appear in court tomorrow.
Max Mosley, Hugh Tomlinson QC, Suzanne Moore and David Price QC debated privacy, free speech and a feral press at Index on Censorship’s event at the London School of Economics on Tuesday evening, chaired by Index editor Jo Glanville. Reports of the event can be found at:
If you missed it or want to listen again, the video and audio are embedded below:
The debate was held to mark the launch of the latest issue of the Index on Censorship magazine Privacy is dead! Long live privacy, which includes an interview with Sir David Eady, the High Court judge by legal commentator and writer Joshua Rozenberg. The new issue is available now.
The Gaza Strip correspondent for France 24, Salama Atallah, has claimed that he was interrogated by Hamas security officials on 26 June. According to Atallah, threats, insults and beatings were used in an attempt to obtain further information about a Salafist group he had been reporting on in Gaza. Prior to this, Atallah had been questioned three times in the month of June and he has recently announced that he will undergo a fifth interrogation on 30 June.
