10 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Muhammad Ekramul Haque, editor and owner of Sheershanews.com and Sheersha Kagoj, was arrested on 31 July by Bangladeshi authorities on a charge of extortion. According to police reports, Haque allegedly threatened to negatively cover a travel agency unless he received 200,000 TK (£1630). In a press release, Sheershanews.com defended the editor, claiming that he was actually arrested for publishing reports on government corruption. The press release also denies the existence of the travel agency.
10 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
In his most outspoken tweets since his release, and despite bail conditions placing him under tight restrictions for at least a year, Ai Weiwei today lashed out at the “torment” of friends entangled in his situation and pressed the cases of other detained activists. “If you don’t speak for Wang Lihong, and don’t speak for Ran Yunfei, you are not just a person who will not stand out for fairness and justice; you do not have self-respect,” he wrote. A prolific Twitter user prior to his arrest, Ai was freed in June after being detained for over two months for supposed tax evasion. Last weekend he began tweeting again, though far more sporadically.
10 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
The apartment of Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Matsuka, who is editor-in-chief of the News of Donbass website and the head of a regional public organisation, the Donetsk Institute of Information, was set on fire on the afternoon of 31 July. Matsuka was not in the apartment when the incident took place. He sees a link between the arson and his journalistic activity, as well as his work in the public domain. “I wrote several articles about the lives of authorities, their incomes, sources of financing. And officials may not like this,” he said.
10 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Rodrigo Rangel, a journalist with Brazilian magazine Veja, was assaulted by his interviewee on the afternoon of 4 August at a restaurant in Brasilia, according to newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. Veja said Rangel went to speak with lobbyist Júlio Fróes for an article about supposed corruption and influence peddling in the Ministry of Agriculture. The two spoke for about half an hour when Fróes began kicking and beating the reporter. The lobbyist also threatened Rangel and took his notebook. The scene was witnessed by several people, and a complaint was filed with the police department.
