The author of newspaper articles and a book which reported on the activities of the criminal underworld in Bulgaria has been shot dead. CPJ reports that Bobi Tsankov was shot dead on 5 January in Sofia. Hours later three individuals, all suspected...
On 29 December 2009, Birtukan Mideksa, the leader of Ethiopia's Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, marked one year in prison. The 36-year-old lawyer and former judge was initially imprisoned between 2005 and 2007 following her role as an...
Khaled al Jahafi, a journalist with the news website al Sahwa (the Awakening) was arrested on 27 December 2009 whilst covering clashes between security forces and separatists in the southern province of Dhala. Free expression organisations have...
Two French journalists who went missing in Afghanistan have been seized by insurgents, according to television station France 3. Taliban militia have denied that they hold the missing journalists who work for the France 3 station or their three...
China arrested more than 5000 people in a crackdown on internet pornography in 2009, officials said yesterday vowing tougher online policing in the new year as a key element of "state security". Officials did not say how many people had...
An intruder broke into the home of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, threatening to kill him, on 1 January. The Danish cartoonist, whose depictions of the prophet Mohammed were among the cartoons that caused international outrage when newspaper...
Radio 4 looks back at the year in media
The Ministry of Justice is to conduct a comprehensive review of England's defamation laws, which will be experted to report in mid-March, it was revealed today. The ministry's seemingly strong new commitment comes after over 10,000 people signed a...
Prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment on 25 December. He was charged with subversion after his part in the drafting of Charter 08, a document calling for free speech and the rule of law. Western journalists and...
Michael Smyth: Strasbourg’s defence of journalists’ right to protect sources is welcome
Matt Malone on the Iranian government’s assault on the press following the death of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri
A hit television series has been prevented from continuing according to newspapers in China. The drama “Snail House” was set in a fictional mainland city and the plot centered on rising housing prices and the “fangnu,” or mortgage slaves, as they...
