Hürriyet newspaper journalist Nurettin Kurt and editorial manager Hasan Kılıç face between one and three years imprisonment for publishing photographs of Colonel E.Y.B. The photographs were taken during the ongoing investigation into the alleged...
Chinese academic banned from travelling to America
A prominent Chinese professor at the Beijing Film Academy, has been barred from leaving China to travel to America. Cui Weiping was due to give a lecture at Harvard, and attend a conference in Philadelphia. Although authorities at her university...
Two journalists killed in Honduras
On 26 March, Bayardo Mairena and Manuel Juárez, were shot in their vehicle by unidentified gunmen, in Olancho, eastern Honduras. Both journalists were working on the news program “This is Olancho”. The double murder means that five journalists have...
Chávez opponent not allowed to speak with media
On 28 March, Wilmer Azuaje was banned by Venezuela's highest court from speaking to the media about criminal charges alleging he struck a police official. The measure is meant to protect the "reputation, integrity and honour of the victim." Azuaje,...
IPI: Uganda ‘stifling’ independent media
The International Press Institute has accused the Ugandan government of conducting a “well-planned campaign to stifle the media” ahead of next year’s election. Wangethi Mwangi, Kenyan board member of the global organisation, cited the Press and...
Venezuela: Opposition Leader Detained
Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, former presidential candidate and leader of the Christian Socialist Copei party, was detained by police on 22 March and has been charged with conspiracy, spreading false information and publicly inciting violation. The arrest...
Radio journalist held in DRC
A radio broadcaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested and questioned by intelligence agents for “broadcasting false information liable to threaten state security”. Mohamed Lukebana, head of programming at Radio Television Bangu...
India: Writer charged with obscenity for debut novel
Author Murzban Shroff has been charged with obscenity and making “prejudicial” remarks to “national integration” in his novel Breathless in Bombay. The latter charge is based on the use of the word “ghati”; a defamatory term for Maharashtrians,...
EU calls for Iran to end jamming of foreign media
EU foreign ministers have described the current situation in Iran as “unacceptable”, in a joint statement they call for an end to the jamming of satellite broadcasts from international news networks. In the crackdown since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s...
Turkish director faces jail for insulting PM
Haldun Açıksözlü, actor and director of the theatre play Laz Marks, faces two years in jail over allegations that he insulted the prime minister in his play. The show has run for a year and has been shown in over 80 provinces. The charges came only...
United Arab Emirates blocks “Allah’s facebook page”
United Arab Emirates’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has ordered ISPs to block a Facebook page supposedly authored by Allah. The TRA has also said it will ban the unnamed author, who claimed he believes in no god but himself, from...
Belarus strips journalists’ rights as election looms
Belarus’s Supreme Court has stripped the Belarusian Association of Journalist’s (BAJ) ability to offer protection to journalists who are not officially authorised, such as opposition newspapers, websites and foreign news outlets.These journalists...