The dissident human rights lawyer --- missing for over a year until he resurfaced last month --- has been reported missing again by his family. In early April, Gao gave a series of interviews to the western media publicly renouncing activism. He...
CATEGORY: minipost
Sri Lankan president pardons J S Tissainayagam
President Mahinda Rajapaska has pardoned a journalist sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of supporting terrorism. Tyssainayagam, then editor of North-Eastern Monthly magazine, was first arrested in March 2008. He was accused of...
Elton John concert banned in Egypt
Elton John was banned from playing a private show on 18 May after the head of Egypt’s musician union denounced his “anti-religious sentiments”. Union head Mounir al Wasimi said John should not be allowed to perform in Egypt because he is “a...
West Bank: Journalists detained
Twoal-Jazeera reporters were prevented from covering a demonstration in the West Bank on Friday by the Israeli military. They were detained for four and a half hours before being released and told to never return. Cameraman Majdi Bannoura and...
Nigerian journalists receive death threats
Four Nigerian journalists received anonymous death threats via text message on 28 April. The journalists, Yusuf Ali, Olusola Fabiyi, Chuks Okocha and Gbenga Aruleba, all covered the dismissal of the Independent National Electoral Commission,...
UAE to monitor internet use
The United Arab Emirates authorities is to monito internet users in public places such as malls and cyber cafes according to a report from the newspaper Emarat al-Youm on Wednesday. People without newly-mandated national ID cards will not be...
Burqa banned in Belgium
Belgium's lower house of parliament has voted for a law banning the burqa in public yesterday. However, Christian Liberals and Democrats in the Senate could still challenge it, delaying its enforcement.
Russia: Editor brutally attacked at home
Arkadi Lander, editor-in-chief of the Sochi-based newspaper 'Mesnaya', was brutally attacked at his apartment on 26 April by two unidentified men. "No doubt, the order has to do with my editorial and journalistic activities in the 'Mestnaya'...
Turkish mayor sentenced to one year detention for ‘Kurdistan’ reference
Selim Sadak, mayor of the city of Siirt in south-eastern Turkey, was sentenced to 1 year's imprisonment on 26 April after being found guilty of "spreading PKK propaganda". Sadak's conviction is came after he used the term "Kurdiastan" in a...
Cuba: Blogger sentenced to 20 months in prison
An independent journalist and blogger has been sentenced to 20 months in prison on charges that had not yet been made known. Dania Virgen García was sentenced just one day after her arrest by police on 22 April. Virgen García's blog El blog de...