Short-term restrictions on freedom of expression in the run-up to Thursday’s Afghan vote may mask deeper and longer term steps to curtail the rights of the media that independent journalists may find harder to resist, says Rohan Jayasekera
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Anna Politkovskaya’s family is to appeal against a judge’s rejection of its request for the case against three alleged accomplices to be sent back to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation in conjunction with the investigation into all other people suspected of a role in her murder. The family’s request for a postponement for the purposes of combined further investigation was backed by both defence lawyers and prosecutors. Read more here
The Lashkar-e-Taiba has enforced a new diktat in parts of Jammu and Kashmir to forbid watching television. The Lashkar terrorists operating in Banihal heights have imposed a ban on watching TV, terming it an “unislamic” activity. There has been a spate of reports of villagers being assaulted and beaten. Read more here
A Caracas court ordered the arrests of two people allegedly involved in the attacks last week that left 12 journalists hurt when they were demonstrating in favor of freedom of expression. All of the journalists who were handing out leaflets to motorists and pedestrians on a busy street in the capital are employees of the Cadena Capriles group, one of Venezuela’s biggest media companies. Read more here