Index on Censorship joins the call for an immediate, independent and transparent investigation into the brutal attack on investigative journalist and Index award winner Idrak Abbasov
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The publisher of a Latvian news website was attacked last week. Leonids Jakobsons, owner of the independent news website Kompromat was attacked by at least two unidentified assailants, after the site published sensitive news stories. The publisher was attacked with a knife in the stairwell of his apartment building in Latvia’s capital Riga. He was admitted to hospital with bruises on his head and a 3 inch long cut to his cheek. Kompromat has reportedly published information on sensitive issues, including a probe into the attempted murder of a former customs official, and alleged connections between Latvia and the communities of Chechen people who live outside of Chechnya.
A Syrian journalist has been beaten, arrested and detained whilst covering a protest in Damascus. Rudy Othman, a prominent freelance journalist, was arrested by security forces during a protest on Thursday, but his whereabouts, legal status, or condition have not been released by the Syrian government. This is the third occasion on which Othman, who has covered the Syrian uprising for a number of regional news outlets, has been detained.
Gunmen have shot and seriously injured a journalist in the Philippines. Fernan Angeles, a reporter with The Daily Tribune, was beaten and shot six times by unidentified men near his home in Manila on Sunday night. Angeles, who is assigned to cover President Benigno Aquino III, remains in intensive care. Angeles’ wife speculated that her husband’s attackers were linked to a drug syndicate from their working-class community, who may believe the journalist had leaked information about the syndicate’s operation to authorities.