22 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
A journalist with newspaper El Mío, was beaten and then detained as he left the newspapers premises in Anzoátegui, northeastern Venezuela. Óscar Tarazona was getting into a car when he spotted the police officers, Tarazona claims he walked over, identified himself as a journalist, and officers proceeded to beat him, handcuff him and take him to a police station. The initial attack was caught on video. Tarazona was released and subsequently filed a formal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office. The state’s chief of police, Francisco Ortiz, said that he stood behind the officers.
16 Aug 2011 | Asia and Pacific
Shokhrukh Saipov, the Osh-based editor and publisher of news website Uz Press, was last week attacked by unidentified individuals. Saipov had been attending a media seminar in Osh, and was found unconscious with his nose and several teeth broken on a street in the village of Aravan, 17 miles outside of the city. Family members have said Saipov was hospitalised overnight and diagnosed with a severe concussion and partial memory loss. The journalist is also the younger brother of Alisher Saipov, the prominent reporter killed in southern Kyrgyzstan in October 2007, and whose murder remains unsolved.
28 Apr 2011 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Al-Jazeera suspended its Arabic services in Syria yesterday (27 April) in response to attacks on its staff and government restrictions. The authorities have pressured Syrian nationals into resigning from the organisation and have prevented journalists from entering and reporting in Daraa, the city where the Syrian uprising began on March 15. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, unknown assailants have attacked the Al-Jazeera offices with eggs and stones for the past three days. The events mirror those in Egypt, where Al-Jazeera journalists were also subject to abuse and intimidation.
29 Mar 2011 | Azerbaijan News, Index Index, minipost, News and features
Eminent opposition journalist Seymur Haziyev was abducted and beaten on Saturday night (26 March). He was attacked by six masked men and tortured for two hours. The contents of his laptop were scrutinised and his two telephones were taken from him. He claims that he was told to be “as intelligent and quiet as the others”. Mehman Aliyev, the head of news agency Turan, has remarked that: “When a society wakes up, the first in the firing line are the journalists”.
