16 Jul 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A court in Kuwait City has acquitted a journalist prosecuted for insulting Kuwait’s Prime Minister. Journalist Mohammed Abdel Qader Al-Jassem and activist Khaled Al-Fadala, had their charges dropped on 12 July . Al-Jassem was accused of libelling the prime minister on a talk show entitled “Who is to blame, the government or the parliament?”. Al-Fadala’s case was initiated following an official complaint from the prime minister following the activist’s claim that the prime minister was an “enemy of freedom of expression” in Kuwait. Al-Jassem was jailed after he was convicted of slander in April 2010 in a separate case.
12 Jul 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Indian journalist Hem Chandra Pandey was killed during an armed encounter with state police in the southern state of Andrah Pradesh on 2 July. The journalist is reported to have been attempting to interview the leader of the banned Communist Party of India, Cherukuri Rajkumar. Pandey’s body was initially identified by local police investigating the incident as a Maoist cadre before his wife noticed his image in the press and corrected the authorities. The Indian Journalists’ Union (IJU) has called for an independent judicial inquiry into the events surrounding Pradesh’s death.
8 Jul 2010 | Index Index, minipost
CNN sacked their Middle East editor, Octavia Nasr on July 7, after she expressed her admiration for the late Lebanese Cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah on Twittter. On hearing of Ayatollah Fadlallah’s death on Sunday, Nasr tweeted that the senior Shiite cleric, who is said to have inspired Hezbollah, was “one of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot”. In a subsequent blog, she apologised claiming that the message was referring to Fadalallah’s progressive views on women’s rights. CNN officials condemned the post as a simplistic error of judgement and stated that Nasr’s position was no longer tenable because her credibility had been “compromised”.
25 Jun 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Heather Murdock, a US journalist, has been expelled from Ethiopia. Local reports suggest her work as an investigative journalist in the restive Ogaden province was the reason for her expulsion. There have been a number of recent skirmishes between government forces and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). Murdock had been working for the broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) covering the aftermath of the general election. The Ethiopian government has recently enacted anti-terrorism legislation which empowers it to expel journalists which portray rebel groups in a favourable light and the authorities have been blocking of Voice of America’s website and jamming of its radio service in recent months.
