9 Aug 2012 | Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
Two Italian journalists have been sentenced to four months in prison and fined 15,000 Euros (11,700 GBP) for libel. Orfeo Donatini and Tiziano Marson, of newspaper Alto Adige, were convicted in June of alleging in a 2008 article that local politician Sven Knoll had taken part in a neo-Nazi summit. The claim was based on a police report and appeared in weekly magazine L’Espresso. Knoll lodged a criminal defamation complaint, and although the journalists were acquitted, the case was reviewed by the court of cassation and referred back to the Bolzano city tribunal. In a statement, press freedom organisation Article 19 said criminal defamation provisions in Italy’s Penal Code were “incompatible” with international standards of freedom of expression.
25 Jul 2012 | News and features, United Kingdom
The Defamation Bill is an achievement, but more must be done to reform England’s libel laws and encourage debate in the public interest, says Rachel Ehrenfeld
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13 Jul 2012 | Americas, Europe and Central Asia, News and features
US lawmakers have introduced measures limiting documentation of abuses within the agricultural industry. Jeanne Firth explains how “ag-gag laws” have been used to silence activists (more…)
6 Jul 2012 | Index Index, minipost, United Kingdom
Scientific journal Nature won a libel claim today that has lasted three years. Egyptian scientist Mohamed El Naschie had argued the journal had defamed him in a November 2008 story, which alleged he used his editorial privilege to self-publish numerous papers he had written and which would not have been published elsewhere due to poor quality and lack of peer review. At the High Court today Mrs Justice Sharp rejected El Naschie’s claim, accepting the defendants’ defences of justification, honest comment and the Reynolds privilege for responsible journalism on a matter of public interest.
