7 Mar 2012 | Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
A writer for the Russian edition of GQ magazine has said he was assaulted by another journalist and a blogger. Political columnist Andrew Ryvkin claims he was attacked by journalist Sergei Minayev and blogger Eduard Bagirov in Central Moscow on Tuesday. Ryvkin tweeted that Minayev and Bagirov grabbed him and hit him in the face. The writer added that his attackers said they would “beat him to death” next time.
Minayev admitted his involvement in the assault on Twitter, saying it was in response to the writer having described him in a vulgar way in a recent article.
7 Mar 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
The suspension of a privately owned newspaper in Kuwait has been extended for the second time. Daily paper Al-Dar was suspended in an emergency session on 2 February after authorities accused the paper of violating the Press and Publications Law by “undermining national unity” and “creating sectarian strife”. The accusations followed the publication in January of three articles defending the country’s Shiite minority. Kuwait’s Press Court extended the ban on Monday until at least 12 March when the court will meet again. Abdul Hussein al-Sultan, Al-Dar’s editor-in-chief believes the paper was suspended to prevent coverage of the February 2 parliamentary elections.
6 Mar 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
An Indian newspaper reporter has been beaten to death, less than two weeks after another journalist was clubbed to death in the same area. Rajesh Mishra was attacked and beaten on 1 March in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Mishra, from weekly newspaper Media Raj, received threats following his reports about alleged mismanagement of a number of regional schools owned by Rajneesh Banerjee, the publisher of another Rewa-based newspaper, Vindhya Bharat. The journalist was invited to meet the editor of Vindhya Bharat at a tea stand, where he was attacked. Fellow journalist Chandrika Rai was beaten to death in Madhya Pradesh, along with his wife and two children, last month.
6 Mar 2012 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
A web editor was jailed for 10 days for reposting an unconfirmed report that two local officials had been caught with prostitutes in China. Shang Laicheng, an editor at Tiantian Xin news forum was arrested on 17 February as he left work, and his family were informed he had been formally detained for spreading misinformation. The Foshan Procuratorate office said that the information in the post, suggesting two local prosecutors were caught using prostitutes at a sauna, was fabricated and had damaged the reputations of authorities. The original author of the post remains unclear.
