A Syrian journalist with gunshot wounds in the head died on 2 January after three days in a Damascus hospital. Shukri Ahmed Ratib Abu Burghul was reportedly shot in the face deliberately on 30 December after hosting his weekly programme on Radio Damascus. Burghul was also deputy director of the censorship department of Al-Thawra, a state-owned newspaper.
Vietnamese journalist Nguyen Van Khuong was arrested this week on suspicion of bribery after he ran an expose on corruption among traffic police in his newspaper, Tuoi Tre. The reporter is said to have paid a bribe of 15 million dong (458 GBP) to a police officer to secure the release of an impounded vehicle. The officer in question was arrested after Khuong’s story was published, and Khuong was suspended by the paper on 3 December. Tuoi Tre quoted him as saying he had made an error in gathering evidence for a series of stories about police corruption, but he did not say he had provided the bribe.
Brazilian radio reporter Laécio de Souza was shot dead by two men yesterday in Salvador, in the north east of the country. Police said the journalist, a local news reporter for radio station Sucesso FM, had been receiving threats on his mobile phone in the lead up to his murder. Police have not released a motive for the crime, although it has been suggested local drug traffickers were upset with the journalist’s plans to construct a social project on his land.
Ivorian television presenter Hermann Aboa was released on bail on 30 December after five months in prison. Aboa, a presenter with national state-run public broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI), continues to face prosecution on a range of charges, including threatening the nation’s defences, attacking and conspiring against state authorities, undermining national territorial integrity and attacking public order. Aboa’s lawyer said he is due to be examined on the substance of the charges in the coming days. In July the presenter was detained for moderating a TV talk show series, launched during the crisis that followed the disputed November 2010 elections, which lauded former leader Laurent Gbagbo, who controlled the station before he was ousted in April by forces loyal to his opponent, current president Alassane Ouattara.