New media crackdown prior to South Sudan split
As journalists are jailed and fined for reporting on the rape of a human rights campaigner, Abdelgadir Mohammed Abdelgadir reports on press freedom in Sudan
US links Pakistani spy agency to death of journalist Saleem Shahzad
White House officials believe that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence ordered the killing of Pakistani investigative journalist Saleem Shahzad whose body was found on 31 May. Shahzad’s death followed after warnings from Pakistani security agencies over articles that seemed damaging to Pakistan’s national interest and image.
Syrian journalist Omar al-Asaad arrested
Officials arrested Omar al-Asaad, a Syrian journalist and activist, on Sunday evening (3 July) at a funeral for a fellow protester killed in Damascus. Asaad wrote for a number of Arabic newspapers, including Al-Hayat and Aljazeera. Earlier in the year, he exposed a famine affecting hundreds of thousands in north-east Syria, which the government had sought to minimise.
Ethiopia: Two Swedish journalists arrested
Swedish journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, were arrested by troops in Ethiopia when they were found travelling with rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The Ethiopian government has branded the ONLF a terrorist organisation, 15 individuals were killed when the troops ambushed the group. The two freelancers entered the country to report about allegations of the torture and rape of locals. Schibbye and Persson are currently being treated for minor injuries and could face trial later this week.