There has been no news on the whereabouts of Marco Antonio López Ortiz, the news editor of Novedades Acapulco, a daily based in Acapulco, Mexico. He was kidnapped 7 June by a group of men. Ortiz oversaw the paper’s crime reports, but according to his supervisor, had kept stories short and cautious in order not to cross organised crime leaders who routinely target and intimidate Mexican journalists.
A radio journalist for DWEB, a private station based in Manila, was shot twice in the back on his way to work. Romeo Olea’s wife said that he had received death threats and police believe the murder is linked to Olea’s recent stories criticising a city government in the east Philippines.
Rachid Nini, the editor of one of Morocco’s leading newspapers, has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined 100 euros after he was convicted of compromising “the security and integrity of the nation and citizens”. Nini had been held for over two months before the trial took place and had been refused bail three times. A number of his editorials had attempted to expose the corrupt practices of the Morrocan government.
Sakhi Rigi was sentenced to 20 years in prison today for critiquing the 2009 Iranian presidential elections on his blog. He was arrested in 18 June 2009 and has received the longest sentence given to an Iranian blogger. Yesterday (8 June) Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan lost his appeal against a 19-year prison sentence. Known as the “blogfather,” Derakhshan championed the internet as a means of social reform. He has been in prison since his arrest in 2008 for making disparaging remarks about important Shiite leaders. Both Derakhshan and Rigi were convicted of “aiding enemy states and propaganda against the Islamic system.”