30 May 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Israel’s Attorney General will indict a journalist from daily newspaper Haaretz, for possession of classified documents. The State Prosecutor’s Office claims that Uri Blau had thousands of top secret and military documents in his possession, which are believed to have been stolen by former IDF soldier Anat Kamm. Blau will be charged with “aggravated espionage” under Israel’s Penal Code, for which he faces a maximum of seven years in prison.
30 May 2012 | Russia
Moscow journalist Sergei Aslanyan was stabbed repeatedly earlier this week. Anslanyan, who specialises in motoring and hosts a programme on state Mayak radio station, was attacked on 29 May after a stranger called him and asked to leave his apartment “for a talk”. Aslanyan was attacked as he left the house. He managed to call an ambulance himself, and is now in a stable condition in hospital, where he is under police guard.
Some of Aslanyan’s colleagues believe the attack was caused by comments about the prophet Muhammad he made on a radio station. Sergei Arkhipov, head or radio at VGTRK state holding, which owns Mayak radio, said Aslanyan heard his attacker say “You dislike Allah”.
The Muslim society of Tatarstan had expressed concerns about Aslanyan’s anti-Muslim comments in an appeal to Russia’s general prosecutor’s office. After the journalist was attacked, they condemned both the assault and premature conclusions about “Muslim trace” in the case. Their leader Rishat Khamidullin told journalists that Aslanyan was treated brutally and “such an attack after his insulting statements is no more than a provocation against the Muslims”.
Attacks on journalists are common in Russia. In April Novaya Gazeta reporter Elena Milashina was beaten near her house. In May three journalists of Novaya Gazeta branch in Ryazan were beaten. Another newspaper’s reporter, Diana Khachatryan, alleged she was threatened by pro-Kremlin youth movements after publishing an article about the United Russia congress.
The latest most scandalous attacks on journalists include the beatings of Kommersant’s Oleg Kashin, and Khimki Truth’s Mikhail Beketov, and the murders of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova, who wrote columns for the same paper while working for Memorial human rights centre. In the vast majority of these cases, no one has been brough to justice.
Freedom House placed Russia at 172 out of 197 countries for press freedom this year.
30 May 2012 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
A journalist has been arrested in Malawi for writing an article on a same-sex engagement ceremony. Clement Chinoko, who works for Blantyre Newspapers Limited, was arrested on 26 May after an article appeared in the Malawi’s Sunday Times on 20 May detailing the engagement of two women in the southern city of Blantyre. The journalist has been charged with “conduct likely to cause breach of peace” and police spokesman Nicholas Gondwa has claimed the article is a fake. Chinoko has not yet been taken to court or been released on bail. Earlier this month, Malawi’s President Joyce Banda announced plans to repeal the country’s laws against homosexuality.
30 May 2012 | Middle East and North Africa
The Manouba-based headquarters of privately Tunisian owned TV network, Elhiwar Ettounsi (Tunisian Dialogue), were attacked early Sunday morning.
Taher Ben Hassine, the channel’s chief, told Radio Mosaïque FM that the attackers “vandalised everything”. He said:
History is repeating itself; Ben Ali thugs attacked our headquarters, and burned computers. We elected a national constituent assembly, to protect people, draft a new constitution, and improve the country’s situation, but the situation now is even worse…
Elhiwar Ettounsi was launched in 2003, and succeeded in broadcasting for a few hours per week despite the Ben Ali regime’s tight control over the media sector. Like any other independent media during that era, the channel faced censorship and financial restrictions.
According to a report released by the station, the attackers also stole video recording equipment and laptops. The station condemned the attack as “a subjugation attempt” — but did not make any specific accusations — opting instead to await the results of police investigations.
“We, Elhiwar Ettounsi channel team, do not accuse any party, and we believe that law which is above all, will take the course of justice” the channel said in a statement made on their official Facebook page.
Some have speculated that members of Tunisia’s hardline Islamist Salafis might be responsible for the attacks. National Syndicate for Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) board member Zied Heni pointed out to Radio Mosaïque FM that the attacks “took place following the channel’s broadcast of reports illustrating Salafi groups committing crimes. Elhwiar Ettounsi was among few media outlets to report on such crimes”.
