22 May 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
The body of a Pakistani journalist has been found, one day after he was abducted. Razzaq Gul, a reporter with the Express News in southern Balochistan, was found dumped near his home in Turbat on Saturday, having been shot 15 times. On Sunday, journalists in Quetta gathered to protest the murder. According to the Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ), Gul was the 21st journalist to die in the area. Pakistan Press International claims six journalists have been deliberately targeted and murdered in Balochistan in the last four years.
21 May 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A citizen journalist has been sentenced to death in Syria, after giving a series of interviews to Al-Jazeera TV station. Mohammed Abdelmawla al-Hariri has been charged with “high treason and contacts with foreign parties” after giving the broadcaster an interview on the situation in his home town of Deraa. Hariri, who was arrested on 16 April shortly after giving an interview, has reportedly been subject to horrific torture after his arrest, resulting in partial paralysis. The Syrian government has accused the station of being part of a global plot to cause chaos in the country.
21 May 2012 | Americas, Index Index, minipost
The body of a murdered Mexican crime reporter was found at a roadside on Friday. Marco Antonio Avila Garcia of “Diario Sonora de la Tarde” and “El Regional” newspapers was kidnapped on Thursday while waiting at a car-wash. His tortured body was discovered in a black plastic bag the following day, in the northern state of Sonora, almost 70 miles away from where he was kidnapped. Police found a message signed by a cartel with the body, but refused to reveal its contents. Garcia regularly reported on organised crime in Ciudad Obregon.
18 May 2012 | Azerbaijan News, Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
A 24-year-old Azerbaijani musician who says he was tortured by police after he insulted the country’s president during a concert has fled to Germany over concerns for his safety. Jamal Ali had criticised President Ilham Aliyev and his late mother during the concert in Baku in March, and was charged with hooliganism after an argument with the concert’s organisers. He and two other musicians were sentenced to 10 days’ detention, during which time Ali claims he was tortured. His escape comes just days before the Eurovision song contest, due to be held in the former Soviet country on 26 May.
