A journalist and human rights activist has been found dead in Honduras. Erick Martínez Ávila, who worked for the Honduran LGBT group Kukulcán, was found dead in a roadside ditch on 7 May. The journalist was reported missing on 5 May, and had not been seen in public since he attended a demonstration with the LGBT community on 1 May. The motive for the murder remains unclear, but it is believed the journalist was strangled.
A radio journalist was murdered in the Philippines on Tuesday. Nestor Libaton, a news reporter for Catholic-run radio station dxHM in Mati City, was shot several times by men on a motorbike. The journalist was on the back of a motorbike being driven by his co-anchor, Eldon Cruz, after the pair had conducted an interview in a nearby city. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) believe the incident occurred as a result of the journalists work. Libaton is the fourth journalist to be killed in the Philippines since the start of 2012.
Speculation around Lord Justice Leveson’s expected report this autumn has overshadowed the vital libel reform identified in the Queen’s speech, says Kirsty Hughes
Two Egyptian journalists were reportedly beaten while in military custody. Ahmed Ramadan and Islam Abu al-Ezz, of the online independent daily Al-Badil, said unidentified thugs beat them with swords while covering clashes in Cairo’s Abbasiya neighbourhood on 4 May. Shortly after the attack, the journalists were arrested and their belongings confiscated. They said they were beaten with sticks and kicked repeatedly while being held in the military prosecutor’s office.