Sri Lanka tries new ways to crush independent media
In Sri Lanka, where there has seldom been good news for the media in recent years, things have taken a further turn for the worse, as well as a turn for the bizarre. With President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government secure in its 2010 electoral mandate, its leaders have made fresh moves to tighten their control of…
Secrecy, scale of PRISM raise alarms
Government surveillance of electronic communications “should be regarded as a highly intrusive act that potentially interferes with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and threatens the foundations of a democratic society,” Frank La Rue, U.N. special rapporteur for freedom of expression, warned in a report issued less than two months ago. “States should…
Sri Lankan journalist in UAE still at risk of deportation
Lohini Rathimohan, a former television journalist from Sri Lanka, faces an unclear future. The 28-year-old is among 15 Tamil refugees still sheltered in a single room of an aluminum factory at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port whose official statuses remain uncertain.
An open plea: Xi and Obama can accomplish one thing
Dear President Xi and President Obama, You will both have received many public and private letters of advice prior to your meeting on Friday and Saturday in California. They will urge you to take up specific issues ranging from military and trade concerns to human rights. That diversity of concern is an indicator of how…
Investigative journalist under threat again in Angola
The Angolan government has brought criminal charges against journalist Rafael Marques de Morais for his book, Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola, published in Portugal in 2011, that documented allegations of homicides, torture, forced displacement of civilian settlements, and intimidation of inhabitants of the diamond-mining areas of the country’s Lundas region.
Photographers attacked: Two weeks in southern Africa
From Cape Town to Lilongwe, four photographers on routine news assignments in major southern Africa cities were assaulted by security officials in the past two weeks. The details differ, but the heavy-handed actions in each case reflect a belief among those responsible for security that they are above the law and not publicly accountable. These…
Singapore bloggers wary of news site license scheme
Singapore’s Internet community is in backlash since the government announced on May 28 a new licensing scheme for “news websites”–a term it did not define–arguing that digital news platforms ought to be regulated on par with offline media. The government said the scheme would take effect June 1.
With Panorama jail sentences, Italy’s libel law under fire
“Incredible,” “staggering,” “enormous,” “out of time”–the expressions of outrage have been flying in Italy since a Milan magistrate sentenced to prison three journalists for the weekly magazine Panorama. On May 24, Andrea Marcenaro and Riccardo Arena were each condemned to a one-year jail term for a 2010 article discussing Palermo magistrate Francesco Messineo’s alleged family…
Bheki Makhubu raises freedom flag in Swaziland
After high school, Bhekitemba Makhubu’s father wanted him to study for a law degree. He refused, insisting on following in his father’s footsteps as a journalist. Now, aged 43, he doesn’t regret his choice, but besides his job as editor of the privately owned monthly magazine, The Nation, he is also studying for a law…