No right to information in Sri Lanka
You would think that with fighting between government forces and secessionist Tamils finished in May 2009, the Sri Lankan government might ease its grip on public information–information which is really the property of the country’s citizens, not whichever administration happens to be holding political power. In 2004, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike’s cabinet did approve a…
Ethiopian appeals court reduces sentence of Reeyot Alemu
Nairobi, August 3, 2012–An appeals court in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, has reduced a 14-year prison sentence given to journalist Reeyot Alemu in January to five years and dropped most of the terrorism charges against her, according to local journalists.Reeyot, a columnist for the independent weekly Feteh, was sentenced in January and fined 33,000 birrs…
Mozambican journalist sentenced in criminal libel case
Johannesburg, August 2, 2012–An appeals court in the Mozambican city of Beira should reverse the criminal libel conviction of a journalist who wrote about a disagreement between a private school and the family of a disabled student, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Falume Chabane was sentenced to a 16-month suspended prison term on…
Burmese authorities suspend two news publications
Bangkok, August 1, 2012–Two weekly news publications were suspended indefinitely in Burma on Tuesday, marking a significant reversal of the government’s earlier loosening of media restrictions and pre-publication censorship, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
South African journalists probed over scandal coverage
Johannesburg, July 30, 2012–South African authorities should immediately drop a criminal investigation against three newspaper journalists who have sought to report details on a multi-billion-dollar arms scandal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Defense tools for Sri Lanka’s online onslaught
Sanjana Hattotuwa, the founder of the citizen journalism website Groundviews, sent us the links to a new series of posters and videos focused on digital communications security. The material, which is aimed at a Sri Lankan audience, is available in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, but is relevant to anyone who uses the Internet or a…
KGB puts editor in jail over photos of teddy bears
New York, July 18, 2012–Belarusian security agents should immediately release a website editor who has been jailed for publishing photographs of teddy bears, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The KGB, the nation’s security service, is holding Anton Suryapin for alleged complicity in an illegal border crossing–a charge that can bring up to seven…
Rwandan police arrest political reporter in Kigali
Nairobi, July 18, 2012–Police in Kigali are holding a newspaper reporter whose employer had earlier filed a complaint alleging that security agents had seized and interrogated him, according to news reports. On Tuesday, police arrested Idriss Gasana Byiringiro, a political reporter for the private weekly Chronicles, on suspicion of providing false information, the paper reported.…
Afghanistan’s draft media law slowed, but not stopped
For now, the Afghan government’s apparent attempt at railroading through a less-than-media-friendly new Mass Media Law without consultation seems to have been sidelined, though not derailed. On Sunday in Kabul, representatives of the Ministry of Information and Culture received recommendations from civil society workers and journalists, including some from the provinces, which were drawn up…