Journalists in danger
Dutch journalist freed
An unnamed Dutch journalist who was kidnapped by suspected Taliban in Afghanistan last week has been freed, The woman, whose name was not released, was captured on Saturday last week while she was en route to do a story about a group of Taliban who had killed 10 French soldiers in August, an editor at […]
Radio journalist killed in Congo
Alfred Nzonzo Bitwahiki is reportedly among 20 killed in a battle for control of Kiwanja in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Radio Racou journalist was confirmed killed by Human Rights Watch. The International Federation of Journalists has released a statement condemning the killing, “Our colleagues covering the conflict in the eastern part of the […]
Thomas Scheen kidnapped in Congo
Thomas Scheen has been named as the Belgian journalist kidnapped by the Mai Mai in the village of Mabenga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sheen works for the German daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Contacts have been opened with people involved or able to help with his release,” he added. The abduction happened in […]
Belgian journalist seized
A Belgian journalist has been kidnapped by the Mai Mai in Mabenga, 70km north of Goma in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, In nearby village of Mabenga, a Belgian journalist working for a German newspaper was kidnapped by the Mai Mai late Tuesday along with his assistant and three rebel fighters, […]
Somalia kidnap deadline looms
The ransom deadline reportedly set by the kidnappers of journalists Amanda Lindhout, Nigel Brennan and their fixer Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi and driver Mahad Clise looms today reports the National Post. The kidnappers are reported to have asked for $2.5 million, but “a travel writer who met Ms. Lindhout last year in Afghanistan says he’s optimistic […]
Life for Pervez Kambaksh
Kim Sengupta, Independent journalist and Frontline Club regular, follows up on the court case of Pervez Kambaksh in Kabul. Kambaksh was originally sentenced to death for downloading information about women’s rights from the Internet. This week he was sentenced to life imprisonment, “I was, of course, hoping to be freed, but the fact that they […]
Croatia Car bomb kills Nacional editor
Ivo Pukanić, the editor of the Nacional Magazine, and the publication’s marketing executive Niko Franić, were killed when a car bomb exploded in the coutyard of the magazine’s offices on Palmoticeva Street in central Zagreb yesterday evening, “I heard a terrible explosion and shaking, at first I thought it was an earthquake, I have not […]
Jonathan Elendu held in Nigeria
Jonathan Elendu, an online journalist based in Michigan, has been detained by security forces since he arrived in Nigeria on October 17, say Reporters Without Borders. Elendu publishes the online publication Elendu Reports. The journalist recently wrote about the economic and ecological disaster happening in the Niger delta and where the documentary filmaker Andrew Berends […]
Dutch journalist killed by cluster bomb
[video:youtube:B-epO3SDVYg] A Dutch government investigation has found that a Russian cluster bomb killed a television cameraman in Georgia in August, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. Russia denied using cluster munitions during its brief war with Georgia in August, but human rights groups say both sides unleashed the widely denounced weapons. link We previously linked to […]
Nick Meo in Kandahar IED incident
[video:youtube:1GegGPTSAqg] Nick Meo, Telegraph foreign correspondent, reports from Afghanistan a few seconds after an IED exploded a truck he was travelling in just outside Kandahar launching it into the air and turning it upside down. Nick filmed the aftermath of the attack in the clip above, The Cougar was meant to clear a way along […]
$1 million Baghdad security budget
Peter Morello of University of Missouri-Kansas City (UKMC), Matthew Schofield of The Kansas City Star and activist Mike Murphy held a roundtable at UKMC to discuss the war in Iraq and the nature of reporting conflict, issues around embedding and the sheer expense of it all, “It’s become expensive to have reporters in different countries,” […]
15 day threat to Somalia kidnap victims
According to a report from Press TV Iran’s correspondent in Mogadishu, the two journalists kidnapped in Somalia on August 23 – Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan – will be killed if a $2.5 million ransom is not paid within 15 days. The National Union of Somali Journalists released a statement calling for the release of […]
Journalist Diyar Abbas gunned down in Kirkuk
Diyar Abbas Ahmed, a journalist with Eye Media in Iraq, was reportedly gunned down in the northern city of Kirkuk on a day of attacks across the country killing at least 19 people, The worst single attack was in Baghdad’s mainly Sunni quarter of Dora where a car bomb blast at a crowded market killed […]
Journalists held in Syria
The two journalists who were reported missing in Lebanon yesterday are reportedly being held by Syrian Immigration authorities according to Al-Jazeera, Two Americans reported missing by the U.S. embassy in Lebanon are being held in Syria for entering the neighboring country without visas, Arab media reported on Thursday. Doha-based Al Jazeera television said Holli Chmela, […]
Zimbabwe – There is no freedom after expression
Memorable quote from Davison Maruziva, the editor of the Independent Zimbabwean newspaper, in the IHT today, Davison Maruziva says there’s plenty of freedom of expression in Zimbabwe. Problem is: “There is no freedom after expression.” link The article goes on to discuss the state of the media in the beleagured nation and quotes Zimbabwe Information […]
Niger RFI journalist released
Moussa Kaka, a local reporter for Radio France International (RFI) in Niger, was released from prison yesterday after spending over a year in prison. The charges against him have been “downgraded”. He was originally charged with “complicity in plotting against state authority”. He will now face charges of being “against the integrity of national territory”. […]
Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani speaks of imprisonment
Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, a journalist and former editor of Yemeni political weekly newspaper Al-Shora, speaks about his five month imprisonment with The Yemen Times. He was arrested in June, 2008 on “fabricated terrorism charges”. He also won the Amnesty International Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat during the same month as his arrest, “There […]
How does Sarah Palin form her world view? Easy, she doesn’t
[video:youtube:wBttm2hOhhY] I’m not sure this blog can take another dose of Sarah Palin, but here goes. Click the above clip forward on the video above to the 3 minute mark to discover exactly how the Republican Vice Presidential candidate in one of the most important US elections ever forms her world view. If you can’t […]
Threat to Iraqi journalists
Magda Abu-Fadil writes on The Huffington Post about the Iraqi journalist hotline set up recently after the killing of four staff from the Al-Sharqiya TV station in September, 2008, A ministry spokesman said hotlines would be established between various police departments, government agencies, intelligence services, swat teams and journalists to enable the ministry to protect […]
The disappeared in Mexico
Monica Campbell and Maria Salazar publish a special report for the Committee to Protect Journalists on the dangers facing journalists working in Mexico. 21 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000 and seven reporters have vanished in the past three years. The report suggests the disappearances are either a new tactic by organised crime […]
Journalists in prison
Every year the Committee to Protect Journalists releases a list of journalists imprisoned around the world. Every year since 2001, the United States has featured on this list. Joel Simon blogs about this further on the CPJ Blog, The annual appearance of the United States on CPJ’s imprisoned list since 2001 corresponds precisely with a […]
For sure they will kill us
Jason Motlagh writes on the Washington Times blog about the increasing dangers of reporting from Afghanistan. According to the post, “the government was responsible for at least 23 of the 45 reported incidents of intimidation, violence or arrest of journalists between May 2007 and May 2008” Unsurprisingly, it’s the Afghan journalists who are most at […]
The business of death
Hugh Sykes writes on the BBC website about the dangers for Iraqi journalists trying to report on the ongoing war. Almost 300 media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003. Most of the dead are Iraqi, The editor of the Baghdad daily paper al Sabaah, Falah al Mashal, told me: “Journalism all over the […]
Burmese journalist Win Tin released
Burmese journalist Win Tin was released from prison today after 19 years behind bars. The 78 year old, who is Burma’s longest serving political prisoner, vowed to continue to protest against the ruling junta, The 78-year-old Win Tin said he would continue to wear his light blue prison uniform as a show of protest against […]
Jean-Paul Ney in danger
Jean-Paul Ney, the investigative journalist and war reporter arrested in Ivory Coast nine months ago, is in ill health according to the Intelink website, Today after 9 months in jail, the health of Jean-Paul Ney is in danger. He has been hospitalized twice for Malaria and typhoid fever, and put back in jail each time. […]
Muaid al-Lami wounded in Baghdad bomb
Muaid al-Lami, head of Iraq’s national journalists’ union, was among six people wounded in a bomb blast outside the union offices in central Baghdad today according to Reuters, “Some vehicles outside caught fire and it shattered all the glass in the building,” union member Hassan al-Aboudi, who was in the building at the time, told […]
Caution urged over Somalia kidnap video
Reporters Without Borders urge caution when watching the video aired by Al Jazeera earlier this week that purports to show kidnapped journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan held hostage in Somalia, “We have to be very careful of this video,” said Leonard Vincent, head of the organization’s Africa desk. “We don’t know who sent it, […]
Hotline for Iraqi journalists
Iraq’s Journalistic Freedom Observatory has agreed with the Interior Ministry to create a hotline for journalists and to provide them with armed protection if needed. The move follows the killing of four Al-Sharqiya TV staff in Mosul last week, “Iraq is not only the most deadly country in the world for the press, it also […]
Somalia kidnap journalists in Al Jazeera video
Al Jazeera has aired a video that purports to show Australian photographer Nigel Brennan and the Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout. The duo were kidnapped on 23 August – you can see the timeline here – ABC News has more, The video showed Mr Brennan and Ms Lindhout, wearing an Islamic robe, along with armed Islamic […]
Four Iraqi TV staff gunned down in Mosul
Reuters report that four staff from Iraq’s Sharqia TV station were kidnapped and then shot by gunmen in the northern city of Mosul today. “Today at noon, armed people kidnapped and killed four of our workers in the channel. They were doing their national duty recording an episode in Mosul,” the independent station said in […]