Journalist's Issues

A Honduras lawyer was shot dead on January 17, after he had revealed to a local newspaper cases of police mistreatments of detainees in the prison of the city of Tela, North of Honduras. Jose Ricardo Rosales was killed three days later the story was published on El Tiempo. According to the newspaper, 74 lawyers have been killed in last three years in Honduras.

The TV Islamic Channel is planning to set up an inquiry to investigate how British media cover Islamic and Muslim affairs, a sort of “Leveson inquiry” related to Islamophobia. According to a summer 2011 report commissioned by the UK Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, British people considered media the first responsible for the creation of climate of fear against Islam in the UK. The purpose of the panel is to investigate the possible consequences of media coverage on social perception of Islam in the UK, and the repercussions of the government policy towards British Muslims. Islamic Channel broadcasts in English all across the UK, Europe and the MENA countries; its owner is Mohamed Ali Harrath, a Tunisian refugee.

The regional offices in Kano of the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust were stormed on the third of January to prevent the publication of an article about local protests. An armed band entered into the building, injuring a security guard, and started to destroy everything inside: they were prevented to set the office ablaze by the police arrival. Daily Trust was covering the rallies against the fuel subsidies cut implemented by federal government with the support of the local authorities, a move that has been greatly criticized by local population. The attempt to prevent the publication of the story is believed to be the reason for the assault to the newspaper.

Brazilian journalist Laecio de Souza was shot to death in the afternoon of the 3th of January in the metropolitan area of Salvador, State of Bahia, short after having received threats on his mobile phone. A local news correspondent for the radio station Sucesso FM, he was planning to run to the city council and was carrying on some social projects on behalf of the local community, with the construction of a storage facility. According to the police, this was the cause of his death: local drug traffickers were upset with Laecio’s activities, and decided to get rid of him with three bullets.

The New York Times journalist Kick Kristoff was briefly detained by the police while covering a protest in Bahrain on Friday 9 December 2011. The columnist and his videographer Adam Ellick were covering the police reaction to the protests, with also use of tear gas, when they were stopped and held for a while in police car without justification; the two said to have been tear gassed and their camera was damaged. Bahrain authorities denied any charge, justifying their action with the necessity to protect them. It is not the first time that foreign journalists are prevented to assist and cover demonstrations in Bahrain; the same happened a few days earlier to Reuter’s photojournalist Hamad Mohamed and Mazen Mahdi from EPA/DPA. While the US government is finally becoming concerned about the mistreatment of the demonstrators in Bahrain – as for the case of rights activist Nabeel Rajab -, the authorities are trying to restrict the spread of news about the situation in the Arab country.

Venezuelan media were banned from publishing the murder of a boy in his school in Caracas; the victim, 12 years old, was shot dead by his classmates on December 9. The Council for Protection of Children and Adolescences ordered to remove all the contents regarding the event, censoring also the readers’ comments on the online newspapers’ forums. Complying with the request, the Venezuelan media apologised for their behaviour.

The editorial executives of the Russian newspaper Kommersant have been fired for publishing photos and articles against Prime Minister Putin after the last elections. Kommersant’s owner, Alisher Usmanov, asked the general director Andrei Galiyev and the editor in chief Maxim Kovalsky to leave, while the general director of the publishing house, Demyan Kudryavtsev, resigned with a letter. Mr Usmanov deemed the investigative report ‘How the elections were falsified’ as just “petty hooliganism”. Issued in the wake of the last Russian Parliamentary elections, the report was published with photos of swearing writings against Putin. Mr Usmanov, an oligarch with a fortune in the metal and pipeline industry and a major shareholder in Arsenal football club, is considered to be close with the Kremlin, and this can explain the massive dismissals in his newspaper. After the elections, peaceful demonstration took place in many Russian cities, questioning the victory of Putin’s Russia United Party, and concerns about possible intrigues in the next 4 March Presidential elections are increasing among the population. Putin’s new competitor, Mikhail Prokhorov, offered to buy Kommersant Publishing house from Alisher Usmanov, a taunting move in the Russian troubled political waters. The game for the Presidential elections is not closed as it previously seemed, and attention needs to be paid to press freedom and the contributions of newspapers and journalists in the next months.

The number of journalists imprisoned has considerably increased in the last years, especially in the Middle East and North Africa countries. According to Committee to Protect Journalist, 179 writers, editors and photojournalists are detained across the world, most of them free lance, but strong differences exist between different areas of the world. The CPJ is an independent nonprofit organization with the aim to protect press freedom worldwide, and it released an annual census and continuous reports about violations of journalist rights. While no cases were reported in Europe and the Americas, the situation in Central Asia is also improving, with only eight cases of detention in the whole region. According to the CPJ 2011 annual report, the situation of North Africa and Middle East is seen with great concern, especially after the last political events. Iran has the worst record with 42 journalists detained, and a harsh overall situation for press freedom. Since the June 2009 elections, Iranian authorities have engaged in increasing attacks against journalists, independent newspapers and free bloggers: in November, at least 5 cases have been reported. In very harsh prison conditions, imprisoned journalists can be sentenced to thousand dollars in sanctions and years in jail. Several cases have been reported also in Syria (8) and Turkey (8). Beyond the Middle East, China, Eritrea and Burma have the worst records, and several cases interested also Vietnam, Ethiopia and Israel. In general, journalists are mistreated during detention, which is in most cases without any specific charge; at least six journalists have died in jail. In China, special repression is directed against press covering ethnic and religious minorities, as the Tibetan and Uighur groups. Many editors and writes in Asia and Africa are detained for their investigations against the corruption of their political system. Good news is coming from Cuba, where the last detainees have been released in April of this year. To conclude, CPJ report is stressing the increase in numbers, and the concern that the situation will hardly improve in the following months.

Myanmar will deport two Indian Journalist stopped and detained for being found without a valid travelling document in a restricted Myanmar area at the beginning of December. Rajjb Bhattacharya and photographer Pradip Gogoi were trying to interview Paresh Baruah, the leader of the United Liberation Front of Asom, a separatist group fighting for the independence of the northern Indian Assam state and considered a terrorist group by New Delhi. The two were reported to have been detained for investigations in the north eastern part of Myanmar, near the Chinese border. Indian authorities obtained the release of the two journalists after diplomatic efforts. The Myanmar authorities accepted to expel the journalists after further investigation and, probably, the confiscation of their cameras and phones.

South African opposition Democratic Alliance Party has criticized a promotion campaign on the Independent Newspapers that will be made in occasion of the centenary celebrations of the African National Congress. The campaign will be launched on 13 January, and will be published in several local newspapers owned by the Independent News& Media Company. DA leader, Helen Zille, said that the advertising is a mere promotion of the ANC, and she commented that “it is deeply ironic that Independent Newspapers would choose to run an advertising feature glorifying the ANC when the very same party is attempting to shut down the free press”. She tried to complain to the South African media ombudsman, but her claim was rejected since it has no competence on advertising. The Independent News rejected the accusations, stressing the division between the editorial and commercial units of the company.

The editor of the Inyenyeri News, Charles Ingabire was killed in a bar in Kampala on Wednesday 30 of November. The police reported that he was drinking in a bar near Makerere University when he was shot dead. Mr Ingabire was living in exile in Uganda, after he had to escape from Rwanda in 2007 because of political persecution. He was particularly critical against the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and he accused his government agents to threaten his life. The Rwandan authorities deny any involvement in the murder, accusing the journalist to be a criminal in reality. However, several press freedom watchdogs have called Uganda to conduct transparent and accurate investigations in the case

Journalist, Mona Eltahawy has suffered a broken wrist and arm after "12 hours with interior ministry bastards and military intelligence combined", the journalist tweeted her ordeal to her fans following the attack on the 23rd of November.
While covering the events in Tahrir square through her continuous tweeting, photgraphing and reporting for The Guradian and Toronto Star, Eltahawy was questioned by authorities about her lack of passport and then taken into the interior ministry where she suffered mental, physical and sexual assault.

The assault seems to be one of an endless amount of attacks on journalists during the ongoing protests.

Bolivian radio host for Radio Gente, Leopoldo Ibarro was stabbed on the 15th of November due to his denunciation of a local merchant's association.

The reporter was stabbed and beaten near the city's capital La Paz and says his daughter was also a victim in the attack.

On the 19th of November, Ahram Online reporter, Ahmed Feteha was attacked by Egyptian security forces.
The journalist was covering the ongoing unrest in Cairo when he found himself in the middle of a standoff between protesters and police. Fateha was brutally attacked by Egyptian officials and it has been reported that he was robbed of his belongings and beaten with batons. He was again beaten when reporting the crime to a senior officer.

Supporters of the Egyptian football team Al-Ahly, made their concerns with the Egyptian Football Association very clear during a recent football match when a banner with the word 'thieves' branded on it was raised by fans.

Following the display, the director of the state-run broadcasting TV station was suspended. Ahmed al-Hun was informed by the minister for information that he had not followed the correct code of conduct or ethics in his decision to show supporter's with the large protest banner nor was it conducive to maintaining and promoting Egyptian morals and values. This very fact only adds to supporter's disgruntled attitudes toward the corrruption of the football association and the fundamental issue that the organisation is still run by a number of the former president's associates.

Authorities in South Sudan have detained two journalists because of a recent article published in The Destiny Newspaper regarding the Country's president choosing to give his daughter's hand in marriage to an Ethiopian man.

The commentary by Dengdit Ayok, brought to light a general discontenment within the Southern Sudanese state regarding the President's choice and went on to outline how insulting to the country's people selecting a foreigner is. This is especially poignant after the county has only recently gained it's independence and is in a transitional period in which creating a strong national identity is of huge importance.

Senior government officials sent a letter to the paper clearly outlining their objection to the lack of professional ethics and, even after an apology was published, the national security service entered the offices on the 1st of November and arrested editor in chief, Ngor Garang.
Following the initial arrest, the paper has been indefinitley suspended and Ayok was also taken into NSS custody on the 12th of this month.

A number of organisations, including Amnesty International have called for both the men's release with reference to the fact that under the new transitional constitution, freedom of expression is a fundamental right. However although this is theoretically the case, the complete lack of legislature pertaining to media right's and freedoms has created an appropriate loophole for the detainment to take place, as it has done in nine other cases this year regarding members of the media.

Further to this, the new constitution also states that someone cannot be detained for over 24 hours without the support of the judiciary but again, the theory does not correlate with the ongoing practice implemented by the NSS.

A Brazilian crime photographer and cameraman, Gelson Domingos da Silva, was shot dead in Antares Favela in Western Rio de Janeiro.

The incident took place during a shootout between local drug traffickers and police. The armed dispute was a consequence of Brazilian law enforcement's ongoing pacification scheme aimed at drug gangs in favelas across the region.

Da Silva was a highly experienced cameraman who fell victim to Brazillian legislation through it's lack of safeguards for local media in failing to provide professsionals with worthy bullet and stab proof vests.

Various newspapers including, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The telegraph and The Independent have reported about the recent arrest by Scotland Yard of Jamie Pyatt.

Pyatt, who has been a journalist at the News Corp tabloid 'The Sun' for a number of years has been accused of making "inappropriate payments" to police.

The enquiry is part of an ongoing probe by Scotland Yard into tabloid's seemingly increasing method of bribing police. However, this is the first time News Corp's 'The sun' has come under question. Pyatt has refused to comment and was released on bail on the 4th of November.

Since the unrest in Syria began in March the number of journalists who have been arrested and remain in custody, or worse still disappeared, has been worryingly high. The latest in a string of such cases is business reporter Lina Saleh Ibrahim who works for the state-owned daily newspaper Tishreen. She has been missing for seven days and was last seen leaving her home in Damascus on 25th October.

Similar cases include Wael Yousef Abaza, a freelancer in Damascus, who is also reported to have disappeared; and Hussein Ghrer, a prominent blogger who disappeared after leaving his home in 24th October after writing a few days earlier: "Silence doesn't serve us after today. We don't want a country where we get imprisoned for uttering a word. We want a country that embraces and welcomes words."

The New-York based Committee For the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) believes all three are in state custody and has urged the Syrian regime to clarify the whereabouts of these journalists and explain why.

Alhaji Zakariya Isa, a reporter and cameraman for the state-owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), was killed after being shot in the head several times. The attack, which took place near his home in Maiduguri on 22nd October, has been claimed by a radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram. A spokesman for Boko Haram (which translates to “Western education is forbidden”) accused Isa of being a spy for the Nigerian security agency, but this has been disputed by both Isa’s colleagues and the intelligence services.