Chin’ono tweeted that police had taken him from his home, charged with ‘communicating falsehoods’
Police in Zimbabwe have arrested the prominent journalist Hopewell Chin‘ono, for the third time in six months, his lawyer said.
Doug Coltart said he was en route to the police station to confirm the charges against his client.
Continue reading...Violence increases amid stalled Taliban peace talks, with Isis claiming it was behind earlier journalist killing
An Afghan journalist and human rights activist has been shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in western Afghanistan, the fifth journalist to be killed in the war-ravaged country in the past two months, a provincial spokesman said.
Bismillah Adil Aimaq was on the road near Feroz Koh, the provincial capital of Ghor, returning home to the city after visiting his family in a village nearby, when gunmen opened fire at the vehicle.
Continue reading...Jaime Castaño Zacarías is ninth journalist killed in Mexico this year after he was pursued by gunmen
A Mexican photojournalist has been killed after taking pictures of dead bodies left alongside a road, bringing Mexico’s death toll of journalists to nine this year.
Jaime Castaño Zacarías happened upon the dead bodies with their hands bound in northern Zacatecas state on Wednesday morning, following a clash between drug cartels in the city of Jerez, according to media reports.
Continue reading...The 2012 killing of Regina Martínez, who was investigating links between organised crime and politics, began a wave of violence in the most dangerous country to be a reporter
Regina Martínez Pérez was considered an enemy of the state. The 48-year-old journalist had made powerful foes investigating allegations of collusion between political leaders, security forces and narcotraffickers in the Mexican region of Veracruz.
She was a source of irritation for four consecutive state governors, highlighting violence, abuses of power and cover-ups in the pages of Mexico’s foremost investigative news magazine, Proceso.
Continue reading...Rising violence by militants raises fears for press freedom after US troops withdraw in May
The Taliban have denied they are deliberately targeting journalists in attacks amid the surge in violence throughout Afghanistan.
The US watchdog Sigar (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) says Taliban violence has risen by 50% since September, with media workers saying they don’t feel safe doing their jobs.
Continue reading...Israel Vázquez became the third journalist to be murdered in two weeks – and the eighth this year – while reporting on Monday
Early on Monday morning, Israel Vázquez, a crime reporter in the Mexican city of Salamanca, received a tip that a plastic bag full of human remains had been dumped at the side of a street.
He reached the scene before the police, but as he prepared to broadcast on Facebook live, gunmen opened fire from a passing car, and shot him eight times. He died of his injuries later in the day.
Continue reading...Virgilio Maganes shot outside his home in what NUJP says is 18th such killing under Duterte
A Filipino journalist who survived a previous attempt on his life by pretending to be dead has been killed outside his home, police have said..
Virgilio Maganes, 62, who was a commentator for DWPR radio station in the northern province of Pangasinan, died instantly after he was shot six times by motorcycle-riding gunmen, Major Christian Alucod told AFP.
Continue reading...Choy Yuk-ling reportedly held over film about claims of police collusion with armed thugs
Hong Kong police have arrested a journalist at a public broadcaster, reportedly in relation to a documentary about the 2019 Yuen Long incident, when police were accused of standing by as armed thugs attacked commuters.
RTHK confirmed the arrest of Choy Yuk-ling, one of the producers of Hong Kong Connection. The respected current affairs programme investigated the police response to the attack, which left 45 people needing treatment in hospital.
Continue reading...Irina Slavina dies following self-immolation she blamed on Russian Federation
A Russian journalist has died after setting herself on fire in front of the local branch of the interior ministry in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, a day after her apartment was searched by police.
Prior to her self-immolation, Irina Slavina wrote on her Facebook page: “I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death.”
Continue reading...Paul Hansen one of 50 reporters, including BBC Moscow’s Steve Rosenberg, detained by police
A Swedish photojournalist has been deported from Belarus, amid a crackdown on local and foreign media and ahead of further mass protests planned for this weekend against the president, Alexander Lukashenko.
Paul Hansen was given 24 hours to leave the country and banned from Belarus for five years. He was one of 50 reporters rounded up by riot police on Thursday and taken into custody, ostensibly so their documents could be checked.
Continue reading...Savage attacks by prison guards and riot police follow election protests as Lukashenko holds on to power
People detained in Belarus during the past few days of unrest have told the Guardian about systematic mistreatment and abuse, suggesting that guards and riot police loyal to Alexander Lukashenko’s regime have terrorised thousands of Belarusians caught up in the crackdown on recent protests.
Those detained in police stations, jails and makeshift prisons spoke of ritual beatings, up to 55 women being crammed into a cell meant for two people and men who were kept in stress positions for hours on end. Leaked audio files and other testimony has corroborated the reports of widespread torture as Lukashenko tries to hold on to power.
Continue reading...Press groups have called for justice after unidentified gunmen killed a journalist in southern Mexico, along with a police officer assigned to protect him after a 2016 attack.
Pablo Morrugares was the fifth journalist to be killed in Mexico this year, in attacks which are increasingly killing police guards assigned to the victims. More than 140 journalists have been killed over the past 20 years.
Continue reading...Hopewell Chin’ono is in jail awaiting trial on charges he rejects of inciting violence
A prominent investigative journalist in Zimbabwe has said the struggle against corruption in the country must continue as he was sent back to prison to await trial on charges of incitement of public violence.
Hopewell Chin’ono, an internationally respected reporter, recently published documents raising concerns that powerful individuals in Zimbabwe were profiting from multimillion-dollar deals for essential supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Former journalist Ivan Safronov could face up to 20 years in prison in treason case
Russian security services have opened a treason case against a former journalist who recently began working as an adviser to the head of the country’s space agency.
Ivan Safronov was arrested on Tuesday morning by agents from the FSB, the successor agency of the KGB. He could face up to 20 years in prison.
Continue reading...Amnesty alleges phone of Omar Radi in Morocco was infected by NSO’s Pegasus software
As NSO Group faced mounting criticism last year that its hacking software was being used illegally against journalists, dissidents and campaigners around the world, the Israeli spyware company unveiled a new policy that it said showed its commitment to human rights.
Now an investigation has alleged that another journalist, Omar Radi in Morocco, was targeted with NSO’s Pegasus software and put under surveillance just days after the company made that promise.
Continue reading...Editor of news website Rappler could face prison if convicted under ‘cyber libel’ law
A verdict will be issued on Monday following the controversial trial of one of the Philippines’ most prominent journalists, in a case widely condemned as an attack on press freedom under Rodrigo Duterte.
A court in Manila will issue a verdict on Rappler, one of the country’s most influential news websites, its editor, Maria Ressa, and former researcher and writer Reynaldo Santos Jr on Monday. Ressa, who was arrested last year on charges of “cyber libel” for a story published by Rappler in 2012, has described the allegations as baseless.
Continue reading...Nabil Hasan al-Quaety, who worked for AFP among others, targeted in his car in Aden
A Yemeni journalist has been shot dead in the southern city of Aden in an incident that is likely to inflame tensions between the government and secessionists seeking independence for the south.
Nabil Hasan al-Quaety, a 34-year-old photographer and video journalist who worked for news organisations including Agence France-Presse, was shot in his car shortly after leaving his home on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...Country is Latin America’s second worst-hit with more than 164,000 coronavirus cases and 4,500 deaths
At least 20 journalists have died from Covid-19 in Peru as reporters, photographers and camera operators raced to cover the pandemic’s spread through the country, often without protective equipment.
The number throws into sharp relief the risks and precarious work conditions which face journalists covering the global pandemic in the Andean country, which, after Brazil is Latin America’s worst-hit with more than 164,000 Covid-19 cases and 4,500 deaths.
Continue reading...Campaigners warn Shafiqul Islam Kajol faces a lengthy sentence as his family worries about his exposure to Covid-19 in prison
Fifty-three days after he disappeared, Bangladeshi journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol turned up on Sunday in police custody at a border town 150 miles from where he had last been seen.
“I am alive,” he told his son by phone, the first time the family had heard his voice since his disappearance in early March, a day after a case was filed against him and 31 others under the country’s controversial new Digital Security Act.
Continue reading...Court run by Houthi rebels orders release of six other journalists after time served
A court run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has sentenced four journalists to death after their conviction on spying charges, their defence lawyer has said.
The four were among a group of 10 journalists who were detained by the Iran-backed rebels and accused of “collaborating with the enemy”, in reference to the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Houthis since 2015, Abdel-Majeed Sabra said.
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