About IFEX:

News by region:

IFEX Campaigns and Advocacy:

IFEX Email Products:

Opportunities and assistance:

Communiqué Vol 18, No 34

---

Sri Lanka

Tamil journalist sentenced to 20 years of hard labour

Popular Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam has been sentenced to 20 years hard labour on charges of supporting terrorism and inciting racial hatred, becoming the first journalist to be convicted under Sri Lanka's draconian anti-terrorism law, report Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and other IFEX members.

Thailand

Activist jailed for 18 years for insulting monarchy

An opposition activist in Thailand was sentenced to 18 years in jail last week for insulting the monarchy, report the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and international news media.

Mexico

Second investigator in journalist's murder case killed

Last November in Ciudad Juárez, Mexican crime journalist Armando Rodríguez was killed in front of his daughter on the way to school. In July, the federal investigator who was leading the Rodríguez case was gunned down, and less than a month later, his replacement suffered the same fate, say Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Libya

Qaddafi celebrates 40 years of rule while media repression goes on

As Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi holds six days of lavish parties, plays, concerts and exhibitions to celebrate the bloodless coup that brought him to power on 1 September 1969, it is unlikely his international guests will ask about Libya's abysmal press freedom record and all the journalists who have been disappeared, tortured or killed in the past 40 years, say the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

Gabon

Media restrictions interfere with coverage of elections

The Gabonese authorities censored and harassed local and foreign journalists during the presidential elections on 30 August, report Journaliste en danger (JED), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Uganda

Ahead of elections, authorities crack down on media

As tensions build in the lead-up to the 2011 general elections in Uganda, so do criminal charges and prosecutions against journalists, say the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and local rights groups. Four journalists from the "Monitor", Uganda's largest independent paper, are facing criminal prosecutions, while three other independent journalists have been accused of sedition, reports CPJ.

Events

News safety conference heading to Malta

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) will hold its annual meeting on 14 October 2009 in Valletta, Malta, on the eve of Europe's annual News Xchange conference. All interested in news safety issues are invited, but only INSI members may vote.