A Moroccan rapper and activist was arrested by security forces last week, following claims that one of his songs is offensive to a public institution. Megaz El Haked was summoned to a court on the charge of offending a public authority. Lyrics in...
CATEGORY: minipost
Peru: Journalist’s defamation conviction overturned
A Peruvian appeals court has overturned a criminal defamation conviction against a journalist who reported on local corruption. The court found that the decision against radio journalist Teobaldo Meléndez Fachín contained "substantial errors" in...
Latvia: Journalist assaulted
The publisher of a Latvian news website was attacked last week. Leonids Jakobsons, owner of the independent news website Kompromat was attacked by at least two unidentified assailants, after the site published sensitive news stories. The publisher...
Syria: citizen journalist detained, reportedly tortured
A Syrian citizen journalist who has been detained by authorities since Wednesday has reportedly been tortured during his arrest. Ali Mahmoud Othman, who ran the media centre in Baba Amr where Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik were killed, was arrested...
Authorities ban books at Bahrain International Book Fair
Bahraini authorities banned several books from the country's international book fair, which was held between 22 March and 1 April. The Press and Publications Directorate, which is affiliated with the Information Affairs Authority, banned and...
Bahrain: Journalist Ahmed Ismael Hassan al-Samadi dies as violence continues
A citizen journalist who was shot during a peaceful protest in Bahrain has died in hospital. Ahmed Ismael Hassan al-Samadi was shot in the thigh whilst filming tear-gas being fired on protesters near Bahrain's capital. It is believed al-Samadi was...
China: Journalist, critic, reportedly jailed
Reports have emerged suggesting a Chinese blogger who criticised a public official in his personal blog was secretly sentenced to prison in 2010. Voice of America has reported that Gao Yingpu, a journalist who has written for the Asia Pacific...
Mexico: TV network faces bomb attack
National Mexican television network Televisa, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas state, suffered a bomb attack on 25 March. No one was injured in the blast, which occurred in the wake of two other attacks in the same part of northern Mexico. On 19...
Tunisia: Al Jazeera journalist expelled from meeting, attacked
A Tunisian journalist was physically attacked after being ejected from a political meeting last week. Al Jazeera journalist Lotfi Hajji was officially invited to a meeting on 24 March which brought together several political parties, but was...
China: Detained human rights lawyer ‘alive and well’
A Chinese human rights lawyer has been visited in prison by his family for the first time since he disappeared over two years ago. Gao Zhisheng, China's best known human rights lawyer, was sentenced to three years in jail in 2006 for "inciting...