20 Jan 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Political cartoonist Zunar (Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque) appeared at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this week for the first hearing of a civil suit in which he challenges the Malaysian government and police for his arrest and detention on 24 September 2010. Zunar is seeking the return of confiscated property as well as aggravated losses and damages incurred in the raid of his office, during which police seized copies of his latest work, Cartoon-O-Phobia, and arrested him for sedition. The raid occurred just hours before the book’s launch.
20 Jan 12 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
Two journalists and a US-based blogger (tried in absentia), were convicted on charges of terrorism in Addis Ababa yesterday. They may face the death penalty. Reeyot Alemu, a columnist with the independent weekly Feteh, deputy editor Woubshet Taye of the now-defunct weekly Awramba Times, and Elias Kifle, exiled editor of the Washington-based opposition website Ethiopian Review, were charged with lending support to an underground network of outlawed opposition groups.
19 Jan 12 | Middle East and North Africa
Mouhamed Ali Ltifi, a journalist for Al-Oula, a new weekly newspaper, was assaulted and arrested by police officers on 18 January while he was taking the Tunis metro. According to a report on the newspaper’s official Facebook page, two of his colleagues witnessed the arrest.
Ltifi, who was released a few hours after his arrest, had been verbally and physically abused. Moez Zayoud, editor-in-chief of Al-Oula, told Index on Censorship in a phone call that Ltifi was “humiliated”.
“We have been harassed more than once”’, he said. “It’s not just us, but all independent and investigative media outlets face pressure.”
Zayoud said: “In the last weeks, pressure has increased over our newspaper.” In its 35th issue last week, Al-Oula published an investigation that accused the general director of the Tunisian Television institution of receiving huge amounts of money above his salary.
On 10 January, Al-Oula received a letter sent by the lawyer representing the general director warning the newspaper not to publish any personal details about his client.
19 Jan 12 | Americas, Index Index, minipost
A Colombian news network has accused Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro of operating a “totalitarian” approach to the press. In a web article published on Tuesday, CM& said Petro handling of the press was on an “alarming and disturbing” slope. The allegations followed a recent press conference on a bullfighting ban, where Petro allegedly refused to allow journalists to use their own equipment CM& claims the Mayor’s team provided their own, edited footage instead. The Mayor claimed the allegations were “insulting”.
