Articles Written By: Lindsay Ross

International Federation of Journalists The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) and the Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists (BUJ) in condemning the arrest of Shirin Dalvi, the editor of an Urdu newspaper in Mumbai, India on January 29, 2015 for reprinting a cartoon originally published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The IFJ has described this as a violation of freedom of expression and called for established procedure to deal with violations of journalistic ethics through the Press Council. Dalvi, the Mumbai-based 46-year-old editor of the Awadhnama…Read more

Cartoonists Rights Network International Malaysian cartoonist Zunar, on a speaking tour in England, got word in the early hours of Wednesday, January 28, 2015, that his office in Kuala Lumpur was being raided by police. The police questioned Zunar's staff and confiscated 155 copies of two of the cartoonist's books - Pirates of the Carry Bn and Conspiracy to Imprison Anwar. Zunar, whose given name is Zukiflee Anwar Haque, tweeted that the police action was made under the Printing Presses and Publication Act and the Sedition Act. The Malaysian government has been weighing charges…Read more

Media Institute of Southern Africa Two journalists were mistreated in separate incidents during the Soweto uprising last week. Three people have been killed since the violent unrest began last week in Soweto after a foreign business owner shot a 14-year-old boy accused of trying to rob a shop, Eyewitness News reported. SAPA journalist Mpho Raborife was forced to remove pictures taken with her cellphone on Thursday 22 January 2014. After noticing three police vehicles outside Somali-owned shops on her way to work, Raborife stopped to investigate and took photos of two men loading…Read more

Committee to Protect Journalists A Singapore court on Thursday [January 22, 2015] convicted a blogger on contempt of court charges in connection with an article he wrote that was critical of the judiciary, news reports said. The Singapore High Court judge convicted Alex Au Waipang in connection with an October 5, 2013, article the blogger wrote that suggested a chief justice had manipulated court dates on a constitutional challenge to a law criminalizing gay sex between men, news reports said. The judge said that Au's article suggested that the "as the Chief Justice…Read more

International Federation of Journalists The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) strongly condemn threats made to a Peshawar-based journalist and media rights activist by the Taliban. The IFJ and PFUJ call on the Pakistan Government to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of this journalist and the entire media profession in Pakistan. Recently, the Taliban's central spokesperson Ihasan Ullah Ihsan issued death threats to Zia ul Haq, the Peshawar-based assistant general secretary of the PFUJ and news bureau chief of ARY News. Ihsan, using an…Read more

Lord Black of Brentwood, the Chairman of the CPU Media Trust, highlighted the successes and failures of the Asian media at an event marking the twentieth anniversary of Asian Affairs magazine and the fifth anniversary of the Democracy Forum in London on 21 January 2015.  His speech is reproduced in full below: "I am absolutely delighted to be here this evening to mark the twentieth anniversary of Asian Affairs Magazine and the fifth anniversary of The Democracy Forum. And it is so very right that this great event should be taking place at…Read more

Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda A City Hall Court in Kampala has sentenced a freelance journalist, William Ntege (aka Buganda Kyumakyayesu) to two months in prison on charges of criminal trespass and being a common nuisance at the parliament of Uganda. Ntege had gone to parliament to petition the speaker, Rebecca Kadaga, over police brutality on journalists and other Ugandans. A Senior Grade one magistrate, Elias Kakooza, convicted Ntege to jail over criminal trespass, and cautioned him on the second count of common nuisance. Prosecution led by State Attorney Miriam Njuki…Read more

In response to Gambia shutting down of the independent Teranga radio station after a failed coup last week against President Yahya Jammeh, Freedom House issued the following statement: "The Jammeh government should end its crackdown on freedom of expression in the Gambia," said Jenai Cox, program manager for Africa programs. "The failed coup of December 23 does not justify an attempt to stifle dissent and limit access to information. The government should immediately allow the Teranga radio station to resume operations." Gambia is rated Not Free in "Freedom in the World 2014", and Not…Read more

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest of the owner of a Bangladeshi TV channel, which was unavailable in several parts of the country a day after airing a speech by an exiled opposition leader. Police today [January 6] entered the Dhaka offices of Ekushey TV, a privately owned channel that covers local and national news, and arrested Abdus Salam, the owner of the channel, according to local news reports. The officers drove Salam in his own car to a local police station, according to Ekushey staffers and Salam's driver, who were cited…Read more

Reporters Without Borders is sounding the alarm over a resurgence of violent attacks on media belonging to the Jang-Geo group – attacks reflecting a slander and harassment campaign stage-managed by the ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] and run by its political allies. Attacks on press freedom by a party in power and by political factions have been on the increase in 2014, even as violence committed by non-state actors has remained essentially at its previous level. As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the opposition party led by former cricket champion Imran Khan, has grown more powerful, the media…Read more