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China – Statement by the Liu Xiaobo Support Committee and Amnesty International France

Free Media Online — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:51:24 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Statement by the Liu Xiaobo Support Committee and Amnesty International France 18 April 2012 “Art against censorship in China” special event. Call for Liu Xiaobo’s release On the occasion of the April 17th evening’s “Art against censorship in China” special event at the Jeu de Paume national gallery in Paris, the human rights groups that form the Liu Xiaobo Support Committee, together with Amnesty International and well-known figures call on the Chinese authorities to free the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo , who has been jailed since December 2008 and who is serving an 11-year sentence. They also reaffirm their support for his wife, Liu Xia , who is currently under house arrest

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China – Statement by the Liu Xiaobo Support Committee and Amnesty International France

Kazakhstan – Kazkhstan

Free Media Online — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:30:13 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Read in Russian / читать по-русски Казахстан 2012 Kazakhstan, which considers itself a regional model after holding the rotating presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010, seems to be straying from its fine promises to embark without detours on the road to cybercensorship. In 2011, a unprecedented social protest movement prolonged by a violent uprising, a wave of odd attacks and the Head of State’s health problems made the authorities even more nervous, causing them to tighten their control over information, especially online

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Kazakhstan – Kazkhstan

Beset by online surveillance and content filtering, netizens fight on

Free Media Online — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:28:52 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – This report, which presents the 2012 list of countries that are “Enemies of the Internet” and “under surveillance,” updates the report published on 12 March 2011.

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Beset by online surveillance and content filtering, netizens fight on

Russia – Wave of attempts to intimidate independent media in run-up to presidential election

Free Media Online — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:24:05 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders is extremely concerned by attempts to intimidate independent national media in recent days in Russia. “Whether the result of a change in strategy by the Kremlin or simultaneous initiatives by zealous subordinates, these manoeuvres must stop at once,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The warning shot fired across radio Echo of Moscow ‘s bows by its leading shareholder is the latest in a series of moves to reorganize independent media in the past few months.

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Russia – Wave of attempts to intimidate independent media in run-up to presidential election

Reporters Without Borders writes to Google about new Blogger terms of service

Free Media Online — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:33:50 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders wrote to Eric Schmidt, Executive chairman of Google, on 8 February to express its concern about recent changes to the terms of service of its Blogger blog-publishing platform. A response was received from Google on 13 February. See below

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Reporters Without Borders writes to Google about new Blogger terms of service

China – Questions about freedom of information will be relayed to Chinese vice-president 2/2

Free Media Online — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:32:08 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders addressed the following open letter to Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping today, after asking Internet users yesterday to put questions to him about freedom of information in China via the social networks we use. The accounts that we specially created for this purpose on several Chinese social networks were quickly blocked

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China – Questions about freedom of information will be relayed to Chinese vice-president 2/2

China – Questions about freedom of information will be relayed to Chinese vice-president

Free Media Online — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:39:59 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders has questions to put to Xi Jinping, the Chinese vice-president who began a two-day visit to Washington today, and urges Internet users all over the world, including China, to contribute by posting their own questions on US or Chinese web platforms. A list of questions will made public and sent to the Chinese delegation visiting the United States

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China – Questions about freedom of information will be relayed to Chinese vice-president

United States – Censored, prosecuted and on terror list, filmmaker denied First Amendment rights

Free Media Online — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:09:06 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Filmmaker and environmentalist Josh Fox is to appear in court on 15 February on a charge of “unlawful entry” following his arrest in Congress on 1 February, when he was prevented from filming a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment on the grounds that he lacked press credentials. Offering no resistance, Fox was handcuffed, led away and then released without bail. Fox is making a sequel to his acclaimed 2010 documentary film Gasland , in which he revealed the scale of the contamination of ground water resulting from the use of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to extract natural gas from oil shale.

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United States – Censored, prosecuted and on terror list, filmmaker denied First Amendment rights

Belarus – Partner organization targeted by state TV hate propaganda

Free Media Online — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:06:49 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders condemns a state TV attempt to smear the Minsk-based Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), a Reporters Without Borders partner organization and International Federation of Journalists affiliate that is the country’s only autonomous association of media workers. The protection and support that BAJ provides to independent journalists and its constant defence of the freedom to report news and information have never been so valuable as in the past year, when the government has cracked down in an unprecedented manner on Belarusian civil society

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Belarus – Partner organization targeted by state TV hate propaganda

Russia – Office of opposition newspaper destroyed in firebomb attack

Free Media Online — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:40:59 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns the arson attack that ravaged the editorial offices of the weekly Vecherny Krasnokamsk in the Perm region in south-west Russia on 28 January.

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Russia – Office of opposition newspaper destroyed in firebomb attack

United States – Reporters Without Borders to close its English-language site for 24 hours in protest against SOPA and…

Free Media Online — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:21:32 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – In an unprecedented move, Reporters Without Borders will shut down its English-language website for 24 hours from 8 a.m. EST tomorrow, 18 January, in protest against two online piracy bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), which are currently working their way through the US Congress

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United States – Reporters Without Borders to close its English-language site for 24 hours in protest against SOPA and…

Iran – Death sentences and national Internet – escalating repression in Iran

Free Media Online — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:58:18 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – The Iranian government’s constant repressive policies towards journalists and netizens are being steadily ratcheted up as part of a generalized increase in persecution of dissidents and a reinforcement of online censorship. Reporters Without Borders sent a letter yesterday to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to share its deep concern and ask for her intervention.

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Iran – Death sentences and national Internet – escalating repression in Iran

Russia – Vkontakte social network targeted by security services – RSF

Free Media Online — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:05:53 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Pavel Durov, the founder and director general of the Russian online social network Vkontakte, was summoned to the Saint Petersburg prosecutor’s office today after a spokesman for Vkontakte said it would not censor the network and would not comply with an order from the Federal Security Service (FSB) to block seven groups calling for demonstrations in the next few days. Most are opposition groups that are protesting against the results of the parliamentary elections

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Russia – Vkontakte social network targeted by security services

Vietnam – Two citizen journalists jailed for illegally broadcasting to China -RSF

Free Media Online — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:29:34 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the sentencing today of two citizen radio journalists, Vu Duc Trung and his brother-in-law Le Van Thanh , to prison terms of three years and two years respectively for illegally broadcasting radio programmes to China . “This conviction is harsh and outrageous. We had cautioned the Vietnamese judicial system against any attempt to use the law in an abusive fashion,” the press freedom organization said.

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Vietnam – Two citizen journalists jailed for illegally broadcasting to China

United States – Absurd charges brought against reporters covering Occupy Wall Street movement – RSF

Free Media Online — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:00:57 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Sometimes they are arrested and then set free almost immediately. Sometimes they are arrested and, before being released, are charged with unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct or lack of press credentials

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United States – Absurd charges brought against reporters covering Occupy Wall Street movement

Russia – Government eager to use Net surveillance software currently in test phase — RSF

Free Media Online — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:35:33 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders condemns plans by Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal supervisory agency for communications, information technology and mass media, to use search software to track down “extremist” content on the Internet. The agency is currently testing the software and intends to start using it in December. When Roskomnadzor’s software, using very vague criteria, decides that a website has “extremist” content, the site will be given three days to remove it

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Russia – Government eager to use Net surveillance software currently in test phase

China – Beijing court throws out appeal by jailed cyber-dissident Wang Lihong — RSF

Free Media Online — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 03:27:45 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders deplores the rejection on 20 October by a Beijing court of the appeal by cyber-dissident Wang Lihong ( 王荔蕻 ) against a nine-month prison sentence imposed on 12 August for disturbing public order by organising a demonstration in Fuzhou in support of three bloggers convicted of defamation. Wang Lihong was arrested in March and held for five months before appearing in court on 12 August. One of her lawyers, Han Yicun, said the trial was unfair because the judge had been obstructive, interrupting the defence and the defendant several times

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China – Beijing court throws out appeal by jailed cyber-dissident Wang Lihong

Swedish journalists on trial in Ethiopia — Voice of America journalists already penalized — BBG Watch

BBGWatcher — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:59:42 +0000

BBG Watch — As the trial of two Swedish journalists gets underway in Ethiopia, it is worth remembering that a Voice of America journalist David Arnold was dismissed from his position and other VOA journalists had their reports censored after the Ethiopian regime had complained about their work to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a U.S. Federal agency which manages VOA. The largest anti-censorship demonstration in the Voice of America’s history produced some relief for VOA journalists from the pressures from the executive staff, but VOA reporters continue to struggle against the unfriendly BBG management in a number of areas. In an rare move for a member of the BBG, Ambassador Victor Ashe had recently publically raised the issue of poor employee morale at the Voice of America, although he did not address censorship or programming questions.

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) announced that the media freedom NGO will pay close attention to the trial of Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson , which is due to begin in Addis Ababa. Arrested on 1 July after illegally entering the southeastern Ogaden region from Somalia, they are charged with terrorist activities and violating Ethiopia’s immigration laws.

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Ethiopia – Outcome already decided in trial of Swedish journalists?

BBG Watch –Several years ago, the Ethiopian regime charged in absentia Voice of America Horn of Africa Service journalists working in Washington with treason and threatened them with the death penalty. These charges were later dropped after protests from the State Department and human rights organizations. Yet despite this earlier move against VOA journalists by the Ethiopian regime, three BBG members — Michael Meehan, Susan McCue, and Dana Perino — had decided to go to Ethiopia earlier this year to negotiate placement of VOA health programs on the regime-controlled local radio networks. They also discussed media freedom issues with the Ethiopian officials, apparently without any success. The Ethiopian American media reported that the BBG members were given a list of names of dissidents and other human rights activists whose participation in VOA programs the regime views as objectionable.

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) –

If you pass by Kronoberg Prison in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, you will see journalists chained to its gates. They have committed no crime. For over a week, journalists have taken turns locking themselves up in front of the prison to raise awareness of the imprisonment of three colleagues held in the Horn of Africa.

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Blog: Swedish support for jailed colleagues in Ethiopia, Eritrea

BBG Watch — Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member Michael P. Meehan said at the BBG open meeting on September 15 that he had nothing to do with censoring of Voice of America news broadcasts to Ethiopia after his talks with the Ethiopian regime officials. Referring apparently to the two other BBG members who went with him on the trip, Dana Perino and Susan McCue, Meehan said that “we were disturbed by some activity” (presumably, VOA news reporting) that followed the BBG negotiations with the repressive regime in Ethiopia, but he implied that any actions that were taken, including the subsequent removal of the Voice of America Horn of Africa service chief, were taken by the VOA management. He described these actions as “appropriate.”

Link to YouTube video.

Link to BBG Watch report BBG’s Michael Meehan: charges of censorship against me are unfair

BBG Watch — Press freedom advocates and Ethiopian Americans are declaring a partial victory in their fight with the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a U.S. government agency, over the censorship of the Voice of America radio programs to Ethiopia. They credit massive protests and a demonstration held Monday in front of the BBG and VOA headquarters in Washington, DC with getting a senior Voice of America official to tell the journalists working for the Horn of Africa VOA Service “to continue their work without any restrictions or self-censorship,” the Ethiopian American news website Addis Voice reported.

David Arnold, however, has not been returned to his old job as the VOA Horn of Africa Service chief.

Link to Partial Victory Declared in Fight Over Censorship at Voice of America

Ethiopia – Outcome already decided in trial of Swedish journalists? — RSF

Free Media Online — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:46:56 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders will pay close attention to the trial of Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson , which is due to begin tomorrow in Addis Ababa. Arrested on 1 July after illegally entering the southeastern Ogaden region from Somalia, they are charged with terrorist activities and violating Ethiopia’s immigration laws

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Ethiopia – Outcome already decided in trial of Swedish journalists?

United States – Reporters arrested, roughed up while covering Occupy Wall Street protests

Free Media Online — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:34:48 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – The often violent response to the Occupy Wall Street campaign that is growing in the United States and elsewhere is affecting the freedom to inform. Reporters Without Borders condemns the arrests of reporters in recent weeks, especially in New York where the police assume the right to decide who are journalists. On the eve of major worldwide demonstrations planned for 15 October, Reporters Without Borders urges the authorities not to resort to repressive methods, which constitute acts of censorship.

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United States – Reporters arrested, roughed up while covering Occupy Wall Street protests

Tajikistan – Two journalists convicted but free men after trials

Free Media Online — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:32:47 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Two journalists were free men today at the end of separate trials in the northwestern city of Khujand which Reporters Without Borders had been following closely, but both were convicted on charges directly related to their work. “We are relieved that the authorities have finally released Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov , who had been held in solitary confinement for nearly a year without a thought for his state of health,” Reporters Without Borders said.

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Tajikistan – Two journalists convicted but free men after trials

Russia – Call for more effort, more vigilance five years after Politkovskaya murder — RSF

Free Media Online — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:56:25 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – The failure to solve Anna Politkovskaya ‘s murder in the five years since her death casts a long shadow that threatens all those who fight for a fairer Russia and an end to violence in the Caucasus. There have been encouraging developments in the investigation of late but the hardest part, identifying the masterminds, still remains.

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Russia – Call for more effort, more vigilance five years after Politkovskaya murder

China – Liu Xiaobo, last year’s Nobel peace laureate, still in prison — RSF

Free Media Online — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:50:25 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – In the wake of today’s announcement that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni rights activist Tawakkul Karman, Reporters Without Borders urges the laureates to press the Chinese government to free last year’s winner of the award, Liu Xiaobo. A dissident writer and intellectual who is serving an 11-year jail sentence, Liu is the only Nobel peace laureate currently in prison. “We congratulate this year’s laureates and welcome the fact that this triple award pays tribute to their work on behalf of women’s rights, a vital cause,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said.

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China – Liu Xiaobo, last year’s Nobel peace laureate, still in prison

Tajikistan – Prosecutor requests 14 years for reporter who criticized local officials — RSF

Free Media Online — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:37:13 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the case that the state prosecutor in Asht, in the northern province of Sugd, presented in court yesterday against the journalist Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov and by the 16-year jail term he requested (which would be reduced to 14 years under a recent amnesty law). The local correspondent of the newspapers Nuri Zindagi and Istiklol , Ismoilov has been held since 23 November 2010. “Everything about this prosecution smacks of political revenge rather than normal judicial proceedings,” Reporters Without Borders said

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Tajikistan – Prosecutor requests 14 years for reporter who criticized local officials

China – Chinese arrest South Korean journalists near North Korean border — RSF

Free Media Online — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:55:36 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders is worried to learn that the Chinese authorities are holding a group of journalists from the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo on suspicion of spying.

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China – Chinese arrest South Korean journalists near North Korean border

China – Activists attacked while trying to visit human rights lawyer under house arrest — RSF

Free Media Online — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:49:12 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Five human rights activists and netizens were attacked by presumed police auxiliaries on the night of 18 September while trying to visit human rights activist Chen Guangcheng and his family, who have been under house arrest in Dongshigu, a village in the eastern province of Shandong, for more than a year. The five activists – Miao Jue ( @miaojue12 ), Peng Yuanzhong , Ge Jiang , Liu Shasha ( @lss007 ) and Chen Jianfeng – were attacked near Chen’s home by a dozen men who took their phones, bags and money. Two of the women in the group, Liu and Miao, were beaten, detained and then dumped in the middle of a field several dozen kilometres from Dongshigu.

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China – Activists attacked while trying to visit human rights lawyer under house arrest

China – Journalist murdered while covering illegal cooking oil scandal

Free Media Online — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:44:34 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders is appalled to learn that Li Xiang , a journalist with Luoyang Television in Luoyang (in the eastern province of Henan) who had been following an illegal cooking oil scandal and had written about it in his blog, was stabbed to death yesterday.

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China – Journalist murdered while covering illegal cooking oil scandal

Iran – Regime continues to wage its war against foreign media — RSF

Free Media Online — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:40:49 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders condemns the Iranian government’s targeting of the BBC’s Farsi-language TV station, BBC Persian.

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Iran – Regime continues to wage its war against foreign media

Iran – Press freedom violations recounted in real time (from 1st January 2011) — RSF

Free Media Online — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:40:07 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – 12.09.2011-Two journalists freed but a dozen netizens and journalists arrested Two journalists have been released in the past week but a dozen other netizens and journalists, and human rights lawyer Abdolfatah Soltani , one of the founding members of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi’s Centre for Human Rights Defenders, have been arrested. Soltani was picked up at his home on 10 September during a raid by plain-clothes officials from the intelligence ministry. His family still does not know why he was arrested or where he is being held.

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Iran – Press freedom violations recounted in real time (from 1st January 2011)

Journalist’s relatives beaten, home attacked with excavator — RSF

Free Media Online — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:31:01 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – The severe beating of members of journalist Idrak Abbasov ‘s family and the partial destruction of their home in a Baku suburb with a mechanical shovel on 9 September on the grounds that it was built illegally have highlighted the surprising brutality of the methods sometimes used by the Azerbaijani authorities to censor and intimidate. The attack was carried out by security personnel working for the state-owned Binagadi Oil Company, whose illegal activities were being investigated by Abbasov, a member of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), an Azerbaijani NGO.

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Journalist’s relatives beaten, home attacked with excavator

Azerbaijan – Embassy cable confirmed government harassment of RFE/RL — Reporters Without Borders

Free Media Online — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 04:31:06 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Cable 09BAKU6 A classified cable to the US State Department from the US chargé d’affaires in Baku, Donald Lu, on 6 January 2009, released by WikiLeaks on 30 August, voiced concern about the Azerbaijani government’s harassment of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty . The cable said the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was threatening to cut the satellite connection between RFE/RL ‘s office in Azerbaijan and its headquarters in Prague

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Azerbaijan – Embassy cable confirmed government harassment of RFE/RL

Uzbekistan – Charges dropped against freelance journalist Elena Bondar — Reporters Without Borders

Free Media Online — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:35:13 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders notes that the Uzbek authorities have dropped all charges against Elena Bondar , a freelance journalist who was briefly detained at Tashkent airport on 22 August on her return from an OSCE journalism seminar in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan (see below). Bondar was summoned to the customs department at the airport on 5 September and was told that there would be no criminal proceedings because experts had found no problematic content on the USB flash drives and other electronic material confiscated from her at the airport. Bondar was also told that, instead of civil proceedings, she was just being giving a “warning” for failing to declare this material, which was returned to her.

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Uzbekistan – Charges dropped against freelance journalist Elena Bondar

Russia – Do guilty verdicts in double murder mark beginning of end for impunity?

Free Media Online — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:02:33 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders welcomes the guilty verdicts that a Moscow court has handed down in the trial of two ultra-nationalist activists for the January 2009 double murder of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta trainee reporter Anastasia Baburova .

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Russia – Do guilty verdicts in double murder mark beginning of end for impunity?

China – Authorities step up pressure on cyber-dissidents

Free Media Online — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:01:38 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns a wave of arrests of Chinese cyber-dissidents in recent months. The authorities are clearly determined to jail anyone displaying support for the revolutions in the Arab world or issuing calls for a similar uprising in China

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China – Authorities step up pressure on cyber-dissidents

Belarus – Increased harassment of journalists on eve of Freedom Day

Free Media Online — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:01:48 +0000

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the arrests of journalists Aleksandr Lomashkin and Ales Asiptsu in separate incidents yesterday, on the eve of “Dzen Voly” (Freedom Day), an event that is traditionally celebrated by the Belarusian opposition. “We regard these arrests as press freedom violations designed to obstruct coverage of opposition activities in Belarus during a period of heightened repression by President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s autocratic government,” Reporters Without Borders said.

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Belarus – Increased harassment of journalists on eve of Freedom Day