Crisis: International
Bomb suspect sues Swaziland paper
THE TIMES, one of Swaziland’s papers, has been sued for E75,000 (approx. US$10,000) on Nov. 27 by a man accused of recently bombing government structures and currently facing high treason charges at the High Court of Swaziland.
In his complaint, Vusi Shongwe said the Times published his picture on its Feb. 8 front page next to a headline saying, “Bomber” in bold typeface. He argued that the accompanying article was wrongful and defamatory to his person.
In its reply, the Times said Shongwe’s picture was erroneously published and said it had no intention of showing his photograph. As a result, the newspaper stated, it acknowledged its mistake by publishing an apology the following day.
The case, which is yet to be resolved by the High Court, is one of several pending lawsuits against the Times. The newspaper has lost three cases of defamation in 2006. However, in mid-2006, the newspaper successfully appealed against a E750,000 (approx. US$116,000) compen-sation order awarded to the late deputy prime minister Albert Shabangu for alleged defamation. – Media Institute of Southern Africa
Chad extends state of emergency
CHAD EXTENDED on Nov. 24 the state of emergency to six months, thereby maintaining prior censorship of the print media and permanent monito-ring of independent radio stations.
The government assembly voted 77 to zero, with six abstentions, to extend the state of emergency in the regions of Hadjer Lamis (Chari Baguirmi) in the west, BET (Borkou, Ennedi, and Tibesti) in the north, Moyen-Chari in the south and the capital of N’Djamena. An opposition deputy told Reporters Sans Frontières the vote took place without any prior debate.
The state of national emergency was initially declared for 12 days after ethnic clashes in the region claimed as many as 200,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million since fighting began in early 2003, CNN reported.
Under the Nov. 13 state of emergency (Decree No. 1014), newspaper publishers “are required to obtain prior permission from the Regional Censorship Committee before printing newspapers.”
The committee’s job is to “receive, read and (authorize) the publication of all news editions intended for public distribution.” – RSF/IFEX
China court denies correspondent’s appeal
THE HIGHER People’s Court of Beijing on Nov. 24 denied the appeal of Ching Cheong, chief China correspondent for Singapore’s Strait Times, for his five-year prison sentence on allegations of being a spy.
On top of confirming the original prison term, Ching is reportedly deprived of political rights for a year and his personal property worth 300,000 yuan (about US$38,000) was confiscated. Ching has been detained for more than 500 days.
Ching had been reportedly working on a story about the late Communist Party leader, Zhao Ziyang, when he was convicted.
To prove the offense, the prosecution had to show that Ching had accepted jobs from spying organizations or their agents, thereby causing harm to national security.
But based on an analysis of Ching’s trial by Hong Kong university law professor Johannes Chan, the reasoning put forward was extremely feeble, full of loopholes, and lacked sufficient evidence to support a conviction. -IFJ
Belarus gov’t threatens to close down weekly
NASHA NIVA, an independent and one of the oldest Belarusian papers, has been threatened with closure by the government because it has no fixed business address.
A week before the Nov. 23 celebration of its 100th anniversary, the newspaper received a warning from the information ministry that the latest issue “does not mention the newspaper’s current address, which violates Article 26 of the media law.”
“The authorities simply want to close the newspaper down,” editor-in-chief Andrei Dynko said. Reached by Reporters Sans Frontières, Viktor Guretski, the ministry’s licensing bureau head, confirmed that a newspaper can be suspended for failing to identify its legal address in its issues.
Since April, Nasha Niva has signed four rental contracts for new premises, but these have been cancelled later under pressure from the authorities.
“As in the case of Arche, a cultural magazine suspended by the Information Ministry in September, the authorities often use these practices to neutralize the independent press,” Reporters Sans Frontières said. -RSF/IFEX
Gunmen kill Mexico reporter
ROBERTO MARCOS GarcĂa, a Mexican reporter for the Veracruz-based publication Testimonio and local correspondent for the Mexico City weekly Alarma, was found murdered last Nov. 21 in southern Mexico.
GarcĂa, who was traveling from Veracruz to the nearby city of Alvarado on his motorcycle, was followed and hit by a car with Mexico City plates at 1 p.m. near the town of La Matoza, the Mexican press reported. Unidentified assailants shot GarcĂa, while he was on the ground, twice in the head and at least four times in the chest, according to press reports and a Committee to Protect Journalists source.
Veracruz deputy prosecutor Marco Antonio Aguilar Yunes told the US-based television news channel Univisión that authorities had found bullet casings from at least two guns at the scene, and had recovered the attackers’ car. He said police had not determined a motive for the murder.
GarcĂa had reported for 13 years on violent crime and drug trafficking in Veracruz. According to his colleague, GarcĂa’s last report, published a week before his death in the bimonthly Testimonio, detailed the activities of a gang of thieves who stole goods coming into Veracruz port. Other reporters in Veracruz said that GarcĂa had previously received death threats on his cellular phone.
CPJ research shows that five other journalists have been killed in Mexico this year. CPJ has confirmed that one of the five journalists was slain in connection with his reporting.–CPJ/IFEX
Abductors free Pakistani journalist
DILAWAR KHAN Wazir, correspondent for the BBC and Pakistan’s Daily Dawn, was released a day after being kidnapped.
The journalist, who reached the BBC office in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad last Nov. 21, said he had been held blindfolded and was kicked, slapped, and questioned about his reporting and his sources. The journalist did not know the identity of his abductors.
Khan, who has been reporting on the Pakistani army’s fight with pro-Taliban militants in the troubled Waziristan region on the Afghan border, was abducted on Nov. 20 from the outskirts of Islamabad as he was on his way to his hometown of Dera Ismail Khan, located in North-West Frontier province. Six or seven men snatched him from his taxi, dragged him into another vehicle and blindfolded him. He does not know where he was taken.
After being held for more than 24 hours, Khan was left in a wooded area outside Islamabad. – Pakistan Press Foundation/IFEX
India democratizes community radio
THE GOVERNMENT of India recently approved a policy that legitimizes community radio in the country. According to the policy released on Nov. 16, civil society organizations, non-government organizations, and other non-profit groups can apply for community radio licenses. The new policy will also allow community radios to become self-supporting through limited advertising revenue.
India is the first country in South Asia to have a separate policy for community radio. The legislation comes more than 11 years after the Supreme Court of India’s landmark judgment, which declared airwaves to be public property. – AMARC/IFEX
Iraqi journalist, 2 other media workers killed
LUMA AL-KARKHI, 25, a reporter for the Baghdad-based daily Al-Dustour, was gunned down in the Tahreer neighborhood of Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, while on her way to work on Nov. 15.
She stopped at a cell phone shop where several gunmen shot her, a source at the paper told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Al-Karkhi received several death threats from insurgents in Diyala province warning her to stop reporting, the source said. He added that she had grown increasingly apprehensive about reporting in the province and had confined herself to her home for much of the time.
In a separate incident on Nov. 15, Fadia Mohammed Abiel, 40, an advertising executive for the local weekly Al-Masar, and her driver were shot dead by unidentified gunmen while driving to work in the al-Quds neighborhood of Mosul. CPJ is investigating the circumstances behind their murder.
In all, 88 journalists, including Luma al-Karkhi, and 37 media support workers have been killed in direct relation to their work in Iraq since the war began on March 20, 2003, making it the deadliest conflict in CPJ’s 25-year history. – CPJ
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