Journalists in danger
Dawa Khan Meenapal talks of Taliban kidnap ordeal
Dawa Khan Meenapal, RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent, talks to the radio station about his recent kidnap ordeal at the hands of the Taliban in Zabul Province on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. During his captivity he says he was treated fairly and that his captors were listeners (and fans) to his reports, I […]
Jestina Mukoko abducted in Zimababwe
Jestina Mukoko, a prominent journalist and executive director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was abducted from her home in Norton about 40km from the captial Harare by “15 men in plain clothes” yesterday, according to the African Press Organization, “Everything must be done to secure the swift release of Jestina Mukoko and to ensure her […]
Peter Lloyd’s job held on ice
ABC report that jailed foreign correspondent Peter Lloyd could end up keeping his job after he completes his ten month Singapore prison sentence for drugs possesion, The director of news and current affairs, John Cameron, said Lloyd was one of the best journalists to have worked at the ABC. “His colleagues feel for him,” Mr […]
Mexico media campaign targets violence against journalists
Frontline blogger Deborah Bonello writes about a media campaign in Mexico aimed at raising public awareness about violence against journalists. Mexico is one of the most dangerous places to work as a journalist, Since 2000, 28 journalists have been killed in Mexico and eight have disappeared, according to Article 19, one of the organizations sponsoring […]
Update on the Amanda Lindhout kidnap in Somalia
Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan are safe and still being held in Somalia according to Reporters Without Borders. The two journalists were kidnapped in August along with their Somali fixers. A ransom deadline, for an alleged $2.5 million, passed a month ago. “What we can confirm is they are fine, in the same place and […]
Ivan Watson discusses life In Baghdad
NPR reporter Ivan Watson, who narrowly escaped a car bomb yesterday, will be discussing life in Baghdad live on the NPR site today at 12PM EST or 5pm UK time. Watson reported the attack in audio, text and video on NPR Baghdad Reporter, Suddenly, Iraqi soldiers ran up screaming “bomb” in Arabic and pointing at […]
Testing times for Croatian journalists
[video:youtube:7f6AyehCFJQ] Amnesty International call upon the Croatian authorities to address the threats to journalists. In October Ivo Pukanić, the editor of the Nacional Magazine, and a colleague were both killed in a car bomb explosion in central Zagreb. The assassination shocked the nation, yet the situation has not improved. Well-known journalist Drago Hedl continues to […]
Amira Hass held for entering Gaza
Amira Hass, a reporter with Haaretz, was detained by the Sderot police last night for allegedly entering the Gaza Strip without a permit. She was stopped while returning from Gaza heading back to Israel, Chief Superintendent Shimon Nahmani, commander of the Sderot police station, said Hass had entered Gaza by sea three weeks ago. Hass […]
Peter Lloyd sentenced to ten months
Peter Lloyd, the foreign correspondent arrested in Singapore in July on drugs charges, has been sentenced to ten months in Prison. The New Delhi-based correspondent received eight months in prison for possession and consumption of methamphetamine and an additional two months for “possessing drug paraphernalia stained with ketamine”, Lloyd’s reaction to the sentence could not […]
Journalists narrowly avoid Baghdad car bomb
NPR reporter Ivan Watson and three Iraqi colleagues are just about the luckiest journalists in Iraq today. A bomb attached to their vehicle exploded on a Baghdad street on Sunday – without them in it. Watson, and his producer and translator Ali Hamdani, were interviewing people at a roadside kebab shop when the bomb was […]
Aziz Popal tells his kidnap story
Aziz Popal, a Kandahar-based reporter with Hewad TV in Afghanistan, was kidnapped by the Taliban last week and released three days later. He talked with Graeme Smith from The Globe & Mail about the ordeal, “I’m shaking as I’m telling you the story,” Mr. Popal said by telephone last night. “They didn’t beat us. But […]
Court order to free Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed
Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, a freelance photographer who works for Reuters and Iraqi media outlets, has been held by US Army in Iraq since early September. An Iraqi court ruled on Sunday that there is no evidence against Mohammed and he must be released, “I’m pleased to learn that a court ordered Ibrahim Jassam released as […]
Contact with Somalia kidnappers
AFP reports that contact between the authorities in Puntland, Somalia and the kidnappers of one British and one Spanish journalist in Bosasso has been made, “The kidnappers are asking for a ransom, but we refuse negotiations. We just want them to be released,” [Bossaso Governor Musa Gueleh Yusuf] said without elaborating. “We are not giving […]
Taliban free two kidnapped journalists
Dawa Khan Menapal of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Aziz Popal, who worked for a local TV station in Kandahar have been released after three days in captivity, Militants kidnapped the two in Ghazni province on Wednesday as they were driving on the country’s main Kabul-Kandahar highway. The Taliban’s high council ordered the pair released […]
AFP reporter injured in Mumbai
An AFP reporter is among four people injured in crossfire outside the Taj Hotel in Mumbai today. A commando operation is currently underway to secure the hotel following the attacks of the past 24 hours. AFP reports that the journalist, a camerawoman, was not seriously hurt, Four grenades were launched into a part of the […]
2 foreign journalists kidnapped in Somalia
Two freelance journalists, presumed to be British, are reported kidnapped by police in the northern Puntland region of Somalia earlier today, “I think both the journalists are British but we shall investigate … we are sending police to free them,” Puntland’s police spokesman Abshir Said Jama told Reuters. link via BreakingNewsOn. A report from AP […]
Fung’s Afghanistan fixers released
Shokoor Feroz and his brother Qaem Feroz, who were working with CBC journalist Mellissa Fung when she was kidnapped on October 12, have been released by the Afghan authorities. The brothers were arrested by the National Directorate of Security soon after Fung’s kidnap. Reporters without borders have released a statement applauding the release of the […]
Shooting the messengers in Mexico
Just over a week ago crime reporter Armando Rodriguez was shot dead in his driveway in the border town of Ciudad Juárez. Two other crime reporters have since received death threats including Jorge Luis Aguirre, the 51-year-old editor of the Juarez news Web site called La Polaka. Frontline blogger Deborah Bonello, in Mexico City, has […]
Journalism’s deadliest decade
Writing in The Observer, Richard Sambrook discusses what has been the deadliest decade for journalists. 173 journalists were killed in both 2006 and 2007 – up from 70 in 2002. The numbers look set to be lower in 2008, but as Richard notes, they’re still far too high. Iraq is still the most dangerous country […]
Journalists who risk their lives praised
Five journalists, including Andrew Mwenda from The Independent in Uganda, and one attorney were cited for risking their lives to report the news often working in places with dictatorial regimes, The six, who work in Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Cuba, are recipients of this year’s International Press Freedom Award presented by the Committee to […]
The Amanda Lindhout kidnap story
As other journalist kidnap stories take the limelight, the case of Amanda Lindhout and her four fellow kidnap victims in Somalia has slipped off the radar. Macleans publish a time line today of what is known in the case. In the four page article Ken Menkhaus talks about his time in Somalia some three years […]
Kidnapped journalists – one rule for staffers one for freelancers?
I’ve been mulling this over since I first heard about the kidnapping of Mellissa Fung in Afghanistan some weeks before it was finally reported and she was set free. Ever since I first started blogging about “the world of foreign correspondents, war reporters, life on the frontline and the job of journalism” for the Frontline […]
Peshawar off limits to foreign correspondents
Sami Yousafzai has reported from the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan since September 11, 2001. However, he says he’s never been in more danger. The Afghan journalist, who was attacked along with a Japanese journalist last week, spoke about safety from his hospital bed this week, “I think divine intervention saved me. The gunman […]
Beverly Giesbrecht kidnapped in Pakistan
Beverly Giesbrecht, a Canadian freelance journalist also know as Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was on a commission with Al-Jazeera when she was kidnapped on Tuesday. According to a report by AFP the 52 year old was seized at gunpoint in Bannu district of Pakistan which borders Afghanistan. "The government of Canada is aware of the kidnapping […]
Two journalists shot in Pakistan
An Afghan journalist and a Japanese journalist were shot in the Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar today. Motoki Yodsukura 四倉幹木さん, a reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, was shot in the foot and is said to be in a stable condition. However the condition of Abdul Sami Yousafzai, the Afghan journalist, is said to […]
Massive explosion in Kandahar
Frontline blogger Alex was in Kandahar when a “huge explosion near Kandahar stadium” went off. I caught up on this a bit late as I’ve been training all day, but Alex had the wherewithall to poke his head on to the balcony, snap some shots, send a series of messages to Twitter, upload a picture […]
Mellissa Fung swapped for prisoners?
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper denied Mellissa Fung, the CBC journalist kidanpped by the Taliban a month ago, was released in exchange for Taliban leaders at the weekend, “There have been continual reports about ransoms or money being paid. That was not done in this case,” he told reporters in Ottawa following a first ministers […]
Burmese blogger jailed for 20 years
Nay Phone Latt, the 28 year old Burmese blogger who blogged from the capital Rangoon during the bloody Saffron revolution in September 2007, was jailed for 20 years and 6 months on Monday. According to the blogger’s mother Aye Than he was “convicted of contravening Public Offense Act 505 B by posting a cartoon depicting […]
Mellissa Fung free
[video:youtube:goSQuxkfKwU] Mellissa Fung, a 35 year old journalist with CBC, who was kidnapped in Kabul four weeks ago was released today. She says she was kept in a cave for the first three weeks, “They kept me blindfolded, but not the whole time,” she said. “They chained me. . . . Just my hands and […]
Thomas Scheen freed
Belgian journalist Thomas Scheen, who was kidnapped by Mai Mai militia in the DRC earlier this week, has been released after being held captive for three days, “We thank all those in Germany, Belgium and Congo who worked intensively over the past days for the release of Thomas Scheen and his co-workers, especially the German […]