Authorities must thoroughly investigate the murder of Telman Alishayev, a reporter and host for the Islamic television channel TV-Chirkei, and the severe attack in Kabardino-Balkariya against Miloslav Bitokov, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Gazeta Yuga.

Alishayev died today of gunshot wounds sustained in an attack in Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala. He is the second journalist to be shot and killed in the restive North Caucasus region in three days. Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of the critical news Web site Ingushetiya, was killed in the custody of Ingush police on Sunday.

In a separate incident, Bitokov was hospitalized today with multiple injuries after three unidentified men beat him at the entrance to his apartment building in Nalchik, capital of the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkariya.

Just three days after the death of our colleague Magomed Yevloyev, we mourn the loss of yet another Russian journalist. Our deepest condolences go to Telman Alishayev’s family, colleagues, and friends, said Nina Ognianova, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. The vicious string of violence against journalists in the North Caucasus region can only be countered by the resolve of Russian authorities to solve these crimes. We call on police and prosecutors to aggressively investigate Telman Alishayev’s murder and Miloslav Bitokov’s beating, and to bring all of the perpetrators to justice.

The independent weekly Gazeta Yuga is one of the few news outlets in Kabardino-Balkariya to openly criticize local authorities.

The banned news portal Malaysia Today was up and running yesterday after being blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM).

The portal was blocked on Aug 27 after Internet Service Providers in the country received notices from the commission to ban the website.

The move by the commission sparked debate because under the Multimedia Super Corridor Malaysia 10-Point Bill of Guarantees, the Government promised to ensure no Internet censorship.

Update: Still Blocked

4th September 2008

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's (SKMM) directive to Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to the Malaysia Today portal still stands pending an investigation to determine if its editor should be charged.

SKMM chief operating officer Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, when contacted Wednesday, said an investigation was underway to determine whether or not to charge the portal's editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin under Section 211 or 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

South Africa's ANC is determined to crack down on the disclosure of classified information before next year’s general election.

If the Protection of Information Bill is enacted, it would prevent the publication of stories that expose corruption in the government.

The bill stipulates sentences of up to five years in prison for anyone who receives, publishes or passes on classified information.

A reporter who found that a classified document had been pushed under his door by someone trying to expose corruption, would face prison if he did not immediately hand the document to the police.

Lawyers at a public hearing on the Protection of Information Bill told The Times that a law derived from the bill in its present form would probably have prevented the investigation of national police commissioner Jackie Selebi’s alleged links with crime bosses, the exposure of the discredited Browse Mole report on Jacob Zuma’s purported foreign funders and the Travelgate fraud by MPs who abused their travel privileges.

This is draconian stuff, said Dario Milo, a lawyer representing Avusa Media, owners of The Times and the Sunday Times: The bill allows for the massive invasion of political space.

Because it allows for over-classification, many of the public-interest stories we have seen recently would not have been possible under this legislation.

Sudan's security apparatus has seized copies of a local English-language newspaper, the latest episode in months of threats and seizures, its chief editor said.

William Ezekiel said copies of the Sudan Tribune were confiscated for the 17th time this month and that he had been summoned by national security forces: They want to punish us financially in order for the newspaper to die out, which is the worst punishmen.

He said the National Press Council sent a "final" written warning to the newspaper specifying that failure to comply with conditions would see the newspaper closed on September 1.

Ezekiel said the Press Council wants him, as chief editor, to be based in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, not Juba, in the semi-autonomous south. Ezekiel's newspaper opened an office in Juba earlier this year.

He also said the council wants the newspaper to replace its editorial board and submit a new list of names for approval, and that all those writing for the paper must have a graduate degree.

This year has seen the government dealing with blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin (or RPK) for sedition, while there are ongoing investigations against blogger Sheih, also for sedition. Blogger Bakaq was taken in recently for questioning, also for alleged sedition. Aside from this, RPK faces a defamation action. As such, the stance of the government against blogger appears quite clear. Critics have called for less focus on alternative news, but rather greater accountability and transparency. They have also called for the abolition of the legal shackles on the mainstream media.

On a possibly related issue, bloggers have reported that RPK’s news portal, Malaysia Today, might have been blocked by authorities. Apparently, the news portal cannot be accessed through any TM connections. TM is run by Telekom Malaysia, Malaysia’s largest Internet service provider. Online news site Malaysiakini has confirmed in its report that RPK’s Malaysia Today has been blocked by the order of Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

Amidst uproar from Malaysian netizens, an announcement by the Energy, Water & Communications Minister, Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansur, has put a new kink in the plot. Datuk Shaziman was reported to have said that the government had not ordered the Malaysian Today website to be banned.

The readers of Al Badeel newspaper were shocked by its absence in markets.

The Network was informed that Al Ahram printers had refused to complete printing the first edition that came out in evening, they also refused to print the second edition entirely.

The highlights of the censored Al Badeel on 19th of August, included:

• Joyfulness in Pakistan following the President Resignation… Egyptian Politicians: Wishing the same for us.
• Big Fire in al Shoura Council Building, reached the People’s Council”. This is what seems to have annoyed the security apparatus, particularly the suggestion of arson.
• Report on the “Death Ferry” and Cancerous Pesticides.

The rejection to print Al Badeel also exposed the dishonesty of the government's denial of press censorship. The rejection of printing or delaying some of the publication has somehow become a common occurrence, particularly for government-criticizing newspapers – such as Addustour and Al Badeel

Military personnel and officials from the Venezuelan  National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) shut down two radio stations in the central Guárico province.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the stations appear to have been singled out and subjected to disproportionate enforcement.

At least 20 members of the Venezuelan army raided and then sealed the offices of local radio stations Rumbera Network 101.5 FM and Llanera 91.3 FM in San Juan de los Morros. The soldiers were accompanying Conatel officials who ordered the closure of the two stations and the seizure of their equipmen.

In a statement Conatel said it took action against the two stations because they were operating illegally. Peter Taffin, president of Rumbera Network, and Alex Velásquez, director of Llanera 91.3 FM, told local reporters that the radio stations had been operating without proper licensing but were in the process of obtaining the necessary permits.

Hundreds of radio stations are similarly operating illegally in Venezuela but are typically allowed to continue broadcasting as they seek licenses.

Guárico Governor Eduardo Manuitt, who has recently been involved in a public political feud with President Hugo Chávez, told the Venezuelan press that he believes the radio stations had been shut down in retaliation for their criticism of former Information Minister Willian Lara, who is running for governor.

Malaysian bloggers were up in arms again when blogger Bakaq aka ‘Penarik Beca’ was detained for sedition recently. Bakaq, whose real name is Abdul Rashi Abu Bakar, was detained (and since released) for defacing the Royal Malaysian Police crest by allegedly substituting the tiger in the emblem with a dog.

According to newspaper reports, the 50-year old was taken from his home by four plainclothes policemen, who had also seized the blogger’s laptop and mobile phone.

It was reported that Bakaq was arrested under the Sedition Act 1948, which states: 4. (1) Any person who… (c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious publication…shall be guilty of an offence.

Bakaq’s seditious publication also included alleged derogatory remarks by him on his blog about Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan. It was reported that Bakaq had claimed that Musa was controlled by Chinese crime syndicates.

A joint press statement by Malaysian’s National Alliance of Bloggers and the Centre for Policy Initiatives was released on the same day of Bakaq’s detention condemning the move. Bloggers were riled, and some began a Free Bakaq online movement.

Bakaq was reported to have been released the following day, and is required to report in person to the Federal Commercial Crimes Investigation Department on August 20th 2008. Although he had apologised for replacing the tiger in the police logo with a barking dog, Bakaq was reported to have said, I defended and still defend what I wrote.

Three more blogs have been blocked in Tunisia this week. These blogs, Mochagheb (Disturber) and Ennaqed (The Critic) and Place Mohamed Ali have all been particularly active in providing news of the struggle of The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), and especially about the latest social unrest in the southwestern phosphate mining region of Gafsa, where two people have been killed. One was shot dead by security forces and the other was electrocuted inside a local electric generator.

This is a non-comprehensive list of blocked blogs in Tunisia. Please keep in mind that the list does not include blocked websites:

1. Citizen Zouari?, blog of Tunisian journalist and former political prisoner, Abdallah Zouari.
2. The Free Pen the blog of Tunisian journalist and former political prisoner, Slim Boukhdhir. In July 2007, this blog was also hacked and deleted.
3. ?Mokhtar Yahyaoui?, blog of a former Tunisian judge who was dismissed after publishing an open letter to President Ben Ali criticising the lack of independence of the judiciary.
4. Tunisia Watch, this blog is also run by Mokhtar Yahyaoui?.
5. Astrubal
6. [fikra] blog of Tunisian activist and political refugee Sami Ben Gharbia.
7. Nawaat, popular group blog about news, politics, cyber-activism and Islamic reform.
8. Radyoun, the podcasting Tunisian blog.
9. Moaz Jmai. (this blog has been blocked in Tunisia where I’m writing this post)
10. Place Mohamed Ali (this blog has been blocked in Tunisia where I’m writing this post)
11. Sofiane Chourabi.
12. Nader.
13. Free Race.
14. Samsoum .
15. Tunisian Citizen.
16. For Gafsa.
17. Mochagheb.
18. Annaqued.
19. Zabbaleh.
20. Adam.
21. Moumni.
22. Free Word.

The Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a warning letter to a Catholic weekly demanding an explanation for articles that did not “focus” on religion and for a report that allegedly degraded Islam entitled, America and Jihad – where do they stand?

Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, revealed on August 10 that the ministry had issued the “show-cause” letter accusing the newspaper of breaking publication rules on July 16.

In an article on August 14, the Sun quoted Minister of Home Affairs Syed Hamid Albar as restricting religious writing to questions on rituals, adherence to God, followers and anything related to your divine mission. Despite his apparently broad definition, the minister said mixing religion with politics can create a lot of misunderstandings.

The ministry’s letter reportedly warned that it would not hesitate to take sterner action if the Herald repeats its alleged offenses. According to The Associated Press (AP), an unnamed ministry official on August 11 said the Herald must explain satisfactorily why it ran the articles and pledge to stick by the rules or risk suspension.

The Burmese Information Minister has refused to accept the resignation letter of the head of the junta's press scrutiny office.

Major Tint Swe, the Director with the Government's Office of Press Scrutiny, which censors the contents of all print publications in Burma, submitted his resignation to the ministry on July 31, 2008.

Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, the Minister for of Information, refused to accept his resignation letter.

One of the major reasons why the director has done so is, that most leading weeklies have been found, since the devastation following last May's Nargis Cyclone failing intentionally to observe the instructions of the censor board.

The official said more than half a dozen journals, including the prominent weeklies 7 Day News, News Watch, the First Music and among others, were recently ordered to sign assertion letters that they would comply with the instructions.

Maj Tint Swe said: When you write about government departments, it needs to be correct. If you exaggerate or have misconceptions while writing, there will be a problem. We only allow news that will not have a negative effect on the state or national welfare.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled to learn that President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a restrictive new media law, which will allow authorities to further restrict press freedom in Belarus.

The Belarusian parliament rushed the bill through in three consecutive readings and passed it to the Constitutional Court for review. According to the local press, the court rubberstamped the bill in July and Lukashenko signed it into law on Monday.

Among other provisions, the law equates the Internet with regular media, making sites subject to the same restrictions; bans local media from accepting foreign donations; allows local and state authorities to shutter independent publications for minor violations; and requires accreditation for all foreign journalists working in the country.

Not content with controlling traditional media, with this legislation, Belarus is now seeking to restrict online publications, said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney: We urge President Lukashenko to reconsider this repressive new law and, in the meantime, use his influence to ensure that its most restrictive provisions not be used to stifle critical journalists.

Aside from Internet control, the new media law also requires Belarusian and international journalists to seek individual accreditation from multiple state agencies, creating further hurdles. It also obliges Belarusian media to seek re-registration from state authorities—a process that could be fatal for outlets critical of state officials.

Additionally, under the new law, the Ministry of Information receives broad authority to suspend media outlets; the ministry and state prosecutors are given the authority to shut down outlets permanently. These state agencies can suspend or close the outlets if they find their content to be inaccurate, defamatory, not corresponding to reality, or threatening the interests of the state or the public. The bill leaves the interpretation of these terms in the hands of state authorities.

The Afghan lawyer defending a journalist on death row in Kabul has been bombarded with death threats urging him to drop the case.

Islamic extremists repeatedly threatened to murder Afzal Nooristani after he agreed to defend Sayed Pervez Kambaksh in his high-profile appeal.

The 23-year-old student writer was sentenced to death for circulating an article about women's rights. He was tried in a closed court, and denied a defence lawyer. His case has sparked worldwide protests.

In Afghanistan, conservative clerics have led rallies endorsing his conviction, while others have marched for his release. Most lawyers were too afraid to take his case.

I received phone calls threatening to kill me, said Mr Nooristani: I answered two of them and got lots of missed calls. But I told them they could do what they like. It didn't stop me taking the case.

More than 100,000 people have signed an online Independent petition demanding justice for Kambaksh. The United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, have all called for justice to be done.

But speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Afghan Bar Association yesterday, Nooristani warned that the appeal was already deeply flawed, and he said it is almost impossible for Kambaksh to get a fair trial: There's no concrete evidence against him, but still the court insists on keeping him in jail and postponing the trial.

A tabloid newspaper was withdrawn from newsstands in China after running a photograph from the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters.

The photo - of two wounded young men being taken away on a rickshaw - was carried in Thursday's Beijing News.

The picture was simply captioned The Wounded, and no mention of the protests was made in the text.

But observers suggest newspaper staff could face further punishment for broaching what remains a taboo subject.

The photograph was printed alongside an interview with the Hong Kong-born American photographer Liu Xiangcheng as an example of his work. It seems most likely to have been a mistake by staff who did not realise the significance of the photo.

As soon as Chinese officials noticed, they ordered the removal of the paper from the news-stands and part of its website was blocked.

On July 7, Savva Terentyev, a Russian blogger and musician from the city of Syktyvkar, received a one-year suspended jail sentence for a comment he posted on the blog of a local journalist.

Here is a rough translation of some of the comment:

I hate cops [swear word omitted]

I don’t agree with the thesis that policemen still have the mentality of a repressive stick in the hands of the powers that be. First, they are cops. Second, their mentality isn’t still here. It’s simply ineradicable.

Once filth, always filth.  Would be great if there was an oven, similar to those in Auschwitz, in the center of every Russian city, at the main square, and there’d be a daily ceremony - or, even better, twice a day of burning a dishonest cop there. The people would be doing the burning. This would be the first step towards cleansing the society of the dirt that the thuggish cops are.

The court found Terentyev guilty of inciting enmity and publicly humiliating representatives of a social group.

Italians are protesting against proposed laws that could make investigative journalism almost impossible.

The new ‘scoundrel-laws’, as organisers of the demonstration have named them, will limit press freedom and make a mockery of Italy’s judicial system.

Ten days after winning the elections, Berlusconi threatened to ban ‘disturbing’ TV programmes, such as Annozero, a weekly current affairs show directed by Michele Santoro. Fifteen days later, two issues that had been central to his electoral campaign, the Alitalia crisis and the waste scandal, vanished from the agenda.

A month later, three new bills were proposed. The first concerned wiretaps, the second proposed suspending for a year legal proceedings in cases of crimes committed prior to 2002 (where the sentence is less then 10 years) and the third promised immunity from prosecution for the holders of the highest public office.

The bill on wiretaps includes a proposal which would make it illegal to report investigations until criminal proceedings have begun. Explaining the context of the crime and why a person has been arrested will be illegal too.

The blog Voglio Scendere claims that this bill is not designed to defend reputations since, there is already a law on defamation; nor it is really designed to prevent wiretapping, but rather it aims to prevent citizens from being fully informed about scandals taking place in the country. Moreover, to investigate allegations against a member of the Roman Catholic Church, permission would be required from the direct superior of the person investigated. This would be particularly problematic in the case of the Pope.

The proposal has caused alarm and indignation among many journalists and citizens. This is why a demonstration has been organised. Those who participate want to make the rest of Italians aware of the danger these bills pose to the very liberty of each citizen.

A Rabat court fined Hassan Rachidi, Al-Jazeera’s Morocco bureau chief, 50,000 dirhams (nearly $6,000) for maliciously publishing false news likely to disrupt public order and spread panic among people. Authorities also suspended Rachidi’s press accreditation.

The case stemmed from Al-Jazeera coverage of social unrest that shook the southern city of Sidi Ifni on June 7. The Qatar-based satellite television station quoted an NGO source that claimed people died following clashes with the police, but made it clear that official sources denied any fatality. Other local and international media outlets reported the alleged deaths, but none of those were prosecuted.

Khalid Soufiani, coordinator of Rachidi’s defense team, told CPJ that the verdict is null because it has no legal ground whatsoever. The failure of the court to grant more time to the defense team and to summon witnesses involved in the Sidi Ifny unrest, including high-ranking security officials, led the defense lawyers to walk out of the courtroom on July 4. But we will make it to the court of appeal, Soufiani said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to  the Belarus president calling on him to veto a severely restrictive draft media law, which will further curb press freedom conditions in Belarus:

The bill was adopted by the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament on June 28 and now awaits your consideration.

The bill was rushed through parliament in a few days without ever being made public, and without due discussion, raising doubts about your government’s stated intentions to improve the work climate for the press in your country. CPJ research and interviews with local sources show that the proposed draft aims at nothing but facilitating state agencies to further crack down on Belarus’s embattled independent media outlets, and broaden the control of the state over critical news outlets and their reporters. Furthermore, despite your government’s assurances that the new law is not aimed at controlling the Internet, the bill contains provisions that enable state agencies to exercise strict control over information published on the Web.

CPJ joins the Belarusian and international media community in urging you to veto the bill. Here are the provisions we are particularly concerned about:

• Journalists’ accreditation
  
  Article 35 of the new bill gives broad power to various state agencies—on both the local and federal levels—to deny accreditation to individual journalists and their outlets on unidentified grounds. The article prohibits international journalists from working in Belarus without accreditation.
   
• Control over the Internet
  
  The crackdown on traditional mass media outlets under your administration has turned the Internet into the last refuge for independent journalists, but the proposed draft allows the government to censor the Web. The new bill equates Internet-based publications with traditional mass media outlets, making them subject to the same restrictions. In addition, Articles 11 and 17 of the bill give extra power to the Council of Ministers to single-handedly deny the registration of Web news publications, and to restrict the distribution of Internet-based information.
   
• Financing
  
  The broadly worded Article 8 bans mass media outlets from accepting money and other donations from international persons and groups, as well as from anonymous sources.
   
• Registration
  
  Article 14 requires media outlets to re-register with every technical change, such as a replacement in the founders’ board, a change of name of the media outlet, or a change in the editorial staff. The proposed draft also requires that all media outlets re-register within a year after this new law takes effect (Article 54)—a measure that grants Belarusian authorities the power to deny a license to publish to any outlet they deem undesirable on re-registration.
   
• Responsibility
  
  Under the new bill, the Ministry of Information receives broad authority to suspend media outlets; the ministry and state prosecutors are given the authority to shut down outlets permanently. These state agencies can suspend or close the outlets if they find their content to be inaccurate, defamatory, “not corresponding to reality,” or “threatening the interests of the state or the public.” The bill leaves the interpretation of these terms in the hands of state authorities.

The new media and information law passed by the Ethiopian parliament this week encounters strong opposition from different media groups.

The new law bans censorship of private media and detention of journalists but retains other threats to freedom of expression.

The press, UNESCO and the  UN higher commissioner for human rights organised a workshop about the law.

Many media groups have expres
sed their deep concern and frustration: The law invokes national security as grounds for impounding materials prior to publication and distribution participants said: The law grants state prosecutors for unlimited rights to lay charges Medias as they wish even after plaintiff drops charges. The implication is to secure law-protection to government officials.

The participants have demanded ministry of information to be suspended from the authority issued to monitor Medias and they called for a neutral body to take over the authority instead.

Bulcha Demeksa, opposition chair-person for Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement to his side called the bill as “draconian”: I consider the day this bill passed as one dark day in the memory of the nation’s history.

The Burmese editor of the monthly magazine Cherry was forced to resign from his work for publishing a poem named De Pa Yin Ga, written about the historical Depayin town.

The notorious Censorship Board under the Ministry of Information summoned the editor and questioned him on June 24 for publishing the poem. He was later ordered to resign from his post.

The poem, written by poet Kyi Maung Than, depicts about the historical events connected to Depayin town.

The poem speaks of how historically Depayin town was famous for producing great heroes such as King Ahlaung Sithu and great warrior Mahabandula and many others. The poet, however, said it is sad that the town has become a place of birth for dacoits, and thugs.

While it is still unknown what has enraged the Burmese censorship board, it is believed that the poem made officials unhappy for picking Depayin town, which is notoriously known in the recent years, for becoming a place where the Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was attacked brutally.

In May 2003, the Junta-backed thugs made a brutal attacked on the Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate's motorcade while on she was on a political tour. The attacked killed at least 60 innocent supporters and injured several others of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but she was saved.

Former military intelligence officer Maj Aung Lin Htut, who defected from the army, in a recent interview with Voice of America (VOA) Burmese Service radio revealed that the 'Depayin massacre' had been an orchestrated plan and was ordered by junta chief Snr. Gen Than Shwe.

As a replacement for the editor, who has been sacked, the magazine, Cherry, said it has submitted a new editor's named whom it wants to hire as the editor but this has to be approved by the Censorship Board.