Salamander

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of Tarek Soussi of the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners, who was arrested at his home in Bizerte (60 km north of Tunis), on 27 August 2008, after giving a phone interview to pan-Arab satellite TV station Al Jazeera on 26 August in which he criticised the arrest of seven people.

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has called for the case to be dropped against journalist Yosef Azizi Banitruf, sentenced to five years in jail after he exposed excessive use of force against demonstrators from the Arab community who clashed with security forces in Khuzestan in south-west Iran.

As its blogosphere burgeons, Egypt is finding new ways to crack down on bloggers and other Internet users.

Twice within a week, Tunisian authorities barred journalist and human rights advocate Sihem Bensedrine from flying to Vienna, on one occasion roughing her up and throwing her computer on the floor.

(RSF/IFEX) - On 26 August 2008, Reporters Without Borders wrote to the Tunisian interior minister urging him to intervene in the case of journalist Slim Boukhdir who has been deprived of his national ID card since leaving prison in July and whose passport was seized in 2004.

(ANHRI/IFEX) - On 20 August 2008, ANHRI expressed its objection to, and firm condemnation of Al Ahram Press's refusal to print the second edition of "Al-Badeel" daily independent newspaper. The press's decision came on the heels of the newspaper's coverage of a fire in al-Shoura Council, which included comments by experts suggesting that "the fire was deliberately set".

(ANHRI/IFEX) - On 23 August 2008, ANHRI and the Hisham Mubarak Law Center reported that the state security investigation agency had decided to keep in prison Mohamed Refaat, editor of the blog Matabbat, http://matabbat.blogspot.com . The authorities have turned a blind eye to a 17 August supreme state security prosecution order calling for the young blogger's release.

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 25 August 2008 CPJ press release:

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced active concern about the treatment of journalist and human rights activist Emadoldin Baghi who earlier this month was placed in an isolation cell in Evin prison, Tehran instead of being transferred to a hospital.

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 21 August 2008 CPJ press release:

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders "strongly condemns" a Damascus criminal court's decision on 20 August 2008 to reject a request for the release of imprisoned writer and journalist Michel Kilo although he has served three-quarters of a three-year sentence and therefore qualifies for early release under Syrian law.

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders condemns the Tunisian government's repeated humiliation of journalist Sihem Bensedrine, the founder of the underground newspaper "Kalima". On 24 August 2008, She was again prevented from boarding a flight from Tunis-Carthage airport to Austria, where she has a residency permit. It was the third time this year that she has been prevented from leaving Tunisia.

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders condemns the requirements imposed on foreign journalists by Hezbollah, the Party of God, in the areas it controls. Press accreditation issued by the Lebanese information ministry is of no use in Hezbollah-controlled areas, where journalists must obtain permission from the party's press bureau.

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

(IFEX-TMG) - The following is a 20 August 2008 IFEX-TMG press release:

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has written to Yemeni interior minister Mutahar Rashad Al-Masri calling for the immediate release of two brothers, Ali Nasser Kaid Al-Bokheiti and Mohammed Ahmed Hassan Al-Bokheiti, who were arrested on 21 July 2008 at a military roadblock with a British freelance journalist for whom they working as fixers.

Iran is using the death penalty against several journalists and activists for their work, say rights groups. On 4 August 2008, Yaghoub Mehrnehad, a social activist and journalist for the "Mardomsalari" ("Democracy") newspaper in Baluchistan, was executed, report the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). He was also executive director of Voice of Justice Youth Association, a local NGO registered with the authorities since 2002, and an advocate for the Baluchi minority.

"In the Gaza Strip, anyone with a camera is fair game. That's the inescapable conclusion from the Israeli army's investigation into why one of its tank crews fired at least two shells at a Reuters television journalist openly filming them from a mile away."

"In the Gaza Strip, anyone with a camera is fair game. That's the inescapable conclusion from the Israeli army's investigation into why one of its tank crews fired at least two shells at a Reuters television journalist openly filming them from a mile away."