Press Releases

The President of the Republic of Argentina, the President of the Federal Republic of Brazil and the President of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, in consideration of and in accordance with what is set out in the Ushuaia Protocol on Democratic Commitment, have decided to suspend the Republic of Paraguay from the right to participate in the organs of MERCOSUR.

Reporters Without Borders welcomes yesterday’s joint declaration by four international experts calling on governments to treat “crimes against freedom of expression” as a special category under criminal law and thereby provide journalists and other news providers with better protection.

Joint press release by 41 European and International organisations to invite Members of the INTA committee to fully reject ACTA.

Reporters Without Borders condemns journalist Jamal Uddin’s murder in Sharsha, a subdistrict of the southwestern district of Jessore, on 15 June. A reporter for the Jessore-based Bengali-language newspaper Gramer Kagoj, he was stabbed and hacked to death by a group of men in a market.

Two weeks before the start of the Rio+20 Summit Mr. Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima and President of Mayors for Peace has added his signature to the [Rio+20 Appeal](http://www.inesglobal.com/Disarmament-for-Sustainable-Development.phtml) calling on governments to cut military spending in favor of sustainable development.

Well-known freelance journalist and blogger Ismail “Hilath” Rasheed was stabbed in the neck near his Malé home today and was rushed in a critical condition to the city’s ADK hospital where he underwent an operation and was then placed in an intensive care unit.

Faced with a crisis surrounding the uproar against the Quebec Government, started by the planned hike in tuition fees, the government has chosen to take the most cowardly and irresponsible route possible: it chose to push through a special law to to take away the rights of all citizens–not just students–to demonstrate.

On May 25th at around 11:30 a lawsuit was submitted to the Superior Court by the FEUQ and the FECQ to enable students to receive instruction from the institutions they attend, or the special law, deemed null and void immediately. This action is a temporary measure to avoid irreperable damages while the case is brought through the standard legal venues.

Bill 78 is an affront to basic freedoms that goes far beyond what is permissible under provincial, national, international human rights laws. What began as protests led by student groups over a proposed hike in tuition fees have expanded in size and focus in recent weeks, with more than 2,000 arrests being made. On 23 May close to 700 protesters were arrested in several cities.

Reports Without Borders strongly condemns the arrest by Israeli troops on 17 May in the West Bank of Baha Khairi Attalah Mousa, the director of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel, a satellite television station for Palestinian prisoners. The soldiers also seized broadcasting equipment, computers, video cameras and documents.