Addis Abeba, December 16/2020 – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s stellar speech about freedom of press on world freedom day is fresh in the memory of many Ethiopians who were full of optimism about the reform that swept the nation at the time. At the 26
th World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) hosted by Ethiopia on May 03/2019, PM Abiy proudly referred to the day: “The symbolism of this grand gesture is even more important, given that only one year ago Ethiopia was labelled as Africa’s foremost jailer of journalists and one of the most repressive environments in the world for the functioning of independent news.”
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India’s fake news report on Pakistan ruins its global repute Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi
A Brussels-based NGO committed to combating disinformation against the European Union has unearthed a 15-year-old operation run by an Indian entity that used about 750 fake media outlets to launch an anti-Pakistan campaign globally .The report released on last Wednesday said the disinformation network run by the Srivastava Group, a New Delhi-based organisation, was designed primarily to “discredit Pakistan internationally” and influence decision-making at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the European Parliament. For years, Islamabad has accused New Delhi of orchestrating a hybrid warfare against Pakistan, which relies on a disinformation campaign to undermine Islamabad at international forums. The European revelations have endorsed Pakistan’s suspicion about India’s devilish designs.
(Photo courtesy of Free Lady Ann Salem Network)
On December 10, authorities arrested Salem in her home in Mandaluyong. Salem is an editor of alternative media Manila Today and a member of Tudla Productions.
She also serves as a communications officer of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television.
“Reporters Without Borders demands the immediate and unconditional release of Lady Ann Salem, a Manila-based alternative journalist who was arrested on a firearms charge at the end of a raid on her home,” RSF said in a statement dated December 15.
RSF is an international non-profit organization that safeguards the right to freedom of information.
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15 months after Cameroonian journalist Samuel Wazizi’s enforced disappearance and six months after it was confirmed that he died in detention, the country’s authorities are still tight-lipped about the circumstances of his detention and his death. ACAT-France and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urge the president’s office to publish the report of the investigation and its conclusions.
Detained and accused by the Cameroonian authorities of being a terrorist, Samuel Wazizi disappeared on 7 August 2019, the date on which he was removed from a police station in the western city of Buea and taken to a military installation in the same city.
AFP
A court in central Vietnam’s Nghe An province on Tuesday sentenced a dissident poet and blogger to 12 years in prison on a charge of subversion activities his lawyer said were merely an exercise of his client’s freedom of speech.
Tran Duc Thach, a co-founder of Vietnam’s online Brotherhood for Democracy, was arrested on April 23, 2020 and charged with “activities aimed at overthrowing the People’s Government” under Article 109 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code for Facebook postings exposing government corruption and human rights abuses.
The Brotherhood for Democracy is not recognized by the Vietnamese government, and many of its members have been imprisoned since its founding in 2013.