Institute of Mass Information (IMI)

Over 40 IFEX members worldwide call for the new President of Somalia to help combat impunity in the killing of journalists, revise media laws and uphold UN and African resolutions to help protect journalists.

UPDATE: The president of IFEX member Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Nabeel Rajab, was re-arrested and sentenced to three years in prison on 16 August. Many other human rights defenders remain in prison, including BCHR’s founder Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, and his daughter, Zainab Al-Khawaja.

Twenty-seven IFEX members appeal for end to impunity in recent brutal attacks on journalists in Kazakhstan, including near-fatal attack on Luqpan Akhmedyarov in April.

Fifty IFEX members and other rights groups call on the Bahrain authorities to release from prison human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, whose life is at risk since beginning a hunger strike on 8 February.

Twenty-nine IFEX members have signed a letter to the Prosecutor General about the detention of editor Igor Vinyavsky, whose detention is believed to be politically motivated, calling for him to be released and for the evidence leading to his arrest to be made public.

Although a criminal investigation into the case has been opened, a spokesperson for Vitaly Rozwadowskiy’s newspaper, “2000”, says the paper does connect Rozwadowskiy’s murder to his work.

Prior to the UN summit of world leaders in Rio in June 2012 (Rio+20) to discuss the environment and sustainable development goals, 77 civil society organisations recommend the adoption of national laws on access to information, public participation and access to justice in the environment, a new UN convention on access to environmental information, and a UN Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Employees of Krug, the only opposition channel in Odessa, suspect that municipal authorities are using technical issues an an excuse to prevent them from broadcasting.