Public Association “Journalists”

MFWA welcomes the move by Gambian authorities to drop charges against two journalists for seeking permission to peacefully protest the execution of death row inmates, but calls for investigation into death threats against journalists.

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.

Sixty NGOs worldwide called for libel law reform as a defamation bill was reviewed in the UK House of Commons. Join over 60,000 and sign a petition calling for libel reform here.

As trial proceeds, over forty IFEX members urge the Cambodian government to drop charges facing detained rights defender and broadcaster Mam Sonando.

On 1 May, jailed journalist Eskinder Nega, facing the death penalty, receives in absentia the 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Thirty-two IFEX members are calling for his release, and an end to the use of national security legislation against all writers and journalists.

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.

An open letter by 44 organisations calls Iraq’s proposed Information Technology Crimes law a threat to the fundamental freedoms necessary for the evolution of free speech and a vibrant press. The law will come to vote in the Iraqi Council of Representatives 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.