News

Radio journalist Alex Adonis spent two years in prison for a broadcast in which he dramatized a newspaper report that Prospero Nograles, a member of the Philippines House of Representatives, had been seen running naked in a hotel -  having been caught in bed by the husband of the woman with whom he was said to have spent the night with.

Three well-known Azeri journalists, Mehman Aliyev, Emin Husseinov and Rasul Jafarov, have complained to the European Court of Human Rights that the National Television and Radio Council’s decision to deny them a broadcasting licence violates their right to freedom of expression as well as the public's right to a pluralistic and independent media.

Earlier this September, Gatot Supriyanto Machali, director of Erabaru FM in the city of Batam, was sentenced to six months in prison for operating a radio station without a licence.

Gatot alleges that the real reason for his imprisonment is his criticism of China's human rights record and that the Chinese authorities have pressured the Indonesians into taking heavy-handed action against him. Gatot's broadcasts had particularly criticised China's suppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. 

MLDI and its Russian partner, the Mass Media Defence Centre, have intervened in the case of Orlovskaya Gazeta v. Russia, before the European Court of Human Rights. The case arose from a fine that was imposed on the newspaper, 'Orlovskaya Gazeta', for giving their opinion on a political matter during election times - something that is strictly forbidden under Russian law.