Shortly before his disappearance, journalist Guylain Chandjaro was beaten up in a bar by an unidentified man who took issue with comments he had made on one of his Radio Canal Révélation programmes called "Hewa Bora."

ARTICLE 19 is disappointed with the decision of a court in Sao Paulo to uphold a ban against a protester who has been campaigning against a property development in the city. The Court of Justice in the State of São Paulo has approved an injunction against the engineer and community activist Ricardo Fraga Oliveira.

Poland's transport minister Slawomir Nowak recently filed a libel suit for 30 million zlotys (7 million euros) against a magazine. In a separate incident, the deputy prime minister and economy minister Janusz Piechocinski made intimidating comments to a TV24 journalist when asked about a possible cabinet reshuffle.

Despite the acceptance of the vast majority of observations on free expression in Ecuador at the 2012 U.N. Universal Periodic Review, Fundamedios is concerned that in practice no advances are evident.

The Israeli government published a report of its investigation into French TV station France 2’s coverage of 12-year-old Palestinian Muhammad al-Durrah’s death during rioting in the Gaza Strip on 30 September 2000 and the disputed claim that he was killed by a shot fired from Israeli positions.

Human Rights Watch interviewed witnesses, civil society leaders, and government officials about police shootings that occurred in the wake of demonstrations against the Kenyan Supreme Court ruling on March 30 upholding President Uhuru Kenyatta's election victory.

As eight Vietnamese human rights activists are appealing their convictions, a coalition of organisations has questioned the legitimacy of the trial and condemned the reported ill treatment of the activists since they have been in detention.

Aleksandr Kharlamov &nash; who has written articles on world religion and atheism – was arrested on 14 March on charges of "inciting religious discord". He was placed in a psychiatric clinic to determine whether he was clinically insane at the time of the alleged crime.

At least three journalists have been held hostage by armed tribesmen for a week in Yemen. Several reports named the tribal leader Yahia Saleh al-Masmi as responsible for the kidnapping.

The hosts of "Huaraz Noticias en Radio" suspect that both the mayor of Huaraz and the Ancash Regional President are behind the suspension of their news programme.

Internet access has slowed, critical websites have been blocked, and several journalists have been summoned back to prison in Iran as the country's Guardian Council made a key decision barring two leading candidates from the presidential election.

On Thursday 2 May 2013, the radio programme "Hablemos Claro", broadcast by Radio Marejada in the coastal province of Manabí, was taken off the air. According to the programme’s director, Trajano Andrade, it was suspended due to pressure exerted by the Municipality of Manta.

Palestinian-born Bassel was arrested on 15 March last year by Syrian security forces, and has been in prison ever since.

Reporters Without Borders wrote an open letter to Iran's presidential election candidates calling on them to undertake to free all imprisoned journalists and netizens and to ensure that Iran observes its international obligations to respect freedom of information.

Judicial authorities in Nepal are urged to stop targeting outlets of the Kathmandu-based Kantipur Publications and dismiss a case filed against the organisation and one of its journalists.

ARTICLE 19 welcomes a High Court decision that citizens have the right to access the information held by public and state owned corporations, but is highly concerned by the court's continued narrow interpretation of "citizens" that would prevent NGOs, media organisations, and informal associations from making requests.

A draft law would criminalize the cooperation of Azeri citizens with any Armenian organization or entity, or their representatives. The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety believes that the above-mentioned bill would be the most damaging in a series of regressive legislation introduced this year.

Mobile and Internet companies risk being linked to human rights abuses if they enter the Burmese market before adequate protections are in place, a Human Rights Watch report warns.

On 14 May, a group of armed men raided the home of a journalist and briefly abducted his brother. The brother said the guards took him to the house of a prominent Sunni sheikh, Majid Ali Suleiman, where they demanded he stop writing about corruption.

Bulgaria’s media grants over-exposure to those in power, and the industry seems to quickly adapt to a new political situation, says Georgi Kantchev. The country has measures put in place to distinguish editorial content from political advertisements for broadcast media, but not for the press.