Mexican journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, the anchor of a news show on Televisa, was held for eight hours upon his arrival to Cairo, first by a group of civilian “vigilantes” and later by the army, which confiscated his cell phone, El Universal reports.
Carlos Santos, a journalist in Mossoró in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, was convicted to four months in prison for three blog posts that the city’s mayor found offensive, Mossoró Notícias reports. For each piece, he was sentenced to one month and ten days in prison and is required to donate approximately a total of $3,600 fines to charity.
The founder and editor of Pura Política, João Andrade Neto, was arrested and accused of demanding money from business people in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia in exchange for not publishing allegations against them, Correio reports. He is being held on charges of extortion and attempted extortion.
Even as two imprisoned journalists are refusing to eat in protest against the Cuban government, on Saturday, Feb. 12, Cuban authorities freed another independent reporter -- who has spent the past eight years in prison — in the latest round of political prisoners being released from jail, reported the Miami Herald and the Associated Press.
Two Brazilian journalists who were arrested in Egypt last week were deported back to Brazil over the weekend, Agência Estado reports. Rádio Nacional’s Corban Costa and TV Brasil's Gilvan Rocha traveled to Egypt to cover the political crisis, but Agência Brasil reports that they didn’t manage to produce any stories due to harassment by the authorities.
Two of the four Cuban dissident journalists that remain in prison have begun a hunger strike, Reporters without Borders (RSF) reports.
Members of the Brazilian media who traveled to Egypt to cover the protests for and against President Hosni Mubarak have suffered various types of harassment at the hands of the police, including hotel room raids, equipment confiscation, and deportation.
Journalist Maritânia Forlin has been formally indicted for her alleged role in trading police information for exclusives with drug traffickers, Terra reports. She was one of 25 individuals in Paraná state indicted for various crimes, including misrepresentation and criminal conspiracy, Gazeta do Povo explains.
A Chilean journalist was arrested by police while covering a protest against the increase in public transportation fares in the capital city of Santiago, according to Terra.
Freelance reporter Solly Boussidan, who was arrested Jan. 28 for allegedly working without proper accreditation, was deported Feb. 1, O Globo reports. He was sent to the nearby country of Abkhazia.
After 20 days in prison, journalist Maritânia Forlin, suspected of working with drug dealers in Paraná state, was released by police pending her trial and announced that she would launch a book of memoirs to defend her image, Folha de S. Paulo reports.
Freelance journalist Solly Boussidan was arrested by Russian authorities Friday, Jan. 28, in the city of Sochi, accused of reporting without the necessary accreditation, reported the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo, the news outlet with with which he collaborates.