PARIS, FRANCE – Dominique Strauss Kahn (DSK) faces another legal hurdle, with French writer Tristane Banon saying through her lawyers that she will be filing charges of attempted rape against him Tuesday 5 July. Banon came forward in mid-May saying that she had been attacked by DSK in 2003 when the now-32-year-old was a young reporter interviewing him.
The statute of limitations for attempted rape is 10 years in France, according to Figaro newspaper.
DSK’s lawyers in Paris responded by saying he had been informed and would be filing charges against Banon for defamation. They are calling her account of events “imaginary” while her lawyers say her case is very solid.
French media are speculating if the writer’s court action is politically motivated, given the possibility that DSK may still run for president. He was considered the most likely candidate to run against Nicolas Sarkozy until he was arrested in New York on suspicion of sexually assaulting a maid in a hotel room.
WikiLeaks and criticism of Putin appear to be behind it
Luke Harding, the correspondent in Moscow for the British newspaper, the Guardian, was deported by Russian authorities Monday 7 February, without being given an explanation, he says. The reporter returned to Moscow after two months away, but upon arriving at the airport he was “detained in a cell for 45 minutes”, according to Ria Novosti. He was then put on a plane to London and once on the plane he was given back his passport, with his Russian visa cancelled.
Ria Novosti mentions that Harding reported on WikiLeaks cables, publishing at least one that was critical of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, but the information is taken virtually word for word from the Guardian‘s own report. The Russian state news agency also notes, as does the Guardian, that this is the first time since 1989 that a British journalist has been expelled.
The Guardian reports that the British Foreign Office is trying to ascertain, with its Russian counterpart, what lies behind the expulsion, but no explanation has been provided yet:
“Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor-in-chief, said: ‘This is clearly a very troubling development with serious implications for press freedom, and it is worrying that the Russian government should now kick out reporters of whom they disapprove. Russia’s treatment of journalists – both domestic and foreign – is a cause of great concern. We are attempting to establish further details, and are in contact with the Foreign Office.’”
The laptops of two French reporters working on the unfolding case of the personal fortune of France’s richest woman, Eliane Bettencourt, have been stolen, it was reported 26 October. Hervé Gattegno, who works at French magazine Le Point, discovered that his laptop had been removed from the magazine’s offices during the night. Gérard Davet, who has been covering the case for Le Monde, had his house burglarized the same day; a laptop and a GPS device was taken.
Le Monde filed a judicial complaint 20 September accusing the French secret service of hacking into Davet’s portable phone in an attempt to find his sources.
Part of Bettencourt’s enormous wealth has allegedly financed the French ruling party and President Nicholas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign. The wife of the former Finance Minister, Eric Woerth, used to work for a banker managing Bettencourt’s fortune.
Links to other sites: Le Figaro, Irish Times, Le Monde
Igor Sedykh, journalist
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Igor Sedykh, Geneva-based Russian journalist who in 2009 was awarded the Swiss-Russian Cooperation award for journalism at the World Association of Russian Press congress held in Lucerne, died Friday 12 March in Geneva, his widow, Barbara Sedykh, announced.
Sedykh began his career with the monthly Sa Rubeschom, worked in Geneva as a correspondent for the Russian news agency Ria Novosti, and most recently he was known for his reporting for Kommersant from Geneva on Russian affairs, war and arms-related topics. His articles were often picked up elsewhere in other languages.
Sedykh was a longtime member of the Swiss Foreign Press Association.
Links to other sites: Cooperation Council Switzerland-Russia, Kommersant, Medecins sans frontieres
Rupert Hamer, who worked for the Sunday Mirror in Britain, was killed in Afghanistan when the US patrol he was working with was hit by a bomb. The explosion also killed an American soldier and seriously injured the Mirror photographer working with Hamer. Two weeks earlier a Canadian journalist was killed while she was out on a patrol with troops.
An award-winning journalist from Calgary and four soldiers died in a blast in Afghanistan, in Canada’s third worst day in Afghanistan. Five others, including one Canadian civilian, were injured by the explosion on the edges of the city of Kandahar. “The attack came during a community security patrol to gather information on the pattern of life and maintain security in the area,” reports the CBC. Journalist Michelle Lang had been in Afghanistan only two weeks and was gathering material for a series of articles on the work of Canadian soldiers.
Links to other sites: CBC, Vancouver Sun
Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan were freed Wednesday 25 Novmber after 16 months in captivity in Somalia, where both say they were tortured physically and mentally. Lindhout described her ordeal by phone to the Globe & Mail, saying that in her mind she escaped to Vancouver. Both say their families paid ransoms to the groups who abducted them.
Links to other sites: Canadian TV video, Herald Sun, Australia
It was a size ten shoe
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Iraqi journalist who spent nine months in prison for throwing his shoes at former President George W. Bush has been granted a three-month tourist visa from the Swiss embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
Muntadar al-Zaidi was convicted of attacking a foreign leader and sentenced to three years in prison. This was reduced to one year on appeal and he was released early for good behaviour. Al-Zaidi claims to have been tortured in prison, and has said that he cannot live in Iraq.
Links to other sites:Le Temps, Romandie News
US freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran for spying and working without press credentials, has been freed after a court heard her appeal and reduced the sentence to a suspended two-year term, according to National Public Radio. She joined her parents and will return to the family’s home in North Dakota in coming days, according to US officials. The New York Times argues that the court’s ruling was political, with Iran-US relations a hot issue in Iran, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad facing an election in a month, but Saberi’s lawyer tells NPR that the sentence was reduced for legal reasons. Al Jazeera, Yahoo news
Roxana Saberi, 32, began a hunger strike the week of 21 April in protest of her detainment in Tehran’s Evin prison, according to her father, Reza Saberi. Saberi ended her strike, Monday 4 April, when her parents visited and pleaded with her to begin eating again. The Iranian-American journalist was convicted of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison in a trial, that was closed to the public, last month. CNN
Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was tried on charges of spying for the US in Iran Monday 13 April. Saberi has lived and worked in Iran for the past six years as a freelance journalist for National Public Radio (NPR), BBC, and Fox News. Saberi was initially arrested for allegedly working without press credentials in January. The US is pushing for her release and a verdict will be reached within the next two to three weeks. Al Jazeera, NPR
