Turkey : at the forefront of imprisoning journalists until further notice.

Ragip Zarakolu is a respected journalist, well known internationally for his human rights campaigning. He’s also now a victim of the Turkish’s government’s misuse of ‘terrorism’ charges.

On the 1st of November 2011, having defended the rights of minority Kurdish people in his writings, he was sent to the Metris Prison in Istanbul.

So far, no official reason has been given for his arrest, but his lawyer reports that he was questioned about several articles he wrote in a pro-Kurdish newspaper, and about trips he’d made abroad.

Ragip Zarakolu is 63 and not in the best of health. He needs our help !

> Find out what we’re doing.

Vietnam : 3 years in prison for broadcasting to China.

Vu Duc Trung and his brother-in-law, Le Van Thanh, are both Vietnamese journalists, and both are now behind bars charged with ‘illegal broadcasting’. Their crime? Making radio programmes for an audience in neighbouring China, without the authorities’ permission.

They’re now facing, respectively, 2 years and 3 years in prison, and those sentences, as well as their extremely hasty trial, indicates that Vietnam’s bowed to pressure from the Chinese authorities to make an example of them.

It’s a glaring injustice that these two journalists are now in prison just for doing their job. Vu Duc Trung and Le Van Thanh need our help and support.

> Find out what we’re doing.

Burma : 27 years in prison just for filming a TV report !

Hla Hla Win wanted to make things change in Burma. So she defied the military censors and filmed a report about the difficulties of daily life for her fellow Burmese living under the junta.

She was sentenced to 27 years in prison, a terrifying verdict for a 25 year old woman – and she’s now languishing in a filthy jail cell in Khatar prison, north of Rangoon.

Unfortunately, hers isn’t the only such case – 16 other Burmese journalists are also in prison, subjected to torture and ill treatment, just for sending video images to the international media and opposition movements.

For Hla Hla Win and every other journalist like her in prison right now, our action is needed more than ever.

> Find out what we’re doing.

Syria : taken away for posting on Facebook

Lina Ibrahim, a journalist with the daily newspaper Tichrine, disappeared on the 25th October 2011. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are still murky, but all the evidence points to a kidnap by the security forces.

It seems that her disappearance could be linked to an article called ‘Letter to the Sun’, criticising the regime, that she wrote on her Facebook page – that’s also now disappeared from the internet. Our only information is that she could have been taken to a detention centre. Since the start of the protest movement against Syrian President Bashar al Assad, there’s an ever-growing list of journalists and bloggers who’ve disappeared, been taken away or arrested.

For Lina Ibrahim, other Syrian bloggers, and the 127 people in prison worldwide for their internet activism, it’s urgent that we act now !

> Find out what we’re doing.