The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about official harassment and threats against Sudanese editor Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed.

Ahmed is being tried this month on criminal charges of insulting the Prophet Mohammed after publishing an April 21 article in the daily Al-Wifaq. The article, by the well-known Muslim historian Al-Maqrizi, called into question the Prophet Mohammed's lineage, according to a local source and press reports. Ahmed, himself an Islamist, claims he published the historian's account in order to rebut it, according to the BBC and a CPJ source.

Newspapers and religious leaders attacked Ahmed following the publication of the article. The National Press Council, Sudan's official press regulator, imposed a three-day suspension on the paper, and the state prosecutor brought charges against Ahmed.

The exact charges against Ahmed are unclear, although press reports said that Ahmed could face the death penalty if he is found guilty of apostasy. Press reports said that mobs of angry people called for Ahmed's death on Wednesday and clashed with police outside the courtroom. [CPJ]

Media freedom in Indonesia is on the brink of ruin, with two senior journalists in Lampung being sentenced to nine months in jail for defamation.

The verdicts on Wednesday are hurtful to democracy, moreover coming on the heels of government efforts to produce a new Criminal Code that will be detrimental to freedom of expression, a legal expert commented.

The two journalists, Darwin Ruslinur and Budiono Syahputra, received the jail terms after they were found guilty of defaming Alzier Dianis Thabranie, chairman of Golkar Party's Lampung chapter. The case surfaced last year when defendant Budiono, the managing editor of Koridor weekly tabloid, was informed by an anonymous Golkar member that Alzier and his colleague Indra Karyadi had yet to disburse an amount of Rp 1.25 billion (US$131,500) to him. The money was supposed to have been distributed by the Golkar member to Golkar supporters. The supporters were to receive Rp 50,000 each during first round of presidential elections last year to encourage them to vote for the presidential candidate backed by Golkar. Darwin Ruslinur, the tabloid's chief editor, said that the case was newsworthy and that should be printed.

The news article, printed on page 18 of the tabloid's July edition last year, was headed "Alzier and Indra Karyadi allegedly embezzle Rp 1.25b Golkar fund".

At Wednesday's court session, presiding judge Iskandar Tjake found that the tabloid never confirmed the story with Alzier and Indra Karyadi, and on this basis he decided that the two journalists were guilty of defamation.[Asia Pacific Media Network]

RSF has condemned the latest crackdown on cyber-dissidents and bloggers in the southern city of Qom. Mojtaba Lotfi, who is serving a prison sentence in the city for articles he posted on the Internet, is gravely ill. Local courts in Qom are also harassing bloggers Farid Modaressi and Mohamad Reza Fathi.

"Writing about politics or even social issues is an act of bravery in Iran, especially since the local authorities are now taking over the role of gagging bloggers from the central government. For this reason, we hail the human rights report which has just been adopted by the European Parliament, condemning Iran's 'abject policies' towards journalists and cyber-dissidents," RSF said.

Fathi, wh is a professor, was first summoned on 26 March by the Edareh Amaken (morality squad) and interrogated about his blog, http://www.savehjam.blogspot.com, in which he has criticised the provincial government and the mayor of Saveh, near Qom. In a letter to President Mohammad Khatami, he voiced exasperation at the "scant capacity of civil servants to accept criticism."

Local police arrested Fathi nine days later in the street, in front of his students, and paraded him handcuffed through the city. He was held for three days and was questioned again in camera, without his lawyer being present. On his release, he was resigned to closing down his blog, despite its local popularity. Nonetheless, he will have to appear before the local judicial authorities again on various charges, including publishing false information, insults and disturbing the peace.

Modaressi, a blogger who was previously imprisoned for one month in late 2004, has received a summons to appear before a Qom court on 14 May on charges of "insulting regime officials" in comments about the president and others in his blog, http://farid.blogset.com. He has also been summoned to appear before a Tehran court on 10 May on a charge of "attacking state security".

RSF has learned that the health of Lotfi, a cyber-dissident and Qom resident, has seriously deteriorated since he was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison in February. Conditions inside the prison have reportedly aggravated a lung ailment he has suffered from since being exposed to chemicals during the Iran-Iraq war.

In a recent international human rights report, the European Parliament condemned Iran's "abject policies" as regards the arrest and imprisonment of journalists and cyber-dissidents and violations of press and media freedom.[IFEX]