2007

Journalist Deaths Hit Decade Peak Half in Iraq; record number in Somalia

Detailed accounts of each imprisoned journalist.

Washington, November 1, 2007—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists met with the Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States, Zamira Sydykova, today to express alarm at the murder of independent journalist Alisher Saipov in the southern city of Osh last week. “There are strong reasons to believe that Alisher Saipov was murdered because of…

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to use all of the resources of your office to ensure that a thorough, timely, independent, and transparent investigation is undertaken into the slaying of prominent journalist Alisher Saipov, who was shot in southern Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday.

Some press gains are reported in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan but the Color Revolutions have yet to deliver lasting reforms.

Positives: Bakiyev administration shows a more tolerant attitude toward press coverage. President agrees to transform state broadcaster KTR into an independent public station. Negatives: Administration names loyalists to top state media positions, pressures media to tone down coverage. Attacks on journalists and press facilities continue. Bakiyev fails to follow through on pledge to decriminalize libel.

New York, April 9, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by an attack and threats against several provincial journalists amid escalating political tension between Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and opposition leaders calling for his resignation. “It’s the responsibility of journalists to report on political demonstrations and we are deeply concerned that journalists in Kyrgyzstan…

March 27, 2007 Posted: April 2, 2007 Daniyar Isanov, New TV Net (NTS) ATTACKED Four unidentified men approached Isanov, a news anchor for NTS, and asked him for a cigarette as the journalist was leaving the Kyrgyzfilm cinema in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek at around 9 p.m., according to local press reports.