legal-action

As the news editor of Zambia’s largest circulation newspaper and a mother to two young children, Chansa Kabwela already has her hands full. For the last four months, however, this 29-year-old journalist was mired in a court case with a peculiarity that made international headlines and sparked a debate on press freedom in this landlocked nation in southern Africa. The case was finally resolved on Monday.

My looks have completely changed in recent months. Long hair now colonizes my chin and my head. Never in my adult life have I waited longer than a week without a shave or a haircut, let alone for four months. One ends up doing the strangest things for press freedom in Sierra Leone.

New York, November 9, 2009—Three American hikers who inadvertently crossed the border into Iran on July 31 are facing chargers of espionage, according to a report from the state news agency IRNA.

New York, November 2, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end the intensifying judicial and media campaign to silence critical journalists and eradicate press freedom.

On a day when Western media focused on the ramifications of the official visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Islamabad, I got a heads-up email message from Mazhar Abbas in Islamabad this morning. 

New York, October 16, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the decision of a Rabat court Thursday to imprison the managing editor of Al-Michaal newspaper for one year. 

New York, October 15, 2009—The editor-in-chief of Zambia’s largest newspaper was criminally charged for the second time on Wednesday after running an op-ed critical of controversial pornography charges against a journalist, according to local journalists and news reports. 

New York, October 8, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Algerian authorities to drop charges against journalist and rights activist Hafnaoui Ghoul, who is on trial for writing articles critical of local authorities in Djelfa province. 

New York, September 29, 2009—U.S. freelance journalist Joe Sharkey, who covered a 2006 plane crash in Brazil in which he was a passenger, faces an onerous civil defamation suit for comments he said were wrongly attributed to him. On the third anniversary of the accident, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Brazilian judicial authorities to dismiss the case, which is based on the tenuous claim that the comments insulted the nation of Brazil.    

New York, September 28, 2009—The interim government of Honduras must immediately allow two private broadcasters loyal to ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to the air, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Officials, acting under a new decree that suspends civil liberties, shut down Radio Globo and Canal 36 television early today, according to local and international news reports.