Reda Helal

The Miami Herald is covering news out of Colombia that TV network Telesur has again been accused of having ties to FARC rebels. A journalist for the network has been fingered by the government after his name was allegedly found on confiscated FARC computers. CPJ is quoted in the story: ''The fact that Parra's name has supposedly been found on a FARC computer is not proof of any wrongdoing,'' said Americas Senior Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría. The Olympian in Washington is also running this story today.

AllAfrica has republished our alert on the disappearance of prominent Egyptian editor, Reda Halal, who vanished on his way home from work five years ago in Cairo. There has been no progress made in the case, and CPJ's repeated calls to the Egyptian government have been largely ignored. For more, read our special report on Reda Helal: "The Forgotten Man."

Lastly this morning, Islam Online.net has a story about the continued targeting of media in Iraq that cites our numbers of at least 130 journalists and 50 media workers killed since 2003.

New York, August 11, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the failure of the Egyptian authorities to shed light on the disappearance of a prominent journalist, five years ago today, in one of the most secure districts in Cairo.

Reda Helal, a senior editor at Egypt’s leading state-owned daily Al-Ahram, mysteriously vanished on August 11, 2003, on his way home from work in a heavily guarded area in the center of the Egyptian capital. Helal, who was then 45, lived in an area in downtown Cairo with important state buildings and diplomatic missions, including the Egyptian parliament and both the British and U.S. embassies.

Al-Ahram editor Reda Helal disappeared. Now all memory of him may vanish too.

New York, May 2, 2007--Three nations in sub-Saharan Africa are among the places worldwide where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the last five years, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Ethiopia, where the government launched a massive crackdown on the private press by shutting newspapers and jailing editors, leads CPJ's dishonor roll. The African nations of the Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo join Russia and Cuba among the world's worst "backsliders" on press freedom.

New York, August 11, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed its dismay today that an Egyptian editor is still missing two years after his disappearance in central Cairo. CPJ urgently called on Egypt's government to locate Reda Helal, deputy editor for the semi-official daily Al-Ahram.

Colleagues said Helal left Al-Ahram's Cairo offices early the afternoon of August 11, 2003. A doorman at Helal's apartment building on Qasr al-Aini Street in central Cairo reported seeing the editor return home later that day, according to news reports. But when the doorman and a food deliveryman arrived at Helal's door soon after, there was no response and the door was locked, the reports said.