Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by a series of recent attacks against journalists by security forces during recent mass opposition demonstrations in the Ivory Coast. While more than half a dozen Ivoirian journalists have reported being physically attacked by officials, many more were arrested, intimidated, and harassed while covering the protests.
New York, March 29, 2004—Jean-Denis Lompoto, editor of the satirical biweekly Pili-Pili, was released March 27 from a Kinshasa prison on bail of US$100. Lompoto, who had been held just over a week, was detained on March 19 on charges of defaming Mining Minister Eugène Diomi Ndongala, according to local press organization Journaliste en danger…
New York, March 29, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority’s (CPA) closure of an Iraqi weekly newspaper for allegedly inciting violence against coalition forces. On March 28, dozens of U.S. troops sealed the offices of the Baghdad weekly Al-Hawza, which is affiliated with radical Shiite cleric…
New York, March 29, 2004— A judge granted bail to freelance journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi on March 27, in an anti-terrorism court in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta. Rizvi’s lawyer, Habib Tahir, told local journalists that he would be released from jail today after posting a 200,000 rupees (US$3,500) bond payment. Rizvi is still…
New York, March 26, 2004—An Iraqi translator working for the U.S.-based newsweekly Time died today after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in Baghdad two days ago. Omar Kamal, who also worked as a fixer for the magazine, was shot and critically wounded driving his car on route to an assignment, said Time news director Howard Chua-Eoan.…
New York, March 26, 2004—An Iraqi cameraman freelancing for the U.S.-based television station ABC was killed today in the city of Fallujah, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of the capital, Baghdad. The Washington Post reported that 15 Iraqis were killed today in Fallujah following a firefight that occurred “as U.S. Marines conducted house-to-house searches”…
Dear Secretary Rumsfeld: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the deaths of two journalists working for the United Arab Emirates-based news channel Al-Arabiyya in Baghdad last week. These deaths are especially troubling because they occurred just days before the military presented a detailed report on the August death of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana that contained recommendations for creating safer conditions for journalists working in Iraq.
Dear Mrs. Calderón: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the murder of Peruvian journalist Antonio de la Torre Echeandía, who was killed after leaving a party on February 14, 2004, in the city of Yungay, in northern Ancash Department. Based on recent developments in the case, we are concerned Yungay authorities may have been…
New York, March 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) sent a letter today to Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, governor of the State of Tamaulipas in northern Mexico, inquiring about the investigation into the murder of Roberto Javier Mora García, editorial director for the Nuevo Laredobased daily El Mañana. Mora, 42, was stabbed to death on…
New York, March 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is very concerned for the safety of journalists working for the London-based Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC). Journalists there have received numerous death threats in recent weeks, according to TBC staff and other CPJ sources. After the station began broadcasting in the United Kingdom and in…