2004
Journalists Killed in the Last Ten Years
The Toll: 1995-2004 Each year in January, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) publishes a list of journalists killed in the line of duty around the world. This list has become the most widely cited press freedom statistic and is often seen as a barometer of the state of global press freedom. While the correlation…
Kidnapped radio journalist freed after three days
New York, December 30, 2004—Peruvian radio journalist Duber Maruiola Labán was released this morning, three days after being kidnapped by a group of peasants who accused him of promoting the interests of a local mining company, local police told the Committee to Protect Journalists. More than 50 members of a peasant group kidnapped Mauriola at…
As tragedy deepens, a courageous newspaper staff is mourned
New York, December 30, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply saddened at the loss of media colleagues in the devastating tsunami that has claimed more than 100,000 lives in South Asia. Among the hardest-hit regions was the province of Aceh in Indonesia, where the dead included journalists and media workers who have reported for…
Provincial radio journalist kidnapped by peasants
New York, December 29, 2004—A stick-wielding group of peasants kidnapped Peruvian radio journalist Duber Mauriola Labán on Monday, accusing him of promoting the interests of a local mining company. Police were trying to rescue the journalist, who was still being held today by kidnappers in a remote village. According to local press reports, more than…
Journalist jailed in defamation case
New York, December 28, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the recent jailing of an Ethiopian journalist who was unable to pay bail in a criminal defamation case. Wosonseged Gebrekidan, former editor-in-chief of the private, Amharic-language weekly Ethiop, has been imprisoned since December 23. Local sources said Gebrekidan was charged with defamation…
Writer faces increasing official harassment, fears imprisonment
New York, December 23, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by Vietnamese authorities’ intensifying harassment of writer Do Nam Hai. The writer, who penned articles critical of the Vietnamese government under the name Phuong Nam, fears that authorities are planning to arrest him, sources close to the journalist told CPJ. “Vietnam’s record of…
CPJ condemns journalist’s prison sentence
New York, December 23, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the conviction and sentencing of Risang Bima Wijaya, former general manager of the Yogyakarta daily Radar Jogja, on criminal defamation charges. A judge in Yogyakarta District Court, in central Java, sentenced Wijaya to nine months in prison on December 22 for publishing libelous articles. The…
French journalists released in Iraq after four months of captivity
New York, December 21, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of two French journalists who had been kidnapped and held hostage in Iraq by an insurgent group for the last four months. Al-Jazeera reported that insurgents turned over the journalists, Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot of the daily Le…
CPJ concerned by repressive media legislation
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by new legislation that threatens press freedom in the Gambia. Last week, the National Assembly passed two pieces of legislation that impose criminal penalties for press offenses and could limit media ownership and development. CPJ urges Your Excellency not to sign this legislation into law.
CPJ disturbed by journalist’s conviction
New York, December 17, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that authorities in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia have prosecuted and convicted Yuri Bagrov, a reporter who covered the North Caucasus and Chechnya for The Associated Press (AP) until September. The Leninsky court in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia’s capital, today convicted Bagrov on…